Chapter 220: The Day of the Signing Event
September passed, and the weather finally shifted clearly and officially from summer to autumn. Temperatures began to drop steadily, unlike before when high temperatures would occasionally spike.
After waking up and finishing his morning routine, Kaede poured the Cat food and went to prepare breakfast.
Ten minutes later, Eriri, having finished her routine, gracefully entered the living room wearing a nightgown, yawning incessantly.
Placing two plates on the dining table, Kaede smiled and said, "Eriri, are you still half-asleep?"
"Kaede-kun, look at the time! It's not even eight yet!"
"That's still not early enough. We have to be at the signing event venue before nine." Kaede walked over, smiling, and pinched Eriri's cheek. "Besides, who told you to play games so late last night, Eriri?"
"Ugh... I was just getting into it!"
Eriri sat down and yawned again.
Last night, after finishing her daily work, Eriri excitedly started playing games, completely ignoring the fact that she had to wake up early the next morning to attend Utaha's signing event.
The result, needless to say, was that Kaede had to literally drag her out of bed this morning.
Taking a sip of coffee with her eyes closed, the rich aroma slightly woke Eriri up, and she began eating breakfast.
Picking up a sandwich and taking a bite, Eriri asked, "Kaede-kun, are we leaving immediately after we finish eating?"
"Yes, we should have enough time. I just wonder how many readers will be at the signing venue when we arrive."
Eriri thought for a moment and said, "Considering the popularity of Utaha's novel, there should be quite a few people, and it's likely the ratio of male to female readers will be fifty-fifty?"
Kaede nodded in agreement. After all, Utaha's delicate writing and plot, combined with proper promotion at this stage, had indeed attracted quite a few female readers.
But there was also another point: even though she hadn't made a public appearance yet, all readers knew that Utako Kasumi, the author of love metronome, was a female author. Given this premise, the possibility of a large number of male readers showing up was not zero.
Furthermore, Kaede could predict that once the signing event started and Utaha's true appearance was revealed, she would definitely attract a tremendous number of fans, particularly male fans, in a short period.
There was no helping it. As a fellow male, Kaede was well aware that no guy nowadays disliked large things, especially when they were both large and beautiful.
After finishing breakfast, Eriri went back to her room to change clothes. Since the weather was getting cooler, Eriri put on a long dress.
When she came out dressed, Kaede looked at Eriri and asked in surprise, "Aren't you wearing contact lenses?"
Facing Kaede's question, Eriri, who was wearing the round-framed glasses she had recently gotten, said awkwardly, "We ran out of contact lenses at home, both the daily and monthly ones. Kaede-kun, let's buy some on the way back."
"Sure." Kaede had no problem with that, but looking at Eriri wearing glasses, he smiled and said, "But Eriri, you look really cute like this too. You don't need to always wear contacts."
Compared to the glasses she originally wore at home, Eriri recently had her eyesight checked and got a new pair of round-framed prescription glasses. The slightly oversized round frames gave Eriri a unique kind of cuteness.
Pushing up her glasses, Eriri pouted and said, "They are pretty good, but if I wear them for too long, especially at school, they leave marks on the bridge of my nose."
However, since Kaede said so, Eriri felt that she could occasionally switch between them and didn't have to stick to just one style.
Looking at Kaede, Eriri asked suspiciously, "Kaede-kun, you don't happen to have a glasses fetish, do you?"
"Come on, I'm not Akihito Kanbara, and you're not Mirai Kuriyama."
"Hehehe~~~"
It was about time; they should head out.
After hugging the three Cats at home—one large and two small—Eriri followed Kaede out of the apartment.
"Ah~~ It's finally starting to cool down slowly!"
Walking down the street outside, Eriri said, "Kaede-kun, it's autumn now. Let's find a chance to go travel somewhere else!"
"Go traveling?" Kaede paused, then realized, "You want to see the autumn leaves? There are quite a few places we could go."
"Hehe, anywhere is fine, as long as it's fun!"
Seeing how excited Eriri was, Kaede pondered and said, "If we're looking at autumn leaves, besides Tokyo, Osaka and Hokkaido are both options. Where do you want to go, Eriri?"
"Hokkaido!" Eriri declared immediately. "Besides the autumn leaves, there's seafood to eat!"
"I think you mainly want the seafood, don't you?" Poking Eriri's cheek, Kaede laughed and said, "Alright, let's go when we have time in November."
"Great!"
Although there was still more than a month to wait, Eriri was already impatient. On the way to the signing event venue, she happily talked about all the things she wanted to eat in Hokkaido.
"Sea urchin, sea urchin! Although you can eat it here in Tokyo, it's said that you can get the freshest ones there!"
"Alright, alright, you can eat whatever you want then, just be careful not to get an upset stomach."
Kaede also liked to eat, and seafood was naturally among his favorites, whether it was sea urchin or king crab.
And after Eriri mentioned it, Kaede himself was starting to crave it.
Hmm, why not find a good restaurant for lunch and have a seafood feast!
It was decided so happily.
After a thirty-minute journey, the two finally arrived at the venue for Utaha's autograph session. Upon entering the hall, they saw many people already waiting, holding the recently released third volume of love metronome.
Eriri looked around and said, "Indeed, there are many girls. Kaede-kun, is the proportion of female readers among your readers that high?"
"That's still impossible, after all, the genres of our novels are different."
While speaking, Kaede took out his phone to contact Machida Sonoko.
A few minutes later, Machida Sonoko appeared in front of them, leading them through a special passage to Utaha's preparation lounge.
Inside the lounge, Utaha had also dressed up carefully today, wearing a blue dress, paired with her obviously well-maintained long black hair. It was certain that as soon as she went out, she would attract everyone's attention.
Seeing them enter, she smiled and said, "Good morning, you're earlier than I expected."
Eriri walked over and sat down, smiling, "I just looked outside, there are a lot of people coming. Don't get nervous later, it would be fun if you made a fool of yourself."
To this, Utaha smiled confidently, "Nervous? Are you looking down on me?"