"Good morning, Eriri."ow Man
In the classroom of Class G, a few girls greeted Eriri as usual when they saw her enter. However, they were startled by her appearance.
Eriri was stumbling slightly, with noticeable dark circles under her eyes, clearly indicating that she hadn't slept well the previous night.
Although Eriri had tried her best to cover up the dark circles, it was still evident.
In the past, there were occasions when Eriri ca to school without a good night's sleep and showed slight signs of fatigue. However, this was the first ti it was this severe.
After all, Eriri was a hobody. Sotis, when she ca across an ani she liked or discovered a treasure trove of manga, she would stay up late indulging in them.
But last night was different. After returning ho, Eriri couldn't stop thinking about the "mana replenishnt process" between Shin and Irisviel, and the thought kept her awake all night.
Unable to sleep, she ended up pulling an all-nighter revising her draft until she finally passed out from exhaustion in the early hours. As a result, she had barely slept for two or three hours, leaving her with heavy dark circles.
"Are you okay, Eriri?"
A few classmates gathered around her with concern, worried about her condition.
"I'm fine... I might just doze off in class. If that happens, I'll need you to cover for with the teacher," Eriri replied with an awkward smile. Naturally, she couldn't admit that she had stayed up all night drawing her doujinshi. She vaguely avoided explaining.
Fortunately, her usual persona of being a "kind and approachable young lady" worked in her favor, and her friends were happy to help her out.
At that mont, Eriri suddenly thought of gumi Kato, whom she had t on the rooftop the day before. If she had that kind of "low presence" ability, sneaking in a nap during class would be much easier.
"Ah, it's Shin!"
While Eriri was debating which classes she could use for catching up on sleep, her classmates suddenly exclaid while looking out the window.
Recently, Shin had been a hot topic among the students, especially after he was seen leaving school with the students from Shuchiin Academy.
High school students tended to gossip about anything, and Shuchiin's reputation made it even more notable.
Hearing his na, Eriri instinctively turned to look outside and saw Shin walking through the school gates.
The mont she saw his face, Eriri's cheeks flushed red—mories of what she had witnessed at Shin's house the previous day flooded back.
"Damn it! I couldn't sleep all night, and yet he looks so full of energy!"
Feeling a bit resentful, Eriri quickly suppressed her frustration. After all, Shin had leverage over her—her secret identity as a doujinshi artist was sothing she couldn't let her schoolmates know about. That would be social suicide.
Moreover, Eriri's bag currently held the draft she had revised overnight, which she planned to hand over to Shin for review.
After all, it was a product of Shin and Irisviel's "personal teaching session," so she felt compelled to have Shin check it out. Partly because of his condition that "all drafts must be reviewed by him," and partly because she wanted to know when the next "teaching session" would take place.
"Wait, what am I thinking!? That wasn't even teaching!"
Realizing her thoughts, Eriri slapped her cheeks in frustration. She couldn't believe she was already anticipating the next session.
"What were you doing with the girls from Shuchiin Academy, Shin Kun?"
After Shin arrived at his classroom, he soon started chatting with gumi Kato again.
There weren't many notable beauties in Shin's class. Apart from gumi, there were only a few girls among the more extroverted groups.
Shin preferred talking to gumi—her presence was calm and pleasant.
Today, however, gumi finally broke her silence and asked about Hayasaka Ai, the girl from Shuchiin.
"I thought you wouldn't ask about that," Shin said with a smile.
It had already been two days since he walked with Hayasaka Ai, and the story had spread throughout the school by the following day.
Even though gumi didn't socialize much, Shin assud she must have heard about it. Since she didn't ntion it yesterday, he thought she wasn't interested.
But to his surprise, gumi brought it up today—perhaps because Hayasaka Ai was undeniably beautiful.
"Hayasaka is a maid of the Shinomiya family. My business is related to the Shinomiya family," Shin explained without hesitation.
"I ntioned before that I'm involved in so business—that's the connection. The Shinomiya family is part of it. That's also why I said I'm well-off financially," he added with a chuckle.
He wasn't lying. The Shinomiya family had indeed sent Hayasaka Ai to establish a rapport with him. Business relationships could also be based on personal ties.
However, Shin refrained from revealing the full truth—that the Shinomiya family essentially belonged to him now. That kind of revelation would probably be too shocking, and gumi might think he was joking.
Even with this explanation, gumi was taken aback. After a mont of silence, she murmured, "The Shinomiya family...? As in, the Shinomiya Conglorate?"
The Shinomiya Conglorate was one of the four major conglorates in the country, with a presence in many industries. gumi could hardly believe that a high schooler like Shin had business dealings with them.
"So you don't need to worry about my financial situation. I've already achieved financial freedom," Shin said with a laugh.
"Even if I have to support a few more people, it's no problem."
"That statent sounds oddly suggestive, Shin Kun," gumi remarked, giving him a sidelong glance before letting out a small snort.
"Well, considering how many people you've already involved yourself with…"
Recently, during lunchti, Shin had been gathering more and more people. While gumi was initially annoyed, she had gradually grown accustod to it.
After spending a few days eating lunch together and chatting, gumi had even started getting along with Hitori Gotou and Kita Ikuyo. They had exchanged contact information and occasionally chatted on their phones.
With this budding friendship, even the easygoing gumi couldn't find a reason to push them away anymore.
To be continued...
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