In crossover anime, who isn't a childhood friend?

"it is good."

Yukino readily agreed, but didn't touch her chopsticks for the moment. Instead, she took out her phone to search for traffic information around Shimono Zoo.

Eriri has completely ignited my panda obsession.

Of the four people present, three have confirmed their participation in Sunday's operation, leaving only Yuan Qianye without a response.

Meeting Eriri and Rikka's expectant gazes, he smiled and said, "Of course I do too..."

"Buzz—buzz—!"

His cell phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket.

He stopped speaking and took out his phone.

Eriri and Rikka couldn't see his phone screen from across the table. Yukino sat next to him, but she wouldn't pry into someone's privacy. However, she noticed that Minamoto Chiyo's smiling expression suddenly froze, which seemed a little unexpected.

"It's a bit noisy in here, I'm going out to answer a call." With that, he got up and left.

"I'm sorry, Chiya-kun, I hope I didn't disturb you by calling so suddenly." The voice of the maid, whom I hadn't heard in a long time, came from the phone's receiver.

"It's alright." Yuan Qianye, relieved as she walked out of the restaurant, smiled and said, "Speaking of which, it was quite a coincidence last night. I ran into your mother at a banquet I attended, and we even chatted for a bit."

"I called because of this. My mother asked me to tell you something. You attended the banquet with the Yukinoshita family last night, right? Actually, there is a traitor in the Yukinoshita family's camp..." Hayasaka Ai bluntly stated the important matter.

As Hayasaka Ai spoke, Minamoto Chiya's expression gradually became serious.

"...That's roughly it. My mother thinks this might be important to you, so she specifically asked me to tell you."

"It's really important, thank you so much."

"You're welcome. This is my mother's idea."

"She only did that because of you. Otherwise, she wouldn't have taken such a risk for something that had nothing to do with her."

"It's not like that, she actually admires you a lot..."

Hayasaka Ai's voice was very soft on the other end of the phone. She had already said the most important thing, but she didn't want to hang up so soon.

“…Chiya-kun.” She suddenly took a deep breath as if she had made up her mind: “Do you have time this Sunday? There are still some details about what I just told you that I can’t explain clearly right now. If you want to understand it clearly, I’m off on Sunday, and we can meet and talk about it in detail.”

…………

Chapter 066: It's definitely to see someone I like.

"I have a bad feeling," Eriri said, looking worriedly in the direction where Chiya had left.

Rikka reassured her, "It's okay. My brother always tells me and Toka in advance if he has plans for the weekend. I haven't heard him say he's going out this weekend, which means he's probably not working. He'll definitely be free. Besides that, what did Saeko-nee say in response?"

"Let me see if she has replied."

Eriri secretly hoped that Sunday's event would only be attended by the four of them.

After all, compared to others, she was indeed closer to Rikka Chiya, whom she had known since elementary school.

However, because of his pride, he still couldn't ignore the other people.

For example, Kazusa couldn't help but invite her along, since she was a colleague during the filming of the movie. She had a good impression of Kazusa after spending so much time with her recently, and after getting to know her better, she realized that she was a person with a cold exterior but a warm heart.

Then there's Saeko, the older sister character, strong, gentle, and kind. Eriri used to respect her a lot, unlike that black-stockinged monster who only knows how to be sarcastic and flirtatious all day long, not to mention that she is now Chiya's girlfriend.

Although Eriri found it hard to believe at first, it was indeed true, so she had no choice but to accept it.

"Ah, I got a reply."

"Let me see."

Just as Eriri took out her phone, the other party's message came back.

Upon seeing this, Rikka immediately moved closer to her.

At the dinner table, Yukino was intently researching information about Shimono Zoo, especially the panda exhibit, completely absorbed in her own world.

Saeko sent a very polite reply to Eriri's invitation.

Putting aside the polite words, the core idea is simple: she can't confirm whether she has any plans for Sunday yet, and may have to wait until later to give a reply.

Rikka said, "It's a reply that I expected. Saeko-nee is indeed different from us. After all, she is the captain of the kendo club and has to come to school to participate in club activities on weekends."

Eriri nodded and typed a reply indicating that she understood.

Saeko quickly replied with an adorable emoji of a silly polar bear bowing and thanking someone but falling down.

After getting together with Yuan Qianye, she became more and more girlish in many ways.

Eriri belatedly realized this and had mixed feelings.

After hanging up the call with Hayasaka Ai, Minamoto Chiya returned to the dining table.

His apologetic expression immediately chilled Eriri's heart.

And what he said next was exactly what he expected.

"Sorry, I have other plans for the weekend and can't get away. Have fun."

"Eh—" Rikka looked quite disappointed: "Work again?"

"More or less," Yuan Qianye replied vaguely.

The maid's message concerns the Yukinoshita family's business, and since he is now connected to Haruno, he is, in a sense, tied to the Yukinoshita family. So, it is indeed plausible to use work as an excuse.

"If it's not a very important task, I can bring it up or postpone it, but this time is different," he offered a tentative explanation.

"There's nothing I can do about it. I should have confirmed with you before I brought it up." Eriri composed herself and tried to comfort her.

Rikka pouted: "Work, work, all you ever think about is work. Is work more important or spending time with me?"

Gen Chiya said seriously, "Of course Rikka is more important. Compared to Rikka, work is completely irrelevant."

"I might have believed it before," Rikka muttered softly.

He so heartlessly left his younger sister alone at home last night and ran off to do who knows what...

"It's understandable that Chiya has important matters to attend to; there will be plenty of opportunities to arrange another meeting later." In the end, it was Yukino who brought the matter to a close.

The group then began their lunch.

Although Gen Chiya will not participate in Sunday's activities, there are still some arrangements that should be discussed.

the other side.

The Kendo Club's separate office.

Utaha was eating lunchboxes she had brought from home with Saeko.

They were on the same side, and since Saeko made no effort to hide anything, Utaha was able to see the messages on her phone quite easily.

“Why wouldn’t you go? You’re free on Sunday, aren’t you?” Shiwa, who spends most of her lunch break at school at the kendo club, is quite familiar with Saeko’s schedule: “If you’re worried about me, there’s absolutely no need for that. I don’t care about it at all.”

She was aware that she was disliked by the golden retriever.

It's strange, really; the incompatibility between her and that guy seemed to be innate.

Given Shiyu's personality, even if she encounters someone she dislikes, she will at most just feel contempt and ignore them.

As for Sawamura Spencer Eriri, he disliked her and was too lazy to spend time with her, but whenever they met, he couldn't help but instinctively ridicule her. He had an incredibly strong urge to see her furious expression but was powerless to do anything about it.

Seeing her like that made Shiyu feel quite satisfied.

However, upon closer reflection, this is actually quite childish and inconsistent with her self-proclaimed rational and mature personality.

Shiyu has never been able to understand herself in this way.

Ultimately, the only explanation that could be attributed to the two women being incompatible according to their birth charts was a rather mystical one.

"That's not the reason, um... I have a few ideas."

"idea?"

"Well, if Chiya is with them, I won't go, but if Chiya isn't with them, I might consider going with them," Saeko said, expressing her thoughts.

"?" Shiwa initially failed to understand the logic in Saeko's words.

After all, according to conventional thinking, the situation should be completely reversed.

However, after carefully considering the actual cases she had experienced, she seemed to understand.

"Saeko, you wouldn't be thinking of..." Shiho deliberately left her words unfinished.

However, given the increasingly harmonious relationship between the two of them recently, and their thoughts gradually synchronizing to a considerable degree, some things don't need to be said explicitly for the other person to understand clearly.

Saeko made no attempt to hide the truth: "I did have that thought."

Although she had anticipated this and was mentally prepared, Utaha was still speechless when she actually received Saeko's definite reply: "Are you... serious?"

Saeko nodded: "I wasn't joking. I think you can understand, Utaha."

"I don't understand your thought process of sharing your favorite things with others for free. I just can't get it."

Qianye is no good... uh, no...

After much deliberation, Saeko realized that no matter how she phrased her reply, it felt awkward, so she simply skipped it.

"It's not about sharing for free. I just feel that it's more appropriate to give freedom than to restrict it. For example, with a caged bird, it's understandable to like it so much that you want to keep it by your side. But if you consider it from its perspective, it's definitely a better choice to release it back into the sky."

Shi Yu's gaze was deep and unfathomable: "Aren't you afraid that if this goes on for too long, it will fly away and never come home again?"

Saeko wasn't worried at all: "Not to mention that Chiya isn't that kind of person, he also made a promise to me. Just considering the two of us together, that kind of thing is completely impossible."

Shiyu remained silent for a long time before saying, "On this one point, I feel that we will never be able to reach a consensus in our lifetime."

"It's okay, it was my own idea anyway, as long as you don't object, Shiyu."

"..."

Shi Yu opened her lips, but still couldn't utter a word.

She was actually very opposed to it; how could she not be with her pure-hearted nature?

However, when she thought about how she and Qianye had been so intimate and passionate, she felt completely exhausted and on the verge of fainting, while Qianye lay on top of her, still full of energy, looking at her with such longing and anticipation, hoping that she could regain some strength and continue with him for dozens more rounds, while she herself was powerless and unable to muster the strength...

A sense of powerlessness, unable to satisfy one's partner, clearly emerges.

She can't always be the only one who falls into a deep sleep while ignoring his feelings.

"Am I some kind of incompetent husband in the doujinshi...?" Shiyu muttered to herself with self-deprecation.

"what?"