248: Three People Meeting
The field of homesteading can be roughly divided into two categories: hidden houses and existing houses.
Eriri has always classified herself as the former.
To the outside world, her appearance is quite perfect; even people she knows cannot see through her disguise. Only those closest to her are aware of her true nature.
Behind her perfect and dazzling demeanor, which resembles that of a princess, she is actually a casual and carefree girl.
She walks around in a green sweatshirt that is convenient and comfortable for home wear but lacks any aesthetic or fashionable appeal.
Her contact lenses have been replaced by thick-rimmed black glasses, and her hair is loosely draped over her shoulders.
At home, there is no need for braiding one's hair; it is done simply for comfort.
There is a reason why Eriri suddenly recalled her habitual private style at this critical moment, and that reason is Hitori, who is currently standing in front of her and has just introduced herself.
Eriri's original judgment of her opponent was straightforward: she imagined Hitori to be either charming and good-looking, with a gentle and tactful personality, or warm and cheerful toward others.
In short, she believed Hitori should possess several qualities favored by the opposite sex; otherwise, Chisato would not be interested in her.
It was because of this preconceived notion that Eriri felt such a stark contrast upon seeing the real person.
Eriri's first impression of Hitori was simple at best and gloomy at worst.
When the other party introduced herself to Chisato, her eyes kept wandering, and her lips, hands, and feet trembled slightly.
This performance, coupled with her expression and the stuttering tone of her greeting, made it difficult to imagine this was a display of acting skills.
The aura of social anxiety she exuded was painfully obvious.
Eriri never imagined that the competitor she and Utaha had worried about and who had made them anxious all day long would turn out to be such an unassuming target.
Utaha's eyes narrowed slightly after Hitori took the initiative to say hello.
Like Eriri, she was collecting information about the other party upon their first meeting, but she did not dwell on it. Instead, she quickly revealed her talent as a novelist.
She extracted the keywords describing the girl in front of her in the most intuitive and simple way: acceptable looks, acceptable figure, but earthy, timid, weak, hunched, and lacking confidence...
Upon arriving at these keywords, Utaha's expression changed.
Unlike Eriri, who maintained a polite smile, Utaha raised her chin slightly, adopting a condescending attitude that indicated victory was at hand.
If one considers the context, Utaha's psychology is easy to understand.
The two sides were facing each other, and before the battle, because they did not know the specific strength of the enemy's forces, she and Eriri imagined the worst possible scenario.
This is a kind of wisdom known as preparedness.
However, while waiting for the other party to formally meet and engage, she suddenly discovered that the opposing forces were made up of women, children, and the elderly. She had seriously overestimated the opponent's standing strength.
On her side, not only were the soldiers neatly arrayed and high-spirited, but there was also an ally in Eriri, who was nearly as powerful as she was.
Together, they could easily overwhelm the opposition with just one charge.
The situation couldn't be clearer.
Though the horn of war had not yet sounded, the outcome was already evident.
Thus, Utaha, who was the first to assume the role of the victor, took a step forward and extended a false hand of goodwill toward her opponent.
She deliberately pushed her hair—much softer and more elegant than Hitori's—behind her ears and responded with a slight smile, saying,
"Hello, Miss Gotoh. Please don't be shy. Now that you're here, just treat this place like your own home. There's no need to be so formal."
Upon hearing this, the other two people present were slightly moved.
Eriri quickly glanced at her ally.
She secretly praised Utaha's boldness for skipping the usual formalities. With her first words, she intentionally—or perhaps unintentionally—attempted to seduce Hitori.
One must note that the situation had changed recently. This place could be called an apartment shared by her, Utaha, and Chisato.
Utaha's casual reference to this place as "home" carried significant meaning.
It was obvious that she regarded herself as the hostess of this "home," speaking to Hitori in a tone befitting a host welcoming a guest.
Most importantly, she was subtly reminding Hitori of her outsider status.
Chisato, like Eriri, realized this immediately but did not express anything.
After all, he had to consider everyone involved; whether it was Utaha or Eriri, they were all his kittens.
As their master, he could not openly favor any one party. At most, he could only mediate in private.
As for the second reason...
It was evident from the reactions of the "kittens."
"Thank you... thank you!" Hitori responded to Utaha's warm words simply.
While expressing her gratitude, she bent down and reached out to take Utaha's hand.
When she straightened up again, the smile on her face was visibly more relaxed than before.
While this reaction made Chisato secretly laugh in his heart, it also caused both Utaha and Eriri to react simultaneously.
If this was not pretentious, it indicated that the girl in front of them possessed an attribute they had previously overlooked.
She was natural, or in other words, slow.
The two meanings are similar in this context.
To put it simply, she struggled to read the atmosphere and discern others' feelings.
And what is a well-known fact?
Naturalness often suppresses cunning.
This saying, widely circulated in the two-dimensional world, holds some truth.
Hitori's current reaction is clear evidence of this.
Seeing Utaha's eyelids twitch slightly, Eriri understood the feeling of powerlessness that arises when you clench your fist tightly and strike out only to find nothing there.
After all, they had been too impatient. In any endeavor, the impatient party often fails to gain the upper hand.
Why had this guy suffered so many setbacks and yet failed to learn a lesson?
Eriri felt a hint of powerlessness as well.
Complaints aside, not all was lost. At the very least, their understanding of Hitori had deepened.
"Hello, Gotoh-san. Just call me Eriri, like Chisato does, and please take good care of me in the future."
After Utaha returned without success, Eriri took over.
Her demeanor seemed quite ordinary.
However, upon closer analysis, both her exterior and interior approach were of high quality.
Unlike Utaha, who had used the more formal "Miss" suffix often employed by slightly more mature individuals to create distance and a sense of opposition, Eriri adopted the more casual title of "classmate."
This choice aligned better with their status and served as a small gesture of goodwill.
At the same time, having gleaned a rough understanding of Hitori's character through Utaha's probing, Eriri deliberately made the second half of her sentence very straightforward to ensure her signal was received.
Moreover, unlike Utaha, who was singularly focused on attacking Hitori, Eriri was more concerned about the reactions of Chisato.
After all, everything they did was ultimately for him, so she did not want to accumulate negative comments in front of him, thus lowering her standing.
She simply observed Utaha's not-so-clever approach.
This worked well: Utaha was willing to take on the role of the antagonist, applying pressure on Hitori, while Eriri was content to play the good cop, taking on various roles that would create a favorable impression without stopping or admonishing Utaha.
"Hello, Eriri-san. You can just call me Hitori," Hitori replied.
After hearing Chisato's words at noon, Hitori's heart, which had been anxious, gradually calmed, and her mind ceased its wild thoughts.
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(11/22)
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