The next day at noon, Hayashi woke up.
With no one beside him, he went straight to his private bathroom to wash up and shower, then changed into fresh clothes.
Holding one of his T-shirts, Hayashi looked at it with some doubt.
"Tohru should have put it in the washing machine to wash it, right?"
"Should be, right?"
Hayashi brought it closer to smell.
Mm, the scent of laundry detergent, and the smell of being sun-dried.
"Then it should be fine."
Hayashi changed his clothes and went out to prepare breakfast.
Outside.
Tohru, wearing her maid outfit, was humming "hm hm hm~" while mopping the floor.
Seeing Hayashi come out.
She immediately acted cute and greeted him: "Good morning, Hayashi-san."
"It should be good afternoon now." Hayashi smiled.
Tohru thought about it: "Oh right~"
"What do you want for breakfast?" Hayashi asked.
"It should be 'what do you want for lunch' now." Tohru smiled mischievously.
"...." Hayashi patted her head: "Alright, you learned that quickly. So what do you want for lunch?"
"Golden fried rice!"
"Sure. Has Kanna woken up?"
"She has. She got up very early today, changed her clothes and has been waiting for something, watching the street from the balcony."
"Okay, I'll go check on her."
Hayashi went to see Kanna first.
Coming to the balcony.
Kanna was gripping the railing, looking outside.
Hayashi followed her gaze and found that what Kanna was staring at were all students.
Summer was approaching, and the weather was getting hotter.
Now it was either long sleeves or short sleeves, either long pants or short skirts.
Many JK girls were walking hand in hand down the street.
"What's wrong?" Hayashi asked.
Kanna turned around: "Are we leaving for school?"
"We need to wait a bit longer." Hayashi checked the time: "We'll leave in another hour and a half."
"Okay, we're going to school."
"Right."
Hayashi had already noticed.
Kanna was beginning to show interest in peers her age.
Well, peers her apparent age.
Kanna was a young dragon, roughly equivalent to a human aged 9-12, the last three years of elementary school.
Adolescent dragons were about 13-16 years old, the three years of middle school.
Then came young adult dragons and so on.
Tohru was at the end of the adolescent dragon stage, about to become a young adult dragon. When that happened, her power would grow to somewhere between nation-destroying and continent-destroying levels, but this "about to" might still take many, many years.
After all, it was calculated by dragon age standards.
What Kanna was curious about was that so many peers all had to go to school.
What was this fun thing called school?
She wanted to see, and to play with peers, etc. In short, she was curious.
"Remember to come down for food later."
"Mm."
Hayashi rubbed Kanna's head and went downstairs to make fried rice.
Before cooking.
He took out his phone to message Kasumigaoka Utaha.
Hayashi: "Starting to fry rice now, come quickly."
Kasumigaoka Utaha: "What! Then I'll take a taxi over."
Hayashi: "Hiss... it's fine to come later, I'll keep it warm for you."
Kasumigaoka Utaha: "Such delicious food definitely needs to be eaten fresh!"
Hayashi: "Whatever makes you happy."
Taking a taxi over... that's going to be expensive.
Looks like Utaha really wants to eat this fried rice.
In the kitchen.
He took out the leftover rice from last night.
Then he took out several eggs.
Looking at the eggs, Hayashi cracked them open, put them in a bowl, then...
He stuck his finger in.
Using the Tremor-Tremor Fruit ability!
The next moment.
His finger shook into afterimages, and the egg mixture rapidly blended together, incredibly fast!
After beating the eggs, Hayashi wiped his finger with a towel.
"It's actually this useful, how ridiculous."
He prepared the ingredients and started cooking!
Soon enough.
The golden fried rice was ready.
"Tohru."
"Coming~"
Tohru came in and carried away a pot of fried rice.
Hayashi took the opportunity to wash the pot and utensils, wiped his hands and went out too.
Coming to the table.
Kanna was already sitting properly with a serious expression.
Tohru was serving everyone fried rice.
Hayashi had just sat down.
At this moment, Kamishiro Rize came down, drying her wet hair with a towel.
"Why don't you use a hair dryer?" Hayashi asked.
Kamishiro Rize sat down next to Hayashi: "The book says that a Yamato Nadeshiko should have beautiful long hair, and hair dryers make hair quality worse, so it should be naturally air-dried."
"!?" Hayashi's eyes widened slightly upon hearing this.
Kamishiro Rize had become so feminine!
She never used to care about her hair before.
Even if her head got covered in blood plasma, she wouldn't mind!
And now she actually cared about hair quality!
"Good, good, good." Hayashi nodded with satisfaction: "Keep up the good work."
"Mm-hmm." Kamishiro Rize made a soft humming sound.
Then she dried her hair and placed the towel on the chair behind Hayashi.
The faint scent of shampoo was quite nice.
Just then.
The sound of a car stopping came from the entrance.
After paying her fare, Kasumigaoka Utaha quickly ran over.
"Am I in time?"
"Just perfect timing."
"That's great."
"Impressive."
After Kasumigaoka Utaha took her seat, everyone began eating.
The deliciousness of fried rice was in filling your mouth and the aroma from repeated chewing.
It was simply delicious!
"Awooo~! Awooo~!"
Kanna opened her mouth wide, and the fried rice in front of her was eaten in small clumps.
Even her spoon was considerably larger than everyone else's.
After eating, Kasumigaoka Utaha felt it was totally worth it!
Hayashi looked at her appearance.
She wasn't wearing much makeup, or it was very light - he couldn't tell anyway.
But she had definitely dressed up, changed clothes, and her accessories were carefully selected.
After finishing breakfast.
Less than an hour had passed, just enough time to digest.
"I'm going out for a walk. If nothing unexpected happens, the house will be finalized soon." Kamishiro Rize indicated she was going out to confirm the house.
While everyone was sitting and resting.
Hayashi got up, went to the storage room to get a shovel and watering can, and headed to the yard.
Kanna watched and followed.
Tohru also curiously followed.
Finally, Pochita and the cats all came to watch too.
Only Utaha stayed to rest.
Hayashi came to the front yard.
He looked left and right, not quite sure where to choose.
Tohru asked: "Hayashi-san, are you planning to plant something?"
"Yes, planning to plant sunflowers. Then we'll have sunflower seeds to eat."
"That's great! Where will you plant them?"
"Don't know, so I'm looking."
Hayashi took out the three seeds from the system.
Surprisingly, each seed was the size of a fist, and he almost couldn't hold all three together.
"Woah~"
Tohru watched from the side, carefully sensing, and said in surprise.
"Hayashi-san, these seeds seem to have magic power inside, though just a little bit, like seeds from another world."
Kanna heard this: "Can they be eaten?"
"The seeds can't be." Hayashi reminded Kanna: "Only after they grow up and bear fruit can you eat them."
"Mm." Kanna nodded.
Hayashi finally thought about it - they should definitely be planted where there's plenty of sunlight.
So he carried the seeds and walked around the yard.
Finally, in the largest area of the yard, the seeds' reaction was most active.
"This spot then."
Without hesitation, Hayashi took the shovel and started digging.
Utaha curiously walked to the window to watch.
She directly saw Hayashi with the shovel, digging out three medium-sized holes in just a few minutes.
Each hole was over ten centimeters deep.
Utaha was a bit puzzled: "Isn't that too deep?"
"It's fine." Hayashi shook his head, indicating it was okay since the seeds were large.
The three holes formed a line, facing directly toward the outside of the yard.
He placed the three seeds in, watered them a bit, covered them with soil, then watered them again.
"Alright, now we wait for them to grow. Should be quick."
According to the seed description, they would bear fruit every three days.
This meant they could grow very fast.
And they had monster attributes.
So there was definitely no problem - they couldn't be killed by overwatering.
After planting the seeds.
A small mound appeared on the ground.
Hayashi instructed Pochita at his feet.
"Pochita, these three seeds are quite precious. You need to guard them well. When the time comes, I'll share the sunflower seeds with you and teach you how to crack them."
"Waf~!" (Leave it to Pochita!)
Hearing there was a share for him too.
Pochita happily ran circles around the seeds.
Then he lay directly on the grass under the window, indicating he would watch the seeds from here.
With Pochita's protection.
Hayashi was naturally at ease.
Even if he fell asleep at night, he wouldn't have to worry about strange ghouls coming to steal them.
After planting the seeds.
Hayashi clapped his hands and went back to wash them.
"What time is it?" Hayashi asked.
"Almost 1:30 PM." Tohru answered.
"Then let's go." Hayashi went to get the keys to the small van.
Then he looked at Kasumigaoka Utaha: "Would the soon-to-be famous writer Kasumi Utako mind my humble little van?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha rolled her eyes.
She pointed at the house behind her: "Why don't you sell the restaurant and I'll support you with my writing."
"Hiss... that's so touching." Hayashi took a sharp breath, opened the car door and got in: "Let's go quickly. Oh, by the way."
Seeing Tohru get in still wearing her maid outfit, while Kanna was in normal clothes.
Hayashi asked: "Do you want to change clothes?"
"No." Tohru flatly refused: "Everyone can't tell anyway."
"Alright."
Everyone got in the car, and the engine started.
The small van puttered out of the alley toward Utaha's high school.
On the way.
Hayashi glanced at the CCG members on the street.
Then he curiously asked Utaha: "At your school, how many students like you - literary writers, or those doing music, painting, etc. - have already published works?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha thought about it and nodded: "Quite a few that I know of."
After saying this, she added: "But my sales are the best. The second best is a manga artist."
Hayashi was curious: "How's the second place's artwork?"
"Not bad, I guess." Kasumigaoka Utaha recalled: "Just that the art style is weird. The women are drawn beautifully, but the men's expressions are all strange."
No need to think about it - definitely a male artist.
The small van headed toward the school.
More and more students appeared around them.
Kanna pressed against the window looking outside, very curious.
Utaha was fiddling with her phone.
After a moment she looked up: "The editor is already waiting for us at the school gate."
"Mm."
When they reached the school, Hayashi parked the van in the parking lot.
It was now club time at school.
Many students had finished classes - some went home, others went to participate in clubs of various kinds.
Literature had literature clubs, art had art clubs.
Or other sports-related ones.
Kanna and Tohru watched with great curiosity.
"So many students."
"Yes."
Dragons actually went to school too, but strictly speaking it wasn't really school - they just received a bit of experience transmission, with most knowledge inherited as they grew older.
After getting out of the car.
Kasumigaoka Utaha led the three of them to find her editor.
Her editor was quite attractive too, named Machida Sonoko.
After both sides greeted each other.
They headed into the school together.
During this time, Machida Sonoko kept secretly observing Hayashi, then inexplicably nodded.
Actually, her inner thoughts were like this:
So this is the store manager the male protagonist in the book is based on?
Mm, his appearance is indeed qualified - no, quite good.
In Utaha's new story, the male protagonist has a lazy but unexpectedly calm and steady personality, and this seems about right too.
But it looks like Utaha and this man haven't gotten together yet.
So romance novels really do need the stimulation of fantasy love to produce good works, don't they?
Utaha has unexpectedly taken the right path.
Just wondering what would happen if she experienced heartbreak later - she couldn't switch to heartbreak literature, could she?
Mm, better not to experience heartbreak.
In the school.
Kasumigaoka Utaha checked the time.
Seeing there was still a while, Utaha planned to show Hayashi around the school.
Starting from the classroom building, to the activity clubs, swimming pool, sports fields, etc.
Hayashi didn't have any particular feelings about it.
It just looked especially like a realistic manga setting.
But Kanna watched with great interest.
She looked around everywhere with "ooh"s and "ahh"s.
Seeing students walking together in groups, in twos and threes, she would also stare for a while.
Seeing this, Hayashi asked:
"Does Kanna like school, or does she like classmates her own age?"
Kanna thought about it: "Only by going to school would there be so many classmates the same age."
That was indeed true.
When young, besides school, it was hard to find so many peers together in other places in human society.
"So does Kanna want to go to school?" Hayashi asked.
Tohru listened from the side: "Can Kanna go to school too?"
"Yes, she can." Hayashi confirmed.
Hearing Hayashi's question, Kanna fell into deep thought.
She didn't know whether she should go to school, what she would go to school for, and whether school was good or not.
Seeing Kanna lost in thought.
Hayashi patted her head and said:
"If you can't figure it out, don't rush. Kanna, you have plenty of time to think about it."
"Elementary school, middle school, even high school - you can go to any of them. When you feel like you want to go, just tell me."
Time was the best solution.
Coincidentally, dragons had plenty of time.
Kanna nodded: "Mm, thank you, Hayashi."
"No need to thank me."
After chatting here for a bit.
Utaha needed to prepare for the book launch event.
Hayashi planned to follow and take a look.
But Kanna was very curious about the clubs.
So Hayashi thought about it: "How about this - Tohru, you take Kanna to play around the school. There are activity facilities over there too. I'll go with Utaha to the book launch. When you want to come back or find someone, just call me."
"Okay, Hayashi-san. Then we're off."
Tohru thought that was good too, and left with Kanna to check out the clubs.
Hayashi followed Utaha to the book launch event.
They had cleared out a badminton gymnasium and converted it into a launch venue, and it wasn't just for Utaha - it seemed other club activities were also taking place here.
It was somewhat like an internal school festival.
Inside the gymnasium, more and more people gathered - some queuing, others participating in club activities.
When the time came.
Utaha said to Hayashi: "I'm going now."
"Go ahead." Hayashi nodded: "I'll wait for you here. I won't queue to get another copy of the book."
"Okay." Utaha nodded and left.
Hayashi found a spot at the edge to sit down.
Watching the people coming and going, he felt like becoming an anime NPC.
Kasumigaoka Utaha's new book had quite a good reception within the school.
This could be seen from the many people queuing.
Hayashi's eyes swept from the gymnasium entrance to the people in the queue, looking around.
Finally landing on Kasumigaoka Utaha who had officially started the book signing.
At this moment, Utaha was signing books for readers and thanking them.
Her editor was helping beside her.
There was also a bunny girl senpai leaning over nearby, curiously watching.
"Wait, bunny girl?"
Hayashi rubbed his eyes and looked again.
It really was a senpai wearing a bunny girl costume, watching Kasumigaoka Utaha sign books!
And the people around her had no reaction to her!
Kasumigaoka Utaha and her editor felt nothing even with the bunny girl so close!
"Sakurajima Mai!?"
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