After eating their fill and drinking enough, Megumi helped to clean up the tableware. However, Homura naturally objected, but Megumi still picked up the dishes and left, leaving Homura helpless.
Eriri leaned back in her chair, rubbing her stomach and saying, "I feel so full..."
Utaha smiled and said, "Ara, Sawamura-san is surprisingly carefree!"
Eriri replied nonchalantly, "To begin with, I never pretended to be an elite young lady and the like, especially since I'm so familiar with this guy Minamiya. Everyone knows who's who around here, so I don't care!"
This time, Utaha didn't know what else to say, so she tested the waters and withdrew when she wasn't confident.
Eriri didn't think much of it either. If she knew that she had just missed a chance to win, would she be heartbroken?
===
"Thank you, Megumi," Homura said as he washed the dishes, expressing his gratitude to Megumi.
"No need to be polite, it was just a small thing," Megumi replied humbly. "Besides, didn't you ask me to take care of Utaha-senpai and Eriri? I think it's important to have a good understanding of the kitchen."
"I understand," Homura nodded.
'Megumi is truly a saint,' Homura thought, feeling reassured.
"Let's go!" Homura called out to the three girls after finishing the last of the cleaning, then said to Megumi. "Megumi, let me give you some beginner-level script books first!"
The three girls nodded heavily.
===
Hearing no sound from downstairs, Sagiri became anxious.
"Why is it so quiet? What are they doing?" She forgot what Homura had said earlier and her head was about to explode with anxiety, imagining a pornographic scene and blushing furiously.
"...Forget it, I trust my Nii-san!" She kept hypnotizing herself, forcing herself to believe that nothing would happen.
In the end, it was because there were strangers in the house that she didn't dare to go out.
After calming down, she remembered Homura's explanation and what he had to do with his club. Pouting, she muttered, "Why Nii-san didn't ask me for help?"
She completely forgot about her job and identity as an illustrator 'Eromanga-sensei' under her mother's guidance, which she kept secret from everyone.
Sagiri did not work with any particular light novel author but was mostly introduced by her mother to illustrate children's books.
Of course, as a hobby, she also secretly drew lewd pictures of her favorite characters without revealing her face, so she was quite famous in the industry.
"Baka Nii-san! Baka!" Sagiri said as she practiced boxing with a pillow.
===
The activity room is indeed very quiet.
Megumi is reading the book given to her by Homura, sitting at the long table, while the other three are working at their own desks, completely immersed in their own worlds as if they could continue forever without any interruption...
After a while, the sound of scratching at the door woke them up.
Looking at the time, Homura said, "Let's take a break for a while! It's been two hours already!"
He got up to open the door and let Haru in.
He squatted down and rubbed the head of the little one, saying, "Little one, I only have one request, you can't scratch your claws in this room. Is that okay? Everything here is very important."
"Meow~~ (Hmm? Oh, I got it, I'll go to the yard to sharpen my claws.)" She rubbed his palm and indicated that she understood.
Then she surveyed the room and finally jumped onto an empty chair and lay down.
Megumi was a little worried and asked, "Homura-kun, is it okay to let Haru-chan in?"
Her concern was not unreasonable. If it were an ordinary cat from a regular family, it wouldn't be allowed in, but if it's Haru, who understands Homura's Cat Language, is not in this category.
Homura smiled and shook his head, "Don't worry, the little one is very sensible. As long as I tell her, she'll know what she can't do."
Upon hearing this, Eriri was surprised, "What do you mean? Can Haru-chan understand what you saying?!"
"Of course!" Homura grinned, looking pleased with himself.
Eriri looked at him with envy, jealousy, and resentment while Utaha also wore a look of dissatisfaction. Even Megumi puffed up her cheeks and stared at him in silence.
Feeling that he had angered everyone, Homura quickly changed the subject and asked Eriri and Utaha.
"Speaking of which, how's your progress?"
Utaha gave him a glance and said, "The story and plot framework is partly completed."
"Well, I've also completed a part of it. Let's merge our work later." After speaking, he turned to Eriri and said, "What about you, Eriri?"
Eriri brought her sketch over and handed it to Homura, "I've created the character design for Miyamizu Mitsuha. Take a look and see how it is?"
Homura took over and looked at the design of Miyamizu Mitsuha on the paper. "Hmm, not bad. It feels much better than the original version, but it seems a bit too much with the hair accessories and bracelets."
"Eriri, let me point out that our protagonist is living in a remote countryside, right?" Homura suggested while handing the sketch back to Eriri.
Eriri took it, and listened to Homura's words, then looked at her character design and understood what he meant.
"You mean it's too fancy and doesn't match the character's background?"
"Yes!" Homura confirmed. "I think we should remove the extra accessories and keep only the red string of fate she used to tie her hair."
Thinking of the critical prop in the setting, Eriri nodded heavily and said, "I'll make the changes right away!"
After saying that, she got to work with great enthusiasm.
Homura had also drawn some supporting character designs, but he didn't want to interrupt them when they were so engrossed in their work.
"Utaha-senpai, let's pick some suitable transition plots," Homura said.
Although he had all the plot points in his mind, who said that there couldn't be a more suitable one?
As long as the main plot remained unchanged, other things could be modified accordingly.
After a brief discussion, he found that Utaha was indeed a super popular light novel writer, and her ideas were really eye-opening.
Megumi looked at the group, who had once again entered a working state, and picked up a book to study.
===
Megumi paused her studies, stretched lazily, and checked the time. It was almost 10 o'clock at night, and she couldn't help but say, "Everyone, it's getting late."
The others emerged from their focused states and looked at the time, sighing in unison, "Time flies!"
Homura twisted his neck and asked, "So, what's the plan? Are you all going back home or staying here?"
"I already talked to my mom, and it's okay for me to stay here. But if I'm the only one staying, some people might not agree, right?" Eriri said, glancing at someone with her eyes.
"Well, it's the first day after all. It's not like we can just stay at a boy's house or anything. I'm okay with it, but my parents might not be!" Utaha said, indicating that she herself was fine with it, but her parents were a different matter.
Megumi thought for a moment and also said, "Actually, I'm okay with it too. I don't know why, but my mom seems to feel relieved..."
Homura: "..."
So, what should they do?