The Villainous Uncle in the Adult Game Gets Unusually High Praise from the Heroines - Chapter 11

Today, Tomoe-chan came over after school once again, and unusually, Sakurako-chan was home too. 

The two were drinking tea and eating cookies, which were the chocolate chip cookies I’d made to kill time. They were really delicious since I’d dumped tons of chocolate in the mix, but eating too much might give one diabetes.

“Eheheheh~”

Tomoe-chan had a somewhat creepy smile on her face. What was this about? Did something good happen?

“…What’s with that disturbing expression?”

“Well, I was just thinking of how I’m growing steadily~”

“Huh?”

“Actually, when I posted an illustration on Tsubuyaiter (twitter), it got 300 ‘likes’!”

“Is that impressive?”

“W-well. Since I was riding the trend of a currently popular anime, if you ask if it’s really impressive, ah… I wonder.”

When Sakurako-chan asked that with a blank expression on her face, Tomoe-chan started looking flustered. Then, averting her eyes slightly, she said, “…Yeah, maybe it’s not that impressive after all.”

“Ah.”

It was an incredibly disinterested “ah”. I used to think it was pretty difficult to express such complete disinterest, it was somewhat impressive. No, maybe that was not something to be impressed about.

“More importantly, you two.”

“Hm?”

“Yes?”

“How’s school? Are you enjoying it?”

This was both casual conversation and information gathering. The two final heroines could only be met through Tomoe-chan. 

Currently, Tomoe-chan wasn’t completely obedient to me, so I couldn’t make her directly bring her friends over, nor could I easily extract information. However, I might still be able to learn a little, and maybe get some information that could lead to meeting them.

“Hmm, it’s normal for me. I just go to school, attend classes, then come back home. That’s all.”

“Sakurako-san is basically always alone, after all.”

“…Hey, Tomoe-san.”

“It’s true, though.”

“Oh, but wasn’t Sakurako-chan friends with that boy next door?”

I decided to bring up Sho-kun to test the waters. Sakurako-chan looked a bit flustered and said, “W-well, Shou is just a friend, nothing more, nothing less. Sometimes we talk, sometimes we don’t.”

“Hmm.”

“R-really, it’s true!”

This was kind of irritating. Maybe there had actually been some progress between those two. Their relationship was supposed to develop through healing Sakurako-chan’s emotional wounds from her parents’ accident. 

Was Sho-kun fulfilling that role right now? If so, that could be bad. I might need to make Sakurako-chan mine quickly.

“S-so. What about you, Tomoe-san?”

“Hmm, me?”

“Yeah, weren’t you in the illustration club?”

“I’m currently working on the cover of the literary magazine that the Literature Club publishes.”

“Oh, the Literature Club.”

I decided to shift my focus and dig a little deeper into Tomoe-chan’s activities.

“The Literature Club, huh? So, since it’s not a proper club, does that mean there aren’t many members?”

“Yeah, there are five people right now, but two are ghost members. So basically only three of us are active.”

“I see, I see. What kind of members are there?”

“Well, there’s Rindo-kun, and then there are the Kongou twins. They’re first-years.”

“Twins in the same club, that seems unusual.”

“Well, the genres they write are complete opposites though. Asahi-chan writes fantasy while Yozuki-chan writes contemporary stuff.”

“Interesting.”

While saying this, I inwardly smiled at how much information had come out unexpectedly. 

Asahi Kongou and Yozuki Kongou. The two last heroines. Learning about them here would probably have quite an impact going forward.

“Are you close with them?”

“Not really. I get along with Asahi-chan, but I don’t talk to Yozuki-chan at all, and with Rindo-kun, I just see him around.”

“…And you can draw the club magazine cover just like that?”

“Yeah, Asahi-chan just tells me what to draw, and I follow her instructions.”

“Hmm.”

“Ah, could it be, Take-san, that  you’re curious about my relationship with Rindo-kun? No way~ I don’t have anyone I like right now~” Tomoe-chan said with a grin.

“I’m completely focused on my illustration work for now!!”

“That’s great. Keep up the good work.”

“Eh, huh? Getting such a straightforward response is kind of troubling…”

“Was that a lie?”

“N-no. It wasn’t a lie, but…” Tomoe-chan mumbled, seeming somewhat unsatisfied.

?

What could she be unsatisfied about?

“Well, anyway. Tomoe-san, please keep working hard toward your dream of becoming an illustrator,” Sakurako-chan said with a smile.

“Take-san and I are both supporting you.”

“Ahaha. Yeah, this isn’t just my dream anymore. Of course I’ll work hard!”

“Yes. I pray your dream comes true.”

The two smiled at each other happily. Despite everything, they seemed to get along well, which made me happy too.