Crossover: After deciding to give up, i became popular

After parting ways with Chika Fujiwara, Kanade Natsukawa returned home, changed into comfortable clothes, and immersed himself in a warm bath. As the soothing heat enveloped him, the day's fatigue melted away.

"Ah, soaking in a bath is truly one of humanity's greatest inventions!" he mused contentedly.

Since discovering the joys of soaking baths after arriving in this world, Kanade had become a devoted fan. A day without a bath left him feeling off, as though his body craved that gentle, relaxing embrace of hot water.

Reaching for his phone to browse for entertainment, he was instead drawn to a message notification.

"Eriri? What could she want?" he murmured.

The fogged-up screen and droplets of water made reading the message difficult, but Kanade could just make out fragmented sentences like:

"Sorry to… bother… something I want… ask you about…"

Typing a reply proved challenging, so Kanade decided to make things simpler with a call.

"Can we talk?" he managed to type after struggling with the slippery touchscreen.

The reply was nearly instantaneous:

"Yes! Of course! But please wait a moment!"

"Alright," Kanade replied, mildly amused by Eriri's eagerness.

Meanwhile, in Eriri's Room

In a lavish house blending Japanese and Western architectural styles, Eriri Spencer Sawamura leaped to her feet.

"Kanade replied! Guhahaha!" she giggled excitedly, clutching her phone like a treasure. Her elation quickly turned into panic.

"Wait, wait, now's not the time to laugh like an idiot, Eriri! I need to change clothes! I can't let Kanade see me looking like this!"

But then she froze, realizing:

"…Wait. He can't see me! It's just a call, not a video chat. Why would I even need to change?"

"But what if…" Her voice trembled. "What if he wants to video chat instead?"

"Aaaaaah!" Eriri screamed, tossing reason aside. "Better safe than sorry!"

In her haste to reach her wardrobe, Eriri's bare toes collided with the corner of her desk.

"Waaaaah!" she cried out, clutching her throbbing foot. Her big toe, now red and bent at an awkward angle, was the unfortunate casualty of her carelessness.

"I'm not going to let this stop me!" Eriri declared, gritting her teeth through the pain.

Using the desk for support, she stood up, only to promptly smack her head against its underside.

"Waaaaaah!" she whimpered, clutching her head this time. Tears welled in her eyes as pain throbbed from both her toe and her forehead.

The universe seemed determined to keep her from talking to Kanade. But Eriri refused to give up.

She carefully maneuvered around potential hazards, finally reaching her wardrobe. Pulling out a red dress—one she had worn on their first outing together, under the guise of "gathering reference material"—she nodded resolutely.

"This'll do!"

After changing into the dress and hiding her discarded work clothes under the bed, she scanned her messy room. Sketches littered the floor, and a large plushie Kanade had given her was sprawled across the bed.

"Nooooo! My room's a disaster!" Eriri shrieked, scrambling to clean. By the time she finished tidying up, she was out of breath and her hands were trembling.

But she finally sent the message:

"I'm ready!"

Then it hit her: Was she ready?

She hadn't checked her hair. She wasn't wearing makeup. What if Kanade thought she looked sloppy and plain?

Just as she began to spiral into panic again, the screen lit up with Kanade's video call invitation.

"A v-video call?!" Eriri gasped.

Her face turned crimson. Good thing she had tidied up earlier. Otherwise, Kanade might have thought she was an unkempt slob.

Taking a deep breath, she accepted the call.

On the Other Side

"Good evening, Sawamura-san," Kanade greeted warmly as his face appeared on her screen.

"…"

Eriri froze, her mind blank.

Kanade wasn't wearing a shirt.

Her thoughts raced as her eyes lingered on his bare chest and the defined muscles of his abdomen. Her face grew hotter by the second.

"Hey, can you hear me?" Kanade's voice broke through her daze.

"Y-YES!" Eriri practically shouted, her pitch several octaves higher than usual.

"Sorry about this," Kanade said, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm in the bath, and the screen's a bit foggy. Typing would've been a hassle, so I figured calling would be easier."

Eriri's mind reeled. Kanade was in the bath.

That explained the lack of clothing… but still! Who casually initiated a video call while bathing? This wasn't some doujinshi scenario!

Or… was it? Could he have misclicked? Maybe he only meant to call, but accidentally pressed the video option?

Eriri's internal debate raged.

On one hand, she felt compelled to inform him of the situation. On the other hand…

Why bother?

She wasn't staring because she was interested! No, no, no—this was purely for reference material! Kanade had modeled for her artwork before; this wasn't any different!

She wasn't bothered. Not one bit.

…Right?

Notes-Read advances chapters in patreon.com/Shadow_D_X, i have finished uploading the whole series in patreon, a total of 274 chapters you can find it in the collections, thanks for supporting me and special thanks to all the patrons for joining