Umi was somewhat surprised by this scene.
It seemed like they were going to start dropping honorifics like her and the others, but honestly speaking, that made sense.
Given they were all pretty close now, speaking more naturally would be nice, wouldn't it?
"Why don't we start with Sawamura-san?"
Utaha smiled as she glanced at Eriri.
"So, what do you say?"
"...Eriri."
Hearing her first name called by Utaha, Eriri's eyebrows furrowed for a moment since she really hadn't expected Utaha to launch such a sudden attack.
Moreover, Utaha even called her name so naturally!
'Could it be... this woman had been secretly practicing?'
As this thought crossed Eriri's mind, she quickly shook her head.
'No way, right? I just can't imagine that scene at all... But since you made a move, I can't just let you look down on me, can I?'
Coming to a decision, Eriri took a step forward, looking at Utaha's face.
"I'll do it, I'll do it! What's the big deal?!"
Eriri exclaimed, took a breath, and then continued.
"U-U-Ut-Ut-Uta..."
She struggled for a while, her face turning red, but the word just wouldn't come out.
Utaha just kept watching Eriri with a teasing smile, while the others also looked on with great interest.
'Dammit, this should've been something simple, so why was it so damn hard when it came to this woman?!' Eriri thought with frustration, her body breaking into a sweat.
Indeed, when she had called Megumi's name earlier, she had blurted it out without hesitation, so why was she struggling so much now?
However, after holding it in for a moment, seeing Utaha's smirking face, Eriri couldn't help but get pissed off since she was sure that Utaha was totally enjoying the show.
Embarrassment and shame vanished in an instant, and before she even realized it, she muttered a name.
"Shi-chan!"
Hearing this name, Utaha froze on the spot!
Meanwhile, the others wore weird expressions, while Elf and Homura nearly burst out laughing, with Muramasa's shoulders even trembling slightly.
Needless to say, these three knew exactly what 'Shi-chan' meant.
Back when Utaha had asked Homura to interview her, they had met Muramasa for the first time outside the publishing company, which was also the first time they had heard Machida Sonoko call Utaha 'Shi-chan.'
For this reason, their reactions were a lot stronger than the rest.
Technically, the name wasn't anything special, but when it came from Eriri, it packed a serious punch!
What surprised Homura a bit was actually Muramasa's reaction.
Seeing her trying to hold back laughter, he felt like she was starting to take interest in more and more things.
It was a good development.
"Uhh, Shi-chan is..." Utaha's right eye twitched uncontrollably.
Eriri's mouth twitched as well since she couldn't believe she actually called Utaha that.
Nevertheless, Eriri still put up a front and spoke confidently.
"What? Isn't this what you wanted?" Eriri said with a smug expression. "Alright, I said it! Now it's someone else's turn!"
She quickly shifted the focus away from herself.
Utaha: "..."
'Wait, I'm supposed to be the one teasing her, but how am I the one being teased?!'
Utaha was a little dumbfounded.
Even though Eriri's way of calling her was totally unexpected, she remembered that there was that saying: what goes around comes around.
Was this her karma?
"Next up is Megumi!"
As Eriri saw no movement, she looked over at the others and directly nominated the next person.
"Me? Alright."
Megumi nodded calmly before looking at Utaha with a flat face.
"Well... Shi-chan?"
Utaha: "..."
"Heh..." Homura chuckled softly but kept a calm face, pretending nothing had happened.
Nonetheless, he was pretty sure that Megumi did that on purpose.
"Um... can you just call me normally like 'Utaha'?" Utaha forced a smile.
"Eh, why? It's super cute, though!" Honoka chimed in, looking surprised.
'I don't wanna be cute!' Utaha screamed internally.
In the first place, she never aimed for the cute vibe but the mature, elder sister vibe, so why did she have to be called something so cute?!
All she could do was silently freak out since there was no way she could actually say it out loud.
"Fine..." Utaha said with difficulty, clearly accepting her fate. "So, who's next? Bring it on!"
'Is this some kind of punishment?'
Everyone thought this as they saw Utaha's behavior.
"No need for me, right?" Elf smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I always call people by their first names straight up!"
Indeed, she was always like that, so she was skipped.
"I never call anyone 'senpai' or anything either." Muramasa said casually, waving her hand.
Hearing this, Elf started to ponder.
Now that she thought about it, Muramasa always addressed people with a '-san' kind of vibe, right? It didn't sound distant, but it wasn't super close either.
Honestly, that felt a little underwhelming, but nonetheless, Muramasa's personality was a bit serious, so for now, it was fine.
Mashiro was the same, calling everyone directly by their first name, so she was skipped as well.
As for Nanami, the only one she called 'senpai' was Utaha, and under Utaha's anxious and stern gaze, she began to speak Utaha's name hesitantly.
"Uta—"
Saying this, Nanami suddenly felt a surge of heavy pressure, and after swallowing nervously, she continued.
"—ha?"
"Yep! Nanami, you're amazing! I'm so proud of you!" Utaha nodded in satisfaction, finally avoiding another person calling her 'Shi-chan'.
Nanami let out a breath of relief.
She had to admit that the heavy pressure just now was no joke—pretty terrifying for her heart.
Soon, everyone's gaze shifted to Nayuta.
When it came to how she addressed people, she never really used 'senpai', '-san', or anything like that, so changing it wasn't all that necessary.
Naturally, the only exception was how she referred to Homura with 'senpai'.
Still being held down by Homura's hand, Nayuta shook her head.
"Don't look at me~ Senpai is special! Senpai is Senpai! It belongs to me alone!"
What did they expect?
Nayuta was Nayuta, after all.
Done with Nayuta, everyone's attention then shifted.
Sagiri?
It was unnecessary since she used first names or nicknames for everyone.
As for Izumi, she was a bit different since she called Megumi 'Megumi-nee' but referred to everyone older than her as 'senpai'. Ultimately, Eriri forced her to change how she addressed everyone older than her, making her use '-nee' like she did with Megumi, before finally letting her go.
After being freed, Izumi quickly ran behind Megumi and peeked at everyone from there like a shy little sister.
"Well, that's everyone, right?" Homura spoke up, glancing at everyone. "In that case, let's all head to the yard—"
""Wait!""
Utaha and Eriri simultaneously interrupted Homura before exchanging glances.
"Um... Kasumiga—Shi-chan, why don't you go first?" Eriri grinned.
Hearing this, Utaha rolled her eyes hard.
She wasn't even going to bother protesting that name since she knew Eriri too well—if she fought back, Eriri would only get more excited about using it.
"Homura-kun, there's still one more person, right? Someone still hasn't changed how they address people?" Utaha said with a smile.
Homura quickly became the center of attention.
"You call everyone else by their first names, Homura-kun, but you call me using 'senpai'..." Utaha narrowed her eyes slightly. "Isn't that kinda unfair? Even with Nana, you just call her Nana."
"Now that you mention it, same goes for us..." Nozomi chimed in with a smile. "Homura-kun calls us 'Nozomi-senpai', 'Eli-senpai', and 'Nico-senpai' too."
"Yeah! No favoritism, got it~?" Nico unexpectedly played along, flashing a smirk.
Homura, being stared at by everyone, chuckled.