Why wasn't I the one who got the male lead's script?

"I was just wondering if I closed the door properly when I left the house."

"Don't worry about those trivial things right now. Since we promised to help our overseas students, we should focus on it!"

Aki carefully divided the doujinshi on the table into two piles and placed one of them in front of Kato.

"Okay—the tasks are assigned, let's get to work, Kato!"

"Eh……"

Kato just sighed softly and then obediently took the doujinshi. There was no change in expression on his calm and quiet little face.

Just for a moment, her gaze seemed to drift to the crowd coming and going in the venue.

It seems like he is looking for someone.

Although Aki Tomoya said that he would work hard and not be absent-minded, he was actually thinking about other things in his heart.

He pretended to be calm and lowered his head to sort out the thick doujinshi, occasionally raising his head slightly and looking at the R18 area with a hidden gaze.

——I don’t know if Eriri is here, I’ll go check on her later.

.........

.........

"It's about time. I wonder how things are going with Kato."

On the other side, Hoshimi, who was still in area R18, looked at the few doujinshi left on the table and Futaba who had started to sit down and rest, clapped her hands and let out a sigh.

Now, basically, you just need to sell all the notebooks and then you can pack up and go back.

"I didn't expect to finish so early. Eriri's work has a huge following." (Of course, Futaba-san's buff also played a big role.)

Hoshimi made up a random excuse and left the stall. After waving to Futaba and Eriri, he joined the crowd passing through the entrances of the stalls and headed towards the all-ages section.

In addition to the stalls selling doujinshi, there were also many cosplayers in strange costumes taking selfies with passers-by on the roadside who wanted to take photos with them.

For example, on the path he just passed, he encountered a girl wearing a British school uniform, short black hair, an eye patch, and muttering something like "The Evil King's True Eyes Are Superb!"; a delicate boy (or possibly a girl) wearing a white robe and long green hair; and a blonde, blue-eyed girl wearing a gorgeous red dress and holding a strange longsword.

"...?"

and many more.

Something seems not quite right.

Xingjian, who had already turned the corner, paused, then took a few steps back in the opposite direction and returned to the cosplayer with blond hair, blue eyes and a confident smile on his face.

"Hey, are you my performer? Do you want a photo, performer?"

As Xingjian looked up and down at the blonde girl with his eyes slightly narrowed, the latter smiled enthusiastically and recited the classic lines of the character she played to him, and waved to him.

"........."

Xingjian just remained silent and ignored her question, and let out a sigh with a complicated expression.

"Hayasaka-san, stop it."

After these words were spoken, the blonde girl, who had been showing a somewhat cheerful smile, raised her eyebrows and put her hands back on her waist.

"Eh—I changed my contact lenses and studied the character in detail, but the player still figured it out. It's really annoying."

Yes, the beautiful girl wearing this gorgeous red dress and dressed up as a blonde and blue-eyed paper mannequin was none other than Hayasaka Ai who had appeared here for some reason.

"Does the player have any tips in this area? Feel free to share them with me."

Although Hayasaka Ai seemed a little depressed, she still said these words in the tone of the character she was playing.

He is truly a dedicated and professional actor.

"There's no trick. This should be a special skill exclusive to Mr. Hoshimi, a passerby character. By the way, what are you doing here, sister?"

Watching my sister act out the paper figure from the mobile game, and even talking to me in the paper figure's voice...

To be honest, this feeling is really complicated.

"Hehe, of course it's because I'm worried about my dear player."

Hayasaka Ai is still playing the role of a tyrannical beauty, slightly raising her snow-white chin, and seems to be a little too into the role.

Yes, with her intelligence and investigative abilities, it's only natural that she would know that Hoshimi and Eriri were attending the comic convention and selling doujinshi.

"Wouldn't it be a bit unfair for the player to spend his precious summer wandering around because of something like this?"

Miss Nero brandished the strange, light sword in her hand, with a cheerful and confident expression on her face, which showed that she was still in the role-playing state.

She seemed to have completely integrated into the atmosphere of the comic convention.

"Shrinking a person's body isn't as trivial as it sounds..."

The boy Xingjian calmly touched the sword in the girl's hand - as expected, it was just a model.

What are you looking forward to? (crossed out)

----

Cooking Power

I once thought about writing a moon fanfiction (covering my face)

Sawamura Eriri's Body Shrinkage is Impossible: Chapter 11: The Victim's Conviction (Part 2)

"So, why are you here, Hayasaka-san?"

"Hmm? Didn't I ask this question just now? I'm worried about the player."

"No, I mean how did you find the time to be here."

After all, even he knew how tight Hayasaka Ai's schedule was from day to night.

"Of course I'm taking a leave of absence. At worst, my year-end bonus and perfect attendance bonus will be less. Besides, I'm a little confused—"

Miss Nero tilted her little head and winked at Xingjian, a sly and cute smile on her face.

"If you're selling doujinshi to Miss Sawamura, you could just ask me for help, right? Ah, or would it be more appropriate for me to call Miss Sawamura Kashiwagi Eri-sensei?"

"No, I never thought so from the beginning."

However, Xingjian just calmly withdrew his hands and put them in his pockets, looking at Miss Nero with a calm and indifferent look.

"Hayasaka-san, your schedule is already incredibly tight because you're taking care of Shinomiya-san. If I were to trouble you, I'd be depriving you of the few moments of rest you have."

After the boy expressed his thoughts in a normal tone, the blonde girl blinked her emerald green eyes with contact lenses, still smiling at him.

"What a sensible fellow! But I've already taken time off from work to come and see the performer, so your words won't help at this point."

She tiptoed lightly, circling around the boy a few times like a red elf, and then slowly stopped close to the boy under the curious gazes of the people around her.

Maybe it was because her every move and gesture was too similar to the character she was playing, and for a moment Hoshimi felt that the person in front of her was not Hayasaka Ai, but a paper man who walked out of the game.

"I'm so happy that the player is so considerate and gentle!"

I wonder how much sincerity is hidden behind this cheerful and straightforward smile.

The blonde girl, who portrayed the role to perfection, chuckled and raised her beautiful eyebrows. Then she stood on tiptoe, stretched out her hands and slowly hugged the boy's shoulders.

"Ah, hello—"

After noticing the sudden soft touch on his body, the black-haired boy subconsciously wanted to step back slightly or push the blonde girl away, but the latter just wordlessly hugged his shoulders closer, and then—

He put his cheek slightly closer to the boy's ear.

Then, she whispered softly in the boy's ear with a sweet smile, and her warm breath was not mixed with the slightest bit of charming ambiguity.

"There's a guy wearing glasses at two o'clock behind us who's been staring at us for several minutes."

She narrowed her eyes slightly, tilted her head and leaned it on the boy's shoulder. Her emerald green pupils reflected the figure of a black-haired boy wearing glasses who was standing inconspicuously in the crowd not far away.

"A normal shirt, black-framed glasses, dressed like a nerd. He looks to be a high school boy in his teens—is he someone you know?"

"—"

After hearing this whisper, Xingjian stopped his resistance.

——About ten meters away, Tomoya Aki, who had just left the stall that had just sailed out of the island of Nami, using the excuse of "I'm going to the bathroom", looked at Hoshimi's back and stopped unconsciously.

He pushed up the legs of his glasses, his expression somewhat bewildered and complicated.

"Why is Hoshimi here? And she seems to be close to this cosplayer girl..."

After a brief thought, An Yi's expression gradually became gloomy as he thought of a possibility.

After all, could it be that he came because of Eriri?

Because he had a good relationship with Xingjian in the past, he also knew that Xingjian was not a otaku, nor was she the type of person who liked to join in the fun at comic conventions.

Then the only reason why he would appear here is that Eriri, who has not contacted him for a long time, can't find anyone to help her create doujinshi, so she asked him to replace her.

"........."

An indescribable emotion surged from the bottom of his heart, and An Yi's expression became a little ugly.

After all, the last time he saw Eriri was that day at the mall.

But that day, he did not catch up with the fleeing Eriri - instead, it was Hoshimi who caught up with her.

So, he must have said something to Eriri while he was away, which is why Eriri gradually changed her attitude towards him and even avoided him now.

When he thought of this possibility, Aki Tomoya let out a soft click, and a hint of resentment appeared on his handsome face, which was not very aggressive.

——So now Eriri has found someone else to replace her when it comes to selling doujinshi. Does that mean she doesn't need me anymore from now on?

"I was trying to make peace with Eriri—but you've already found someone else to annoy me?"

Who cares!!

Aki's awkward, almost twisted self-esteem forced him to stop. After glaring angrily at Hoshimi who had her back to him, he turned around angrily and walked back to Najima's stall.

According to the predicted future developments, he would have an argument with Eriri today - so it would be better to ignore Hoshimi for now.

Anyway, he never appeared in his future. In the final analysis, he was just an insignificant and somewhat annoying character.

Furthermore, since Eriri doesn't want to see him, then this cold war that has been reignited after many years is no different from a quarrel.

Not far away, a blonde girl in a red dress was staring at An Yi silently, her eyes somewhat intriguing.

"Who is that person? The way he looks at us is a little unfriendly."

Hayasaka buried her face in the boy's shoulder, with a calm expression, watching the every move of the guy with glasses at the other end of the crowd with her hidden eyes.

It was a gaze similar to scrutiny.

"…It's a long story, but to put it simply, he's an annoying guy."

Xingjian frowned and let out a sigh. He had already guessed who that person would be.

"Eh... is that so? It seems so. Last time I saw you, Xiaoqing, beating up that guy at the mall. You even knocked your glasses off."

Hayasaka Ai blinked her eyes slightly innocently, then hung her entire upper body on Hoshimi, playing with the light model sword in her hand.

"I don't quite understand what happened between you, but if that was the player's enemy—"

She looked at An Yi's back as she left angrily and was about to disappear from her sight, and weighed the red sword in her hand with gentle force.

"Of course, my remaining strength will become the player's blade."

It seems that Hayasaka treats him as one of her own.

"I appreciate your kindness, but I don't want to waste your precious time on such a boring person, Hayasaka-san."

Xingjian smiled and slowly lowered the blonde girl's hand that was around her neck.

He took a step back under the girl's rather confused gaze and looked in the direction where An Yi left.

"And if I describe Aki as an enemy, I feel like I'm being dragged down to the same level as him, so let's forget about it."

He turned his head to accurately capture An Yi's disappearing figure, and there was no trace of gentle emotion in his eyes, which were always calm and composed.

"Besides, this is something I should handle on my own. I shouldn't bother others. You should just go and take care of your own things."

Hoshimi handed the model sword that Hayasaka couldn't hold steadily back to her, and then smiled at her with a little helplessness.

"What a shame! I saw through it again this time. Next time, try again with a different identity."

"Well……"

After saying this, Xingjian waved to her and set out again on the road to find Kato.

The blonde girl dressed as the Red Tyrant stood there with her hands behind her back, silently watching the boy's figure disappear around the corner, and finally just blinked indifferently.