manga artist Kirito

Asuna clicked her tongue almost imperceptibly, seemingly amused that Nancy could still maintain a smile, but she didn't say anything more. Instead, she took out the manuscript of her new book from her bag and handed it over.

"This is the manuscript for the first volume of the new book..."

"Ha! You finally decided to submit your manuscript. I called you the other day but you didn't answer, and I couldn't even find you at your house..."

"Nancy, you probably don't understand!" Asuna hugged Kirito's arm, leaned slightly against him, and then gave him a half-smile.

"Hehe!" A meaningless sound, an increasingly forced smile—Miss Nancy clenched her fists, wanting to beat those two scoundrels to death!

"Ahem, isn't it about time for the autograph session to start?" Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit off, Kirito coughed and interrupted Nancy's fantasy of murdering the two of them.

"Phew! That's right, it's almost time." Taking a deep breath, Nancy gradually got into work mode, a professional smile returning to her lips. "Although this is the first time holding a book signing, I don't know where it leaked that Kamishirasawa-sensei is actually a beautiful high school girl... Not only has it made you, Kamishirasawa-sensei, even more talked about, but the audience for the signing has also grown significantly. Furthermore, Fujiwara-sensei is also here to support you. Perhaps the preparations for this signing weren't quite adequate..."

"Nothing should go wrong, right?" Kirito tilted his head and looked out the glass window. There were indeed more and more people, but it was unlikely that anything like Mars colliding with Earth would happen.

"If we had known in advance that Fujiwara-sensei was coming, the arrangements would have been much better. But that brat didn't say anything except to ask for an extra seat. It's really..." Nancy rolled her eyes at Asuna, who was all smiles, and sighed with relief. It was so good that she wasn't nervous because of the large number of people.

In fact, Nancy didn't even consider that as the young lady of a major company, Asuna wouldn't possibly feel nervous in such a small setting. If the number of people were doubled, Asuna might even want to go home, because that would be... she'd be signing autographs until her hand broke.

"Then, come with me."

Nancy led Asuna and Kirito inside the bookstore to express their gratitude to the staff who were doing the final checks and the bookstore manager. Afterwards, they went to see the sales area and the stacks of books that were piled up like small mountains.

It has to be said that Kirito didn't quite understand many of the intricacies involved, but he still wrote them down with a learning attitude, since these things might come in handy in the future.

Asuna didn't sit down in the seat prepared for her until just a few minutes before the autograph session was about to begin. Kirito sat next to her, and there was a nameplate with the name 'Fujiwara Echizen' on the table in front of them.

After taking a small sip of water, Asuna put on gloves that only revealed her thumb and forefinger, trying her best to adjust her mindset. Then, a perfect smile appeared on her pretty face as she faced the queue in front of her.

It seems there are no problems.

"Then, let's begin!"

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This is a bonus chapter for reaching 3000 recommendations... Hmm, can you guys go even harder?

By the way, it's summer sale time! Anyone want to shop till they drop? Looking for game recommendations...

044

【NO.43 I Will Win】

The book signing event has begun.

Once Asuna was confirmed to be ready and the time had arrived, the bookstore's floor-to-ceiling glass doors were opened by staff standing on either side of the entrance. Although there was a long queue outside, there was no chaos when the doors opened, and readers entered the bookstore one after another in an orderly manner.

At autograph sessions, although the signing comes before the sale, in reality, only those who purchase Asuna's works from the adjacent bookshelf are eligible to queue for her autograph. Autograph sessions are usually held to coincide with the release of the final volume of a work, coinciding with promotional activities for the new book. Of course, there are also autograph sessions held when a new work is released.

Now, readers entering the bookstore first pick up the book titled "The Lonely Queen of the North" from the front shelf, then go to the cashier to pay, and only then can they go to Asuna's area for autographs and Q&A sessions.

When signing autographs, readers can approach Asuna one at a time, without having to deal with two or three readers at the same time. This not only avoids chaos but also makes things much easier.

The first reader...

Honestly, with so many readers present, it's really hard to grab the first spot unless you arrive very early and wait... Kirito really doesn't understand what's so exciting about this.

However, this reader's enthusiasm was truly explosive! You didn't even need to look to know they were a die-hard Asuna fan; they immediately launched into a frantic narration of things related to the novel's content at an alarming pace. Besides that, Kirito felt this person's voice... sounded very familiar!

Well, I've heard that people can't tell what their own voice sounds like, but Kirito felt that the bespectacled otaku standing in front of him, talking non-stop, had a voice that sounded exactly like his... That's really weird!

After obtaining Asuna's autograph, the person walked up to Kirito, then raised his hand to push up his glasses, a dazzling flash reflecting off them, and a knowing smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Fujiwara-sensei, it's you, isn't it!"

"Uh, it should be me..." Kirito pushed up the glasses that Asuna had put on him earlier, took the autograph book from her, and casually signed his name on it.

"Ms. Fujiwara will be participating in the summer commercial, right!"

"Yes, there will be a new release at the summer commercial. I'll announce any special information on Twitter!"

"May I ask you something..."

"It seems not, you've been lingering a bit too long." Kirito pointed to the staff member who was about to approach. "However, if possible, please also support my upcoming manga!"

"A comic...isn't an R-18 work?"

"Yes, it's a normal comic!"

"I understand!"

This guy seemed extremely excited... Kirito had no doubt that if there weren't so many people behind him, this guy could have talked for ages, you could tell just from his hesitant expression.

"It seems... I'm not quite washed up yet?"

"That's how annoying the artist is..." Asuna smiled mischievously, but she didn't have much free time to talk to Kirito because a reader came up immediately after the bespectacled otaku left, so she had to focus her attention on the reader in front of her.

Signature, handshake, answer questions...

Signature, handshake, answer questions...

Both Asuna and Kirito kept repeating the same thing, especially since the readers kept coming one after another. They couldn't even take a break to catch their breath, and they had to give different answers to different readers.

However, apart from the first reader who talked a lot, the others were much faster. Not long after, Kirito suddenly remembered that the bespectacled otaku... seemed to be a classmate?

However, it is obvious that the two had never interacted before, and had not even spoken to each other. Moreover, the other party did not seem to recognize Kirito, perhaps because he was wearing glasses.

The autograph session continued, but Asuna and Kirito didn't encounter many acquaintances. The only person they'd spoken to before was Kasumigaoka Utaha, whom they'd just finished signing autographs for. Realistically, it would have been strange to run into many acquaintances, since Kirito doesn't have many friends, and while Asuna seems easy to talk to, she only has a handful of people she could truly call friends…

Of course, many of the readers who came did not know the name Fujiwara Echizen, so it can be said that the guest did not steal the show.

"Well then, you old scoundrel Fujiwara, give me your autograph!"

The voice was very rude. Kirito looked up slightly and saw a familiar face, but the disguise was a bit overdone, making him look much more silly and cute.

"Of course!" Kirito replied with a smile, not annoyed at all.

"Besides signing my name, could you write a message for me?"

"Okay, what do you need me to write?"

There are quite a few readers who usually ask for blessings, and since it was Eriri who came, Kirito certainly wouldn't refuse.

"I will win!"

"...No problem!" Kirito seemed a little helpless, but he still wrote the sentence as requested. In fact, Kirito fully understood what Eriri meant by writing the sentence; it was nothing more than the competition related to the summer CM.

To be honest, Kirito didn't really care about winning or losing. Even though his opponent was a beautiful girl, what difference would it make if he won? Was he going to ask her to do anything...?

Well, it seems there really wasn't a bet or anything, they just said they would compete.

It feels like... it would be a huge loss not to gamble on something, right?

"Hmph! Good luck, Fujiwara-sensei, I'll win!" Eriri, with a smirk, picked up her books and walked out.

"Yes, yes, I will win!" Kirito replied helplessly. This child seems to value winning and losing a lot, and judging from her expression, it seems that she has indeed prepared some kind of assassin?

Wait, why do I suddenly feel a chill?

Kirito wanted to call Eriri over and ask her something, but what should he say after calling her over? He couldn't very well say that he sensed malice and therefore suspected that Kirito was plotting something, could he? In the end, Kirito didn't take any action, but he did attract Asuna's questioning gaze.

"Let's talk about it later."

"can."

Nodding slightly, Asuna focused her attention on the next reader, while Kirito picked up the bottled water beside him and took a big gulp. He was really not feeling well after talking so much.

To be honest, this is clearly Asuna's territory, so why are there so many gentlemen mixed in? Especially when he saw those gentlemen looking Asuna and Kirito up and down with weird eyes, the chill Kirito felt was no less than the chill he felt from Eriri earlier...

Are these guys thinking about some doujinshi plot?

"Hey, Kiritani-san...?"

045

【NO.44 A gift?】

"Hey, Kiritani-san...?"

With an uncertain tone, Kirito turned to signal the staff next to him to bring another bottle of water. The next reader came up, and Kirito sighed and picked up his pen to sign the book. However, the person addressed him not as "Fujiwara-sensei" but as "Kiritani-kun," which was inappropriate for this occasion.

"Huh?" Kirito looked up in slight surprise, staring at the ordinary-looking person in front of him, who seemed familiar... Wait, isn't this Megumi Kano who just appeared with Eriri?

No matter how you look at it, this girl doesn't seem like an otaku at all, let alone using such a term in this kind of setting...

“Uh, Ghana…”

"Kato, Kato Megumi!" With her usual calm expression, the girl corrected Kirito's mistake, then tilted her head. "I heard from Sawamura-kun that Kirito-san is really amazing, so, could I get an autograph, Fujiwara-sensei?"

"...Okay." Kirito nodded slightly, his gaze shifting slightly to Asuna, who was signing autographs for readers but whose eyes kept glancing in their direction. Kirito's lips twitched; it seemed something rather unpleasant was about to happen...

However, Kato Megumi must have just been introduced to "The Lonely Queen of the North," otherwise she wouldn't be holding the entire light novel in her hand... Eriri, you're really something, you actually pushed a girl who seemed completely unlikely to become an otaku in this direction.

"Hey, could you add the line 'I'll remember your name'?"

"...Okay?" Kirito wrote the sentence as requested, but his mood was a little complicated. Judging from the past, Kato Megumi probably didn't care whether others remembered her name or not, but it seemed that because I turned around and jokingly asked her name last time, it caused...some dissatisfaction?

Uh, maybe I'm overthinking it... or something?

"Um, you... By the way, please don't look up the name 'Fujiwara Echizen' when you get back!" Kirito kindly reminded his classmate, who had a very calm expression. Although she might become an otaku because of Eriri's recommendation, starting with doujinshi... that's still a bit bad!

Moreover, it's fine if she doesn't know that Fujiwara Echizen is actually an R-18 artist. But if she finds out that Fujiwara Echizen is actually an R-18 artist, even if she doesn't tell others, her expression and mood when facing me in the future will definitely become very complicated.

"Actually, I saw you when Sawamura and I were queuing up, and I also heard about you, Kirito-kun..."

"..." Kirito's brows twitched violently. Eriri, so she's the kind of person who can't keep a secret? While I don't really have the right to say this, Asuna isn't just anyone, but Eriri, you clearly only just met Kato Megumi!

...Could it be that golden retrievers with a proud and aloof personality are the kind who can't hide anything once they get to know someone?

"Good luck, Fujiwara-sensei! I'm really looking forward to your manga too." With a calm smile, Ms. Kato Megumi picked up the books and walked away slowly. Her words made Kirito breathe a slight sigh of relief. It seemed that Eriri hadn't revealed my identity as an R-18 artist.

Actually, if it were an ordinary person, Kirito could have guessed from the other person's behavior, but Kato Megumi's calm expression was almost unchanging... He couldn't tell anything!

This person is amazing!

"Hey, Fujiwara-sensei, you have a lot of female fans." Taking advantage of the moment before the next customer approached after she finished signing autographs, Asuna turned to Kirito and gave him a friendly smile. "And it looks like they've known each other for a while now~"

"...I'll explain properly!!" Bowing to the kind person, Kirito made this choice without hesitation.

"Hmm, I'm waiting for your explanation~" Asuna smiled slightly and turned around, once again engaging in the repetitive series of actions of signing autographs, shaking hands, and answering questions.

Kirito rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. It seemed that the sentence Kato Megumi had asked him to write had caused Asuna to misunderstand something, and it looked like he would have to explain it properly later.

He continued to deal with the ever-increasing number of readers, but Kirito wasn't as busy as Asuna. After all, he had been a slacker for two years, and even if he wasn't exactly washed up, not many people might know him. But that was fine too. In the end, this was still Asuna's home turf, and Kirito was just there to support her. If he were to steal the spotlight, it would seem like he was overshadowing her.

As time went on, later readers seemed to have discovered something and began to question the names 'Kamishirasawa Hibiki' and 'Fujiwara Echizen'...Kamishirasawa and Fujiwara were originally a couple!

I didn't think much of it before, but now that they've appeared together, their relationship must be more than just casual!

However, these questions were quickly diverted, although the topic of whether Hibiki Kamishirasawa and Echizen Fujiwara were actually a couple still circulated afterward.

After that, people who come to Kirito for autographs usually start by urging him to update his work, followed by all sorts of random questions about how his life in the basement was going.

Honestly, even though the real person has appeared, why do these guys who firmly believe that Fujiwara Echizen is a loli still insist on treating Kirito as a loli?

Are you afraid you're living in a dream?

After the autograph session had been going on for quite some time, and Asuna and Kirito had taken two breaks, Kirito probably understood why some well-known creators had never held autograph sessions... With his arms aching, Kirito would rather go back and draw all day without stopping than endlessly repeat signing autographs and shaking hands...

The blonde fairy I met in the editorial department before seemed to really like Kirito's work. When she came to ask for an autograph, she also asked Kirito if he wanted to be her illustrator. After that, there was a whole string of sales figures and stuff... In short, she seems like a tsundere loli.

A characteristic unique to blonde hair?

In the end, Kirito politely declined, after all, he didn't have that much energy. Right now, he had to prepare the artwork and the illustrations that Kasumigaoka Utaha needed... and maybe even the illustrations for Asuna's new work. He was really busy!

"Fujiwara-sensei, is it really you?"

"...If you're talking about Fujiwara no Echizen, then it must be me." Looking at the slightly large, dark figure standing before him, Kirito adjusted his glasses and nodded somewhat nervously, especially seeing the other's excited eyes...

Could this guy be that kind of person?

I inexplicably sensed danger...

"Teacher Fujiwara, I happen to have something here that would be perfect for you. Please accept it!"

046

【NO.45 Lolita? Doesn't exist】

"……Gift?"

When Kirito heard this word, he was completely bewildered because he couldn't understand why this situation was happening, or what could have possibly led him to receive a gift at Asuna's autograph session.

Looking up, the figure that had been magnified by the light was actually a bespectacled boy. Ignoring the excitement on his face, he actually had the air of a top student. But why was this guy so excited?

And what the heck is this "gift"?