manga artist Kirito

"Ah, that's right." Kirito looked at Eriri with a hint of surprise, his expression somewhat subtle. "You've seen Hanabirataka?"

"nonsense!"

Traditional comics prioritize plot, and poor art quality doesn't matter, as the plot can completely compensate for the lack of visual quality. However, erotic comics are the complete opposite. For erotic comics, visual quality is the most important factor, as it often determines the usability of a comic.

Black and white, attention to detail, depictions of juices, and portrayals of women—these are all common aspects of art style and quality. However, artist Fujiwara Echizen's best-selling work is 1697 copies, which puts him at a top-tier level. Moreover, this is achieved through original erotic comics, unlike Kashiwagi Eri's doujinshi...

The illustrations in that book, "The Secret of the Bride," were much better than Eriri's at her peak at the time. Eriri had certainly seen it, and even just one glance was enough to convey a strong sense of allure...

The stench of love!

It was also on that occasion that Eri Kashiwagi's sales of 1690 copies were surpassed by Echizen Fujiwara by a mere 7 copies...

This is infuriating!

008

[NO.7 Erotic Illustrators Also Become Manga Artists]

On the last page of "The Secret of the Bride," the essence of the original erotic manga seems to be concentrated on that page; just by looking at it, you can feel what the male and female protagonists went through to get together...

But this is clearly just an erotic comic, so why does it have such a strong sour smell?

"Damn it now!"

"You say it as if you're not."

"Why, why did you suddenly stop drawing?" Eriri looked at Kirito with a strange expression.

"Most doujinshi artists are mostly doing it as a hobby. They suddenly lose interest, so they stop drawing," Kirito shrugged. "Besides, which do you think is more important, doujinshi or your girlfriend?"

"...Erotic artists don't fall in love!" Eriri's expression turned a little unpleasant, but she still managed to squeeze out these words.

"Tsk, according to you, does that mean all those who draw eroge (adult comics) are destined to be single forever!" Kirito grinned, twirling the pencil in his hand. "Do you want this pencil to be with you for the rest of your life?"

"What pencil?! You're so weird! Don't talk to me about these strange things at school!" Her slightly flushed face was full of black lines, and it was hard to tell whether she was angry or what.

"You mean, I can say whatever I want when I'm not at school?" Kirito stroked his chin. "I didn't expect you to be this kind of pear."

"Say your name properly, you bastard!"

"Ah, I understand." Kirito swatted away Eriri's ponytail, stood up, and said seriously, "Sawamura-kun, it'll be good for you in the future."

"..." Eriri stared blankly at Kirito's serious face, blinked, and then exclaimed, "Don't suddenly become serious, you jerk!"

"A sudden change in art style is normal," Kirito said nonchalantly. "Speaking of which, what I wanted to ask you about is the art style..."

"Isn't your overly sentimental, love-obsessed art style great? Do you really need to ask me for advice?" Eriri crossed her arms over her thin chest, turning her head away from Kirito. While being asked for advice felt nice, the other person was someone she had once aspired to be... It felt... strange!

"It should be quite suitable for shoujo manga." Kirito certainly knew what kind of manga suited that kind of cheesy, saccharine art style, but he wanted to draw a shonen manga! Besides, those manga that clearly intended to be shonen but ended up with a lewd, overly explicit style...

"However, I don't want to draw shoujo manga."

"Do you really think I can help you?" Eriri asked curiously. "Don't forget what I'm best at."

"I've seen your illustrations, they're very good, I like them a lot."

"...Even if you say that, I won't help you!" Eriri turned her head away, her pretty face slightly flushed.

Tsk, what a textbook example of tsundere! Kirito rubbed his forehead. Now, does having twin tails automatically make someone a tsundere?

"Then please!"

"Are you even listening to me?" Eriri puffed out her cheeks, glared at Kirito, and then...

"However, since you've asked me for help, I'll be kind enough to help you. But there's one condition!"

"……what?"

Why does this unexpected turn of events feel so familiar?

"For the summer commercial, let's have a competition to see whose work sells more! That's the condition!"

Although it's not a very important matter, Eriri really wants to trample Kirito under her feet... It's probably just a peculiar tsundere mentality.

"Forget it, it's been so long since I released a new work, and I haven't posted on Twitter in the meantime. Those guys probably think I've vanished into thin air." Kirito scratched his head. "At a time like this, I have absolutely no chance of winning in terms of sales."

"Stop talking nonsense and just say yes or no?" Eriri glared at Kirito and reached out to grab his collar.

"...Okay, I promise. Also, don't get so close."

"Hmph!" Eriri withdrew her hand and gave a light snort. "Do your best, Fujiwara-sensei, don't let me defeat you!"

It just suddenly ignited for no reason?

Kirito still finds Eriri's thought process a little hard to understand.

"That's all for now. It's getting late. I'll submit my application to join the club tomorrow, and then... the change of art style is up to you."

"Whatever..." Eriri suddenly remembered something, walked to the bookshelf next to her, took out a book, and held it in front of Kirito.

"How to draw a good manga...from beginner to giving up?" Kirito was a little confused. What the heck was this? Parody stuff can be published?

"The title is just a joke, but the content is quite substantial. If you don't want it, that's fine too."

"I see... then thank you very much."

He took the book from Eriri, picked up the backpack beside him, and walked towards the door.

"Tomorrow I'll bring the game I promised you and the script I prepared beforehand... Oh, and for the summer commercial, I'll sell the story I didn't finish drawing earlier as a new work..."

"Go to hell!!"

With a roar, Kirito slammed the door of the clubroom shut, only to have something thrown by Eriri hit the door.

Listening to the chaotic sounds, Kirito's lips curled up slightly. "The tsundere trait... is quite interesting, isn't it?"

……

……

The place I live in is not far from the school, or rather, it was originally rented to make it convenient for me to go to school.

This is a luxury apartment building. Thanks to the money earned from selling erotic comics and playing games, they don't need to ask their family for money. However, currently, due to buying too many games, their savings are almost gone.

Even if Asuna hadn't suggested I find something serious to do, I probably would have picked up a paintbrush anyway... After all, while games bring in money quickly, it's still much slower than selling doujinshi.

Ah... Why is it that when I want to draw a manga, the first thing that comes to mind is still an erotic novel?

Kirito rubbed his stomach. Wouldn't it be a shame not to draw the stories in his mind?

Stepping out of the elevator, I took out my keys and opened the apartment door. Before even entering, I could smell the aroma of food...

There is only one person who can open this door and cook—Asuna!

"I am back."

With a smile on his face, Kirito pushed open the door and went inside.

"Welcome back."

009

[NO.8 You've been exposed]

"Welcome back."

Wearing a school uniform and an apron, chestnut-haired girl Yuuki Asuna walked out of the kitchen with a gentle smile on her face.

"...Ah, I'm so hungry." Kirito said with a smile as he put down his backpack. "Asuna, you're so cruel! You didn't even give me a bento box. Aren't you afraid I'll faint from hunger and be picked up by someone? These days, the 'suddenly appearing' type is invincible!"

"If someone picks you up, I won't want you anymore." With a slight smile, Asuna handed Kirito a cup of warm water. "Drink some water first, then wash your hands and get ready to eat."

He then went into the kitchen to continue preparing the ingredients.

"Ha!" After finishing the warm water, Kirito slumped onto the sofa, casually turned on the TV, but didn't watch it; instead, he squinted slightly.

Asuna is a great girlfriend!

I'm certain again that even if she was angry at noon, she calmed down by the afternoon. Of course, this might have been partly due to her confidence in me, her belief that I would absolutely do as she wanted!

By the way, I also roughly understood why Asuna didn't answer the phone earlier—there wasn't any extra food in the refrigerator at home, and if she wanted to cook, she had to buy groceries on her way home. So, it must have been that Asuna was still at the supermarket buying groceries at that time.

Hmm, that's really nice...

"Help me bring the dishes out." With a smile on her lips, Asuna walked out of the kitchen carrying the prepared food. "By the way, should we invite those two next door? I made a lot of food today."

"Let's forget about it today." Kirito put down the remote and started helping out. "As people who are popular, we're very likely to get beaten to death by them."

"It's not that scary..." Asuna rolled her eyes at Kirito, sat down at the table, and took the chopsticks Kirito handed her. "So, darling, have you found something important to do?"

Kirito could almost imagine the consequences of not saying no, given that serious look in his eyes.

"Found it, I want to draw comics..."

"Eh, a manga?" Asuna seemed a little surprised. "I thought you would join the kendo club and continue your kendo training."

"I've neglected kendo for too long, it's hard to pick it up again," Kirito said helplessly. "Besides, I've been staying home for so long, although my reflexes haven't deteriorated, my physical condition isn't as good as it used to be."

"Hmm, in that case, manga is a good option too." Asuna picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks and put it in Kirito's bowl. She knew very well what Kirito had done in the past, even things that Kirito thought she didn't know, she just didn't point them out.

"So, I can ask you to do the illustrations for the light novels, right?"

"Of course..." This is on the premise that Kirito adds this sentence in his mind after I change the art style.

Do you need help with the script for the comic?

"No need, the script I prepared before can be used now."

"That's right. You also provided the subject matter for my new work, so the script is no problem for you at all."

"Well, there are many stories, but I just haven't had time to create them."

Unknown fragments of memory contain many stories and life experiences. Since that incident, Kirito began to diligently practice swordsmanship and started drawing manga, but then he gave up swordsmanship and manga and became addicted to games... This is the source of Kirito's confidence in creating scripts, and it is also his biggest secret, a secret that no one has ever known.

……

The meal didn't last long. After dinner, Kirito leaned back on the sofa and watched the news, which had no nutritional value whatsoever, while Asuna put the leftover food in the refrigerator and washed the dishes in the kitchen.

"Asuna, are we going back today?"

"I'll be back in a bit." Asuna smiled as she washed the dishes. "Mom won't allow me to stay overnight at your place, even though we've already made it official."

Then, Asuna imitated her mother's way of speaking—

"[Dating is fine, but absolutely no overnight stays at his house. Daughter, you must understand, the easier something is to obtain, the less he will cherish it, so you know what I mean!] That's roughly it..."

"I don't understand! I really don't understand!" Kirito was a little speechless, but judging from this, Asuna's mother is quite open-minded...maybe?

"It's okay if you don't understand, I do." After putting away the clean dishes, Asuna dried her hands and came out of the kitchen, sitting down next to Kirito and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Hey, Kazuto-kun, if an artist whose paintings are all masterpieces suddenly wanted to draw manga... wouldn't that seem a bit like neglecting their proper profession?"

"Wait, you're definitely not talking about me, right!?" Kirito was a little flustered. He created masterpieces... but what he wanted to draw was a manga... Okay, it's definitely not me.

"Of course not you." Asuna rolled her eyes, her expression slightly mocking. "Can the things you draw really be called masterpieces? You wouldn't even dare to say that out loud."

"Hey, what have you found out now?" Kirito was genuinely flustered this time. Was it because they found out about his doujinshi?

"Hmm, I took everything out from under the bed and put it in the drawer. I wouldn't have known if I hadn't been tidying up the room, Fujiwara-sensei." Looking up into Kirito's eyes, Asuna's teasing expression deepened.

"Ahem, well..." Kirito thought he had hidden it well, but he didn't expect to be discovered. He couldn't help but feel embarrassed. "It's all because I was too young and made mistakes..."

"Well, it's not really anything important," Asuna said with a smile. "It's just that I don't want to be seen as an erotic artist and a hardcore gamer when I'm showing off my boyfriend to others."

"Understood! I will work harder on the manga! Asuna-sama, please rest assured!"

"Hmm! Back to the previous topic, is it considered a waste of time for a famous painter to want to become a manga artist?" Asuna's smile faded as she looked at Kirito seriously and asked.

"It depends on whether the person is just doing it out of interest or genuinely wants to draw manga." Kirito straightened his expression. "If it's just a passing fancy, then I guess I'll pass. After all, drawing manga isn't just about having good skills. But if the person really loves manga... well, good luck! There's no such thing as 'not doing your job properly.' Doing what you want to do is the most important thing, isn't it?"

"I see... I understand."

010

[NO.9 The Daily Life of an Erotic Illustrator]

At 8 p.m., Asuna had already returned home, and Kirito went to the study after washing up.

Normally, Kirito would first and foremost grind the game at this point, but things aren't so easy now.

"Summer CM... There's still plenty of time, enough to finish a book."

The so-called CM, or Comic Market, is held twice a year, once in summer and once in winter, and each event usually lasts for three days.

There were booths selling R-18 doujinshi (fan-made comics), as well as other doujinshi that weren't restricted. In addition, there were all sorts of anime merchandise...

Before Kirito gave up his career as an ecchi artist, he would prepare a large number of high-quality doujinshi (fan-made comics) to sell at every commercial. Now, although Kirito wants to draw shonen manga, since he has already agreed with Eriri, he has to show some real talent.