manga artist Kirito

This guy... it doesn't seem so easy to win against him...

But it doesn't matter. As long as Sword Art Online is popular enough and the pen name Fujiwara Echizen generates more buzz, then I won't lose!

"Hey, good morning, Kirigaya. How does it feel to be bombarded with love letters so early in the morning?"

"...I'm having trouble deciding where to throw it."

"Are you sure you're okay with doing this?"

"If you had seen me opening the mail last night and finding a stack of razor blades, I reckon you wouldn't be asking this question now."

"Is that so...?" With a slightly surprised expression, Eriri turned to look beside her, then looked mysteriously at Kiritani-san. "It must be from an older work, like Aino's!?"

"Ah, that's right. Most of the letters are from readers of Scarlet Street."

"I'd like to contribute too." Eriri shook the water off her umbrella and then put it in the bucket next to Kirito. "By the way, where are Yuuki and Shiina-san?"

"It's raining, so use an umbrella. The rest is up to you to figure out." Kiritani-san hates people who bring up things they don't really want to talk about.

Eriri smiled, her eyes narrowing. "So you were just abandoned like that? How pathetic."

"Shut up, you golden retriever! You'll never understand the benefits of being in a relationship!" He reached out and pressed Eriri's head, forcefully ruffling her hair, then quickly backed away to dodge Eriri's whipping twin tails.

"Damn it!! I'll get you one day!" Eriri roared angrily, but she couldn't hit anyone with her twin tails.

With a light novel book between her slender, pale fingers, Kasumigaoka Utaha, looking like she hadn't woken up yet, stepped into the school building. Seeing the two playfully fighting, she said, "What are you two doing so early in the morning?"

"Oh my! So... finally a male student has confessed to the teacher! How wonderful! I wonder how Asuna will feel when she sees this."

"Shut up!" Rolling her eyes, Kiritani-san didn't quite understand the mentality of Kasumigaoka Utaha, this plump woman in black stockings. "It's getting late, you should hurry back to class."

"Okay." Kasumigaoka Utaha yawned slightly and prepared to leave, but stopped after taking only two steps. She turned around and looked at Kiritani-san, who was squatting down, and said, "Please don't run around at noon, teacher. I have something to tell you. See you later."

"Okay, see you later." Kiritani-san said without looking up as he gathered the letters scattered on the ground.

"There are so many..." Eriri squatted down to help Kirito pick up the letters that had fallen to the ground. She pursed her lips. Although she didn't have many thoughts, the letters scattered all over the ground still stirred up a ripple in Eriri's heart.

This country has a thriving cultural industry, with many people wanting to get involved in both light novels and comics. In a sense, it's a country full of artists, and achieving success there is no easy feat.

There may be fewer than three hundred artists in this country who can reach Eriri's level, but there are hundreds of thousands of R-18 artists in this country. Although Eriri has artistic talent, the talent she has shown so far is only in the R-18 field - Eriri has no intention of drawing erotic works for the rest of her life.

An illustrator might be a good choice, but Eriri really wants to be a manga artist.

However, while they may have good drawing talent—for example, Kirito was only good at romance-themed art before, and Eriri was only good at R-18 art—it just doesn't seem normal to use R-18 art in a normal manga.

Eriri is well aware of her own shortcomings.

However, changing things is not an easy task—right now, this classmate and rival has successfully transitioned from an R-18 illustrator to a comic artist, and these letters on the ground are proof of his success.

Just now, while looking at her shoe cabinet, Eriri had fantasized about how nice it would be if there were so many fan letters inside—but she quickly dismissed the idea because she hadn't yet created a work that would lead her into the manga industry.

And that is indeed the case—of course, excluding those useless love letters.

"Didn't you say I would handle it...?"

Eriri tilted her head. "I... I didn't pick them up because I wanted to help you. I... I just thought these things were in the way, so... so I... that's why I cleaned them up. Don't... don't overthink it."

Not to mention others, even Eriri herself now thinks she's strange.

"Is this what you call... textbook tsundere?" Kato Megumi's voice suddenly rang out, causing Kirito to take a deep breath and even have the urge to cover his face.

However, Eriri wasn't startled. Instead, she widened her eyes and stammered, "Tsundere...tsundere? This...this has nothing to do with me. I'm not a tsundere at all!"

Eriri threw the letter at Kiritani's face and ran away quickly.

"A self-awareness that makes one's brain freeze." Having been inexplicably given a jab, Kiritani-kun truly didn't know what to say.

—Even though you, Eriri, usually act like a rich young lady, there's no one at school who doesn't know you're a tsundere, and a textbook example at that, and you still don't realize it... You're really something!

but……

"Could you please not appear out of nowhere like this next time? I have a heart condition."

"What?!" Ms. Kato Megumi puffed out her cheeks, slightly displeased. "I've been standing behind Kazuto for a long time, but neither Kazuto nor anyone else noticed me."

"...Didn't I tell you to tie your hair in a ponytail? This hairstyle looks awful, like a mushroom cut." Kirigaya glanced at Kato Megumi's current look and pouted. If you want to stand out, you need to have some attractive features, right?

For example, Hachiman's dead fish eyes, Ryunosuke's long hair, and my single ponytail...

Damn it, why did you have to use myself as an example?

"This is called a bob haircut."

"Mushroom head it is, stop making excuses!" Kirito picked up all the letters from the ground, took the rest from Kato Megumi, and stuffed them into his bag. He continued, "What do you think of ruffles and princess dresses?"

Kato tilted his head. "Eh, should Kazuto-kun wear it?"

"Take off your clothes and I'll wear them..."

195

【NO.193 Quiet and Lovely】

The situation is like this...

Ms. Kato Megumi, whom I can tentatively call my childhood friend, has a rather weak presence in Thailand, so I agreed to carry out a transformation plan for her—simply put, to make her more noticeable.

However, although this child is sometimes very obedient, she is also very willful at other times. For example, two weeks ago I asked her to tie her hair up in a ponytail, which would greatly increase her presence. However, it seems that she only ties it up occasionally, and most of the time she still wears this mushroom haircut... Ah, I know, bob haircut it is.

So I decided to make a plan for her—not an idolization plan, don't overthink it.

Of course, if Xigua wants to continue developing in this direction, then finding two good talents for her wouldn't be a bad idea—speaking of which, Yang Naizi seems to have mentioned that her younger sister, Yukinoko, is also a pretty good singer.

Well, in short, I was definitely the one who devised Kato Megumi's transformation plan.

First, naturally, we need to start with her face, which doesn't seem to show much emotion even if her boyfriend is stolen. Yes, we need to make her expressive.

Secondly, she changed her clothing—come to think of it, she seems to have always been good at dressing up…uh, I mean, she should incorporate more cute elements.

For example, adding pleats or ruffles to princess dresses or other clothing...

Isn't that blonde Lolita master who's always on the bestseller list just walking around in a Lolita princess dress every day? — What's the difference between Lolita and Lolita?

"So, if you want to reform Kato-kun, why are you dragging us into it?" Kasumigaoka Utaha gritted her teeth, her expression saying, "Don't give me a chance, or I'll crush you."

Don't be fooled by Kasumigaoka Utaha's arrogance now. All she has to offer are her legs. They might be a bit strong, but she doesn't need me at all. Even Asuna can easily crush her with one hand. If it were me... I reckon I could just press her down and knead her however I want without even using my hands—where I knead would be entirely up to personal preference.

"You pervert... are you trying to peep under our skirts while we're doing push-ups?" Eriri gasped for breath, looking like she was about to die.

Let me tell you, even though Eriri says that, she is actually wearing safety shorts, the white kind... So, there's no chance of her peeping under her skirt.

"Eh, so that's what you were thinking with Hito-kun?" Kato Megumi opened her mouth slightly, seemingly not expecting her childhood friend to be so perverted.

"Huh? You only just realized he's a pervert?" Kasumigaoka Utaha stared in astonishment at the suddenly enlightened Kato Megumi. "Then you'd better be careful. This guy is a master at using words to deceive women, making them follow him blindly... It's like Häagen-Dazs with soy sauce added—disgusting."

"Kasumigaoka! Keep up with the exercise, and stop showing off your flabby body—I'm telling you to lose weight but you refuse, I'm doing this for your own good!" Kiritani glanced at Asuna, who was sitting not far away supervising Shiina Mashiro's artwork, and resisted the urge to sit on Kasumigaoka Utaha's waist. "A good figure is what you want, and not dieting is also what you want, but the existence of this flabby body will only make you scream 'Holy crap!'"

"I'm not fat! I don't have any excess fat at all!" Kasumigaoka Utaha roared.

Not only Kasumigaoka Utaha, but even Eriri and Kato Megumi started to look at Kiritani-san with strange eyes.

Guilty?

Hmph! That doesn't exist!

"Not fat? Then how come you weigh more than me?"

"My breasts are bigger than yours!" Kasumigaoka Utaha glared.

With a hesitant expression, Kiritani glanced at Eriri, who seemed to have lost her dreams, and finally shook her head. It seemed she truly couldn't refute it...

Damn it, I'm not playing with you guys anymore...

…………

"So, you just ran away like that?"

Holding a can of coffee, Hiratsuka Shizuka leaned back in her chair, looking at the group of people still enjoying their youth, and shook her head slightly. "Kasumigaoka too, how can a girl say this in front of a boy?"

Holding the coffee that Shizuka had treated him to, Kiritani-san felt all his dissatisfaction disappear. "Shizuka, you really do love me!"

"Love...what...you bastard..." Suddenly blushing, her once dashing demeanor became incoherent, and her eyes darted around...

Is this...is this a confession?

It's a confession...

...What a load of rubbish!

"Say hello to your teacher properly, you little brat!"

The nickname "Quiet and Cute"...

Are you trying to say I'm... cute?

Wait a minute, it seems this isn't the first time this guy has called out like that...

I just hadn't paid much attention to it before...

"The wind is really noisy today..." Kiritani-san turned his head to look at the side, pretending not to hear the female writing teacher's words, which were interpreted as "iron fist judgment."

"You... never mind." Jing Ke'ai sighed. "How's your club activity going lately?"

"Not bad, the short-term goal has been achieved, and we've also submitted it to Shueisha." Kirigaya smoothed a strand of hair behind his ear. "Although the chances of winning an award are very low, if an unexpected time travel happens, you might get to see a manga that's just as bizarre as Gintama, Shizuka-sensei."

"I see..." The female teacher nodded thoughtfully, then reached out and grabbed Kiritani's shoulder, her grin clearly showing her dissatisfaction. "You didn't even tell me about this beforehand. Do you even consider me your club advisor? Do you want to try dying?"

"I've never taken you, Jing'er, seriously..."

"...Huh?!" The female teacher was furious, her eyes flashing with a warning signal of iron fists.

"You have to keep Jingke in your heart no matter what!" Kiritani-kun said righteously. "If I don't keep you in my heart, what if you catch me when I'm lazy and want to delay my manuscript?"

...Let me tell you, even a watermelon didn't dare to hit me!

“…Sometimes I really want to hit you!” The female teacher withdrew her iron fist as a warning, and said with some dissatisfaction.

"Next time, you must tell me about any club activities, understand?"

"Hey hey, wagada!"

"Speaking of which, you must be quite free lately, right?" Hiratsuka Shizuka asked casually. "You should have finished the artwork needed for the CM exhibition a long time ago. Now, you can finish the Sword Art Online artwork in three days at most. Even if you spend two days playing games, you still have two days left... Hey, have you ever thought about running two accounts at once?"

Looking into Kiritani-san's eyes, Shizuka narrowed her eyes slightly—this was the second task Akane had given me, and it was also a responsibility I had to fulfill as an editor!

P.S.: Bookke's tech department... is a disgrace. Uploading a chapter takes half an hour for the backend to process. Is such a long cooldown a special feature? Bullshit!

Is there a third chapter...? I'll read it before 7 PM.

Please feed them, yes, you need to pat them!

196

【NO.194 New work? (Additional update)]

Double-opening—cough, not double-flying, I'm willing to double-open, and I'll do it no matter what.

The story of Sword Art Online is just something I wanted more people to know about the Black Swordsman, the one who controls the game. It just carries my thoughts from when I was a child—just like this book carries my principles. I actually want to write a book that carries my thoughts... but I definitely won't be able to handle writing so much every day.

Just like Eriri's twin tails, one symbolizes her loli-like temperament, and the other symbolizes her tsundere nature...

Sword Art Online is now on the right track. Although I am not a warrior of love, I received so many blades last night that I will naturally write and create a work that would make those readers willing to empty their wallets and send me blades. It is not an erotic work. If it is an erotic work, it is naturally the kind of work that makes readers lose all desire for any work.

Let me state upfront that I, Kirito, am not a warrior of love!

I don't like healing stories either, because I'm not like Kasumigaoka Utaha, who gets so engrossed in writing that her long hair seems to float up against gravity, making her feel like a mastermind behind everything.

I've already prepared the script for the new work, but I'm currently working on the illustrations for Asuna's upcoming new work. I estimate I'll be able to finish them in another two days, and then it'll be time to start drawing the manuscript for the new work.

—Yes, that's right. It's the work that Asuna gave to Nancy at the last signing event. The reason it hasn't been released yet is that the illustrations are only a minor reason. The biggest reason is that Shinazugawa Shoten wants to wait until the final volume of "The Lonely Queen of the North" has fully gained traction, and with the subsequent promotion, they want to see if they can make the new work reach a stage that most creators haven't achieved when the first volume is released.

In other words, Shinazugawa Shoten wants Asuna to dominate the light novel sales charts.

The list here refers to the internal ranking list of Fushigawa Bookstore, which is ranked every six months. The author currently at the top of the list is a veteran author, while Kamishirasawa Hibiki, also known as Asuna, is only in second place and only recently rose to the top...

Actually, these bestseller lists aren't very useful to Asuna, since she only writes as a hobby. Although she's made a lot of money from light novels, don't forget—Asuna is a rich girl.

With such a large and successful business, there's not much to worry about failing.

After all, the stories I wrote were just meant to be seen by more people, or rather, I wanted to have a considerable reputation in the industry, just like Kirito.

Based on the current timeline, Asuna's new work should be released around the start of summer vacation, at most two weeks later. By the way, Kasumigaoka Utaha has submitted her manuscript. When will Machida, the editor, schedule the release of the third volume of "Love Metronome"?

Back to the main topic...

As things stand, Kirito's dual-writing schedule is inevitable, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, it should begin this weekend. Hiratsuka Shizuka's sudden inquiry has given Kirito a lot to think about—hmm, it must be because of Suigi, otherwise Shizuka would only come to urge him to finish the manuscript on Fridays and weekends at most.

After all, any normal editor would want the creator to focus on one work. Being distracted while creating is not a good thing. To be honest, wouldn't those creators who write multiple projects have a mental breakdown?