How can my simulation be a real love?

Having changed into sneakers, Mitsuka Hatsuka smiled and waved her little hand in Kazami Mei's direction, her romantic purple eyes revealing undisguised tenderness and smiles for him.

I'll go back and ask Xiao Mu for advice on how to make him like me.

"Miss Chuhua, you really need to pay for the meals next time."

Kazami Mei frowned helplessly as he saw off Hatsuka, who had freeloaded dinner. His gaze towards the girl was noticeably complicated before he went back to clean up the dishes.

So, Miss Chuhua has no intention of giving up at all?

Kazami Mei certainly had no reason to deprive Miss Hatsuka of even the right to 'like', especially since he had just rejected the girl's passionate feelings to her face.

Even so, he could not accept Miss Chuhua's confession.

"call……"

Thinking of this, Kazami Mei took a deep breath. Since he had decided to start a harem, he had to do it properly. He had already made up his mind to be responsible for it for the rest of his life.

hum-

Suddenly, a barrage of Ai-yin's emojis flooded my phone screen. This pink-haired girl seemed quite arrogant after becoming my 'girlfriend,' completely displaying her so-called 'overconfident' attitude.

In reality, she was mostly opposed to the absurd idea of ​​a harem, especially after hearing that Miss Su Shi was also involved. She seemed to find it difficult to accept getting along with Su Shi.

Judging from this perspective, it's likely that Miss Su Shi shares the same thought.

Furthermore, considering the previous relationship between Kazami Mei and Ms. Suze, it's clear that Suze and Little Wooden Head don't seem to get along very well.

Only Xiaodeng is like Gauss who can merge into Legend and Saga. She can get along with any girl, and even the bad woman, Miss Su Shi, has no problem with her.

His previous date with Kita-san was forced to be interrupted, and even Kazami Naruto's 'confession' that he was about to say was temporarily postponed. Kita-san had already expressed her feelings to him, and he had to formally confess to her next time no matter what.

The biggest problem right now is probably Miss Liang...

Miss Liang, who seems the most unreliable, actually has the most distinct and strong personality. She simply cannot accept the idea of ​​a 'harem' and, given her proud and aloof nature, she will definitely not compromise.

"Speaking of which..."

Kazami Mei turned on her phone and realized that she had received many calls from unknown numbers recently, but she had been too busy with the cultural festival to deal with them. Now that she thought about it, she felt that something was wrong.

He should have received a response by now that he submitted his artwork to that youth art exhibition.

Thinking of this, Kazami Mei casually opened the contact email address he had left behind. In the blink of an eye, rows of emails flooded his eyes like a tidal wave, almost every one of them with the same account and address.

22

Chapter Twenty-Two is basically just about having free time.

The so-called annual "Japanese Young Artists Group Exhibition" is essentially a public exhibition for young artists aged 10 to 20 to make their debut and gain fame.

It is precisely because it is a public exhibition that it has a wide range of submissions, allowing anyone to submit their work directly without any barriers.

Because there are no requirements, a large number of low-quality works are submitted indiscriminately, and some art schools' art departments even choose to have all their members submit their work.

Such an exaggerated number of entries naturally increases the workload of the selection staff, and only a handful of works can truly stand out and win awards.

However, as long as you can win an 'award' from this public exhibition, even if it's just a simple 'consolation prize', it's enough to beat 95% of the people.

"Are they all contact email addresses?"

Kazami Mei raised an eyebrow as he looked at the large number of email messages that kept popping up.

It seems his oil painting "Summer Flowers" probably won some kind of award, right? After all, if that painting had been eliminated in the massive selection process, the official side certainly wouldn't have sent so many emails.

Although it was just a casual sketch, it's not surprising that it caught the eye of an award of this caliber.

After all, he had no fame whatsoever, and Kazami Naruto originally thought that this application might be completely ignored.

"So it's already passed the final review?"

Kazami Mei opened the emails and glanced through them. They were mostly messages from people wanting to be contacted officially and speak with him in person.

The most eye-catching one is that "Summer Flower" has passed the "screening" and "review" and has even entered the final selection and award stage.

Traditional art painting is different from comics.

For ordinary comics or light novels, all you need to do is submit them to the editor for review. Once approved, the list of authors can be finalized, and the authors can be contacted to discuss promotion and contract signing.

Traditional art paintings require a large initial screening process before entering the formal review stage. Only after passing the review by professionals can the list of award candidates be submitted.

The works that are eligible to 'win an award' must also be decided by multiple judges to determine the final award.

Looking at the official exhibition schedule notification on his phone screen, along with words like "award confirmed," he realized that perhaps because he had only left his contact information, the official team kept sending him messages trying to reach him. The award-winning works for exhibition also required important information such as his "nickname."

"Although the progress is much faster than expected, it's not bad at all..."

Kazami Mei wasn't surprised at all that he would win the award. After all, in the simulation, his painting skills, honed over a lifetime, had reached their pinnacle, especially in the field of oil painting, where no living person dared to claim that they could compare to him.

Even his casual sketches possess a degree of power befitting his top-tier painting skills.

Knowing that "Summer Flower" would soon be exhibited at the art exhibition, Kazami Mei immediately filled in all her information without hesitation, but hesitated for a moment when thinking about her "nickname".

Such names, which resemble 'pen names' and 'stage names,' should be used with a bit of caution, as artists often use similar-sounding titles after they become famous.

If Kazami Naruto were to adopt the nickname 'One-Punch Man,' his future title might just be 'Bald Cape Man.'

"Whether in simulation or reality, I'm definitely better at painting 'flowers,' but if that's the case—"

After a moment of thought, Kazami Mei slowly sketched the two characters 'Yuuka' on the paper.

A delicate and pleasant fragrance is often used to describe the scent of flowers, which is quite a fitting nickname for him.

"Taking advantage of this opportunity as a newcomer, it's about time to seriously prepare for the next painting..."

The phone screen, glowing faintly, slowly turned off. After taking a deep breath to calm herself, Kazami Naruto turned and headed straight for her bedroom.

If he hadn't made a formal decision before, he would have developed slowly. But now that he has decided to take responsibility for the people around him, he must demonstrate the corresponding abilities.

He plans to submit his work to various well-known public competitions or art exhibitions in a short period of time in order to become famous and earn money as quickly as possible!

……

a few days later.

The last vestiges of summer heat eventually dissipated with the wind, and the dappled golden light of autumn gently shone on the maple leaves. Kazami picked up a maple leaf illuminated by the light from the steps and then casually tossed it into a dustpan filled with miscellaneous items beside her.

He showed absolutely no resemblance to an artist.

Autumn leaves fall with the wind and land at the entrance of STARRY. This seemingly beautiful scene is seen as 'waste' by the person responsible for sweeping the leaves.

After cleaning up the last maple leaves on the ground, Kazami Naru stretched slightly, having finished her work.

"Ming-san~ You've worked hard."

A blonde girl holding a broom also came down from above, but unlike when she left, she now had a small plastic bag in her hand. He glanced at it and could roughly tell what was inside by its size.

"Hongxia, has the scanning been finished so quickly?"

"Hmph~ Who does Ming think I am? You should know that I've been helping out in LiveHouses since I was very young, so this kind of workload is a piece of cake for me!"

"But I still want to thank Ming for coming all the way to help me. As a thank you gift, I bought you coffee, okay?"

The blonde girl, wearing a light green knitted cardigan, proudly raised her head, showing off her cute little white teeth and waving the plastic bag in her hand.

Even though LiveHouses have alcoholic beverages like cola, she still went out of her way to buy the coffee that Kazami Naruto likes. It's hard not to be tempted by such subtle gestures.

In fact, Mr. Kazami was already extremely tempted—

However, the reason for his 'heart-fluttering' is actually due to his current perspective.

Kazami Naru, who happened to be standing at the bottom of the STARRY staircase, was naturally able to look at Ms. Nijika above from a subtle angle.

Especially today, Ichiji Nijika was wearing her usual dark blue pleated skirt, and from Kazami Mei's perspective, the girl's slender legs were clearly visible.

Most importantly, if he continues to look upwards...

Although it sounds a bit vulgar, I—

"Eee! Ugh..."

At this moment, Ichiji Nijika may have suddenly realized something, and her fair face instantly turned red as she blinked.

The shy girl instinctively covered her skirt with her hand, then quickly walked down the stairs, the triangular golden ahoge on her head seeming to spin rapidly with her shyness.

“…Did you see it?”

Seeing that even the tips of Nijika's ears were tinged with a faint blush, Kazami Mei answered without hesitation, speaking in a serious tone—

"Didn't you see it?"

"Why is it a question?! As expected, Naruto, you definitely saw it, right?! You absolutely saw it?"

In this regard, Kazami Mei's words are just as untrustworthy as that despicable woman, Yamada Ryo!

"...No, I really didn't see anything."

Kazami Naru's eyes darted around to the side, and his expression, which showed no sincerity whatsoever, made Iji Chihiro Natsumi blush and purse her lips. She instantly realized that he must have seen her naked!

But since they've all been seen, how should she react?

"So, Ming, which color do you think is better?"

"……White?"

"You saw it, didn't you!"

With white smoke instantly billowing from her head, Miss Nijika, somewhat embarrassed and annoyed, stretched out her small fist and gently punched Kazami Mei's chest repeatedly, just like Star Platinum.

Just as the two were playfully bickering, Kita Ikuyo, carrying a guitar, arrived late and peeked out with a puzzled look. Standing next to her was Goto Ichiri, who was equally at a loss.

"Senior Hongxia? What were you and Ming talking about down there? What did you see...?"

Kita-san peered curiously down the STARRY staircase, which immediately froze Ijichi Nijika's blushing face as she was about to speak.

Then, as if realizing something, she instinctively covered Kazami's eyes to prevent him from accidentally seeing something he 'shouldn't see'!

"It's okay, it's okay! There's nothing there!!!"

"Huh? But I clearly heard..."

Before Kita Ikuyo could press the matter further, Iji Chi Nijika, with her golden ponytail swaying, immediately gave a dismissive smile: "Perhaps Kita-chan, you misheard?"

With her face flushed, Miss Nijika gently poked his forearm with her swollen hand, which made Kazami Mei, whose eyes were covered, twitch slightly at the corner of his mouth, and then he nodded in agreement.

"It's perfect timing, Kita and Pochi-chan, since you two are already here... let's get started on the band meeting! Ryo's been waiting inside for ages—"

Kazami Naru, who seemed to want to say something but hesitated, was directly pulled into STARRY by Nijika. The two's actions surprised Kita Ikuyo, who was standing on the steps, and she couldn't help but blink as she recalled her previous conversation with Chihaya Aine on Line.

As 'comrades-in-arms,' we must unite and minimize future rivals!

A future rival in love?

Although that's what the 'plan' actually said at the time...

However, it would be somewhat difficult for Kita-san to play the role of a strong person, not to mention that the serious and gentle Nijika-senpai doesn't seem to have fallen for Kazami Mei? Otherwise, she would have shown her weakness when Ryo-senpai made a strong advance.

But her girlish intuition told her that things weren't that simple.

Even the most mature and reliable senior, Nijika, might keep these feelings deeply hidden in her heart.

But what if Nijika really does have a crush on Naruto? Right now, there's also Ryo-senpai eyeing them, waiting around. If Nijika-senpai could accept everyone dating Naruto at the same time, that would be fine…

If we can't accept the relationships between everyone, won't that cause a rift in the relationships within the band?

"Should we take the initiative to ask afterward?"

"Kita-chan..."

As Kita Ikuyo muttered to herself, a question, barely audible, reached her ears. Only then did she realize that Goto Ichiri had been staring at her from the very beginning. Quickly realizing this, the girl hurriedly offered an explanation—

"Sorry, sorry! I was just a little distracted. Shall we hurry inside STARRY and get ready for the band meeting?"

"Ah, but—"

Goto Ichiri hesitated, glancing to her side. At that moment, Kita-san blinked and looked in the direction she was pointing.

A snow-white figure flashed before their eyes; a girl with short silver hair silently walked past them.

……

STARRY——

What seemed like a long-awaited important meeting to end the band's absence was actually a way for everyone to make up for Kazami Naru's absence from the celebration party. After all, there were all sorts of snacks and drinks on the table in broad daylight, which didn't look like a simple meeting at all.

From the moment he sat down, Kazami Mei could feel everyone's eyes on him.

Even the store manager, Ijichi Seika, who was not far away, stopped what she was doing and stared intently at them with her sharp eyes. Even from nearly ten meters away, one could feel the strangeness in her eyes.