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Page 116
The sound of a camera shutter clicked startled Kiritani-kun, who stared blankly at Asuna, who had somehow pulled out her phone, only to find her smiling and looking at him...
"Wow, Daddy is so cute!"
That's Yui's voice.
"Wow, society is really treacherous!"
To be honest, I've been tricked by Asuna before, but this is the first time I've done it this way. After all, making that expression only lasts for a moment, and taking out my phone and opening the camera app takes time... But, well, Yui is here...
Oh my god! I've been tricked by my girlfriend and her daughter!
"Such a lovely scene, it would be a waste not to take a picture."
"...Please don't do this, I'm very unhappy right now."
With his cheeks puffed out, Kiritani looked at Asuna, who was all smiles, with displeasure. Although he could easily put on an angry expression, he just couldn't bring himself to be angry.
"Hey guys, can you please not go this far? Trying on cat ear headbands is fine, those necessary things are understandable, but could you please not show them off in front of me? My eyes are hurting, please!"
The stall owner stared blankly at the couple showing affection in front of his stall, and suddenly felt a little reluctant to do business with them.
"Look over there, those guys in FFF group outfits are coming."
"Feel sorry."
Kiritani gave him an apologetic look. "Ah... I also have some good news for you."
Asuna added, "The restaurant next door just launched a new set meal, half price for couples."
"Get out of here!"
P.S.: I really don't want to change the title, I'm so lazy~
264
【NO.261 Summer CM Day 1 (Part 7)】
The crowds were so huge that they could be described as blocking out the sun.
Tourists moving between the various stalls, the sweltering heat that even air conditioning couldn't dispel, and the subtle odors.
Standing in front of the stall, Eriri had a face full of black lines. In the past, selling doujinshi was always handled by her parents, who would make the overall arrangements. Eriri would at most pretend to be a tourist and observe the situation from the sidelines. This was the first time she had ever sold doujinshi herself.
Needless to say, the crowds at CM were enormous. Eriri could still see a dense mass of heads, like a pile of garbage—yes, given Eriri's height, all she could see were heads.
regretful!
Eriri was tricked by Kasumigaoka Utaha. As far as Eriri knew, several students from her class were going to attend the CM exhibition. In fact, Eriri had already seen two of them. Not to mention how many students from the whole school would be coming to participate. Eriri herself considered herself to be quite well-known...
Ugh... I really want to fuck Kasumigaoka Utaha!
Seeing her classmate's shocked expression, Eriri finally realized that she hadn't been exposed before, and no one had associated her with the diplomat, but now—ahhh! I just want to die!
However, it's no use saying anything now. Those who know her have already seen Eriri in this form, and those who don't know her already know... Afterwards, there will definitely be posts on relevant forums or Twitter saying things like, "Popular artist Kashiwagi Eri is actually a loli! Yes, a genius erotic loli!"
"Oh dear, Eriri, Mom remembers you were going to compete with Kazuto to see who could sell more, right? — I don't know if there were any bets involved, but this kind of thing isn't really a good idea."
Looking at her daughter's utterly dejected expression, Yuriko Sawamura smiled inexplicably. "To be honest, I didn't think you had much of a chance, Eriri, especially with Kazuto's manga being so popular... But I never expected you to use this method. It's too... well, too insidious! — But without a doubt, it's an excellent method!"
"But, Xiaoyingli, have you thought about what will happen if we're found out?"
Sayuri Sawamura looked at her daughter with a smile, her eyes growing increasingly profound.
Eriri pursed her lips tightly, "...I...I never thought of that..."
…………
After witnessing the public display of affection, Kiritani and Asuna returned to the East Wing from the cosplay area, intending to check on Eriri's situation.
However, the best booth for selling doujinshi isn't always reserved for you; it requires a lottery. This means that Kirito-kun doesn't know where Eriri's booth is. Although Yui helps with location, it's still a bit of a hassle.
Just as Kiritani was about to ask a staff member where Kashiwagi Eri's booth was, someone walking towards them caught Kiritani's attention...
"Excuse me, could you tell me where you bought this doujinshi you have?"
Looking at this complete otaku, Kirigaya pointed to a doujinshi in his hand that depicted a girl wearing a black trench coat, holding a long sword, with long, black hair cascading down her back—a girl Kirigaya found strangely familiar—and asked with a subtle expression.
The tourist who had been stopped by Kiritani-kun turned his gaze away from his phone, glanced at Kiritani-kun casually, and then spoke.
"Oh! You mean this Sword Art Online doujinshi? If you want it, you'd better hurry. The one by Kurogiri Shiori is selling really well. It's located not far behind me... um, you see the one with the longest line?"
As he spoke, the person stared at Kirito-kun for a moment, then approached with a look of sudden realization, "Wow! You're cosplaying as Kurogiri Shiori! No wonder you looked so familiar. But why aren't you wearing the midnight coat? -- Ah, can we take a picture together?"
Cosplay? Sorry, this is just me being myself!
And what the heck is Kurogiri Shiori?
Sword Art Online has only been out for a short time, and you've already turned Kurogiri Shido into a female character? Do you even want to see a sequel?
But no matter what, she still had to maintain an elegant demeanor, saying, "Excuse me, I'm in a hurry to get in line..."
"Oh, I know, it's okay, you go quickly."
With a slightly regretful look in his eyes, the man smiled, waved his hand, and gave Kirito a general direction.
"Thank you."
Feeling a headache coming on, Kiritani pulled Asuna along and quickly walked in that direction. "Asuna, let's go."
The person still standing there suddenly slapped their forehead. "Damn! That chestnut-haired girl must be cosplaying the heroine of Sword Art Online! What a pity, we couldn't get photos of these two high-quality girls—but, it feels a bit strange, how would these two people cosplaying the male and female protagonists of Sword Art Online feel if they found out that the heroine in the original Sword Art Online novel isn't actually the heroine of Sword Art Online?"
…………
"That was... a doujinshi about swords?"
With a complex mix of emotions, Asuna remained expressionless and asked in a relatively calm tone.
"Yes, the male protagonist, Shido Kurogiri, has been gender-modified."
Kiritani pretended to be calm, but his head was throbbing. If it were just an ordinary doujinshi, Kiritani wouldn't have thought much of it. After all, people in this industry are used to the idea of having their doujinshi drawn. But this one was just too damn realistic!
To be honest, if you completely remove all the extra decorations from the Kurogiri Shiori on the cover and soften the lines on her face a little bit—she would look exactly the same!
Of course, Kurogiri Shiori looks more dashing.
Ugh! This is so annoying, why does it have to be drawn so realistically?
Honestly, if it were just an average doujinshi, Kiritani-kun definitely wouldn't care, but now... it's very likely that someone would pop up on the street and say, "I've read your doujinshi, it's great!"
When it really comes to that, you might not even want to say "damn it"!
I've made up my mind. I'm going to cut my hair as soon as I get back. I absolutely can't keep it!
Soon, Kirito led Asuna Yuuki to the end of a long queue. Almost instantly, Kirito felt everyone in the vicinity staring at him and Asuna. Then, he even saw Tomoya Aki holding a sign and directing the queue nearby.
...Could it be that this stall owner knows Aki Tomoya?
—Of course, Kiritani-kun doesn't think Aki Tomoya would have the idea of drawing doujinshi. After all, all you can see from him, besides his endless stream of nonsense, is a little bit of enthusiasm for reading.
265
【NO.262 Summer CM Day 1 (8)】
Back in the day, when the Touhou Project was just beginning to rise, Hakurei Shrine Maiden surpassed Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Soryu to become the queen of doujinshi. During that time, Touhou-themed doujinshi practically dominated half of the entire convention.
However, while there are still quite a few Touhou-themed doujinshi at present, the difference is still enormous compared to the past. Just look at the current situation: Sword Art Online has only been officially serialized for a month or so, but there are already an incredible amount of merchandise and doujinshi. Not to mention the super long queues that have formed for Sword Art Online doujinshi in the future.
As for Kirito, the creator of the sword, he no longer swears at all.
"Hey! Kiritani-kun, Yuuki-kun, are you here for the exhibition too?"
Holding a sign, Aki Tomoya walked over and greeted Kirito and Asuna with a big smile.
Asuna returned her usual smile, "Hello, Aki-kun."
"Well, I heard that there are books about swords sold here, so I came to take a look."
Looking at the long queue, Kiritani wondered how he could get the book quickly, or perhaps talk to the creator.
"Hey, Kirito-kun, didn't you know?"
With a surprised expression, Aki Tomoya was very surprised that Kirito-kun didn't know who drew this doujinshi. They were both in the manga club when they were in school, and Eriri drew doujinshi about swords... How strange is that?
At the same time, Aki Tomoya's emotions were also a little subtle. It seemed that... their relationship wasn't as good as he had imagined, perhaps?
"Huh? I should know? By the way, you should know who owns this stall, right, Aki-kun?"
"Well, I do know that, but it's a bit strange that you don't, Kirito-kun."
Please! Stop with the "I know" and "I don't know" stuff, just tell me who the creator is, that's enough! Stop talking like this!
"...Yes, that's Eriri's stall."
"--ha?!"
With a shocked expression, Kiritani stared blankly at Aki Tomoya, looking utterly incredulous.
...A doujinshi drawn by Eriri?
That's right! How come I never thought of that? Eriri is so confident. Sword Art Online is definitely at its peak right now. The popularity brought by the manga serialization means that if a doujinshi is released now, it will undoubtedly greatly increase sales... Besides, the only people who know that the name of the doujinshi, Kurogiri Shiori, is used in the later Sword Art Online arc, Ghost Bullet Arc, are Eriri, Asuna, and Akane Kousaka, who have read the script.
Asuna and Akane Kousaka are obviously out of the question, but Eriri...
All I can say is, damn that golden retriever!
We can leave the rest aside for now, but what about the name of the upcoming Ghost Bullet arc? Will the protagonist's character design have to be redesigned again?
After all, it's impossible to just use the character design from this script directly...
My head hurts so much!!!
"Do you know where Eriri is? I need to talk to her..."
What should I do? Force myself on the spot?
No, playing outdoors is still not a good idea.
How about turtle shell bondage? The kind where you only wear knee-high socks?
No, her father is a diplomat, which might cause some trouble.
As expected, we'll use the basement!
…………
As a bestselling erotic illustrator, Eri Kashiwagi's works are already quite popular, and now she's riding on the popularity of Sword Art Online. Originally, it was expected that her new work would sell 100 copies per hour, but now it's not just 100, it's even 200 copies per hour.
Of course, the booth couldn't only have the latest releases. There were also older works on display, whether they were considered controversial or well-received. The sales of the new releases even boosted the sales of the older works. Yes, Eriri was in a very good mood.
To be honest, the CM convention has an average daily foot traffic of 200,000 people. Although less than one percent of the visitors actually buy doujinshi at the booths, even with DNA's high foot traffic, Eriri and Sayuri Sawamura alone couldn't handle it all. They even had to call in their own two maids not long ago.
Right now, Eriri simply doesn't have time to listen to what Aki Tomoya has to say.
"Huh? Who said they were looking for me?"
The process of handing the artwork to the tourists and then giving them change was extremely smooth, but precisely because of this, Eriri didn't have time to turn around and look at Aki Tomoya while she was speaking.
"Kiritani... Fujiwara-sensei, the one in your manga club."
Although she wanted to come up and help, how could the stall owners possibly have the time to leave their stalls? Besides, with four stall owners already standing there, there was simply no extra space for Aki Tomoya to stand as well.
"Oh, what does he want from me? I'm busy right now, you can tell him to wait... never mind, I'll have him contact me later."
As she said this, Eriri didn't think too deeply about it, even though she did want to brag to Kirito about the current sales figures...
However, a hand landed on Aki Tomoya's shoulder and pulled him backward, and then Kirito walked in.
"That's wonderful, Mr. Kashiwagi. How do you feel now that you've seen me?"
"Hey, didn't you say you were going back by now? Why are you still here?"
Eriri glanced at Kiritani-kun with her head turned to the side, her expression unchanged.
In reality, Eriri may seem as calm as an old dog, but she's actually more panicked than a dead dog.
Absolutely, it's been discovered that Eriri drew his doujinshi—yes, not a doujinshi about Kurogiri Shido, but a doujinshi based on Kiritani-kun himself!
"Yes, I was originally planning to go back, but I heard that Kashiwagi-sensei drew a doujinshi about swords, so I came to take a look."
Kiritani looked at Eriri, who was still busy, without any expression, and spoke calmly without disturbing her.
Beside her, Sayuri Sawamura glanced at Kirito with a meaningful look in her eyes before finally fixing her gaze on Asuna—her daughter's formidable rival, the young lady from the Yuuki family was no easy opponent.
"Just a fleeting whimsical idea."
Sweat beaded on his forehead; it was unclear whether it was from being busy or from feeling guilty.
"Huh! This... Fujiwara-sensei? The original author of Sword Art Online?"