I, who tortured the readers, was knocked to the ground by them!

Inside that apartment, which wasn't very large.

The room was still spotless and tidy, but compared to the previous room which was only dark-colored and looked rustic, the colors were now more vibrant.

On the bed is an affordable, brightly colored dress that the homeowner has recently started trying out.

She started following trends like other girls.

Hasegawa Shion tilted her head slightly, looked at the message he sent, and pouted slightly.

I spent ages carefully planning what to wear for tomorrow, and now I'm just saying I'm not going.
Although it didn't really matter to either of them whether they went or not, since the professor definitely wouldn't fail them both.

He only went to the elective course to keep me company and maybe go on a date with me; there was no other real purpose behind it.

However, since there was only one week of classes left, she still hoped to finish what she started.

I'm so unwilling to give up. I was planning to take him to a private cinema this time.

In that kind of atmosphere where the two of you are together, holding hands while watching a romantic or horror movie, hehehe.
That sounds really interesting!

However, although Hasegawa Shion was much bolder than before, she still couldn't bring herself to ask him to accompany her.

Perhaps it's because I've been getting too close to him lately, which has made Ruoye uncomfortable, so I need to take care of Ruoye's feelings.

But how can I always take care of Wakaba's feelings? Although I feel sorry for Wakaba too, this is a matter between two people.

We're going to fall in love, get married, and have children sooner or later. I can't keep catering to her every whim!

She's even broken ties with her father!
My silly sister said that Dad is a person who is stubborn but soft-hearted, just like me. As long as I bring my husband and children home, he will naturally forgive me.

After all, in his eyes, he and his sister were both useless, and they wanted to start a new account.
Actually, I really want to go back to Kyoto and reconcile with my father as soon as possible.

We're both adults now, so if possible, we should just get our marriage certificate right away, and then...
As Hasegawa Shion's mind wandered, she unconsciously touched her smooth belly and blushed instantly.

"Ugh, what am I thinking about? It's so annoying. Who knows how long it will be before I become a mother?"

Hasegawa Shion scratched her head in distress.

However, compared to before, I should say I'm doing better and better!
I've been able to hold his hand freely lately, hehe.

Hasegawa Shion stretched out her hand, looked at her slender palm, and chuckled softly as she recalled the sweetness of the past semester.

"Oh, right, I forgot, there's something important to do."

Hasegawa Shion quickly sent another message to Sakurai Itsuki: "Are you free to come over to my place now?"

Lately, we've been so affectionate with each other that many of my classmates are saying we're deliberately showing off our love.

If he can't help himself and acts too intimately with me in front of Wakaba, it might hurt Wakaba. It's better if he comes to my own home.

As she spoke, she turned her head to look at one side of the cabinet, where the gift that awful Hase Hatsuna had given her was hidden.

Should we continue to hide it, or let him discover it unintentionally, and then...
Just as Hasegawa Shion was hesitating whether to use her cunning to tempt him and speed things up, Sakurai Itsuki sent a message first.

Sakurai Itsuki: [Let's talk online.]

Hasegawa Shion pouted, her scheme dying in its infancy before it even began: "Then shall I come to your place?"

Sakurai Itsuki: [Let's try to talk online.]

Sakurai Itsuki spoke again.

If she came over now, she would see Wakaba, who could barely walk, and herself, looking completely listless.

The artist who created this doujinshi must be able to guess what happened between the two of them.

Putting aside whether she can accept it right away, and whether Ruoye is prepared to talk to her, just from the perspective of basic human social etiquette, it feels a bit impolite.

Shion Hasegawa: [Alright then, take a look at this post.]

Although Sakurai Itsuki always speaks very briefly online, without using any emojis or interjections.

But today, Hasegawa Shion still felt that he was somewhat indifferent, as if he was deliberately keeping his distance from her.

He shook his head, realizing he was probably overthinking things.

Hasegawa Shion sent the post over.

It was a post published on 5CH, and Sakurai Itsuki raised an eyebrow as soon as he saw the title.

[Battle! White Album creator Sakurai Itsuki plagiarizes unpublished manga by Sakura Fujii Shuge!]

The post was published this afternoon, and it had already received over 10,000 views in less than three hours.

The homepage prominently features a screenshot from the promotional PV for "Hotarubi no Mori e" (Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light), which was just released today, along with a script illustration credited to Sakurai Itsuki and Hasegawa Shion.

Sakurai Itsuki could tell at a glance who had done it.

That script competition was just like some of the "College Student Programming Competitions" and "Robot Design Competitions" in my previous life in China; it didn't get any public attention at all.

Even many students in the major, aside from the participants, don't really care about the results of the competition.

The only person who could discover the similarities between the two so quickly, create a comparison image and post it so soon, and hate themselves so much, is clearly that "good classmate".

Continue reading: [Sakurai Itsuki and I are classmates and participants in this competition! I will expose this injustice!]

I want to expose Sakurai Itsuki, who openly skips classes at the drop of a hat, and whose girlfriend almost always does all his classwork!

[But thanks to the professor's protection, he not only escaped punishment, but also brutally suppressed me for protesting this injustice! All because the professor believed I was qualified to win the competition!]

Now it seems that his award-winning work was plagiarized from Sakura Fujinojo's unpublished new work!

Looking at these messages, it was indeed as expected—the extremely narrow-minded clown.

But this post sparked a major controversy.

Originally, due to the reputation of the three beasts, and from the perspective of fans, the New Dimension Club to which Sakurai Itsuki belongs often creates fan art related to cherry blossom leaves.

Therefore, there is a significant overlap between the fans on both sides.

Furthermore, compared to the other two groups of fans who frequently argue and ridicule each other over who is the "Number One Genius Cartoonist of the New Era," the relationship between these two groups of fans has always been very harmonious.

After all, Sakurai Itsuki doesn't draw manga; he just happened to debut in the same year, his name has the character "tree" in it, and his stories are based on torturing readers, so he was just pulled out to make up the numbers.

In the past two years, apart from the white photo album, he has not had any other works, and some people even think that he is much lower in quality than the other two.

However, most people have been tolerant of him, meaning he doesn't deliberately post articles to disgust readers and has always maintained a relatively low profile.

Everyone says that of these three beasts, Sakurai Itsuki is the most human-like.

But now that this has happened, fans feel betrayed.

Sakura Fujii's fans do not accept this act of betrayal by Sakurai Itsuki.

Sakurai Itsuki's original fans felt their world had collapsed. From the current perspective, Sakurai Itsuki's behavior is indeed undeniable.

People often jokingly call someone a beast, but plagiarizing a partner's unpublished work to enter a competition is truly beastly.

Immediately, both Sakurai Itsuki and New Dimension Society were attacked.

Looking at the message, Sakurai Itsuki thought to himself: No wonder the system points exploded this afternoon. I knew that today "Hotarubi no Mori e" only released a PV, so it shouldn't have been that upsetting.

It's unbelievable that his own relationship scandal could cause his fans so much distress.

Hase Shion: [What should we do about this? I told you, don't be lazy and use the Hotarubi no Mori e script to participate in the competition!] Hase Shion felt terrible looking at the overwhelming criticism of Sakurai Itsuki.

Normally, if someone calls him a beast, she will definitely clap and cheer, because it is just a simple way of venting her emotions.

Neither side really cares.

But now things are a bit off; this is a real attack.

Faced with such an attack, Sakurai Itsuki immediately laughed and said, "Don't worry, this is a good thing."

Anyway, I plan to reveal my identity and generate buzz during the upcoming publicity phase.

How could we refuse such free publicity?
Hasegawa Shion retorted, "You didn't have to go this far, did you? This is really going too far!"

Shion Hasegawa: [And the final chapter of White Album is about to be released!]

Hasegawa Shion: [That bastard Natsutoru Mura, I really want Dad to have someone teach him a lesson!]

Sakurai Itsuki looked at the message and thought to herself, "How many times do I have to say I'm not a masochist? If you still don't believe me, go ask your best friend Wakaba. She's a little worried that I might break her."

Of course, he would never send such a message to Hase Shion.

I simply told her: "Calm down, don't do anything unnecessary. I'll go to the company tomorrow and have a proper talk with everyone."

Hasegawa Shion: [Oh, I see. Do you want me to go to the company with you?]

Sakurai Itsuki: [No need.]

Hasegawa Shion stared blankly at his straightforward reply, then looked at the unfinished message in her chat box.

Although I still have classes in my major, seeing how badly you were attacked today, and considering that the conflict between you and Natsutoru Mura does have some connection to me, I can reluctantly help you.

She pursed her lips, and ultimately deleted that textbook-perfectly arrogant statement.

Finally, I replied with a brief "Oh".

Sakurai Itsuki: [That's it.]

After sending the message, Sakurai Itsuki did not reply.

Hasegawa Shion put down her phone and let out a long sigh.

After a long silence, she irritably ruffled her long, smooth black hair into a "bird's nest".

Why am I so upset?

Something's wrong! Something's wrong! Something must be wrong!
But what exactly is wrong?
Hasegawa Shion was frustrated for a long time, but ultimately couldn't find an answer, or rather, she didn't dare to think about the answer.

I opened my phone and browsed the increasingly popular topics again.

Seeing the heated argument, Hasegawa Shion thought she should speak up for him.

That guy is annoying, but he's still someone I like.

If she is a qualified wife, a qualified matriarch like a mother, she should help protect her husband.

So she secretly created a secondary account and posted a message urging everyone to stay calm. The message said: "We should stay calm. Things may not be as they seem. We shouldn't believe just one side of the story. There may be some unspeakable difficulties."

The post had just been published when a red dot appeared in the backend within seconds.

Hasegawa Shion quickly clicked on it.

What came into view was: [Sakurai Itsuki Takako], [It's obvious this beast really did something beastly, how can you deny it?], [Heh, how much did he get? Introduce him, I want to earn that money too], [I used to say he was one of the three beasts just to make up the numbers, but now it seems he's the only real beast!], [The three beasts? The only beast!]

Upon hearing this news, Hasegawa Shion gritted her teeth and stomped her feet in anger.

I really want to wipe them all out!
When you finally realize that the Sakurai Tree is actually the leaves of the Sakura Vine, you'll understand how stupid you all are!
But Sakurai Itsuki just wouldn't let himself say it now, which was annoying.

Hasegawa Shion tossed her phone aside, but she still got angrier the more she thought about it.

I finally turned on my computer and logged into Twitter.

They found the account of Haruki Nagayama, which seemed to have nothing to do with the incident in other people's eyes.

"Anyway, you like being scolded, so this just satisfies you."

Hasegawa Shion, after a long absence, started performing in the chat box.

Just like when the two of them first started out.

After hurling a string of vulgarities, he once again crudely uttered the phrase, "I'm going to force myself on you sooner or later!"

Sato Wakaba, who had already finished eating, leaned back on the sofa and said, "Wow, this has blown up so much! I almost didn't even notice."

Sakurai Itsuki was washing dishes in the kitchen. Today, cooking and washing dishes were all done by Sakurai Itsuki alone as punishment.

Sakurai Itsuki asked, "Weren't you looking at your phone the whole time? How come you didn't notice?"

Sato Wakaba said, "I was busy dealing with everyone's concern. Yesterday, you all saw me all alone, wearing a yukata, waiting by the river for someone who stood me up. However, some people in the group chat were talking about it, but they didn't seem particularly concerned."

In response to Sato Wakaba's still lingering complaints, Sakurai Itsuki quickly said, "Let's go back to Sapporo for the Bon Festival. Mitsuki said there will be a big event there this year."

Sato Wakaba tilted her head and said, "Aren't you going to bring Mitsuki to Tokyo this year? I haven't seen Mitsuki in so long, I want to hear her call me 'sister-in-law' a few times in person!"

Sato Wakaba still dotes on Mitsuki.

Sakurai Itsuki said, "Not this year. I'm a high school student now, and I have lots of friends to spend the summer with. As for 'sister-in-law,' I think she called you that before?"

Sato Wakaba swung her legs back and forth, in a very good mood: "Back then, it was just a misunderstanding by Mitsuki! Things are different now! I have to say, Mitsuki really has a keen eye; she saw so early on that I would become her sister-in-law."

Sakurai Itsuki immediately blushed and said, "Really? That's good then."

Sakurai Itsuki thought to herself, "It's good that you don't know her true thoughts."

It's true that she sees you as her sister-in-law, but...
That brat, Mitsuki, has told Sakurai Itsuki more than once: "Bro, since everyone says you're a beast, why don't you just be a real beast, the ultimate scumbag?"

Guangxi's stance has always been: the more beautiful sisters-in-law who dote on her, the better.

She appears well-behaved and sensible, but in some ways, she also has the potential to be a complete scoundrel.

Sato Wakaba chimed in, "Of course that's great! Aren't you satisfied with me being Mitsuki's sister-in-law?"

"Can you come to the company with me tomorrow?" Sakurai Itsuki changed the subject.

He didn't want to say that if he really wanted to satisfy that brat, it wouldn't be something a sister-in-law could handle.

"Ah, it's good that she still cries and makes a fuss. Now she knows to keep me by her side?" Sato Wakaba sighed.

After washing the dishes, Sakurai Itsuki put the tableware into the sterilizer, then leaned close to Sato Wakaba and gently pinched her cheek: "Is it too late now?"

Sato Wakaba laughed and said, "Consider it a case of better late than never! But if I'm going with you tomorrow, you'll have to sleep in your own room tonight."

"Why? Why don't you sleep with me, the real Ashu? If you do that, then I'm going to take action against that bootleg one. I'll take all the cotton out of it tonight."

Sato Wakaba pouted and said, "Ugh, so annoying! Go away! Let's talk about it in at least a couple of days! Do you want to see me staggering around in front of everyone and make a fool of myself?"

"Hey, where are my sweaty soybeans? Why haven't they been sent yet?"

The person, still waiting for news, frowned slightly, thinking with considerable dissatisfaction: "If you keep this up, I'm really going to force myself on you?!" (End of Chapter)