Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist.

Chapter 100 Ayane's Dream (Daily Life)

December arrived as scheduled.

Life seemed to remain largely unchanged, and Erina was still actively preparing for her exams.

The dates for the on-campus written test and interview have been set for December 16th and 17th.

After submitting her manuscript for this week, Eri Aragaki continued to work on proofreading, cover design, and afterword for the second volume of Attack on Titan.

And—another written interview as a warm-up for the single volume. Masaya Sakurai just sent me the interview form the day before yesterday, asking me to fill it out and return it in the next couple of days.

However, this written interview is a little different.

Unlike the first time when she asked and answered her own questions, which was asked by the editorial department and answered by Eri Aragaki, the questions were all very conventional, such as what the inspiration for her creation was, who her favorite character was, and what her hobbies were.

This time, it wasn't the usual format of the editorial department asking questions and Eri Aragaki answering; instead, it became a reader Q&A session.

That is, selecting questions from readers' letters to answer.

Shueisha placed a preview in the previous issue of the magazine, inviting readers to write their questions on postcards and send them to the editorial department. They then selected representative questions and gave them to Eri Aragaki to answer.

In this case, the main issue naturally becomes the plot and setting of Attack on Titan.

However, since Eri Aragaki's status as a bishoujo manga artist was exposed as part of marketing and promotion, many readers are curious about her personal privacy, such as why she chose to draw manga, and why she chose to draw shonen manga instead of shoujo manga.

Eri Aragaki simply replied that it's just a personal preference; she prefers the companionship and bonds in shonen manga, and there's nothing more to say about that.

Because she genuinely enjoys reading shonen manga, and her soul in her previous life was that of a boy.

But suddenly—

"Ding-dong"

Doorbell rang.

Eri Aragaki put down her pen, got up from the sofa, and went to open the door.

Standing at the door was none other than Ayane Takeda. She was wearing a light blue down jacket, her scarf wrapped tightly around her face, with only half of her face showing. Her nose was a little red from the cold December wind.

She said with some surprise, "Ayane, what brings you here today? Don't you need to work at the convenience store at this time?"

The moment the door opened, Ayane Takeda threw herself into her arms, clinging to her like a cat.

She had been all smiles, but upon hearing this, she shook her head helplessly, lifting her face from Aragaki Eri's shoulder. "Senpai, didn't I already tell you? I resigned from the manager's job a long time ago!"

Eri Aragaki wasn't surprised by Ayane Takeda's sudden act of throwing herself into her arms, as she was already used to it.

As his relationship with Ayane Takeda and Akane Natsume grew closer, the boundaries between them became increasingly blurred.

For example, Natsume Akane likes to take advantage of Aragaki Eri, and Aragaki Eri will fight back. The two often end up bickering on the sofa.

Ayane Takeda loves to snuggle into Eri Aragaki's arms, and this isn't the first time.

Because of the height difference, Ayane Takeda is almost a head shorter than Eri Aragaki, and the whole thing looks quite natural hanging on her.

Eri Aragaki gradually got used to everything about being a girl, including physiological differences, how girls interact, differences in clothing, and so on.

When she first transmigrated, she had to mentally prepare herself for a long time just to take a bath, but now she no longer feels that awkwardness.

Aside from her hobbies, she has always remained true to her current gender.

In other aspects, she gradually got used to the changes and no longer felt strange or uncomfortable at the drop of a hat.

She's gotten used to enjoying things like being pulled into a girl's arms, and it doesn't seem strange to her anymore.

"Ah, is that so?

Eri Aragaki was slightly taken aback. "I was wondering why you suddenly came to my place. I thought you had a shift today."

Ayane Takeda left Eri Aragaki's embrace, took off her down jacket and hung it on the coat rack in the entryway, and also took off her scarf, folded it, and placed it on the shoe cabinet.

Then she changed into slippers and went into the living room. Erina went to school. Yes, even though she had secured a spot in the entrance exam through recommendation, Erina still had to go to school.

This is the rule in Japanese high schools. Even after completing the process of enrolling in Waseda University, students still have to finish their final semester of senior year before the semester ends. Insufficient attendance will affect graduation.

"Is there anything I can help you with, senior?"

After Ayane Takeda came in, she asked directly, as she had already habitually headed towards the studio.

"Not at the moment, I'm just filling out some reader Q&A questions."

Eri Aragaki returned to the sofa, picked up her pen again, and pointed to the interview form spread out on the coffee table. "We'll draw the storyboard for this week later, and then we'll start working again tomorrow. You can just play around here for a bit."

"Ah, okay then, senpai, I'll play the game console for a bit."

Ayane Takeda casually turned on Eri Aragaki's game console.

She skillfully took the PS3 controller from under the TV cabinet, pressed the power button, and the familiar boot screen appeared on the TV screen.

Since Eri Aragaki bought the game console, Ayane Takeda has surprisingly become the second most frequent user of these game consoles.

Eri Aragaki used to think that only she would touch game consoles, but she never expected that Ayane Takeda would see a PS when she first came here.

The eyes of the three controllers lit up.

Yes, even Eri Aragaki didn't expect that Ayane Takeda was actually a girl with severe internet addiction.

However, to be frank, Eri Aragaki's gaming skills are quite average.

To put it simply, he's bad at the game but has a huge addiction.

When playing fighting games, I just randomly press buttons; when playing shooting games, I can never aim at anyone; and when playing action games, I always fall to my death in the same spot.

"Let's play!"

Eri Aragaki was quite casual, and then lowered her head to continue filling out the written interview.

After finally finishing filling it out, she looked up and saw that Ayane Takeda was still typing.

I was playing the classic game Metal Gear Solid, the PS3 title in the Metal Gear Solid series, which had top-notch graphics for its time.

But her performance was absolutely terrible. Snake was spotted by enemies on the screen time and time again, the alarm kept going off, her health bar was almost empty, and she was still spinning around in circles, not knowing where to run.

When the word "GAMEOVER" finally appeared on the screen, Ayane Takeda couldn't help but cover her face, put the controller on her knees, and lean back into the sofa cushions.

Eri Aragaki couldn't bear to watch either, and slapped her hand on her forehead. She could still see the death scene flashing on the TV screen.

"Senior, this level is really difficult."

Ayane Takeda couldn't help but blush, peeking at Eri Aragaki through her fingers, her voice growing softer and softer.

"Is this... difficult?"

Even Eri Aragaki is questioning her existence; Metal Gear shouldn't be too difficult, right?

She had played the game several times in her previous life, and she could walk the infiltration route of this level with her eyes closed. There were only a few patterns in the enemy's patrols, and she just needed to find the right moment and walk past the wall.

Ayane Takeda chose the normal difficulty, which already provides a wide field of vision for the enemies. If she had switched to the hard mode, Ayane probably wouldn't have lasted more than ten minutes.

If this is considered difficult—then when Souls-like games like Dark Souls and Sekiro come out, Ayane Takeda will probably be even less able to play. She'll probably be stuck on the first elite enemy for half a month.

"That's tough! Okay, I'm not very good at games."

Ayane Takeda pouted, picked up the game controller that had slid onto the sofa, and placed it on the coffee table. "Senpai is really good at games, and she can draw manga too. She's tall and beautiful too—"

As she spoke, her gaze toward Eri Aragaki grew increasingly starry, her undisguised admiration overflowing from her eyes, oblivious to any hint of shyness.

Eri Aragaki's mood grew increasingly cheerful as she listened to the compliments. Who wouldn't be happy to be praised to their face, especially by Ayane Takeda, who seemed genuinely sincere?

However, she also felt somewhat helpless. She placed the completed interview form on the coffee table, weighed it down with the remote control, and turned to look at Ayane Takeda. "Ayane, why do you like games? — But you do have a good temper —"

"Because my dad taught me."

"I've loved games since I was little," said Ayane Takeda earnestly, placing her hands folded on her knees and straightening her posture from sprawled on the sofa. "When I was little, nobody wanted to play with me—everyone thought I wasn't good-looking—"

My dad also took me to play video games. He bought an old game console from a secondhand store, and we would play together on weekends. That's why I really like video games, even though I'm not very good at them.

She then said very seriously, "Actually, I've always had a dream, which is to make a game that I like, even if not many people like it."

I chose computer science because of this, not because I wanted to work for a big company as a programmer.

Eri Aragaki paused for a moment, then put down her pen and let it roll halfway across the coffee table.

Looking at Ayane Takeda's serious expression, she initially found it absurd—was Ayane Takeda disliked for being ugly when she was a child?

So what's going on with this cute and adorable girl in front of you?

But after hearing what Ayane Takeda said about her dream—

She recalled that she had a similar dream in her past life: to draw comics and become a comic artist, but her parents shut her down with the words, "Studying is the right thing to do."

Then she asked softly, "So, Ayane, you chose to major in computer science because—"

"That's right! Senior, I want to make my own game someday, so I've been working on it all along."

Ayane Takeda nodded, her eyes shining as she looked at Eri Aragaki. "It's just like when you draw manga, senpai!"

Upon hearing this, Eri Aragaki suddenly realized what was happening and changed her previous attitude.

"Ayane, I wish your efforts will bear fruit and that your dreams will come true."

She dropped her teasing expression, which had been one of "a terrible player with a huge addiction," and instead smiled gently, saying, "When your game is finished, I'll be the first to play it."

Ayane Takeda immediately said gratefully, "Thank you, senpai."

Eri Aragaki also wanted to offer a few words of encouragement to Ayane Takeda.

"Ta-da~"

But just then, her phone rang.

The flip phone screen in the corner of the sofa lit up, and the ringtone was that familiar song, "Conecting".

"I need to take this call—"

She picked up her phone, glanced at the caller ID, and saw that it was Masaya Sakurai calling, so she answered.