How to raise a random guy's wife

It got worse.

"Sorry! I'm late!" When not only the stalls at the Hashima Island fishing boats, but also the surrounding stalls became deserted, Aki Tomoya finally rushed back with a signboard.

Finally, he arrived. Bo Island looked like she was about to cry, "Senior... what are these things...?"

"Help me flatten the paper." Aki Tomoya opened the poster tube he was carrying on his shoulder, then pulled out a large A2-sized sheet of paper. With the help of Hashima Sai, he pasted the poster onto the billboard.

"Ah, this is... um... oh my... wait a minute, senior!"

As the paper was flattened, Bo Island finally understood what it was.

That was a poster printed after enlarging the doujinshi (fan-made comics) that was going overseas.

Aki Tomoya cut out several scenes from the book and pieced them together to create this plot summary poster.

Normally, a cover image is used, but unfortunately, the book about the Bohai Island trip doesn't have a cover image.

Bo Island, her face flushed, exclaimed, "Why are all the parts that my senior posted unfinished?!"

"Unfinished? You're talking about this?" Ignoring the flustered Hashima Sailing, Aki Tomoya brazenly held up the completed billboard poster high. "Isn't this amazing! Sailing, how many notebooks are left?"

"Huh? Eh? What... no... where is it good... there's still some left..." The unexpected situation left the little girl at a loss.

"Sixty-three books," Kobayashi Sora's calm voice rang out. "Approximately how long will it take?"

“One hour,” Aki Tomoya replied with a smile, holding the signboard high and calling out like a market vendor, “Come on, everyone! Please take a look! Your feedback is welcome! This is the script for ‘Little Fantasy 3’!”

This loud shout immediately attracted a male participant who clearly only saw this place as a passageway. He looked at the signboard held high in front of him and stopped in his tracks.

The man initially looked at the black-and-white pencil sketch poster, which seemed out of place no matter how he looked at it, with a strange gaze. As he slowly approached, he stared at it for a moment.

Then, he looked at the stack of notebooks with completely white covers in front of the stall, hesitated for a moment, and finally picked up the notebooks and began to read them.

He frowned slightly, flipping through the notebook while glancing up at the bulletin board, as if comparing something, turning the pages one by one.

Then, the force of turning the pages increased significantly, and the speed of turning the pages also increased. At a certain critical point, he suddenly turned the notebook to the front again, and his face turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

As if realizing something, he looked up and said, "Excuse me, I'd like to buy one."

The eyes of the tourists on the Bo Island cruise ship lit up with delight, exclaiming, "Thank you for your patronage!"

Then came the second, the third, the fourth... More and more people gathered, and the number of notebooks kept decreasing.

"Hello, I need four books."

“I’m sorry,” Kobayashi Sora said, “each person is limited to two copies.”

"Huh?" Hashima looked at Kobayashi Sora with a puzzled expression. There hadn't been this rule before. "How come..."

"Ah~~" The participant had an "I knew it" look on his face. "I knew it... Then I'll buy two copies."

As Kobayashi Sora helped collect the money, she gestured with her chin as she sailed out to sea from Okinawa Island, saying, "Look at the line behind us."

Before anyone knew it, the once deserted stalls now had long queues.

If there were no purchase limit, later buyers wouldn't be able to buy any.

Even so, the notebooks were quickly emptied.

Kobayashi Sora had no choice but to take out her three books from her schoolbag.

Pu Island, puzzled, asked, "Senior?"

“Compared to someone like me,” Kobayashi Sora chuckled, “you’d rather they had your doujinshi, wouldn’t you?”

Bo Island's gaze flickered slightly as he looked up, as if he wanted to say something, but now was not the time to speak. Even the three books that Kobayashi Sora had taken out quickly disappeared.

"I'm so sorry, the book is sold out!" Izumi Hashima bowed deeply and announced loudly, "Thank you so much everyone!"

Chapter 180 Key Issues

Within thirty-five minutes, all the remaining notebooks on the table were sold out.

Congratulatory applause erupted from both sides of the stalls, and even the dozens of people who had queued up but failed to buy anything applauded the tearful junior schoolgirl at the stall.

The crowd dispersed quickly, but the excitement of going out to sea from Po Island was not so easily calmed.

With a happy smile, she nimbly tidied up the clutter and tablecloth on the table, packed up her luggage, and just like when she was setting up her stall, she was ready to leave in no time.

Then, she sat down in the chair again and stared at the empty table for a long time... Large tears then dripped onto the table, and her soft sobs turned into a torrential downpour of loud crying.

“Um…” Aki Tomoya put down the signboard, “I’m going to take a break.”

"Sit down." Kobayashi Sora grabbed Aki Tomoya by the back of his collar. "What do you want to drink? I'll go buy it for you."

"Kobayashi..." Aki Tomoya whispered urgently, "I can't handle this..."

"Then at least don't run away." Kobayashi Sora pressed Aki Tomoya into a chair, handed Hashima Izumi a handkerchief, and turned to leave.

thump.

The drink fell into the dispenser slot of the vending machine.

Kobayashi Sora took out a drink, twisted the cap, and handed it to Kato Megumi next to her.

"They sold out in no time," Kato Megumi said softly, taking a sip of her drink.

"Weird?"

"I think the painting of going to sea is very good, but it was lukewarm before, and suddenly it has become so popular. I really don't understand it."

“If you look at it from a different perspective, you’ll understand something,” Kobayashi Sora smiled. “Simply put, Tomoya, me, and you are three different kinds of readers.”

"Oh?"

"You haven't seen many works, so you can enjoy every single one. It's a novel experience."

Kato Megumi nodded, "That's definitely true."

“I’ve been exposed to a lot of works and have participated in the creation of some of them, so when I look at a script, I look at the art style, brushstrokes, and plot structure.”

Kato Megumi recalled how Kobayashi Sora, Eriri, and Kasumigaoka Utaha discussed the plot, and understood the different perspectives Kobayashi Sora and she had when reading the book.

"Lun is a consumer-oriented reader who basically doesn't participate in the creation of works, so he can immerse himself in the works more easily than I can, and he understands the difference between that book and other books better than you do."

Kato Megumi pressed further, "How is it different?"

"Do you remember the first draft of the first volume, senior? I mentioned a question back then."

Kato Megumi recalled and repeated Kobayashi Sora's words at the time, "[It felt like the plot was being pushed forward for the sake of pushing forward the plot, and some parts were a bit too forced] - I remember you said that."

It's clearer than I remember...

"The same problem applies to the 'Going to Sea' story. While the first half is exquisitely drawn, the passion is just average. It's clearly just pushing the plot forward for the sake of pushing the plot forward," Kobayashi Sora explained further. "The second half, although it's all pencil sketches, far surpasses the first half in both the tension of the plot and the quality of the artwork."

"In other words... the earlier plot was just drawn to prepare for the later plot; the later content is what Izumi really wanted to depict," Kato Megumi summarized. "That's why the earlier content was a bit boring, and it gets better as it goes on."

"So if you want to sell it, all you need to do is tell the participants that the later part of the story is amazing," Kobayashi Sora added, "just like Tomoya did."

"I see..." Kato Megumi looked at Kobayashi Sora, blinking her big eyes.

"I can't do it." Kobayashi Sora honestly admitted, "I look at the structure and the visuals. In my opinion, this book is completely substandard here, so it's normal that it won't sell."

A work that starts strong but ends weak is certainly disappointing, but a work that starts strong but ends weak has no chance of disappointing at all.

Especially at events like doujinshi conventions, you can usually decide whether to buy something after looking at just a few pages, since there are many other booths to browse.

Most of the participants were in the same situation as Kobayashi Sora.

The art style seemed alright at the beginning, but the plot was a bit boring.

Then, ignoring the plot, I flipped through a few pages and found that the following pages were pencil drafts, so I stopped reading them altogether.

Kobayashi Sora noticed Aki Tomoya's unusual behavior and went through the book again before realizing how amazing the doujinshi about going to sea from Hashima Island was.

However, his opinion remained unchanged: this notebook was unacceptable in this context.

"Here?" Kato Megumi noticed Kobayashi Sora's choice of words.

"This kind of work, which starts slowly but grows stronger, easily gives people a sense of gradual improvement. Given enough time to develop, it's only a matter of time before it becomes a huge hit," Kobayashi Sora explained. "If she were to join RER, with her abilities, she would definitely..."

Kobayashi Sora's voice abruptly stopped.

If he could discover something, there was no reason why Iori, as his older brother, couldn't.

Kobayashi Sora recalled what Hashima Iori had said.

"After all, going overseas is a business in this industry, and it doesn't really involve me."

No, not this sentence, but the next sentence.

["As a family member, I value her very much, but as a fan fiction creator, it's a bit..."]

What's up?

Iori Hashima didn't say it.

“Rinya…” Iori’s voice rang out, “He did something unnecessary.”

Kobayashi Sora looked up at Hashima Iori and asked directly, "As a doujinshi creator, what's it like to go overseas?"

“She’s a bit too genius.” Iori Hashima gave a Versailles-like smile. “But she hasn’t figured it out enough—there are too many flaws.”

really.

“You originally wanted her to create freely for two years before officially entering the industry,” Kobayashi Sora guessed. “But because of Tomoya’s actions, she entered the industry early, before she was ready.”

“There’s no other way.” Iori Hashima spread her hands. “Since she has already shown promise, we can only let her graduate from ‘Little Rhapsody’ and start challenging herself with various genres.”

Kobayashi Sora understood. "After accumulating a certain number of fans, will you debut with RER?"

“She’s still a middle school student. I originally wanted to make her creative process a little easier—at least for another two or three years.” Iori Hashima stared at Sora Kobayashi. “That’s why I was thinking of finding someone to help out during this time.”

Kato Megumi looked at Kobayashi Sora, "Eriri?"

In Iori Hashima's plan, Eriri is a replacement for Hashima before her debut.

“Although it’s just for show, I can still assure you that it’s a shortcut to becoming a popular author,” Iori Hashima added. “I don’t mean to belittle her.”

“In that case,” Kobayashi Sora scoffed, “tomorrow’s contest will be meaningless.”

Chapter 181 The Victory or Defeat is Over

“Indeed.” Iori Hashima smiled elegantly, giving off a warm and kind feeling. “Even if I didn’t want to, the sea voyage has already begun.”