Is it okay not to want to work hard?

Chapter 67: Once, a lifelong friend

On the nights without Izumi Konata, Higashino Zou felt as empty, lonely and cold as ever.

The fact that he and Konata were intimate at night was exposed. Although Izumi Sojiro did not forbid him to be intimate with Konata, the good days of intimate with each other as much as before and sleeping with Konata five days a week were gone. Instead, he was alone in the empty room, looking at the empty and cold bed. I'm sorry for being born as a human being.

Fortunately, even without Konata, he still has Pochi, the future guitar hero - Goto Ichiri.

Higashino Kanade put away the diary and the original drawing, went downstairs to the kitchen to wash his hands, then took a box of milk from the refrigerator and drank it while walking to the second-floor room. When he returned to the room, he had just finished the milk and threw the milk box into the trash can from a distance, hitting the target accurately.

Good, perfect, sleep!

Without this recipe tonight, he felt a little sad, but the milk carton made him feel a little better.

The dream was bizarre, with a prosperous city whose name was unknown, and a giant girl who was either wearing a monster suit or simply a monster with a girl's head in its mouth sitting on the tallest building in the city.

Goto Ichiri.

When Higashino Kanade saw the monster girl sitting on the building, he realized that he was dreaming, a lucid dream. However, his thinking was as confused as ever. Many common sense things in reality were extraordinary in his dreams, and extraordinary things became common sense.

He could realize that the dream was inconsistent, but his brain could not distinguish which rules in the dream were common sense in reality and which were uncommon sense in reality.

Fortunately, tonight was a lucid dream. He was able to control himself and realize what he was doing. He knew who the monster in the dream was, what the building she was sitting in was called, and why the plane he was sitting in was heading towards the two buildings.

Damn, I dreamed about 911, but it wasn’t just 911.

"Onboard!"

Hearing the constant shouting in the cabin, which he may or may not understand, but he was sure was Japanese, he tried to control himself and leave the plane.

Compared to dreams with messy stories, jumpy scenes, and no logic or relevance, Higashino Kanade prefers dreams that are closer to reality, have a certain logic and relevance, and the scenes and people around him are mostly fixed and do not change randomly.

He didn't realize that he was fine when he was dreaming, but when he realized that his mind couldn't keep up with the ever-changing dream. One second he was on the battlefield, slashing the devils, and the next second he was licking the screen and getting horny for the paper man in the computer. Then he found himself in the computer class at school, with the teacher and the classmates he had known since childhood all looking at him.

It was very strange and jumpy, and he was unable to react even though he was conscious.

"It's right that I want to leave the plane, but why just leave the plane?"

Higashino Kanade successfully left the plane. One second he was a kamikaze on the plane, and the next second he was falling freely from an unknown height. Without a parachute, he turned into a shooting star.

“Dong—dong—!”

A strange sound was heard from the sky.

Stability -1.

“I would like to live in a more enlightened age.”

Higashino Kanade complained and quickly told himself to change the scene he was in.

Dreams are sometimes controllable and sometimes uncontrollable, just like a TV remote control with a running low battery; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

Before landing, Higashino Kanade successfully modified the dream.

In his own room, he sat on a chair, and the gloomy Goto Ichiri sat in the corner of the bed against the wall with his legs crossed.

Noticing the change in environment, Goto Ichiri looked up and saw a clear and beautiful face.

Eh? Eh, eh, eh!

A boy, it's a boy, he is a boy!!!

Goto Ichiri's eyes lit up. She thought the friends in her dreams would be things like slugs, cockroaches, wild snakes, and robot toys, but she didn't expect them to be people. It was actually a person.

"Hello, Goto-san."

Higashino Kanade greeted Goto Ichiri politely. It was their first formal meeting, so he wanted to make a good impression on Pochi.

In his previous meetings with Pochi, either he was not a human, or Pochi was not a human, or neither of them was a human, or Pochi ran away when he saw him, or he could not get close to Pochi who had turned into a monster, or Pochi the monster who was shouting and destroying things crazily could not hear him. For various reasons, he and Pochi, who were immersed in a dream, could not communicate properly.

Today he was having a lucid dream, and Pochi seemed to be quite sober as well. Even if Pochi was not having a lucid dream, he would introduce himself well and as long as Pochi didn't forget it after waking up, he would be able to cultivate feelings with Pochi tomorrow, and when the feelings were in place, they would just be close to each other. Because it was a dream, his appearance, figure, body shape, and age could all change. Maybe in reality he was a timid virgin, but in his dream he could transform into the hero who strikes hard.

The Pochi in the animation was weakened, but the Pochi in the comics was actually quite big.

"Ah, hello."

Goto Ichiri's voice was very soft, so soft that if you didn't pay attention you couldn't hear what she was saying.

Goto Ichiri, who is now a fifth-grade elementary school student, is far less socially anxious than she was when she just entered high school in the original manga. What's more, this is a dream, and the person in the room is a friend who made a wish and whom she has known for several days. Although he is a boy, she can still force herself to speak.

It’s better to be a boy. It’s great to be friends with handsome and cute boys!

Goto Ichiri's bright eyes became even brighter, and a strange light flashed in her eyes.

"Xxxx, my name."

Higashino Kanade introduced himself, but the words he spoke changed. He said he didn't even have a name, but when he read his name, it turned into a language that no one could understand.

"?"

Goto Ichiri wondered if he had spoken just now.

She wanted to ask, but hesitated. She could respond passively, but she couldn't respond actively.

Higashino Kanade tried to introduce himself again, but this time he became mute. He felt that he spoke, but his ears did not hear the sound. Pochi did not respond, and it seemed that he did not hear the voice either.

He couldn't say his name. He tried to say his home phone number, but he couldn't remember it. He wanted to say his home address, but the address that came to his mind was Room 1001, Building , Fandou Garden.

Does this mean that we can only be friends in dreams?

Higashino Kanade realized that it was not himself who was in control of the dream, but Pochi.

Although he and Pochi are connected in the dream, the owner of this dream is Pochi, not him. In this case, he will be connected to Pochi's dream, and the problem is not with him but with Pochi.

Goto Ichiri has superpowers. Instead of being a guitar hero, he wants to be a superpower hero?

Anyway, he couldn't tell the information in his reality. It seemed that he could only be a fantasy friend in Pochi's dream, and couldn't be her real friend. No matter what, he couldn't tell the information in his reality, but Pochi, the host, had no problem.

The only problem was that Goto Ichiri didn't have a landline at home, and as an elementary school student she didn't use a computer or a cell phone, so all he knew was Pochi's home address.

No way, he can't just run to Pochi's house and say something like "I'm your friend in the dream, I'm here to play with you". Not to mention that Pochi's house is far from Ikebukuro, if he who appeared in the dream goes to find Pochi in reality, Pochi will definitely be scared to tears.

It will take some time before making friends in real life. Let’s first become, ahem, lifelong friends with Pochi in our dreams.

There are pictures here, which can be viewed after the updated version

Chapter 68 I really want to be with Pochi...

January 1nd in the Gregorian calendar, the 22th day of the twelfth lunar month, is New Year’s Eve.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Higashino Kanade woke up.

Today his parents are at home, so he has to behave himself and be a good son, so as not to upset his parents. The New Year's money has changed from Fukuzawa Yukichi to Noguchi Hideyo.

The Chinese New Year is coming, and even if family members have immigrated, they still celebrate the Lunar New Year instead of following local customs and celebrating New Year's Day.

In the bathroom, Higashino Kanade was washing up, and Higashino Suzu, who had woken up earlier than him, appeared.

"Brother, I'm so hungry."

On New Year's Eve, Dong Yehong and Ye Shu will sleep in. These three days out of 365 days in a year are the most comfortable time for them. They are not as comfortable and relaxing as during other holidays.

"I'll cook right away."

As he washed his face, Tono Kanade thought about the things in the refrigerator. These past few nights, unknown to him and Xiaoling, his parents came home late and filled the refrigerator with dumplings and glutinous rice balls they made in the store, as well as ham and bacon.

Do you want dumplings or wontons? How about noodles or rice noodles? I think there are also steamed buns and steamed buns. Do you want to steam them? Hmm, I haven't had rice wine for a long time. How about making rice wine?

Thinking about the things at home, Higashino Kanade became indecisive.

He didn't ask Xiaoling what she thought. It would be better not to ask Xiaoling because Xiaoling would definitely eat all of it.

My sister is like a Peppa Pig. No matter how much her stomach can hold, she will eat even if it makes her feel uncomfortable.

There is a cat at home, a big cat.

What a pity, it’s not really huge, otherwise I would have sharpened my knife yesterday or the day before yesterday.

Whether he was a child, when he grew up, or even now, he likes to watch pigs being slaughtered. He doesn't know why, but he feels that slaughtering pigs looks very interesting, just like watching an excavator operate.

"Xiao Ling, go call Cifang and uncle so I can cook dumplings, okay?"

After much thought, Higashino Kanade decided to cook dumplings. Not eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year would be like not eating sentimental skits on the Spring Festival Gala, not recognizing Cai Xukun on PUBG, and not watching Dong Xuelian on V. One would end up living a relatively failed life.

"Okay, okay!" Dong Ye Ling nodded repeatedly, "I want meat filling, not vegetarian ones."

"Okay, go ahead, go ahead, don't dawdle."

Higashino Kanade waved his hand and closed the bathroom door.

A beautiful boy is not a beautiful girl. Beautiful girls don’t need to go to the toilet, but he, the number one beautiful boy in Ikebukuro, does.

"Oh."

Dong Ye Ling ran away.

"The key is on my desk, don't forget it."

Higashino Kanade remembered about the key and quickly reminded him.

"I see."

Dong Ye Ling's voice became smaller.

The bathroom is a good place to think, at least when you're not on your phone.

He suddenly had some ideas about the pen name.

Little Boy, Fatty, Li Mei...all kinds of pen names that are hell to the Japanese but not hell at all to him appear.

Well, isn’t this pen name too low-brow?

Tokuda Kouichi, Kotoku Shusui, Nakamura Isao, Nosaka Sanzo?

I feel that editor Yoshida would not agree. A fat little boy would be fine, or a fat priest boy would be fine too.

Higashino Kanade wanted to use such a pen name, not because he wanted to disgust his editor Yoshida Koji, but because he wanted to confront certain cartoonists and light novel writers. In another world, there are "Demon Academy", "90-year-old devil travels to another world" and some more or less problematic comics and light novels, and this world is no exception.

Since there are cartoonists in Weekly Shonen Jump who like to play this way, he will do the same.

The bandits can go, and so can I.

Japanese comics and light novels seem childish when they touch on politics and military affairs, and some of the ideas are even problematic. The older generation of cartoonists and literary authors are fine, but the new generation of cartoonists and light novel writers who can't even be called authors, their works are terrible when they touch on politics and military affairs.

"I really want to become a super popular cartoonist so I can go crazy and do a big job for Jump."

Higashino Kanade wants to bring a little Chinese shock to the Japanese comics industry. If his "False Hero" can be successfully serialized and successfully completed, he must draw a comic about assassinating the emperor. Given the environment of the Japanese comics industry, he is not worried that his comics will be banned. Just like Koreans dare to make movies that satirize the government, Japan also has comics about assassinating the emperor.

He was thinking too much about these things now. Dongye Zou's feet were numb from squatting before he remembered that he should not be brainstorming here, but should be making breakfast.

You haven't even become a super popular cartoonist yet, but you're already dreaming. What's the difference between this and your parents discussing how to spend five million dollars if you win the lottery, but end up arguing because they didn't even buy a lottery ticket.

Just like New Year's Day, Quan's father and daughter spent today at Higashino's house.

Higashino Kanade makes breakfast, mom and dad make dinner, lunch is just something simple, dinner is a big meal, and then there is endless leftovers hell, and it is basically all meat leftovers hell.

Higashino Kanade and Higashino Suzu ate the leftovers for a whole week.

At first, you could tell what these leftovers were, but by the day they were thrown away, you couldn't tell what they were anymore. They were completely mosaics of dark matter that seemed to come from an indescribable abyss, emitting a disgusting and horrible smell.

During this week, the relationship between Tono Kanade and Goto Ichiri developed very well.

They caught jellyfish together, destroyed cities together, and traveled in bizarre dreams together. The only pity was that they didn't sleep together. But Tono Kanade didn't gain nothing. Tonight he finally grabbed Pochi's hand. It can't be called a hand, but Pochi's wrist.

Why can he grab Pochi's wrist? Because...

"Why, why are we fleeing in the temple!"

Higashino Kanade dragged Goto Ichiri and ran away madly.

In today's dream, he was awake, but not completely awake. Sometimes he could realize that he was dreaming, and sometimes he couldn't. But no matter whether he knew he was dreaming or not, he would pull Pochi away at this time.

I don't know if it's easy to escape in a dream, it's nothing, I just don't want to die. Knowing that it's a dream and still escaping is something he can't gamble on. He can't gamble whether he will continue to have the next dream after death, or wake up and return to reality after death. This week, he died twice in a dream and woke up. It's true that he can connect to Pochi's dream when he goes back to sleep, but he may not meet Pochi when he returns to the dream.

It is a rare case that both he and Pochi have lucid dreams. Most of the time they don't know they are dreaming and their heads are fuzzy. Or one of them is lucid and the other is not. But even so, sometimes the other person becomes strange and difficult to approach.

It's okay if Pochi turns into a monster and destroys the city, because he can turn into Ultraman and "stick" to Pochi. But if Pochi turns into a cat or a dog, it will be difficult for him to find Pochi in a big city with buildings in the sky, on the ground and even in the water.

It was difficult for Higashino Kanade to get close to Goto Ichiri. Either he couldn't find Pochi, or he found it but it was hard to approach him, or he didn't know he was dreaming and didn't know how to get close to Pochi when his mind was confused. If in reality, he was confident that he could take down the socially phobic Pochi in three minutes, but in the dream, he felt that it would take a month.

"Fuck, why, why did it become an escape. Pochi, try to dream hard, don't use my dream material, okay? Let's change it to your family and we all become adults and have sex, okay? I want to have sex with you, not escape!"