This is not the date I wanted.

Paji——!

For a moment, Shidou seemed to hear the sound of the girl on his back petrified and cracked.

(Oh, I should have listened to Meng Yue at that time.)

Sighing tiredly, Shidou thought with some regret.

02 Cartoonist Erya

==============================

Sloppy. Very sloppy.

This was Shido Gokawa's first impression after entering the house.

A large number of comics and magazines were scattered in the corridor without any order, giving people the feeling that the owner would just throw them away after finishing reading and pick up the next one to continue reading. The originally wide corridor became very narrow because of the piled up comics and magazines.

Shidou only took a few steps forward when he accidentally knocked over the pile of books. Countless comics fell to the ground with a "crash" sound, like an avalanche.

"..."

"You seem to have something to say, young man?"

The girl, who had recovered from being petrified, stared at Shidou and asked.

"No, nothing."

No matter what, the other party was a young girl, and it was not nice to say something that would embarrass her, so Shidou played dumb and fooled her.

"What a dingy room."

Mengyue, who was walking in front, said what Shidao wanted to say without any hesitation.

"Sloppy—?!"

The girl's eyes widened, she put her hands on Shidou's shoulders and stood up, loudly retorting in dissatisfaction.

"That's not the case! I just put it here because I don't have any extra bookshelves to put it on. And when I'm interested in something, I can't help but ignore the trivial things around me and continue reading. Isn't this natural for a otaku?"

"Well - I understand what you mean. But that's not a reason for you to just scatter so many books here."

Meng Yue picked up a few comics on the web and after glancing through them, put them back where they belonged and answered in a somewhat cold tone.

"Everything has its limits. Your situation can only be attributed to your own problems."

"What? Anyway, Bili-chan is almost the same as me, right?"

"What a shame. I always put away my comics after reading them. If there are too many to put away, I will choose to sell them to recyclables or give them to others. What's the popular saying on the Internet? It's because of the existence of otakus like you that society has prejudices against otakus."

Meng Yue shrugged, drew a line between herself and the other party, and then stabbed him without any hesitation.

"Oukou——!"

"Whoa, don't move."

The girl behind him looked like she had been hit hard. She covered her heart and leaned back violently, causing Shidou to almost lose his balance and fall.

Bah! I'm not a horse!

"Hmm... boy... although being a sharp-tongued person is also in my good range, but... Bili-chan's words really feel so cruel that they can kill people with words..."

Lying on Shidou's back, the girl looked ashen and whined as she lowered her head.

"Well, that's true. Although it's also filled with all kinds of clutter, Meng Yue's room is much cleaner and tidier than here."

"Pfft - boy... in this situation you usually choose to comfort me gently... are you a hidden S?"

"Ahahaha, come on."

Looking at the girl who had been injured twice, Shidou smiled awkwardly.

(But this is definitely not the usual Meng Yue.)

To be honest, Shidou also noticed that since he met this girl, although he could not be said to be hostile, Mengyue's attitude towards her always felt like she was deliberately targeting her.

Walking into the girl's room, it was as expected. The layout of the room was almost an extension of the corridor, and the whole room was filled with mountains of comic books. A large bed that could originally sleep several people was filled with books until there was only enough space for one person, making it look like a specially made coffin, which made people's scalps numb.

"Hey!"

"Ha~ My soul has been healed~"

Just like putting the last piece of a puzzle together, the girl, with the help of Shidou, slid perfectly into the gap of the bed. Her whole face showed a soft expression.

"Phew...it's finally okay."

Slowly letting out a sigh of relief, just as Shidao was about to go back, he suddenly discovered that Meng Yue's eyes were fixed on a corner of the room.

"Meng Yue?"

"..."

Looking at Meng Yue who said nothing, Shidao couldn't help but curiously look in the direction where her eyes were pointing. It was a huge work table, which was filled with various painting tools, and in the middle, there was a B4 paper.

The grid is divided into grids, each of which already has characters and backgrounds, as well as dialogue boxes for filling in lines. There are also faint traces of pencil lines on it.

Although this is the first time Shidou has seen it, it should be a manga manuscript that is still in the creation process.

Is this girl a cartoonist?

"Oh, right. I forgot to mention that I'm a cartoonist. For now~"

The girl lying on the bed raised her hand lazily and said.

"I was working on my manuscripts overnight these past few days and I forgot to eat. I wanted to go to the supermarket or convenience store, but I found that the gravity of the earth is really strong~"

After hearing Nia's explanation, Shidou couldn't help but feel ashamed.

"Is it so exaggerated... don't you have an assistant?"

"No~ I usually do it all by myself. Well, I feel more relaxed when I draw alone, although sometimes I get exhausted."

"How can I put it... it's really amazing."

I heard that being a manga artist is a very hard and competitive profession. The girl in front of him looked about the same age as Shidao, so she should be a new manga artist who has just started.

The fact that he was able to so decisively choose to pursue a career in comics and reach the level of debut was something that Shidou, who hadn't yet decided on his future aspirations, was somewhat awe-inspiring.

"Hmm? Well~ Thank you for the compliment~"

Although she didn't seem to understand what Shidou said, the girl nodded.

"..."Silver Bullet""

Just then, Meng Yue stared at the manuscript on the table and suddenly spoke.

"……Um?"

“This is the original manuscript for Silver Bullet.”

"Eh?!"

Shidao showed a surprised expression on his face and turned to look at the work table. Only then did he realize that the characters and style of this original manuscript were extremely similar to the "Silver Bullet" that Nakatsugawa showed him before. No, to be precise, they were exactly the same.

"Oh? You actually knew about this. Are you readers? I'm so honored~"

"You are Honjo Souji...but..."

Shidao looked at the girl on the bed with an expression of disbelief. In his memory, Honjo Souji's manga was serialized when he was in elementary school, which was several years ago. So Honjo Souji should be almost 30 years old.

"By the way, I'm not some second generation or daughter. Honjo Souji has always been alone. Well, doesn't he often appear in comics? A cute character whose appearance doesn't match his actual age. Hehe~"

As she said that, the girl rolled over from the bed and winked playfully.

"And Bili-chan. I'm not some secondary doujinshi author. You should be able to tell from what you said."

“… Phew, alright. My apologies.”

Apparently, what she was thinking was revealed by the other party. After a moment's silence, Meng Yue seemed to agree with what the other party said and apologized with a sigh.

"Also, Souji is my pen name. My real name is Honjo Niya, please give me your guidance."

The girl——Niya smiled and said to Shidou and Mengyue.

"Eh? Wait - I haven't figured it out yet. Is Honjo Souji-sensei... a woman?"

The slovenly girl in front of him was the famous young manga writer. Apparently she hadn't accepted this reality yet, and Shidao covered his head with his hands in confusion.

"It's not uncommon for female cartoonists to draw boys' comics under male pseudonyms. The author of "Other Fake," Takashiro-sensei, is also a woman."

Meng Yue shrugged and explained.

"As expected of Bilijiang. You know a lot about the industry."

"Eh? Teacher Takashiro is a woman?!"

Shidou was shocked again by the unexpected information.

"Honjo Souji-sensei... Can you just call me Niya?"

After looking at the manuscript on the table again, Meng Yue looked at Erya, and the tone of her voice became a little more polite.

"Yeah! No problem at all, Bili-chan."

Erya nodded in agreement.

"So, Erya, can I ask a few questions?"

"OK, I will answer all the readers' questions."

“Why did you stop publishing?”

"This will be revealed after the commercial~"

“Why did you resume publication?”

"Because—I'm back!"

"…So, will the comics continue?"

"Until the moment my life burns out!"

"I see. How do you feel now?"

“I’m starving!”

——Gu~

A clear gurgling sound came from Erya's stomach, and then for some reason, the whole house fell into a strange silence, with only the sound of the clock hands on the wall still ringing.

"Then, please, Bili-chan~"

"Ha... I see."

After staring at Niya's smiling green eyes for a long time, Meng Yue sighed helplessly, turned around, and pulled Shidao out of the room.

"Where are you going, Mengyue?"

Seeing that Mengyue was not heading towards the exit, Shidou couldn't help but ask in confusion.

"Kitchen, we need to prepare her food next. Come and help Shidou."

"Eh? Wait a minute! It's okay to help. But what did you two agree on in your conversation just now?!"

PS: I suddenly feel like writing.

03 Rushing to finish the manuscript

==============================

"Wow……"

Walking into the kitchen, Mengyue couldn't help but groan because of the headache.

In fact, the kitchen was relatively clean compared to other rooms, but this did not mean that Erya had specially tidied the kitchen, it was just that it had not been used. The thick layer of dust on the stove and the few kitchen utensils on it proved this.

"Shidou, is there anything in the fridge?"

Meng Yue asked, "Soak the rag in water and use it to wipe the stove."

"No, just beer and sake."

After searching the refrigerator's cabinet, Shidou shook his head and replied.

(It feels more like a room for a single middle-aged man than a single young woman.)