They all pushed me!

Although the makeup photos of Rumi in her costume as Shoji released at that time did reverse a considerable amount of her reputation among the fans of the original work, and the related screenshots and comparisons were forwarded crazily in forums and chat groups, it soon aroused suspicions such as "Is it possible that the prototype of Shoji's character is Kitagawa Rumi, which is why they look so similar, just like the prototype of BLADE is Kitagawa Ryo", which once again brought the rhythm to the side of relying on connections and using backdoors.

However, Kitagawa Ryo was naturally well prepared. When this trend just emerged, he hired a professional army of internet trolls to take advantage of the situation. He copied a number of idiotic remarks such as "Cold knowledge: Arima Kana is the prototype of Kengi", "Cold knowledge: MEM Ju is the prototype of Ke", and "Cold knowledge: Kurokawa Akane is the prototype of Shoji" in major forums and discussion areas, which easily misled passers-by's cognition.

Lately, few people even care about the initial doubts, and instead have started to play with this new meme tirelessly. Even the shojo cartoonist who is relatively familiar with Kitagawa Ryo and Hoshino Ai, the original author of the manga "It's Not My Fault That I'm Popular!", Umino Tsunami couldn't help but post a piece of 'Cold Fact: Kitagawa Ryo and Hoshino Ai are the prototypes of Tsuzaki Hiramitsu and Moriyama Mikuri'. After all, the news that the two announced the birth of their daughter has caused a stir in the special episode of the drama version about preparing for pregnancy and childbirth, and she's almost considering whether she should draw some special episodes.

Hearing his sister mention this matter again, Beichuan Liang also raised the corners of his mouth and said happily:

"We can't help it. Before Ruby completely conquers the public with her official performance, there will always be speculation about backdoors and similar rhythms. Although we can't let it get out of control, we can try to let some audiences form preconceived stereotypes first, and then the contrast will come."

Kitagawa Rumi's progress in the past few days is quite obvious. Although she is still a little lacking in literary acting, she has been practicing dancing since she was a child. She is one of the best actors in terms of flexibility and control over her body. Her performance in the action scenes can be said to be quite eye-catching.

"By the way, brother, are you still following the comics of Tokyo BLADE? Recently, the popularity of the CP of BLADE and Kengi is about to surpass that of Kengi and Shoji. She is about to become a marginalized passerby heroine..."

"Of course I am watching it, and I guess I see the latest plot earlier than the editor, after all, Abiko always sends me the first one after she finishes drawing. As for the CP, it's not as exaggerated as Ruby said, it's just that Kengi has been active in the recent chapters, and a girl who is lively, proactive and has rich expressions may be more popular with the public than the gloomy and morbid Shoji, and the acceptance rate is higher. After all, "Tokyo BLADE" is now a popular national IP, and the audience is no longer just the initial group of people."

The car quickly drove to the door of Kitagawa's house. After passing the verification and entering the underground parking lot, Kitagawa Ryo also turned the steering wheel and prepared to park the car.

"Oh."

Kitagawa Rumi nodded thoughtfully, and then immediately asked:

"What about brother?"

"Me? It should be about the same. After all, the yandere type is okay in comics, but it's too heavy to bear in real life. But Ruby doesn't have to worry about Shoji disappearing in the future plots. Abiko doesn't care much about the readers' public opinion now. She just draws what she wants to draw."

As if he noticed that his sister was a little disappointed, Beichuan Liang also said something to comfort her, and parked the car steadily in the parking space. When he was about to unbuckle the seat belt and get out of the car, he suddenly heard Rumi beside him say:

"Brother, wait a moment. Sit there and don't move."

Without waiting for Kitagawa Ryo to react, Rumi quickly unbuckled her seat belt, opened the door and got out from the passenger seat. Then she walked around the front of the car, opened the door on Kitagawa Ryo's side, and squeezed in without saying a word.

Although the car purchased by Kitagawa Ryo was quite spacious, it was undoubtedly quite difficult to squeeze two people in. Kitagawa Rumi seemed to be aware of this. After pressing her upper body on the other person's chest, she stretched out her left hand and touched the joystick for adjusting the seat height next to the seat. She used force on her wrist and pushed it down to the lowest point.

Beichuan Liang, who was still wearing his seat belt, only felt a sudden weightlessness behind him, and then the seat fell straight back to an almost flat angle, and the space in the front seat suddenly became spacious.

Then, Kitagawa Rumi, who had finally squeezed in completely, lay on his chest, with her legs together and stuck between his legs. After rubbing upwards a bit, her pretty face successfully replaced the roof of the car and occupied Kitagawa Ryo's entire field of vision.

"Hello, hello."

Kitagawa Ryo's subconscious struggle was quickly blocked. Rumi hummed a little proudly, lowered her head, and kissed his lips condescendingly, and her hands began to become dishonest.

She is not the kind of girl who would sulk and think wildly just because she saw Jian Yi and BLADE standing together. If she knew, she would be more proactive in taking down the other party.

...just like now.

Chapter 5: Trivia (k)

After a week of intensive rehearsals, Tokyo BLADE's stage director Toshiro Kindaichi finally approved a day off for all the actors. Although the reason given was that the troupe needed to maintain and inspect a batch of stage equipment and props, everyone knew that this was to allow them to take a day off, relax their tense nerves, recharge themselves, and adjust their state.

"We come to bother you——"

It was also in the lounge on this rare day that a large group of people led by Kitagawa Ryo, including a group of leading actors, came to Samejima Abiko's house in a mighty manner. The one who opened the door for them was her assistant Kichijoji Raiko. Because there were indeed too many people coming, except for Kitagawa Rumi, Kurokawa Akane and other girls who often came here to play and got the regular slippers, the people behind had to receive the cloth shoe covers from the apologetic Kichijoji Raiko.

Kamoshida Sakuya was quite tactful. After receiving the shoe covers, he did not put them on himself immediately. Instead, he turned around and reached out to Kitagawa Ryo behind him:

"Brother Beichuan, here you go."

"Thank you."

Kitagawa Ryo took the shoe covers subconsciously. Although he and Samejima Ahiko have always had a good relationship, their communication was basically through chat software and occasional going out to watch a play together. After all, he was not the type like Rumi and Akane who liked to run to other people's homes whenever they had nothing to do, eat, chat and have a tea party. He even couldn't remember when was the last time he came to Ahiko's house.

But what surprised him was that Samejima Abiko, who seemed to be dozing off on the table due to lack of sleep, suddenly perked up and shouted from the living room to the entrance:

"Lai Zi - there is a pair of men's slippers on the third layer of the shoe cabinet on the left."

As if she was a little worried that Kichijoji Raiko couldn't find it, after a while, Samejima Abiko came trotting over from the living room in her slippers. After rummaging through the shoe cabinet for a long time, she finally found a pair of blue men's slippers. She squatted there and used two fingers to align them neatly before placing them in front of Kitagawa Ryo:

Abiko Samejima didn't care about the actors' gazes at all, and didn't bother to explain any more. After she finished all this, she trotted back to the living room. In the end, it was Kamoshida Sakuya who took the initiative to speak, and his humorous and teasing words broke the pause button of time:

"Ahem, little-known fact: Beichuan is the prototype of BLADE."

This joke, which has been very popular in the forums and communities of Tokyo BLADE recently, had an immediate effect. The actors all smiled in understanding. Daiki Himekawa adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose:

“…This is true.”

After this minor episode, everyone changed their shoes or put on shoe covers, and after messing around in the entrance for a while, they walked into the living room.

Because this is the house that Samejima Abiko bought and renovated after she became famous as a professional cartoonist. Although it is a home, it is actually also her personal studio. Therefore, the living room is quite spacious. Apart from her and her assistant Kichijoji Raiko's workstations, the remaining space is more than enough to accommodate the eight guests today.

Shiranui Fulilu and Himekawa Daiki were still quite reserved. After entering the living room, they sat quietly on the sofa. The former looked at the layout here with a little curiosity, while the latter propped up his elbows in a familiar manner, looking like he was ready to enter summer fatigue mode again.

Although it was his first time here, Kamoshida Sakuya still acted very familiar with the place. He did not sit down immediately, but looked with interest at the bookshelf against the wall that was filled with various comics and official books. However, he had a good sense of propriety and distance. Before getting the owner's consent, he had no intention of reaching out to take out a book out of curiosity.

Kitagawa Ryo took another look and saw that MEM-chu had already run over to help Kichijoji Raiko make tea. His sister, Kurokawa Akane, and Arima Kana were all gathered around Samejima Ahiko's workstation, staring at the digital board over there and pointing and commenting, occasionally sending a sharp comment or two, which made Samejima Ahiko so angry that she shouted "If you can do it, do it", and it was obvious that her mental state was a bit bad. Himekawa Daiki, who was about to fall asleep, had no choice but to open his eyes again, yawned and complained:

"It fits my stereotype of a weekly cartoonist."

LALALAI Theater Company has taken on a lot of 2.5-dimensional stage play projects in the past two years. As one of the troupe's signature actors, Himekawa Daiki has also worked with many cartoonists in the industry. As soon as this complaint came out, Kichijoji Raiko, who happened to be carrying tea, nodded repeatedly:

"That's how weekly serialization works. There's a scary rumor in our industry that 'If you're not the kind of person who can't help but think about storyboards even when you're on a date, you can't draw a weekly magazine.' But compared to the anime period, it's much better now. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to find time to visit the theater to watch your rehearsals occasionally."

As soon as Kichijoji Raiko said this, Kitagawa Ryo, who took the tea from her with a smile, couldn't help but recall the time when the animation of "Tokyo BLADE" was broadcast. He remembered that at that time, Samejima Abiko didn't even have the energy to complain to him.

Although in the eyes of outsiders, animation seems to have nothing to do with cartoonists, Kitagawa Ryo himself used to think so, but later he learned from Samejima Abiko that this would actually increase the workload for cartoonists.

At that time, in addition to the fixed weekly serialization, she also added a weekly celebration picture to celebrate the broadcast of the xth episode of the animation series, color illustrations and extra pages for the single volume to attract new users. The key is that Samejima Abiko is an original author who is extremely concerned about the progress of the animation production. Later, she took out time to join the supervision team of the animation production group, and even participated in some of the original painting work, drawing many frames of animation that were particularly well received by the audience.

All I can say is that being an idol for a few years did give Samejima Abiko a good physical fitness and plenty of stamina, and she managed to get through that period without getting sick once, although the price was that her daily routine was completely disrupted for a while. Kitagawa Ryo said good night to her more than once at ten in the morning or three in the afternoon, and sometimes he even had to hum a lullaby to her. To be honest, with the blessing of his two years as a dad, his lullaby skills are still fine.

"Then Ms. Kichijoji must be very busy. I remember that while you were working as an assistant to Mr. Abiko, you also seemed to be the main writer of the comics."

Shiranui Fulilu's voice interrupted Beichuan Liang's chaotic thoughts. As soon as he looked over, he heard Kichijoji Raiko smiling and explaining:

"It's OK. I draw for a bimonthly magazine, so I have much more time than Abiko."

"I remember that Ms. Kichijoji drew "Today is a Little Sweeter", I've been following it recently, I stayed up all night to read the latest chapter, and then immediately ordered the complete set of single volumes - um, it's on the bookshelf here too."

Kamoshida Sakuya interrupted the conversation with a smile and pointed to a row of bookshelves.

"Thank you for liking it."

Kichijoji Raiko smiled and thanked him. On the other side, Kitagawa Ryoumi and her group, who had finished reading the latest draft on the digital board, also came back. Kitagawa Ryoumi took a sip of his teacup when he received an instruction from his sister to move to the side. He subconsciously moved to the right, and Ryoumi immediately found a gap and sat down next to him. She leaned on his arm with interest and said hopefully:

"I hope Abiko can draw me a little cuter, at least cuter than the one in my own signature! Then I'll use it directly as my new signature... Mmm hehe."

"Ruby will be cute no matter how you draw her."

Beichuan Liang said something to his sister casually, then nodded in the direction of Samejima Abiko and said:

"How's it going? Can we start now? Abiko."

"Then let's start now - yawn, I also want to finish it quickly."

Samejima Abiko squatted on the chair at her workstation with her knees hugged, rubbing her sleepy eyes. She couldn't help but yawn again, then pointed at Kamoshida Sakuya:

"Well, you come out first, stand up straight, and keep your back straight."

Frankly speaking, this is the reason why their leading actors came here today. It's essentially the same as when Samejima Abiko had to work overtime to draw celebratory pictures during the broadcast of the anime series. It was a promotional plan proposed by the operator on Kaminari Sumiaki's side, asking Abiko to draw some Q-version pictures of the actors, and it would be best if she could add some elements of the characters she plays to combine the two.

If it is popular, a series of related peripheral products including pendants and key chains will be launched later. Of course, the last point was added by Toshiro Kindaichi himself. After all, he is considered a veteran in this area. Jokingly speaking, every brick and tile of the LALALAI Theater Building was collected by selling key chains with Kitagawa Ryo's cute character portraits printed on them.

In this regard, Abiko Samejima, who held the copyright, gave the green light all the way, allowing the plan to be passed quite smoothly.

"Then, it's Kengi, Kana—"

It must be said that Samejima Abiko's drawing speed is quite fast. She perfectly demonstrated the quality of a weekly serial cartoonist and soon called out Arima Kana's name. I don't know if it was an illusion, but the moment the name 'Kengi' came out, Kitagawa Ryo always felt that the sister beside him suddenly trembled as if in response, and her hands subconsciously hugged his arms tightly, but now everyone's attention was on the model and the cartoonist, and no one paid much attention to this side.

"Come on, come on."

Arima Kana smiled and stood up after hearing her name. She took off her hat and put it aside. She walked briskly to the opposite side of Samejima Abiko.

"Jian Yi is here to report."

"Well, what position do you want, sitting, standing, or holding a sword?"

As Samejima Abiko watched Arima Kana designing characters in her mind, she picked up a pencil and draft paper and asked casually.

"Let me think - what do you think of the pose on the cover of the latest volume?"

After Arimakana lowered his head and pondered for a while, he tentatively offered his suggestion.

"The latest volume..."

Samejima Abiko was slightly startled, and then she remembered after a brief recollection. Because the recent serialized plots were all chapters in which Kengi was active, he naturally appeared a lot on the covers. As for the latest volume, she remembered that it was a double cover of Kengi and BLADE, and she thought about it for a long time when she was composing the picture.

“But it feels a bit strange to draw the sword gesture alone.”

After hesitating for a while with the pen in hand, Samejima Abiko curled her lips:

“When I designed and composed the image, I wanted to create a feeling that both people were off balance, but were trying to support each other with their bodies.”

As she spoke, she reached out and took out the latest volume of "Tokyo BLADE" from a nearby bookshelf. The colorful cover showed a damaged BLADE and Jian Yi standing shoulder to shoulder with each other, leaning on their swords and struggling to fight the enemy.

"Then why doesn't Abhiko just add a back leaning? The kind that doesn't show the face. Anyway, the fans will know which scene it is from just by looking at the pose."

Arima Kana waved her hand nonchalantly and immediately gave her suggestion.

"Okay, since Kana said so."

Samejima Abiko nodded, and after Arima Kana finished, the rest of the people did not give her any unconventional questions. They each chose the highlight shots of the characters they played in the original work, and ended this cooperative promotion quite quickly.

After the working hours in a relatively relaxed atmosphere ended, Fulilu Shiranui, Daiki Himekawa and Sakuya Kamoshida, who already had other work to do, got up one after another to say goodbye. Abiko Samejima was sitting at her workstation, biting the tip of her pen and making revisions, and still asked Kichijoji Raiko to chat with the remaining customers. After a while, the topic naturally shifted to the manga "Today Will Be a Little Sweeter" that she was the main writer of and the agency's upcoming web drama project.

"Eh? I thought it would take another two years before we could see a live-action adaptation, but I didn't expect it to be made into a web series? And it's produced by our agency."

Kurokawa Akane was surprised when she heard about this for the first time. She had no idea about it before.

"Yeah, and I'm the lead actor... When was the last time I wore a high school uniform?"

Kitagawa Ryo's eyes were wandering. If it weren't for Magana, he really wouldn't want to take on a role with such a big age gap.

"Brother is going to play a high school student...hiss, maybe it's good?"

Kitagawa Rumi supported her chin, and after looking at Kitagawa Ryo closely, she suddenly let out a strange smile. It seemed that if Kichijoji Raiko had not been beside her, she would have pounced on him and pinched his cheek.

"I think it's okay. Liang looks very young, just like me."

MEM啾 raised his eyebrows, held his chin with his hand and casually repeated something.

"By the way, if Senior Liang plays the male lead, then the female..."

Before Kurokawa Akane finished her words, Arima Kana, who was sitting opposite her, elegantly took the teacup, gently blew away the tea foam around her lips, and interrupted with a smile:

"Well, I will also work hard to play the leading role this time."

"Chiyin is so interested in this drama, would you like to play the second female role?"

Arima Kana taunted Kurokawa Akane, and Kurokawa Akane's attention was diverted!

"...I guess that's not possible. After all, I have to prepare for the live-action movie of Tokyo Blade after the stage play project is over. Speaking of which, whether Kana wants to continue to play Kengi, it shouldn't take up too much of your time. There aren't many plots and scenes in the first three chapters anyway. After all, you have to find a pose that will impress the readers in the latest plot."

Kurokawa Akane used the glare on Arima Kana, and Arima Kana's defense decreased!

After seeing this scene, Kitagawa Ryo was used to the way these two people get along with each other. Many people on the Internet became fans of them just for this reason, so he was too lazy to speak up and got involved. He simply stood up and walked to Samejima Abiko who was concentrating on painting.

"Come to think of it, the two movies and web series that Akane and Kana are talking about now, it seems that the male protagonists are both cold."

Noticing Kitagawa Ryo's arrival, Samejima Abiko paused her pen, raised her head, and while looking at the two people who were arguing on the sofa not far away, she began to speak.

"Yes - we'll be busy the rest of this year."

Beichuan Liang lay lazily on the back of Samejima Abiko's chair, leisurely admiring the girls there, the girls he was close to and who he had watched grow up.

"My male protagonist is..."

Samejima Abiko muttered as she sketched the lines on the digital tablet. She had drawn the character of BLADE thousands of times, so the Q-version image was a piece of cake for her.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

She heard the voice of Beichuan Liang, who was lying above her head, asking her questions.

"BLADE."

There was a sudden moment of panic in her heart, and Samejima Abiko pointed at the person in the picture and gave a somewhat unnatural smile.

"Well, Abizi's drawing is pretty good, and the Q version is also very handsome. Why does it sound like he is praising himself..."

Hearing his sister calling him, Kitagawa Ryo reached out and touched Samejima Abiko's head, then sat back on the sofa, completely unaware that the other person's pen tip had stayed at a certain position for a long time, and the messy lines formed a big black line there.

Samejima Abiko felt her face getting a little hot, and she carefully turned her chair 180 degrees, facing away from everyone, as if to calm herself down, and tried hard to focus all her attention on the pen again.

When she came to her senses, she realized that she had drawn another BLADE.

The most popular topic on the forum recently is replaying in my mind endlessly:

[Cold Fact: The prototype of BLADE is Ryo Kitagawa. ]