I, who tortured the readers, was knocked to the ground by them!

"The short stories are as good as ever, romantic and healing yet a little depressing."

As an editor, Shinkawa Aimi's evaluation of his work was quite positive.

"Using the pen name 'Cherry Blossom Vine Leaf' would be perfect for publishing, and it would also be great for selling small merchandise. I think a lot of young girls would buy it."

Hasegawa Shion nodded: "Yeah, if it were me, I might buy it."

Although this character is an extremely rigid and tsundere, she doesn't hide her high regard for the manga.

Unlike works like Firefly, the story of Hotarubi no Mori e doesn't have as many suspenseful plots and complex structures.

The theme is also a somewhat old-fashioned one: a romance between a human and a monster.

It's quite a strange story.

In fact, it was during her morning commute that Sakurai Itsuki gave her a rough draft of the storyboard and character designs.

But just from the first time she reviewed that storyboard, Hase Shion felt a desire to express it with her meticulously honed drawing skills.

It will definitely be very beautiful.

Shinkawa Aimi was somewhat surprised: "Really? I didn't think you were the type to like this kind of shoujo-oriented work."

Hasegawa Shion tilted her head in confusion: "Why? Don't I look like a young girl?"

"What you saw and drew before really doesn't seem to fit the word 'young girl' at all!"

Shinkawa Aimi made a comment, then lowered her voice and whispered to Sakurai Itsuki.

"To be honest, when I first took over her work, I was always worried about the level of explicitness in her work! The things she drew, let alone girls, were not something that normal people would look at."

Shinkawa Aimi makes a gesture as if she is whispering to Sakurai Itsuki, but in reality, their voices can be heard clearly.

Of course, her purpose was to make fun of Hase Shion.

Hasegawa Shion occupies such a strange ecological niche.

Within her limited social circle, she was everyone's darling, and they all doted on her.

Even her rivals didn't genuinely dislike her.

However, everyone seems to enjoy teasing her a little over various trivial matters, and then enjoying her subtle actions that reveal her inner thoughts.
It's like teasing a cat.

As expected by Shinkawa Aimi, Hase Shion immediately blushed with embarrassment and anger: "That's all his fault. I just put the tone of 'Fire Fist' into a hentai manga. Besides, didn't I later draw a normal manga like 'Your Lie in April'?"

"Haha, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I really couldn't imagine that those bizarre and outrageous things were made by someone like you, a genuine young lady from a prestigious family."

Shinkawa Aimi glanced at Hase Shion's slender and beautiful hands and uttered such a sigh.

Hasegawa Shion pursed her lips but didn't say anything.

Sakurai Itsuki spoke first: "The world is always like this. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I really couldn't imagine that a beautiful woman like you, with a high level of education and income, would still be an unwanted spinster at 30. You're practically a magician now, aren't you?"

He never held back in his attacks on Xinhe Aimei.

"Ugh~ How disgusting! Is this how you protect your wife? I'm actually a little hurt now! Mocking me is one thing, but can you please stop showing off your love in front of me? Do you know how much it hurts me? You're ten years younger than me! This is too fast!"

Xinhe Aimi shook her head, indicating that showing off their love in front of her, a single person, was far more hurtful than directly insulting her.

Meanwhile, Shion Hasegawa, listening to Aimi Shinkawa's speech, felt her face burning hot and stammered, trying to say something.

But in the end, I could only sip the iced coffee through the straw to cool myself down.

"Are women in their thirties really this fragile? They can't even handle someone showing off their relationship?"

Sakurai Itsuki didn't clarify their relationship. He knew that even if he did, the other person wouldn't believe him, and it would only upset the person next to him.

He took a hard kick in an attempt to appease her.

Shinkawa Aimi complained, "Once? It's not just once! You guys haven't stopped since the beginning! The first time I met her, she said that she liked Haruki Nagayama the most."

Sakurai Itsuki felt that was too much of a stretch: "That's just liking manga, it's not me personally, does that even count?"

"Heh, well, let me tell you, when she didn't know who you were and thought you were just an ordinary newcomer, she secretly asked me for feedback on your comic!"

Of course, she did try to cover it up on the surface, but you know, her attempts to cover it up were always ineffective. I immediately knew that she wanted me to take care of you, but I had to pretend that I didn't know you, Sakurai Itsuki!

You guys are treating this like a weird romantic play! Do you know how damaging that is? And, and…

Seeing how close the two had become, Shinkawa Aimi didn't hold back and launched into a long rant about them.

As Shion Hatsune listened to Aimi Shinkawa's accusations, she was so embarrassed that she wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground.

"Okay, okay! That's enough, don't say anymore!"

She loudly stopped Shinhe Aimi's act of revealing her secrets, almost spitting out her coffee in a moment of embarrassment.

"Oh, so it was so early. Shouldn't you have hated me back then?"

Sakurai Itsuki never expected that she had secretly cared about him back then, even though she didn't know his true identity at the time.

This young lady is indeed much easier to control than she appears.

"What do you mean 'back then'? I've always hated you, and I still do! I hate you the most! Stop talking about it, or I'll just stomp on you again!"

Hasegawa Shion turned around and uttered a threat.

"Go ahead and step on me, crush me, then you'll really have to take responsibility for taking care of me."

"Who wants to take care of you? I have money to pay your medical bills!"

"If you don't take care of me, then I'll expose what you've done. With that kind of scandal, you'll just have to go back to drawing doujinshi underwater, right, Ms. Shion?"

Sakurai Itsuki also poses a threat to Hase Shion.

Listening to the two threatening each other in their argument, Shinkawa Aimi had no intention of trying to mediate. She just propped her face up and felt like she was being force-fed dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection).

Just by looking at Hase Shion's clumsy tongue, it's obvious she could never win an argument against the silver-tongued Sakurai Itsuki.

She quickly gave up and had to change the subject again, bringing up the comic: "This story is a bit more geared towards women, do you think that's okay?"

"Ah, that's no problem at all. Although Jump is a shonen manga, it actually has a surprisingly large number of female readers nowadays, and female consumers are quite strong in purchasing manga-related merchandise these days!"

Xinhe Aimei clapped her hands, indicating that there was absolutely no problem.

Just like how, among so many people in the world, even if only one person out of ten thousand has a unique or unusual hobby, it would still form a fairly large group of extraordinary individuals.

As Shueisha's readership grows, even niche manga can find a decent market.

Moreover, Hotarubi no Mori e is essentially a romance story that is acceptable to both men and women, and Your Lie in April has already garnered a considerable number of female readers for the name Sakura Fujii no Yoru.

Even if it flops, it's still just a short manga, and Shueisha wouldn't have any objections just because of the name "Sakura Fujinojo."

"Then there's no problem. Besides comics, I also want to make animation, like the multimedia project we did before. I'll have to trouble you with that."

Sakurai Itsuki's manga has never required much input from Shinkawa Aimi.

But besides providing feedback on comics, the most important job of a Jump editor is actually managing the operational aspects.

A multimedia project for a work may seem like it only requires telling a story in different ways, but in reality, connecting the various parts involves a lot of complicated and tedious tasks.

Among the people Sakurai Itsuki knows, this is a job that almost only Shinkawa Aimi can do.

So to some extent, Sakurai Itsuki does bear some responsibility for the fact that she simply couldn't find the time to date.

Xinhe Aimei nodded: "I know, it's going to be another bunch of trouble. I can't get married, it's all your fault."

"I won't argue this time. Please, I really can't do without you. Just consider it as me being single for a while longer." Sakurai Itsuki pleaded sincerely, as if he needed something from someone.

"Seriously, do you mind a relationship between an older woman and a younger man? Why don't you marry me to repay my kindness? I don't care if you have mistresses outside."

Shinhe Aimi sighed, thinking about the endless pile of tedious work that was about to hit her, and made the usual adult joke.

But as soon as the joke was out, Shinkawa Aimi glanced at the pretty girl next to her and quickly added, "Okay, okay, Shion-sensei, stop glaring at your editor like that. I was just kidding. I'm an old woman, I can't compete with you guys!"
I've always been a Shion supporter! Back when you guys were in your second year of high school, I was already advising this guy, "Why don't you just marry him? You can ask him if you don't believe me!"

Shinkawa Aimi immediately declared herself a member of the Shion Party.

Hasegawa Shion hummed softly to herself, feeling quite pleased with herself.

"Hmph, I would never marry him!"

May.

Compared to other reborn transmigrators, Sakurai Itsuki's life actually seems rather ordinary and uneventful.

You don't have to hold up a shield and endure being humiliated all day long, nor do you have to be a healing mage who wants revenge all day long.

Even for a 33-year-old ordinary office worker who longs for a peaceful life, the life he experiences is far more thrilling and exciting than that of Sakurai Itsuki.

The demanding work and the effort of maintaining a balance between three women had already drained Sakurai Itsuki of all her time and energy.

After entering university, Sakurai Itsuki became even busier.

Sakurai Itsuki, however, was quite content. Despite the hard work, and perhaps to be considered a bit of a scoundrel, he actually enjoyed being favored.

Of course, trouble is inevitable from time to time.

Today, the Sakurai family's lunch is grilled bonito and strawberry mapo tofu, which hasn't been served at the Sakurai family's table in a long time.

These are the ingredients that Sakurai Itsuki dislikes, both in terms of taste and perception.

Meanwhile, Sato Wakaba, still wearing her teddy bear apron, sat across from Sakurai Itsuki at the dining table with her hands in her pockets and her lips pursed, looking at him without saying a word.

Seeing this scene, Sakurai Itsuki no longer needed to carefully consider his words.

He immediately said, "I'm sorry."

This is the first move.

Sato Wakaba remained silent.

"I still have the voucher from the cake shop from last time in my wallet. Remember to bring it with you when you take the money."

Sakurai Itsuki continued with the formula and used the second move.

Sato Wakaba squinted at the man in front of her, hesitating to speak.

Sakurai Itsuki exclaimed that something was wrong; why was he unusually difficult to coax today?
That's probably why she found out about it.

Sakurai Itsuki had no choice but to sigh and unleash the final move of his three-pronged attack.

He picked up his chopsticks: "I'm starting to eat."

Then he picked up a piece of bonito and put it in the bowl, followed by a piece of strawberry mapo tofu.

Then, with a frown, he swallowed a large mouthful of rice.

At this moment, her golden eyebrows finally raised slightly, and she asked, "Is it delicious?"

Sakurai Itsuki replied, "Everything you make is sure to be delicious."

Upon hearing this, Sato Wakaba loudly rebuked, "You big liar! How have you become such a scumbag who can lie without batting an eye!"

"This kind of lie, which you can see through at a glance, can't really be called a lie, right? At most, it's just sweet talk meant to make you happy."

Sakurai Itsuki offered a sophistry.

As is customary, once she speaks up, it means there's nothing seriously wrong.

Just go along with her little vengeful pranks, let her tease you a bit, and let her express her dissatisfaction.

Dealing with Sato Wakaba's three tricks is that simple and effective.

Sato Wakaba angrily questioned, "Why did you choose your elective early without telling me? Why didn't you tell me?"

Because in university, Wakaba Sato and Itsuki Sakurai were in different majors.

So, although they could go to and from school together most of the time, they couldn't attend classes together.

Yes, except for elective courses.

All three of them majored in fine arts, so many of their elective courses overlapped.

Sato Wakaba naturally wanted to attend classes with Sakurai Itsuki.

But when we discussed elective courses before, he always said he would think about it and wait.

It's almost time for the deadline for elective courses, and Sakurai Itsuki still hasn't said anything.

She ran to ask Hase Shion what elective she had chosen.

It was only then that she realized that Hasegawa Shion and Sakurai Itsuki had already chosen their electives without her knowledge.

That elective was a very popular course, taught by a prominent figure in the industry, and it was a course that you practically had to fight to get a spot in.

Sato Wakaba is no longer eligible to choose!

What is this?!

Back when we were in England, he seemed so willing to marry me in the future!
It's a blatant betrayal!

Does being willing to marry me mean you won't go out with other women for romantic getaways?

That's terrible!

Faced with the accusations, Sakurai Itsuki feigned ignorance and said, "Ah, I thought Shion told you."

Even if Shion... Oh, I see.

Sato Wakaba was halfway through her sentence when she realized that the sentence seemed familiar.

That's what I said when I was questioned by Shion Hase before.

Is this her revenge?
Sato Wakaba then realized that although Shion always seemed harmless, she was, after all, her rival in love.
"Um, let's eat first, let's eat first," Sakurai Itsuki could only say hastily.

He hadn't expected Hasegawa Shion to make such a straightforward request.

Although she used the excuse that "if you and Ruoye both choose this course, you two will definitely argue endlessly around me, which will affect me."

But everyone knows that her attempts to cover up her true intentions are always futile.

Sakurai Itsuki couldn't very well lie and tell Sato Wakaba her reason.

Wouldn't that be treating her like a fool?

Furthermore, she was tightly gripping his wrist at the time, making it difficult for him to break the contract and refuse.

Sakurai Itsuki also had a bit of wishful thinking at the time, thinking that it was just an elective course and there shouldn't be any problem. Even if she was angry, he could just coax her after she vented.

However, Sato Wakaba did not get angry after hearing Sakurai Itsuki's words.

He simply gazed at Sakurai Itsuki and said meaningfully, "You really are fair." (End of Chapter)