My girlfriend is Saiki Kusunoki

"Hey, what's with this weird nickname 'Jing Ke'? What's so cute about that guy?!"

"Heh, judging from your attitude, it's probably not because of your grades. Then what is it? It can't be because your dad took away your allowance and gave it to your sister, can it?"

Hachiman is truly speechless at Naoto's wildly imaginative ideas.

Seriously, how can this person think that his troubles are because he has run out of pocket money?

"No, it's because there's something unresolved regarding the light novel, and I'm currently troubled by it."

"What about light novels? I remember your work has been doing quite well lately, hasn't it? You're even getting the first volume coming out soon. From now on, you'll really be Hachiman-sensei, you know."

"I wish that were true, I'm really having a headache over this."

"Hmm? What happened? What could be causing you such a headache?"

Naoto became somewhat curious about Hachiman's explanation.

In fact, the light novel "Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei" written by Hachiman has achieved tremendous success. In just a few months, it has accumulated a huge following, and there are even plans to publish a single volume now.

The novel "Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei" has attracted many readers with its delicate techniques and literary rhetoric.

In particular, the surprising quotes that appeared from time to time at that time also gained the approval of many people.

I never expected that Hachiman, that high school sophomore with a sickness, would be able to write such a novel. Even Naoto didn't expect it at the time.

Given the editor's high level of attention, what could possibly be causing Hachiman such distress?

"Actually, well, by the way! Naoto, do you know any really talented illustrators?"

At this moment, Hachiman suddenly remembered that he had a big name in the art world on his side.

As a versatile artist who excels in both traditional drawing and comics, Naoto must know some illustrators, right?

"Illustrators? Well... I don't really know any great illustrators. After all, everyone around me draws comics, and illustrations and such..."

Naoto said somewhat apologetically regarding Hachiman's question.

In fact, although Naoto also wanted to say that he knew them, professional illustrators and comic artists are two completely different concepts.

Illustrators are usually very skilled at drawing, but they are not necessarily comic artists.

Among comic artists, there are those with excellent drawing skills, but they may not necessarily become illustrators.

These two are actually quite different.

Illustrations primarily require beautiful visuals, while comics place greater emphasis on plot and visual coherence.

Some illustrators may have great visuals, but their other two skills are lacking.

Some comic artists create strong connections between plot and visuals, but in terms of drawing skills, they may not be able to match those of illustrators.

Among the comic artists around Naoto, not a single one has ever worked as a professional illustrator, so they probably don't know what those skills are required.

"Shouldn't the editor be the one to contact illustrators for you? How come you haven't found one yet?"

"I looked, but... I just couldn't stand it."

Hachiman takes his novel illustrations quite seriously.

The editors had originally assigned him an illustrator.

However, after only a few days, that person quit, saying that Hachiman's requirements were too high and he couldn't draw them.

With no other option, Hachiman had to look for other illustrators.

But finding a good illustrator isn't so easy.

This gave Hachiman a headache, as he still hadn't found a suitable illustrator even as the first volume was about to be released.

"Originally, I wanted to find the two strongest illustrators currently available, either Ms. Ai Munroa or Ms. Kashiwagi Eri, to draw illustrations for me, but after I contacted them, they both declined, saying they were too busy. Now I don't have any good ideas."

Naoto probably had some understanding of Hachiman's troubles.

This is indeed a difficult matter to handle.

After all, with light novels, you can do without other things, but illustrations are a must.

Illustrations are not always just icing on the cake; in light novels, a good illustration can even save a story.

As you can see, some novels are poorly written, but once they have good illustrations, their popularity skyrockets a hundredfold.

Some people even say that they buy novels not for the novels themselves, but for the illustrations.

Illustrations have long been an integral part of light novels.

Hachiman currently doesn't have any light novel illustrators he can collaborate with, and he doesn't find ordinary illustrators to his liking.

Having been Naoto's old buddy for so long, Hachiman knows a thing or two about what's good and bad.

"If you can't find a good illustrator, then the release of my collected volume will probably be delayed for a while. Haha~ I guess it's just my bad luck."

Seeing his good brother so distressed, Naoto thought about it carefully for a while and realized that there was still a chance for things to turn around.

"Actually, there are ways to deal with illustrators."

"Really? You're not kidding me!"

"Get out, get out, just like when we've ever lied to you, except..."

"But what? Surely I won't have to pay some kind of price?"

"How could that be? It's just that this matter might be a bit difficult to handle. We can only try first."

Actually, when the two illustrators mentioned by Hachiman were brought up, Naoto felt that they were somewhat familiar.

After careful consideration, Naoto actually remembered the identities of the two people.

Chapter 176: The Erotic Comic Teacher and the Blonde Loser

Naoto happened to have some recollection of the two illustrators that Hachiman had mentioned before.

Although there isn't much information, I vaguely remember some details about them. While it's not much, at least I know a little bit.

Take Eromanga Sensei for example; this title should originally have been held by a woman in her thirties.

However, the original owner passed away in an accident last year.

Now, it seems that this title has been passed on to her daughter, a twelve-year-old super shut-in girl.

It would indeed be quite difficult to get this person to draw illustrations.

Naoto probably wouldn't even want a 12-year-old girl to be an illustrator, even Hachiman would be unwilling.

The other one, Eri Kashiwagi, was a little better.

As far as Naoto knows, Kashiwagi Eri's real name should be Sawamura Spencer Eriri.

Her father is British and her mother is Japanese; she grew up in Japan. Because her father is a diplomat, her family is rumored to be quite wealthy. However, since her father isn't the type to seek special treatment, Eriri attended public schools for elementary and middle school.

She possesses exceptional painting skills and is the ace of the school's art department.

The undisputed beauty of the entire school. Petite, with blonde twin ponytails (hair color from her father, hairstyle from her mother). Her trademark, exquisite blonde hair, clear blue eyes, and porcelain-like skin instantly captivate any man meeting her for the first time. However, when she sheds her disguise, she often appears with disheveled hair, dressed in a full green tracksuit with her junior high school badge. And because she is extremely nearsighted, she usually wears contact lenses. She wears glasses at work.

However, although she is amazing as a beautiful girl, she has also earned the nickname "blonde loser" due to her small breasts and terrible personality.

And coincidentally, this person was actually in their PK Academy.

Eriri was originally considered one of the two most beautiful girls in the academy, along with Kasumigaoka Utaha. However, with the addition of Yukino and Mai-senpai, their brilliance has faded.

Sometimes even straight people want to complain: why are all these guys gathered in PK Academy? What the hell is this place? Is it a multiverse gathering place?

"Are you talking about Eriri from the art club?"

"Yes, that's right, the art department."

After confirming with each other, the two were speechless.

Although this certain good-for-nothing hasn't invited Eriri to join the club yet, unfortunately, the art club might not let her go!

You should know that when Naoto won the award and became the first person in the school to do so, the art club immediately invited him to participate.

But problems arose right then and there. Naoto rejected the art club without hesitation, and even later created a creative club, completely overwhelming the art club.

Eriri, for various reasons, doesn't have a good impression of Naoto. In general, their creative club and art club don't get along very well.

Now they need to ask the art department for help...

"I think, Hachiman, maybe if you kneel down and beg her, she might agree. Do you want to consider it?"

"I think it would be more effective if you knelt down. After all, you're the club president, aren't you? Besides, if I go, are you sure Yukino won't come after you?"

"You scoundrel, this isn't like I need an illustrator. Sigh, well, let's think of something. This isn't working."

Just then, inside the art club, a girl named Eriri was sitting in front of her drawing paper, looking at her artwork with a frustrated expression.

"No, this won't do! How could a painting like this possibly be eligible for this year's art award!"

After looking at it for a while and finding it increasingly strange, Eriri even tore her own drawing down and threw it into the trash can.

The members of the art club, seeing Eriri so angry, were both shocked and filled with helplessness.

In their opinion, Eriri's paintings were good enough; at least, they certainly couldn't have done them as well.

But unfortunately, Eriri doesn't think so.

As the ace of the art department, he should have represented the department in various competitions.

And what was the result? Starting with the National High School Art Competition, Eriri has never won a single honor for the art club.

Even so, the art club members didn't blame her. After all, there was this one overly eccentric guy in the school.

"What went wrong? Why can't I ever beat that person?! Why is that?!"

Eriri, who had returned to her seat, felt like she was going crazy.

As a child prodigy, she even felt that what she drew was not as good as the first drawing Naoto drew last year.

Eriri's level is very strong even among high school students, otherwise she wouldn't have achieved fourth place in the national high school competition.

However, compared to straight people, the gap is still quite large.

Eriri originally felt that the gap between her and Naoto Yamashita wasn't that big, but the truth was that he seemed to be superior to her in every way.

The national high school champion wouldn't have been a big deal, but Naoto became the king of the manga world in just one year. Even Eriri went to the later Seinen Art Award, but she was eliminated before even passing the preliminary round.

How could the proud and arrogant Eriri possibly tolerate this?