A newbie's anime life diary

There's not much to say about the day's classes. I spent most of the time spacing out, occasionally chatting with Hachiman Hikigaya next to me, and the time just passed by.

After class ended, it was time for club activities. Yukiteru, Hikigaya, and Yuihama arrived at the Service Club. Yukino and Utaha were also there, and today there was an additional guest who hadn't been seen for a long time.

Eriri Sawamura, the soon-to-be-released erotic artist.

She brought her own drawing tools, and after arriving at the Service Department, she pulled over a table, sat down, and began drawing comics.

"Don't you have your art club stuff to do?" Yukiteru approached Eriri, looking at her drawing paper, which she had already started working on. It seemed that after making the promise with her yesterday, this girl had really put in a lot of effort and was already working on the fourth page.

Eriri didn't look up, and said while seriously moving her paintbrush, "Although it's a bit boastful, I am the ace of the art club. Except for competitions or regular artwork submissions, I usually don't need to go to the art club. Besides, I have a cell phone, so I can just call if anything happens."

That makes so much sense that I'm speechless.

However, seeing how serious she was, Yukiteru didn't bother her anymore. He returned to his seat and told Yuihama and Hikigaya about Eriri's situation.

"A cartoonist debuting, that's amazing."

Upon hearing this, Yui's eyes lit up as she looked at Eriri. Hikigaya was also quite surprised. Compared to Yui, who had much more experience with manga, he knew very well that in Japan, the number of manga artists who could truly succeed was pitifully small. This Eriri Sawamura was incredibly lucky.

After a while, the Service Department fell silent again, with everyone going about their own business.

Sitting on Xuehui's other side, Shiyu was also engrossed in reading a folk book about yokai. Although Xuehui said he would take her to gather information, she wanted to learn more beforehand to avoid making a fool of herself.

Yukino, too, was quietly reading a traditional novel.

Only Xuehui was propping his head up on the table, scrolling through his phone. He'd spent several times on the new mobile game, but hadn't gotten anything he wanted; it was now just sitting in his drawer, and he could only browse it online.

The quiet atmosphere lasted for about 15 minutes before there was a knock on the door of the Service Department.

The classroom door opened, and student council president Shiromaru walked in.

When the senior student came in, she looked at everyone with a puzzled expression and said, "Um, does the sign on the door say that we don't accept commissions?"

"That's just to keep out some boring people." Yukino closed the novel in her hand and looked at the other person, saying, "Did you come here for a request, Senpai?"

"Yes, there is. Everyone should know about the sports festival in two weeks, right? We've been having a meeting to discuss this, trying to add something different to this year's sports festival, but we haven't been able to come up with any good ideas, so we wanted to ask you all for help."

Listening to Shiromaru's explanation, Yukino composed herself and said, "To add some novelty to the sports festival? Indeed, no one was very motivated during last year's sports festival."

As she spoke, she looked at Xuehui beside her.

Xuehui waved his hand and said, "Don't look at me, you're the captain. Go if you want to. I remember that Shizuka was also the teacher in charge of the sports festival. With her overseeing things, you can do whatever you want."

"Aren't you going?" Clearly, Yukino wanted Yukiteru to go with her.

"I'm not that interested. I might put in some effort during the sports festival, but right now I just want to slack off. By the way, I remember the sports festival groupings are two groups for the whole grade, right?" He looked at everyone and said, "I'm in the red group."

"Red Team." Hikigaya, Yuigahama.

"Red Team." Yukino.

"I'm also in the Red Team~" said Cheng Huixun.

"Tch, White Team." Utaha turned her head away unhappily and looked at the last one, Eriri.

"Um... well, the Red Team, hehe." Eriri scratched her cheek, looking at Utaha with a hint of schadenfreude.

Finally, all the members of the Service Club, except for Yukiteru, followed Shiromaru to the planning meeting room for the Sports Festival, and even Utaha went along.

In her words, she wanted to secure some favorable conditions for herself, who was the only one in the White Team.

Then, all that was left was Yukiteru and a certain blonde girl with twin tails.

'I didn't expect Yukino and Utaha to really trust me, being alone in a room with a man and a woman like me.' Yukiteru thought to himself as he lay on the table.

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Thank you to [CAPF] for the donation!

Chapter 126 Two People Who Will Eventually Drift Apart

Inside the Service Club, Yukiteru was idly scrolling through his phone, while Eriri, another person there, was completely oblivious to everything else, intently focused on drawing.

Xuehui was certain that she had never been this serious when drawing doujinshi before.

Because they were all working overtime all night before the deadline, it was like they were risking their lives to finish the work.

Ugh, procrastination is awful.

However, Eriri has now awakened to her belated professionalism. She is putting in 200% effort into the manga that will allow her to debut as a manga artist, just as Yukiteru had said before.

'If this momentum can be maintained, it would be abnormal not to succeed.'

Yukiteru was the same way when he was in Gensokyo. He didn't care about anything else and only thought about dealing with Yuuka Kazami's violent guidance and Youmu Konpaku's move that made him unable to rest. He finally managed to pass the training in the end, so he felt a lot about Eriri's current state.

There are many talented people in the world, but very few are willing to put in several times the effort to hone their talents.

Putting away his phone, Yukiteru carefully walked to Eriri's table. He hadn't looked at it closely before, but now that he had nothing else to do, he decided to check how her drawing was.

Although he had entrusted the adaptation to her and discussed it with his editor, Machida Sonoko, he hadn't made any requests regarding the character design or anything like that.

The character designs in light novels are generally different from those in manga and anime. Some light novel illustrations have great character designs, but they don't quite fit into the manga and need to be modified.

While the character designs in the Sword Art Online novels aren't top-tier, they're still quite good. Now, with Eriri, a professional doujinshi artist whose skill level is far superior, the level of detail is significantly higher than in doujinshi, even without adding the eroticism often associated with doujinshi. The few images available are actually quite impressive.

Although Xuehui hadn't spoken or made any movements, she could still tell that someone was standing next to her.

After finishing one of the backgrounds, Eriri looked up at Yukiteru: "Want to take a look? By the way, you haven't seen the character designs I made yet, have you?"

Yukiteru nodded, pulled up a chair and sat down next to Eriri, picked up the character design she handed him and looked at it, while saying, "Have you considered using a drawing tablet? Although the Sword Art Online series won't have the length of a long manga, the workload is still much higher than drawing doujinshi."

"This is different from my doujinshi. As a debut work for a manga artist, I won't change it unless the workload is really too much."

Rubbing her slightly sore wrists, Eriri glanced at Yukiteru beside her and suddenly realized that it seemed like only the two of them were left here.

Thinking of this, the girl couldn't help but blush.

Of course, I'm just a little unaccustomed to it, but not to the point of having any wild thoughts.

Thinking she could take a break during this time, Eriri thought for a moment and came up with a question she had always wanted to ask but hadn't dared to before: "Um, I have a question, I don't know if I can ask you."

"Go ahead and ask. Of course I can answer if I can." Xuehui nodded casually in response, his attention still on the character designs in his hands. Eriri had drawn some of the main characters from the first and second volumes. Compared to the illustrations in the novel, her character designs were more like the anime characters he remembered, but they were still a bit more refined.

Hmm...right, isn't this exactly the same as the character in her fanfiction? There are only some minor modifications, and it's a little less erotic.

But it doesn't matter, as long as it looks good.

Seeing Yukiteru's nonchalant attitude, Eriri asked directly, "Um, are you and Yukinoshita dating?"

"Hmm?" Upon hearing this, Yukiteru put down his manuscript and looked at Eriri. "Why are you suddenly asking this?"

"Because, well, didn't Yukino suddenly become very popular among the first-year students after the school festival? And these past two days, there have been rumors that she's always been accompanied by a boy. Plus, you came to my house's party with her last night, so I was a little curious, hehe." Eriri scratched her cheek, smiled a little shyly, revealing her little fang.

Seeing Eriri's awkward yet curious expression, Yukiteru thought for a moment and decided not to hide anything from her. He nodded and said, "Yes, we are indeed dating. It started after the start of the semester."

"Oh! Really? This is the first time I've ever seen someone my age dating someone!" Eriri was no longer shy; instead, she was very curious about Yukiteru and Yukino's relationship.

After all, one of the girls is Yukino Yukinoshita. Perhaps others in the same grade have a better impression of her, but undeniably, Yukino Yukinoshita is superior to him in every aspect. Anyone would be surprised that someone like her is dating a boy!

"Well, it's really not a big deal. After all, everyone goes through this stage, it's just a matter of time."

While high school romances exist in every country, and even in elementary and middle school, the actual number of couples in each school and grade out of 200 students is relatively small. Therefore, whenever a couple appears, it naturally attracts a lot of attention and curiosity.

"Sooner or later? Sigh..." Hearing Yukiteru's words, Eriri showed an expression quite out of character, and you could tell from her expression that she was thinking about something.

Seeing this, Xuehui just smiled, then picked up the first page of the comic she had drawn together, and said while looking at it, "You haven't made up with Aki Tomoya yet? You're childhood friends, shouldn't you be able to resolve some things as long as you communicate clearly?"

"Huh? Ha! It has nothing to do with that guy! He's a deadbeat otaku who doesn't even care about the artists in his own club and just hangs out with his junior high school classmates. And he still hasn't fixed the game engine issue. We found someone to do music, but he still hasn't agreed to join. Can you believe there's such a producer? And just the other day I saw him talking to someone about going to Akihabara to wait for the game's launch! I've almost finished drawing the game's CGs, but he's been thinking about other things. When I ask him about the progress, he's evasive. He's hopeless!"

When Aki Tomoya was mentioned, Eriri initially acted a bit haughty, then launched into an endless barrage of criticism, looking utterly exasperated by his lack of ambition. Yukiteru had anticipated this; the two had exchanged a few words after the school festival, but that was about it. And Aki Tomoya was indeed still the same as always. But had he found someone in charge of the music yet? Was it his cousin?

Oh right, wasn't this game designed with Kato Megumi as the heroine? Yukiteru realized he had completely forgotten about that heroine.

However, judging from Kato Megumi's personality, if there's no progress, she'll probably just show up on time.

Yukiteru never intended to interfere in the matter between Eriri and Aki Tomoya. Aki Tomoya is different from Hikigaya Hachiman. Although Hikigaya Hachiman has a dark past and is somewhat aloof, it's a form of self-protection. He understands everything around him better than many others. As long as he and Yui Yuigahama are still in the Service Club, things will inevitably develop to this point sooner or later. Yukiteru only gave it a slight push at Yui Yuigahama's request.

As for Aki Tomoya and Eriri, Eriri's parents seem to have high hopes for their relationship and don't care about social status. However, given the current situation and Eriri's potential debut as a manga artist, even though Aki Tomoya may have some talent, if he doesn't change, their relationship will only drift further apart.

As for Kato Megumi? Although this girl looks ordinary, she is surprisingly able to understand some things. Whether she will become the heroine of Aki Tomoya is still unknown.

Thinking of this, Yukiteru put down his drawing, stood up, and looked at Eriri, saying, "Well, as long as you know what you're doing, everything's fine as long as the manga's progress is maintained. I'll go buy some drinks; what do you want? It's on me."

"Oh? Oh, orange juice, please, thank you."

The blonde girl, who had been somewhat sulking, paused for a moment after hearing Xuehui's words before immediately replying.

"Okay, wait a few minutes. Keep working hard, future manga artist." With a wave of his hand, Yukiteru pushed open the door and walked out, leaving Eriri alone to continue working on her drawing.

I leisurely walked downstairs to the vending machine, inserted a few coins, and took out a can of coffee and a can of juice.

Just as I was about to turn back, a calm female voice came from behind me.

"Hiratsuka-kun?"

"Huh?" Xuehui stopped in his tracks. He could only remember one person with that voice. He turned around and looked at the girl whose hair had grown longer not far behind him. "Kato? What are you doing here?"

The person standing before me was none other than Kato Megumi. I had just been thinking about her, and now I saw her. Perhaps I've encountered her many times before, but I just haven't noticed?

Seeing the surprise on Yukiteru's face, Kato Megumi tilted her head, seemingly pondering for a moment with a calm expression, and replied, "Does Hiratsuka-kun think I should be working on a game with Aki-kun? He seems to have been persuading a girl to create music for his game these past few days, so I had some free time. Just now, at the invitation of a junior, I visited a club."

"Uh... a club?" Yukiteru was a little confused. Kato Megumi... visited a club? How did anyone even notice her?

“I have a feeling that you’re thinking something rude, Hiratsuka-kun.” Kato Megumi calmly pointed out Yukiteru’s thoughts, and continued under Yukiteru’s slightly embarrassed expression, “It’s a junior I met at the school festival, hmm… she’s quite an interesting person? She invited me to visit, and I happened to have some time, so I went to check her out. It’s a newly established news club.”

A news agency? Does that mean only observant reporters could notice Kato Megumi?

However, at this moment, the girl looked at the drink in Yukiteru's hand and felt that she had taken up too much of his time. She bowed slightly and said, "I'm sorry, it seems that Hiratsuka-kun has something to do. Let's talk again next time."

"Yeah, see you next time."

Watching Kato Megumi politely take her leave, Yukiteru also headed towards the stairs.

I have a feeling something interesting is going to happen.

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Hmm... Kato Megumi will be a fairly important supporting character later on, and pairing her with another character who hasn't appeared yet will have a surprising effect.

Yes, a supporting role.

PS: Thank you to [Acedown] and [心し绥] for the donations!