Chapter 597

She had never been treated like this before! She had never felt so defeated!

She arrived last night but he wasn't there; she only saw her younger sister, which thwarted her plans. Undeterred, she came early again today to wait, only to run into Hiratsuka Shizuka, who was also there.

However, this wasn't entirely unexpected; she knew that she had been frequently visiting this area lately.

Now that she actually saw him, all the plans she had just conceived vanished... What if she failed? Wouldn't that just give him another excuse to "take revenge" on her?

For a moment, she thought this might not be so bad...

No, absolutely not!

He's a high school student several years younger than me, so I can't show any weakness in front of him anymore, or he'll look down on me!

However... she silently shifted her gaze to other parts of the store.

I won't talk about my sister and her friends who don't live here; I don't know what they're thinking.

But whether it was the few children practicing in the recording studio, the fair-skinned, gloomy beauty next to her who kept glancing over, or even the two older women beside her... her keen fox nose sensed something was amiss.

Even if she really does have some ideas, this competition is way too fierce! Is this some kind of entrance exam for school (or marriage)?!

This is just one aspect of this little shop...

That little bastard is a truly wicked man!

She clutched her forehead in pain, her delicate features slightly distorted.

Although she didn't know the difficulties her mother faced when pursuing her father, she felt it must have been much easier than this, considering her father's circumstances...

Suddenly, she felt a warm sensation on the back of her hand, and at the same time, a familiar warmth emanated from beside her ear—

"Miss Haruno? What are you thinking about so intently? Is it something from school or home?"

Before she knew it, Sakurakoji Talent's hand had returned to the back of her hand, his playful cheek close to the side of her head, his warm breath constantly blowing on her already sensitive earlobe.

"Huh!" Yukino Shita Hiyori exclaimed softly, somewhat bewildered by the sudden turn of events.

Sakurakoji Talent blinked in surprise, not expecting such a strong reaction from her.

He had imagined she would turn the tables, laugh and scold him, then subtly withdraw her hand and look for an opportunity to retaliate—that was the normal script, wasn't it?

To avoid being mistaken by Hiratsuka Shizuka and the others for bullying her, he decided to retreat. But before turning back, he inexplicably moved his tongue slightly and touched something.

Yes, it's the same old formula.

"!!!" The heat transfer was even clearer than before, causing Yukino Shita Hiyori's delicate body to go limp and collapse onto the table.

This is... that bastard from last time!

"Hino, what happened to you?" Hiratsuka Shizuka was utterly bewildered when she saw her collapse as if punched in the stomach. She looked at him and asked, "Did you do this?"

He spread his hands innocently. "I don't know, I just wanted to joke with her, I didn't expect her to react so strongly."

"I don't believe you for a second!" Hiratsuka Shizuka gave him a charmingly glaring look. "You little rascal, you're the smartest one. It's definitely your fault."

But she didn't ask any further questions. Instead, she stared with great interest at Yukino Shita Hiyori's defeat CG: "However, you did a good deed by punishing this bitch."

In her eyes, Yukino Shita Hiyori was probably an even more troublesome and spoiled student than him, someone who only knew how to cause her trouble.

"..." He glanced at the back of her head with pity; this was the consequence of not doing good deeds.

He secretly resolved that he would try his best not to become a rebellious disciple like Yukino Shita Hiyori!

"Ahem, um! Speaking of which—" Hiratsuka Shizuka looked at him shyly, her voice softening, "That comic you gave me last time, has it been published yet?"

"Hmm?" Sakurakoji Talent finally shifted his attention from Yukino Shita Hiyori. "You mean JoJo's Bizarre Adventure? It was just released a couple of days ago, what's wrong?"

"Nothing... it's just that when will the second volume be released?" She asked, her demeanor demure and shy as she gently pinched her long, black hair.

"..."

Is it because readers are coming to demand more updates?

Damn it! I've only finished the first volume!

Can't you think about me for once? Even if my liver could multiply indefinitely, it wouldn't be enough to compensate for this kind of exploitation!

"It will probably take some more time..."

"I see," Hiratsuka Shizuka nodded slightly, paused for a moment, then leaned slightly towards her and asked softly, "Could you tell me about the rest of the plot?"

"... no."

"Mean!"

Being stingy is unacceptable!

Fortunately, as a reader, she didn't really like being spoiled and instead started offering her opinions:

"By the way, why are there so few battle scenes in this book? Is it really a battle manga?"

"It's only the first volume, you're being too impatient."

"Order more next time!"

"Okay, I'll try my best."

"Also, the content needs to be more original!"

"What do you mean by 'original'? What a subtle way of evaluating it."

"The combat system needs to be novel, not overused! And it needs to incorporate some famous memes, right? That'll make it a hit!"

"Can't I just entertain myself?"

"Of course not! This is a comic I helped create, it has to be a huge hit!"

"Huh? When did you get involved in the creation, Teacher Shizuka? I have no recollection of anything like storyboarding, line drawing and coloring, or plot development..."

"Stop nagging~ Could you create a shonen manga without me? So I'm also a co-author!"

"Being an author these days is really easy~" he remarked with a sigh as he walked to the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water, and asked, "For example, what kind of plot points?"

Hiratsuka Shizuka's sexy cherry-pink lips moved slightly, her sharp eyes pointing at him. "You're already dead!"

"I see, Fist of the North Star, huh? Well then," Sakurakoji Talent, striking a pose powerful enough to subdue dragons and tigers, his fighting spirit at its peak, before pointing a finger at the ceiling:

"Look! Your Star of Death is shining in the sky!"

Hiratsuka Shizuka, like a child who had received a favorite toy, was overjoyed that he had caught on to her joke, "That's right! That's how the dialogue for the next volume will be designed!"

They were completely unaware that his body truly possessed the power to subdue dragons and tigers.

"I see, although I think it's because the lines from the comics became popular that they were able to spread so widely..." He stopped, feeling that she had gotten the cause and effect backwards.

"How will you know if you don't try? You're a cartoonist, right? Then you should strive for perfection!"

"Strictly speaking, I'm just an insignificant, lowly laborer in the dark underground Starry, not a real cartoonist."

He was just a copyist who moved works from his previous life; he didn't want to claim that he had made any real achievements in this field. He only copied works to save time.

If you praise his achievements in fields such as clothing, finance, and investment, he will gladly accept it.

But Hiratsuka Shizuka couldn't understand his feelings and only kept suggesting, "There's also..."

"Teacher Shizuka ~" he interrupted, his tone and expression suddenly turning sinister. "If you say that again, I'm going to use the same trick Dio used on Erina on you~"

"The move Dio used on Erina? What was that..." Halfway through her sentence, a scene suddenly flashed into her mind, causing her head to emit the sound of a steamer.

"You bastard, you scoundrel! What are you saying! You idiot! You pervert! You scoundrel!"

"It's so noisy~ What are you doing, Shizuka?" Ichiji Hoshika was making plans for future dates on her notebook, turned around, her little mouth, which was sucking on a lollipop, twitching up and down, and frowning to express her dissatisfaction with Hiratsuka Shizuka.

"Hoshika! Control your employee! He's trying to assault me!"

"Hmm?" Ichiji Hoshika glanced at Sakurakoji Talent, then looked back at her and asked, "What happened to Talent?"

"He said he'd treat me the way Dio treated Erina!" Hiratsuka Shizuka pointed at him, biting her lip in accusation.

"... What are you saying?"

"Huh?! Didn't I give you the comic book the day before yesterday? Didn't you read it?!"

"Um... well..." Ichiji Hoshika awkwardly turned her head away, "I've been quite busy these past few days."

"Liar! Nijika just complained to me that you've been drinking and watching TV these past few days!"

"..."

"Give it back if you're not going to look at it! That's my treasure! I rarely lend it to you!"

"No, please... I know, I'll watch it when I get home tonight, okay?"

"If you don't read it, we're breaking up!"

"Is our friendship less than a comic book...?"

"..."

Chapter 540 Store Manager, you didn't want this either...

After forcing her to confirm that she would definitely watch it tonight, Hiratsuka Shizuka turned around triumphantly, but froze the moment she saw his figure.

Didn't I just say that it was my treasure...?

Ugh--!!!

What a disgrace!

She slowly turned her head as if nothing had happened, looking to the other side with a fascinating expression, presenting the back of her head to him, her mature and graceful figure taut.

By the way, the classic line from the first volume of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is:

'Your first kiss wasn't with JoJo! It was with me Dio!!'

Ignoring the proud and complicated feelings of this older single woman, he came to her side after Ichiji Hoshika revealed her presence, as he happened to have something he wanted to tell her.

"Yo~ Shop manager~"

"Get out of here, you troublemaker who skips work!" She said without turning her head.

"... That's really hurtful to say~ I have very important information to share, you know?"

"What important information do you have? Do you know how much 100g of matcha powder costs today?"

"I really don't know, since I haven't paid attention to that in a long time... But I do know how much the matcha powder I bought in Uji last time!"

The raw materials for the Starry Kitchen are always signed for by Ichiji Hoshika and the others—even though this should originally be the chef's responsibility.

But his work hours are very late, and it would be bad if he delivered late and couldn't start work.

"Ha~" She stopped her already slow Keyboard, finished filling out the form, and turned to look at him with a puzzled expression. "What's up?"

She was wearing a casual, oversized shirt today, with two straps extending from the top and wrapping around her shoulders, and her blonde hair was still loose down her back.

He moved closer to her as if he were discussing top-secret information, shielding his face with his hand, and whispered, "Do you know about the 'Smart Lens' that's been all the rage lately?"

"Yes, I know. The recent guests and the band members have all been talking about it."

Even though she wasn't a fashionable person or someone who was sensitive to trends, and she wasn't exactly a proficient user of electronic devices, she still knew about this kind of general news.

Do you know anything about online livehouses?

"..." Ichiji Hoshika rested her index finger on her chin in thought, "I've heard other livehouse owners say that, is it really feasible?"

"Even if it's not as good as offline, if the ticket prices are cheaper, it should still have some impact—especially on small and medium-sized live music venues."

That's practically a direct statement; "STARRY" is included too. After all, the store hasn't been open much longer than he's been back in China, so its fame is relatively limited.

"..."

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, probably genuinely worried that the shop she had built with her life savings would be swept away and replaced by the tides of time before it even opened for a year...

Sakurakoji Talent smiled wickedly again, boldly hooking his hand around her soft, delicate chin, which was no less beautiful than a high school student's. After indulging in this moment of pleasure, he whispered in a seductive voice:

"Manager, you don't want your years of hard work to be so easily replaced and destroyed, do you?"

Ichiji Hoshika glared at him with her beautiful eyes, knowing he was just teasing her. She slapped away his smooth, large hand, the spot he had touched burning hot as if it had been corroded by acid.

"Speak your mind!"

He chuckled and withdrew his hand, "It's simple, we can just open and operate an online store."

"It's not that simple. I've never run an online store before, and I've never even watched a performance online..." She was full of concerns and felt somewhat uneasy.

"Everyone else is in the same boat. The earlier you go, the better you can seize the opportunity, and maybe it will even make the store's business better!"

"Hmm..." She twitched her ears, slightly persuaded, "Really?"