A band and a novel make their mark

A few days later.

With the help of the AI system Tsugumi and Nymph had written, all the figurine girls who had materialized now had identities of their own, though their ID cards still needed to be processed separately, one at a time.

At least they no longer had to worry about being undocumented.

Meanwhile, Nijika Ijichi and the others in Kessoku Band had successfully registered accounts on internet platforms, including AC, and uploaded the performance video sent by the Comic Exhibition organizers.

[Holy crap! The girls from the Comic Exhibition band made an account!]

[Is it really them?!]

[It is! It really is!]

[That video quality... this is the footage from the Comic Exhibition organizers! It's definitely them!]

[Awesome! Girls, I love your songs! If you release an album with music videos, I'll be the first to support you!]

In the blink of an eye, Nijika Ijichi and her bandmates' account gained hundreds of thousands of followers. They had quite literally become an overnight sensation.

Granted, they had already blown up once at the Comic Exhibition.

But back then, nobody could find Kessoku Band's account, so they could only watch phone recordings posted online by various clip uploaders.

Now that the band's own account had appeared, complete with official footage provided by the Comic Exhibition organizers, naturally everyone abandoned the pirated copies and embraced the real deal~!

Clip uploaders: So love does fade, huh?

For now, the comment sections on their accounts were filled with fans drawn by their reputation. Nobody jealous of Kessoku Band's popularity had come to cause trouble yet.

"What about us?! What about us, A-Xiao?!"

The materialized Nina Isari clung tightly to Chen Xiao's waist from behind. Until he created an account for their band, she wasn't letting go.

"You'll get one! Nina, let go already..."

Unable to take a single step with her holding him, Chen Xiao felt utterly helpless.

Thankfully, the one grabbing him was the pint-sized boss. With their height difference, if her hands slipped a little lower, she would grab something she really shouldn't!

And if it had been one of the other figurine girls with ulterior motives, she would definitely have used an "accident" as an excuse to reach down on purpose. He really wouldn't know what to do then!

"For realsies?"

Hearing that, Nina poked her head out from behind Chen Xiao and fixed him with a suspicious stare.

"Really, really, I mean it! Once Tsugumi gets paid for writing code for people-patching system vulnerabilities-we'll buy instruments for Nijika and your band first! And that empty room on the third floor would be perfect to turn into a music room for rehearsals."

Back when he had still thought this world was an ordinary urban novel, he had figured that, as the protagonist, he ought to have a private space. So he had specifically asked the renovation workers to make a soundproof room on the third floor.

It had originally been meant to hold exercise equipment, but now it was just right for their bands.

"Yay!"

Nina immediately let go and danced around happily on the spot.

"You're so easy to please..."

Chen Xiao smiled.

Nina Isari was like a little kitty. When she was feeling rebellious, she hissed at everything, but once you stroked her fur the right way, she became completely docile.

With that thought, Chen Xiao had just turned around to get something to eat in the living room when he felt something warm and soft brush his cheek.

Mwah-!

He turned back, only to find that the girl had already fled.

"This has become an everyday occurrence."

Chen Xiao touched the spot on his cheek where the girl's fragrance lingered and let out a "mournful" sigh.

Ever since he had used several figurines' powers in succession and rewarded several girls in a single day after his restraint dropped below its lower limit, the other materialized figurine girls had all seemed to enter phase two. They no longer confined themselves to suggestive words and gestures from a distance!

Special mention had to go to Alice Landlot, the maid in black.

Instead of waking Chen Xiao by calling his name beside his ear as she used to, she now French-kissed him until he couldn't take it anymore!

In that state, if Mahiru Shiina hadn't pulled her away with a hostile look on her face, Chen Xiao might have entered the world of adulthood ahead of schedule.

Fortunately, Alice became much more reserved the following day. Presumably, the other figurine girls had reined her in.

Though she still did plenty of deliberate flashing to tempt him...

There was one other development: Elf Yamada and the others had also completed real-name verification for their accounts.

Their completed manuscript and illustrations had been emailed to an editor at Shenzhou Online Literature, and they were now waiting for approval.

[Shenzhou Online Literature editor Camellia's live manuscript review]

"Why is your protagonist looking for a woman to screw right at the start?! If you're sexually frustrated, go get a girlfriend in real life! Rejected! Next!"

In the bottom-right corner of the screen, a pretty woman frowned deeply and deleted a submitted manuscript from her inbox.

Then she opened the next submission.

Within minutes, she started cursing again.

"You wuxia writers! Why do you insist on these cuck... trauma-lit plots? Can't write anything if the heroine stays pure, can you?! You just have to make her give her first time to the enemy because she has no choice?! I-[Shenzhou profanity]!"

The livestream chat flooded with comments saying, "We've been served a giant wuxia turd!"

"Ugh! Next!"

Although Camellia was a female editor, she worked in male-oriented fiction and accepted submissions in most genres.

However, she utterly despised pretentiously literary novels, and she also hated receiving submissions aimed at female readers.

Reviewing male-oriented fiction already exposed her to plenty of the epic piles of crap described above. Submissions aimed at women were even more like the crowning masterpieces of crap!

Could you imagine an abusive domineering-CEO romance opening with:

"For XX, I suffered two miscarriages, five car accidents, eight kidnappings, nine rounds of cyberbullying, and two hundred and eighty slaps. I was forced to take contraceptives countless times and donated my bone marrow. My body was already riddled with damage."

Could you imagine content that was such an enormous pile of crap?

What was this heroine, some kind of unkillable superhuman...?

And besides earning a little extra money and promoting novels, Camellia had another reason for livestreaming her manuscript reviews...

She wasn't going to be the only one forced to swallow this crap!

"Hmm... Supreme Throne? Finally, a normal title. Hopefully, the content is normal too."

Seeing Supreme Throne by Elf Yamada in her inbox, Camellia, whose nerves had been worn thin by all the crap, finally felt a flicker of interest.

She opened it. The beginning was actually quite clichéd: first, the fallen genius protagonist was bullied, then his arrogant fiancée came to break off their engagement. Despite his weakness, the protagonist showed no fear and turned the tables by rejecting her instead.

Then the protagonist accidentally discovered a powerful, beautiful older woman inside the ring his mother had left him. Not only did she serve as his portable mentor and help him rise, but she also treated him to some eye candy.

On top of that, the protagonist had a childhood friend with a mysterious identity...

"Huh?! That's it?!"

At that point, Camellia discovered that she had actually scrolled all the way to the bottom.

For a moment, she found herself wanting more.

[This is a good book!]

[Top-tier! Absolutely top-tier!]

[Camellia, sign this one!]

The livestream chat was also full of praise.

"Wait, there's another page."

Just as Camellia was about to close the document and reply to the author, she noticed another page.

Oh?

It even came with illustrations?

The next page consisted entirely of illustrations of scenes and characters from the novel. Every picture was excellent, beautiful without lacking sex appeal.

And each picture had a credit beneath it.

Artist: Eromanga Sensei.

"Did they hire a foreign artist? They must have money."

Since Sagiri Izumi had used a transliterated name, Camellia saw nothing strange about the artist's name. She merely marveled inwardly, If you've got money, why bother writing novels?

Still, how could she possibly let such a good book slip away?

"I'm signing it!"