"What?!" ×2
The moment the name Kashiwagi Eiri came up, Eriri and Utaha Kasumigaoka both cried out in shock.
After her instinctive cry, Eriri shot to her feet and demanded:
"Why do you know that?"
Seeing Eriri's reaction, Utaha Kasumigaoka went from startled to utterly dumbfounded:
"You really are Kashiwagi Eiri? The doujin artist who posts adult NTR comics online?"
Only when Utaha Kasumigaoka asked did Eriri realize she had exposed herself. She hurriedly covered her face and crouched down.
"No, that's not me. You've got the wrong person."
"So it really is you." Utaha Kasumigaoka immediately looked at Eriri as though she were some bizarre creature.
Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable!
The darling of Toyogasaki Academy's first-year art club was secretly a female artist who drew pornographic doujinshi.
How did that even happen?
Eriri Sawamura's father worked for the foreign ministry and was a British aristocrat, while her mother came from a prominent Japanese family. Yet their daughter drew pornographic doujinshi, something considered niche and perverse even within the already niche anime fandom of the time.
If her identity got out, Sawamura would probably be bullied mercilessly at school. Plenty of boys would use it as an excuse to make her a fixture in their dirty conversations. If things went even further, someone might blackmail her into becoming the heroine of a porn comic herself.
At that moment, Utaha Kasumigaoka suddenly understood why Luo Shu had been so confident that Eriri Sawamura would help.
With that kind of leverage hanging over her, Eriri really had no choice but to compromise if she wanted to avoid bullying, unless she transferred schools. Even then, there was a good chance she would be exposed and harassed online. There was simply no way out.
Meanwhile, Eriri crouched on the ground, her face full of despair.
How on earth had I been exposed?
At school, she never discussed anime or manga. Even though she knew her childhood friend was in the same year, in a classroom along the same corridor, she completely ignored him.
Outside school, her parents personally managed her doujinshi business. Even her fans had no idea who Kashiwagi Eiri really was.
Yet Luo Shu had exposed her identity right here, leaving Eriri wondering where she had slipped up.
But I hadn't slipped up anywhere!
"Relax. I have no intention of exposing you."
Luo Shu, the man responsible for all this, spoke calmly as he ate his pork cutlet rice:
"Or rather, while I've considered the whole 'Ms. Kashiwagi Eiri, you wouldn't want your secret getting out, would you?' routine, I'm not tasteless enough to actually go through with it."
As he spoke, Luo Shu finished his lunch. Then, looking at the unconvinced Eriri, he picked up his milk and unscrewed the cap.
"For now, my goal is to establish the Astronomy Club. To that end, Utaha Kasumigaoka and you are essential. A club needs three members to be established, doesn't it?"
"By the way, my surname is Luo. My full name is Luo Shu, and I'm a third-year."
Luo Shu played a little trick here, presenting his accomplice Utaha Kasumigaoka in a way that suggested to Eriri that she was another victim.
After all, Eriri might not be able to hold herself together if she thought there were two perpetrators.
Sure enough, upon hearing Luo Shu's words, Eriri suddenly remembered something. She looked at him in realization.
"It's you? That third-year, Luo, who supposedly has ties to the yakuza."
Yakuza ties... why is this getting more and more ridiculous? Luo Shu couldn't help grumbling inwardly. At the same time, he faintly heard Utaha Kasumigaoka stifling a laugh beside him.
Speechless, he looked up at the sky and sighed before turning back to Eriri.
"So, are you joining the Astronomy Club?"
By now, Eriri had finished imagining how Luo Shu had gotten hold of her secret and left her completely trapped.
She had also come up with a full explanation for the rumors about Utaha Kasumigaoka that had spread that morning.
They called it a romance rumor, but really, he discovered her secret and threatened her with his yakuza connections, so she had no choice but to become his girlfriend, right?
So his real goal is to force me into the club, then keep blackmailing me into doing things I don't want to do?
He might even be planning to make Kasumigaoka and me do it together-
At the thought of that terrifying possibility, Eriri's legs gave out. She sank onto the ground with her knees bent inward and her feet splayed out to either side, staring blankly ahead.
I'm only a first-year! I was just dreaming about a wonderful school life ahead of me. Three years of being trained into submission? I don't want that kind of future!!
Meanwhile, seeing Eriri Sawamura's vacant gaze, as though she had been broken, Utaha Kasumigaoka couldn't help feeling a little concerned.
"Did you scare the poor girl senseless?"
"No, her mental activity seems pretty lively. She's probably imagining something."
Luo Shu, who had only just awakened his psychic powers, shook his head, then asked Eriri:
"So, Ms. Kashiwagi Eiri, have you decided what to draw for your next work?"
"I have..."
Eriri answered instinctively, then immediately flushed bright red. Shaking her head, she cried furiously:
"Who's thinking about that kind of thing?!"
Watching Eriri's blond twin tails whip back and forth, Luo Shu picked up his phone, recorded a short video with a click, then handed it to Utaha Kasumigaoka.
"That's a pretty impressive trick. Can you do that?"
"My hair isn't quite that lively." Utaha Kasumigaoka glanced at the video on his phone and laughed.
"What are you doing?" Seeing Luo Shu filming her, Eriri suddenly crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't tell me you want photos as souvenirs, too?"
"I'm telling you, I'd rather die than submit."
Luo Shu raised an eyebrow. "Then, about the Astronomy Club?"
"I'll join."
Eriri's resistance seemed to last all of one second.
After agreeing to join, she lowered her head.
"Let me tell you, my family is very rich, and my parents care about me a lot. So if you try to blackmail me over drawing doujinshi, watch out. I'll get them to make you pay."
Hearing that, Luo Shu's lips curved slightly. He seemed to be in a good mood.
"So you at least know how to use your family background to threaten someone? Not bad. You're not completely brainless."
Huh? Who are you calling brainless? Eriri's eyes widened as she glared fixedly at Luo Shu, as though she meant to glare him to death.
Luo Shu finished the milk in his hand, then turned to Utaha Kasumigaoka beside him.
"Let's get the club finalized while we still have our lunch break. By the way, you've contacted the teacher, right?"
Utaha Kasumigaoka put down her mostly finished salad, took a tissue from her pocket, and wiped her mouth.
"I contacted the teacher during the break between classes. She seemed pretty pleased that I was willing to join a club."
Luo Shu raised an eyebrow and smiled.
"Another perk of being an honor student?"
"You can think of it that way."
Before you continue