After getting ho, Kyousuke was too drained to study.
Striking all those pointless poses for Eriri felt a hundred tis more exhausting than kendo practice.
He made a quick midnight snack to fill his stomach, then took a shower and collapsed onto his bed.
As he lay there, his thoughts drifted back to the body-swapping situation.
Since they had just swapped bodies two days ago, he figured tomorrow was probably safe—no swap.
The frequency had dropped from every other day to once a week, maybe even less.
At this rate, it might beco once a month or even less frequent.
But what about the day after tomorrow?
That was Saturday, the day of the indie doujin convention.
What if the swap happened then?
Staring at the blank mo on his phone, Kyousuke frowned.
If he were in his own body, he could just hold up a big sign and shout to gather people for Eriri's booth.
Embarrassing? Maybe.
But for the sake of making money, he could handle it.
But Miyamizu Mitsuha?
He had always gone with a hands-off approach when it ca to her.
Still... this was kind of important.
Better to explain everything like before and let her decide for herself.
Knowing her, she'd probably enjoy sothing like this anyway, just like the sakura festival.
He opened his mo app and began typing:
The situation with Eriri, what the indie doujin convention was, and what he had originally planned to do.
It felt a little irresponsible, but if they did end up swapping bodies again—
———————————————————————
"I'll leave it all to you, Miko-san."
———————————————————————
Even though most of their mories got fuzzy during the swaps, Kyousuke still rembered that Mitsuha was a well-respected and reliable person in her world.
Surely, she could handle sothing like this.
Still, there was one thing that nagged him.
Sothing he wondered if he should give her a heads-up about. As he lay in bed, he thought it over carefully.
Earlier today, while they were taking a break, Eriri had been sparkling with excitent talking about the upcoming convention and all the famous doujin circles that would be attending.
But mid-sentence, her tone shifted when she ntioned that her forr childhood friend, Taki Tomoya, would almost certainly be there too.
She brushed it off quickly, but Kyousuke caught the change. It was subtle, but it wasn't like her usual open-book expressions.
Was she still carrying guilt about the way they drifted apart?
He doubted it.
After their last heart-to-heart, she seed to have moved on.
Then again, Eriri had a fragile heart hidden behind that fierce exterior. She could be stubborn in the strangest ways.
Honestly, Kyousuke wouldn't be surprised if Eriri, the kind of girl who once said "I'll marry you when I grow up" during a pretend wedding ga, ended up feeling bound to that promise even now.
On the outside, she acted like a stubborn tsundere who always denied everything, but deep down, she was way too easy to read... and way too easy to fool.
Maybe she was scared.
Maybe seeing Taki Tomoya again, soone who had once been a symbol of warm childhood mories, would clash too harshly with the reality of who he was now.
Or maybe she was worried about being recognized for her work, and having her refined "ojou-sama" persona crumble in front of soone who knew her past.
After all, Taki apparently knew both Spencer-sensei and Sayuri-san. Or maybe she was just scared her work would flop and give him a reason to laugh at her.
This storm of question marks in his head made him felt this uncertain.
He was frustrated, honestly. Why couldn't she just tell him what was bothering her so they could figure it out together?
Scratching his head, he decided cheerfully:
'Yep, I'm pawning this off on Miko-san.'
If they swapped bodies on Saturday, he wouldn't be there anyway, so there was nothing he could do himself.
He scrolled to the bottom of the mo and, just like Eriri had suggested the first ti, jotted down everything about Taki Tomoya, word for word.
———————————————————————
"You might run into this guy tomorrow. Eriri might need your help. Please support her. As thanks, I'll use your body to help you out more too."
———————————————————————
That sounded good, right?
Kyousuke, who didn't exactly have a history of asking others for help, pondered for a mont... Eh, close enough.
———————————————————————
"He's soone Eriri has known since second grade..."
"He dragged her into his otaku world by recomnding tons of manga, stood up for classmates getting bullied..."
"Got elected class rep with no votes... Eriri cut ties with him and beca an 'ojou-sama' on the outside, but deep down, she's still a full-on otaku."
———————————————————————
Kyousuke tried to avoid adding any of his own bias toward the guy.
If Mitsuha ended up in his body that day, she'd find out anyway.
As for how she would handle things? He trusted Miko-san completely.
After closing the mo app, he drew the curtains and settled into bed.
The night passed peacefully, and Friday played out just like Thursday afternoon a chaotic duet of bickering and banter, with Eriri finally completing her debut doujin.
Kyousuke, ever the businessman, suggested adding so "spice" to the story—implying a lack of fanservice might hurt sales.
"You can't even tell who the main characters are anymore!" he argued.
Eriri, her cheeks blazing red, rejected the idea outright and silenced him with a signature twin-tail whip. Rejection successful.
Eriri wanted to na the doujin "Our First eting," purely out of creative whim.
Kyousuke opposed this, saying the story had already gone way beyond a first eting.
"Since when does a model get to na the book?!" she snapped. Rejection unsuccessful.
Their filthy-rich diplomat mom, Sayuri, didn't even bother with a printing company, she straight-up bought a top-tier printer and converted a spare room into a printing hub.
Despite the lavish setup, Eriri's new circle egoistic-lily only planned to print 100 copies.
Kyousuke strongly objected. "That's too few! It doesn't even cover two days of my suffering as your model!"
Eriri stood firm. "The indie con is way smaller than Comiket. Selling 100 copies would already be a win."
Kyousuke refused to give in. "If you don't print more, I will! I'll sell 500 myself!"
The Spencer couple cast their votes in favor of more prints. Rejection successful.
One last note: in Japan, doujinshi doesn't always an fan fiction of existing works.
It often refers to original, self-published works made with total creative freedom, unhindered by comrcial constraints.
Put simply, they're books created and printed entirely at the artist's own expense.
Although doujinshi don't require an ISBN, they do need to include what's called a colophon, basically, it must list the na of the circle, publisher, date of release, contact info, and the printing company.
It's mainly there so if sothing goes wrong, there's soone to hold responsible...
"You're definitely gonna make it!" Standing by the door, Kyousuke tried his best to suppress the cringe as he struck a dramatic, shounen-style "let's go!" fist-pump pose toward Eriri, who was visibly nervous despite trying to hide it.
"...Yeah." Normally, she'd fire back with sothing like "What kind of washed-up ani protagonist are you?" or proudly scoff, "Who's nervous?!" but today, she just softly replied.
Kyousuke bounded down the stairs, hopped onto his motorbike, and looked back to shout, "Kashiwagi Eiri-sensei will definitely beco the most famous doujin artist in the world!"
He didn't wait for the explosion of tsundere fury behind him—Eriri yelling, "Do you have any idea how loud you're being?!" and "Are you stupid?!"—before making a hasty retreat.
That night passed without incident.
Kyousuke had already jotted down everything Mitsuha needed to know in the mo.
Now, all he could do was hope Eriri's big day would go well.
———————————————————————
Tokyo, Sendagaya – A certain studio apartnt
The familiar buzz of a phone woke Mitsuha in an instant.
Yes! The switch happened!
Now Kyousuke can deal with all those nosy old ladies!
Fully awake in seconds, the shrine maiden grinned.
It was the weekend, perfect for a girls' day out with Sakura and the others.
She was determined to enjoy it to the fullest.
Sitting cross-legged in bed, she grabbed the phone, shut off the alarm, and opened the mo app to see what new "Kyousuke Operation Manual" updates had been added.
"Hmm? A doujin convention? That sounds aweso. So it's one of those otaku gathering places?"
Just reading the first line already got her excited.
Ah, Tokyo really is sothing else.
In a tiny countryside village like Itomori, there weren't even any otaku, much less doujin events.
Poor Teshigawara had to go all the way to Gifu to buy his magazines, most of which were already outdated.
'Eriri? Ohhh, the manga collaborator Kisaki ntioned last ti.'
Of course Mitsuha would help!
She was benefiting from all this, after all.
For all she knew, part of her living expenses ca from those manga royalties.
A diplomat's daughter, half-Japanese, half-British, blonde with blue eyes...
Mitsuha blinked, staring at Eriri's picture.
"Why are all the girls around Kyousuke so damn amazing?!"
That golden hair! Those sparkling eyes!
"Sorry, Sakura, Shouko, Naoka-chan... girls' day out will have to wait."
"There's no way I'm turning down the chance to help a stunning blonde beauty sell doujinshi at a convention."
Then she scrolled down further.
Taki Tomoya? Who the heck is this jerk? Why's he dragging unrelated people into drama?
Is he even Japanese?! Didn't his parents teach him basic manners like "ask a teacher for help" or "go to the police" like normal people? Kyousuke-style!
Mitsuha grumbled in her head... until she suddenly rembered:
Before she t Kyousuke, she used to just quietly endure the antics of the trendy bracelet-wearing an girls in her class, too.
But that was ages ago. Now she was the revered shrine maiden of Itomori.
She pouted and set the issue aside for now, opening LINE and logging into her own account.
She noticed a chat from "Naoto"—one unread ssage.
"Bet it's that leg photo Naoto said looked better than Sayuka's in the illustrations!"
She tapped eagerly into the chat, only to find the ssage said:
———————————————————————
"You there?"
———————————————————————
...Crap.
Kyousuke must've discovered this account.
'Are Kisaki and Onizuka okay?!'
Seeing responses that weren't hers in the chat history, she panicked.
She must've forgotten to log out last night from sheer exhaustion. She exited the chat quickly and opened the group chat for "The Boss's Fan Club."
———————————————————————
"There's a doujin con today—anyone wanna go?" —Eikichi Onizuka
"That kind of place is full of nerds. What's the appeal?" —Danma Ryuji
"Isn't our boss drawing manga now too? Doesn't that make him a nerd?" —Shimomura Masao
"Idiot, there are tons of hot girls there in maid costus and cat ears!" —Onizuka
"Count in." —XN
———————————————————————
As soon as she entered the chat, she saw Onizuka being his usual chaotic self.
Phew, he's still alive. Mitsuha let out a sigh of relief and checked the mber list.
Wait—Kisaki?! Why's he gone?!
His admin ID had been replaced by so stranger's. Her heart skipped a beat as she quickly exited and searched for his contact.
———————————————————————
"Kisaki?"
"Yeah? Mitsuha? What's up?" —Kisaki Tetta
———————————————————————
...He's alive?!
"Ohh, he must've chickened out and switched to a burner account," Mitsuha guessed.
———————————————————————
"Nothing, just asking if you're going to that doujin con Onizuka ntioned."
"Nope. I've got cram school today. You probably shouldn't go either. Co study with , we can go over last week's material. Here's the address..."
———————————————————————
She grinned.
Good to know Kisaki was still kicking, but Onizuka's the real MVP here.
If worse cos to worst, I'll get him and the others to buy up the extra copies.
Pushing the terrifying thought of studying out of her mind, Mitsuha reopened her chat with Naoto.
'Wow. Naoto's legs really do look better than Sayuka's in that illustration.'
Since she'd seen Kyousuke's reply before, she now assud Naoto must be that "friend" he ntioned.
His last ssage was from yesterday morning.
The embarrassing otaku group chat was still intact, so Kyousuke probably just replied out of politeness and logged off.
She quickly typed:
———————————————————————
"Hey, sorry! Just saw your ssage, I had sothing going on earlier."
"No worries. Everything okay?" —Naoto
———————————————————————
Whoa, fast reply?! This guy's got gorgeous legs and good manners?
———————————————————————
"Yeah, no big deal. Just went out to the countryside for a few days."
"Countryside?"
———————————————————————
On the other end, Kasumigaoka Utaha blinked in confusion.
So that's why Hojou took the day off?
———————————————————————
"Yep. Had so... special circumstances."
———————————————————————
'Itomori totally counts as countryside, and I was really there, so that's not even a lie!'
———————————————————————
"Hey, Naoto~! A bunch of people from our group are heading to this new doujin convention today. I'm thinking of going too."
"Wanna co? We could et up!"
———————————————————————
Without even waiting for a reply, she followed up:
———————————————————————
"And FYI, this isn't one of Kyousuke's pretty girls. This one's all mine!"
"Ah, I've got other plans today. Maybe next ti?"
"Aw, too bad. Okay then, maybe next ti. I'm heading out now, talk later!"
"Sure, catch you later."
With that, Mitsuha headed off to the bathroom to get ready.
———————————————————————
anwhile, back in Kawagoe...
A certain girl sat at her desk, gleefully typing away on her phone.
Still in her white nightgown, one sleeve sliding down to reveal her pale shoulder, it looked like she'd been dragged straight out of bed and dropped in front of her manuscript without even brushing her hair.
After finishing the chat, the girl completely ignored the editor Machida-san, who was glaring at her like a hawk.
With a snap, she shut her laptop, then walked barefoot across the room, her pale feet making soft sounds on the floor, as she headed to the wardrobe and began browsing through her clothes.
"Hey, Shi-chan... don't tell you're planning to go out," said Machida Sonoko, pressing her palm hard against her forehead with a look of exasperation.
"That's exactly what I'm planning," the girl replied cheerfully.
Rising slightly onto her toes, the elegant lines of her pale legs tensed as she reached up and pulled a long, red knit dress from the wardrobe.
"You do realize the entire publishing house is waiting for your next book, right?"
"Everyone's hoping to ride the montum and turn you into a full-fledged bestseller!"
Machida's blue eyes were full of exhaustion, and her voice practically sagged under the weight of hopelessness, clearly she didn't expect to change her author's mind.
"But it's such a beautiful weekend. Don't you want to spend it on a date with your boyfriend instead?" Utaha responded with a teasing smile, dodging the question with another.
Holding the dress in front of her, she examined it carefully, today's outfit had to highlight her legs just right. And of course, black stockings were a must.
She wasn't planning to reveal her identity to Kyousuke-kun just yet, not until she'd published sothing that truly proved her worth.
But if he sohow recognized her just from her legs... well, that couldn't be helped, could it?
A sly glint flickered in her wine-red eyes. After all, a little mischief was well within a girl's rights.
Reviews
All reviews (0)