Still at Oreki's House
Soon after I finished my dinner, I headed to my room. Before leaving the kitchen, I reminded Yoruichi not to let Uncle Roger's egg fried rice go to waste. However, I had a feeling she might binge-read **Kimi ni Todoke** straight through from start to finish. I know for sure that it ended a long time ago, making it an easy recommendation even though I never bothered to finish it myself.
Once I'm in my room, I decided to check my Twitter. Surely, my new fans wouldn't be upset or wield pitchforks for not updating and answering their calls. I looked at my followers and saw that I was nearing 50k, which is impressive for an up-and-coming artist like me.
I glanced through the comments on the last link I shared for my doujinshi. Holy cow, these people are thirsty and horny. But that's good—horny fans will make my work more famous and known throughout Japan in no time. Or maybe it already is?
However, I'm going to disappoint them for a bit as I plan to upload the first chapter of Naruto, just like Toriyama-sensei suggested in this world. Why Naruto? I want the people of this world to witness and experience **Talk-no-Jutsu** in all its glory! I started drawing or copying chapter 1 of Naruto with a slightly different art style than Kishimoto's and called Eriri back from my missed calls.
At the Sawamura Household, in Eriri's Bedroom
Eriri, dressed in a simple green tracksuit and glasses with a white hairband to keep her hair from covering her face, was deeply engrossed in her work. She wore the headband not to prevent her cute face from showing but to keep her hair from hindering her art and drawings. She was seated in the corner of her large bedroom, which featured a queen-sized canopy bed with a green blanket and a green curtain with yellow accents hanging at the top. It seemed that green was her favorite color.
On the left side of the room was a brown couch with a flat-screen TV in front. The French windows had pink curtains to block out the sunlight and her room also had a French door leading to mini balcony. On the right side of the canopy bed was her closet, and next to it was her powder desk. She worked on her computer and drawing tablet to the right of her bed. Near her workspace was a bookshelf filled with manga, light novels, and regular books.
Eriri was in her zone, her right hand moving swiftly across the drawing tablet while her left hand frequently clicked the key binds. The reason for her intense focus was her friend, who had recently become known in the doujinshi circle. He had gained extreme popularity overnight with just one work. When she read his doujinshi, she realized it wasn't just any run-of-the-mill piece or a possible one-hit wonder. It was a **godly doujinshi**.
This revelation didn't make her lose confidence because she knew he wouldn't mock or put her down. "Maybe he'll tease, but that's all good since he's a good friend and... and," she said out loud, unable to finish her sentence due to the embarrassment she felt just thinking about it. She shook her head to erase those thoughts and resumed drawing with renewed motivation.
Suddenly, her phone, which should have been on silent mode, rang. The reason it rang was because she had set it to only allow one person's calls to come through—Oreki. Her eyes widened in surprise, quickly turning into an excited smile as she heard the tune she set for him. She immediately stopped drawing, picked up her phone, and yelled:
"You son of a bitch, you finally call me, huh? Is the fame getting to your head? Am I not worthy of your attention now? Come on, explain yourself for calling me back just now!"
Silence was all Eriri could hear on the other end of the phone for a while.
"Wait! I'll put you on hold as someone is calling from the other end,"
"Wait! Just answer me," Eriri gritted her teeth before muttering, "Annoyingly stupid, sexy, handsome guy." Then she remembered his smile and those crystal blue eyes, and she unknowingly smiled. Her eyes widened in shock after she realized what she just did. "No, Eriri! Stupid girl! Stupid!" She slapped her own face left and right as she said this.
"I'm not that easy, Oreki. Hmph!" She placed the phone on her desk. Instead of continuing to draw her ero-manga, she stared at her phone with hopeful eyes, waiting for Oreki to talk again. Her patience was running thin, even though it had only been a short while. Finally, Oreki started talking again.
"Hello, Eririri-chan? Still there?"
"I'm here, you bastard. And that's one 'ri' too many," she picked up the phone again as she said those words.
"Sorry, I flubbed it."
Angry tick marks appeared on her forehead. She could almost picture and imagine him doing the "teehee" expression on the other side of the phone.
"You did that on purpose!" she retorted angrily, but her eyes sparkled as she was clearly enjoying this too.
"So, how was it, huh?"
"What do you mean, how was it?" Hearing that condescending tone, she asked back at Oreki, not bothering to answer the redundant question.
"Come on, you already know what I mean."
She sighed. "It's good, and it's even better than what I previously made," she admitted honestly. There was no reason to hide it, as this guy probably wouldn't believe her if she said it wasn't good. But she would use this as motivation to create an even better ero-manga than his.
"Ooooh!"
"What?" she asked in confusion, pushing her chair and starting to spin with it.
"I thought you were going to act all tsundere before I forced you to admit defeat by teasing you non-stop. You're no fun, Eriri-chan."
"I already told you, I'm not a tsundere," she denied, rejecting the label despite not realizing that denying it sometimes reinforces it.
"But you just did!"
"I'm not!" she retorted, then added, "Anyway, I can easily recognize good art when I see it because I'm not a noob like you... or the others." She explained with a proud smile, almost insulting him inadvertently, but she stopped herself, not wanting to provoke further teasing from this antagonistic guy.
"So, how did you get good?" she asked. "And don't tell me your answer is 'I'm a genius.'" She reminded him in a firm tone, knowing he wouldn't answer directly.
"You know that's the only right answer, E-ri-ri-chan."
"Hmph!" She made a tsundere noise before saying in a sarcastic tone while smiling, "Don't tell me you're a genius musician too!"
"..."
"Oh my God! I was joking!" She said loudly, shocked for a moment but quickly recovering. "I need to see proof then," she demanded, sounding like a stereotypical Ojou-sama.
"You'll have to wait for that."
Soon after, they started talking about random things, like what kind of shampoo they used, making Eriri blush as she discussed her daily necessities with a guy. But she didn't mind at all because it was him. Oreki then talked about getting into playing FPS games and invited her to play with him and Kaho, but she declined, preferring not to stress about that. When their topic changed to novels, she started venting about a friend who was currently experiencing writer's block.
"Maybe I can introduce her to someone I know who's quite a genius in that field."
"And that is...?" she asked with narrowed eyes, already knowing the answer she would receive from this hateful guy.
"Me."
"Freak you," she cursed, her natural reaction to his antics.
"What? I can really help after all..."
"You're a genius, blah blah, I don't care," she interrupted. "Oreki and Utaha together would make blood, and it's not because I'd be jealous if they got too close," she thought inwardly, remembering that this guy was a...
"Harem-seeking bastard!" she said out loud with venom.
"Hey! I'm not going to try to lure her into my harem, Eriririri-chan... unless she's my type of girl."
"Shut up, you freak! And you added two extra 'ri's this time, you know," she shouted at him.
"Sorry, I flubbed it again."
"You're doing that on purpose, though!" Eriri retorted.
"TeeHee."
Eriri sighed as she glanced at the clock. It was already 10:30 at night. "I need to go now; I want to finish my work," she said reluctantly. Despite everything, she had enjoyed her time talking with him.
"No problem."
"Thanks, then bye," she said with a smile.
"Good night muah," he replied
"Ew!" she responded negatively, but her face was all smiles. After hanging up, she stared at her phone for a while before continuing her ero-manga with a refreshed smile.