Eriri's face turns a bit red.
There was nothing wrong with what Chisato said.
It's true that everyone has a desire to try new things, and that's perfectly normal.
Since the start of summer vacation, Chisato has been practicing drawing manga every day, and now that he has mastered the basic techniques, it makes sense that he wants to test his skills.
"But, you don't have to draw a doujinshi... You could just draw regular manga, right?" Eriri timidly asked.
Chisato explained, "It's not that I don't want to draw regular manga. My dream since I was a kid has been to become a manga artist. But, how should I put it?"
"With manga, you have to pay extra attention to the content. Doujinshi, on the other hand, is more about the expressive power of the artwork."
Chisato put down his pen, walked over to the bed, sat down, and gently held Eriri's barefoot, carefully studying and caressing it.
"W-Wait... Don't touch it!"
"Didn't you tell me before that when drawing the human body, if you don't know where to start, the simplest and most direct method is to observe a real body?"
"I meant for you to observe your own!"
"That's not going to work. I'm drawing a girl, and if I use my own body as a reference, the foot shape would look really weird."
"Besides, you promised you'd help me unconditionally until I fully master manga drawing."
"...But at least give me a heads-up before you start touching," Eriri mumbled shyly.
She hesitated for a moment but then extended her foot back to Chisato, thinking to herself that it was a good thing she had taken a bath that morning and hadn't gone out.'
Otherwise her feet would smell bad.
"Sure, I'll give you a warning next time," Chisato replied as he reached out, signaling for her to extend her other foot as well.
Eriri slowly complied, watching as he gently stroked the top of her foot, his fingers lightly brushing her toes.
Her face turned bright red.
"Where were we... Oh right, manga requires a solid plot to support it, and I don't have the energy to think about that right now."
"So I figured I'd give doujinshi a try since creating dynamic, expressive scenes is one of my strengths."
"But... don't underestimate doujinshi. Even if the plot isn't as demanding, there are a lot of details that are actually stricter than in regular manga."
"You need to understand what will resonate with readers and what will excite them, and that's not something you can learn overnight."
"I know, but isn't there a perfect teacher right here?"
Chisato placed his palm against the sole of Eriri's foot, feeling its warmth.
He kept his emotions in check, maintaining the same harmless expression as usual.
"If the famous doujinshi artist Eri Kashiwagi is willing to guide me, I should be able to pick up those tricky points you mentioned quickly and make significant progress..."
Something felt off... Something didn't seem quite right.
With her feet in Chisato's hands, Eriri felt her entire body heat up, her mind slipping out of control.
She hadn't even really registered everything he just said and could only respond with a soft, noncommittal hum.
"...Well, I'm counting on you then. I knew you'd agree, Eriri," Chisato said happily, smiling.
"Mm..."
Eriri continued staring at her feet in his hands, her mind filled with thoughts like,
'His hands are so big,'
'He's not disgusted by me,'
'His hands are so warm.'
It took her a moment to realize she might have missed something.
"Hey, Chisato... What exactly did I just agree to?"
"Are you a goldfish? Do you only have a seven-second memory?"
"You... you're so annoying! My back was itchy, so I wasn't paying attention to what you were saying."
"Must be the heat causing a rash."
"That's not the point!"
"Okay, okay. It's not a big deal. You just agreed to teach me all the techniques for drawing doujinshi."
"All the techniques?"
"The plot development, character expressions, and those parts you mentioned that get readers excited. You agreed to teach me everything."
"W-Wait...!"
Eriri's voice caught as she realized the situation, quickly pulling her feet out of his hands. She needed to cool down her overheated brain.
"Teaching you this... It feels weird, doesn't it?"
"What's weird about it?"
"It's just... it's not like drawing manga. This is doujinshi..."
Eriri was flustered, while Chisato seemed completely unfazed.
"What's wrong with doujinshi? If you find it troublesome, you can just refuse. But I'd like to know the reason."
"It's not that I find it troublesome. It's not difficult, but... even though we're good friends, our genders... make this kind of thing a bit awkward. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Chisato met her embarrassed gaze and nodded subtly.
"I get it. You're really old-fashioned, Eriri."
"O-Old-fashioned?!"
"Yeah, with that mindset, wouldn't that mean you'd insist on having male and female doctors treat patients of their respective genders in a hospital?"
"That's a totally different situation!"
"But to me, it's pretty much the same as what you're worried about."
"..."
With Chisato staring at her, Eriri's confidence waned.
'Even so, even so…'
'Teaching Chisato how to draw doujinshi just feels... wrong.'
"No worries. If you're really uncomfortable, I'll just take more time and figure it out on my own."
Chisato took a step back, returned to his desk, and glanced at his phone.
"It's almost time to make lunch. You can wait here, and I'll have it ready in forty minutes."
"Wait, Chisato."
Just as he was about to leave, Chisato turned around when he heard Eriri call him.
Standing stiffly, Eriri avoided his gaze, one of her blonde twin tails draped over her shoulder.
"...I understand. I'll teach you."
___
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