"It's so lively!"
Downstairs at the hotel, the two were fully prepared; hearing the bustling sounds around them, Kitagawa Marin's face was filled with excitement.
"Indeed, very lively."
Looking around, there were crowds of people, shoulder to shoulder on the street; seeing this, Hoshino Sora also felt a little emotional, the last time he saw such a lively scene was at the Moon Feast Festival.
"So, where do we go first now?"
Looking at Kitagawa's excited face and the unfamiliar surroundings, Hoshino Sora felt a bit lost for a moment, so he sought her advice; although he considered himself an old otaku, he hadn't really participated in many anime convention-related activities.
The only time he participated was during his last date with Kitagawa.
To him, anime conventions were gathering places for normies; true otaku wouldn't like coming here.
However, looking at the lively scene before him, Hoshino Sora realized he had been narrow-minded.
At least in Autumn Leaf Plains, it wasn't like that at all!
Light novels, light novel merchandise, doujinshi, manga merchandise, anime merchandise, and various other two-dimensional related products were all available here; if you could think of it, they had it!
Beautiful and voluptuous cosplaying sisters, dedicated otaku with exquisite costumes and highly accurate character portrayals, and casual visitors—everyone's faces were beaming with smiles, clearly enjoying themselves.
Hoshino Sora had seen this smile before; it was the smile of genuine happiness from customers enjoying his cooking.
"You're right, it's easy to get lost if we don't plan our itinerary well, especially since this place is so big."
Kitagawa Marin nodded in deep agreement; if they wandered aimlessly, it would be impossible to systematically explore the entire convention in a single day.
"Hello, may I take a photo?"
"Sorry, we're not 'open for business' right now; I'm with my boyfriend. We can take photos later in the afternoon, closer to when we leave."
Facing the inquiry, Kitagawa refused without a second thought; she had already had Hoshino Sora accompany her for photos all day yesterday, and today was supposed to be their private time together.
"Alright then, see you this afternoon, miss. Your boyfriend's armor is really cool."
Waving his hand dismissively, the passerby sincerely praised Hoshino Sora, who stood beside Kitagawa with a cool expression.
The person he wanted to take a photo with was actually Hoshino Sora, but seeing his aloof expression, he felt it was difficult to ask, so he turned his request to Kitagawa, only to be rejected as well.
"Hahaha, I think so too! Well, see you around then!"
With a cheerful voice, after waving goodbye to the passerby, Kitagawa linked arms with Hoshino Sora and left; soon, they moved from the outer perimeter of the venue to the inner exhibition hall.
Compared to the outer perimeter, the professionalism inside the convention hall was significantly higher; the cosplayers' makeup was noticeably more refined, and the product quality also showed a significant improvement.
If the products on the outer perimeter were from unknown small IPs, with generally mediocre craftsmanship, then the ones inside were from well-known big IPs and super-big IP works, with guaranteed product quality.
"Huh…"
Strolling through the inner hall, Hoshino Sora's gaze swept around, and he suddenly noticed a petite girl in the distance wearing a baseball cap and a white mask.
This girl had golden hair like a work of art, clear blue eyes, and skin like white porcelain; although she was wearing a mask and black-rimmed glasses, Hoshino Sora immediately recognized her identity.
Sawamura Eriri Spencer.
The proverbial 'blonde loser dog,' a classic tsundere, and also an exceptionally talented doujinshi artist; however, for some reason, she seemed unpopular at the moment, and the doujinshi displayed on the table in front of her were completely ignored.
"May I see your work?"
He spoke softly as he bent down in front of Eriri, his hand already reaching for the manga on the table in front of her; looking up slightly, he met the girl's expectant gaze.
"Sure, if you could give some feedback, please."
Her voice carried a hint of hesitation, then as if making up her mind, Eriri spoke earnestly to Hoshino Sora; she wanted to know why the doujinshi she had worked so hard to draw wasn't popular.
"Let me take a look first, Little Hayama, you can take a look too."
As he spoke, Hoshino Sora handed the doujinshi in his hand to Kitagawa Marin, who was curious why Hoshino Sora had suddenly stopped, so she took the doujinshi and began to flip through it.
It was probably only in a setting like an anime convention that they could openly read doujinshi in public like this without restraint.
"How do you feel? I'm very confident in the romantic descriptions inside!"
Unbeknownst to them, Hoshino Sora and Kitagawa had been engrossed in reading for ten minutes; from their slightly furrowed brows, it was clear that they were not entirely satisfied with the doujinshi.
"How should I put it, the build-up in the beginning is too long, and too much space is dedicated to their emotional drama, while the main event is only a small section, taking up just one-tenth of the entire doujinshi. This is undoubtedly inappropriate.
Readers definitely aren't buying your work for that content. Furthermore, your main event is too bland, isn't it? Is it just normal positions? Don't underestimate eroge manga creators, hey!"
Pointing to the pure love scenes in the manga that Eriri considered excellent, these could serve as background, but focusing on them in an eroge manga was undoubtedly putting the cart before the horse! It was absolutely wrong!
"But don't you think these plotlines are great…?"
Eriri argued, having finally found a reader, she had expected praise, but instead...
"Please clarify your positioning. If you are an eroge manga artist, create works that meet market demand. If not, the last part of the content can be completely deleted."
Although they were strangers passing by, since they were at an anime convention and the other party had a corresponding need, Hoshino Sora naturally didn't hold back and started relentlessly giving feedback.
"However, there are also commendable aspects, such as the exceptionally beautiful art style. This level is definitely comparable to those established industry veterans!"
Kitagawa added from the side; compared to the dry and boring plot, Eriri's art style was truly excellent, with vibrant colors and well-proportioned anatomy, already possessing the demeanor of an industry veteran.
As a dual enthusiast of games and manga, Kitagawa's aesthetic standards for original art were very high; to receive such praise from her, it showed the strength of Sawamura Eriri.
"Thank you. So, should I now delete this part of the story and emphasize the latter part of the content? It feels so unsatisfying, even though the beginning was the main focus…"
Her face slightly flushed as she looked at the latter content of her manga; although she drew all of it, it didn't mean she wouldn't feel shy seeing it, especially in front of a boy.
"There's nothing to be unsatisfied about. If you want to become a professional doujinshi artist. Of course, you could also develop in the direction of school manga, but looking at you, you probably don't have much dating experience, so it's unlikely you'd produce good work that way either."
With a chuckle of mockery, Hoshino Sora placed the doujinshi back on the table, then flipped to the page where the main event began.
"This part is too boring. Here, if you could add the male protagonist licking the female protagonist's feet, with a perverted expression, wouldn't the character image be established? And the lewdness level would be very high."
Hoshino Sora offered his 'sincere' advice, completely oblivious to Kitagawa's slightly disgusted look beside him.
"It feels a bit perverted…" Hearing Hoshino Sora's words, Sawamura Eriri couldn't help but retort.
"Readers just love this kind of perverted stuff. If you're not perverted, they won't like it. Look at the popular works on the market now, which one isn't a little perverted?"
Hoshino Sora argued, for this extremely bland doujinshi, besides its surprisingly good art style, it simply had no other merits.
"…"
Looking at the somewhat agitated Hoshino Sora, Sawamura Eriri blinked, clearly a little unconvinced; after all, he was just an ordinary reader, and one person's opinion couldn't represent everyone.
"Tsk, you don't believe it. If you don't believe it, you can stand here all day and see how many people like this kind of work. There might be a market, but the market is definitely not here."
Seeing Sawamura Eriri's disbelief, Hoshino Sora shrugged helplessly; the reason he came over was because she was a character he was familiar with, and he wanted to get closer to her.
Who knew this girl wouldn't appreciate it, ignoring his years of experience as a seasoned doujinshi reader. If that was the case, then let the market educate her.
At this moment, Hoshino Sora had also realized that Eriri's current age was at most junior high second year, a complete loli, with a scrawny, undeveloped figure—though she never fully developed in the end.
"Are we just leaving like this?"
Looking at Sawamura Eriri, who was standing alone selling doujinshi at the venue, Kitagawa's expression was a bit hesitant.
"What, do you want to go stand there with her? Her current problem is that she's unclear about her own positioning. It'll be fine when we come back in the evening."
Although he left, Hoshino Sora was still somewhat concerned, but now was not the best time to deal with this matter, so he decided to go back again after their date ended and they returned home.
There was no particular reason, just a simple desire to help a cute and pretty girl; of course, if the other party was too rude, he would definitely turn around and leave.
"It sounds like they're playing 'Guess the Song' over there, let's go play for a bit."
Suddenly, the rhythm of music filled the air, making Kitagawa's body react with a lively beat; she couldn't help but hum along to the rhythm of the song, and as she spoke, she reached out and pulled Hoshino Sora forward, quickly arriving at the stage for 'Guess the Song'.
Looking at Kitagawa, who was gradually getting excited, Hoshino Sora smiled without speaking, just quietly stayed by her side, protecting her in his own way.
At this moment, the girl's smile was radiant, sparkling under the neon lights of the stage.
Time passed bit by bit, and soon it was evening; during this time, many people came to ask for photos with them, but Kitagawa refused all of them, for the same reason as at the very beginning.
This detail also warmed Hoshino Sora's heart, because she prioritized his feelings over cosplay.
"So satisfying! So satisfying!"
After various activities such as shopping, convention games, and watching otaku dances, Kitagawa Marin wore an expression of complete fulfillment, her voice filled with immense satisfaction.
"Tsk, little girl, you haven't sold a single copy, have you?"
Looking at Sawamura Eriri, who had the same number of copies left in the afternoon as she did in the morning, Hoshino Sora couldn't help but go forward and mock her.
"N-None of your business! I've already sold out one batch, this is the second batch, sales are great!"
Hearing Hoshino Sora's taunt, Sawamura Eriri clenched her fists and spoke defiantly, but her flickering gaze made her seem so unconfident.
"Liar, when I left, I specifically noted the book's number, 35015856. The number is exactly the same as when I left, and the placement is also exactly the same; there's no trace of it having been moved."
"Who would be so bored as to remember a manga number?!"
Upon hearing Hoshino Sora's words, Sawamura Eriri immediately became somewhat flustered, stomping her foot with a flushed face, her voice even becoming a bit sharper; she was like a furious little cat.
"Isn't it to see how many manga you can sell? Who knew you'd be so useless, unable to sell even one book. In that case, I'll take your first blood."
Hoshino Sora said, pulling out a thousand yen from his pocket; this amount of money was more than enough to buy a manga from a third-rate minor artist.
"Are you pitying me? I don't need your pity.
Also, don't use such misleading statements!"
"Not exactly, it's mainly because your art style is pretty good, so I wanted to take it back for my collection. Oh, it's getting late now, you should go home early. It's easy to encounter bad people on the way home if it's too late."
Hoshino Sora kindly reminded her. It was dangerous for a young girl like Sawamura Eriri Spencer to be out alone. However, he had just seen a figure very similar to her in the crowd.
After thinking about it, he guessed her father had followed her, worried. And he was right; if he had a teenage daughter who went to a comic con alone, he would definitely be worried too.
"Let's go."
"Strange person..."
Watching Hoshino Sora's retreating figure, Sawamura Eriri Spencer couldn't help but mumble softly. Then, she picked up the one thousand yen he had left behind. This was the first money she had earned since opening for business, and she had to cherish it!
On the other side, Hoshino Sora and Kitagawa were surrounded by a group of cosplayers in their costumes as they were leaving the comic con. They were photographed until around 8 PM before finally being let go.
----------
"I'm back. How are things?"
At ten o'clock in the evening, Hoshino Sora pushed open the door of Xingye Restaurant and looked at Aka Rika, who had been cleaning the shop all afternoon. Hoshino Sora tilted his head and asked.
"Welcome back. Everything's normal. The kitchen and everything can be used normally. And as you requested, we set up a row of ten pots. How is it? Praise us!"
"We need a reward, you know. The reward needs to be paid by Sora~"
As she spoke, Aka Rika had already pounced, embracing both sides of Hoshino Sora, her eyes filled with allure. They hadn't seen him for a long time.
"In here?" Hoshino Sora asked, puzzled.
"Employee lounge~"
Aka Rika said, pushing Hoshino Sora into the employee lounge from both sides. Before going in, she thoughtfully turned off the lights outside to prevent passersby from disturbing their good time.
Then, Hoshino Sora completed all of Aka Rika's rewards in the employee lounge, only the time span was a bit long, lasting from evening until dawn.
During this time, passersby could still hear faint sounds coming from inside. It was fortunate that the employee lounge had good soundproofing.
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