Chapter 1: A Small Accident at the Doujinshi Convention
The Winter Doujinshi Convention, the biggest annual event in Tokyo's ACG circle at the end of each year. Countless people come here at this time to participate, buy doujinshi, buy merchandise, see cosplayers, and experience the last carnival of the year.
Inside the venue, a young man, carrying a special shopping bag in one hand and his removed jacket in the other, walked through the crowd.
Although he was only 16 years old, he had already grown to 1.74 meters, so he didn't appear too young in the crowd. His deliberately chosen mature attire also allowed him to navigate various 18+ booths more calmly.
"Hmm, the quality of this doujinshi convention is really high. There are even doujinshi that aren't for new anime."
Looking down at the shopping bag in his hand, Kaede's eyes showed a satisfied expression.
Asakura Kaede, a reborn transmigrator, had just celebrated his 16th birthday a month ago and was about to enter high school next April.
And today was a rare holiday. After applying to his family, he finally got the chance to come to the doujinshi convention alone.
"Luckily, my dad and mom are open-minded, otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to come."
After a sigh, he arrived at a booth. After watching for a while, he bought a Sword Art Online doujinshi.
Yes, it was a pure love one, featuring the male and female protagonists Kirito and Asuna. Although he also wanted to find some about Suguha, he rarely saw pure love ones, so he could only reluctantly give up.
No choice, he wasn't an old brother from the manga forum, nor did he just want to "social security" (a slang term for explicit content). He'd rather skip those styles of works.
Moreover, not only him, but even his father was a pure love warrior. As one of the conditions for coming here, Kaede understood this very well.
After paying and putting his doujinshi into the shopping bag, he continued to walk forward. The booths he had planned to visit beforehand had all been covered, so for the remaining few hours, he would just see what he could find.
As he wandered, watching the young cosplayers occasionally passing by, Kaede didn't pull out his saved-up DSLR to snap photos.
Because, earlier outside the venue, he had already photographed many famous cosplayer young ladies. And both the quality of the cosplayers and the quality of the costumes were much better than those of the amateur cosplayers wandering inside.
Walking along, he passed a rather large doujinshi circle.
"Egoistic-lily... Is that Kashiwagi Eri-sensei's circle? Let's go see the doujin games."
Arriving at the booth, Kaede first looked around at the busy staff behind the display area. Not seeing the person he expected, he picked up a very popular doujin game and paid for it cheerfully.
"Thank you for your patronage!"
After giving change, the cashier young lady, seeing that Kaede was a very handsome and refined young man, smiled and greeted him: "Customer, would you like to take a look at our Kashiwagi Eri-sensei's newly released doujinshi? There aren't many left!"
Hearing her words, Kaede looked at the stack of doujinshi piled up on the side.
However, upon seeing the cover featuring a girl bound in a peculiar way with ropes, displaying a humiliated expression, Kaede politely smiled and shook his head: "Thank you for the recommendation, but due to different personal preferences, I won't be able to support Kashiwagi Eri-sensei this time."
"Is that so? That's truly a shame."
She wasn't surprised by Kaede's refusal. After all, Kashiwagi Eri's doujinshi style was well-known. Although the art style was excellent and very practical, not everyone liked this kind of style.
This young man in front of her seemed to be a pure love warrior as well. Umu
After thanking the young lady who recommended the doujinshi to him again, Kaede left the egoistic-lily booth and walked towards his next destination.
An hour and a half later, Kaede, having finished browsing, prepared to leave.
Looking at the shopping bag filled with doujinshi and doujin games, he said with satisfaction: "Hmm... I got a lot this time, and spent quite a bit of money. Thankfully, I saved up a lot of manuscript fees. On the way back, I'll see if there are any new console games I can buy."
And just as he was walking out, a figure quickly approached him, and due to the slightly crowded area, he bumped into Kaede's shoulder.
"Bang!"
The shopping bag in his hand fell directly to the ground.
At the same time, the person he bumped into was a girl, and her shopping bag also fell at the same moment.
Before he could speak, the girl wearing sunglasses immediately said: "Sorry, I'm in a hurry!"
After speaking, she looked down at the two identical special shopping bags, and seeing one of her purchased doujinshi fall out, she immediately picked it up, apologized again, and then jogged away directly.
"Uh... Is she really in such a hurry?"
However, since the other party apologized first, Kaede didn't take it to heart. Moreover, there were many people around, so he quickly picked up his shopping bag and continued walking out of the venue.
Leaving the venue, he went to a nearby game store, and finding no games he wanted to buy, he then took the train and returned home.
"I'm home!"
While changing into his slippers, Kaede also called out to his family.
"Kaede's back? Did you have fun today?"
A gentle female voice came, and then Kaede saw his mother, wearing an apron and holding a spatula, walk out of the kitchen.
"Yeah, it was pretty good, very lively."
He looked at the living room and asked: "Where's Dad?"
"Your dad's in the study upstairs. Go change and rest for a bit in your room, dinner will be ready soon!"
"Okay."
Walking up to the second floor in his slippers, after throwing his jacket into his room, Kaede went to the study, knocked on the door, and entered.
In the study, a man wearing glasses was sitting upright in front of the computer, but he wasn't working; he was playing Starcraft.
Compared to Starcraft, Kaede still preferred playing LOL. After entering, he immediately said: "Dad, I'm back. Here are the doujinshi you wanted."
"Shh!!!"
The man immediately paused the game, put a finger to his lips at Kaede, and whispered: "Don't let your mom know!"
"..."
Do you think she really doesn't know?
Having no intention of explaining to his father, Kaede walked over, placed the shopping bag on the table, and said: "Come on, time to divide the spoils... Hmm?"
Opening the shopping bag, he suddenly realized that something was wrong.
"What's wrong?"
Asakura Kiichi leaned over and also noticed that the doujinshi he pulled out had a somewhat off art style.
"Shiki Takumi? Son, when did you change your taste?"
"These aren't what I bought!"
Instantly stuffing the doujinshi back, Kaede's mind replayed the scene of bumping into someone inside the venue earlier.
Oh no, what should I do?