Chapter 14: The Home Intruder, Eriri

Don’t ask how Himekoji Akito got home. That’s a secret.

The house was empty. After changing into comfortable, clean clothes, Akito quickly made himself a cup of instant noodles, settling his dinner hastily.

However, just as he opened the fridge to grab some water, an extremely familiar, crisp female voice suddenly came from the hallway —

“I’ll have Cola. Add ice, please.”

Huh? Wasn’t it supposed to be empty? And what’s with this tone, acting like she owned the place, giving orders right away? Come to think of it, whose house was this?

Akito turned his head and saw exactly what he expected: a pair of sharp golden twin tails, her signature look, almost like a work of art.

Besides that, she had a petite figure, bright, clear blue eyes, skin as smooth and delicate as porcelain, and a delicate face — by any measure, she was a truly deserving mixed-race beauty. Pity about the flat chest, though.

The person who had suddenly appeared was Himekoji Akito’s friend and illustration partner — Sawamura Spencer Eriri.

Well, an asterisk should be added to “friend” — it really meant “former friend.”

Because ever since Himekoji Akito became infamous as a pervert, Eriri had clearly drawn a line between them. At least at school, she acted like that: she never looked his way, never spoke a word to him.

Taking the Cola, the girl said nothing and turned around, tapping lightly with small steps as she hurried back upstairs. Even though she was a guest in someone else’s house, she skipped the greetings with the homeowner. That wasn’t right, no matter how you looked at it!

“Hey, why are you here?”

Akito chased after her into his room and asked.

Come to think of it, how come she’d entered his room again without bothering to ask?

“Meeting a deadline.”

Wearing a tracksuit, the golden twin-tailed girl bent over Akito’s desk, intensely focused on drawing an illustration. She answered without looking up.

“Oh, take my drink aside for now. If the manuscript gets wet, it’ll be trouble.”

As she spoke, she naturally ordered Akito around again. She’d already drunk nearly half the Cola; probably no longer urgently needing hydration, so she dumped it aside now.

This, just like her attitude towards Himekoji Akito.

Because she didn’t need a pervert for a friend, she drew the line decisively and coldly.

Wait… What on earth was I complaining about just now? Akito shook his head, trying to cast aside these unnecessary thoughts and unwarranted feelings.

Maybe he was tired of playing the “familiar stranger” role at school too. Though it had been a long time since Eriri last visited his home, Akito couldn’t act naturally around her like he used to.

“So then, if you came here to work on the manuscript, why my house?”

Akito moved the Cola aside and asked irritably, a bit stiffly.

“You’re annoying!”

Weirdly, the girl got upset first. Logically, wasn’t he the one who should be angry? His room was broken into; his desk commandeered for no reason.

“Do you have any idea how long it’s been since you contacted me?”

Swish swish swish— Eriri’s flying brush suddenly paused. The sound of the tip scratching the paper abruptly stopped.

“Huh?” Akito blinked, caught off guard. “Didn’t you tell me not to talk to you anymore?”

“That was at school!”

The girl turned around, glaring at him, seeming displeased.

Akito froze for a moment first, then seemed to suddenly realize something. “Could it be that you came today just because…”

“Don’t be so arrogant!” Even though Akito hadn’t even finished, Eriri already flusteredly cut him off, sounding guilty. “I meant contact about work! Yes, work!”

She emphasized it for some unknown reason.

“You, the author, told me nothing! So what exactly am I supposed to base the illustrations on?”

“Based on the novel itself…”

Akito thought what Eriri just said was ridiculously stupid, utterly unlike what a talented illustrator would utter.

Moreover, the illustrations for the first seven volumes were all drawn from her own creative freedom like this. Akito never bossed her around in this area where he wasn’t skilled.

“Pervert! Who’d want to read your perverted novel written by a pervert!”

Three “perverts” in one sentence…

“Calling me a pervert is fine, but the novel is innocent,” Akito corrected earnestly.

His novel was exchanged from the System — meaning it wasn’t his original work, but came from another author in another worldline. Since he’d already shamelessly stolen someone else’s intellectual property, the least he could do was faithfully maintain the work’s reputation.

Rather than being a hypocrite, Himekoji Akito preferred being an unashamed petty person.

The novel was plagiarized. All credit was irrelevant to him. He was vulgar; he only did it for money because he desperately needed it. But before that, he respected the works. He respected the authors.

“It is perverted! Written by a pervert, of course it’s perverted!”

The girl was probably best at saying the opposite of what she meant. Her eyes darted away even as she spoke with perfect tsundere arrogance.

“I already said, the novel is innocent.”

“But you changed completely after you started writing novels!”

Eriri suddenly lashed out, lips tightly pressed together. At the same time, Rip! — came the sound of the pen nib scratching straight through the manuscript paper.

For a moment, the air seemed to turn heavy.

Himekoji Akito abruptly fell silent. He really had nothing to say.

He naturally knew what Eriri was referring to. But the cause and effect were reversed. Actually, he didn’t change after writing the novel; instead, he changed first, then started writing the novel.

All of it was solely because Himekoji Akito had awakened some incredibly perverse System inside his brain.

So, he couldn’t offer any explanation.