Anime Crossover: The Losing Heroines Have Become Witches

Chapter 568 563: Sprouting

'Kashiwagi Eri's' booth had been assigned by the organizers to a spot along the wall on the southern side of the venue.

As a renowned heavyweight artist within the underground scene, her booth naturally drew a massive crowd, with lines stretching far back.

At this moment, a young girl with long, straight black hair—clad in a "Fallen Angel" maid outfit—stood holding a sign that read "End of the Line," her face wearing an expression that looked as if she were on the verge of tears.

However, while the otaku crowd was accustomed to seeing plenty of poised and professional veteran cosplayers, an amateur cosplayer like this—with a tearful expression that simultaneously stoked both their sadistic urges and their protective instincts—held a unique and distinct appeal in their eyes.

Consequently, even more otaku stepped forward to ask the girl for photos.

When Eriri arrived at the scene with Asakura and Ruri, what greeted them was the sight of the girl looking utterly flustered and at a loss for what to do, having been mobbed by a horde of otaku wielding cameras with massive telephoto lenses, all clamoring for pictures.

Although her attire was certainly a cut above those cosplayers who simply showed up in lingerie, the maid outfit she was wearing was clearly not exactly "wholesome" either.

At first, Asakura assumed it was merely a heavily modified version of a standard maid outfit; however, a closer look revealed that this was not the case.

"…It turns out it's actually built upon a sukumizu (school swimsuit) base, with a short skirt, frills, and bows added on top to give it the appearance of a maid outfit," Asakura marveled, clicking his tongue in appreciation.

"The sheer black stockings—which have just the slightest hint of that 'tight-fitting' look—combined with the sukumizu to create a novel take on the 'Absolute Forbidden Territory' aesthetic; that really is the finishing touch. I suppose one really has to hand it to 'Kashiwagi Eri-sensei,' don't they? At the very least, when it comes to aesthetics, I am thoroughly impressed."

"Strictly speaking, if you wanted me—ahem—if you wanted 'Kashiwagi Eri' to design a character concept and costume like this, it would normally cost you a rather substantial sum of money!"

"Just thinking about how we managed to get the uniforms for our 'Ministry of Magic' designed by Kashiwagi Eri-sensei completely for free… I can't help but want to hum a little tune of triumph," Asakura said with a beaming smile. He then turned his gaze toward Kasumigaoka Utaha: "I can't believe she actually agreed to wear an outfit like that…"

Based on their previous interactions, while she did indeed possess a somewhat timid and meek personality, she could actually be quite stubborn in certain respects—otherwise, Asakura wouldn't have found himself unable to successfully "kidnap" her for a trip back in the day.

"All I had to do was first pull out some lingerie that consisted of nothing but a few strings and tell her to put it on. After she frantically refused, I pretended to compromise and swapped it out for the outfit she's wearing now. Although Kasumigaoka was still a bit resistant, she obediently changed into it anyway," Eriri said. "She actually owes me a thank-you."

"While that is indeed a simple and effective trick, aren't you worried about what she might do once she comes to her senses and realizes what you pulled?" Asakura asked.

"Hmm... to be honest, I'm already a little worried that once she reverts to her original personality, she might try to take me down with her," Eriri muttered, sounding a tad apprehensive herself.

Then maybe you shouldn't have taken advantage of her drastic personality shift to take advantage of her in the first place, Asakura snarked inwardly.

Just then, Utaha—who was still at the back of the line fending off the otaku crowd—finally spotted Eriri and immediately shot her a pleading look for help.

"Ugh... if I don't step in right now, I feel like my conscience is going to give me hell," Eriri muttered softly, placing a hand over her chest.

But she felt nothing there.

Neither a conscience nor a chest.

So, she turned her gaze toward Asakura.

Asakura sighed.

Although it felt like it would be quite fun to forcibly push Eriri out here, her parents were right there at the booth; it felt a bit inappropriate to do that right under their noses.

"Haven't you all noticed that this young lady is troubled!" Asakura strode forward and said to those otakus: "If you want to take photos, go to the cosplay area. Don't cause trouble for people here."

The otakus subconsciously looked toward Asakura, and then they saw Eriri and Ruri standing behind him.

Although Eriri was wearing a mask and a baseball cap, making it impossible to see her appearance, Ruri was a genuinely and incredibly cute girl. Immediately, those otakus showed expressions of 'Gwa! It's a normie! Retreat quickly!'

Then they dispersed in a hubbub under Asakura's logical argument—after all, most otakus are not good at communicating with others. Many times when they encounter trouble, they won't persist to the end but will choose to back down. It's just like how, if they buy something unsatisfying online, they won't choose to return it, but will keep it in mind and never shop at that online store again—it's not cowardice, they simply feel that the negotiation power required to get entangled with others is just too troublesome.

"It's... it's you..." Utaha only noticed Asakura now, and she said stutteringly: "Th-that, thank you!"

If it weren't for the girl's glossy black hair being so eye-catching, Asakura even felt that he was almost hallucinating her as Hitori.

He glanced at the other's chest and then quickly shifted his gaze away.

Yep, even the headlights were on the same level.

One must know that among the girls Asakura knew, Hitori was definitely not the most beautiful. Perhaps because this world was originally a 2D world, there were quite a lot of beautiful girls on her level.

However, the values for looks and breasts are not necessarily proportional. For example, Yukino's looks belong to the T0 tier, but that disappointing flat chest truly makes one lose interest...

In comparison, the fleshy Hitori is much more comfortable to hold.

"Oh ho, a hero saving a beauty; I have inspiration for my next new publication!" Seeing that those otakus had scattered, Eriri also huddled over along with Ruri.

"You won't draw me as the male lead, will you?" Asakura was wary: after all, most of this person's dōjinshi were of the "Ryona" genre.

Utaha looked toward Eriri with a solemn expression, probably wanting to confirm whether or not she was the female lead.

"No, no." Eriri waved her hand. "You're so handsome, so you must be the 'aggrieved party' (NTR victim)."

Asakura & Utaha: "?"

"Just kidding. I plan to stop updating new dōjinshi for a while," Eriri appreciated Asakura's somewhat distorted expression for a moment—as if he were contemplating whether to blow up all the dark-skinned, blonde, chubby little boys around him—before sticking out her tongue and saying: "Didn't I mention before? I plan to 'go ashore' and draw normal-oriented manga."

If she said those words in her capacity as Kashiwagi Eri and was overheard by the otakus lining up to buy new publications, it would surely cause a massive disturbance.

After all, for most otakus, a favorite adult-circle artist suddenly "going ashore" is an absolutely unacceptable loss.

However, Asakura didn't really care. Although Eriri's books were indeed very "useful," as things stood now, he no longer needed that kind of thing.

"If it's Kashiwagi Eri-sensei, it should be a breeze to 'go ashore,' right?" Ruri said suddenly.

Only then did Eriri realize she had been too smug just now and seemed to have accidentally leaked her identity.

Faced with Ruri's question, Eriri still shook her head.

"It's not that simple... the first draft I submitted has already been rejected."

"How can that be... even though you are a quite famous artist in the 'inner world'?"

Ruri hadn't expected the other person would also have a time when they met with such a crushing defeat: "I heard Kashiwagi Eri-sensei's commission fees for light novel illustrations are also very high. Doesn't that mean you... her strength is very great?"

"Having good drawing skills and drawing manga well are two different things."

Eriri sighed. Originally, she also thought it would be a piece of cake as long as she took action, but she didn't expect to lose so miserably.

However, during the "reflection meeting" she held with her mother, she more or less realized some of her own problems.

After all, when drawing "adult books," as long as the fleshy feeling is sufficient and things are "juicy"—simply put, as long as it's "useful"—the plot is mostly irrelevant. If the page count is tight, there's no problem with just getting right into the action.

But normal manga has very high requirements for plot, pacing, and even paneling.

She knew what kind of compositions were the "lewdest" in adult books and could best manifest the beauty of the human body to stimulate the most primal human desires and make people's blood boil (in the sense of the corpus cavernosum), but she didn't know what kind of actions and compositions could make the frames of a "royal road" plot have more tension and impact to make people's blood boil (in the sense of the heart).

"Do you need my help?" Asakura asked.

"What kind of help could you provide?" Eriri asked curiously.

"Standing by your side with a whip and constantly lashing... urging you until the manga is finished."

"Urging in the literal sense?! That's way too 'Gueichu' (kinky/cruel)!" Eriri was pale with fright.

She always felt that a guy like Asakura might actually be able to do such a thing.

"I think that whether it's drawing or writing novels, the driving force behind it is incredibly important."

Asakura stated with a completely straight face.

"I don't want that kind of motivation—the kind where I'm being forced by someone else!" the young girl protested loudly.

"Heh-heh-heh... 'On the first day, she resists; on the second, she screams and cries; but by the third day, she can no longer utter a single word'—it feels something like that."

"Stop reading lines straight out of my doujinshi! Wait—that's not right! At least the heroines in my doujinshi seem to enjoy it a little bit, whereas I just feel like I'm being forced to work against my will! In a sense, doesn't that make me even more miserable than a heroine in a doujinshi?!"

After watching Asakura and Eriri bicker back and forth for a while, Utaha finally turned to Eriri and asked:

"What about me?"

"Nani?! Kasumigaoka, do you want to get 'violated' too?!"

Eriri looked even more aghast than before.

"N-no, no, no..." Kasumigaoka's face flushed bright red. "What I meant was: do you need my help with your manga?"

"Help with what? Inking? Applying screentones?" Eriri asked, looking her up and down.

"Well, aren't there some manga series that are created through a collaboration between a writer and an artist?" Utaha pointed out.

"But Kasumigaoka, aren't the plots you come up with pretty generic?" Eriri retorted.

Hearing Eriri say that, Asakura suddenly recalled his own past reviews of Koisuru Metronome. Even among the positive reviews, hardly any of them actually praised the plot itself; most of the storylines were just formulaic romance novel clichés. Instead, the praise was almost entirely directed at Utaha's nuanced psychological portrayals of her characters and the bittersweet, subtle interactions between them.

"W-well... I am a light novel author with officially published works, you know..."

Utaha offered a weak, meek defense.

Ruri's eyes lit up.

"You're a light novel author?" she asked, leaning in toward Utaha with an intense aura.

"Eh?" Utaha was startled by her.

Unlike Asakura and Eriri, Ruri was a complete stranger to her, causing her to reflexively show a timid and cowering expression again.

"Ruri?" Asakura looked at Ruri in confusion, feeling that her reaction was a bit too much.

"Sorry, I've just been a bit curious about the publishing industry lately."

Ruri finally snapped out of it and returned to her usual icy demeanor, speaking softly.

Asakura stroked his chin and asked, "Is it because Kiririn's mobile phone novel is so popular that it's putting a lot of pressure on you?"

"...That's not the case," the girl said stiffly.

It seemed he had guessed correctly.

"If you don't mind, could Kasumigaoka-san share some submission tips with Ruri? For example, which Newcomer Awards are easier to debut through?" Asakura asked Utaha on Ruri's behalf.

"As for me, I didn't really pay much attention to Newcomer Awards. I just wrote a novel, submitted it to Fujimi Shobo, and then it passed, and I debuted," Utaha said weakly, as if her experience was nothing special.

But to Ruri, this was pure boasting, because she had previously submitted to publishers only to be rejected every single time.

Consequently, the girl's expression shifted into something resembling "dead fish eyes," staring at Utaha with deep resentment, making the latter feel restless.

"By the way, is it okay to keep chatting here?" Asakura asked.

"What?" Eriri was taken aback.

Asakura pointed at the sign in Utaha's hand, then pointed at the end of the line which was starting to become a bit chaotic.

"Ah!"

Only then did Utaha snap back to reality. With a cry of surprise, she immediately ran to the back of the queue holding the 'End of Line is Here' sign.

Watching her retreating figure, Asakura said to Eriri, "It seems your shock therapy isn't working very well."

"...As I thought, does it really require a string-style bikini to serve as effective shock therapy?"

Eriri reflected painfully on her mistakes.

"I suggest you stop doing that kind of thing," Asakura shook his head. "Though I don't know the normal Kasumigaoka, based on what you've told me, she seems like a very strong-willed and assertive girl. If you make her wear a string bikini now, when she recovers, the next person forced to wear strings might be you."

Upon hearing this, Eriri likely imagined the scene, as her whole body couldn't stop shivering.

"I guess I'll forget it then."

"It seems you still have a sense of shame..."

"Setting the string bikini aside, the most shameful part is being compared to someone else wearing the same swimsuit! Damn it, those are definitely already cantaloupes..."

"..."

For a moment, Asakura completely failed to understand the part Eriri was angry about.

So, he decided to change the subject.

"Speaking of which, although this Fallen Angel Maid outfit you put her in is quite excellent, there are still some parts that aren't quite right."

"What's not right? Besides the sexiness, I put my own design work into this!" Eriri took the bait immediately, tossing the mental image of her and Kasumigaoka in string bikinis to the back of her mind.

"First off, there are just too many complicated decorations on that outfit! If you changed the color scheme to green, she'd almost look like a Christmas tree."

"The 'Fallen Angel' elements are hard to design, so things like wings can only be added as accessories," Eriri protested. "I designed every ornament with a corresponding meaning and a certain aesthetic value; they are absolutely not something I just threw together!"

"Fine, even if those accessories can't be removed, there's no excuse for the thing on her head, right? She already has a maid headband, so why wear a little grass sprout hair accessory? That's completely unnecessary and just makes the head decorations look cluttered."

Asakura said, settling for the next best argument.

However, Eriri looked at him suspiciously and asked, "What little grass sprout? Aside from the headband and the feather-shaped hair clip, there's nothing else on her head, is there?"

Asakura froze, then as if realizing something, he looked at Ruri beside him.

Ruri immediately understood his meaning and nodded toward Asakura.

Indeed, she could also see that little grass sprout on top of Utaha's head—it only had two small leaves and looked like a tiny seedling that had just germinated from a seed.

"This is truly..." Asakura couldn't help but sigh.

Originally, with his True Sight not yet recovered, he couldn't see any problems with her at all, which is why he planned to delay for a while until his eyes were better.

Unexpectedly, the problem had now cropped up on its own.