A Saiyan's Journey

Shin took Eriri's doujinshi drafts and glanced through them. The improvement in quality was remarkably significant.

The expressions of the female characters in the sketches had become much more vivid, clearly influenced by Eriri's observation of Shin and Irisviel's "mana replenishment" session the previous night.

However, the character designs in the sketches remained unchanged. Despite learning from the scene, Eriri was evidently not foolish enough to directly incorporate the two of them into her doujinshi.

"How… how is it?"

Eriri looked nervously at Shin, awaiting his evaluation.

She had worked through the night to complete this draft, leaving her so exhausted that she spent most of the morning catching up on sleep. If not for a classmate covering for her, the teacher would've definitely noticed.

Moreover, Shin was the first person to see these drafts—even her mother hadn't laid eyes on them yet.

"Your progress is impressive. The quality has improved significantly compared to before."

Shin didn't hold back on his praise. Although he had become somewhat of a social butterfly in the eyes of others since his transmigration, his love for otaku culture remained undiminished.

Given the substantial improvement in the details of Eriri's doujinshi, Shin couldn't in good conscience criticize it just for the sake of it.

"Really? That's great!"

Hearing Shin's affirmation, Eriri's heart leapt with joy, and a smile broke across her face.

But she quickly realized something was amiss—why was she feeling genuinely happy just because of his praise?

After all, she and Shin had only met yesterday. Their connection was based on him catching her in an awkward situation, forcing her to share her drafts.

How could spending a single evening at Shin's house to observe a "real-life scenario" suddenly make her so eager for his approval?

"I don't know much about an artist's workflow, so my feedback is limited to a reader's perspective," Shin said, flipping through the drafts casually and quickly coming up with some suggestions.

Eriri, shaking off her peculiar thoughts, refocused and listened intently to his advice.

After a few minutes, Eriri contentedly packed up her drafts.

While it was a bit embarrassing to share her doujinshi sketches with a boy she'd only met two days ago, she had to admit Shin's advice was genuinely helpful.

"You're such a well-known doujinshi artist. Haven't you ever considered reader feedback before?" Shin asked curiously, noticing her satisfied expression.

After all, Eriri's pen name, "Kashiwagi Eri," was quite famous in the doujinshi community. She was practically a star. It stood to reason that she'd already received plenty of feedback from readers, including "professional" doujinshi critics online.

"Most of their suggestions are nitpicky nonsense."

Eriri frowned at the mention of online critiques, evidently dissatisfied with the feedback she'd received from those sources.

"In the end, it's all just stuff imagined by people with no real-world experience… not very useful."

While there's an old saying that "virgins write the best fantasies," Eriri felt, after her "learning session" the previous night, that firsthand experience was equally important.

"You're talking as if you're some kind of expert," Shin remarked with a smirk.

After all, Eriri herself was an inexperienced girl who'd probably never even seen such a scene before last night.

Wasn't she also relying mostly on her imagination to create her doujinshi?

"That's different… an artist's imagination can't just be dismissed like that!"

Eriri's face flushed as she tried to argue, but she quickly gave up.

In front of Shin, she felt she had no ground to stand on when it came to claiming expertise—Shin was the true "experienced" one here.

"Anyway, I think this doujinshi will be well-received."

Shin nodded, stood up from his seat, and prepared to head back to class.

Lunch breaks in Japan weren't very long—just about an hour. After eating and spending over ten minutes giving Eriri advice, he didn't have much time left.

"When this doujinshi goes on sale, let me know. I can go support you at the event."

Shin remembered that Eriri's doujinshi were usually sold with the help of her parents. He also thought it'd be interesting to visit a convention and see Eriri's mother, who looked like she could be her sister.

"Who needs your support?!"

Eriri's face turned bright red. Having a male classmate buy her doujinshi at an event—what kind of embarrassing scenario was that?

Moreover, her mother, Sayuri Sawamura, typically helped with sales. If Shin met her mother and said something he shouldn't, what would she do?

Still, as Shin turned to leave the rooftop, Eriri called out to him.

"Wait… when's the next time?"

"...?"

Shin stopped and looked back at her.

"The next time for what?"

"The next… you know, mana replenishment or whatever you call it."

Seeing Shin's confused expression, Eriri bit her lip, her face red with embarrassment.

"Can you give me a rough idea of when?"

Shin finally understood.

"You want to observe again?"

Truth be told, Shin had only invited Eriri to observe his "mana replenishment" with Irisviel as a playful tease. He never expected her to actually show up.

Now that her doujinshi was finished and her character expressions had improved, Shin assumed she wouldn't be interested in something like that anymore.

But it seemed Eriri had become addicted and wanted to keep watching?

"What's wrong? Is it not okay?"

Despite her flushed face, Eriri insisted on maintaining her composure.

"…Well, if you're that interested, it's not impossible."

Shin stroked his chin, looking thoughtfully at her.

It felt like he'd completely led Eriri astray—turning her into someone who enjoyed watching odd scenarios unfold.

But since she was so interested, Shin didn't see a reason to refuse. Who knew—maybe she'd lose control after watching another session?

In any case, he had nothing to lose.

"When the time's right, I'll let you know. It shouldn't be too long from now."

If Shin wanted, he could "replenish mana" anytime—even daily if he called Ai Hayasaka over.

However, he had plans to go to a live house with others after school today, so it wasn't happening tonight.

To be continued…

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