vncnus Page 103
Page 103
"I knew you'd say that. Are you worried about leaving her alone? Your companion?"
Chapter 125 Enthusiastic Fan TAKI (2/4)
Eriri always remembered the lessons of the past, and this time she didn't want to run away.
"Isn't this what Tomoya taught me? Once you've lost something, you don't want to lose it a second time."
Eriri still considers Kasumigaoka Utaha a companion, even though she doesn't know what the other person is thinking.
"I don't deserve such praise, but Eriri, you have truly impressed me."
"like?"
"As far as normal friends go, I quite enjoy talking to you now."
"Oh, so this means you really disliked the past?"
Eriri looked at Aki Tomoya with some resentment. To put it another way, he saw his past self as troublesome.
This bothered Eriri a little, but it was all in the past. Now that they were in a relationship, there was no need to dwell on the past. She just felt a little regretful when she thought about it occasionally.
"It's not that I hate it, it's just that it used to be really troublesome, right?"
Aki Tomoya smiled helplessly.
"Let's not talk about this!"
"as you wish."
Continuing to discuss this topic would be a departure from the main point.
The conversation was clearly about some recent headaches surrounding the new work. The past issues were no longer a big problem; the important thing was the current issues.
"That Kasumigaoka-senpai doesn't really trust anyone except herself these days, including such a good editor like Machida. Does she trust you?"
"She must have a lot of faith in my abilities."
"Is that so? That makes sense. Your abilities are indeed trustworthy."
Eri Kashiwagi's painting skills are widely recognized in the industry. After graduating from her third year, Eriri Kashiwagi was able to enter the top national art university in Japan. If she wanted to, she would have countless opportunities to study in Europe.
Her abilities certainly inspire trust, but her saying this also means that Eriri's voice still has very little influence.
"Your collaboration is a bit abnormal. You have too little say. You're supposed to be a big name, you should know how much sales you can boost by being in charge of the illustrations."
If Aki Tomoya were to say it, she should have just told Kasumigaoka Utaha that light novels are just a bunch of stuff where you buy illustrations and get toilet paper for free. She should have some idea whether the illustrations and character designs are the soul of a light novel.
Even if Kasumigaoka Utaha's story is indeed wonderful, she shouldn't have all the say in the narrative.
"Up-and-coming light novel author Shizuko Kasumi, and Eri Kashiwagi who has been active in the industry for almost ten years, you are also considered a senior in the industry, even though one is a light novel author and the other is a doujinshi author."
Aki Tomoya's words made Eriri feel extremely ashamed.
Under normal circumstances, she should be very confident in facing Kasumigaoka Utaha.
One is a light novel author who became famous two years ago, and the other is an illustrator who has been famous for a long time.
"If you stand up a little more, you won't be completely powerless, Eriri."
"I don't want to either..."
Eriri hadn't thought about any of that.
But now that things have come to this, talking about having a voice is useless.
The problem that Eriri is currently facing is still with the work itself.
While Eriri isn't in charge of the story itself, as the illustrator of the work and a reader who loves Kasumigaoka Utaha, she hopes that Kasumigaoka Utaha can face the issues squarely.
"Even Ms. Machida can't argue with her, so Tomoya, who do you think Kasumigaoka can listen to?"
Akane Benisaka?
Eriri gets a headache just thinking about that person. Although Machida Sonoko has repeatedly and subtly indicated that Akane Kousaka can help them, putting Kasumigaoka Utaha and Akane Kousaka together now would be a disaster.
In particular, Akane Kousaka was quite ruthless with her words when it came to their works at first.
Aki Tomoya thought for a moment, then sighed inwardly. Did this have anything to do with him?
It seems there really is some truth to that. If we trace it back, we can go back to April of last year, and even further back to the winter of two years ago!
"Weren't we too harsh back then...?"
Aki Tomoya muttered to himself.
In short, if we really trace this matter back to its source, and if it's truly strange, it seems like he's partly to blame, and he might even become the root of all evil.
One Akane Akasaka is enough for this world; there's no need for a second one!
With that thought in mind, Aki Tomoya pulled out a small notebook from his chest pocket, tore off a page, and began to write something on it.
"Here, please let Ms. Machida use this."
"what is this?"
Looking at the note that seemed to contain an account name and password, Eriri looked at Aki Tomoya with a puzzled expression.
"My admin account for the 'Love Metronome' website that I used to create."
"Tsk, TAKI!"
That's great, there's even a website built specifically for fans!
Eriri was a little envious.
"But is this a good idea?"
Eriri looked at Aki Tomoya with some concern.
It seems like she doesn't want to have anything to do with that person anymore, but now she's doing something that could cause a misunderstanding.
Besides, this is a lie.
From Machida Sonoko, Eriri learned even more about the relationship between Kasumi Utako and her fans.
"what do you mean?"
"Of course it's TAKI, didn't you quit being an otaku?"
"Anyway, she can tell. Let Ms. Machida use this account to express her opinions on the new work on the website. Don't pretend it's me. Let's try to get her to take a look or two."
"Wasn't it supposed to be that Ms. Machida pretends to be TAKI and discusses the new work with Shizuko Kasumi?"
Eriri looked at Aki Tomoya with a puzzled expression.
Is it really useful to transfer the administrator account of the fan site to Machida Sonoko?
"Pretending is too easy to expose. It's better to use the TAKI account to express some opinions on the fan site. She might take a look. That's the only way I can think of right now."
Things that are so easily exposed are best left undone.
If they get exposed, it won't be good for them. Let's just use the TAKI account to see if we can attract Kasumigaoka Utaha's attention and get her to glance at it.
"Please don't pretend to be me!"
Seeing Eriri accept the note, Aki Tomoya gave her another serious warning.
Kasumigaoka Utaha could probably tell at a glance whether it was TAKI speaking or not, not to mention that when he was active in the industry as TAKI, his style was unique.
To actually pretend to think like him and use the TAKI account to speak is simply courting death.
"What if it doesn't work?"
"Well, there's nothing I can do about that. I don't know anything about your work."
"Then take a look!"
"dont see!"
"Just a little bit!"
"I just don't want to watch it!"
No matter what kind of nice things Eriri says, even if she's just being cute, Aki Tomoya doesn't want to watch.
"Lunch break is almost over, I'm leaving now. Don't pretend to be me, or I won't take the blame if something goes wrong!"
Chapter 126 He's done all he could (3/4)
Aki Tomoya has no idea what's happening with that fan site now.
The website ownership has been transferred to someone else, and the TAKI account no longer has site administrator privileges, although last year the fan said that he would still retain administrator privileges for him.
However, Aki Tomo is unsure whether this account will still be an administrator account that can access the website's backend or just a regular account when it logs in again.
By giving this account to Eriri, Aki Tomoya only hoped that Eriri and Machida Sonoko wouldn't do anything foolish.
That account posting on the website again might catch Kasumigaoka Utaha's attention; she might take a look at her opinions on the new work.
This is what Aki Tomoya felt could help with.
However, if Machida Sonoko or Eriri were to use that account with the intention of impersonating TAKI, they would probably be exposed immediately.
On the fan site created for her debut work, "Love Metronome," Kasumi Shiko became very familiar with TAKI.