"Pun... punishment!? Pervert! Lewd! H! Doujinshi protagonist!"
Sagiri instinctively covered her body like a startled kitten, putting on an extremely fierce expression, clearly thinking of something strange. Looking at Ito's smiling face, Sagiri cautiously spoke.
"Wh... what punishment?"
Although they had agreed to go to the Comiket together to sell doujinshi, Sagiri was still a bit apprehensive about the world outside her room. Just as Ito thought, Sagiri considered that if the doujinshi wasn't finished, she could stall for a bit.
If the punishment was less severe, a slight delay in the manuscript should be fine, right?
"Punishment? For example... hmm, I'll cut off your internet until you finish drawing, then I'll reconnect it."
Cutting off the internet was fine. Ito had heard from Fairy that light novel authors were even locked in a dark room by their editors and couldn't leave until they finished writing.
"Cut off the internet? Are you a devil!?" Hearing the words "cut off the internet," Sagiri reacted strongly.
"Hmm?" Ito looked at Sagiri with a half-smile, "If you don't procrastinate, then any punishment is as good as none, isn't it? Or if you want, we can switch to taking off your underwear and spanking you."
"Guh... Pervert!"
Sagiri quietly called him a pervert, then sat down in front of her computer.
"Don't worry about punishments or anything, just draw quickly!" Ito patted Sagiri's head, "If there's anything you don't know, just ask me."
To avoid being cut off from the internet or having her underwear removed and being spanked, Sagiri forced herself to calm down and start drawing... These past few days, Sagiri had also read many doujinshi.
What if, while spanking her, he accidentally slipped and put his finger into her butt, giving her an eye-opening experience?
Sagiri didn't want to experience either being cut off from the internet or having an eye-opening experience, so she could only honestly begin drawing storyboards. While Sagiri drew, Ito wasn't idle either; he took out his laptop and drawing tablet and started drawing.
Hinata and Saya also gave Ito a lot of inspiration, but Ito only drew simple character designs and wrote rough plot outlines and storyboard drafts for now, without any immediate plans to actually draw them out.
After drawing for a while, Ito's phone buzzed.
It was Orie, an editor from Crab Editorial Department.
Ito answered the phone after leaving Sagiri's room, and the moment the door closed, Sagiri rushed to the door and pressed her ear against it.
"Miss Orie? What's up? Is it about publishing?"
"No, no, it's a personal matter."
"Eh... talking about personal matters at work, aren't you afraid of Misa catching you?"
"Eeek!"
True to her reputation as the devil editor Misa, even her name startled Orie.
"Don't worry, Misa's bad attitude is only directed at procrastinating artists, it's fine." Ito paused, "What personal matter are you talking about?"
"It's just... I told Ito-sensei before that I have a habit of making cosplay costumes, right? I recommended Ito-sensei's manga to a friend who likes to cosplay, and I also said Ito-sensei is going to sell new works at the next Comiket... She said she wants to cosplay a character from Ito-sensei's work and be Ito-sensei's signboard girl!"
Ito's eyebrow raised.
"You mean your friend wants to cosplay a character from my manga to be my signboard girl?"
"Ah... that's right, is something wrong, Ito-sensei?"
"No... nothing, just a little surprised, no problem." Ito smiled, then went downstairs and lowered his voice, "Miss Orie, have you seen the drafts I posted on my account? If possible, could you ask her to cosplay the cat girl in them?"
The cat girl in the drafts was Sagiri's work.
If Sagiri knew someone was willing to cosplay a character from her work, she might be more motivated.
"I see... I'll ask."
"Please do."
...
At the same time.
In the editorial department, Orie hung up the phone and, after confirming it was school lunch break, dialed another number.
"Hello? Umimi-chan? About what you said earlier about cosplaying Ito-sensei's signboard girl..."
"Ah... Orie, wait a moment, I'll find a quiet place."
On the other end of Orie's phone was Kitagawa, Kaimu, a girl eating lunch with friends in a noisy classroom during lunchtime.
Golden hair flowed down to her waist, her uniform jacket was draped over the back of her chair, and her uniform shirt was tied at her waist, revealing a sliver of her slender waist. Her eyes, covered by red contact lenses, showed a hint of apology.
"Sorry, sorry I'm going to take a call"
Umimi put her hands together, apologized to her friends, who looked like typical popular girls, then walked out of the classroom with light steps.
"Is it about manga again?"
"Little Umimi really loves manga, I really don't know what's so good about those manga... right, Misaki?"
"Uh... well... I think... it's pretty good." Misaki replied to her friend's words with a wandering gaze.
The girl called Misaki, in the eyes of other students, was also a gal like Umimi, but Misaki and Umimi were not the same type.
With a pretty face and somewhat frizzy golden shoulder-length hair, her skin was not as fair as Umimi's but a healthy wheat color. Compared to Umimi, Misaki fit the stereotype of a gal.
Although Misaki and Umimi were good friends, Misaki greatly admired Umimi, envying her ability to openly display what she liked.
Misaki actually liked manga as much as Umimi, but she didn't dare to display it as boldly as Umimi.
Besides manga not being very well-received in the gal circle, there was another reason: the manga she liked... or more precisely, the doujinshi, was quite hardcore.
She didn't like pure romance but rather doujinshi where the female protagonist was humiliated and trained with various tools, which made it truly difficult for her to speak about.
The girls chatted while eating lunch, and after a while, Umimi, with light steps, walked back. The girls could tell Umimi was very happy; she couldn't even suppress the smile at the corners of her mouth.
"What good news happened?"
"Hehe A manga artist agreed to let me cosplay a character from his manga as his signboard girl at the Comiket It's in two weeks, will you guys come?"
"Eh... such hot weather..."
"It's okay! The temperature can be overcome with love!" Umimi said with a cheerful smile, "It's fine if you don't go, I'll bring you some souvenirs and photos then~"
Umimi also knew her hobby was relatively niche, so she just told her friends and didn't expect them to come along.
Looking at Umimi's cheerful smile, Misaki couldn't help but feel a little envious. After hesitating for a while, Misaki finally spoke.
"Um... I'll go with you!"
Misaki said with courage.
"Eh? Misaki likes cosplay too?" Umimi looked at Misaki excitedly, "That manga artist said he wants me to cosplay another character, and we'd be perfect together. I have a friend who likes to make cosplay costumes, I'll take you to her place this afternoon!"
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