When Sawamura Sayuri asked him that, Tanaka Masao felt a bit embarrassed.
After all, he wasn't actually a real doujin artist.
And even if he were, a sense of shame still existed—very few people were willing to expose themselves like that.
Earlier, talking about these things with Eriri hadn't bothered him much.
On one hand, because of his past life and anime memories, he felt an instinctive familiarity toward Eriri.
On the other hand, they were the same age, so discussing this kind of topic felt… normal.
But Sawamura Sayuri was different.
Although she looked very similar to Eriri in both appearance and figure, she carried an unmistakable air of maturity—like a dependable big sister.
Talking with Eriri felt like hanging out with a bro. You could say anything without restraint.
Talking about doujinshi with Sayuri, on the other hand, felt like getting caught by your mom looking at "study materials."
Utterly mortifying.
Tanaka's gaze darted away. He didn't dare look at her directly as he stammered,
"O-onee-san… maybe this isn't such a good idea."
Seeing Tanaka's shy reaction, Sayuri covered her mouth and chuckled softly.
"Tanaka-kun, there's no need to be embarrassed. You see, onee-san here is also an otaku. Not only that—I'm a doujin artist too. Since we're all doujin artists, there's nothing wrong with exchanging opinions together."
The destructive power of a kind, understanding onee-san was simply too much.
Tanaka was not built for this.
But then, suddenly, he remembered the content of the doujin he'd brought.
There was donburi in it.
And not just a little—big portions, all-you-can-eat style.
If that got seen…
Just imagining that scene made his scalp tingle.
Tanaka forced a stiff smile.
"Onee-san… maybe we should just forget it. My drawings really aren't that great."
As he spoke, he prepared to grab his backpack and make a quick escape—planning to find another chance to ask Eriri alone about publishing doujinshi.
But just as he reached out, he realized his bag was already in Eriri's hands.
She had even pulled the manuscript out.
"You idiot, what do you mean 'not that great'? These drawings are better than mine."
Eriri was famous in the doujin world for her exquisite art quality.
The moment she saw the beautifully illustrated cover of Tanaka's doujin, she knew his drawing skills were at least on par with hers—if not better.
As for Tanaka Masao, whose art was top-tier and who was also a doujin artist…
Even though it was their first meeting, Eriri felt an immediate sense of—
No, wait.
Not "smells alike."
Like-minded. That's the word.
"Don't worry about my mom," Eriri said as she flipped open the manuscript.
"She's a famous BL artist. Her brain is packed with way more knowledge than ours."
As she spoke, she stared at the pages and couldn't help exclaiming,
"Holy crap—you did this in full color?!"
Eriri had assumed Tanaka only colored a few cover pages, which was pretty common.
But after flipping through a bit, she realized—
The entire thing was in full color.
"Full color!"
Even Sawamura Sayuri looked surprised.
It wasn't that artists couldn't draw full color—it was just far more time-consuming.
Normally, only a few key scenes were colored.
"You must have put in an incredible amount of effort, Tanaka-kun, drawing so much in full color,"
Sayuri praised, taking part of the manuscript from Eriri to read.
The doujin the system provided was long enough to be adapted into six anime episodes—so it wasn't short by any means.
The moment Sayuri picked up the latter half, Tanaka's last shred of hope died.
Because he clearly remembered—
The latter half was where that part started.
The execution arc.
Tanaka slumped on the sofa, head lowered, playing dead.
[Should I just put on the Mark armor and fly away?]
But for the sake of proper publication—and actually making money—Tanaka decided to endure a little longer.
Because as Eriri and Sayuri flipped through the doujin, the familiar system notification began sounding again.
[+1, +1…]
In just a short while, the count rose by several points.
...
As she read, Eriri commented casually,
"I've gotta say, the quality of your full color work is insane. How long did this take?"
"Hmm… hypnosis. That's a solid theme."
"Wait—this dialogue. Is this something a normal person could come up with? And you even made the girl's actual boyfriend watch from the side—you're seriously way too hentai."
"By the way… the fat otaku protagonist kinda looks like you. You didn't seriously base him on yourself, did you?"
The more she read, the fewer words Eriri spoke.
Her face grew redder and redder, her eyes widening.
It's common knowledge that when people read novels or watch movies,
they subconsciously insert themselves into the story.
They imagine what it would feel like if they experienced those events.
Vaguely, Tanaka felt like he could see steam rising from Eriri's head.
As for what she was imagining—
No one knew.
...
After some time, it wasn't just Eriri—even Sayuri's cheeks were flushed red.
The atmosphere became unbearably awkward.
Tanaka wanted to leave but couldn't, so he did his best to stay silent and reduce his presence.
His heart raced. He shifted uncomfortably.
This suffocating tension lasted about five minutes.
Then Tanaka noticed that Eriri and Sayuri subtly changed how they were sitting.
Perhaps sensing Tanaka's heated gaze—
Mother and daughter raised their heads at the same time.
Four eyes met.
The air fell into a brief silence.
...
After a few seconds, Eriri moved first.
She slapped the manuscript onto the table, crossed her arms, and struck first.
"Tanaka, you jerk—these details are way too precise. Were you there in person or something?! And seriously, coming up with this kind of plot—your brain is completely full of yellow garbage."
Tanaka weakly retorted,
"But isn't having a lot of yellow garbage in your head a good thing for a doujin artist? Sawamura-san, what right do you have to say that?"
Eriri's response was immediate.
"Urusai, baka (Shut up, idiot.)"
At that point, Sayuri finally recovered and stepped in to smooth things over.
"Eriri, don't say it like that. For Tanaka-kun to draw something this good means he's very talented. Although the story is a bit…"
She paused before continuing,
"…a bit too bold, wouldn't you agree, Tanaka-kun?"
Facing Sayuri's meaningful gaze, Tanaka nodded rapidly.
"Y-yes… it's a little too bold."
Inviting them to eat donburi right after meeting was pretty bold.
Sayuri, being the understanding adult she was, changed the topic.
"Tanaka-kun, with how well you draw, honestly even I feel inferior. So—what exactly did you want to ask us?"
Finally reaching the main point, Tanaka answered quickly,
"Well, this is my first time drawing doujinshi. I don't really know how to publish them, so I wanted some advice."
"I see," Sayuri nodded.
Doujinshi weren't official manga, so they couldn't be submitted to major publishers.
Usually, artists printed them themselves and sold them at conventions, gradually building a reputation.
Alternatively, they could consign them to specialty bookstores.
"But for your first work to be this high-quality, Tanaka-kun, you must've poured a lot of time and effort into it. That must've been exhausting."