Ch 13 – The Protagonist, Tomoya Aki
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Not long after Eriri gone, Kouta back to his room doing that he had been doing for last four day. He took his time looking and editing the video that he took it secretly. He was editing the video to make sure how clear Eriri was.
"And—I need to make the name—Huh—" Kouta said while he worked in his editing.
The name itself was the first draft of the storyboard. So Kouta just tried to make the lay out the manga. Like where the character, text, and background. He didn't need to fully draw anything that good. He only needed to convey the message from the names to Eriri.
"But— I wonder what I'm going to do with this—" Kouta thought to himself about how to carry out this manga. Especially since this manga was created around 2017, there was a chance that the characters in this manga lived in this world.
"Well, I can just change their name and appearance for a bit. Hm—Wait, what about Tomo's name as a pun. Oh–Well. That's probably not going to change anything—"
In the end, Kouta decided that he would ignore those things until—well, something happened. It wasn't that big of a problem—He just changed their name and appearance a bit to be safe.
After finishing editing, Kouta started preparing coffee. He sipped it slowly before taking out a pencil and beginning to write the manga name. His mind was focused on the many manga he read, especially the manga he wanted to draw, Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko. Inside Kouta's head, those manga—many picture fulls—began to appear.
Even so, it was not like he could immediately remember or see those chapters in order. Sometimes his memories vividly recall the manga's ending, prologue, or meme material.
That's why Kouta can work easily in some chapters, but struggle in others.
In the end, Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko was 4-koma with just 1 page per chapter. It wasn't like K-ON, where a 4-koma manga with 1 chapter could have 8 pages. The manga itself told the story of a romantic comedy between a tomboy girl and his childhood friend, who thought she was a guy. That's night, Kouta finished make about 20page draft of storyboard of this manga.
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Kouta, who had been doing his new daily routine, took in a long, deep yawn, before hurriedly looking left and right and trying to wake himself.
"Ugh—I'm tired—" Kouta rubbed his sleepy eyes. To be honest, the last four days were exhausting, especially for someone who hadn't done much for the previous two years. Even so, he felt he needed to increase his stamina. Especially since he knew exactly what he was up to.
Kouta didn't know what would happen to him in the future, but at least he knew how to defend himself if something bad happened. He thought he would learn some basic martial arts skills in the future.
After all, since Kouta obtained those memories from another world, he has found it easier to learn new things. He could remember and understand the material better because he could remember it as if he were reading it in front of his eyes. He could easily remember and understand the material he saw, especially if it was something new to him. That was why Kouta took the classes more seriously.
His mission was to absorb knowledge as much as he could. Even so, sometimes, class was boring after all. He didn't have any plan Utaha today since she told him she was busy this week.
Not only, Utaha worked with her second volume Koisuru Metronome. She also started to write the script for Fate/Stay Night.
When lunchtime came around, Kouta went ahead, going to the canteen. Even though he had started to make his own food. He still felt too lazy to make his own lunch. Especially when the food in this school canteen was quite good.
Kouta ordered a curry and beef bowl. It was delicious as always. He wondered if this canteen school made such delicious food because it was a large merge school from many schools.
After finishing his lunch, Kouta, who didn't have any friends, just thought to find some books in the library. To be honest, he never expected to meet someone, but upon arrival at the library, he found something interesting, at least for him.
"That's why—this novel should be in this library." A guy with straight black hair that cover his forehead and wearing glasses explained with long speech to a petite and plain girl with chest-lenght black hair tied in low twin braids with bang hanging on the right side. If someone with an otakuish hobby from another world saw her, it may trigger some PTSD.
"Anyway—that's not something I can agree on. We can't have light novels in this library. That's the rule. If you want to change it—Please, talk to teacher?" The girl answered with a blunt tone.
"That's—So as long as I can convince the teacher—This book is acceptable in the library school." The guy which Kouta familiar with. No other than Tomoya Aki from Saekano, which the anime Eriri and Utaha originated.
Kouta couldn't help but feel amused to see those two people's interaction with each other. Since the other girl was someone, he never expected to be here at this school. Even though Kouta already realized that there would be more anime world in this weird world. And the girl that talked with Tomoya Aki was Sanshokuin Sumireko a main heroine from Ore o Suki na no wa Omae dake ka yo.
Kouta wondered if a different anime heroine would or could have affection for another male protagonist. Well, Kouta compared Tomoya Aki to the protagonist in Oresuki—they seemed to have no differences except that one wore glasses and the other did not—
"But, I don't think Pansy will have something like that, since she had ridiculous reason to like the protagonist." Kouta couldn't help mumbling before he realized Aki walked toward the door where he was.
Kouta may have been curious about Pansy, but there was something more he wanted to do, and since he had a perfect chance without, he needed going to Aki's classroom.
"Hey—Isn't that Kouisuru Metronome?" Kouta asked Aki. Who stopped in front of Kouta and look at Kouta with such bright eyes.
"Yes! Do you know this novel?" Aki responded while he was showing the novel.
"Ah, yeah. I'm a fan of this novel. I have it in my house."
"Really—!!" Once again, Aki's face brighter. "Are you perhaps like anime and other?" He sounded very eager.
"Well, just a bit—" Kouta replied honestly, since in the end at this point he only read little anime or manga in this world.
"Is that so." Aki sounded a bit disappointed.
"But—I wonder if there was something as good as Koisuru."
"Really!! If that's the case—I will tell you anything you like!"
Just like that, Kouta for the first time talking with the protagonist, Tomoya Aki.
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"That's why this dating sims such masterpiece—"
"Is that so—"
Kouta expected the protagonist to be the biggest otaku, but for him to talk for so long and with such passion was truly remarkable. But at the same time, made Kouta felt tired. But this isn't something Kouta's cares about. There was something in his mind about which he wanted to know about it.
"But—If we talk about typical heroine in the anime—Isn't that Sawamura Spencer Eriri in my classroom looked like heroine? She's well-known in this school for being one of the most beautiful girls. Isn't she the definition of a heroine—a half-foreigner with a petite frame and blonde hair in twin tails? A rich girl with tsundere like attitude—" Kouta told Aki his opinion that looked like surprised him.
"Puh—No—Talking something like that to 3D is a weird thing." Aki replied as he found Kouta saying was absurd.
"Hahaha—" Kouta couldn't help but laugh when he heard what Aki said. Because after Kouta received memories from another world, he found it silly that a 2D character like Aki would talk like that, but in his perspective, they were 3D after all.
"But Sawamura-san does look like a heroine, doesn't he?" Kouta said.
Aki glanced at Kouta and frowned.
"No—I mean, isn't that weird to use dating sim terms to describe real people?" He said.
"But—she's look right that? What do you think of her?" Kouta asked what sounded like a trivial question to Aki. But it was something Kouta wanted to know.
"Eriri—Huh—Why do I need to care about 3D?" Aki replied pretty much the same as he did in the anime. His reaction was according to the character.
"Hahaha—what's an answer—So you don't care if she had a boyfriend or anything like that—" Kouta may expect those kinds of answers from the dense-protagonist. Well, she's not going to win the protagonist's heart anyway. She may the least favorite, since at least Utaha had her own ending in the manga.
"That's—I can't see her having a boyfriend or anything like that—"
"Eh, why?" Kouta surprised by this kind answer from Aki.
"I mean—She is—" Aki may have told him she was an otaku. So there was no way for her to have a boyfriend or something like that.
Even if the main heroine and protagonist were already married, there were rarely other loser heroines who got married or had boyfriends in many anime or manga. Kouta wondered if Aki's reaction reflected anime reality.
"Well, at least she'll get it right someday—especially since she's the rich girl and his father has a diploma from the United Kingdom. "I don't think it was weird if she had a fiancé already."
"NO!—I don't think his father will do something like that." Aki shook his head. Once again, he said that, as if he had rejected the possibility, Eriri had a partner.
Kouta never expected this kind answer, but he realized that even though Aki may not fancy or like her romantically. Kouta found out that Aki still didn't like other men close to her. It looked like an Ex-boyfriend who has still not moved on from her girlfriend, who already has a man.
At that time, Kouta wondered if all the protagonists thought like this.
"Hm—You really took this bit personally, are you familiar with her?" Kouta put his hand on his chin with a devilish grin and buoyantly asked Aki.
"Eh—No—We're just going to the same school from elementary school until now."
"That's sound like two of your childhood friend or anything."
"Ah—Maybe—"
"Is that so—" Kouta didn't want to press another question since he could sense that Aki was already uncomfortable. He had already obtained some of the information he sought.He found that even though, Aki may have had some grudges against Eriri, at the same time, he recognized her talent and respected her for it. Also, maybe he was still holding their promise to make a game together.
So Kouta concluded, It looked like—no, there was still a chance that the protagonist in this world would choose Eriri. Just like dating sims, it may depend on what happened in the future. If it happened exactly like in the anime, Megumi would be with the protagonist. And if something extraordinary happened, it may be following the manga and ended with Utaha. As for Eriri, it may be the least likely to happen.
Kouta wondered if he needed to make sure to leave the protagonist out of the picture.
"Well, if you are her childhood friend, can you tell me what she maybe likes?"
"Eh—but why?"
"Well, I'm interested in her after all." Kouta declared in a clear, strong voice. His pinkish face fixed his gaze on Aki's. That made Aki falter since he could see how serious the guy in front of him was. Even though, Kouta looked like harmless with his cute appearance at that moment. Aki wondered why his spine had become sweaty.
And his smile—his big, innocent smile that seemed out of place.