Chapter 102: The Manga Script
Before, in the Art Club, she had seen Kaede holding some books on yokai legends, reading and writing at the same time. At the time, she just thought he was preparing a new book, so Eriri didn't pay much attention, only curious about the genre of the new book.
But who knew that today, she had only come to Kaede's house to visit, talk about a few things, and spend the day, and then in the afternoon, he gave her such a huge surprise.
No, it should be said that it was more than just an ordinary surprise; it was a surprise that made Eriri truly want to cry.
After a long while, their lips parted. Eriri's eyes were still red, and she looked at the smiling Kaede, asking, "You didn't give me any psychological preparation at all. You really scared me."
"Eriri, is this really your scared face?"
"Urusai!"
Puffing out her cheeks, Eriri leaned into Kaede's arms, hugging him tightly, and asked, "If... I mean if, we weren't dating, would you have shown this to me?"
"That hypothesis doesn't exist, does it?"
"That's why I said 'if'!"
Eriri twisted her body insistently, making Kaede a little restless, so he quickly said, "If we weren't dating, or if I hadn't fallen in love with Eriri, I naturally wouldn't have had this idea at all."
"So it's because we're dating that you thought of showing these to me?"
"That's right," Kaede nodded, "Didn't Eriri say she wouldn't give up? So I was thinking, I can't help you with drawing, so can I help you a little in other areas? Then I thought of Bakuman, and the combination of Mashiro Moritaka and Takagi Akito. I'm still a bit confident in my writing, and I've been reading Jump for several years, so I know more or less what kind of manga is suitable for Jump. So I slowly collected material and came up with this script."
Nurarihyon no Mago, in this world, didn't exist, so it was one of the more suitable manga that Kaede had selected.
Actually, Kaede originally had another option, which was Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. However, if that manga wasn't handled carefully, it was very likely to end up almost getting axed, just like the original Demon Slayer's trajectory.
Therefore, in the end, he chose this manga, which Kaede also had a deep impression of, and made some modifications to the settings and plot arrangement according to his own ideas.
Listening to Kaede's words, Eriri pouted, her cheeks flushed, and she said, "If I refused your invitation to cooperate, would you be sad?"
"Eriri, are you really going to refuse?"
Eriri quickly shook her head and said, "No, no, no, I'm just a little overwhelmed. Kaede-kun, you've done so many things for me, I don't know how to thank you properly... Wouldn't this make me seem a bit greedy? We just started dating, yet you've done all this for me."
"There's no need to think that way."
Kaede understood how Eriri was feeling at that moment. He cupped her cheeks with both hands, looked at her, and said, "Although we've just started dating, I believe our future won't just be limited to dating. Isn't becoming a manga artist your goal? I have the ability to offer you a little help, and naturally, I'm very happy to do so. Besides, this is also a challenge for me. I'm quite interested in manga scripts and paneling, too—it's not entirely for you, Eriri!"
"How is this 'a little help'? I was almost speechless just now."
After pinching Kaede's cheek, Eriri rubbed her eyes and said, "I almost cried..."
"So, Eriri, do you want this script?"
"If you wrote it for me, Kaede-kun, no matter how bad it is, I will draw it into a manga!"
Kaede couldn't help but laugh. "I don't think my script is bad at all. Come on, let's look at it together. I've already mapped out the main plot structure up to the ending. However, I haven't written much of the specific details yet."
"Mhm, mhm."
Eriri nodded vigorously, then kissed Kaede on the corner of his mouth before turning around to look at the content of the document together.
"Kaede-kun, why choose a nurarihyon as the protagonist? And he only has a quarter of demon blood—even Inuyasha is a half-demon with half demon blood!"
"Choosing a nurarihyon is mainly because this yōkai is very interesting, didn't I just say that? He likes to enter other people's homes to freeload food and drinks, yet no one can see him. Moreover, although the nurarihyon is cunning in legends, he doesn't harm people. It's not like I could choose an evil yōkai as the protagonist, right? Isn't a yōkai with this somewhat unrestrained personality quite good?"
"That does seem to be the case." Eriri nodded, contemplating, and said, "A protagonist with unique characteristics!"
"Exactly. Furthermore, by using the nurarihyon as the protagonist, the combat abilities can be set up very well."
As he spoke, Kaede brought up the character settings.
"Look, based on his ability to make others ignore his presence, we can expand upon that to set up many abilities."
Eriri looked at the notations above and nodded repeatedly: "Oh! Meikyō Shisui, Kyōka Suigetsu. Hmm? Kyōka Suigetsu? When did you get the illusion that I wasn't using Kyōka Suigetsu? Ah!"
Immediately after she finished speaking, her little head was patted by Kaede.
"When did you get the illusion that you thought I didn't know you were using Kyōka Suigetsu?"
"Ehehe~~~ Stop playing nesting dolls, my head hurts!"
After a bit of joking around, Kaede continued explaining: "However, relying solely on the extension of the nurarihyon's inherent abilities isn't enough; it's a bit too monotonous. So, we need other things to enrich the combat system, which is what I wrote here as 'Oni Cloaking' (Gui Chan). Based on the characteristic 'Fear' (Wei) of the yōkai's ability, it is a special ability developed by the protagonist's father, the second head of the Nura Group in the story, that only mixed-blood half-demons can use."
"Emmm~~~"
Eriri looked at the cool names of the Oni Cloaking techniques written above and suddenly had a thought: "It feels a bit like the various senior Kamen Riders' enhanced armor in Kamen Rider Zi-O?"
"..."
Kaede hadn't thought of it at first, but when Eriri mentioned it, he realized there was indeed some similarity and couldn't help but laugh. "It does seem a bit similar? But fundamentally, they are two different things. The basic Oni Cloaking won't reach that level. I anticipate it will be revealed in the middle stage of the manga, manifested as an ability activated by a yōkai attaching itself to the protagonist."
He clicked open a concept image, the only enhanced Oni Cloaking design Kaede had finished drawing: the protagonist's Oni Cloaking with the snow woman Tsurara Oikawa—Moonlit Red Plum.
"This drawing is great! Is this snow woman the heroine?"
"Hmm~~~ She's considered one of the heroines in the setting? Because there also needs to be a human heroine, since the protagonist is a half-demon."
Eriri nodded, indicating her understanding.
"But Kaede-kun, you still haven't explained specifically why he only has a quarter of demon blood!"
"That's part of the main storyline. I'll tell you about it next."
The two stopped playing the game and talked about the manga's content bit by bit.