Chapter 21: What kind of boy do you like?
Nozaki Umetarou is an ordinary first-year high school student. The only thing that makes him extraordinary is that he has a hidden identity—well, not exactly hidden. He never deliberately hid it; it's just that no one believed him.
He is actually a romance comic artist in private.
The night before the high school entrance ceremony, I didn't sleep well because I was thinking about the new long-form serialization the editor mentioned and hadn't figured out the female protagonist's character. As a result, I was late for school in the morning.
As for the injuries, these are occupational hazards for comic artists! Don't you understand the pressure of meeting deadlines? Occupational ailments in the waist, shoulders, neck, and wrists caused by meeting deadlines—it's only because Nozaki Umetarou was a basketball prodigy and a young high school freshman with excellent physical condition that he can be fine after applying ointment and waiting a couple of days.
He originally wanted to ask for leave, since physical and mental exhaustion is hard to control. However, he didn't want to miss the flower that students would wear on their chests at the opening ceremony to congratulate them on their enrollment. He wanted to use it as reference material so that he could draw related storylines in the future.
Most importantly, the first year of high school is a classic setting that can be used as material in shoujo comic. For example, the female lead falls in love with the male lead at first sight at the school gate, the two bump into each other while eating bread at a corner, or the female lead is a freshman and the male lead is the student council president, an upperclassman, and they admire each other from afar on the stage at the opening ceremony—these are all great materials.
Result...
"Huh?! School's already over?!" Nozaki Umetarou, finally clearing his head, looked at the empty classroom and then at the approaching dusk outside the window. He scratched his head blankly, then pulled at his aching shoulders: "Ouch..."
"In the end, the female protagonist's character design is still not..." Nozaki Umetarou muttered to himself, then paused, and suddenly the image of a girl appeared in his mind.
Nozaki Umetarou, a professional comic artist, immediately took out a pencil and began drawing on his sketchbook. His skillful drawing techniques allowed him to create a character design in just a few minutes. It was the image of a girl with simple princess braids, wearing a common high school uniform skirt.
"Hmm, this is how the female protagonist's design will be." After easily confirming this, Nozaki Umetarou looked at the currently blank facial features in the character design with a troubled expression.
"If the design is like this... then a cute face would be better..." Nozaki Umetarou said, trying to fill in facial features on the blank face. Then he drew a pair of cat eyes that were not cute at all, but rather sharp and even seemed to have a murderous aura.
Seeing the clearly aggressive female protagonist design in the sketchbook, Nozaki Umetarou's eyes lit up, and he immediately made a decision, contacting his beloved editor that very evening.
Then he was called back by the editor, who sounded quite speechless: "Although this kind of female protagonist character is relatively rare, and it might be a good direction, but... why did the male protagonist have to be slapped unconscious by the female protagonist at the very beginning?"
"Because it looks so cool, Ken-san!" Nozaki Umetarou's eyes sparkled; even though the editor wasn't in front of him, he still seemed very excited.
Editor Miyamae Ken: "..."
Editor Miyamae Ken: "And then what?"
Nozaki Umetarou asked innocently, "Huh? What after?"
Miyamae Ken took a deep breath: "The subsequent plot developments."
Nozaki Umetarou answered decisively: "I have no inspiration at the moment!"
Then why did you say it in such an arrogant tone? Miyamae Ken was completely exasperated. He rubbed his forehead on the other end of the phone: "Like I just said, this is your first time trying a long serialization. If the female protagonist's character is too aggressive, choosing a tsundere young lady character is not impossible, but it may not be accepted by the public, and the subsequent plot development will also be greatly limited."
"Moreover, most readers will unconsciously project their own feelings onto the female protagonist, and if the female protagonist's personality is too distinct, it will also affect this aspect."
Miyamae Ken briefly explained the advantages and disadvantages of this character design. After making it clear, he changed the subject and said, "If you want to stick with this character design, it's not impossible, but you have to be prepared for poor performance in the later stages and the possibility of it being canceled."
"As expected of Ken-san! I will listen to Ken-san!" Nozaki Umetarou said immediately.
Miyamae Ken: "..." No, you should give me a definite answer.
Nozaki Umetarou wasn't completely oblivious; he thought about it seriously for a few seconds and said, "Then please give me some more time, Ken-san, so I can consider it."
After hanging up the phone, editor Miyamae Ken looked at the scanned and printed image of the cat's eye female protagonist in his hand and thought seriously: "Rather than the female protagonist of a long story, being the second female protagonist alongside the female protagonist, or trying to write a short story, seems like a good idea..."
Moreover, this hairstyle is too cutesy and doesn't quite suit my face. A long, straight black haircut with a princess cut might be more suitable.
I'll ask Yumeno-sensei (Nozaki Umetarou's pen name) if he has any ideas on this. Anyway, slapping the male protagonist at the beginning is absolutely out of the question.
This is a shoujo comic, not a comedy comic!
Meanwhile, Nozaki Umetarou was pondering a question: "Speaking of which... why did I even think of this character design?"
The next day, Nozaki Umetarou arrived at the classroom, rubbed his shoulder which had almost recovered, found his seat, and just as he put down his schoolbag, he saw the black-haired boy open the door and walk in.
The black-haired boy lowered his eyes slightly, but the upward curve of his eyes was still quite obvious. His eyes seemed to reflect nothing, making him appear quite indifferent. He carried his schoolbag in one hand, with amulet decorations hanging on it that seemed somewhat out of place with his character.
Nozaki Umetarou's eyes widened slightly. As the boy walked up to him, the image of the girl in his mind suddenly became vivid, and he exclaimed in surprise, "Ah! Young lady!"
Morofushi Sora'aki, who was about to pull out his chair, paused, turned his head slightly, and glanced at Nozaki Umetarou, who was staring intently at him from behind.
The classroom, which had been quite lively, fell silent at that moment.
Wait, what?! The whole class started to think and complain again. Could it be that Morofushi is actually a female gangster disguised as a boy, and Nozaki is a delinquent protecting her?!
Given the situation the day before, Nozaki Umetarou's height and appearance were too fierce (mainly due to his occupational habit of not being able to control his expression), and how could a normal student fall asleep in class on the first day of school with an injury?!
As it turned out, Morofushi was not afraid of him at all. He even slapped him and pinned him to the desk. The fact that the former, who looked like a delinquent, was not angry at all and actually obediently went back to sleep made the classmates feel incredible and aroused an irrepressible curiosity about the identities of the two.
However, if it were a young lady... the other classmates' imaginations ran wild, and they couldn't help but look in the direction of Morofushi Sora'aki.
Morofushi Sora'aki doesn't like sports or going out, so he has very fair skin and not much muscle. Wearing his high school uniform, he gives off a clean and innocent vibe.
Especially when standing next to Nozaki Umetarou, who looks to be over 180cm tall, he appears even smaller (?), and with his already attractive and beautiful features... if you insist on saying he's a girl, it seems... it doesn't seem so hard to believe!
The male students in the class thought of this at that moment.
A gangster's daughter, curious about high school life, disguises herself as a boy to enter the school—isn't that a plot unique to shoujo comic?!
Nozaki Umetarou was completely unaware that he had attracted the attention of his classmates, nor did he realize that he had said something strange. In fact, his expression even became serious: "What's your name?"
Morofushi Sora'aki: "..."
Classmates: You really didn't listen yesterday!! All your self-introductions were for nothing!
Morofushi Sora'aki had already put down his schoolbag. He turned his head to look at Nozaki Umetarou, his tone still very calm: "Are you still not awake today?"
Classmates: Wait, wait a minute? This is a threat! This is a death threat, isn't it?! Nozaki-kun—!!
Nozaki Umetarou asked in surprise, "How did you know? I was thinking about what kind of girl (female protagonist) to choose last night, so I'm still very sleepy."
Classmates: ...Hmm? Is Nozaki-san a character that's popular with women...?
Imagining the scene of the delinquent Nozaki-kun with two tanned beauties on his arms, the students in the class were shocked: ...A scumbag?!
Morofushi Sora'aki nodded, raised his hand, and placed his long, clean hand on the back of Nozaki Umetarou's head, then pressed it down firmly: "Go back to sleep."
Caught off guard by this move, Nozaki Umetarou lost his balance and his head slammed onto the desk. He was stunned for a moment, then looked up in surprise and exclaimed, "This familiar feeling... it really is you! Young Lady (the origin of the character design)!"
Classmates: Morofushi is indeed—
Morofushi Sora'aki continued to exert force, repeating, "Sleep."
So Nozaki Umetarou, who was really tired after staying up all night thinking about character designs, fell asleep peacefully on the table, just like the day before.
Classmates: Are you really asleep or unconscious?! Tell me clearly! What exactly is this "Young Lady" thing?! Nozaki-kun!!! And Morofushi-kun, you're way too familiar with this!!
After confirming that Nozaki Umetarou was asleep, Morofushi Sora'aki withdrew his hand, sat down, and took out a book to read, completely ignoring the stares of the other students.
My brother once said that calling a boy a girl is a form of bullying, and if someone makes that comment, you should definitely refuse and fight back.
However, Hagiwara also mentioned that he was often mistaken for a girl when he was young, so it's also possible that the compliment was for being cute or pretty. If you receive such a compliment, you should first determine if the other person has malicious intent.
Morofushi Sora'aki didn't sense any malice, which meant it was probably the latter, and he also heard a strange hint of surprise in Nozaki Umetarou's voice.
In short, if he's not a bad student... then we don't need to worry about him. We can just compromise and let him get a good night's sleep to clear his head.
This time, Nozaki Umetarou didn't sleep all day; he only slept for half an hour before waking up.
The first thing he did upon regaining consciousness was to ask Morofushi Sora'aki, "Classmate, can you tell me what kind of person you like?"
That way, he'll know what the male protagonist can look like! Nozaki Umetarou was extremely excited.
Morofushi Sora'aki: "..."
Students: --Huh?!
Teacher: ...Well, does anyone remember that class hasn't ended yet...?