They decided to stop talking about the rice bowl scene from the doujin.
However, as fellow doujin artists, Eriri inevitably wanted to discuss some professional matters with Tanaka Masao.
"By the way, you bastard—how did you handle the color tones in those panels? They look way too seductive."
Hearing Eriri ask such a technical question, Tanaka Masao froze.
He hadn't even drawn the manga himself—how was he supposed to know how the coloring had been done?
"Well, uh… it's kind of like… this and that…"
Seeing Tanaka Masao's darting eyes and obvious guilt, Sawamura Eriri let out a disdainful snort.
"Tch. What, are you scared I'll copy your style? If you don't want to share, then forget it. It's not like I care or anything."
Watching Eriri turn her head away, Tanaka Masao didn't want some stupid misunderstanding to create distance between them.
So he immediately came up with an excuse.
"It's not that I don't want to teach you. It's just that I didn't make this book alone. The person in charge of coloring and post-processing is someone else—and they don't want to reveal their identity."
"You're saying this doujin was a collaboration?"
Eriri pinched her chin and went into thought mode. After two seconds, she nodded.
"That actually makes sense. With that kind of workload, it'd be hard for one person to do everything."
Then she looked at Tanaka Masao with eyes full of expectation.
"Then can you introduce this friend of yours to me? We're all doujin artists—we should exchange ideas more."
"Well… I'll ask them, I guess."
Tanaka Masao answered vaguely.
Eriri's temper flared up quickly—but cooled down just as fast.
She stopped fixating on art style and continued chatting with Tanaka Masao instead.
"You came up with the story for this doujin, right? I specialize in humiliation-type works—what do you think about this genre?"
Now this was a topic Tanaka Masao could really talk about.
After all, he'd read countless works—he could definitely be called experienced.
"As far as I'm concerned, the heroine absolutely has to be pure and noble. That's how you create contrast. Like a saint, an empress, a beloved princess, a strong-willed female warrior…"
Tanaka Masao went on and on.
The more Eriri listened, the brighter her eyes became, until she exclaimed excitedly:
"You really get it! You've got so many ideas—just how much yellow trash do you have packed inside that brain of yours?! I can feel my inspiration overflowing right now. I'm definitely going to draw a new book."
At that moment, a mental image had already formed in Eriri's head—
An innocent, flawless, pure and noble saint… getting treated like that and that…
The more she imagined it, the more excited she became.
Her face flushed deeper and deeper, and a creepy "hehehe" laugh slipped out of her mouth.
Seeing Eriri wearing that full-on degenerate grin, Tanaka Masao silently closed his eyes.
[She must be thinking about something very… great.]
A few minutes later, Sawamura Sayuri came over carrying tea and snacks.
The moment she arrived, she saw Eriri's perverted smile—then glanced at Tanaka Masao, who had his eyes closed like he was meditating.
Feeling secondhand embarrassment for her daughter, Sayuri quickly spoke up:
"Eriri, save that for later. We still have a guest here."
Hearing her mother's voice, Eriri snapped out of her fantasy world.
Realizing the situation, she coughed awkwardly, then said to Tanaka Masao:
"You really are full of yellow trash. Next time I run out of ideas, I'll just come to you."
"All right, that's enough for now. We've still got important things to do today."
Sayuri reminded her, "Eriri, go get ready later and take Tanaka-kun out to look around nearby. Let's see how his doujin is selling."
"Okay."
Eriri agreed while stuffing her mouth with snacks, then added:
"I'll go get changed in a bit. I got recognized last time, so this time I'm going all out on disguising myself. I can't let that happen again."
After quickly shoveling down a few bites and washing them down with tea, Eriri hurried back to her room.
Watching Eriri act so careless and unconcerned with her image, Sayuri shook her head helplessly.
"That girl… even in front of guests, she never bothers to behave more elegantly. Please don't mind her, Tanaka-kun."
Tanaka Masao shook his head.
"Isn't that proof she treats me as a friend? She's showing me her real self."
Hearing that, Sayuri smiled.
"You're right. Eriri usually hides her hardcore otaku side behind a mask. It's been a long time since she's been this relaxed."
To be honest, Sayuri quite liked Tanaka Masao.
He was a doujin artist, just like her and Eriri.
But during their interactions, he hadn't acted excessively perverted—instead, he was polite and knew his limits.
His only real flaw was that he was a bit too overweight; his appearance wasn't exactly ideal.
Otherwise, Sayuri might genuinely have tried to set him up with Eriri.
She really didn't think much of Andou Erun—forcing Eriri together with him would only lead to endless conflicts down the line.
Wanting to know more about Tanaka Masao, Sayuri took the initiative to ask:
"So, Tanaka-kun, what have you been up to lately? Planning a new doujin?"
"I haven't been drawing lately."
Tanaka Masao shook his head.
"I've been dieting."
"Oh? Dieting!"
Sayuri's eyes lit up.
She had just been thinking his appearance was lacking—and here he was, already changing.
And the fact that he started dieting after meeting Eriri made it hard not to connect the dots.
[Could it be… that Tanaka-kun fell for Eriri, and that's why he decided to lose weight?]
The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. A smile crept onto Sayuri's lips.
"So, Tanaka-kun… did you decide to diet because you've got a girl you like?"
A girl he liked?
Hearing that, images of Yukinoshita Yukino and Kawasaki Saki flashed through Tanaka Masao's mind.
Then he looked at Sawamura Sayuri smiling warmly in front of him and scratched his cheek awkwardly.
As for Eriri?
She was, of course, already back in her room.
The blonde tsundere had been utterly defeated—total loss.
"Well… that's part of it. But mainly, I'm doing it for my own health."
Knowing this was a crossover world full of beautiful girls, Tanaka Masao naturally wanted to try his luck.
Having a passable appearance was kind of necessary.
Seeing him like this, Sayuri let out a soft laugh.
[So it really is for a girl. Do your best, Tanaka-kun—I'm rooting for you.]
What Sayuri didn't know was that the "girl" she was thinking of—
Eriri only made up a very small part of it.