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After taking a bath, Mahiru Shiina lay on her bed, silently crying.
It took her a while to calm down.
She thought everything over carefully and realized that things had spiraled to this point partly because of her own choices.
She couldn't blame Andrew for everything.
She knew exactly how cute she was—ever since elementary school, people had always said she looked like an angel.
Her shoe locker was always stuffed with love letters.
Yeah, Andrew was a jerk who took advantage of her, but letting him do whatever he wanted without resisting? That was on her too.
Thinking back to how she gave up yesterday and told him to do whatever he wanted... her cheeks burned with embarrassment.
Images from last night flashed through her mind, and her heart started pounding again, her face blushing even more.
That scene... that steamy scene… totally messed with her head.
And it wasn't just last night.
He'd made a move on her again just now.
That strange, lingering feeling was still tingling in her body. She instinctively covered her mouth with her hand.
"Ugh… why the hell am I thinking about that jerk? That perverted creep."
And the worst part? He's her neighbor now...
No way. She had to make sure he didn't find out about that—otherwise, he'd totally start bothering her again.
Now that her mind had been pulled away from her family troubles, Mahiru didn't dwell on them anymore. She just called in and took the day off.
No way she was going to school today.
Plus… it still kind of hurt down there… she needed to rest…
Meanwhile, Andrew had noticed everything Mahiru did and couldn't help letting out a sigh.
He'd just regained his memories and hadn't had a chance to fully process this world yet.
Akiyama Yuu dying from choking on water? That was just weird.
Then he dug through his memories a bit and was stunned to find out—this world had the Yukinoshita, family and the Shinomiya family known as the "Heart of the Nation," with their heiress being none other than Kaguya Shinomiya.
And right behind them, the third-largest conglomerate was the Saginomiya family. Just above them? The Sanzenin group.
He kept searching his memories—and things just got crazier.
He had a middle school classmate named Kotonoha Katsura. And there was a blonde twin-tailed girl named Eriri Spencer.
Right now, he was living in Kyoto. The top school here? The one he was attending—St. Hakuhou Academy.
From the moment he spotted Akiyama Yuu, he knew this world wasn't simple.
Yup—this was a crossover anime world.
Which meant… he had a very clear goal when it came to picking his "followers."
I mean, what could beat recruiting heroines as his followers?
So from now on...
He was going to contract more followers, gain more powers, become the strongest demon, build his personal harem, and create the Andrew Empire. That was his plan.
As he was daydreaming about his grand ambitions, someone knocked on the door.
He opened it—only to see a lively, ponytailed beauty standing there.
The girl politely bowed and handed him a small gift bag.
"Hi! I'm Aoyama Nanami—I just moved in next door. This is just a little something. I hope we get along!"
"Ah, same here. I'm Andrew."
Andrew replied right away, but inside he was shocked.
Aoyama Nanami—from Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo! She was that hardworking girl busting her butt with part-time jobs to chase her dream of becoming a famous voice actress.
He remembered she was juggling a bunch of jobs to afford voice acting school.
"Anyway, Andrew, I've got to greet the other neighbors, so I won't bother you any longer."
"Yeah, go ahead."
Andrew smiled and nodded, but he didn't go back inside.
Nanami gave him another polite smile and went to knock on Mahiru Shiina's door.
Inside, Mahiru instinctively called out, "Who is it?"
"Ah, I'm Aoyama Nanami—I just moved in next door. I'm just here to say hi!"
Mahiru opened theNanami door and accepted the gift.
Accepting a gift like that was basic politeness. If she didn't take it, it'd look like she was being stuck-up.
She greeted Nanami politely—but then spotted Andrew nearby.
Her smile froze.
Crap!
He found out she lived right next door!
The plan she'd just come up with… totally ruined.
Mahiru quickly said goodbye to Nanami as politely as she could, then slammed the door shut.
Nanami went on to greet the other neighbors.
A few minutes later…
There was a knock at Mahiru's door.
"Who is it?" she asked, already a little nervous.
"It's me. Andrew."
"..."
She went quiet for a moment, then sighed and said through the door, "What do you want?"
Andrew shamelessly asked, "Shiina, I just got discharged and don't have any ingredients at home. Can I… maybe grab a meal with you?"
"No way! Go buy a burger at the convenience store!"
"…Oh."
Andrew gave a disappointed grunt and slowly walked away.
Mahiru let out a sigh of relief hearing his footsteps fade… but then felt kind of bad.
She'd turned him down pretty harshly.
I mean, it's just a meal, right? He just got out of the hospital and already burned through a bunch of energy...
Ugh...
Nope. Don't go there.
That was his fault for overexerting himself!
For picking on her!
With that thought, any guilt she had vanished. She tied her long blonde hair into a ponytail, put on an apron, and started cooking.
She was actually hungry too. Crying had totally drained her.
Not to mention… she was the one who got pinned and bullied last night.
Meanwhile, Andrew, having failed to mooch off her food, headed to the convenience store to grab a burger and stock up on some groceries.
Honestly, he was getting more and more hyped about this world.
If Aoyama Nanami showed up, then that lovable airhead pet girl, Shiina Mashiro, had to be around too, right?
She was always painting, so pure and innocent, like a blank sheet of paper—he couldn't help but wonder what kind of power she'd bring as a follower.
And wait… Shiina Mahiru and Shiina Mashiro? Those names were way too similar.
And they were both blondes.
Could they be related?
When he got home, he put the groceries away and stared at his bank balance in silence.
He had around 200,000 yen left. Sounds like a lot, but it's barely 9,900 RMB.
And with Japan's high cost of living, that money wouldn't last long.
So… time to get a job?
Andrew sighed. Never thought he'd cross into another world just to end up a working stiff.
Wasn't there a faster way to make money?
With his super recovery power, becoming a host actually seemed like a solid option.
But come on—he wasn't about to sell his smile. That'd be way too lame for a demon.
Sure, other demon lords might go work part-time, but he wanted an easier, more comfortable way to make cash.
Rubbing his chin, he decided to go back to what he did best—writing light novels.
Since this world had all sorts of anime heroines showing up, that probably meant the original light novels they came from didn't exist here yet.
He checked his phone. The most popular series right now was a high school romance novel called Love Metronome, written by a "Kasumi Shiko."
Wait a sec—Kasumi Shiko?
That's gotta be Kasumigaoka Utaha! The black-stocking-wearing senior that Eriri calls "Fat Kasumi" behind her back.
Makes sense. If Akiyama Yuu's already in this world—and choked on water—then of course the fair-skinned, gorgeous Utaha Kasumigaoka must be around somewhere too.
Only question is… which school is she attending?
As Andrew thought about her black stockings, he found himself comparing them to Mahiru Shiina's.
But he couldn't really decide who looked better—he hadn't actually seen Mahiru in person yet.
After all, this was a real world, not just an anime—people didn't look exactly the same as their animated versions.
That's also why he didn't recognize Mahiru Shiina right away.
Andrew was a man of action. Once he decided something, he'd do it right away.
So now that he'd made up his mind to write light novels, his first move was to scan through all the trending genres.
And what do you know…
He spotted a bunch more familiar names.
Like the erotic artist Eri Kashiwagi, and even Eromanga-sensei.
"..."
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