They went to school together, ate lunch together, participated in club activities after school, and coached their club juniors together. When friends asked about yesterday, they said they had broken up and Rin Ito was no longer her boyfriend... Hinata wasn't exactly lying; after all, he wasn't her boyfriend now, but her Master in the NTR game.
After their club activities ended and they tidied up the dojo, the two bid farewell to their juniors and headed home as usual. Hinata felt no real sense of commitment after signing the NTR game pledge. Their lives seemed unchanged, unaffected by the whole ordeal.
That is until they got home, showered, and finished dinner.
Bzzzt...
Bzzzt...
Her phone vibrated. Hinata picked it up and opened it without thinking.
"!!!!"
Her hand shook, and the phone nearly fell to the floor. The message from Rin Ito was a photo: a self-portrait of a girl sitting on a toilet with her legs spread open. Although the face wasn't visible, the shape and the details of the pubic hair confirmed it was Saya.
Hinata froze. I was with Sister Saya all day today. When did she take this!? They even went to the restroom together... I was right next door and had no idea. The thought of Saya taking a perverse photo for Rin Ito just a wall away made Hinata's breathing quicken.
Rin Ito: [No peeking (self-arousal), okay?]
"!!!"
Rin Ito's message made Hinata stop her hand. Although Rin Ito had only sent a message and they weren't video-chatting, so Rin Ito wouldn't find out if Hinata did it herself... This is a rule of the NTR game. The game isn't fun if you don't follow the rules.
Rin Ito: [Kaede told me you have exams this month, right? If your test scores improve in rank, I'll give you a reward.]
Hinata: [What kind of reward?]
Rin Ito: [You'll know then. Study hard for the exams. It's your Master's command, you know. If you get into a good university next year, I'll give you a very stimulating reward.]
Hinata had initially wanted to handle the situation alone to avoid affecting Saya's studies, so Rin Ito couldn't compromise their future prospects either.
Rin Ito had heard from Kaede that both of them had placed in their Archery Club's competitions. Even if they failed the nationwide standardized academic test, they could still get into some sports-focused universities through special admissions. Fortunately, their grades weren't bad to begin with, and normally, getting into a good university shouldn't be difficult. However, that might change if they became addicted to the NTR game in the coming months.
The first semester was nearing its end, leaving two more semesters. They were already looking for successors in the Archery Club. Once the next semester began, they would quit the Archery Club to fully focus on studying for the exams.
While Rin Ito wouldn't interfere too much, the pressure of exam prep was considerable. Rewarding them with a party to relieve stress after making progress in their test scores would be a good idea.
After saying this to Hinata, Rin Ito had a similar conversation with Saya: improvement in school test scores would be rewarded, and getting into a good university on the unified exam would earn them an even more stimulating reward.
Although he hadn't told them, Rin Ito had already decided on the reward for when they got into university. Heh heh heh...
But for now... occasionally helping them relieve stress was fine, but too much distraction was not.
Exiting the messaging app, Rin Ito checked his phone calendar... He wondered about Sagiri and Mashiro's doujinshi progress. The next manga convention was in two weeks. Although it wasn't one of the two major winter or summer conventions, it was still a decent size and would be a great debut for [Baumkuchen]. Rin Ito asked Sagiri and Mashiro for a few pages of line art and posted them on the newly created social media accounts for [Baumkuchen] and Rin Ito's [White Mantou] accounts. Then, Rin Ito used his existing fan base to create some buzz. After all, both Mashiro and Sagiri planned to submit anonymously, and low sales would be too discouraging.
After posting, Rin Ito occasionally refreshed the page, reading the comments on social media, most of which were complimentary and showed anticipation. Although most were Rin Ito's fans, Mashiro and Sagiri's drawing skills were excellent; the praise wasn't just courtesy. Many were even trying to guess the author based on the art style. Rin Ito saw some correctly guessing the Erotic Manga Sensei, but absolutely no one guessed Mashiro.
Rin Ito was somewhat disappointed that neither Sagiri nor Mashiro planned to draw doujinshi long-term. If he could recruit and nurture a few doujinshi artists, it might be possible to formalize [Baumkuchen] into a proper company, perhaps even an editorial office like the one run by Crab.
A shame.
After replying to a few fan comments, the hour was late. Rin Ito glanced at the time and stretched... I should gently push Sagiri for her manuscript tomorrow. Sagiri was known for taking her time for quality work, but the convention date was fixed, and they needed time for printing... It would be troublesome if they missed the deadline.
And... Sagiri might deliberately drag her feet to miss this convention.
Just as Rin Ito suspected.
The next day, when Rin Ito arrived at Sagiri's house to check her progress, it was exactly as he had thought yesterday... Sagiri's progress was basically zero! The rough sketches she had sent Rin Ito yesterday were her entire progress so far.
"I asked... what is going on? Don't tell me you only drew two rough sketches in all this time!"
"Grr..."
Rin Ito used the key left by Sagiri's brother to enter Sagiri's sanctuary. Looking at the rough sketches on Sagiri's computer, Rin Ito frowned... Now I understand how editors at publishing houses feel.
"Draw... drawing slowly makes it better..." Sagiri mumbled, her face down, showing Rin Ito only her silver hair.
While Sagiri did prefer to draw slowly, this pace was clearly far below even "slowly"; she barely drew at all!
"Drawing slowly makes it better? Are you sure you're not deliberately stalling?" Rin Ito said sternly. "Deliberately stalling because you don't want to leave the house."
"N-No! I'm absolutely not!"
Sagiri, whose shame was exposed by Rin Ito, glared angrily at him.
Rin Ito took out his phone, opened the [Baumkuchen] social media account, and showed it to Sagiri. "I've already announced to the fans that your manga will be released at the convention two weeks from now."
Rin Ito paused.
"I'll come to supervise you every day during this time. Today... today, you have to finish the storyboard for the first ten pages. Otherwise..." Rin Ito smiled wickedly, "there will be a punishment."