Chapter 4: Yukinoshita-san is curious about me
Countless rough lines made the scene on the paper incredibly oppressive.
The room was covered in gloom, with leftover food casually scattered on the table, making it extremely messy. In the center of the picture, a girl was hanging from a beam, covered in dark lines, her face obscured.
On the next page, a cute octopus p extended its pink tentacles, grasping the girl's withered, small feet.
"Shizuka-chan?"
"Shizuka-chan?"
"What are you doing, p?"
"Even if you tie her to the beam, it won't do anything, p. I'll explain how to use the ribbon again, p."
As the octopus p gently swayed the girl's body.
With a "thud," the girl fell to the ground.
Next to the girl's body in the panel, several large bold characters appeared.
[Dead?]
Kamiya Yu put down his pencil and gently rubbed his temples with his right hand. He was feeling a bit tired now and gave up on finishing the first chapter's draft at school.
Seeing that Kamiya Yu was no longer creating, Yukinoshita Yukino slightly raised her head, revealing a helpless expression.
"Kamiya-san, is your manga finished?"
Hearing this, Kamiya Yu was a bit confused. He hadn't even finished a tenth of it, so how could it be over?
"No, there's still a lot left; I'm just a bit tired right now."
Yukinoshita Yukino sighed, gently rubbing her eyes, her cold voice echoing in the air.
"The girl is already dead. You're not planning to have the octopus p revive her, are you?"
Kamiya Yu's face showed some shock, and he couldn't help but think: 'As expected of the top genius girl in the entire grade, she can even deduce this.'
He nodded slightly, affirming the girl's answer.
After Yukinoshita Yukino knew the answer, she seemed less concerned about the subsequent plot development. Instead, she was curious why Kamiya-san drew manga—was it a hobby or work?
"Speaking of which, Kamiya-san, why do you draw manga?"
Kamiya Yu drew manga not just for interest, but more importantly, to earn money. After all, he relied on his parents' compensation, which would eventually run out. It was a question whether he could even get through high school.
After all, here in Sakurajima Country, the manga industry has already formed a system. From author submissions, reviews, and publication to manga adaptations and copyright income, all are quite considerable. It's common for famous manga artists to have an annual income in the tens of millions.
Kamiya Yu told Yukinoshita Yukino his thoughts, which surprised her, as very few manga artists debut in high school.
Although Kamiya had not yet debuted, it was still shocking. After all, in her personal opinion, Kamiya Yu's work was quite good, and the chances of him being selected were high.
The sun in the sky sank below the horizon, and faint yellow sunlight poured into the classroom, making it dim.
"Yukinoshita-san, I'm leaving first. It's getting late, after all."
Kamiya Yu looked at the empty campus outside the window, picked up his shoulder bag beside the desk, and slowly spoke to Yukinoshita Yukino.
"Yukinoshita-san, do you want to walk together?" Kamiya Yu added.
Yukinoshita Yukino shook her head, indicating no. Then she softly said: "No need, someone will pick me up soon."
"As expected of a rich young lady," Kamiya Yu thought to himself.
[Note: Yukino lives alone after starting high school; this is purely her being stubborn.]
...When Kamiya Yu returned home, it was already getting dark. He quickly ate some instant bento he bought from the convenience store and then went back to his room.
After spending three hours completing the first chapter, Kamiya Yu sat idly on his stool, bored.
"Oh, right, today is Friday, isn't it?"
He put his laptop on the table and opened an online game called Valhalla Kingdom. This was a first-person online game where players role-played adventurers fighting monsters.
"Hey, why are you just coming online now? Look at the time! You Worthless Warrior."
Kamiya Yu opened his friends list. A friend named Fallen Angel had sent a message one second ago.
"Sorry, sorry, something came up and delayed me."
After Kamiya Yu replied to the message, he focused on claiming the game's event rewards.
"Seriously, where are you now? I'll come find you. Did you forget we're supposed to kill the Dark Night Earl today?!"
Kamiya Yu casually brushed her off with a few words and told Fallen Angel his location. At this time, the character Kamiya Yu was controlling was in the city center of Valhalla Kingdom.
After a while, Kamiya Yu saw a familiar character looking around by the fountain. He walked towards her, while constantly typing on his keyboard, expressing his apologies, as he was the one who was late.
The character in front of him was a priestess, with long golden hair, dressed in a pink and white nun's habit, and constantly waving a red staff in her hand.
[Gabriel's character in the game]
"Let's go, hurry up and fight the Dark Night Earl. It's the last day of the event."
Text appeared above Fallen Angel's head, and she hastily pulled Kamiya Yu into her party.
How did the two of them meet? That story goes back half a year.
At that time, Kamiya Yu was recommended to play this game. As soon as he created his character, he was teleported into a level 30 map. As for why he wasn't in the Novice Village (newbie village), the game's official homepage clearly stated that this was a special game mechanism where 0.01% of players would spawn outside the newbie village. Of course, after dying, they could return to the main city.
Kamiya Yu was originally going to die and return to the main city, but a priestess suddenly appeared beside him and kept reviving him, making it impossible for him to die. She insisted that Kamiya Yu walk out of the map alive, so he had no choice but to comply and become her temporary teammate.
This teammate was the current Fallen Angel. She said that her hateful teammates, who disliked her for not knowing priestess skills, abandoned her alone in the wilderness.
Of course, the original truth was that Fallen Angel healed all her teammates to death. She used all her skills as negative effects, depleting her mana and making her unable to cast resurrection spells. Otherwise, a team with an average level of 50 wouldn't have been unable to clear a level 30 dungeon.
"Hurry up and taunt the monsters! What are you waiting for?!"
Amidst a group of vampires, Fallen Angel was constantly shouting, her voice filled with impatience.
"Got it, don't rush. Let me check the skill list first."
"Oh, right, Taunt is Q."
When Fallen Angel had only 5% of her health left, he managed to attract the monsters to himself in time. Kamiya Yu didn't play games often, and his gaming skills were very poor, often being called a Worthless Warrior by others.
"You really are a Worthless Warrior. I almost got killed by the monsters, seriously."
From afar, text kept appearing above Fallen Angel's head, showing extreme panic.
"Uh, can you heal me quickly? I'm about to die."
"Got it."
A black orb was thrown from a distance. For some reason, Kamiya Yu had a bad feeling. When the orb exploded, his status bar appeared.
[Abnormal Status: Speed decreased by 30%, Bleeding damage 40%]
"Damn it, I messed up again."
"Hurry up! I'm really going to die!" Kamiya Yu, surrounded by vampires, cried out miserably, with a hint of helplessness.
"Coming, coming. So annoying. You won't die from a negative Buff. I'll heal you right away."
After Fallen Angel finished typing, a white aura appeared on Kamiya Yu, bringing his health back to normal.