Wearing a baseball cap and a mask, with her entire face covered except for her eyes and her body bundled up tightly, Eriri paused mid-motion. Then, like a rusty robot, she stiffly turned her back to Asakura and the others and said in a very guilty tone: "I don't know anyone by that name."
"Is that so? Sorry, I was being forward," Asakura nodded understandingly.
Just as the girl breathed a sigh of relief, he continued: "Then, Kashiwagi..."
"Wait!"
Seeing that she was about to be "doxxed," the girl immediately lost her composure.
After all, compared to Sawamura Spencer Eriri, the name Kashiwagi Eri—a legendary name in the adult artist world—would clearly attract more attention from the people around them in a place like this.
She turned around to face Asakura, her eyes staring straight at him.
The latter didn't show a hint of the guilt one should have when being glared at fiercely; instead, he gave her a big "smile" (Sma-iru).
"You have the wrong person," Eriri attempted a final struggle.
"Your twin-tails are showing," Asakura pointed out the flaw.
Believing him, the girl subconsciously reached out to tuck her twin-tails back into her hat, only to find that they were already perfectly covered by the hat and hadn't been showing at all.
But this action undoubtedly confirmed her identity.
"It's not that I want to nag, but aren't you hot dressed like this? Tokyo has been quite hot lately, and the air conditioning here isn't very strong. Aren't you afraid of heatstroke?"
Asakura asked curiously.
"Of course it's hot!"
Giving up on herself, Eriri took off her mask, revealing a small, sweaty face. She rolled her eyes at Asakura: "But compared to that, exposing my identity is much more terrifying, okay!"
"This is..." Ruri blinked her eyes, asking curiously.
Asakura froze for a moment, then realized that on the day of the Sobu High School Festival, Ruri was still at school. By the time she reached Sobu High, it was already time for the evening bonfire, so she naturally hadn't seen Eriri (Loli Mode) or Eriri (Loser/Bakui-inu Mode).
"An external member of the Magic Club, Eriri," Asakura replied solemnly. "The kind you can buy Instant Truancy Candy from."
"Instant Truancy Candy... Ah, is it that troublesome candy? I feel like it's completely useless except for causing trouble..."
Eriri rubbed her forehead. Because she accidentally ate a Nosebleed Nougat while rushing to meet a deadline, she ended up with an unstoppable nosebleed for half a day, which even stained her original manuscript, forcing her to redraw a page.
"Isn't the function of that thing already written in the name?" Asakura retorted.
"Ha, what a coincidence. Unlike you, I am an honors student in the eyes of the teachers," Eriri said proudly, then added in a tiny whisper: "Except for English."
Despite her father being a diplomat and having European blood herself, for some reason her English proficiency was poor. She didn't know where the problem lay...
"Yes, quite a coincidence indeed."
Asakura nodded: "Because I am the top of the grade."
Eriri stuck out her tongue, clearly not believing Asakura's words.
Beside them, Ruri stared at Eriri with a scrutinizing gaze for a long time. After Eriri shifted uncomfortably and asked, "What is it? Is there something to look at?", Ruri finally turned her head and said indifferently: "Nothing."
For some reason, she felt that although the other person looked like a high-scoring beautiful girl, she carried a thick, inseparable aura of a "loser dog" (Bakui-inu), to the point where Ruri felt no threat at all.
"I remember you... also have a booth, right?" Since he knew Eriri didn't want to expose her identity, Asakura didn't expose her directly, only asking: "Are you here to work at the booth today?"
"Not really. My parents help me sell my books. After all, I have a 'refined lady' persona at school. If my hobby and my identity on 'this side' were exposed, I feel like it would be a huge problem."
"I feel like the problem of a diplomat coming to sell dōjinshi is even bigger..."
Asakura couldn't help but retort.
Rather, is it really okay for a guy like that to be a diplomat?
Has Great Britain really reached the point where they have no usable men left in this world?
"This is love!" Eriri said seriously. "Being an otaku isn't a sin. Beautiful works are a common interest for all of humanity. There is nothing to be ashamed of in pouring love into the characters you like in the works you enjoy!"
It was obvious she had no one at school to talk to about such topics, so she spoke with a strange sense of excitement.
"Before you say things like that, it would be more convincing if you took off that hat and those suspicious clothes first," Ruri also retorted.
"Urusai! What I like to wear is my own business!" Eriri said, her face flushing as she gnashed her small canine teeth.
"So you really just came to Comiket on a whim?" Asakura asked curiously.
"Well... not exactly."
Eriri shook her head, though her wandering eyes made her look a bit guilty.
"Oh?" Asakura grew interested. "So what exactly is the situation?"
"Um, about the Kasumigaoka matter... didn't I ask you for a little help before?" Eriri said.
"Regarding that, because the timing isn't right yet, I can't help much for now..." Speaking to this point, Asakura couldn't help but worry: "Has something changed with her situation? Has a problem occurred?"
"No, no, no, not at all..."
Eriri shook her head hurriedly. "It's just that I heard there's something called 'Shock Therapy' in general medicine, right? So I wanted to see if it could have some effect on that girl, Kasumigaoka."
Asakura blinked, unable to connect Comiket with "shock therapy" for a moment.
"Did you draw adult art of her?" he guessed.
"Just that level wouldn't count as shock therapy, right?"
"'That level,' huh... Although I noticed it before, should I say you have a sadistic streak or a masochistic streak in this regard..." Asakura rubbed his temples. "So, what did you actually do?"
"That girl was the type who looked extremely serious before her problem started, so," Eriri awkwardly tapped her fingertips together, "I dragged her here to cosplay as the protagonist of my dōjinshi for this time and act as the 'poster girl' for the booth."
Asakura stroked his chin, then couldn't help but ask.
"Wait a minute, if I remember correctly, the books you draw are usually the very 'heavy' and 'abusive' kind, right?"
"...Ehehe." Eriri showed an awkward smile, trying to act cute to get through the moment.
Meanwhile, Ruri, standing to the side, showed a bizarre expression.
This delicate girl actually draws such hardcore things? Truly, one cannot judge a book by its cover.