Chapter 64: Chapter 63 - Operation: Comiket

For three hours straight, Rika Saionji had been staring at a single message.

"Can you help me at Comiket?"

Yet it was still unsent.

To approach Kuro Kurogane and ask him to enter her secret otaku world was terrifying.

Not because he would judge her or mock her for being an otaku, but because she wanted him to be there with her, helping her, and seeing her true self.

And this made it impossible for her to control her heart.

Meanwhile Kuro Kurogane sat in class and wondered why Rika kept looking over at him every thirty seconds, and then turning away.

Suspicious behaviour.

Very suspicious behaviour.

At lunchtime, Rika approached him quietly.

"...Kuro-kun."

All the students around them froze.

Because,

1. Rika hardly ever started a conversation publicly, and...

2. She referred to him by his first name instead of his last name.

A critical moment.

Rika realised this too late.

And immediately after she realised this, she adjusted her glasses nervously.

"...I mean, Kurogane-kun."

Too late, quite frankly.

Mina spotted this immediately and narrowed her eyes.

"Oh?" "Interesting."

Akari could sense danger as well.

"A new contender approaches."

Aoi continued watching this from a distance, like an emotionally intelligent assassin.

"...Are you okay?"

"...No."

Honest answer.

Then Rika continued softly.

"...Can we talk after school?"

Directly suspicious request.

The classroom was instantaneously full of anticipation.

Mina literally stood up with some alacrity.

"PRIVATELY!"

Akari pointed a finger to blame the culprit.

"She has come with a plot."

Rika’s face suggested she quietly wished to be dead.

Reasonable honestly.

After school Kuro found Rika waiting at the foot of the library stairs.

A dark corner. Almost a secluded atmosphere.

Definitely a rom-com set-up.

Rika held a small sketchbook to her chest and avoided looking up.

And somehow Kuro realized immediately that Rika was really nervous.

But it wasn’t the normal kind of nervous.

It was a kind of nervousness that made her emotionally vulnerable.

"...What happened?"

Rika hesitated.

She took a breath slowly.

"...There’s a thing this weekend."

"...Okay."

"...A manga convention."

"...Okay."

"...I sell doujinshi there."

"...You’re a professional manga artist?"

"...I’m semi-professional."

That was more shocking.

"...I have a booth at Comiket. And..."

Nervously she tightened her grip on the sketchbook.

"...I wanted to ask if you would help me."

That one hit straight to the heart.

Because somehow out of everyone, she picked him.

Not a classmate, not a club member.

But him.

A few seconds of silence passed.

Rika was staring down in nervousness.

"...You can refuse. It’s crowded and embarrassing and probably boring and-"

"I’ll go. "

Instant answer.

Rika froze up completely.

"...What?"

"You were serious." "So I will assist you."

Straightforward answer.

However when Rika heard it, her chest hurt badly.

Because Kuro had always reacted sincerely to Rika’s most vulnerable moments.

No teasing. No hesitating.

Just pure, sincere support.

A dangerous man.

A very dangerous man.

And then Kuro asked in a surprising manner,

"...What can I help you with, exactly?"

After Rika had opened her sketchbook.

Inside were layouts for booths , manga drafts ,planning for sales , illustrations of characters

Kuro sat there in silence, looking at everything.

Because there was a lot of evidence that Rika had worked very hard at all of this.

Each page was filled with notes, changes, and ideas.

Each and every corner was filled with her passion for things.

"...You really enjoy this."

Rika looked embarrassed for a short moment.

"... Yes."

Straightforward answer.

But the answer was sincere.

And for some reason Kuro smiled ever so slightly at seeing that expression.

The expression Rika showed only when she was discussing things she truly loved.

Then, all of a sudden Kuro noticed the name of one of her manga drafts.

"Two Sisters Who Loved Too Much"

Kuro said nothing.

Kuro slowly turned to look at Rika.

Rika felt an instant sense of panic.

"...Don’t read any more."

Because, Rika’s character resembled Aoi so much and Rika’s other character looked just like Akari except for her hair.

Kuro kept looking blankly at Rika.

"You made a yuri manga about my family."

"...FICTIONAL."

Not a solid defense.

An extremely flimsy defense.

Then, out of nowhere Kuro laughed

Actually laughed.

Neither mocking or awkward.

Rika felt some relief as the moment had passed and Kuro continued to laugh.

"Hey, you’re kind of really right now."

"Seriously?!"

He then flipped to the next page. "I think this is definitely Aoi."

"Please stop naming characters."

"This line literally says ’You are my emotional anchor.’"

I hate you."

"No, you don’t."

And then Rika froze for a moment.

But the reality was she really did hate him sort of but now no!

A little bit of credit was given to her.

Rika just shook her head and continued on with the usual with no further thoughts. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

While she was quiet, Kuro had filled with admiration for every single one of her drawings.

Kuro’s admiration for her artistic ability was put to rest, that they were simply a matter of respect as he closed the sketchbook, after which he said, "...You are an amazing artist."

"What?"

"All of those drawings, you created them by yourself."

"And you work events."

"You help write stories."

While she sat in awe, it was a little bit of time later when he said, "...Thank You."

Light from outside lit up Rika’s face from the windows overlooking the stairs as quietness settled in while they both enjoyed being alone together in silence until.

Kuro asked her how to dress to go to his Comiket thing.

Rika immediately looked up to Kuro when she wanted him at her booth on her comic-book customer’s side helping her carry manga.

He didn’t need to be at her comic book booth on the day of the event for her to imagine him outside of her booth on the day of going to Comiket.

It would have made Rika extremely happy.

Happily crazy.

Rika is smiling.

"I’ll help to choose," she says.

And for the very first time since meeting him

Rika Saionji was excited at the thought of having an entire day of just Rika and Kuro together.