"Hey, Homura... they say a mangaka's manga is like their own child. Do you remember how long it's been since your eldest son was 'born'?"
In the middle of eating, Ayano glanced at Homura and suddenly asked him a ridiculous question.
"What?"
""Hahaha—!""
As Homura was left speechless by Ayano's question, Elf and Eriri burst out laughing.
"What the heck is this eldest son?" Homura asked speechlessly, his eyebrow twitching.
If someone only heard the second half of Ayano's words, one could imagine the kind of looks he would get.
"Calm down, just think of it as an analogy!" Ayano grinned and waved her hand dismissively.
"At the very least, it should be the eldest daughter..." Homura muttered while stroking Haru's fur.
"Of all things, that's your problem?" Ayano rolled her eyes.
"Hahaha—!" Elf was laughing out loud, and her stomach started to hurt.
She must admit that her days have been so much fun since joining Another Dimension.
"I see..." Nayuta mused. "Senpai prefers daughters over sons, huh?"
'Nayu, your focus seems a bit strange...' Homura groaned inwardly.
"Homura, do you prefer daughters?" Mashiro tilted her head, gazing at him with a curious look.
"Now's not the time to discuss this, right?" Homura helplessly shook his head.
"Oh, c'mon, don't be like that!"
Ayano leaned in, draping her arm over Homura's shoulder like a buddy.
"I'm really interested in this topic, y'know~"
Homura rolled his eyes.
Clearly, the conversation had gone off the rails from the very beginning, with Ayano naturally being the cause of it.
"Maybe we should focus on the topic you want to discuss first, or we could eat first!"
"Nope! We're more interested in the daughter topic!" Elf said with a sly smile.
Elf's overly excited expression kept Muramasa at a distance.
"Seriously, what good does knowing that do?" Homura shrugged. "Fine, I'll tell you. I do prefer daughters over sons. So what?"
"If that's the case, we can pretend to be your daughters!" Elf replied instantly.
"..."
'Meow? What's going on? Why is it suddenly so quiet?'
Realizing the silence and that the hand on her back had stopped moving, Haru thought with confusion.
She quickly looked up and saw a bizarre scene.
Everyone, except for Elf, was frozen like statues.
"Meow, meow, meow?" Haru meowed in confusion.
Upon hearing her meow, Homura's hand trembled for a moment before continuing to pet her.
"I thought Elf would suggest giving birth to daughters..." Mashiro added quietly.
"..."
Another round of bewildering silence ensued.
"Mashiro! What are you saying?! We're still just high school students?!" Nanami exclaimed in panic.
Although she was flustered, she didn't forget to glance at Homura before quickly averting her gaze, her face turning red.
"Give birth to daughters... Give birth to daughters..." Eriri muttered like a robot, her eyes vacant.
Meanwhile, Muramasa and Izumi were utterly in disbelief, staying silent.
How had the conversation taken such a bizarre turn all of a sudden?
"Okay, stop!" Homura quickly called a halt since this topic was too dangerous.
"Ara, is it over? I don't really mind, y'know... giving birth to your—"
"Kasumigaoka Utaha!"
While glancing at Homura, Utaha spoke with a charming smile but got interrupted halfway by Eriri.
Suddenly snapping back to her senses, Eriri's face was full of anger.
"You woman, I won't let you say it!"
Upon hearing this, a provocative expression appeared on Utaha's face.
"What I want to say is... I don't really mind giving birth to your—"
"AHHH—!"
As Utaha was about to continue her earlier words, Eriri roared like a beast and rushed to disrupt her by covering her mouth.
All of a sudden, the whole scene erupted into chaos, making Ayano, who watched the scene, laugh heartily.
"ARE, YOU, REALLY, LAUGHING?!"
Homura's veins bulged as he stood up and pulled Ayano's face close, emphasizing every word.
"Be-Because—Pfff! Scenes like this are just too rare! Hahaha!" Ayano said while laughing.
"Whatever! Let's eat!" Homura said, sitting back to continue eating. "If you have something to say, keep it to yourself. We can talk after we eat."
===
"Wow, Homura's cooking skills are getting more and more insane!"
Ayano, who was stuffed from eating, slouched on the couch.
"Muse will be here soon, and after that, our two-day special training will start. I won't have time for anything else after that." Homura said directly.
"Eh, really? Then I'd better say it quickly!" Ayano sat up straight and composed herself. "It's about your eldest daughter..."
Glancing at Homura's emotionless expression, she paused for a moment, then corrected herself.
"I mean, it's about your first manga, 'Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun'!"
"Homura, do you remember which week of serialization this manga is?"
"The seventh week, why?" Homura asked, sounding confused.
"Monthly Girls has three chapters every week, right? You've only done twenty-four chapters so far. Won't it be ending next week? Isn't that a big deal?" Ayano asked seriously.
"Nah." Homura calmly shook his head. "It's not a big deal. 'Teasing Master Takagi-san' is taking over immediately, right?"
"Alright, if you say so..."
Ayano nodded and fell silent for a moment before continuing.
"How about adapting it into an anime? Are you not planning on that? If not, that's fine, but you're not giving up on it, right? If you're not, it should definitely be on the schedule. It'd be best to announce the anime adaptation as soon as it's ready."
An anime adaptation of 'Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun' was indeed a big deal, especially for Homura's fans.
"Hey Ayano, did I ever tell you I'm planning to adapt 'Fate/stay night' into an anime too?" Homura asked.
"That's why I came here." Ayano shrugged. "If it was just that, we could've just talked on the phone, y'know."
"Homura, how are you going to handle this?" Eriri asked, unable to hold back. "Will you postpone one of them?"
Homura thought for a moment and then turned to Ayano.
"Ayano, how capable is the animation company under my family?"
Homura hadn't asked his father about this yet, but he was planning to do so in the next few days. Otherwise, the schedule for the animation company would become an issue.
"In terms of capability, they're excellent. Actually, their only problem is a lack of good novels and manga to work on, so their only relatively well-known work is 'Stardust Witch Meruru'." Ayano explained subtly.
"Stardust Witch Meruru? So that anime is made by my family?"
Homura found it somewhat strange since his family's most famous work, Stardust Witch Meruru, seemed to have connections with many people he knew. Not only was the protagonist, Meruru, Kirino's favorite, but the mask Sagiri usually wore was also Meruru's face.
"Eh? I've never heard of it before!" Sagiri exclaimed with surprise.
"Even though it's an anime for kids, surprisingly, a lot of adults like it too." Eriri chimed in.
"In that case, handling two works simultaneously shouldn't be a problem, right?" Homura said. "Most of the anime keyframes don't require their involvement. We'll be the ones busier with Kosaka Akane and her team."
"Are you sure it's okay to rely on Kosaka Akane like that?" Ayano asked with skepticism.
"It's alright." Homura reassured. "We've talked about it before. She won't do anything extra."
"If you say so, it shouldn't be a problem then..." Ayano nodded and then switched topics. "Do you have any other requests I should pass on to them?"
Homura thought for a moment.
Since the animation company was his family's, the people there would definitely give it their all if it was his request.
"Well, my request is... just give it your all and complete the work in the best condition possible." Homura said with a smile.
"Got it!"
Ayano nodded with a smile.
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Once the business was concluded, Ayano didn't waste any time and decisively left.
Before she left, Homura told her to come over and hang out if she had nothing to do. Even though she smiled and said okay, he never really saw her show up when she actually had free time.
After everyone had gone to the activity room to continue working, it didn't take long for Muse to arrive.
Homura, eyeing their backpacks and luggage, chuckled.
"Looks like this has turned into a real sleepover, huh? I never thought you could persuade your family so easily."
"When I mentioned sleepover, my mom immediately agreed..." Honoka grumbled. "She even helped Yukiho and me pack our stuff... Really, what's wrong with Mom..."
Yukiho covered her face, thinking her mother's actions seemed like she was trying to shoo her and her sister.
Homura felt that there was a bit of truth to what Honoka said, but it didn't seem quite right.
"Could it be... your parents want some alone time?" Homura chuckled and rubbed his chin. "Maybe that's why your mom was so eager to get you out of the way?"
Honoka was puzzled and thought about it for a moment, then she glanced at Yukiho.
"What about Grandma?" Honoka asked.
Yukiho thought for a moment, then replied, "Or maybe... Mom and Dad are actually out, and Grandma is staying at home?"
"What about the shop then?" Honoka asked again.
"Honoka, Homura-kun is just teasing you!"
Umi chimed in with an annoyed tone, clearly not wanting to explore the topic further.
"If it's not true, then why did my mom help us pack so eagerly?" Honoka insisted.
"Probably because your mom is happy that you're working hard in other ways..." Kotori guessed. "Since your mom can't help you in other ways, she's making up for it with these small things?"
'Is it really that simple?'
Honoka blinked in surprise, then shot Homura an annoyed look.
"Homura-kun, even though I already trusted you!"
"Okay, sorry about that. Here's something for you as an apology."
Homura apologized casually, then pulled out a small steamer tray from behind and placed it in front of Honoka.
Seeing Homura's slick move, the girls stared in disbelief.
Had he planned this all along?
Honoka took a deep breath before a blissful expression appeared on her face.
"Well, in exchange for your sincerity, I'll forgive you!"
"Honoka, your weight." Umi said with a straight face.
Honoka, reaching for the steamer tray, froze, finding herself in a dilemma.
"Don't worry about that! We're about to embark on a hellish training session anyway. I'll make sure you burn off all those calories." Homura said with a cheerful tone.
For some reason, although he seemed cheerful to the others, he appeared exceptionally crafty in the eyes of Muse's members, Yukiho, and Alisa.
Afterward, Homura led them upstairs and pointed to two rooms.
"We've cleaned up both of these rooms. You can decide how you want to sleep, whether in one room or both—your choice."
Sleeping in one room would leave little space for movement, considering there were eleven people.
Since they were just staying for a day, unlike Utaha or Eriri, who were permanent inhabitants, the two rooms Homura had cleaned up were actually more than enough for them.
After a quick discussion, they decided to all sleep in one room since it just didn't feel right to split up.
Nine people in one room and two in another?
Clearly, that seemed a bit harsh for the two, plus, wasn't this supposed to be a group sleepover? Sleeping separately just didn't seem right.
"In that case, put your luggage in one room and use the other for sleeping." Homura suggested.
His suggestion was unanimously accepted by everyone.
===
Sunday, afternoon.
At this moment, not only did Homura's special training come to an end, but everyone's tasks were also finished as well.
All that was left was the voiceover and the theme song.
However, since Eli had been practicing the theme song for the past two days, the theme song should be fine.
Meanwhile, Eriri looked at thirteen girls who seemed to have been burned to a crisp, and then at Homura.
"Homura..." Eriri asked skeptically. "What on earth did you do to them?"
"What else? Special training, of course." Homura looked puzzled. "Didn't I mention that before?"
Elf walked up to the girls and poked each of them.
"..."
Seeing their silence, it was clear that they didn't want to talk.
"Even Megumi has become like this?" Elf was puzzled. "Seriously, what kind of special training did you do?"
"How else do you train voice actors?" Homura shrugged casually. "I made some special, soothing vegetable juice and had them all drink it."
As soon as the vegetable juice was mentioned, Honoka and Umi turned pale and their bodies shuddered involuntarily.
Unfortunately, Elf didn't notice and instead had her eyes light up.
"Vegetable juice? Do you have more?" Elf asked eagerly.
Seeing her like this, Nozomi couldn't help but smirk.
"Of course I have, but I don't recommend you try it because it won't work for you." Homura replied.
"Doesn't matter, I just want to taste it." Elf shrugged.
Seeing her insist, Homura took a small bowl and poured some for her.
"Only this much?" Elf complained. "Homura, I thought you weren't a stingy guy?"
"You can have more once you finish this one." Homura smirked. "Just make sure you finish this first."
"Alright, alright." Elf nodded nonchalantly and took the small bowl. "Ara? It looks pretty good and refreshing!"
Upon hearing her words, Homura chuckled to himself.
He didn't recall it giving off that kind of vibe, so how did it suddenly become appealing?
At the same time, Honoka couldn't help but cover her mouth as she saw the vegetable juice.
Seeing her reaction, Utaha and Eriri exchanged glances, sensing there might be something fishy going on.
In the end, they decided to observe.
Muramasa, on the other hand, wore an expression of anticipation, hoping Elf would quickly drink the vegetable juice. After all, she was different from Elf and had noticed the miserable expressions on the girls' faces.
As Elf took her first sip, she felt as if her head was about to explode!
'Yuck, what the heck is this weird taste? Is this the embodiment of all the world's evil or something?'
Elf seemed fine on the surface, but her mind was racing, unlike Honoka, who went completely blank after a sip.
However, what surprised Homura was that she managed not to spit it out. He had even prepared a towel for her, but she clearly didn't need it.
Even though Elf was sweating and struggling, she eventually managed to finish the small bowl of vegetable juice.
"T-Truly, as expected of you... this lady would never be able to make something like this."
Elf spoke with a trembling voice while giving Homura a thumbs-up.
Seeing her like this, Homura raised an eyebrow.
'Weird, she isn't losing her temper and seems pretty normal... She wasn't lying, was she?'
Homura pondered for a moment, then spoke up.
"Of course! After all, this stuff is packed with nutrients, which not only soothes your throat but also boosts your spirits."
Upon hearing this, Elf smiled stiffly.
Boosted your spirits? Her head felt like it was about to explode, so how could she not be feeling spirited? It would be weird if she weren't!
"Umu! I feel all warm inside and even got sweaty!" Elf exclaimed with a bright smile.
"..."
Homura stayed silent and narrowed his eyes.
Confirmed!
Elf was definitely lying and wanted to play some trick.
All warm inside? Clearly, the juice was supposed to be ice-cold, so how could it be warm?
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