Chương 18: Are You a Monster?

Homura was confused about what happened during the time he went to get the drinks. But no one paid attention to him. He went over to take a look, and everything became clear. It turned out that it was all because of the manga "Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun".

Just as he was about to say something, there was another burst of laughter.

Homura thought to himself, 'Thank goodness the little one didn't come with me this time, or she would have been scared again.'

Looking at Eriri laughing heartily, tears were even coming out of her eyes. Utaha was also covering her mouth, her face turning red from holding back laughter. Megumi didn't seem to have much of a reaction, but the trembling of her shoulders indicated that she was trying hard to hold back.

Glancing at the drawings, Homura realized that it was a famous scene of two people on a bicycle. No wonder they were all laughing.

"Well, let's wait a bit. They'll be finished soon anyway."

After the three girls finished fixing themselves up, Homura sarcastically said, "Have you finally finished? My ladies!"

"Pfftt!" Eriri almost couldn't hold it in again, then said apologetically, "Sorry, we took your things without your permission."

"Oh, you mean the manga? It's fine. I was going to let you guys read it anyway." Homura shrugged, indicating that it was no big deal.

"By the way, did you guys notice that Haru ran away because of you?" Homura reminded them, "The poor little one was scared!"

Three girls panicked for a moment. Eriri, Utaha, and Megumi were a bit embarrassed and blushing.

"I'm sorry, Kohai-kun." Utaha apologized.

"Where is Haru-chan now?" Eriri asked, seeming to want to make the little one back to the room.

"Don't worry, I already comforted her just now." Homura assured them, then replied, "As for where she is... she should be with Sagiri, so I didn't call her!"

"Now that you've finished reading it, what do you think?" Homura asked them for their thoughts.

"What do I think? Oh, that was... Pffttt!" Before Eriri could finish speaking, she remembered the plot of the manga and couldn't help but burst out laughing again, turning around to cover her stomach, her body shaking uncontrollably.

Seeing this, Homura had to say, "Okay, okay! I won't ask anymore. I can tell from your reaction!"

After a while, Eriri felt that she had built up some 'resistance', so she said, "You're the one who drew this, right?"

Watching Homura nod, Eriri continued, "How did your brain come up with both the heart-wrenching love story like "Your Name." and this weight loss romantic comedy?"

"What the hell is weight loss?" Homura couldn't help but laugh and shake his head. "After laughing, are you supposed to lose weight?"

After resisting the desire to make a sarcastic comment, Homura disagreed, "It's not what I thought of. They are both in "another dimension", in my mind, I just took them out."

Homura didn't feel like he was the original author, but he couldn't say that, so he explained it ambiguously.

"Is it like 'the article is born to be divine, and the skilled hand stumbles upon it'?" After understanding Homura's words, Utaha described it. {TN: This proverb implies that excellent writing comes from innate talent and inspiration, and that refinement and polishing can help bring it to its full potential.}

"More or less." Homura smiled.

The others stopped asking, but Eriri remembered something and asked, "Minamiya, how did you come up with this manga drawing? I thought it was the original artwork for 'Your Name.' when I first saw it!"

"There are two reasons!" Homura continued, "One reason is that 'Your Name.' is our club's work, so I didn't start with that. As for the other reason..."

Homura joked, "There are already two well-known figures in our club, and as the planner and director, I can't have too little fame, can I?"

After speaking, he said to Megumi, "Don't worry too much, Kato, I was just joking. I just wanted to draw it myself, nothing else."

Megumi nodded and said softly, "Don't worry, Minamiya-kun, I wasn't offended at all."

Homura added, "There's also a big competition in the manga magazine this weekend, and I'm going to participate. That's why I drew it."

Megumi and Utaha didn't know about the competition, but Eriri had some knowledge and asked, "The newcomer competition? The deadline for submissions is this weekend! Can you make it?"

"I can make it. I drew these two chapters yesterday, and I'll draw another one today. I can submit it tomorrow." Homura subtly boasted, indicating that it was nothing special.

"What!? Two parts in one day! Are you a monster?" Eriri felt like she had received a mockery and a blow.

Although Utaha is a light novel author, she also has some knowledge of manga. Of course, she knows how crazy it is to draw two chapters a day.

"Kohai-kun, you are truly amazing!" Utaha exclaimed with emotion.

"Kasumigaoka-senpai, you flatter me!" Homura replied modestly.

"By the way, since we are already partners in this club, can we all just drop these 'Kasumigaoka-senpai' and 'Kohai-kun' kinds of stuff?" Utaha proposed.

Homura was taken aback by her suggestion.

What was going on?

Feeling uncertain, he probed, "So, Utaha-senpai?"

"Ara, Homura-kun, is there something you want to say?" Utaha said with a smile.

Homura breathed a sigh of relief and also smiled, "Nothing."

Turning to the other two, Homura said, "Well, I've been calling Eriri by her first name for a long time now."

Eriri pouted and said nothing.

Finally, looking at Megumi, Homura asked hesitantly, "Megumi, can I call you that?"

Upon hearing this, Megumi smiled and said, "Of course, Homura-kun!"

At this moment, the brilliance caught everyone's attention.

'Isn't Kato, no, Megumi's expression a bit more varied and expressive now?' Homura stared foolishly and thought about it somewhat absent-mindedly.

Utaha and Eriri also stared in amazement, looking at Megumii's smile, the two of them were like facing a formidable enemy...

"Huh? What's wrong with everyone?" Megumi's smile disappeared like a flash in the pan, returning to normal.

Homura said somewhat regretfully, "Nothing, we just hope you can smile more!"

Megumi was taken aback by the words and nodded thoughtfully.

"Let's go, let's go to the activity room and have a look. It's just next door. If you're not satisfied, we can stay in the living room!" He clapped her hands to get everyone's attention and led the way out of the room.

The three girls followed him and came to an empty room next door.

"The room is pretty big, but there's nothing in it!" Eriri exclaimed.

"No problem, there are a lot of things in the storage room in the yard. We just need to move whatever we need," After he said that, he then led everyone to the storage room.

"OK! We need a few writing desks, a long table, and some chairs, right?" Eriri asked for everyone's opinion.

After considering it for a while, they agreed with Eriri's suggestion and began to act.