Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Noldrei's actions didn't just affect Eriri; they also had an impact on another of her "friends," a light novel author from the same school.

Kasumigaoka Utaha's brow was furrowed, and she tapped her foot restlessly.

She was scrolling through the chaotic mess on the internet.

When the scandal surrounding Eriri broke out online, her childhood friend, Aki Tomoya, had gone to check on her. He even tried to defend Eriri online, but his comments were quickly drowned out by the demonizing mob.

Like a target in the Dark Forest, any somewhat sensitive profession, once exposed to the online masses, becomes prey, drawing fire from all directions.

It was a losing battle. Aki Tomoya was indeed a popular influencer, but he didn't have the power of a major internet corporation to control public opinion.

In the online world, the goal of confronting extreme opinions isn't to fight fire with fire, but to prevent certain narratives from dominating the discourse.

Individual users can only really stay silent or go with the flow. In the face of an online mob, saying something is often less important than protecting yourself.

Aki Tomoya never even got to see Eriri. By the time he arrived at her house, her parents had already taken her to the hospital.

By the time he tried to find her again, the Academy City medical team sent by Noldrei had already relocated.

Thanks to these two mishaps, Aki came up empty-handed. The one silver lining was that "Brother Žižek's" hit-and-run tactics had completely shifted the narrative, striking a nerve with the social issue of sexual repression in the Far East. This successfully pulled Eriri out of the vortex of public opinion.

That, at least, was a piece of good news for both of them.

Although their romantic entanglements were a mess, they were still friends. At least their situation hadn't devolved into a School Days-level irreconcilable conflict.

"I just got off the phone with Eriri," Aki said. "She's recovered, but with all the media attention, it's not a good time for her to come back to school right away."

"Seriously, for something like this to happen to Eriri..."

Aki Tomoya sighed, lamenting how messed up the world was. All he wanted was for someone to work for him for free, yet there were plenty of people out there who wanted to tear others down for no reason at all.

And there was absolutely no way to stop it.

"I'm just thinking... why? Why would she do it?" Utaha mused. "Think about it. I can understand her losing sleep to draw her doujins. She's that kind of sloppy, hardcore otaku. But that's not the issue. Do you really think Eriri is the kind of person with the willpower to force herself to work nonstop without sleep?"

"No way," Aki said. How could he not know his own childhood friend? She definitely had talent, but persistence was another story. If she truly had that kind of resolve, why would she be so evasive about abandoning him all those years ago, unable to face it head-on?

Clearly, something about this situation was off. Very off.

"Are you saying... Eriri was faking it? But that makes no sense. Why would she expose her real identity? I don't believe she'd do something like that."

Aki Tomoya genuinely didn't believe Eriri was that calculating.

Kasumigaoka Utaha raised an eyebrow. "I don't believe it either. That's why I'm so curious about what actually happened to cause all this. Do you think she's the type to be concerned about the sexual repression of middle-aged men, let alone want to express that tragedy abstractly through hardcore doujins?"

She almost laughed at her own words. By that logic, she, Kasumigaoka Utaha, was a literary artist dedicated to finely depicting the bitter tragedies of messy high school romance.

Although, Utaha had to admit, Eriri's drawings packed a serious punch. Some people online even said they featured characters from Tom and Jerry. The copyright holder for Tom and Jerry even had to issue a public statement clarifying that the art did not depict their characters, but rather those from a well-known Chinese cartoon.

It just went to show how powerful Eriri's free doujinshi had been. Utaha suspected that many doujin artists would now be trying to learn Eriri's advanced technique of launching a surprise attack on their own fanbase.

What if it went viral? Wouldn't they also become some kind of "pioneer of liberation"?

Aki Tomoya thought back on Eriri's past and nodded. "You're right, that doesn't sound like her. I'm starting to doubt she even drew it herself."

Kasumigaoka Utaha nodded in agreement. "I've been thinking about this for a long time. I think her family is probably trying to clean up this mess for her. They want to reframe her past of selling doujins so she won't have to worry about the dangers of being exposed in the future."

Aki had a look of pure shock on his face. "Does Mrs. Sawamura really scheme that deeply?" he asked hesitantly.

"Scheme?" Kasumigaoka Utaha didn't think for a second she was wrong. She glanced at "Taki-kun," who had just lost his golden goose. To be fair, Aki wasn't a total jerk; when his own hobbies and ambitions weren't involved, he was actually a pretty good friend.

He thought about it and realized this wasn't necessarily a bad thing for Eriri.

"Well, that's good. At least she'll have a brighter future now."

At this point, Aki Tomoya hadn't yet come up with the idea of making a game for someone, nor had he become completely jaded and cynical.

Even so, he couldn't help but feel the absurdity of the situation.

So that's how we're playing it?! he thought. What happened to keeping her doujin artist identity a secret? What happened to just being a part of the ACGN scene?

His childhood friend had suddenly done a complete 180, becoming a representative for some "pioneer of liberation" and even directing a great critical work on the sexual repression of the Far East.

And she hadn't breathed a single word of it to anyone beforehand. The thought sent a chill down Aki's spine.

"If I'm not mistaken, Eriri will probably transfer to another school. At the very least, somewhere with more advantages than our current high school."

Kasumigaoka Utaha had also guessed that it was no longer possible for Eriri to stay at their school.

Sure enough, just as she finished speaking, Aki Tomoya checked Eiri Kashiwagi's social media and saw a major update.

[Due to personal health reasons, and the unexpected exposure of my identity, I have to temporarily withdraw from school. My mother is helping with the transfer procedures, and it looks like I'll be transferring to Academy City. I'll let everyone know the specific school once I'm settled. Also, thanks to all the fans who have supported me. I'm so sorry for all the trouble I've caused.]

And just like that, she wiped her hands clean and left, transferring to Academy City to enjoy the ultimate cheat-code life.

The two of them could only watch in stunned silence. They never would have expected this. Kasumigaoka Utaha's predictions had been completely "correct."

What am I supposed to do now? Utaha thought. She had assumed they were rivals, competing on the same level. But Eriri's stunning change of pace left her senior colleague completely dumbfounded. Doesn't this make me, Utako Kasumi, look like a total clown?

With a background like that, why were you fighting with me over a guy like him? What were you even after?

And to think, Kasumigaoka Utaha had been planning to write a character based on Eriri in her next novel. Now, she wouldn't even know where to begin, having no idea what the new Eriri was really like.

From now on, you can be your pioneer of sexual liberation, and I'll be my lowly light novel writer. I see now that we're on completely different levels in life.