Chapter 5: Narcissist and Tsundere heroine

Eriri was carefully looking at the new batch of doujinshi to improve her art style. Even though she was not allowed to leave the house at night, it was the best time for her to search for some new doujinshi for reference. Here, she won't be recognized. Since high school will start soon, she had very little time to take part in the early upcoming event.

She also brought some of her recent illustrations to compare.

She was in the middle of something when she heard a bone-chilling voice, "Sup, Eriri."

"Eii?!" She squealed and immediately turned around to see if it was her childhood friend Tomoya Aki since he was the only one who could recognize Eriri in her casual getup. However, the truth was far from it and the person was someone else. She thought that it could be one of her fans who were able to get her real information.

But the boy didn't look like some kind of creepy otaku at all. Instead, he was a tall young man with fair looks.

"Why are you freaking out like you have seen some kind of ghost? Or should I call you Eririn like I used to?" The boy spoke.

"Wait on second, you are…" Eriri then noticed his golden eyes and short brown hair. Even though he looked a little weak, his facial cuts reminded her of certain childhood 'friend', "…the narcissist?"

"Wow. I can't believe that I am hearing this term directly from a bonafide tsundere. Name is Seiya Kanie by the way." Seiya said.

"Of course, how could I forget a jerk like you?!" Eriri finally remembered one of the worst experiences of her childhood.

(Flashback)

In the last year of elementary school, Eriri came near her friend Seiya in her class.

"Hey, Seiya-senpai. Look I draw your favorite heroine from the game. What do you say?" Eriri smiled and showed her friend Seiya and the school's number one cool boy her drawing.

Seiya was in 3-B and the most popular boy in her school. From the friendship of their parents, Seiya was her friend too. Besides that, they also shared a common circle. Both of them like games and anime. So they sometimes used to hang out once in a while.

But in reality, she had a little crush on Seiya since Seiya had perfect points of an arrogant but handsome CEO. Although he was a narcissist and kind of arrogant, he treated his friends kindly.

So she wanted to show the drawing of one of Seya's favorite girls to see what kind of reaction Seiya would give.

However, against all of her expectations, Seiya's answer broke her heart like glass.

"Eriri, get a life and stop bothering me!" Seiya spoke coldly.

"E-ehh…?" Eriri was taken back. She looked around and saw that Seiya's comment was attracting everyone's attention in the class. It was the end of school hours so most of the students left the house but some were still present.

"This is fucking bullshit. A load of crap and utterly disgusting." Seiya took the drawing and tore it into pieces.

"Don't ever bother me again. You are annoying and your so-called art is trash." Seiya got from his seat and left the class, leaving Eriri in tears.

"W-w-what…? W-why Seiya…?" Eriri could only question with tears flowing out of her eyes.

(Flashback ends)

"After the stunt, you pulled in whole class, how could I forget your rude face?!" Eriri groaned with anger.

After what Seiya did to her, she almost gave up in her dreams to draw. She even had to dye her hair black and change the school for just one year at the time. If not for her encouraging and strong parents, she would have given up on her dreams to become the best illustrator.

"Sigh* Come on, we were children at the time. Are you seriously dwelling on it?" Seiya spoke without any remorse. Although he had his circumstances, he was not going to explain the entire thing and ask for forgiveness. With his low wisdom and narcissist ability, he would never bow his head at least for now.

"Whatever. I have forgotten about that a long time ago. If you hadn't shown your face, I would have forgotten about your existence at all." Eriri ignored Seiya and started searching for some doujinshi so she could leave hurriedly. She was already annoyed with his presence that she wanted to just run away.

"Hmm, I see. Still, reading hentai? Isn't porn prohibited for minors to see?" Seiya said with one eye closed. He was also scanning some good illustrations that Eriri just found.

"Says the minor in the same porn section. I could see that you have become shameless too if not being a jerk was enough." Eriri said and resumed her search. She wanted to curse openly but she knew she would act like a child.

Even though Seiya's presence was bothering her, she didn't want to foul mouth him. It will just show her weakness again and she hates looking down as weak especially in front of her nemesis.

"Oh please, I am way handsome to come in this kind of place. I was just swinging by to see if little girls are roaming such forbidden places and making fun of our dear country's laws and regulations~." Seiya chuckled and folded his arms. He definitely didn't want to see if there was any new Milf or Onee-san in the market! Whatever he was there for; he won't be going to admit it.

"Hah! Who said that? Let me tell you one thing; while it is prohibited for a minor to see hentai content, it's not prohibited for a minor to draw hentai pictures, got it?" Eriri stood and looked at Seiya's eyes. It was so many years and she still didn't forget those eyes that left a trauma for Eriri.

"Ho? Twisting the rules, I see and it's coming from the daughter of a diplomat. Are you sure you don't want to become a lawyer? Spoilers, it is a very dry and time-consuming profession. I can vouch for that." Seiya said with confidence.

Seriously, if not for his narcissist ability, he would be blushing in front of such a cute girl. He had to admit that cute doujin mangakas can only be found in an anime world like this one.

"Yeah, yeah, I am a rotten girl to the core. Go mock however you want. It's not like you are doing this for the first time." Eriri said with monotone and gather all the illustrations she wanted.

She was about to dash out when she heard Seiya, "Pen name, Eri Kashiwagi one of the most famous Doujin mangaka in the market."

Eriri stopped her steps and turned around and saw Seiya standing with confidence.

"'Egoistic Lily' is where Eri Kashiwagi uploads her work. Get thousands of visits every day and is quite well known in Doujinshi circle, isn't it?" Seiya said and smirked.

"What is your point?" Eriri narrowed her eyes and asked. She was still confused about how the hell he knew all of this. Didn't he hate her work before? Either way, she had a bad feeling coming from Seiya.

"Well, Eri Kashiwaqi, unknown to the outer world, is in stalemate, a state called mediocracy. Isn't that correct?" Seiya said and winked his eye.

"How did you…?" Eriri was stunned. Only she knew about all of this. Not even her otaku parents know that then how did Seiya find out about her situation.

It was a term where your art style doesn't seem to move whatever you do. Though there are few levels of art, she was stuck in a level where her work is being called mediocre despite being good.

Seiya smirked and tilted his nonexistent glasses. "Let me see your work and give you a helping review."

He has yet to show his talent to this ignorant mortal.

---

[Status]

Name: Seiya Kanie

Age: 16

STR: 13

AGI: 12

STA: 15

INT: 23

WIS: 5

CHA: 2

LUC: 1

Innate Ability: Natural Narcissist.

Other Abilities: -

Skills: [Mathematics (Advance) +], [English (Advance) +], [Literature (Advance) +], [Science (Basic) +]

System Points: 0]

[END]