Chapter 2103 - 2101: Aki Tomoya’s Sigh (Barbecue and Yellow Noodles Are So Comfortable)

After greeting Black Cat, Fang Zheng turned to the Fairy side... Hmm, I have to say that most people in the Dark Moon Sword Guild are familiar faces here, which is quite normal. If one isn’t a passionate fan, one wouldn’t eagerly acquire such a strange helmet.

"Ah, Mr. Fang Zheng, hello... Who is this cute little sister? Is she cosplaying as Flandre? She’s so adorable!"

Perhaps due to the shared characteristic of being a blonde character, the Fairy immediately took a liking to Flandre and cheerfully came over to greet her. Flandre seemed quite interested in the Fairy as well, smiling as she extended her hand to gently pat the Fairy... Hmm, no gripping.

Such a good child.

"So cute, Mr. Fang Zheng, can I take a photo with her?"

"Of course, you can."

With Fang Zheng’s permission, the Fairy quickly and happily went over to Flandre and took out her phone to turn on selfie mode.

"Come on, little Flandre, look here... Cheese! YEAH!"

Saying this, the Fairy made a V sign, then pressed "click" to take the photo. Meanwhile, Flandre curiously widened her bright red eyes, looking at the phone in the Fairy’s hand, and then reached out to pinch it gently...

"Pop!"

With a light crack, the next moment the phone in the Fairy’s hand suddenly burst, startling her to quickly drop it.

"Whoa, what happened?! Why did it suddenly explode?"

"Uh... probably because it’s a South Korean product of poor quality."

"Is that so...?"

Looking at the phone shattered on the ground, the Fairy showed an expression of lingering fear.

"Jeez, I’ve heard that South Korean phones often explode, but I never thought I’d experience it myself... Brother really, knowing the quality wasn’t good, he still bought it for me. I should have used an Apple instead..."

Saying this, the Fairy looked worriedly at Flandre.

"Is little Flandre okay?"

"She’s fine, just a little startled."

"Is that so... I really thought for a moment that little Flandre had broken my phone, hahaha. Thinking about it, it’s quite amusing..."

No, no, no, that’s not amusing at all, okay?

Looking at the unbothered Fairy, Fang Zheng also sighed helplessly. The Fairy quickly put the broken phone out of her mind and looked at Fang Zheng again.

"Ah, Mr. Fang Zheng, bringing little Flandre over now, is it to participate in the Magical Girl Festival?"

"That’s right, exactly for this."

Hearing Yamada Elf’s inquiry, Fang Zheng nodded. The Magical Girl Festival mentioned by Yamada Elf was the core activity of this convention — essentially a cosplay competition featuring all famous magical girl characters from ACG. Many works in the Game World closely resembled those in Fang Zheng’s real world, so there were many similar magical girl works, like the animes featuring Little Sakura, Nanoha, and Fate, which had comparable versions in this world.

Initially, according to Eiriri’s idea, she thought about directly calling over a few little ones to this world to participate in the cosplay competition together, which would definitely be interesting. However, Fang Zheng stopped her. If the real ones participated, winning would be a given, losing would be a crisis of confidence, wouldn’t it?

No benefit at all!

The competition adopts a voting system, allowing all attendees and those watching the Magical Girl Festival via live broadcast to vote using their phones. The top three selected ones will serve as official ambassadors, not only attending various events but possibly stepping onto the path to becoming idols... Because of this, the competition has already been heavily hyped.

Fang Zheng bringing Flandre here wasn’t to win, as he organized the event himself. The purpose was to reasonably harvest a wave of cute attribute Will Power to shape and stabilize Flandre’s unstable chaotic consciousness. Therefore, he wasn’t aiming for victory; as long as he could harvest a wave, it would be fine.

"Little Flandre is so amazing, she will surely win the championship! Go for it!"

Compared to Fang Zheng’s relaxed "participation is what counts" attitude, the Fairy seemed very excited. She once again made a cheering gesture to Flandre, who curiously looked at her and then made the same gesture.

"Go for it?"

"Ah———too cute, why so adorable, I must make you the leading heroine of my new book! It’s decided just like that!"

Seeing the Fairy excitedly hugging and rubbing Flandre’s cheeks, Fang Zheng shook his head speechlessly, then he cleared his throat and changed the topic.

"By the way, Fairy, why haven’t I seen Shihane?"

"Hahaha, she wouldn’t come here, as this isn’t her stage."

Upon hearing this, the Fairy was immediately delighted. Although the two had previously collaborated on the book series "Sword Art Online" and maintained a decent relationship, Shiyu of Misty Hill was ultimately a traditional romance novel writer and didn’t quite click with the Fairy, who was a light novel writer following ACG themes. In particular, in situations like this, considering Eiriri, Black Cat, and the Fairy are present, Shiyu of Misty Hill wouldn’t foolishly walk into enemy territory uninvited.

"Oh, Mr. Fang Zheng, can you come to my house in a few days? I have a new book idea and I’d like to discuss it with you."

"No problem."

The "Sword Art Online" series was nearing its conclusion, and the Fairy was clearly planning to start a new book, naturally needing to discuss it with her superior. Fang Zheng didn’t mind and nodded in agreement. The Fairy went back to setting up her part, and Fang Zheng roughly toured the entire convention. Apart from that, he also encountered an unexpected person...

"Ah, Mr. Fang Zheng."

"Hey, Chumi."

Seeing Chumi Hodashima in front of him, Fang Zheng was slightly surprised.

"Are you also here for the convention?"

"Of course, my doujinshi is also very popular."

Fang Zheng asked, and Chumi Hodashima replied with a cheerful smile as she approached.

Ever since Aki Tomoya was released from prison, Chumi Hodashima and Fang Zheng’s relationship has stayed the same. Initially, Fang Zheng thought that with Aki Tomoya’s release, Chumi Hodashima would cut ties with him. Unexpectedly, after that, she called him to arrange a meet-up... Well, simply put, Chumi Hodashima and Fang Zheng’s relationship is similar to that with Shiyu of Misty Hill and Tokitani Naoya—more than friends but not quite lovers.

On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be much difference in Chumi Hodashima, but in fact, she has changed. Previously, Chumi Hodashima preferred to draw pure love-themed doujinshi, but now she prefers to draw the domineering CEO series—stories where the male lead forcibly takes the female, she struggles, fails to resist, and eventually falls deeply in love with him...

Frankly speaking, this reminds Fang Zheng of a manga artist named Mayu Shinjo popular during his middle school days. Her mangas had a similar style, where all male protagonists were bad guys, either some Demon King or a yakuza boss.

The plot generally went like this: the male lead meets the female lead, takes her away, and forces himself on her. Then the female lead resists, cries, feels lost, or even tries to escape. But in the end, they all realize they have fallen madly in love with the male lead and voluntarily return to him.

Although the storyline sounds like something from an erotic comic, she’s a legitimate shoujo manga artist drawing for young girls. Fang Zheng remembered flipping through a classmate’s magazine out of curiosity during school and feeling greatly shocked; honestly, that was when he realized he couldn’t understand what women wanted at all...

Fang Zheng originally thought that a shoujo manga was where men confessed their love while holding women, kind of like a romantic novel... He never expected it could be this intense.

What puzzled Fang Zheng even more was that when Chumi Hodashima shifted from drawing pure love to drawing domineering CEO stories like ’Overlord’s Strong Arm,’ her sales increased, and most buyers were female.

Thus, Fang Zheng once again realized he indeed still didn’t understand women.

"By the way, is this cute child Mr. Fang Zheng’s sister? Here for the Magical Girl festival..."

"Yeah, something like that..."

"I know someone participating in that competition, though their chances aren’t very high..."

"It’s more about participation; I never expected this child to win the championship..."

As Fang Zheng and Chumi Hodashima were chatting, a man was intensely staring at Fang Zheng from the shadows not far away.

Why is he here?

Aki Tomoya could hardly believe his eyes. After being released from prison, he returned to his hometown and took a lot of time to calm down. Under the care of his cousin, Aki Tomoya gradually pulled himself together, no longer as disheartened as before. This time, he came to attend the comic convention with a plan in mind.

Aki Tomoya originally intended to meet up with Chumi Hodashima at the comic convention to apologize for his previous misbehavior, but...

Why, why is that man appearing in front of Chumi Hodashima?!

Looking at Fang Zheng and Chumi Hodashima enjoying their conversation, Aki Tomoya clenched his fists.

Could it be that the man won’t even spare Chumi Hodashima?!

"Well, I’ll go check the booth."

After chatting with Chumi Hodashima for a few moments, Fang Zheng turned and left, and Aki Tomoya watched his figure disappear before rushing out from the corner towards Chumi Hodashima.

"Chumi!"

"..........."

However, to Aki Tomoya’s surprise, when Chumi Hodashima heard his voice, she just paused for a moment and then her initially smiling face turned much colder.

"Senior Aki, do you need something?"

"No, it’s just..."

Facing Chumi Hodashima’s look as if seeing a stranger, Aki Tomoya was briefly at a loss for words, but he hesitated and then lowered his head to her.

"I’m very sorry, Chumi! For what I did to you before... It was my fault, I was wrong at that time..."

Aki Tomoya was racking his brain to apologize, but before he could finish, Chumi Hodashima interrupted him.

"Senior, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have to arrange my doujinshi now, so farewell."

"Ah, wait."

Seeing Chumi Hodashima turn to leave, Aki Tomoya hurriedly grabbed her.

"What else is it, Senior Aki?"

Despite all this, Chumi Hodashima’s expression remained unchanged, staring at Aki Tomoya as calmly as a stone.

"Well... I know you probably won’t forgive me, but I must remind you, don’t get too close to that man, he isn’t a good person..."

"Ha..."

However, before Aki Tomoya could finish, Chumi Hodashima sighed.

"Senior, what relationship do you have with me to meddle in my relationships?"

"I, I and Chumi are..."

Hearing Chumi Hodashima’s question, Aki Tomoya was stunned.

"Friends? Siblings? Lovers? It doesn’t seem like any of those, so... I’ll take my leave now, and please don’t harass me again, or I’ll have to call security."

After calmly finishing her words, Chumi Hodashima directly turned back to her table, quickly reverting to her lively and cheerful demeanor, while Aki Tomoya looked blankly at her, utterly at a loss for words...