At this moment, in a large, distinctly feminine bedroom—Eriri's room.
Her face, as if sculpted with exquisite craftsmanship, displayed an expression of extreme unease.
Her lake-blue eyes trembled, pupils contracting, and her head shook slightly as if struggling to accept the scene before her.
She looked like a helpless girl about to be violated, pitiful and vulnerable. And to make matters worse, the perpetrator was someone she knew. The sheer absurdity of the situation made it all the more difficult for her to accept.
Had she invited a wolf into her home?
Was this golden-haired, blue-eyed beauty about to be forcefully pushed down?
And was the one doing the pushing Yazuki?
Of course not.
Then why did Eriri look like this?
The answer was simple—she had just witnessed Yazuki drawing, and his artistic skill had left her completely shaken.
Wait a minute. Hadn't she already seen the works created under Yazuki's pen name? She knew how high their quality was, didn't she? So why was she so shocked now?
It wasn't because his skill had suddenly improved.
The real reason was that Yazuki was replicating her artwork—almost perfectly, down to the finest details.
The level of precision was so high that it was indistinguishable from her original, to the point where anyone who saw it would believe it was a genuine Kashiwagi Eri piece.
But why was Yazuki recreating her drawings in the first place?
Simple.
She had been hit with a deadline rush.
Normally, she would have finished just in time for the deadline, as always. But after her work had been soaked in the café, those parts of the illustration became unsalvageable.
Then, she got caught up in chatting and completely forgot about the deadline, until she received a call reminding her of the impending submission.
At this point, her publisher could give her at most one more hour.
But there was no way she could finish in that time.
It was then that Yazuki offered to restore the damaged parts of her artwork.
Of course, it was a paid service.
The fee? Well… a bit on the expensive side.
But if he could actually restore that section perfectly, it was still within Eriri's acceptable range.
So, Eriri hired Yazuki to help restore her artwork. And by "restore," it meant that Yazuki manually replicated the water-damaged parts with such precision that it was impossible to tell it wasn't the work of the original artist.
This left Eriri utterly stunned.
At that moment, Eriri finally understood just how terrifyingly skilled the artist known as [Demon King]—Yazuki—truly was.
His artistic foundation was as overwhelming as a towering mountain standing right before her.
"No… this shouldn't be happening…"
A soft, almost unwilling murmur escaped Eriri's lips.
Even though she knew that Yazuki was only doing this for some extra cash and not to show off his artistic prowess in front of her, she simply couldn't accept it.
All this time, Kashiwagi Eri had viewed Demon King as a rival—a slightly stronger opponent, but one still within reach.
She had always believed that he was merely a step ahead of her, and she had worked hard to surpass him, to win just once.
But now, she realized the gap between them was immense; so vast that all she could see in the distance was a tiny speck that was him.
In that moment, she felt like a clown, completely played for a fool. It was as if she had been betrayed.
No, in a sense, it was a betrayal.
The two of them had attended the same elementary school, and for about half a year, the same middle school before he transferred.
She had known that Yazuki had a solid foundation in art, and she had even tried to pull him into the illustrator community. But he had refused, claiming he was just a hedonist who couldn't be bothered with something so tedious.
And now, she was absolutely furious.
Just as Eriri was about to erupt in irrational frustration, a maid arrived with an announcement—she had a visitor.
A visitor?
Who?
When Eriri reached the entrance, she saw a fellow blonde girl.
The girl was drenched in sweat.
"Eriri, let me crash at your place for the night. You don't mind, do you?"
The visitor—Gabriel—looked completely exhausted, her face pale, and her small hands were constantly scratching here and there. On her fair skin, several mosquito bites were visible.
"Uh… of course I don't mind, but… you—"
What happened to you?
Did you become homeless?
Why did you travel all the way here?
At this hour, there shouldn't even be any trains running.
Then, glancing at the side, she noticed a bicycle with nearly worn-out tires.
Wait… did she ride all the way here? That's insane!
What the hell happened to her? She was only wearing a simple white one-piece dress.
Eriri was starting to worry about her friend.
But before she could finish her sentence, Gabriel gleefully pounced toward her, attempting to nuzzle her affectionately.
Seeing the large droplets of sweat flying through the air, Eriri panicked and held out her hands to stop her.
"W-Wah! You're all sticky and gross!!!"
Her hands, upon touching Gabriel, were instantly soaked in sweat, making Eriri feel like she was about to faint.
She was a girl, for god's sake!
And she was so well-dressed, adorable to the point of being almost illegal!
But Gabriel was way too messy and unkempt right now!
"Go take a shower, right now!"
"We can talk about that later! First, let's go play in your room!!"
"Wait—Gabriel!!"
She ran off at an unbelievable speed, completely lacking any sense of restraint.
Eriri was speechless.
Wait… Yazuki was still in her room!
Last time Gabriel had kicked him so hard he almost didn't survive…
Would they end up fighting again?
Panicking, Eriri quickly chased after her.
BAM—
The door to her room was forcefully pushed open.
"Haaah—bless this world with all its wonders~"
The intruder entered with a satisfied sigh and casually shut the door behind her.
And then, in the very next second…
She stripped off her sweaty dress, flung it aside, and with a flick of her foot, her panties went flying.
Flying… flying…
—Wait.
In that instant, Gabriel, who had been happily throwing herself into what she thought was an empty embrace, suddenly froze in place.
It was as if time itself had stopped.
Because… her panties had flown directly toward someone.
"I was just about to say, Eriri—"
The voice belonged to Yazuki, who had just finished recreating the artwork.
As he turned his head to speak to Eriri—
SMACK.
Something landed right on his face.
…What was this?
Taking it off, he unfolded the soft, white cotton fabric.
It was…
A triangular piece of underwear?
Ah.
No doubt about it.
Panties.
And not just any panties, these were freshly worn panties.
W-Wait… what the hell was going on?!
Since when did Eriri get so bold?!
Was she trying to scare him to death?!
Just as Yazuki hesitantly shifted his gaze toward the direction the flying object had come from—
A delicate foot came zooming toward him.
BAM—!
The powerful kick connected directly with his face, sending a shockwave through his skull before launching him straight into the wall.
"AAAAAHHH—Gabriel, are you trying to kill him?!"
"Relax, he won't die. That was just a memory-wiping technique. He'll lose the last ten minutes of his memory—probably."
"Probably?! Don't look away! And you kicked him, didn't you?!"