Didn't get much out of senpai about his thing with Horie-san that day. Not 'cause he flat-out refused to talk about it—he just smoothly redirected the conversation back to our club, like a pro at dodging personal shit. And honestly? I wasn't even mad about it. At some point, I stopped caring about digging into his past. Just talking with him about anything felt like enough.
Anyway, even though we got back on topic, the whole discussion went nowhere. We spent the rest of the time complaining about how broke we were. Nanase-san wouldn't shut up about how senpai should track down his biological dad to fund us, which, as expected, made senpai go off about how she was violating his financial independence or whatever. Asakura-san kept trying to pitch ideas but would immediately take them back, second-guessing herself every damn time. And Inoue-san? She just kept reminding us she was fine with anything as long as she didn't have to do much work.
I had an idea in my head, but I knew senpai would never agree to it. So I kept my mouth shut, played along with the conversation, and waited for the right moment to drop it.
And that moment? It came when senpai wasn't around. He had work after school, so he was out of the picture.
Of course, Asakura-san hesitated the second I brought it up, looking way too worried about how hard senpai was gonna kill us for this. But Nanase-san and Inoue-san were immediately on board.
A doujinshi.
Not just any doujinshi, though—a BL doujinshi.
Pairing me and senpai.
Yeah. He's definitely gonna wreck our heads when he finds out. Which is why we had to move fast—get everything done before he could catch on. By the time he knew about it, it'd already be out in the world, too late for him to back out. He'd have to play along.
Now, I read manga sometimes, sure. But I've never been involved in actually making one. This was a first for me. I took charge of writing the story, while Nanase-san taught me about storyboarding and typesetting. Seemed simple at first, but damn, there was a lot to it—positioning, angles, movement… I dunno, I already forgot half of what she said.
Whenever I wasn't at basketball practice or pestering senpai at his job, I'd head to Nanase-san's house with the rest of the Nature Art Club to work on our masterpiece. And man, that's when I really got to see how ridiculously talented these girls were.
Inoue-san? Absolute beast at art. Her sketches to clean line art? Effortless. Like, damn. And Asakura-san? Her coloring, rendering, shading—everything was insane. Seriously, how did nobody notice how skilled these two were?
And so, after weeks of grinding… boom!
The first five chapters were finally done. Now, time to publish this bad boy.
Long story short, it's been a week since we dropped the prologue of our masterpiece online, and today, Nanase-san's gonna publish the first chapter. And man, the way people look at me and senpai now? Completely different.
Some furrow their brows like they just saw something fucked up. Some give those annoying, knowing smirks. But honestly? Me and the girls expected all that. Doesn't bother us one bit. Because mixed in with those judgmental looks are the ones that matter—the amused grins, the supportive nods, the girls giggling whenever I walk past with senpai.
Especially when I purposely lean into him just to see him react.
And react he does. Every single time. Either pushing me away like I've got the plague or giving me that glare that screams I'm gonna kill you, Hasegawa.
Which, let's be real, only makes it funnier.
Barely a week in, and our page is already blowing up—tons of likes, shares, comments rolling in non-stop. The engagement? Off the charts. We've got fangirls in the making, invested readers, and even fan theories popping up.
A damn good start.
But of course, as expected, this little project of ours ain't gonna stay under wraps forever. At some point, senpai's gonna find out.
How? No clue. But it's today, and I'm ready for it.
"Come on, senpai. Just look at it." I tap on the laptop screen, grinning like a salesman pitching the deal of a lifetime. "Can't you see how engaging the doujinshi is? If the engagement stays this good—or hell, even better—we've got a solid shot at making real money from this."
My confident smile stays locked in place, eyes glued to senpai, who's sitting across from me looking thoroughly unimpressed.
His thin brows are pulled together in that I'm-this-close-to-snapping way, arms crossed, back leaning against the steel chair like he's holding himself back from committing murder. Every few seconds, he shifts his glare to the others—Nanase-san and Inoue-san on my left, Asakura-san on my right—like he's waiting for someone to speak up and tell him this is all just a messed-up joke.
But nah, this is very real.