Chapter 3: Comic Market?

"Hold on, Kotori. What else did Mana ask you to do?"

Shido asked with concern.

"Yes, such as checking Oni-chan's cell phone to see if you got any girl's contact, stalking Oni-chan to see if you were flirting with other girls, giving Oni-chan a massage when you get home, and helping Oni-chan take a bath together!"

Kotori answered truthfully.

"Uh... Except for the third one, the rest of them are ridiculous! Don't tell me you really want to do it!"

Shido asked with a troubled look.

"Certainly!"

Kotori nodded.

"Don't listen to Mana, none of these are a little sister's responsibilities...except that massage!"

Shido said seriously. Of course, he also had a little selfishness, and he was still very interested in his beloved sister's massage.

"But Mana told me to do them all."

Kotori said hesitantly.

"You don't have to listen to her, listen to me!"

Shido shook his head. Although he hadn't seen Mana for a long time and he missed her, he wouldn't be on her side on this matter.

"But Mana is Oni-chan's biological sister..."

Kotori frowned. In fact, Mana Takamiya was not a Spirit. The reason that she lived with them was simply because she was Shido's little sister.

All the Spirits got along with her except for Kurumi, who always quarreled with her for trivial matters.

Of course, there was also Miku, who always wanted to find a chance to touch her body. She had set this goal for herself: Make both the brother and sister hers! In fact, she had already accomplished half of it, so she was all set on completing the other half.

"Mana is my little sister, but that doesn't mean she's your older sister. In terms of relationship, I'm still closer to you, so you should listen to me!"

Shido said in a straightforward manner.

"Yes, I understand..."

Kotori nodded half-comprehensively, as if she had been swept in, but thinking about it carefully, of course, the words of Oni-chan were more important than the words of Oni-chan's sister.

"That's good..."

Shido let out a sigh of relief as he finally made it clear to Kotori.

After saying a few words to Kotori to make sure she understood his words, he left the house and went to school alone.

While Shido was walking, he noticed many of his classmates were naturally on the same path together, so he had a hunch that he would also run into people he knew.

Sure enough, he soon saw a familiar figure. He hesitated for a while, but decided to go up and say hello:

"Umaru, good morning..."

"Good morning, the guy who ditched his friend for his girlfriend!"

Umaru-chan gritted her teeth. It was obvious that she was very dissatisfied. Shido asked her to work in a dessert shop yesterday, but when she was done with the interview, she only saw Yukino Yukinoshita and Mai Sakurajima, meaning that Shido had already gone on a date with Yoshino.

"Uh... how was the interview yesterday?"

Shido naturally understood why the other party was unhappy, but he did not explain much, but changed the subject.

"Failed!"

Umaru said calmly.

"How come?"

Shido looked at her in disbelief. After all, Umaru was in her model student form, not the Chibi form, so how could she fail?

Moreover, the store manager was even willing to hire Gabriel, so how could he refuse Umaru? Could it be that Umaru was even more useless than Gabriel?

"I feel like you're making fun of me in your mind, but I can assure you that the manager said that Gabriel's on-duty hours were extended, so there were no vacancies for the employees in the store. As a result, they have no idea of hiring new workers for the time being."

Umaru-chan explained with a wry smile. Although it wasn't her problem, the feeling of failing the interview was really uncomfortable.

"Then what are you going to do?"

Shido asked curiously.

"Nothing, I decided to stay at home!"

Umaru-chan said firmly. Well, she was just lazy.

"No, have you forgotten what I said yesterday?"

Shido rejected it.

"But, I don't want to go to the interview anymore..."

Umaru-chan said with an embarrassed look on her face.

"You can find a job that doesn't require an interview!"

Shido suggested.

"Is there such a job?"

Umaru asked curiously.

"Well...I don't know one right now, but I'm sure there will be..."

Shido said with a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Then tell me when you find it!"

Umaru said in a sullen tone.

"In addition to not needing an interview, do you have any other requirements?"

Shido asked. If it was just keeping an eye on the job notification, he would still be willing to help; after all, he believed that it was really important for Umaru to get a job. Unless…she was a brother-con that wanted to marry her Oni-chan…

"Emmmm...A job that can easily make a lot of money without an interview. It's better to do nothing and collect money while lying down."

Umaru-chan said a lot of impossible requests in one breath.

"There is probably only one occupation that can meet this requirement."

Shido said with a sigh.

"What occupation?"

Umaru-chan asked curiously. If there was such a job, she was really very interested!

"Prosti..."

Shido responded slowly.

"Stop, I see what you're thinking, pervert!"

Umaru gritted her teeth and yelled. It would be unacceptable to think about this kind of thing.

But after thinking about it, Umaru asked again:

"If I really do it... will Shido be my first client?"

"Not interested!"

Shido said very seriously. He didn't expect the other party to really think about it. He felt deeply troubled that his words might lead a young maiden astray.

"Is that so..."

Umaru-chan seemed to be disappointed, though she didn't know what she was disappointed in.

"Whatever. As for a job that does not require an interview, I will help you find it. Of course, it is a proper job!"

Shido said quickly. He didn't want the other party to really consider such a method, though it would earn a lot of quick cash…

"Are you looking for a job without an interview? I happen to have one here, are you interested?"

A familiar voice came from behind, and it was obvious that the owner of the voice heard what she said just now, but Shido had no interest in the work she said, because he believed that the work she said was not proper at all!

Shido turned around and saw that his guess was correct. Behind him was Eriri Kashiwagi, the infamous doujin artist, who was up to no good in the job she offered.

But Umaru didn't know Eriri, and even if she did, she didn't know that she was a doujin artist, so she asked curiously:

"Who is this...?"

"I'm Eriri, Shido's friend."

Eriri replied with a smile.

"So, what's your job?"

Shido asked for help. If it was a lewd job, he wouldn't let Umaru try it.

"Mannequins..."

Eriri said softly.

"No!"

Shido resolutely denied it

"Why not?"

Eriri asked in confusion.

"Yeah, why not?"

Umaru also did not understand.

"Is your mannequin wearing clothes or not?"

Shido asked directly.

"Sometimes..."

Eriri replied casually.

"Then it's a no go! You want to draw her... in 'that'!"

Shido said vaguely, after all, Umaru didn't know about doujins, and it was obvious that Eriri didn't want others to know her secret identity.

"Wait, I'm talking about the mannequins for the art club!"

Eriri said angrily. She naturally understood what Shido was talking about. Of course, she really wanted to find such a model, but she couldn't find it.

"That's even worse, there are so many people in the art club."

Shido shook his head. There would be men and women in the same room, how could that be good?

In fact, if a girl was used as a model, the club would prepare a classroom with only girls, but Shido, who rarely showed up for meetings, did not know abuot this.

"All right..."

Eriri nodded in disappointment.

Umaru-chan didn't have any issues with Shido's decision either. She couldn't accept being a mannequin or something, so it would have been better if Shido turned it down for her.

"What if it's a CM's job?"

Eriri asked a little suddenly.

"What is 'CM'?"

Shido didn't understand.

"Is it 'Comic Market'?"

Umaru-chan asked with bright eyes.

"That's right."

Eriri nodded affirmatively.

"Are you going to be exhibiting at 'Comic Market'?"

Umaru-chan asked excitedly. For an Otaku girl like her, she naturally loved Comic Market very much, but unfortunately she has no other friends to go with, and going to this kind of place with her brother might be a bit weird.

"Well, are you coming to work?"

Eriri asked softly. Although she had always asked her mother to find people, if she could find some by herself, she would feel a lot better about this.

"Yes!"

Umaru-chan nodded without the slightest hesitation. Being able to work at Comic Market was naturally the best thing for her.

But she didn't seem to have thought that the three-day work at ComicMarket was countless times harder than other jobs!

"That's not good for her..."

On the contrary, Shido was a little hesitant. After all, he probably knew what Eriri was going to sell. It would be inappropriate to ask an underage girl to sell her work.

"What's the problem? The rules say that underage people can't buy doujins, but no rules say that they can't sell them!"

Eriri said naturally.

"Forget it. Umaru, you can decide for yourself..."

Shido nodded helplessly. If it was Eriri, he could actually rest assured.

"Of course I'm going to try it."

Umaru-chan nodded affirmatively.

"Then I'll pre-order you. Is Shido coming?"

Eriri asked Shido next.

"No."

Shido shook his head firmly. Of course he didn't want to go; after all, ComicMarket would last for three days. Even if he agreed, the Spirit would not agree, so it was impossible for him.

"Is that so..."

Although Eriri was a little disappointed, she also understood the situation of Shido, and she didn't say anything, but simply exchanged contact information with Umaru.

After learning that the other party was also an Otaku girl, Eriri became very happy. After all, she didn't know many girls like her. Utaha Kasumigaoka was one of them, but that girl would only quarrel with her. But now, she would be making friends with one that she got along with.

"I can feel somebody talking ill of me, is that you?"

"Utaha Kasumigaoka!"

Eriri gritted her teeth and turned around. To her distaste, Utaha came to her side, and more importantly...

She was really talking ill about the other party, but she didn't expect her to find out!

"What is the relationship between this lovely girl and you, Shido-kun?"

Utaha ignored Eriri, but asked Shido curiously.

"Friends."

Shido replied simply.

"Are you just friends? I always feel that Shido-kun has a lot of friends, and they are all very cute girls..."

Utaha said with a smile that didn't seem like a smile.

"Not at all..."

Shido replied casually. He also understood what the other party meant. In fact, he felt the same way, but just like the Spirits said, it was crazy that he could easily attract many cute girls. If he hadn't been living carefully, there would be even more girls around.

"Forget it, this is not something I should be concerned about. As long as your girlfriends can accept it, it's fine..."

Utaha also knew her place very well. If Shido said that Umaru-chan was just a friend, she had no reason to probe deeper.

"Hello, Kasumigaoka-senpai..."

Umaru-chan said politely. Umaru was a well-known author in this school, and when she came to the classroom to find Shido, she witnessed the whole thing, so she was very curious about her, or more specifically, the relationship between the two.

"Umaru-chan, right? Shido-kun and I are co-workers!"

Utaha said with a smile, obviously she guessed what Umaru was thinking.

"Co-workers? In what?"

Umaru-chan asked curiously.

"Didn't he tell you? We are light novelists from the same library!"

Utaha explained softly. She knew that Shido wouldn't mind, so she said it without worries.

"Shido, are you a light novelist?"

Umaru-chan asked with bright eyes.

"Um."

Shido nodded embarrassedly.

"What work?"

Umaru asked again.

"Smartphone Man!"

Shido said softly.

"So that was your work! I was planning to go to the Autograph Signing Event a few days ago..."

Umaru-chan said regretfully, but in fact the real reason why she wanted to go was not because of the novel, but like most people, it was because of the illustrator named Nia Honjo.

PS: Happy weekend.