Crossover Anime: I'm Kasumigaoka Utaha's Brother

Page 99

"So, brother, go and see Sagiri privately. A girl like her isn't like Eriri, who wears her heart on her sleeve..."

As Utaha said, Izumi Sagiri has been here for quite some time, but she only talks a little more when drawing original artwork (doujinshi). The rest of the time... she usually puts on her hood and sits quietly next to Shiina Mashiro. The two of them are the type who don't talk much, so they naturally ended up together.

"Hmm." Baili Xiao responded softly, but her slightly furrowed brows did not relax—she had been busy with the "Your Name" animated film and hadn't noticed some very subtle changes in the members around her... She seemed somewhat incompetent in both her roles as "teacher" and "dormitory head."

(It's important to let more people get in touch with and fall in love with anime and manga, but the most important thing is the people around us...)

"I understand, I'll go take a look later."

...

On the second floor of another villa, standing in front of the door with the nameplate "Izumi Sagiri", Baili Xiao looked at his phone - the screen clearly showed that it was only 7:49 in the morning, and Sagiri was usually asleep at this time.

"Did I come at the wrong time?" Baili Xiao muttered to himself with a wry smile, shaking his head. "I'll just knock on the door anyway..."

He tapped his knuckles lightly against the door, making a knock that wouldn't wake someone who was sleeping. After a second or two of silence, Baili Xiao shrugged: "So they really are sleeping?"

"Thump, thump, thump!" A heavy thud, like something had fallen, came from the other side of the door, followed by a groan that sounded almost like crying: "Ugh!!!"

Putting aside Baili Xiao's exceptional hearing, even an ordinary person could clearly hear that Sagiri fell right next to the door; otherwise, she wouldn't have hit the door first and then fallen to the floor...

“Sagiri…” Baili Xiao’s lips twitched uncontrollably twice, and he raised his left eyebrow: “You just now…were you eavesdropping at the door? Only people from our studio can be around here, there’s no need to be…so vigilant, is there?”

"No, no! Teacher, don't think nonsense! Ouch, ouch, ouch... Wait a minute..." Another crash and exclamation seemed to echo from inside the room, followed by a series of rustling sounds—about half a minute later, the tightly closed door finally opened a crack...

"T-Teacher, is something the matter?" Izumi Sagiri's face peeked through the crack in the door. She was tucking her disheveled hair behind her ear as she breathlessly asked Hyakuri Akira—her bright, darting eyes seemed to hint at something unspeakable: "There's a secret in my room..."

"What? Can't I come see you if there's nothing wrong?" With a mischievous smile, Bai Lixiao looked up at Sagiri, peering through the crack in the door—but unfortunately, although it was already bright outside, the curtains in the room were clearly drawn tightly shut, so even with Bai Lixiao's sharp eyes, he couldn't see anything beyond "the pink, chubby girl under the blanket"...

Huh? A pink, chubby word?! I think I've seen something incredible...

"Yes, of course! You're always welcome if you'd like to come, teacher..." Trying to regulate her breathing, Izumi Sagiri took a deep breath, her mind racing with questions like, "There shouldn't be anything shameful here, right? I should have put everything away." She then gave an embarrassed smile: "The room... might be a little messy. If you don't mind, teacher, please come in and sit down..."

"Well, I'm sorry to have bothered you."

Chapter 0281: Izumi Sagiri's latest manga!

"Teacher, would you like some tea? Or... how about coffee? Or juice would be fine too, I'll go get it for you!"

As Baili Xiao entered the room, her eyes kept glancing at a certain spot, Izumi Sagiri finally noticed something was wrong—under the bulging, voluminous bedding, which was completely contrary to the "neatly folded" appearance, a corner of the pink chubby girl that had been hastily hidden earlier was peeking out!

More importantly, the exposed corner is quite...embarrassing—please don't misunderstand, this is a clean, chubby line that smells like laundry detergent, completely unlike the "sexy" scent you might imagine...

Even so, it was enough to make Izumi Sagiri so ashamed that she died on the spot!

"Waaaaah~" Whether it was Baili Xiao's imagination or not, he seemed to hear the faint sound of boiling water coming from the void. He looked up from the bed at Izumi Sagiri—and sure enough, the small face hidden beneath her silver-white hair was now flushed with an almost sickly redness...

"No, this is, that, actually, I..." Completely unable to express what she wanted to say, and even accidentally biting her tongue in the process, Izumi Sagiri waved her small hands meaninglessly in front of her while moving towards the bedside with small but rapid steps.

Fortunately, to her relief, Baili Xiao turned his gaze in another direction, and judging from his expression, he was completely captivated: "Sagiri, is this your latest manga?"

"Huh? What?" The sudden question startled Sagiri—her stiff little hands gripped the corner of the blanket, trying to pull it over to cover her embarrassing parts—her blue eyes stared blankly at Hyakuri Xiao's hands.

Before anyone knew it, a thick stack of drawings appeared in Baili Xiao's hands!

"No! Teacher! That's not finished yet! Please don't look!" Upon realizing what Bai Lixiao was holding, Izumi Sagiri, whose small frame barely reached Bai Lixiao's shoulder, unleashed boundless energy—she took a large stride to Bai Lixiao's side and reached out to snatch the drawings!

But...some tragic facts can't be changed just because "you think it's possible"—Baili Xiao raised her arm, and no matter how much Izumi Sagiri jumped, no matter how hard she stretched her fair arm, she couldn't shorten the distance to even less than thirty centimeters...1

"Aaaaah! Teacher, you're bullying me! I can't look at those things, I really can't look at them..." Realizing her "forced" attempt was futile, tears welled in Izumi Sagiri's large eyes. Her small hands clenched into fists, and she repeatedly pounded on Hyakuri Akira's chest: "I don't care, Teacher is a bad guy, a complete and utter bad guy!"

"Hey, is my evaluation really that bad?" Even knowing this was just Sagiri saying in anger, Hyakuri Akatsuki couldn't help but retort—then she put down the drawing, chuckled, and said, "Isn't it actually quite good? Both the brushstrokes and style are very different from before, a significant improvement. It's just that the storyline... cough cough!"

Bai Lixiao coughed awkwardly twice and turned her face away, while Izumi Sagiri's reaction was far more obvious—her cheeks flushed red as she lowered her head, the hood of her clothes pulled up at some point, obscuring her silver hair—although the artwork was now within her "easily obtainable" reach,...whether she got it back or not was no longer important...1

(The teacher found out...the teacher found out...) Zero

...five

My name is Baili Xiao, and I have a half-sister named Izumi Sagiri. As a completely unknown light novel author, I one day discovered that my sister is actually "Eromanga Sensei," the illustrator of my novels!

And this is the story between my sister and me!

Upon seeing the text in the comic's cover description, Baili Xiao's lips twitched involuntarily—if he wasn't mistaken, he had likely seen this comic story by Izumi Sagiri before... no, no, he definitely had!

...However, the male protagonist isn't named "Baili Xiao"...

"Teacher, this, this is just something I doodled casually when I was bored. You don't need to look at it so closely, in fact... it shouldn't be seen by you at all, so please don't look any further!"

As Baili Xiao's gaze kept moving across the four-panel comic, Izumi Sagiri's expression became increasingly interesting—well... how to put it, it was like a conflicted look of "not wanting to be seen by others, but also hoping to be seen by others"!

(Hyakuri-sensei saw it! He really saw it... I should be excited about this! After all, the reason I drew this comic in the first place was to let the teacher see it—but why do I want to crawl into a hole right now?!)

Izumi Sagiri's cheeks grew increasingly red—she was thinking about what was inside...

The entire manga—though only the very beginning has been drawn so far—until it consistently portrays how much the older brother, Hyakuri Akira, dotes on and loves his younger sister, Izumi Sagiri, while Sagiri secretly harbors feelings for her brother... This is indeed what Izumi Sagiri longs for and fantasizes about, however...

[The person in question was watching this comic book in front of her]—this was something she had never imagined!

"Ahem!" After an unknown amount of time—Sagiri, whose little head was almost boiling over, had no sense of time at this point—Hyakuri Akira finally put down the sketch in his hand, coughed lightly as if embarrassed, and focused his eyes on Sagiri.

Feeling the gaze from above, Sagiri lowered her hooded head even further—a warm hand suddenly landed on it, making her stiffen completely, and she even subconsciously forgot to breathe...

"It's really good! Putting aside your drawing skills, the plot development alone is so captivating that it makes you want to turn the page. If it were published, I think it would receive a lot of support and love!"

Bai Lixiao grinned as he touched the ground through his hood with his right hand and asked Sagiri, "So, do you want to release it as a standalone volume, or will you serialize it online or in a magazine for the time being?"

"T-Teacher...you...you don't dislike this manga?!" Looking at Baili Xiao with disbelief, Izumi Sagiri raised her head, her eyes gleaming with an unknown light. "The story inside is just something I imagined; it's completely unrealistic. How could someone like that..."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" The smile gradually disappeared, and Baili Xiao revealed a rare serious, even stern, look: "Any story in the world of anime and manga originates from the imagination of its creators! Without imagination, how boring it would be!"

"Besides, your story isn't entirely made up, is it? 'Hyakuri Akatsuki' and 'Izumi Sagiri' are real people; you just created them!"

"So don't doubt yourself or your creations! I fully support you continuing to create, but 420..." Baili Xiao smiled awkwardly, her fingertips tracing her cheek, "If Shi Yu or anyone else saw this comic, cough cough, I'm afraid the content would cause great discomfort..."

"Ha, haha..." Izumi Sagiri let out a dry laugh, as if to say, "What are you talking about? I don't really understand," and her eyes involuntarily turned away, avoiding Bai Lixiao's gaze—deep down, she could already imagine Kasumigaoka Utaha's reaction when she saw this manga...

(It must be a cold smile on his lips as he stands up and walks to my side, patting my shoulder lightly but actually quite heavily, and saying in an unyielding tone, "Sagiri, come with me, there's something I want to talk to you about..." Hmm! That must be it!)

"But it's okay, I believe everyone will support you! How about this, once you've finished one volume of this manga, publish it under your own name. I'll contact Ms. Kousaka and Ms. Sonoko then and have them prepare everything, okay?"

"Huh? Huh?! If the teacher thinks it's okay... then let's do it like this..." Bai Lixiao's words startled Sagiri. In fact, her main purpose in drawing this manga was to "vent" her fantasies, and whether it was published or not really didn't matter.

"So..."

Baili Xiao smiled slightly, neatly gathered the artwork and placed it aside, then extended her right hand to Izumi Sagiri: "Let's put the manga aside for now and come with me, Sagiri. I imagine everyone is waiting for us now, right?"

"Wait for us?"

"Yes, because we're going on a group trip to a really far place—a relaxing vacation after 'Your Name' ends. The destination is..."

"Totsuki Academy!"

Chapter 0282 The match between Muse and Tianyi Aya!

"Baili-kun, it's rare that you invited me on this trip..."

Her words carried an extremely obvious sense of complaint—one could feel the deep resentment in the speaker's voice—Machida Sonoko squinted at Hyakuri Akira not far away, gave a soft snort, turned her face away, and turned her gaze to Tojo Nozomi, who was chatting with Ayase Eli behind her: "Nozomi-chan! It's been so long, have you missed me!"

Whether others noticed or not, at least Ayase Eli, who was talking to Tojo Nozomi, could clearly see that the former's delicate body visibly trembled a few times when Machida Sonoko spoke—not only that, but her previously relaxed and carefree smile on her fair face also froze for a moment, and even... black lines appeared on her forehead...

(Eri, please help me...)

Nozomi Tojo's large eyes, gleaming with the afterglow of the sun, clearly conveyed her distress message to Eli Ayase, hoping the latter could help her "defend" against Sonoko Machida's "attack." However, to Nozomi's surprise... Eli Ayase actually chuckled dryly and took a step back, conveniently clearing a path for Sonoko Machida!

(Sorry, I can't do anything about Ms. Sonoko...)

Eli Ayase gave Nozomi Tojo a helpless look, then turned to look at her companion, frowning in confusion: "Maki? Where's Nico? Didn't she come out with you?"

Nico Yazawa and Maki Nishikino's rooms are next to each other, and lately the two have usually appeared together, whether it's for meals, training, or chatting. It's rare to see Maki alone.

"Her?" Nishikino Maki adjusted the buttons on the back of her white hat, tilted her head, and thought for a moment. "I wonder what she's doing. When she came out this morning, she said something like, 'Ah, I forgot something in my room, Maki, you go ahead, I'll be right there!' and ran back to her room. I guess..."

Before Maki could finish speaking, her red eyes spotted a furtive figure.

His body was bundled up so much that it could be described as "bulky," wearing a baseball cap that covered half his head, large black sunglasses, and a white mask... To call him "suspicious" would be an understatement; simply put, he was the kind of person who, "anyone who saw him would naturally think, 'This is a bad guy.'"

"Nicole... what are you doing, meow?" Hoshizora Rin also noticed Nicole's figure—she first looked Nicole up and down suspiciously, then walked over and sniffed her scent before confirming the identity of the person in front of her as "Yazawa Nicole": "Why are you dressed so... uh, so strangely, meow?"

I originally wanted to describe Group 852 as "weird", but considering that Nico might have her own thoughts, I subtly changed it to "alternative"... However, even this subtle reminder clearly elicited a considerable reaction from Yazawa Nico.

"Alternative?!" Yazawa Nico's eyes widened—unseen by the others because of her sunglasses—she first pointed her index finger to her own nose, then circled it over everyone else: "I'd like to ask you all! Don't you have any self-awareness at all?"

"I...I'm aware!" Startled by Nico's sudden outburst of confidence, Hoshizora Rin swallowed hard and took a step back. After confirming several times that her attire was normal, she awkwardly scratched her head and asked, "Meow? You mean...?"

"Look at what you're wearing! You're not even trying to disguise yourselves! Have you forgotten that you're idol singers?" Nicole stood with her hands on her hips, looking quite self-righteous. "Once we get off the plane, we'll probably be surrounded by fans! Because our schedule and flight details for today have likely already been leaked online by some people!"

"What if some irrational fans do something outrageous—like pushing through the crowd for autographs or photos—how do we handle that? How...?"

"Boom!"

"Well!"

A sudden, sharp pain in her head interrupted Yazawa Nico's words. She crouched on the ground, clutching her head with both hands. Her trembling shoulders showed just how intense the pain was (Nicole Limited Edition - Head-Holding Crouch Defense).

"Nicole! Didn't I warn you about this before?" Yue Zhengling, dressed in a red and white outfit, stepped out from behind Nicole, her expression focused and serious. After Muse held a solo concert and their fame skyrocketed, some members of Muse became arrogant, and the most arrogant and undisguised of them all was Yazawa Nicole.

Scrolling through Weibo—with the intention of "showing off," people post about their daily lives on Weibo, even sharing their daily training sessions online!

She secretly created a fan group, and the condition for joining was that "you can like other members of Muse, but you must think Nicole is the cutest!"

In addition, there were many other small actions—of course, these "small actions" would not harm the interests of others or the studio at all—because of this, for a long time before, Nicole's training progress was much slower than others, and even showed a trend of "getting slower and slower"!

Upon discovering this, Yue Zhengling gave her a stern lecture. After all, Baili Xiao had entrusted her with matters concerning the training of Muse, and she would never, and did not want to, disappoint Baili Xiao.

But today... Nico Yazawa has fallen back into her "I'm a popular idol singer" habit. It seems that force won't solve this problem!

"I admit that you have become a popular idol group now, and your number of fans is increasing every day, but... the last thing a qualified idol singer should have is 'arrogance and complacency'!"

"Vocal is a long-established group, known as a 'legend' and 'trendsetter' in the pop music industry! They were a sensation from the moment they released their first single, and their popularity remains undiminished even now. Why? Because they genuinely love music and enjoy singing their own songs to everyone, instead of doing things like autograph sessions, fan meetings, and announcements!"

"You are a new group, so it's natural that you have a lot of popularity. But I hope you won't be arrogant, and that you won't forget what you should really be doing as singers!"

"Moreover... our teacher is Baili Xiao. With her talent in music, I believe that as long as you work hard, you can definitely reach a level comparable to, or even surpass, the Vocaloid family!"

After speaking in one breath, Yue Zhengling took a few deep breaths and gradually calmed her rapidly heaving chest. She had wanted to say these words to the Muse members for a long time, but she had been unable to say them because she was mindful of their self-esteem.

As a senior artist, she had seen too many singers become complacent after their debut, only to disappear from the music scene in the end. As the teacher entrusted by Baili Xiao, she didn't want to see her juniors in the same studio follow in their footsteps...

To her relief, her words clearly had an effect—both Nicole and the others lowered their heads and reflected on the subtle changes in their mindset over this period of time (damn).

Making mistakes isn't scary; what's scary is not recognizing your mistakes, isn't it?

"Tap tap tap!" The silence of the crowd made the footsteps behind Yue Zhengling particularly noticeable. A fair arm suddenly wrapped around Yue Zhengling's waist, and Luo Tianyi, with her gray hair braided into a small braid, swayed back and forth. She appeared in everyone's sight with a playful smile.

Raising a slender, fair finger, Luo Tianyi's gesture drew everyone's attention.

"Hey! Mr. Baili said that Aya and I will form an idol group in the future. Do you want to have a competition with us then?"