Crossover Anime: Edit everything, join the chat group

Page 52

[Observer]: That's right. But the template itself isn't important. What's important is whether the appearance of this "reborn one" will "disrupt the normal course of the world, causing it to slide into chaos and destruction." Aron's revenge clearly fits this criterion.

Gu Chuan looked at the screen and said, word by word:

[Observer]: Little Cat Burglar, Nami, remember this. Although Arlong is dead, we haven't yet found the unknown, fundamental "anomaly" that caused his "rebirth." In other words, the crisis in your world is not truly over. Stay vigilant at all times.

Gu Chuan's words made the previously relaxed and enthusiastic atmosphere in the group become serious again.

Jingle Bell--

Just then, the school bell rang at the perfect moment, signaling the end of the school term at Shuchiin Academy.

[Observer]: Ah, school's out, see you all later.

[Butterfly Dance]: I also need to process some medicinal herbs. Excuse me, everyone.

Rin Tohsaka: Farewell!

The girls said goodbye and logged off, returning to their daily lives.

The chat group returned to silence.

However, a new storm surrounding the "reborn" and the "unknown anomaly" is quietly brewing beneath the surface.

The invitation from a 90s loser and the stolen childhood sweetheart

The school bell, like a spell breaking free from its restraints, rekindled the youthful energy of Shuchiin Academy.

Eriri dawdled as she packed her bag, deliberately lagging behind the crowd. When she reached the familiar cherry blossom tree, their "secret meeting place," sure enough, that figure was already waiting there.

Gu Chuan leaned against the tree trunk, the afterglow of the setting sun casting a long shadow over his black school uniform, which seemed to be tinged with a gentle gold.

"You're here?" He saw her and a gentle smile appeared on his face.

"Hmph, it's your honor to have kept you waiting." Eriri turned her head away and responded in her signature arrogant tone, but her slightly reddened ears and uncontrollably upturned lips had already betrayed her inner excitement.

"Yes, yes, it's my pleasure." Gu Chuan smiled and agreed, then took out a beautifully packaged art book from behind him. "Here, a gift for you, chief art consultant. I guess Ms. Kashiwagi Eri will like this style."

The cover of the art book features the signed debut work of Eriri's most admired, lesser-known illustrator.

"You...how could you...?!" Eriri stared in disbelief at the rare art book she had been searching for for so long. Not only did he remember her casually mentioned hobby, but he had actually found it!

"I-I'm not happy because of that!" She snatched the art book, hugging it tightly like a kitten guarding its food, her face flushed as she retorted, "I-I just think...you, as the department head, have finally done something decent! I'll reluctantly acknowledge your work!"

Her adorable, contradictory expression made Gu Chuan's smile deepen. He knew that for this proud, blonde, twin-tailed young lady, no amount of verbal comfort would be as effective as a gift that touched her heart.

The two of them walked side by side on the slope bathed in golden sunlight, playing and joking around.

Just as Eriri was complaining about Gu Chuan's "bad sense of humor" and waving her little fists to hit him, a bicycle suddenly rushed down the slope at an extremely fast speed without warning, like a runaway wild horse!

"careful!"

Gu Chuan's eyes instantly turned sharp.

He didn't even have time to think; his body reacted instinctively. He suddenly stretched out his long arm and pulled Eriri, who was still playfully fighting beside him, into his firm embrace, fiercely and without a trace of tenderness!

"ah!"

Eriri felt a sudden dizziness as her nose bumped against a warm and reassuring "wall." In her ears, she heard the sharp screech of brakes from the bicycle and the boy's angry shouts as it whizzed past the spot where she had just been standing.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Eriri's mind went blank. She could clearly hear the steady, powerful heartbeat beside her. She could smell the comforting scent emanating from him, a blend of faint soap and sunshine.

The shock of the sudden danger was instantly replaced by a stronger emotion called "throbbing" and "moved".

At this moment, her heart, which belonged to the "loser," was completely and tenderly captured.

Her cheeks flushed bright red, as if they were about to explode. Her expression, which always carried a hint of arrogance and awkwardness, slowly melted away, becoming incredibly gentle and submissive.

At the same time, the owner of the bicycle finally stopped not far away.

Aki Tomoya.

He gripped the handlebars, panting heavily. When he saw the two people embracing tightly, his pupils suddenly contracted!

A cold torrent, indescribable in words, a mixture of jealousy, anger, and immense loss, instantly overwhelmed his heart!

It is him again!

It's Gu Chuan again!

Why! Why does he always appear by her side like an invincible hero?!

Uncontrollably, memories of the past, long buried deep within Aki Tomoya's mind, surfaced...

In elementary school, he and Eriri were best childhood friends. They discussed the latest anime together, shared each other's artwork, and were each other's only kindred spirits who could understand each other's "otaku" world.

However, as they progressed through the grades, their classmates began to look at them, these "homebodies," with strange and ostracized eyes.

Faced with pressure, Eriri chose to back down. She cut off her signature twin tails, began to conform to the masses, and tried her best to play the role of an "ordinary" and popular popular girl. Gradually, she distanced herself from him and from the world they both loved.

But he, Aki Tomoya, chose to stick to his principles. He stubbornly believed that there was nothing wrong with liking what you like.

From that time onward, the two gradually drifted apart.

He believed that this was simply an inevitable part of growing up.

It wasn't until junior high that a transfer student named Gu Chuan appeared in Eriri's life.

He witnessed firsthand how easily Gu Chuan entered Eriri's tightly closed inner world. He even knew! He even knew Eriri's biggest secret, one that even her own parents had kept hidden—she was the legendary artist who had stirred up a storm in the doujinshi world, "Kashiwagi Eiri"!

That was their original, shared dream!

Why? !

Why should I, the earliest and only companion, be excluded?

Why is it that this guy who suddenly appeared out of nowhere is able to gain her complete trust and special treatment?

Aki Tomoya gripped the handlebars tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. He looked at Eriri, still held in Gu Chuan's arms, her face bearing an expression of happiness and shyness he had never seen before, and felt that something important in his heart had been completely and cruelly taken away.

It was a feeling of immense resentment and indignation, as if even the meaning of one's own existence had been denied.

He looked at the two of them, his gloomy eyes appearing particularly unsettling in the afterglow of the setting sun.

91 The stolen promise and the deserved end

Aki Tomoya's perspective.

My name is Aki Tomoya, an ordinary high school student who considers otaku culture a part of his life.

I once had a childhood friend named Eriri Sawamura Spencer. We were the only light in each other's worlds. In that small art studio filled with sweat and dreams, we made a promise to create the best doujinshi together, and to leave our legend in the holy war.

"Eri Kashiwagi," the pen name that would later resonate throughout the doujinshi community, was initially a secret and a promise between the two of us.

But she betrayed me.

The first time was in elementary school.

To fit into those damn "normies" groups, to escape the strange looks from those who stared at her because she was an "otaku," she cut off our favorite golden twin tails, packed away all her comics and art supplies, and said goodbye to me with a fake smile. She personally left me alone on that isolated island called "otaku."

I thought this was just part of growing up.

Until that man appeared—Gu Chuan.

He was like a 23-year-old, all-powerful transfer student who suddenly appeared out of nowhere in a shonen manga. He easily broke through Eriri's thick layer of pretense and entered the inner world she had tightly closed off to me.

Then, I was betrayed a second time.

I discovered that Gu Chuan not only had a close relationship with the "popular" Eriri, but he even... knew about the existence of "Kashiwagi Eri"! He brazenly walked into that art studio that should have belonged only to the two of us, a place filled with dreams and promises! He even became the new guardian of the secret of "Kashiwagi Eri"!

Why?

That promise was clearly mine! That dream was clearly ours!

Jealousy, anger, resentment... all negative emotions, like venomous snakes, gnawed at my heart.

So I did something that, in retrospect, was both foolish and pathetic.

I thought that as long as I destroyed her fake "socially successful" facade and turned her back into that isolated "homebody" who could only rely on me, she would come back to my side.

So, I got my revenge on her.

Using my knowledge of her, I maliciously and anonymously exposed the secret that she was "Eri Kashiwagi" on the school forum. I even embellished the story, spreading many vicious rumors that she was "engaging in compensated dating to sell doujinshi."

The effect is immediate.

Eriri plummeted from the heights of fame to the depths of despair. The malice of the girls who envied her, the boys who secretly loved her—all turned into the sharpest blades, piercing her and leaving her wounded. Her desk was covered in graffiti, her locker overflowing with trash, and she was constantly pointed at and whispered about on the street… Once again, she was isolated by the entire world.

I hid in the shadows, watching her grow increasingly haggard and even develop psychological trauma. Instead of feeling the pleasure of revenge, I was filled with a twisted and morbid expectation.

I'm waiting for her to come to me, waiting for her to cry and say to me like she did when we were little, "Rinya, you're all I have left."

However, what I received was not her plea for help.

Instead, that man, once again, descended before her like a god.

I witnessed firsthand how Gu Chuan, with an undeniable and unyielding stance, shielded her from all the malice. In just one day, he made everyone involved in the bullying pay a heavy price, ensuring that no one in the entire school dared to cast even the slightest disrespectful glance at Eriri.

I lost again.

They lost badly, utterly and completely.

That day after school, I watched that man gently stroke her hair and pull her into his arms. Seeing that smile on her face, a smile she had never shown me before, filled with happiness and dependence, I felt my whole world collapse.

I rode my bicycle wildly through the streets like a madman. I didn't know where I was going; all I knew was that something important within me had been utterly and cruelly taken away.

Then, an out-of-control truck came straight at us.

In my last moments of consciousness, all I saw was their backs as they embraced tightly.

……

Aki Tomoya is dead.

He died in a regular traffic accident.

His death caused no ripples at Shuchiin Academy, like a pebble thrown into the ocean, not even creating a ripple. No one even felt sorry for him.

In the student council room, Gu Chuan listened to the news, calmly took a sip of black tea, and then silently commented in his heart.

"Damn."

Aki Tomoya's death was just a small episode in a peaceful daily life.

The activities of the "Super Love Club" continued in the student council room, proceeding in an orderly (in name only) manner.

"So, the final conclusion of this project is that as long as Yukino keeps her icy expression, she can effectively reduce the probability of being approached by men around her, thereby maintaining the psychological balance of romance within the club?" Yui Yuigahama asked, looking at Yukino's densely written report.

"This is the most scientific conclusion based on data analysis," Yukino said, adjusting her glasses expressionlessly.

"But...but then you won't be able to make any friends, Yukino!"

"I don't need friends."

"How could we not need it!"

Watching the two bickering as usual, Kato Megumi just smiled quietly, while Fujiwara Chika continued playing cat's cradle with "Cat Momo".

Gu Chuan leaned back on the sofa, his mind already wandering to the chat group 847 that belonged to another world.

[Little Thief Cat]: (Stretching) Woohoo~ I'm finally awake~ It feels like I had a really, really long dream...

Nami is finally online.

[Cat Burglar]: Observer! You bastard! What did you do to me while I was unconscious?!

Her half-coquettish, half-questioning remark instantly created a subtle atmosphere in the group chat.

[Observer]: I just checked your body to see if there were any lasting effects.

[Cat Thief]: Do I need to be taken back to my room for a medical checkup?! (Angry emoji)

[Observer]: Your room is well-lit, making it easy to observe.

Gu Chuan skillfully changed the subject and directly opened his private chat with Nami.

[Observer]: So? Are you satisfied with my "imprint"?

[Little Thief Cat]: (blushing) ...Hmph! Who, who's satisfied! You...clumsy...bastard!

[Observer]: Oh? Is that so? Then next time, I'll show you what real "technology" is.

Seeing Nami's avatar instantly turn into an ellipsis, Gu Chuan's lips curled into a wicked smile.