[TSSIM] Chapter 452: Don't Underestimate an Editor

After breakfast.

"Alright, now that breakfast's over, tell me about your so-called wholesome comedy manga."

Ayano spoke while looking at Homura.

Cough! Cough! Cough!

Upon hearing Ayano's words, the girls coughed in unison, staring at Homura and Ayano with strange looks.

Wholesome comedy?

What?

Could she mean another manga and not WorldEnd?

Meanwhile, Ayano found the girls' reactions a bit odd and immediately felt something was off.

"Well, uhh… Elf, explain it." Homura passed the buck. "I didn't say anything about it being a wholesome comedy."

"What's there to talk about? Just read it directly!" Elf replied, dashing excitedly to Homura's room.

Before long, she returned with a thick stack of manga drafts.

Ayano: "…"

Seeing the thick stack of manga drafts, Ayano's mouth twitched before looking at Homura in shock.

"Homura... is this your new manga? Don’t tell me you’ve already finished it?!"

"Just a few days ago." Homura shrugged his shoulders.

"If you finished it, you should've told me!"

"I wasn't planning on releasing it soon, so I didn't tell you."

"In that case, what's this all about?"

"In short, Honoka found the drafts, and after everyone read it, they insisted I serialize it as soon as possible." Homura explained with his mouth twitching. "So, I wanted to ask you, what do you think about releasing it bi-weekly, alternating with the bi-weekly release of Love Live!?"

"Well, that could work... but let me take a look first."

Ayano grabbed the manga drafts of WorldEnd and took a look at them.

"Hmm, there's so much content. Luckily, today is Sunday... but since it's Sunday, I'll just consider myself an ordinary manga reader and not an editor."

"Wait... the title is so long, and just from it alone, it screams apocalypse..."

Ayano shot a strange look at Elf.

"You're telling me this is a manga about wholesome comedy?"

Upon hearing this, the girls also gave Elf strange looks, vaguely recalling how she had tried to trick them into drinking that awful vegetable juice in the past.

"Well, a wholesome comedy story in the apocalypse has more contrast, doesn't it?" Elf kept up her nonsense.

"Forget it, I'll just read it myself." Ayano shook her head and quickly dove into the manga.

Homura looked at Elf, speechless.

"Do you enjoy saying stuff like that?"

"Umu!" Elf nodded with pride.

"Ayano's not going to fall for your nonsense, but if you post that online, I bet a lot of people might actually believe you."

"Ohhh! What a great idea!" Elf's eyes lit up. "When the series starts, I'll spread the love to everyone!"

'Love my ass…' Homura rolled his eyes.

===

Half an hour later.

"Ayano, you keep an eye on things; we need to head out now."

Homura spoke to Ayano, who was completely absorbed in her reading.

After a while, Ayano finally waved her hand.

Homura shrugged and gestured for everyone in the voice actor group to follow him as he headed out.

"Hahh… it's a shame we can't see what Ayano-san looks like after finishing that manga..." Nico sighed, shaking her head.

"Are you enjoying the suffering of others?!" Homura exclaimed, looking speechless.

"Not at all! Just a little curious, okay!" Nico insisted, shaking her head again.

"Even if you can see, I guess she wouldn't have much of a reaction anyway… Don't underestimate an editor." Homura shrugged his shoulders.

For a moment, no one spoke anymore, and they quietly walked along the road.

Today, a few people recognized them, but surprisingly, no one approached and only took photos from afar.

Homura didn't stop them either.

Most of these people were just regular fans who simply liked the work and didn't seem too interested in the creators themselves, so taking photos was probably just a way to show off to their friends later.

"Now that I think about it, I realize Another Dimension is handling all four major otaku cultures..." Megumi suddenly spoke. "Novels, manga, anime, and games—it's hard to imagine how it all started."

"Even if you say that... can we really count novels and manga?" Nanami asked uncertainly. "Homura-kun draws manga under his own name, right? And Elf and Nayu write novels under their own too."

"I suppose that counts..." Homura chimed in. "After all, if my manga and their novels were to get animated, Another Dimension would definitely be the one to take the lead."

"Of course, that's assuming their works become smash hits… at least, I never planned on making Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun the work of Another Dimension." Homura added, setting the example himself.

"So, what you're saying is, if it's from Another Dimension, it must be a classic masterpiece?" Nozomi joked with a smile.

"Of course!" Homura nodded.

"Even so, the only one who meets that standard seems to be you, Homura-kun." Nanami thought for a moment and voiced her opinion.

"Hana could too, but her work… let's just forget it." Homura looked exasperated. "It's just a disaster waiting to happen. Besides, she didn't even want it to be animated in the first place... Well, she doesn't care as long as she can write anyway."

""Disaster waiting to happen…""

Muttering this together, the girls' mouths twitched slightly.

"Utaha's tragic love drama and Nayu's heartfelt love drama—if they just improve a little more, we could totally get them animated…"

As soon as they heard this, they imagined the content of Utaha and Nayuta's novels and had to admit that their writing skills and storylines were already pretty high.

Just a tiny bit more progress, and they would really have classic masterpieces on their hands.

"As for Elf..." Homura sighed in resignation. "Hahh... unless her works stop being purely fanservice, Another Dimension's fans won't accept it. Our works have spoiled their tastes, after all..."

"It feels like she could totally write a story-driven one if she wanted to…" Umi said, puzzled. "Why does she always go for fanservice anyway?"

"Simply because story-driven writing is much harder than just fanservice." Homura slowly shook his head. "She can only manage one aspect right now and can't balance both..."

He recalled how well Elf wrote during Fate/stay night, especially with the battle inside Unlimited Blade Works, she could definitely do it.

It just became a real challenge when it came to balancing everything, and if Elf wasn't careful, things could go south. With her current skills, she could only focus on one aspect at a time.

"Well, here we are! Let's get to work and finish this!"

Finally arrived at the recording studio, Homura declared to everyone.

""OHHH!""

Today was mostly about Homura and Umi's scenes, with a few others involved, so the voice recording wrapped up quickly.

Next came the recording time for the opening and ending songs.

Regarding this, the opening song Homura planned to use was just one, not two. After some back and forth about the ending, everyone voted and decided to use a special ending song for the final episode.

As a result, Eli had to put in a bit of extra work, recording two songs in a row.

Once the task was done, everyone didn't linger much and immediately headed home.

However, the moment Homura and the girls stepped inside, they spotted a surprising scene.

Ayano was in tears, blowing her nose.

Seeing this scene, they were momentarily stunned.

What a coincidence, Nico had just said it was a shame she couldn't see it, and now here it was right in front of her!

Nico, grinning, elbowed Homura in the side, her eyes clearly saying—so, is this what you meant by not underestimating an editor?

Homura: "…"

"Ayano is just an ordinary manga fan right now, not an editor, okay? She said it herself, remember?" Homura made an excuse.

Nico: "…"