Jhin picked up the liner pen, the black ink slowly outlining the characters more prominently along the gray sketches. His hand was steady, drawing neither too much nor too little, like a precision instrument covering the original traces with black lines.
At first, Jhin's efficiency was quite slow. To ensure no mistakes were made, a single manuscript page took a full hour to complete the inking. Fortunately, with the blessing of the "Within Reach" talent, the time required to ink the subsequent original drafts gradually decreased.
Jhin finished the last stroke, put down his tools, and stretched. He picked up his phone, which was placed to the side, to check the time.
"18:13"
"It's already this time? I'll go make dinner." Jhin rotated his wrists; they were somewhat stiff from maintaining the same posture for a long time, making a constant crack-crack sound as they turned.
"Eriri, what are you having for dinner?"
"Hmm? Anything is fine. Just make me a cup of instant noodles, or check the fridge to see if there's any bread left," Eriri answered Jhin perfunctorily with her head buried in drawing the manuscript. At some point, she had undone her twin tails, and her blonde hair cascaded behind her smoothly like a gorgeous cape.
This appearance of hers was closer to the doujin artist Eriri in Jhin's cognition, though it was a pity she was still wearing the Mihama Academy uniform instead of that green tracksuit—although her usual tsundere twin-tail look was also cute.
"I know you're in a rush to draw the manuscript, but there's no need to skimp on your three daily meals. I've already finished inking the drafts you gave me. I'll go cook; you'll have more energy to continue drawing after eating and resting for a bit."
"I got it." Eriri really couldn't resist the temptation of Jhin's cooking. She put down the brush in her hand, leaned back against the chair, and raised her arms. Her thighs stretched straight, revealing the eye-catching 'Absolute Territory,' and her toes, hidden inside her slippers, spread out as she stretched comfortably: "Ah~"
After stretching, Eriri felt much more comfortable all over. She shook out her hands, stood up, walked to the small coffee table, and picked up the manuscripts Jhin was responsible for to inspect them.
"Eh~ Jhin, your inking is really good. There aren't even any places that need correction. With this, the progress should be able to advance a bit more."
Eriri unconsciously raised the corners of her mouth, her azure eyes full of delight.
Asking him for help was indeed the right move. Now I also have the confidence to finish within three days.
Considering that Eriri was in a rush to draw, Jhin chose to make a dish that was fast yet nutritious—Egg Fried Rice. Luckily, he had suddenly wanted to eat Egg Fried Rice yesterday, so he had specially saved some leftover rice. Otherwise, frying with freshly steamed rice wouldn't be a good idea.
His version of Egg Fried Rice was much more luxurious in terms of ingredients; corn kernels, diced cucumber, shrimp, and diced ham were all added in. If the vegetables were swapped for seafood and the raw rice was braised directly in the pan, that would be another famous dish—Spanish Seafood Paella.
However, the cooking method for Spanish Seafood Paella inevitably resulted in a rather heavy seafood smell, requiring lemon juice to be squeezed over it before eating to remove the odor. Jhin didn't like this method very much; he didn't like strong fishy smells.
Jhin returned to Eriri's room carrying two large plates of golden, luxurious Egg Fried Rice that emitted a mouth-watering aroma. She had just finished inspecting the manuscripts on the small coffee table and organized them back onto her drawing desk.
"Eriri, dinner is ready."
"You made Egg Fried Rice. Uh... isn't this portion a bit too much?"
Although Eriri was seduced by the aroma and couldn't wait to eat, the portion of Egg Fried Rice piled up like a small mountain made her hesitate.
Jhin glanced at the Egg Fried Rice in his left hand, for which he had specially reduced the portion for Eriri: "This isn't much, is it? If you really can't finish it, just put it in the fridge and heat it up for breakfast tomorrow morning."
"Alright." Eriri took the heavy plate containing the Egg Fried Rice, picked up a spoon, and worked hard to fill her empty stomach. The Egg Fried Rice Jhin made was extremely delicious, and Eriri annihilated the food in the plate spoon after spoon. By the time she came to her senses and let out a satisfied sigh, only a third of the Egg Fried Rice remained in the plate.
"I actually ate this much."
"Is it a lot? I've already finished my share."
Hearing this, Eriri looked over at Jhin. The Egg Fried Rice in front of him, which was half again as large as her own portion, had been eaten clean.
As expected of a boy, his appetite is really big.
"My usual appetite is smaller. Being able to eat this much today is already incredible."
"The girls I know seem to have small appetites, except when eating dessert."
"The stomach for dessert is a separate one."
Jhin knew Eriri would answer like that. "Yes, yes, yes. After the remaining Egg Fried Rice cools down, I'll cover it with plastic wrap and put it in your fridge. Remember to take it out and heat it up tomorrow morning."
"Mn." Eriri nodded. If not for the inappropriate time and place, she would have wanted to ask Jhin to come to her house as a head chef. Being able to eat such delicious food every day—her parents would surely agree as well. But Eriri didn't know that she wasn't the only one with this idea; there was also a certain red-haired demon who had the same plan.
"Eriri, I see you've written words like 'background' in the blank spaces of some manuscripts. Do those need to be drawn later?"
"Correct. Right now, I've just roughly sketched some things there to get the main character movements drawn well first."
"By the way, do you want to let me try drawing the backgrounds?"
"You?" Eriri frowned slightly. It wasn't that she didn't trust Jhin, but he had only started touching painting today. Although the inking work was completed very well, that didn't mean he could suddenly take a huge step and be competent in the complex work of drawing backgrounds.
Jhin also wants to help me finish the doujinshi as soon as possible, so I can't pour cold water on him. Let's find a draft with a less complex scene and let him try. Maybe after drawing it, he'll realize the difficulty and back off.
Eriri stood up and rummaged through the manuscripts, pulling one out and handing it to Jhin: "Try drawing the background for this draft."
"Let me see... A prison. That shouldn't be a problem." The dialogue hadn't been added yet, so Jhin could only guess based on the character's expression. The expression on the princess's face didn't look like she was in the middle of being trained no matter how he looked at it; the content of this draft should be the plot where the princess had just been captured.
Because there was food on the small tea table, Jhin could only sit on the chair Eriri usually used for painting. Eriri blushed a little; she had brought this chair from home, and it had accompanied her for a long time. This was the first time it was being sat on by a member of the opposite sex.
It's... it's just sitting for a bit, no big deal.
Jhin silently summoned his substitute—The World—to empower himself. It was a pity his substitute wasn't the higher-precision Star Platinum; otherwise, the background should have been completed even faster.
Eriri watched dumbfounded as Jhin methodically drew a dark and damp prison background.
Could it be that he really is a genius?
____
New Story: ZZZ: Mr. Ethereal Does Not Want to See a Tragedy
🔥We're handing out that '30% bonus' that makes your wallet smile. 😄
✅ Get immediate access to 40 early chapters for all stories.
✅ Enjoy exclusive material and special announcements!
Help us unlock these community rewards:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters across ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnutchan