Cross-dressing Dormitory 49

Erick was drawing a few scenes from light novels he liked. He didn’t want to draw their manga adaptation; he was sharpening his manga artist skills as he waited for inspiration for his story. He was on the fifth page when his phone rang with a text.

Are you free right now!?

The content surprised him, but he was even more surprised with who send it; Yuri-sensei.

He must be swamped with work. I think Akira-san told me his first volume is coming out next month, Erick recalled, texting him.

Yeah. Need help with your manuscript?

Yes. I’m swamped with work and I don’t think I can finish everything in time. Please, can you help me?

No problem. Send me the link and I’ll start right now.

Sorry, I can’t! My cloud storage system’s going through maintenance right now. Could you please come here? It’ll take too long for me to upload this somewhere else. I know I’m asking this suddenly, so I’ll pay you more than last time.

No need. I’m happy to help. I’ll get my stuff and head there now. See ya soon.

Thank you very much!

Erick couldn’t help but smile. We haven’t hung out many times outside work but I’m glad he can rely on me when he needs to. I think of him as my friend, but I don’t know if he feels the same. Maybe with this, we can be closer. I’d like more friends in this country.

He changed clothes, got his laptop, his drawing equipment, informed the people at the cross-dressing dormitory where he was going, and went to the train station in less than five minutes. After a train ride, he was standing before Yuri’s door.

The bell only rang once when an almost crying Yuri greeted him.

“Thanks so much for coming!” he exclaimed.

Like last time, the manga artist was cross-dressing to draw. But unlike back then, it wasn’t a skirt, but micro shorts and string red panties that were visible. His crop top was small and didn’t cover his belly button. Not only that, you could tell he was wearing a bra. His face had light makeup, making him even cuter than usual.

From what his friend told me, Yuri cross-dresses to get in his artist mode. Taking that into consideration, it means he’s super serious, Erick thought, taking off his shoes as he followed his friend.

“No problem. I’ll show you my improvement in the last couple of months,” he said with a confident smile.

“Thanks,” Yuri replied, almost crying.

He must be desperate.

Without wasting time, Yuri gave him an SD card with the files and Erick started working on the background and the sound effects on those pages.

Hours later, they had finished seventeen pages. Along with the forty-five Yuri had drawn by himself, they had sixty-two pages done. Despite the fast pace, they still had seven pages to finish, and unlike the ones Erick had helped with, these needed more than just backgrounds and minor characters added. Those pages were still drafts.

“When is your deadline?” Erick asked, stopping for a moment to stretch his fingers. He wasn’t used to this pace. Not yet. When I get my regular series, will it be like this?

“Five o’clock tomorrow,” Yuri said, not blinking as he stared at the screen of his drawing tablet. Though his hand didn’t stop moving, Erick could tell he was past his limit.

“Cutting it very close.”

“Yes. I’m sorry,” he apologized, still without stopping.

“I’m not blaming you. I know how hard-working and organized you are. That’s why I’m surprised. What happened?”

“It’s because of my first volume.”

“I heard it’s coming out next month. Isn’t it a bit too soon? You just started your series,” Erick said. From what I’ve researched, it takes a bit longer for a monthly series to release its first volume.

“Yeah, but my first chapters were a bit bigger than usual, so my first volume will only have three chapters. More than that and it’ll get too big. And the editor-in-chief wants to release it faster because he wants to see if my manga can get the sci-fi fans. They’re printing more units than usual because of this.”

“But how did that mess up your schedule?”

“I’m starting a new arc to celebrate the first volume. My editor and I tried to cut as many pages as we could, but any less than this and it’d ruin the setting. Not only that, but I’m also drawing next month’s cover. Along with volume 1, the cover, and the store exclusive bonus illustrations, I was swamped with work.”

“And you don’t regret it at all,” Erick said with a smile.

“No,” Yuri said with a strange determination in his eyes as he drew. He looked both cute and cool at the same time. “I’m getting a great reception from the readers. And even though I’m like this, I feel like I’m only getting better as an artist.”

Erick was impressed and jealous. He’s giving his best to surpass his limits. All for his dream. There’s no way I could say something as heartless as telling him to give up something. That would be an insult.

“Then let’s eat something. I’m starving,” he proposed. “After that, I’ll pull an all-nighter with you so we can finish.”

“Thanks,” Yuri mumbled, finally resting his hand. The moment he stopped, his stomach growled. Embarrassed, he chuckled weakly and stretched as he walked to the entrance.

Erick sent a message to Yuuki saying he wouldn’t go home today so there was no need to make him dinner.

“So, how is it to have a monthly series?” Erick asked as they waited for their ramen.

“As you can see, it’s hard work. And a bit lonely,” Yuri said, flashing a sad smile. “Before I worked as an assistant and talked to other people in the same situation as me. But now I work alone. But that’s the only bad thing. Having a series is more amazing than I hoped. Reading the comments of thousands of people saying they love my manga feels great. And it makes me wanna work even harder.”

“I can’t wait for my chance.”

“Are you proposing a story in the next meeting?”

“I’m still working on something with Akira-san, but I don’t know if I can get it ready in time,” Erick said.

Though he was still far from a solid story, that was true. Then he wondered for a moment if he should say more, but then he realized there was no reason to hide that. Not from him.

“Do you know I was at the comic event?”

“Yeah. Remember my friend who helped me before? She bought your doujinshi at the event and showed it to me. It was… good,” Yuri said, blushing slightly. “I didn’t know you drew stuff like that.”

“I usually don’t, but one thing led to another and I ended up drawing that. But thanks to it, I got to meet Boy Skirt-sensei and I’m the illustrator for his newest series.”

“I heard it from my editor. I like his stuff. Both the action and the ecchi are good. Hope I can meet him at the end-of-year company party.”

After that, their food arrived, and they ate quickly to get back to work. Then, after working nonstop all night, they finished all the pages with a half-hour to spare.

“Thanks so much,” Yuri said, this time he did cry out of relief when he sent the pages to his editor. “If not for you, I would’ve missed my first deadline. I shudder at the idea. Can you imagine missing the issue the month my first volume comes out and I have the cover?”

“That would be a disaster,” Erick said, happy they had avoided that.

“Yeah, thanks to you.”

“I just helped. You were the one doing the hard work.”

“Are you kidding? Background in sci-fi is too important.”

“But you can’t have a story with only background. You did the most work.”

“Let’s say we both deserve a treat for this,” Yuri said, smiling as they looked into each other’s eyes.

Erick had no idea how, nor who initiated, but as they complimented each other, they kissed. Then they undressed each other.