Chapter 36

“Today was a long day,” Erick said, sighing as he threw himself on the couch.

“And it’s not even noon yet,” Rin agreed with him, sitting by his side. “Did you feel like a normie too?”

“Yeah. I never thought it’d be this tiresome.”

“Be honest with me. You imagined your life here in Japan would be like that, didn’t you?” Rin grinned at him, elbowing him gently. “Just like in school life anime, right?”

“I’m not gonna lie…” Erick left the rest in the air, though he couldn’t stop grinning. “I thought about it… once or twice…”

“Having a harem main character’s life, huh? You kinda have it though, but instead of cute girls, you gave cute girlyboys. I see that as a major plus. Normal harems are mostly boring and bland anyway. I doubt the heroines are as cute as us.”

Erick had no answer and only laughed. When he stopped, he sighed. “I can’t believe we really did those things… I thought it was only 2D.”

Just like in the anime he had watched for years, they broke a watermelon, played in the water, tried to build a sand sculpture—it crumbled before they could make the foundation for the castle; they were too close to the water—and even played beach volley.

Though it wasn’t his first, nor second or third, choice of activities to do, Erick had fun doing all that. However, because of their indoor lifestyle, he and Rin had no more energy for anything after that.

“I can’t believe Mikki could still do that,” Rin said, almost wincing at the memory.

“You’re surprised with that? I’m more impressed something like that really happens in real life,” Erick said.

After they had played, they were hungry and went to a beach café nearby. To their surprise, Mikki knew the owner—they had done a few seminars for restaurant and café business owners and had become friends since they were among the youngest participants—and then, just like in anime, one of the girls got hurt and sprained her ankle. So Mikki, almost like a knight, though dressed in a skirt and cuter than the princess, offered to help. He was still helping until now.

“Do you think they did it?” Rin asked suddenly.

“W-what are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. I’m asking if you think Mikki and that hot young manager have had sex.”

Erick blushed. “I don’t know… They did seem to get along…”

“What? Are you jealous?” Rin’s grin became wider.

“Huh? W-why would I be jealous?”

“Because one of your “girls” got taken by another guy.”

“First of all, Mikki isn’t one of my “girls.” Secondly, he explicitly told me when—after what we did, we weren’t in a romantic relationship or anything like that. It was about… friends helping each other. You and Kanata said the same thing, in a way,” he said, his face even redder as he remembered.

Why is he making me talk about that right in front of him?

“Yeah, but are you gonna tell me you aren’t a tiny bit jealous another guy might tap that ass?”

“No.”

Rin clicked his tongue. “No fun. I thought you might secretly be the jealous type. I would’ve had fun with that.”

“If I got mad at something like that, I would be a hypocrite.” I slept with you three in two days…

“Well, that guy is hot, so I wouldn’t mind having him ramming me from behind.”

“You think that guy is hot?”

“Yeah. But don’t worry. He’s not as hot as you.” Rin grinned again.

“W-whatever…” Though he tried, Erick failed to hide he was happy to hear that. To mask it, he quickly changed the subject. “Why aren’t you saying anything about Kanata? He too was hitting it off with someone.”

Again, just like in anime and manga, there were a few guys who came to the beach only to pick up girls. Some tried to flirt with Rin, Mikki, and Kanata, but the three girlyboys quickly surrounded Erick, giving the foreign another harem main character experience. Some guys insisted though, and only backed down when they said they were guys and showed the bulge in their bikini to prove it.

Then, after the four of them had had their fun, they saw a guy hitting on a girl. She clearly looked uncomfortable but the guy didn’t care or didn’t notice; he was drunk. So Kanata, again in another cross-dressing knight kind of situation, went to help her. After he got rid of the drunk guy, they hit it off. She was surprised to find out the person who helped her was a guy cuter than she was, but they were talking until now.

Rin scoffed. “With a girl. That’s too normie even for him.”

“A normie who cross-dresses,” Erick laughed at the idea. “Just because he cross-dresses doesn’t mean he can’t flirt with a girl. He’s bi.”

“I know that. But seeing it, him actually flirting with a girl… I don’t know. It feels weird.”

“Why?”

“He’s like me and Mikki, you know? A cute and hot cross-dressing guy who likes to get dicked in the ass. To imagine him sticking his dick in that girl…” Rin shivered with the idea.

“She was cute.”

“I know that. But it doesn’t matter how cute she is, it still feels weird.”

“I really don’t see why you’d feel that…”

“I’m not saying it’s wrong, you know? It’s just, to me, the idea of having sex with a girl when you could be having sex with a guy is…” Rin struggled to find words. Then his face lit. “It’s like being sexually attracted to your sister!” he exclaimed.

Erick stared at him, without any idea of what to say. Before he thought of something, Rin grinned at him.

“Wait, for a weeb like you, that’s normal, isn’t it?”

Erick laughed and threw a pillow over his face. “I’m not into imouto, especially the cutesy clingy type. If anything, I’m into tsundere.”

“That’s so old. Who likes tsunderes nowadays?”

They looked at each other and then laughed at the same time.

“What kind of conversation are we having?” Erick asked when he stopped laughing.

“I have no idea,” Rin answered, taking a deep breath. “At least we accomplished our original goal.”

“What goal?”

“To get you out of your head. About the one-shot,” he added, seeing Erick’s confusion.

“Oh, right. We came here for that…” He chuckled. “I actually had forgotten about it. After everything…”

“You’re welcome!” Rin exclaimed with a huge grin.

“Thanks, I guess.”

“So, after clearing your head, what do you plan to do? Are you gonna draw the one-shot?”

Erick took a deep breath and let out slowly, looking outside the window. The sun was starting to set and the scene was beautiful.

“I still don’t know. The story is cool, but the idea of screwing up someone else’s story is scary.”

“Can I be brutally honest?”

“Aren’t you always?”

“I’m always tactful,” Rin said defensively, though his grin made his statement crumble. “For real though. You’re putting too much importance on this. It’s not like art is perfect. You made screw-ups along the way, right? Even if someone else’s story, eh… how do foreign say? Just bite the bullet and do it. It’s only a one-shot.”

“I’m not sure anyone says that. But I think I get what you mean…”

Rin’s right. I made many screw-ups so far. If I’m afraid to commit more, I’ll remain stuck where I am. I want to grow more, and that has its risk.

With a deep breath, Erick made his decision.

“I’m doing it!” he said louder than necessary, hoping to push the doubt away and get some courage. It didn’t help.

“Great!” Rin beamed, and there was no hidden meaning behind it. He raised his fist and Erick bumped it.

“Thanks for the help, man. I mean it.”

“You can always count on me,” he said. Then his smile turned mocking in a flash. “But not those two. They have boys and girls on the side. I’m the only one who remained with you. Remember that when you become a big shot manga artist. Hope you draw a cute girlyboy heroine based on me!”

Erick laughed. “That’s a long way. And we probably have a different idea of what a big shot manga artist is.”

“It doesn’t matter. But for now, let’s celebrate your decision!” he exclaimed, pulling Erick from the couch.

“How?”

Rin flashed a sly smile. “Any way you want.”

Erick froze. Then Rin laughed. “I’m joking, dude. I’m not after your dick. At least not for now. Let’s go out and drink. Your treat, right?”

Erick chuckled. “Fine. Hope you don’t faint like last time.”

“Hey, last time I was exhausted!”

“And you’re not now?”

They laughed as they left the beach house.