"What?!" Both Eriri and Kasumigaoka Utaha cried out in unison the moment the name "Eri Kashiwagi" left Luo Shu's mouth.
Eriri, clearly caught off guard, instantly shot up from her seat, eyes wide with panic. "How do you know about that?!"
Utaha, who had still been recovering from her own shock, stared at Eriri in disbelief. "Wait, seriously? You're Eri Kashiwagi? The doujin artist who draws 18+ NTR works online?!"
Realizing she had just exposed herself, Eriri crouched down and covered her face with both hands, frantically trying to backtrack. "N-No, it's not me. You've got the wrong person!"
"Oh my god, it is you," Utaha muttered, staring at her as if she had just discovered some rare and bizarre creature. She was utterly dumbfounded. The beautiful, popular first-year flower of the art club at Toyosaki Academy… was secretly an underground erotic doujin artist?
How was this even possible?
Eriri's father was a British diplomat from the noble Spencer family, her mother a respected member of a prestigious Japanese lineage—the Sawamura family. Yet their daughter operated under an alias within one of the most niche, fetish-heavy circles of the otaku world. If her identity were ever made public, she'd be ruined. She'd be relentlessly bullied at school, and every pervert in the building would find some excuse to include her in sleazy conversations—or worse. There was even a real risk someone might blackmail her into being a model for their twisted fantasies.
In that moment, Utaha suddenly understood why Luo Shu had been so confident that Eriri would agree to help them.
With that kind of leverage hanging over her, unless she transferred schools entirely—an option that risked online exposure anyway—Eriri had no other choice but to comply. It was the ultimate checkmate.
Meanwhile, Eriri, still squatting down on the ground, was staring into the void, her soul halfway gone. How did I even get exposed?! She had always avoided discussing anything otaku-related at school. Even though she knew her childhood friend was in the same grade, walking the same hallway, she had deliberately ignored him to keep her worlds separate.
As for her doujin work, that was tightly controlled—handled personally by her parents behind the scenes. Not even her fans knew who Eri Kashiwagi really was. And yet here she was, utterly exposed in broad daylight.
"Relax. I didn't dig into your identity," Luo Shu said calmly as he finished his pork cutlet bento. "It's not like I approached you with a 'Miss Eri Kashiwagi, wouldn't want your secret getting out, would you?' kind of blackmail plan. Sure, the thought crossed my mind, but I wouldn't stoop that low."
He set aside his empty bento box and picked up the milk bottle beside him. As he twisted off the cap, he met Eriri's disbelieving stare and continued, "Right now, I only have one goal—establishing the astronomy club. And to do that, I need three members. That's where Kasumigaoka Utaha and you come in."
"Also, I'm Luo Shu, third year," he added with a grin, subtly hinting that Utaha was more of an accomplice-victim than a co-conspirator. After all, if Eriri believed they were both trying to corner her, she might resist harder.
Sure enough, something clicked in Eriri's mind. She stared at Luo Shu in realization. "Wait… you're that Luo-senpai? The one from third year rumored to have yakuza ties?"
Yakuza ties? That's getting out of hand… Luo Shu thought, a nerve twitching in his temple. He could even hear Utaha struggling to stifle her laughter beside him.
Rolling his eyes toward the sky, Luo Shu let out a deep sigh before turning back to Eriri. "So, are you joining the astronomy club or not?"
By now, Eriri had completely filled in the blanks in her mind. In her imagination, Luo Shu had used blackmail to force Utaha into being his girlfriend, and now he was doing the same to her—starting with this club as a front to trap her into more humiliating demands.
He's going to use the club as an excuse to get us both alone… and then who knows what he'll do…
Her knees buckled, and she slumped to the floor in a duck-sit position, her face blank with horror. Just this morning, she had been dreaming of a wonderful high school life. But now? Three years of psychological torment and coercion—this future she absolutely didn't want!
Seeing her frozen in place, Utaha finally spoke up, a hint of concern in her voice. "You sure she's not actually broken?"
"She's fine. Her mental waves are still going strong. She's probably just spiraling through some dramatic fantasy," Luo Shu replied, having only recently awakened his psychic powers.
Then, with impeccable timing, he asked her casually, "So, Miss Eri Kashiwagi, have you decided what your next work's theme is?"
"…I have…" Eriri blurted out instinctively—then her face turned beet red as her mind caught up to her mouth. "Wait, no! Who the hell's thinking about that kind of stuff right now?!"
Luo Shu, unfazed, calmly lifted his phone and snapped a short video of her twin blonde ponytails swinging wildly as she threw a fit. He passed the phone to Utaha and asked, "That's quite a trick. Think you could do the same?"
"My hair doesn't have that kind of energy," Utaha chuckled as she watched the clip.
"What are you doing?!" Eriri suddenly shielded her chest with her arms as if defending her last shred of dignity. "You're not seriously planning to record everything, are you? I'm telling you; I'll never surrender!"
Luo Shu raised an eyebrow. "So, about the astronomy club?"
"I'll join," Eriri declared without hesitation.
Her moment of rebellion lasted exactly one second.
Lowering her head, she muttered, "Just so you know, my family is rich, and my parents care about me a lot. If you think you can blackmail me over the doujin thing, you'd better be prepared for them to come after you."
Luo Shu's lips curved into a small smirk. "At least you know how to use your family's power for self-defense. Not completely brainless after all."
"Huh?! Who are you calling brainless?!" Eriri snapped, her sharp glare focused entirely on him like she was trying to pierce a hole through his skull.
Ignoring her outburst, Luo Shu downed the rest of his milk and turned to Utaha. "Let's use the rest of lunch break to get the club formally registered. You contacted the teacher already, right?"
Utaha set down her half-eaten salad and dabbed her lips with a napkin before replying, "I messaged her during break. She seemed quite happy that I was interested in joining a club."
Luo Shu raised an eyebrow with an amused smile. "Another perk of being an honor student?"
"Let's just say… something like that."