"Hey, Kotori, can I borrow Miku for two days?"
Mikoto thought for a mont, then looked at Kotori and Miku as she spoke.
"Ara! Ara! Does Mikoto-san want to go on a date with ? You're very welco!"
Miku imdiately showed an overjoyed smile.
"I can, but is there sothing you need her for?"
Kotori asked.
"I think just drawing an interesting manga won't be enough…"
Mikoto thought for a mont and said that.
Indeed, if they wanted to move Nia, the manga's entertainnt value and professionalism were the first conditions.
But the problem was, the condition Kotori and Nia had set for their competition was—sales.
When it ca to sales, there was a saying that "good wine needs no bush." As long as the quality was high, readers would naturally pay for it. That was a perfectly reasonable idea.
However—that applied to manga artists who made manga their profession.
That was right. As long as the manga itself was interesting, even if it had no fa at first, people would tell ten others, then those ten would tell a hundred more. Word of mouth like "this manga is really interesting" would eventually plant itself firmly in readers' hearts.
That was a typical case of quality driving popularity.
But this ti, the situation was completely different.
"Shido's" manga did not have the ti to use quality to drive sales and popularity. In the first place, what they needed was not good word of mouth or popularity as a famous manga artist. They only needed to beat Nia "on the day" of December 31.
In other words, if they wanted to move Nia, the manga itself had to be interesting.
But when it ca to sales, the quality of the manga would not play the deciding role. At least, for a "manga circle" that would only sell manga for one day, whose na no one had heard before, and which would never appear again afterward, quality alone would have a hard ti causing a major change in sales.
"I see. Since you need Miku, that ans Mikoto wants to promote Shido's manga, right?"
Kotori quickly understood what the girl ant.
Compared to the quality of the manga itself, victory in sales mainly depended on the thod used to attract custors.
In other words, promotion was necessary.
"That's right. After all, among us, we have an idol."
Mikoto smiled. To move Nia, they had to rely on the manga's contents. But to beat Nia, they had to rely on popularity. Fortunately, they just so happened to have a very popular idol on their side.
"Eh? I thought I could go on a date with Mikoto-san. What a sha."
Miku placed a hand against her cheek with so regret.
"There, there. After this doujinshi convention ends, I'll let you go on a date with Shiori-chan, okay?"
Kotori looked at Miku and waved her hand.
"Really?"
The girl's eyes sparkled like stars.
"Are my thoughts being completely ignored?"
Shido cried out.
The next day, Mikoto began busily working to increase the popularity of Shido's doujinshi.
There was naturally no need to worry about Miku's side. The experienced idol knew very well how to promote Shido's doujinshi.
As for Mikoto's side…
"Then… school, the shrine parishioners, and the forum… about these three, I guess."
Mikoto thought for a mont and said that.
Unlike Miku, Mikoto was not that famous, so the people she could promote to were limited to those she could reach in her daily life.
"As for school… Hello, may I ask if this is President Kirisaki? Mm, this is Yakumo…"
Mikoto thought for a mont, then called the student council president.
During the Tenou Festival, she had once served as a committee mber and helped arrange Raizen High School's Tenou Festival after the student council mbers collapsed from overwork.
Although it was currently still vacation, perhaps because Mikoto had helped a lot during the Tenou Festival, the student council president agreed very readily and said she would post the news that they were participating in the doujinshi convention on the student council website's front page.
After that, Mikoto called several classmates she had a good relationship with and asked them to help promote it as well.
As for school, that was all she could do.
After that, Mikoto turned her eyes toward the parishioners.
"Haa…"
The girl looked at the parishioner contact book and took a deep breath.
Unlike classmates, the parishioners were the shrine's financial supporters. Asking them to attend a doujinshi convention in the na of faith would definitely be a very foolish thing to do.
Not only that, if there was a problem with the way she asked, it could also affect the shrine's operation. It was truly a form of contact involving the interests of working adults.
"In short, let's try first… Hello, may I ask if this is.....? This is Mikoto… Today, I wanted to discuss sothing about the New Year's gathering…"
Mikoto took a deep breath, then picked up the phone.
Most of the financial supporters were working adults, so the girl negotiated with them using the tone of a junior. The reason she called was also the coming New Year's gathering. Then, at the very end, she casually ntioned the doujinshi convention.
That way, it would not make the other party feel that she had neglected her duties as a shrine maiden for the sake of a doujinshi, nor would it feel too deliberate.
After contacting a series of parishioners such as the Nanko-gang and Chief Matsuto, it was almost lunchti. (TL:Was his na Matsuto or Matsuo again?)
Mikoto let out a long sigh of relief, walked into the kitchen, and began working.
(Everyone has to keep rushing nonstop to finish the manuscripts these two days. They must be exhausted.)
While thinking that, Mikoto began preparing bentos for everyone.
(For the main food, I'll make rice balls with smoked salmon.)
Because she had considered the possibility that she might have to cook at the shrine, she had specially asked Ratatoskr to provide so ingredients.
(For side dishes, chilled okra salad… and… mm, I'll use winter bamboo shoots simred in soup stock.)
Before long, layers of lunch boxes filled with rice balls and side dishes, along with a pot of warm kelp soup, appeared on the dining table.
"Okay!"
She nodded in satisfaction, took the food, and headed toward the place where Shido and the others were.
"Everyone… uwah?"
Mikoto pushed open the door, intending to energetically greet everyone, but what she saw was everyone staring fixedly at the manuscript paper with black auras radiating from their bodies, looking like Asura.
"Huh? Is it morning already?"
Shido looked at Mikoto and said in confusion.
"What do you an morning… it's already noon."
Mikoto answered with cold sweat.
It seed these people had not slept since last night and had spent the whole night drawing manga.
"Oh no, ti passed that quickly?"
Shido looked at his watch uneasily, then imdiately lowered his head back to the manga.
"I'm saying, even if ti is tight, you still need to take care of yourselves. Everyone, co eat sothing. If your physical condition is bad, your efficiency won't go up either, right?"
She placed the lunch boxes on an empty chair to avoid pressing down on or rubbing against the manuscripts whose ink had not dried yet.
"Th-that is true. My wind energy is almost exhausted."
"Agreent. Let us eat sothing."
Kaguya and Yuzuru looked at each other, then put down their pens.
"Pause for rest. Replenishing necessary nutrients will provide enough concentration. I recomnd spending five minutes to consu sufficient calories."
Origami nodded, stood up, and took a rice ball from the lunch box.
"In that case, I'll go buy everyone coffee and energy drinks."
Shido said.
Sohow, he felt that they would still have to stay up all night tonight. In that case, caffeine was necessary.
"What about Natsumi?"
Mikoto noticed that only Natsumi was still busy.
"No problem…"
Natsumi raised her head and said that.
Because she was the main artist, in order to keep the art style unified, Natsumi had the heaviest task.
"…I probably won't be of much use when it cos to actually going on stage. The only thing I can do is this little bit. So let keep drawing. I never imagined that there would be soone who needed my power. I want to help everyone too…"
Natsumi said seriously:
"…Shido and Mikoto… and everyone else helped . I was really happy. So this ti, I can work together with everyone to help another Spirit.
That really… really makes happy. I don't think it's hard at all. Instead, I'm incredibly happy. I really hope we can hurry and let that stubborn idiot called Nia… understand…"
Saying that, Natsumi smiled with an exhausted expression.
"It's great to have friends!"
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