Anime Crossover: Becoming Mangaka in Anime World

It was 12 PM.

Half an hour ago, he was feeling a bit hungry.

Akifumi took out his phone and ordered some nearby takeout.

Now, he was just waiting for it to arrive.

"If I had to say, a birthday is just another normal day," he thought.

Kids might get excited about it, but as you get older, some people might even forget how old they are without counting on their fingers first.

As for the chat with his dad, it had already ended an hour ago.

They were currently in Europe, with a time difference of about 9 hours. As a "mature" child, Akifumi knew not to disturb them.

After seeing the photo of "the mask" that Akifumi Ye had sent, he sighed in relief.

Fortunately, it wasn't what he had imagined.

Otherwise, it might have been a disaster—his parents could have gone from being busy to… just gone.

Not thinking too much about it, he turned his attention back to the third volume of Love Metronome, which he had bought from the bookstore a few days ago but hadn't had time to read thoroughly yet.

Before regaining his past life's memories, he had been a huge fan of Kasumi Utako-sensei.

He always bought three copies per volume—one for himself, one for his collection, and one to recommend to others.

After all, her works were truly great.

Even though the first two volumes had a somewhat raw, inexperienced feel to them, the sense of love they conveyed was irresistible.

The third volume, which he was reading now, felt much more mature in terms of writing.

Still...

"Even though it's the best one yet, the sales are still declining," he muttered.

It was obvious why.

With the earlier volumes not doing so well, the promotional resources for later ones were significantly reduced.

Of course, this had nothing to do with him.

Even though he knew Kasumi Utako's real name, appearance, and school, he had no direct interaction with the beautiful senpai.

In the original story, Love Metronome was nearly discontinued after the second volume, but thanks to the help of Taki Tomoya, it had shot to success—fortunately, that didn't happen in this timeline.

For now, Akifumi was just an ordinary fan, quietly reading Kasumi Utako's new work, and nothing more.

.....

Meanwhile, a young girl was nervously standing outside a door, fist clenched, ready to knock.

But recalling what had happened the last time, she hesitated and lowered her hand.

"Ugh," she sighed, her heart filled with frustration.

"I'm such an idiot."

She thought back to when he had asked so eagerly about the cakes she bought last time, and how she had been too angry because of what had happened the day before.

She had completely ignored him.

Since then, their brief exchanges had stopped entirely.

"Why is it like this...." she muttered, feeling guilty.

"But I can't back down now!"

Shiina Mahiru clenched her fist, encouraging herself.

"Today's Akifumi-kun's birthday!"

She needed to at least hand him the gift.

It wouldn't be enough to express her thanks, but it was definitely better than doing nothing.

Akifumi's birthday wasn't a secret.

Back when school started, as a popular boy, many details about him were in the public, including his birthday.

Just as she was about to gather the courage to knock on the door, someone spoke from behind.

"Um…"

Shiina Mahiru turned around and saw a man in restaurant uniform, apologetically looking at her.

'?'

'Do I know him?'

The girl thought, but before she could speak, the man spoke again.

"I'm so sorry. The restaurant was really busy, so your order took longer to arrive than expected!"

He bowed deeply, apologizing profusely.

"Eh? Eh?"

Caught off guard by the man's intensity, Shiina Mahiru hesitated before saying, "It's... it's fine."

The man sighed in relief and continued.

"That'll be 3680 yen, please. Is this from Akifumi-san's order?"

The girl took a moment to realize what had happened.

She wanted to explain, but seeing the man's nervous expression, she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

'Never mind.'

Since it was already a misunderstanding, she figured it was better to let it continue.

She didn't want to make him apologize again.

After pulling out money from her small bag, she counted the bills.

"1, 2, 3..."

Her fair skin flushed slightly as she counted, feeling embarrassed.

"Sorry, I didn't bring enough money when I left... I only have 3350 yen. Could you wait while I go get the rest?"

So embarrassing, so embarrassing...

Why does this kind of thing always happen to me? She groaned inwardly as her cheeks turned red.

The man paused, then smiled and waved it off.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. If that's all you have, consider it a gift for the delay."

"The restaurant is still busy, so I'll head back now."

He took the money from her, waved, and left without another word.

Once he was out of sight, Shiina Mahiru returned to her senses.

Looking at the cake in her left hand, her small bag, and the large takeaway in her right, she began to reflect.

'I did something stupid again...'

She wasn't exactly wealthy, yet she had gone through all this trouble. But...

'This just means there's no excuse for me to back out now!'

If she just left with the takeout, it would cause trouble for both Akifumi-kun and the delivery man.

Taking a deep breath, Shiina Mahiru knocked on the door.

"I'm coming"

Akifumi's voice called from inside.

Her heart, which had calmed a little, suddenly raced again.

"Click."

The door opened, and Akifumi appeared.

When he saw her standing there, he froze for a moment before speaking automatically.

"Shiina-san, when did you start working at the restaurant?"

[TL Note]

Hey there! If you're enjoying this, be sure to check out

p-atreon.com/InsomniaTL

Please remove the hyphen to access the page normally Just a heads-up, there will be advanced chapters available there! and Thanks so much for reading!