At long last, the youth embarked on the journey to embrace his dreams.

Tuesday, November 3rd.
Today is Culture Day, and school is closed.
Jinguji Yue spent the morning at home drawing, and the afternoon working part-time at a bookstore. Calling it "work" is a bit of a stretch; he mostly just sits behind the cash register reading books.
Although he spoke in grand terms to Hoshinomori Hoshino, a dream is not a dream if it remains merely a figment of one’s imagination.
One must put in the corresponding effort—like Sakurakoji Sakura or Kudo.
Up until now, Jinguji Yue has squandered much of his time, pouring his days into flirting with girls. Through this, he has acquired many skills that others spend a lifetime failing to master.
But so what?
That does not change the fact that Jinguji Yue is an empty shell. That is why he must use dreams to fill himself, so that the pill bug hiding in the cracks of the stone floor might one day evolve into a human standing in the sunlight.
*Ring-a-ling~*
The bell hanging at the entrance chimed, followed immediately by the high-pitched, cheerful voice of a certain little animal.
"Senior, I'm here to play!"
The boy, buried in his book, lifted his eyelids to glance at her, then lowered them again.
"Why are you ignoring me?"
The little animal hopped and skipped into the cashier's booth.
"Are you here to take over the shift?"
"Not at all! I'm absolutely not working today. Nobody is going to exploit me!" Yogimiya Yo immediately assumed a defensive posture.
It seems Miss Nagumo doesn't spare her when it comes to chores, Jinguji Yue thought to herself.
Thus, Yogimiya Yo pulled over a small stool and sat down next to Jinguji Yue inside the booth.
If someone were standing outside the register, they would have no idea that a girl was sitting inside.
Jinguji Yue silently held a newly released light novel, while Yogimiya Yo read *Weekly Shonen Jump*.
The two did not speak to each other, but the atmosphere was far from awkward.
It was clear that Yogimiya Yo was indeed someone skilled at dealing with people; after all, she had managed to happily get along with such a troublesome high school boy as Jinguji Yue.
"Hey, Yogimiya, if I recall correctly, you’re quite familiar with ACG and that sort of thing, right?"
"I told you a long time ago, I'm a fan of Totsuka-sensei. And it’s not just light novels; I know a lot about manga and anime, too."
"Sounds like you're a total otaku."
"You could say that."
She admitted it without any hesitation, leaving Jinguji Yue speechless.

"Do you know how to submit work to a publishing house?"
Jinguji Yue’s sudden question left Yogimiya Yo stunned. After a long pause, she asked, "Wait, does that mean you want to be a manga artist, Senior?"
Jinguji Yue flipped through his light novel and said casually, "Well, what do you think?"
Yogimiya Yo closed *Weekly Shonen Jump*, her fingers tracing the image of Luffy on the cover, and replied:
"If it’s a weekly series, it’ll be exhausting."
"There are monthly magazines, aren't there? Besides, in this day and age, there are people who update their web comics online every single day."
"That’s true, but I know nothing about drawing, so I can't give you any advice."
"I see."
Well... Jinguji Yue never expected this little creature to come up with any good ideas anyway.
"If you want to be a manga artist, it’s not just about drawing technique—the plot is also very important. Are you good at writing stories, Senior?"
"Not really." Jinguji Yue was honest.
As someone who considers himself an empty shell, anything he writes would surely be filled with gloom; not many people would want to read that.
"That’s fine! I’m great at wild imagination. I’ll handle the original story, and you can draw. Let's debut in *Shonen Jump* together! Our pen name will be Yo-Yue-Meng-Ye!"
"Our goal! The world's number one manga artist!"
The little animal suddenly became high-spirited, and Jinguji Yue gave her a swift knock on the head.
"Don't try to fool me with memes."
"Ow~~~"
Yogimiya Yo rubbed her head, thought for a moment, and looked up at the boy beside her.
"Hmm... does it *have* to be manga?"
"What do you mean?"
"You’re good at drawing, Senior. If you just want to draw, you don't necessarily have to be a manga artist."
"Oh?"
"Consider being an adult manga artist—ouch!"
Before she could finish, Yogimiya Yo was met with violence.
"Take this seriously."
"I am being serious! Or you could be a character designer for visual novels. But the visual novel industry has been battered by light novels, mobile games, and VTubers recently; they’re almost impossible to sell."
"Light novels, mobile games, VTubers..."

Jinguji Yue lowered his head and looked at the light novel in his hand, then closed it, staring blankly at the scantily clad 2D girl on the cover.
He suddenly pointed at the book and asked, "Hey, Yogimiya, what do you think of this book?"
"A piece of trash."
"I mean the illustrator's art."
"God-tier."
The girl’s attitude did a complete 180-degree turn.
"Thanks for your candid assessment."
It seems it’s not just the visual novel industry; the light novel industry isn't doing so well either.
The boy thought for a moment, picked up a ballpoint pen, found a slightly yellowed notebook in the drawer, opened it to a random page, and began to sketch.
A few minutes later, he handed the notebook to Yogimiya Yo.
"What do you think?"
Yogimiya Yo took one look and was struck dumb, her face full of disbelief as she looked at him like he was a monster.
"Senior, I didn't know you were this good at drawing female characters! You really should be an adult manga artist... ow, ow, ow!!"
Jinguji Yue already possessed solid drawing skills. Furthermore, he had a photographic memory and extreme control over his body—for example, he could bend his fingers at will, and as long as it fit human anatomy, he could control his movements to execute it.
The latter two were abilities derived from his system. When these elements were combined, tasks like copying and drawing became extremely simple for him.
Not only that, but in sports, especially ball games, Jinguji Yue could easily perform high-level techniques that would take ordinary people countless hours to practice.
Yogimiya Yo seemed even more excited than Jinguji Yue, beginning to shower him with praise, calling him the "rising star of the adult manga world" and so on, though Jinguji Yue couldn't help but feel that her method of complimenting him was a bit off.
"Why don't you ask Auntie for help?" Yogimiya Yo suddenly suggested.
"Miss Nagumo?"
"Since she runs a bookstore, Auntie knows a lot of people in publishing. Let's go ask her."
"But I’m still..."
"Oh! I hate how wishy-washy you are, Senior! If you have an idea, just do it! You’re only in your teens; if you make a mistake, just cry! Who would blame you?"
"I feel like that sounded a bit weird."
Despite saying that, Jinguji Yue followed Yogimiya Yo’s advice and obtained the contact information for a publisher named Yuta Natsuki from Miss Nagumo.