This is a long story to tell.
At first, he too had no idea what was going on with Lady Shina.
Until some time ago...
Teacher Zhenyu's new volume of A Legend of Sword went on sale at the Yae Publishing House, and in order to buy books for Lady Kokomi, he made a special trip to the Yae Publishing House.
And then he saw the standee set up at the entrance of the Yae Publishing House!
That woman!
How infuriating!
When he saw that standee, he was stunned for a good long while. He bought a copy of Idle Affairs Monthly, and discovered that his own reply letters inside had been turned into Lady Shina.
He rushed up and smashed that standee to smithereens, and in the end he was even cornered by a gang of fans who called themselves Lady Shina's Backyard Society, nearly getting beaten up by the enraged fans.
In the end, he was hauled off to the Tenryou Commission.
When facing Kujou Sara, the scene was, for a while, extremely awkward.
To this day he still can't forget the expression on Kujou Sara's face when she saw the fragments of Lady Shina's standee.
That expression that went from shock to confusion to admiration, and finally turned into pity.
He still finds it hard to forget even now.
He had actually been pitied by an enemy general!
This was simply a disgrace!
The utmost humiliation!
And all of this was thanks to that woman!
But in order to deal with the enraged fans of Lady Shina's support club, he had no choice but to pay compensation, and to apologize to Lady Shina and to the fans of Lady Shina's support club...
And then, under Kujou Sara's pitying gaze, he made his way all the way out of the Tenryou Commission.
What's more, when he swallowed his humiliation and bore the burden, returning to the entrance of the Yae Publishing House bookstore, a long dragon of a line had once again formed in front of the store.
He didn't dare go and have it out with that woman either, so he could only take advantage of the fact that the new standee wasn't finished yet, finish buying his books in dejection, and return to Watatsumi Island.
Because of this, he shut himself away on Watatsumi Island for a full half a month.
He had also once wanted to resign from his Q&A column work at the Yae Publishing House, but in the end he still gritted his teeth and put up with it.
After all, what the Yae Publishing House offered was simply too much...
Especially after he smashed Lady Shina's standee, the Yae Publishing House actually doubled his manuscript fee...
Watatsumi Island was not wealthy, so he could only swallow his humiliation and bear the burden...
There was also the fact that he hoped to help others through Idle Affairs Monthly.
But who could have imagined that that woman would go too far in bullying people, actually going so far as to publish a book like this!
Lady Shina Falls in Love with Me!
Listening to Arataki Itto's high praise of this book in his ear, especially the romance scenes inside, he was just about to break out in goosebumps.
Just as he was hesitating over whether or not to turn around and leave, a voice rang out.
"Gorou, Itto."
He instinctively looked toward the sound, and saw Paimon and Lumine walking over toward them.
"Hahaha, it's you two, long time no see."
Arataki Itto greeted them: "Do you two know each other?"
"Mm."
Paimon and Lumine nodded.
After getting Gorou's consent, Paimon gave Arataki Itto a bit of an introduction to Gorou.
Upon hearing that Gorou was a general of Watatsumi Island, he was instantly dumbfounded on the spot.
Who would have thought that Gorou, small in stature as he was, was actually a general!
Then Arataki Itto, paying no mind to Gorou's status, still addressed him as a brother.
He even said that after they finished buying books later, he'd take him along to go bug-fighting.
"Oh right, you two came at just the right time. I was just introducing this brother of mine to Fang Qiu's books—you can buy some and take a look too. They're really good. Truly worthy of being works recommended by Lady Shina. It's just that... never mind, I won't spoil it. And there's also the one I was just strongly pushing, Lady Shina Falls in Love with Me."
At the mention of Lady Shina, Gorou's expression turned two shades uglier.
Seeing this reaction from Gorou, and combining it with the reaction she'd seen from Gorou before she walked over.
Lumine couldn't help but cover her head—it seemed Gorou already knew about the matter of Lady Shina.
For a moment, she didn't know how to comfort Gorou either.
In the end, Gorou only bought Fang Qiu's Your Lie in April and The Eternal, drawing a round of sighs of regret from Arataki Itto.
Just as they had chatted for a while and were about to leave, the Yae Publishing House editor Kuroda came out carrying a standee a full person tall, draped over with red cloth.
Hm?
What's that?
Just as Lumine and Paimon were puzzled, Lumine suddenly noticed that Gorou had gone completely rigid, his tail had stopped wagging, and his eyes were full of dread.
"Oh? Could it be Lady Shina's new standee?"
Arataki Itto said excitedly.
The instant Kuroda set the standee in place and lifted away the red cloth, the Yae Publishing House instantly fell into dead silence.
After a moment of silence, the novel enthusiasts stopped at the bookstore entrance burst into a blazing, fervent discussion.
"It's Fang Qiu's new book! Oh my goodness, four of them in all!"
"And here I thought it was Lady Shina's standee—who'd have guessed it would actually be such heavyweight news!"
"What's more, it goes on sale tomorrow! Say no more, I'm going to start lining up right now!"
"Right now? Isn't that a bit over the top?"
"There's a famous saying in Liyue: dogs guard the gate, cats catch the rats—guess what chickens do?"
"Chickens lay eggs?"
"No! Opportunity (a homophone for 'chicken') is fleeting! By that point—ever since the last music competition, Fang Qiu's books have been especially favored by girls. If I start lining up now, then bright and early tomorrow I can buy a few extra copies, and then invite female readers to go read at the teahouse together. That way, my matter of finding a partner will have somewhere to settle."
"Brother, you're a genius! Count me in! Wait for me to grab a stool—we're going to plant ourselves dead in this spot today!"
Listening to a conversation that sounded just like the ones they'd heard while buying Fang Qiu's new books at Liyue Harbor, Lumine and Paimon looked toward the standee in front of the Yae Publishing House.
The standee was a preview announcement of Fang Qiu's new books.
The design was tremendously striking.
On the standee there were also photos of each of Fang Qiu's four books.
Lumine and Paimon were extremely shocked.
It was only a short while ago that they had delivered the sample copies to the Yae Publishing House editorial department.
They'd made the standee this quickly?
Seeing them so puzzled, Kuroda took the initiative to explain to them.
As it turned out, the standee had already been made several days earlier; they were just waiting for Fang Qiu's new books to arrive, so they could use a Kamera to photograph the book covers, print them onto the standee, and then it would be ready for promotion.
"So it was you two who delivered the books from Liyue to Inazuma. Although it's a bit disappointing that it's not Lady Shina's standee, since it's Fang Qiu's new books, that's acceptable too. Four released in a row—Lady Shina must surely be very happy."
Arataki Itto said with a hearty laugh: "I'm going to start lining up today too. Brother Gorou, how about you?"
"I'll... come back another day..."
Gorou was a bit awkward.
"How about this—give me the money, and I'll line up and buy them for you!"
Arataki Itto waved his hand and said.
"This... then I'll trouble you, Brother Itto. I'll treat you to a meal when the time comes."
Seeing Arataki Itto being so enthusiastic, Gorou found it hard to refuse again.
"This way, Itto could be said to have come into contact with his own idol in another fashion."
Paimon leaned in close to Lumine's ear and said in a low voice.
Lumine, for her part, covered her forehead with a bit of a headache.
She couldn't imagine what kind of expression Arataki Itto would wear when he found out that Lady Shina's true identity was none other than Gorou...
Yae Miko has done every evil deed there is!
After chatting idly for a few lines, Paimon and Lumine bid farewell to Gorou and Arataki Itto, and prepared to set out for Mondstadt.
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