Start by Eating Jake Jake no Mi

"Why are you guys ignoring me?!" 

When Masa and Eriri were about to leave on a motorcycle, they looked at the figure of a young man before them, who appeared annoyed and flustered, trying to stop them from leaving. 

Yet, this guy wasn't the only one that was annoyed! 

The two of them were also annoyed by this guy! 

They just wanted to go back and have fun, yet why the heck did you stop us?! 

Still, even under the angry gaze of the young man, the two didn't say anything and just stared at him in silence. 

"Wh-what's with that gaze!? Why are you guys looking at me like that?!" 

Masa frowned for a moment and asked, "Who?" 

"..." Eriri and the male. 

"Aki Tomoya! Don't forget your childhood friend's name, bastard!" 

Yes, this was the original protagonist of the story and the original childhood of Sawamura Eriri. 

With a quite handsome face, slightly higher than average height, short black hair, and glasses. 

Frankly, if Tomoya could hide his hobby instead of declaring it everywhere, telling the world that he was an otaku so passionately, like a politician's speech during the election, then Masa believed that this guy could get a girlfriend easily, yet—

"So, what's wrong, Tomoya-san?" Masa asked calmly. Yes, he knew this guy from elementary school, including Okumura, but it didn't mean that everyone could become a good friend all the time, right? 

After all, unlike Masa or Okumura, who just wanted to enjoy the 2D works, Tomoya was an elitist and a purist. 

Tomoya felt that his love for 2D was bigger than anyone else's, and for it, he would even sacrifice everything, whether it was his studies or money from his part-time jobs, and because of that, his grades were on the lower side, but he wasn't stupid since if he was stupid, then would he be able to enjoy all of his 2D works every day without studying? 

If he had studied, there was no doubt that his result would have been better. 

However, unfortunately—

Nevertheless, due to Tomoya's view, they had a different direction. 

Masa and Okumura were fine with being consumers, and they just enjoyed whatever they liked with their friends, but Tomoya looked down on them, thinking that they were just like those among the crowd, consumers. 

Yet, Tomoya probably had a right to be arrogant, especially when he was quite a famous blogger known as "TAKI," who often did a review on 2D works. 

Because of that, in the past, when they tried to invite this guy, Tomoya refused, telling them that he wanted to do something different, which made them speechless, but neither of them cared much since if Tomoya didn't want to join, then they didn't care and they just had a blast, having fun, ignoring Tomoya, who was staring at them with envious gaze, yet unable to join. 

Frankly, while Masa knew this might be rude, he felt that Tomoya was too half-assed. It wasn't that Tomoya had an exceptional talent for being a creator, yet somehow, Tomoya didn't want to become a simple consumer. 

So, what could Tomoya do? 

The best and simplest way was to mooch the exceptional creators, gather them, and use them to make money. 

Masa, as the capitalist, and his friend in the middle school, who moved to Osaka in the past, often did this in middle school and made a lot of money. Those creators were simple guys who needed someone to help them with many complicated matters. In other words, what they offered was a service, but Tomoya thought of them as money-grubbers who just used others for their greed.

Yet, now, what is the difference between them and what Tomoya was about to do? 

Love 2D work? 

If the products couldn't be sold no matter how great these works were, it was shit! 

Money = popularity = god-tier work. 

After all, passion and love can't fill one's stomach, right? 

However, Tomoya, who had that fiery spirit of youth, probably couldn't understand that as his life had been smooth instead of full of struggles. 

Still—

"I don't need you! I need your girlfriend, Tenma!" 

Masa stared at Tomoya, who could say those words brazenly, then looked at Eriri with a blazing gaze. 

However, Eriri was just confused since she didn't remember anything. 

"You... did you forget that I invited you to play a game with me?" Tomoya was so hurt when he saw Eriri's reaction. 

"Did you?" Eriri thought for a moment and quickly realized. "Ah, right! You did! But I refused you, right?" She recalled that Tomoya came to her and asked her to become an illustrator to make his game, so why should she? 

She didn't have a lot of free time, so instead of spending her time with Tomoya, wasn't it better to spend her time with her boyfriend? 

More importantly, she didn't want Masa to misunderstand her, but then again, whether it was her or Masa knew well that Tomoya had a secret crush on her. 

However, Eriri's body had been turned into Masa's shape, and her heart only belonged to Masa. 

Moreover, she didn't feel good about Tomoya's fervent love for 2D, who kept shouting to everyone his love as if he was afraid that no one knew how much he loved 2D. 

Somehow, the word "love" became so cheap in this guy's mouth. 

Still, Masa was calm and didn't say much, and he only watched this clown with interest. 

"How could you say that?! This game will definitely enter history! It will move many people and become the most popular game of all time! If you join this project, then your popularity will be even higher than now! No, you might even become a god-tier illustrator, Kashiwagi Eri!" 

This time, Masa frowned and asked, "Do you want to threaten Eriri by exposing her identity, Tomoya-san?" 

"—?!" 

Tomoya felt his body shudder and shook his head rapidly. "No! No! I have never thought of that!" 

If there was someone who couldn't be provoked in this school, then there was no doubt that it was Masa. 

While no one was sure, one often saw him with the police force and yakuza, and those who tried to trouble him somehow disappeared and completely vanished. 

This wasn't a joke since, as Masa became popular, many troubles came to him, such as a stalker, those who tried to rob him, and bad intentions towards him. 

This was why many people started to become civilized when they saw him, but then again, if they saw Masa's appearance that had become four times better, then... there was no doubt the world would be even crazier, and it was fortunate that he decided to retire. 

If Tomoya caused trouble for Masa, then—

Still, Eriri showed a silly smile at Masa and clung to him happily, thinking that this guy was protective of her. 

"Hmph~! Aren't you too possessive of me~?" 

"....." 

Masa just rolled his eyes. 

"..." Tomoya. 

Taking a deep breath, even though it was quite painful, Tomoya didn't give up. "Kasumi Utako or Kasumigaoka Utaha-senpai has decided to join this project! So, you also shouldn't miss this project!" 

"Oh? Utaha?" 2x

This time, the expressions of Masa and Eriri turned unnatural as they remembered the past. 

"Did you blackmail her?" Masa asked with doubt. 

"Of course not!" Tomoya quickly denied it and said, "When I told her about this project, she decided to join me right away! With the combination of Kashiwagi Eri and Kasumi Utako, this will become the best galgame in history! So, please join this project!" 

"I see." Masa nodded and asked, "So, Kashiwagi Eri will be the illustrator, and Kasumi Otako will be the writer." 

"Exactly!" Tomoya nodded with amazement and said, "As a businessman, you can tell the potential of this galgame, right, Masa?" 

Masa frowned when Tomoya called him by his first name.

'Should I erase his memory?' 

After all, Tomoya knew about Eriri's identity, which made it quite dangerous if he really went to the extreme by exposing her identity. 

Frankly, this guy was more trouble than beneficial to be with since Tomoya just wanted Eriri and Utaha to become famous and achieve his ambition. 

'Still, the word "using" might be quite polite since Tomoya wanted to turn them into his slaves. 

Masa's words might be quite outrageous, but whether it was money, ideas, illustrations, or anything else, Tomoya practically spent nothing and was just being taken care of by Eriri and Utaha.

However, in the original story, it was also because they owed Tomoya a favor and had feelings toward him. 

If there was no such a plot, then would they even help Tomoya, especially when they weren't paid, and Tomoya's ability was average, without much progress in character, ability, and even laziness? 

Still, instead of rejecting Tomoya's idea, which made Tomoya even more in denial and pressed them even further, Masa did the opposite. 

"So, what will you do?" Masa asked. He might be able to erase Tomoya easily, but was he such a spoiled guy who would use his power in every moment? Just using his mouth, it was easy for him to handle this guy. 

"I am glad that you asked!" Tomoya seemed happy and said, "I will be the director of this project and lead the two to create the best galgame in history!" 

"..." Masa and Eriri. 

The two weren't sure how this guy could have such confidence, but Eriri just snorted inwardly. Nevertheless, she didn't say anything and just let Masa handle it since she knew well that she wasn't good enough to solve this type of problem. 

"As expected of you." Masa nodded and was amazed. "Even if you are someone who has never been on the side of the creator, you have the confidence to lead two creators who have sold millions of sales of their works. You are amazing, Tomoya-san." 

"...thank you." Strangely enough, Tomoya felt uncomfortable with this praise, but he accepted it regardless, never thinking that it was sarcasm. 

"So, how much will you pay them? The market value of the two isn't low, you know? If you don't compensate my girlfriend and my friend enough, then I will try my best to sue you in court!" 

"—?!" 

Tomoya was startled by those words, and he felt fear since he knew well that this was possible for Masa, but he was someone who had never given up. "My project isn't something that can be valued by money! It is priceless! But I will try to compensate them as best as I can." 

In other words, he just provided food, a place, and other necessary things. 

As for the payment? 

Hahaha...

"Even Kasumigaoka Utaha has decided to join this project, you know?" 

Tomoya quickly repeated this since this was the only redemption point of his project. 

Unlike in the original work, where Utaha only sold 500,000 copies of her works, in this world, due to Masa's influence, she was able to sell more than a million copies, making her simply the most dazzling young writer among many. 

"I see." Masa nodded and said, "You have that much confidence in this project, huh?" 

"If you don't mind, please join this project too, Masa! With your popularity and skills in the media, I am sure this game will shine even brighter!" 

"...." Masa and Eriri. 

How shameless are you? 

Not only did this guy want to use Eriri, but he also wanted to use Masa's popularity! 

"You...!" Eriri was enraged, but Masa stopped her. 

"Masa! But this bastard is..." 

"It's fine. It's useless to get angry with him; he won't understand anyway." 

While he thought so, Masa made up his mind to destroy this guy's ego thoroughly.