"Don't we overuse the terms, 'shonen' and 'shojo'?"

-Anonymous

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Prologue: Nozawa and the Otaku

Interesting, Nozawa thought. She leaned over the girl's shoulder, casting a shadow.

The girl looked up. It was rare that an otaku would enter the art club instead of the anime club, but Nozawa had to admit, this girl…this girl was good.

On her page was a very credibly cartoonized Yoshida, almond eyes, scar and all.

"So," Nozawa said casually, "You hate Yoshida-kun?"

The girl reddened and slammed her sketchbook against her chest. "What? No"

Nozawa, without any shame or embarrassment whatsoever, pushed the sketchbook out from the girl's arms. "Really, well, the way you drew him here..."

On the girl's sketchbook were two panels. In the first large one, Yoshida had his arms up in a guard, gritting his teeth, his eyes slitted, and he had what seemed to be a hundred arms punching him. In the second one, there was just a tangle of arms, implying that he had been buried in the strange arms.

The girl looked up again, "Ah, well, here." She turned the page.

It was an explosion of arms, bits and pieces flying everywhere, and Yoshida enveloped in an aura of flame, his eyes just banked fire.

"Oh," Nozawa exclaimed. "It looks like a page from Shonen Jump."

The girl looked pleased, and looked back down at the sketchbook. "I'm glad my intention reached you."

Nozawa decided to sit on the curb of the road with the girl. "So, you don't hate Yoshida-kun?"

"No! Why would you ask that? He didn't do anything to me."

Nozawa shrugs. "Every girl in this school hates him."

The girl's eyebrows drew together. "Why?"

"Eh, of course, because of Satou-san. He's always with Satou-san and everyone's jealous."

The girl eyed her warily. "You don't seem to be affected."

Nozawa shrugged. "What about you? Isn't it more normal for me to assume you were interested in Satou?"

"The Shoujo Prince? No, thanks."

Nozawa raised her eyebrows, "The what?"

The otaku grinned at her. She flipped through her sketchbook and there was a drawing of Satou-san, looking too handsome, with an exploding flower background. "Shoujo Prince. But it remains to be seen what type of Shoujo Prince he will be."

"Ehhh. Why, how did you do this?"

"Huh? Isn't it too easy to do that? No, Yoshida was the challenge. The Shonen Hero. I'm sure every girl probably fantasizes about Satou as a prince. But Yoshida…he doesn't seem like it, but he's a pretty convincing hero."

Nozawa slyly looked at her, "So, how did you start noticing him? Did he save you from goons on the street?"

Amazingly, the otaku reddened again.

"Ah, he did save you?" Nozawa exclaimed.

The girl turned to fully face Nozawa, reaching for Nozawa's shoulders. "I was scared out of my life. I kept thinking, this can only happen in a manga. Being surrounded by delinquents, about to get beaten up…this can only happen in a manga. And you know, Yoshida just came out of nowhere. And he fought them. The action was amazing," the girl's eyes were huge and shining. "Of course, he got beat up. Three against one is a pretty inevitable ending; but I could almost see it! When Yoshida-kun was trying to get up, his face discolored and bruised, but his eyes so determined…it was perfect page for a shonen manga!"

Nozawa, carried along on the words of the otaku, was breathless by the time the girl finished. "I have to paint it!" she cried. "I have to paint it." And she ran off, inspired, leaving the otaku to gaze after her, dumbfounded.

On her notebook, the pages with Yoshida enveloped in flame and Satou, smiling like a prince, fluttered in the wind.

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End of Prologue: Nozakawa and the Otaku