My Strength Comes from Your Imagination

[Childhood friends, sweet fluff, younger love interest, short story]

Synopsis: The protagonist shou and protagonist gong grew up together, but went to different high schools after passing their entrance exams.

The protagonist shou is tall and muscular, but he's an extreme slacker, too lazy to even roll over.

He's so lazy that nothing scares him. Combined with his imposing build and intimidating look, people get the impression he's some kind of fighting god.

When he comes across a brawl, everyone who can't win runs away. He's too lazy to run, so he leisurely raises his hand to break up the fight. Everyone thinks he wants to take on ten people at once, and they all scatter. He becomes famous overnight.

The protagonist gong is incredibly good at fighting and a real powerhouse, but he's levelheaded and low-key, never showing off. His detached manner makes people think he's a useless slacker. Every time some fearless idiot picks a fight with him, they end up getting beaten badly and bawling.

One day, the two run into each other in an alley after a long time apart.

The protagonist shou's underling rolls up his sleeves and says arrogantly, "Boss, get him! Teach him a lesson."

The protagonist gong's underling trembles and wants to run away. "Why don't we just run? There's no way we can beat him."

The protagonist shou has never beaten the protagonist gong in a fight. On top of that, they'd fallen out and were giving each other the cold shoulder just days earlier. He feels especially guilty running into him now. When he meets the protagonist gong's deep, dangerous gaze, he turns and makes a run for it.

The protagonist gong quickly catches up and casually puts an arm around the protagonist shou's shoulders. He pinches his cheek affectionately. "It's been a while, and Yuanyuan's already become a big boss. Looks like you don't need me to protect you anymore."

The protagonist shou stammers in his arms, unable to get out a complete sentence. In the end, he even blushes.

The protagonist shou's underling, sleeves rolled up, stares in shock: "Yuanyuan?!"

The protagonist gong's underling, ready to run at any moment, is horrified: "Protect him?!"

Synopsis for my next novel, Game Invasion:

At the invitation of his childhood friend, Bai Yu takes part in a beta test of the full-dive game his friend designed. He enjoys talking with one of the players in the game, and they become friends.

But after logging out, his friend tells him that wasn't a player at all. It was the game's most dangerous final boss.

The next day, his friend mysteriously disappears, leaving Bai Yu with nothing but a few notes on what to watch out for in the game.

On the way to report his friend's disappearance, Bai Yu realizes something is wrong with the world.

Countless hideous, twisted monsters are wrecking everything. At their center stands someone who seems to be their leader: the very "friend" he had such a pleasant conversation with in the game.

The man in the white shirt casually wipes the disgusting liquid from his hand. With his foot on a monster's head, he doesn't seem to care about the blood on his clothes. His red eyes, full of the madness to destroy everything, turn toward Bai Yu, and he gives him a gentle, refined smile.

"Ever since I first met you, I haven't been able to forget you. So I came to find you. I hope I'm not being too forward."

From that day on, the game named E began to invade reality in earnest.

Calm, clever, and gentle shou x extremely unstable and utterly unhinged gong

Theme: Study hard, make progress every day, and never give up