Chapter 03 - "Welcome to the New World!"

Welcome to the New World! ("Shin sekai ni yōkoso!", 新世界にようこそ！) is the third chapter of the Welcome to the N.H.K. manga.

Summary
Tatsuhiro Satou thinks back to playing cards with his former Senpai, Hitomi Kashiwa, in his high school days. She goes on her usual spiel on how unstoppable conspiracies exist within the world before Satou returns to reality. Kaoru Yamazaki is touring Satou through the otaku's paradise of Akihabara. At first, Satou tries to escape. Yamazaki coerces him into staying, first by reminding him that this was educational to making their eroge, and second how he could call the police for all that food Tatsuhiro has been taking without permission. Yamazaki starts to explain the fundamentals of eroges, and emphasizes their need to divert from typical market trends. He continues to try to escape, but soon gets sucked into his surroundings and buys everything in sight.

Afterwards, Yamazaki brings him to a Maid Café. Tatsuhiro is invigorated by his surroundings and when he's asked to create a heroine for their eroge, he confidently musters up everything he has learned thus far. Unfortunately, it ends up as a disturbing clump of every unconventional ideal, which ends up being a disaster. Yamazaki sketches down the character while Tatsuhiro speaks, and even Tatsuhiro is disgusted by his own creation.

Later, Satou sits on a bench reconsidering Misaki's contract request to cure hikikomori, but is unexpectedly reacquainted with Hitomi. They grabbed a drink to catch up and Hitomi confidently reveals her addiction to pills, going through and explaining each one. When Tatsuhiro is asked to catch her up with his personal life, he makes a conscious effort to completely humiliate himself. He expresses how much of a failure he has become, between his reclusive state, his inability to pay expenses, and the perverted stuff he has been working on. Hitomi is unfazed and had expected nothing less, recalling how much of a loser and a loner he was in high school. She had always felt a gentle and tender sort of pity for him. She asks to meet up again with him sometime.

As he meets up with Misaki that night, Senpai's voice echoes through his head. Misaki catches him in a lie again, as he tries to explain why his game was cancelled. After surrendering to the fact that he can't trick Misaki, he hands her the signed contract with reluctance.