Chapter 354: Seito: Gasp—! I Might Actually Be a Netorare Protagonist Myself!
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Utaha Kasumigaoka: "..."
The rest of the girls: "..."
When on earth are you going to fix your terrible dialogue?
Everyone complained inside their minds. Seito's choice of words was truly on another level!
"What's wrong, Teacher Seito?" Utaha Kasumigaoka crossed her arms over her chest, completely abandoning her lunch for a moment. She wanted to see exactly what Seito was up to.
"Ahem, Editor-San," Seito cleared his throat, speaking with subtle implication.
Utaha did not catch the meaning at first. But very quickly, as a thought clicked in her mind, she picked up her bento box and stood straight up.
"Let's go," Utaha replied with a perfectly flat expression.
Seito casually took another bite of his food, completely unfazed, and led Utaha out of Class D, leaving behind a flock of highly confused and thoroughly bewildered young girls.
The two walked side by side down the corridor. Seito kept working on his bento box while Utaha turned her head toward him, inquiring, "You're under editor Editor-San's group too?"
"Yeah," Seito nodded. "My username in the chat group is 'Black Stockings & Beautiful Legs.'"
Utaha Kasumigaoka: "..."
Isn't that the absolute founding father of the stallion-harem genre in the web novel community?!
Utaha's expression turned incredibly colorful. She had never expected that this guy right beside her was actually the pioneer of an entire literary genre. She remembered quite clearly that several of Seito's web novels had been successfully adapted into anime series.
"Editor-San asked me to guide you through the ropes," Seito stated his primary purpose before asking, "I remember your previous novel was titled Koisuru Metronome, right?"
"Mhm," Utaha murmured a response.
"Generally speaking, my area of expertise is pure power-fantasy web novels—after all, as long as the readers feel satisfied and hyped, it works. Lightweight romance novels like yours definitely have an audience, but the romantic progressions need to be handled with extreme delicacy."
Speaking up to this point, Seito paused to gather his thoughts. "I've actually read your novel before, but the romantic sections aren't very polished."
"I'm guessing you've never actually been in a relationship yourself, so you don't really know how to write it."
Seito wasn't just teasing her for fun. He had genuinely read Utaha's published work. Her raw prose and vocabulary were spectacular—in fact, Seito felt her writing style was light-years ahead of his own! When female authors wrote novels, their prose tended to be incredibly detailed and beautifully expressive. Her single, glaring weakness was simply the way the romance plots unfolded.
"A relationship, huh?" Utaha rested her chin in her hand.
She was well aware of her own novel's flaws. But when it came to actual romance, she was completely in the dark. If she truly understood how it worked, she would already be celebrated as a top-tier light novel master.
"Then what do you suggest I do?" Utaha asked, looking at him.
"Simple!" Seito picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks and offered a smooth smile. "Just date someone once."
"Date someone?" Hearing this, Utaha leveled a deadpan glare straight at Seito. "Don't tell me Teacher Seito wants to date a beautiful high school girl like me?"
"You already have a massive flock of beautiful girls surrounding you, and your official position is a faculty member."
"I am merely a student. If that's truly what's going on inside your head, don't you think you're being a bit of a degenerate?"
Utaha's legendary sharp tongue certainly lived up to its reputation. But Seito didn't care in the slightest. To be perfectly honest, he genuinely wouldn't mind dating her at all. After all, who could possibly say no to a black-stockinged senior? Even though she wasn't technically his school senior in this universe, that flawless pair of black stockings was something no true connoisseur could ever refuse!
"Would you say yes, then?" Seito looked over with a deeply amused smirk.
"..."
A single sentence! Just one line was more than enough to completely shut Utaha down. She silently scolded herself inside her mind. She knew exactly what kind of character Seito was, yet she simply couldn't curb her habit of using sharp-tongued banter around him.
Seeing that she fell silent, Seito didn't shamelessly push his luck to tease her any further; there was no practical need to force the issue.
The two arrived at the quiet rooftop, finding a comfortable spot to sit down together. By this time, Utaha's fleeting embarrassment had completely faded. Opening her bento box, she went back to eating her lunch.
"Seito-kun, what is a romantic relationship actually supposed to feel like?" Utaha asked, her attitude becoming completely serious as she sought his advice. She truly didn't understand love, but Seito was bound to be an expert on the subject—after all, the guy had an entire army of girlfriends.
Seito swallowed his food and smiled softly. "I once read a quote about romance online."
"What did it say?" Utaha inquired.
"For two people to genuinely like each other is already an incredibly miraculous achievement," Seito answered with a warm smile.
This phrase was something he had truly stumbled across on the internet. In modern society, where dating, marriage, and personal values had become incredibly superficial, this quote stood out as an absolute golden rule on the web.
"Does that... have any direct connection to writing?" Utaha asked, deeply puzzled. This sounded completely detached from the structure of a fictional novel.
"Of course it has a connection," Seito replied with a knowing grin. "Compared to a blind date or an arranged marriage, romance is the elective way young people choose to connect. Throughout this process, the boy constantly considers the girl's feelings, and the girl actively prioritizes the boy's happiness. If you want to write a vivid, breathing romance novel, you must construct an incredibly arduous journey for their relationship."
"Naturally, this baseline rule applies strictly to fiction. As for the audience reading the story, it's usually best to let them remain single dogs."
Speaking up to this point, Seito playfully shifted the topic. The love stories depicted in novels were always tailored to maximize fulfillment, hype, and dramatic entertainment value. As for real-world romance... Seito felt it usually boiled down to how far a person was willing to go as a hopeless romantic, given how many simps existed nowadays.
Hearing Seito's final jab at the readers, the corner of Utaha's mouth twitched slightly. Won't this guy get beaten to death by his own fans? One had to admit that in the current era, a massive portion of the population proudly identified as single aristocrats who had zero interest in dating.
"I suppose your logic makes a lot of sense," Utaha nodded, agreeing with his point.
Leaving reality aside, romantic relationships in fiction truly prioritized emotional fulfillment and the beauty of the journey. A writer could hand out sweet moments or force the couple's bond to endure extreme trials.
However, the male or female lead should absolutely never get cuckolded! Otherwise, the entire story would instantly turn completely toxic.
"Netorare content must be permanently eradicated," Utaha couldn't help but complain out loud.
Seito nodded his head in deep, absolute agreement. Cuckoldry definitely deserved to be permanently eradicated... wait a minute!
The moment the faces of Mrs. Yukinoshita and Mrs. Yuigahama flashed through his mind, Seito realized he absolutely could not voice such a hypocritical statement!
Because from a certain structural perspective... he was practically a walking cuckolder himself!
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Thank you for reading.