Walking home with his guitar on his back, Miyahito suddenly remembered something halfway there.
"Wait, when exactly is Senpai's signing event? Hmm... if I remember correctly, it's supposed to be in her second year of high school, right?"
"Doing the math... does that mean that glasses guy is a first-year this year? Same year as me?"
The thought that he might be in the same grade—and with a one-in-three chance, the same class—as that guy who practically triggered his PTSD made his face twist with undisguised disdain.
"Sigh..."
Heaving a heavy sigh, a scene from his memories flashed through his mind.
Then, lost in thought, he muttered to himself,
"In the anime, that glasses guy is basically the ultimate normie."
"But this is the 3D world, hello."
As he spoke, his peripheral vision caught the polished, reflective glass of a nearby shop. Stopping instinctively, he turned to look at his own reflection.
Might sound narcissistic.
But honestly, with his current looks and build, if dropped into a 2D setting, he'd easily qualify as a standard, top-tier "normie" sunshine handsome boy.
Heh! That'd easily keep that hardcore otaku Aki Tomoya completely in check!
Just as a cocky, self-satisfied grin began to form, his mind accidentally recalled how close he came to social death yesterday.
Instantly, rationality slammed back into his brain.
Completely calmed down and back to normal, he adjusted his guitar strap and turned around.
Resuming his walk home.
Why overthink useless stuff?
He's just a plain otaku. Setting aside whether I'd even get dragged into that nauseating "rom-com,"
Aragaki Miyahito himself is no cowardly pushover.
If that guy dared to mess with me... well, ten years of kendo training would finally get put to use.
.....
(Back at the same café.)
"See anything interesting?" Resting her chin on her hand, Machida Sonoko watched Utaha, who still hadn't let go of the notepad, with an amused expression. "Did that Aragaki-kun's feedback help you, Utako-sensei?"
Utaha remained silent.
Seeing this, Machida didn't mind.
She knew exactly how important the handsome boy's words were to a writer like Utaha, whose debut had been rocky and who was desperately craving reader validation.
In fact, Machida could say without exaggeration:
If the person who truly guided and encouraged Utaha to become a light novel author was Miyani-sensei and his music,
Then the person who truly gave her the resolve to push forward, no matter the obstacles, was this Aragaki Miyahito boy—and the words he'd left today, which had shattered her defenses and touched the softest part of her heart.
Just as Machida thought.
Her fingertips gently traced the page recording the boy's words. Her gaze locked onto one specific line, and Utaha unconsciously pressed her lips together.
A moment later, a barely audible whisper slipped from her parted lips.
"'Companionship is the longest confession of love,' huh?"
"Then in your heart..."
What kind of romance do you hope for?
Could you... tell me?
Just then.
Machida's voice calling "Utaha-chan" snapped her back to reality.
Raising her eyes from the notepad, she looked at her editor questioningly.
Instead of answering right away, Machida turned her phone around, screen facing Utaha, and said,
"I think you should see this, Utaha-chan."
Her gaze naturally drifted to the screen.
But the next second,
Utaha froze.
Because on the small screen was a familiar account name, a short sentence, and a photo.
The sentence read: "This is a love letter every boy should read."
The photo showed a copy of Love's Metronome Vol. 2 against the familiar bookstore backdrop.
And the account name.
"Miyani-sensei."
Whispering the name, Utaha fell silent for a few seconds.
Then she abruptly looked up, her wine-red eyes wide with disbelief and shock as she stared at her editor.
"As hard as it is to believe,"
Her expression still a mix of shock and complexity, Machida raised a finger and pointed through the glass toward the nearby bookstore.
"Judging by the timestamp on that tweet, Miyani-sensei was definitely in that store just now."
"As for whether it was actually him... well, we can't confirm that yet."
Her words acted like a bucket of cold water, dousing Utaha's sudden impulse.
Right.
Machida was right.
Even though Aragaki-kun understood exactly what she wanted to convey.
Miyani-sensei... how could Miyani-sensei possibly be a teenage boy? Besides, many of his songs feature female vocals.
Even if he claimed his sister sang them, how could one girl possibly pull off so many different vocal styles?
So, it couldn't be that much of a coincidence.
"Well, the real focus right now isn't Miyani-sensei's identity, Utaha-chan."
Machida's cryptic remark left Utaha momentarily confused.
But she didn't have time to dwell on it.
"Look at the rest of Miyani-sensei's tweet, Utaha-chan! Your novel is going to blow up!"
"Miyani-sensei's fanbase isn't something that blogger TAKI can even compare to! And his followers span every single demographic! Do you know what that means?"
Feeling her editor's excitement steadily rise, Utaha instinctively shrank back a bit and quietly asked,
"What does it mean?"
"Your novel is breaking out of the niche! Utaha-chan!"
"Huh... wait, what?"
"Love's Metronome is no longer just confined to the 2D/otaku circle! Get it?!"
Noticing Utaha was still looking completely lost, Machida's tone took on a hint of exasperation.
After all, the light novel industry.
Even at its largest, its reader base ultimately only covers young people, and many of those are still dismissed as "otaku."
Because of this, light novels are often dismissed as low-tier literature in the broader literary world.
But now, Love's Metronome is different.
With Miyani-sensei, who boasted a massive and highly diverse fanbase, personally tweeting a recommendation...
Even if the endorsement was just a name, a single sentence, and a photo, having someone of his stature vouch for Love's Metronome...
To the author, Kasumigaoka Utaha, this... this was simply...
"C'mon, c'mon, Utaha-chan, tell me!"
Machida Sonoko's eyes practically sparkling, she stared intently at Utaha, her voice dripping with envy and jealousy.
"How did you pull this off? Did you go pray at a shrine or something?"
"Tell me which shrine! I'm going to pray for romance too!"
She'd lost it. Machida Sonoko had completely lost it.
Cornered at the very back of the booth by an editor who had gone so feral that the words "pray for romance" practically floated in her eyes, Kasumigaoka Utaha sat there.
Yeah.
It was a living masterpiece of "weak, pitiful, and utterly helpless."
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