"Knock knock."
The knocking sound made the two of them turn their heads.
"I say, what are you two doing, hurting each other like that?"
Izumi Chihiro looked puzzled.
"Uh, when were you (Ni-san) there?"
The two asked simultaneously.
"Just now," he replied.
"I almost thought you two were going to fight, but it turns out it was just talk," he added.
"What do you mean by that?" Eriri's eyes narrowed.
"I love watching women fight," he replied as a matter of course.
So he was looking for fun!
"Sagiri."
"Eriri-neechan."
The two exchanged glances, reached a consensus, and then rushed over, launching a pincer attack.
With a common enemy, the previous tension naturally disappeared.
"1v2, that's a bit unfair…"
Finally, Izumi Chihiro collapsed onto the sofa, muttering to himself.
"Why are you still lying there? Aren't you coming over?"
In front, Eriri sat on the floor, patting the empty spot beside her.
"The injuries you inflicted on me just now were too severe; I need to breathe to recover HP now."
Izumi Chihiro looked up, clutching his chest, and said with a pained expression.
"Stop being chuunibyou; you're past that age," Eriri said with a playful look in her eyes.
"Isn't it still a few days away?" he said, getting up.
"Ni-san, it's your performance time!" Sagiri said eagerly.
"Alright, let's hurry up and start," Eriri pouted.
"Heh." Izumi Chihiro smiled on the surface, sitting next to them, but in reality, he was already brewing something in his mind.
It's really undignified to lay hands on girls, so don't blame me for using other methods, Eriri!
He sneered inwardly.
"Ah, Chihiro, why did you throw me in front of the BOSS?"
"Ah, I pressed the wrong button."
"Why did you break the brick below me, making me fall down?!"
"I didn't see it."
"Damn, why are you stealing my health? Weren't you at full health just now?"
"No, you must have seen it wrong."
"You're looking for trouble, Chihiro!"
"Was there such a thing?"
"I'm going to fight you!"
On this day's gaming journey, the girl's gaming experience was extremely poor, to the point of utter depression.
...
Three more days passed in the blink of an eye.
Izumi Chihiro came to Takasago Bookstore, preparing to use his free time to see if any good works had appeared, and then to check if the new volumes of Nayuta and Senju Muramasa's works had been released.
"Oh, isn't this the busy Izumi-sensei? Why do you have time to come today?"
As soon as he entered, he was greeted by Takasago Tomoe's sarcastic inquiry.
"Why do you say that?"
He expressed confusion.
"At the end of the semester, someone walked straight out of the classroom, didn't he even have time to say goodbye to his classmates?"
Takasago Tomoe said in a cold tone.
"Uh, well, I didn't mean to ignore you, it's just that I had an urgent matter that day, and besides, I can meet Takasago-san every so often, so there's no need to say goodbye, right?"
He paused for a moment, then gave a reason.
"That's more like it!"
Takasago Tomoe's expression visibly softened quite a bit.
"Are there any good works you recommend these days?"
He then asked.
"Let me think, when was the last time I met Izumi-kun in the bookstore... Hmm, there are a few recent new releases worth recommending."
Takasago Tomoe walked out from behind the counter to her recommended works display, and picked up a few books from underneath.
"This one, 'Mystery Detective Records,' is pretty good. The thinking is meticulous, and the logical ability is very strong, but the character settings aren't interesting enough, so the sales aren't very high..."
"And this one, 'Legend of Heroes in Another World,' the character descriptions are very vivid, and the writing is very imaginative, but the author, in order to cater to the market, deliberately made it a harem work, and some parts are too forced..."
Takasago Tomoe introduced them to him one by one.
This greatly reduced Izumi Chihiro's time spent browsing for books.
"Are there any others?"
He bought a few of them and asked again.
"Let me think, oh, right! There's also a new work that Izumi should be very interested in! Originally, looking at your writing style, I didn't think you would like this kind of slice-of-life romance, but after playing '"White Album",' which you wrote, I found that Izumi's interests are quite broad..."
Takasago Tomoe said, taking a light novel from a nearby bookshelf. The title on the cover was clearly 'love metronome.'
"It was released yesterday. I've only read half of it, but it seems pretty good. If there are no problems later, I plan to put it on the second row of the recommendation shelf... This newly debuted Kasumigaoka Utaha Sensei is very impressive, her writing level is quite high, and I'm very optimistic about her future."
Takasago Tomoe praised this work highly.
Her scoring standards are different from others; sales are only one factor. What's important is the quality of the work. Works that receive such an evaluation are very rare.
Being ranked in the second row means that, apart from classic works from the past, in recent years, only Senju Muramasa's 'fantasy demon blade chronicles,' Kani Nayuta's 'silver season,' and his second work, 'puella magi madoka magica,' would have higher ratings.
"It's indeed well-written. I'm also quite optimistic about Kasumigaoka Utaha."
Izumi Chihiro nodded and also bought 'love metronome.'
Although he had read the content before, after publication and packaging, plus illustrations and the like, it became a complete light novel worth collecting.
"That tone, you wouldn't happen to know Kasumigaoka Utaha Sensei, would you? But it seems pretty normal, after all, you're under the same editor."
"Because of Miss Sonoko, I had some communication with her before her debut."
"I see, no wonder I felt her style seemed to merge a little with the style of '"White Album".'"
Takasago Tomoe now understood the reason.
This was not surprising; Izumi Masamune was also considered a senior in the industry, so guiding a junior was a matter of course.
"Besides these new works, Teacher Senju Muramasa's 'fantasy demon blade chronicles' is nearing its end, and the fight scenes are getting more and more exciting... Also, Teacher Kani Nayuta's 'silver season' has already concluded, you wouldn't miss it, would you?"
Takasago Tomoe spoke again.
"'silver season' has already concluded?"
Izumi Chihiro thought to himself.
'silver season' began serialization later than 'fantasy demon blade chronicles' but concluded earlier. This is not incomprehensible, as the styles of the works are very different, and battle-oriented works have more elements.