Chapter 15: The Bull Head is Also Acceptable
"Oh my~ So Satoru-kun has written this much?"
After finishing the pile of manuscripts and several books beside it, Kurumi, who had just finished reading, smiled and spoke to the girls nearby.
"That's right. Satoru is currently the most famous light novel author~ He has several serialized works, all topping the bestseller lists. He's really amazing~"
Hearing her words, Mei happily explained, cupping her chin and cheeks with her hands like a blooming flower, looking slightly proud—as if she herself had written them.
Though in reality, she was somewhat involved.
After all, even someone with an exceptional memory like Satoru would occasionally hit creative blocks, and he would often seek advice from them.
And while Mei might seem a bit airheaded and silly at times, she actually had quite a lot of ideas in this area.
"That's incredible~ But what surprised me the most is this latest one. It even features Mei-san and Ayano-san as heroines. It seems the three of you have had some very interesting experiences together~"
"Ugh! N-No, not at all!"
But when Kurumi picked up the freshly written, unpublished manuscript and shook it teasingly, Mei's face flushed red, and she hurriedly waved her hands in denial.
Her flustered reaction, however, lacked any convincing power—instead making it seem like she was desperately trying to hide something that was already obvious.
"There's nothing. It's just someone's self-indulgent fantasy."
The other named party, the long black-haired Ayano, remained composed, calmly reading a book while offering a dry remark...
Though her eyes occasionally flickered toward the others. When she noticed them looking at her, she subtly averted her gaze.
...Honestly, she had already read that part of the manuscript, and it felt bizarre.
The male protagonist gets hit by a car at the start of the school year, is hospitalized, and after recovering, struggles to fit into his class. Then, a kind teacher introduces him to a club called the "Service Club," where the female lead is a black-haired girl named "Yukino," whose personality and appearance are practically identical to hers (which was indeed the case).
Later, a girl named "Yui" comes to the club for help baking cookies, and the protagonist ends up eating them...
It was almost exactly like reality. The plot was clearly based on real events.
From a purely technical standpoint, the writing was excellent, and the story was emotionally engaging—no wonder it was popular.
But as someone involved, reading it just felt... weird.
And besides...
This was a school romance novel.
It was one thing for the spring-minded Yui-san to be written in, but why did she have to be romantically involved with Satoru-kun too?
Satoru-kun really only ever thinks about women, doesn't he? Anyone can be turned into a love interest in his head.
And his actual girlfriend was right there!
"Uh, well, it's fiction. And when you have such great, fitting material in real life, why not use it? Art imitates life and all~"
Of course, Satoru himself didn't think much of it.
He coughed and explained to demonstrate his "innocence."
And indeed, that was the case. He simply felt that the true stories of the two heroines and the events that would unfold might not happen until ten or twenty years later.
So even if he wrote about them now, it wouldn't be a bad thing, right?
Writing now would also give him plenty of fun material to draw directly from the two of them.
"Ara~ As expected of your thinking~ But, Nia-san, as his girlfriend, wouldn't you get jealous~?"
But Kurumi did love stirring the pot. Knowing full well how sensitive the question was, she deliberately turned to Nia.
"Ahem, I've told Nia it's not real, so she wouldn't get jealous..."
"What are you talking about? I am jealous. Though it's still better than reality."
"..." xN
Before Nia could even speak, Satoru quickly jumped in to explain, seemingly trying to ease the awkwardness.
But Nia didn't spare his feelings at all, firing back with a blunt remark that only made the atmosphere even more uncomfortable.
"Watching my boyfriend flirt with other girls right in front of me, writing stories where they're the heroines—and who knows, I might even have to draw a manga adaptation with them as the main characters modeled after their appearances. How is any of that supposed to feel good?"
Nia's brutally honest and realistic complaint made the atmosphere as awkward as Satoru's expression, leaving even the other two girls too embarrassed to speak.
Only Kurumi listened with great interest, thoroughly amused.
"But... since they might turn out to be adorable little sisters, as the big sister, I should be more generous. Besides, the NTR warrior genre isn't something I can't accept—it's actually kind of unexpectedly thrilling~"
"..." x4
Girl, that's a dangerous line of thinking.