/
“Alright,” Seiji said. “Thank you, Editor Yoshizawa.”
“I should be the one thanking you, Harano,” Saki replied. “Mayuzumi hasn’t had any nightmares for the past few days, and her androphobia is well on track to being cured now. It’s all thanks to you… I’m truly grateful for what you’ve done.”
“Editor Yoshizawa…”
“In the future, if there’s anything I can help you with, please let me know,” Saki said solemnly. “I’ll do everything within my power to assist you, no matter if it’s related to your story, or to something else.”
“Editor Yoshizawa, you said something almost identical to Peach-sensei,” Seiji said, chuckling. “I only did what I should have for Sensei. There’s no need to be so polite with me, but still, please take good care of me in the future.”
“Yes… likewise. Please take good care of me, Harano… Haruta-kun,” Saki said, smiling to herself.
Saki ended the phone call.
Seiji told Mika and Chiaki that Brother Monogatari was approved for publication and he had received a formal contract, and both of them congratulated him.
“I think this book of yours is incredibly fun to read. I’ve already read it three times.” Chiaki smiled. “It’ll definitely become a bestseller!”
“I feel like that as well,” Mika added. “It’s a wonderfully written story.”
Both of them had already read the draft that Seiji sent them multiple times.
“I have more confidence after hearing your reviews,” Seiji said with a smile. “Shika-chan is currently hard at work thinking of the storyline for the second volume of Brother Monogatari . I intend to write the light novel and work on the game storyline simultaneously.”
“Will you be able to cope?” Chiaki asked.
“Of course—neither is on a tight deadline. It’ll be simple enough to do both.” Seiji paused for a moment. “And as for the game storyline, I need to discuss that with you before anyone, Chiaki. Do you have any thoughts regarding the female lead’s route?”
Chiaki looked towards Seiji and grinned. “First, I’d like to ask you something—what are you intending to write about me?”
“I’m not going to write about you. I’m just using you as inspiration.” Seiji rubbed his chin. “First, I need to establish a theme for the female lead. I have a few thoughts on this—we could go for ‘drama club ace,’ ‘rich girl,’ ‘very popular,’ ‘bright and starry,’ ‘elegant,’ or something else of your choosing.
“The basic route could go something like this: the male and female lead meet, and they interact with each other from day-to-day. I could then create a catalyst, which leads to them falling in love, then show daily life after the first date. After that, an obstacle to their love would crop up, and after a struggle, the main characters overcome their love obstacle, and they live happily ever after.
“I’d like your opinion on the specifics, though.”
“I see.” Chiaki nodded in understanding. “Can I give you any opinion that I want?”
“Yes, I’ll take whatever you say into consideration and do my best to write it in. However, I can’t promise that I’ll use everything exactly as you say it.”
“Hmm…” Chiaki rubbed her chin, a sly smile spreading across her face. “My first opinion… is about the male lead!
“He needs to be tall and handsome! Even if he’s dressed like a girl, he needs to seem like one of those girls who appear powerful and spirited, not the weak type who need protecting. Also, he needs to be a skilled fighter, filled with a sense of justice, open and direct, and have otaku hobbies!”
Seiji was rendered speechless.
“That’s right, I’m talking about you!” The tomboy pointed directly at him. “I want the male lead to be just like you, Seiji, and the more similar he is to you the better!”
“Why?” Seiji asked hoarsely.
“For fairness!” Chiaki responded, acting as if she were on the side of logic and reason. “Since you’re using me as the female lead, then the male lead should be the same as you. This is gender equality.”
‘Gender equality… that’s not what it means!’ Seiji didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Is it that necessary to have equality in this aspect? The storyline should be written so that it’s interesting…”
“I think that this is rather interesting—perhaps it’s even the most interesting storyline possible! Mika agrees with my opinion, right?”
The pigtailed girl hurriedly nodded.
“I-I agree with Chiaki; I think her idea is excellent!” Mika blushed slightly.
“And now, it’s the combined opinion of two of your voice actresses! That should be quite weighty.” Chiaki flashed a brilliant smile.
Seiji didn’t know what to say to this.
“Alright… I’ll consider it carefully.” He decided to give it some thought.
“And also, I have an opinion about my—or I should say the female lead’s—identity,” the tomboy continued. “She should be childhood friends with the male lead. Their parents agreed to their engagement long ago, and everyone else thinks they’re a perfect match!”
Mika was now the one who was rendered speechless.
“After all, I’m the female lead, so shouldn’t the female lead receive all these grand advantages?” Chiaki continued to smile brilliantly. “Of course, these advantages don’t mean that the story needs to be smooth sailing for the female lead, otherwise it’ll be too boring.
“You should also add a few tragic elements—her family collapsing, secretly being abused by her stepmother, or being forced by her father into a political marriage. As for the ending, it should be something along the lines of ‘the female lead was forced by her family to marry another man, and the male lead rushed to the site of the marriage and made a huge scene, taking away the female lead!'”
Chiaki posed like she was a teenage girl who addicted to such stories. “For the ending, the two of them elope to a faraway place, marry, and have a wonderful life… what do you think?”
“A classic story,” Seiji reviewed. “This is okay… but I want something that stands out more…”
“Alright, let’s change it so that the female lead is sold by her parents to the mafia to pay off their debt, and the mafia tries to force her into making pornos—how about that?”
“Why is it suddenly getting R-rated!?”
“And the first porn video that the mafia wants the female lead to produce is about ***, ****, and *****.”
“And it’s even the hardcore stuff!?”
“The male lead in female clothing rushes over to the scene just in time to stop them, and says in a cool voice, ‘Let me replace her!'”
“Cool!? The hell! This is completely going down the wrong track!!”
What was the dating sim supposed to be if the male lead in female clothing replaced the female lead in a hardcore porn video!?
Rather than being creative, wasn’t this just a hardcore sex scene!? Not to mention it would be BL!!
Seiji energetically commented on this both mentally and out loud.
Chiaki kept giggling uncontrollably. “I’d really like to see it, the male lead being a**’d.”
“That’s enough out of you!” Seiji shouted. “Do you have a grudge against the male lead?’
“I want to see it as well…” Mika added.
“That’s enough out of both of you!! Is it true after all that all girls are into BL?”‘
Well, that was enough with the jokes.
Seiji and Chiaki went back to discussing things seriously, but neither had any particular flashes of inspiration, so they ended the lunch break just like that.
After the end of the finals on the second day, Seiji split up from Chiaki and Mika and headed towards the president’s residence. He intended to try out the power of his new spell [Mana Bullet].
He opened the door with the key that Natsuya had given him and went to the secret underground practice field.
When he arrived at the area with many targets, he couldn’t help but remember the time when they tested Mashiro’s power. He looked around and turned on the nearby computer.
However, unlike Natsuya, he didn’t know how to control the targets with the computer.
‘I might as well call Natsuya and ask her which computer program it is…’
Natsuya answered the call and told him what he wanted to know. He immediately used the program and brought out a circular target.
He pointed his hand directly at the target.
[Mana Bullet]!
In his [Astral Vision], a white mass of energy rapidly increased in size within the palm of his hand. It soon reached the size of a baseball, before it started glowing and flew out from his hand.
*Crack!!*
It hit the target with the sharp, whip-like sound of something blunt and heavy colliding with an object fast and hard.