Chapter 8: Meeting Utaha Kasumigaoka

Hiratsuka silently waved his hand to Shido, not knowing what to say. Hachiman was still a bit disgruntled about Shido having such a lovely girlfriend.

However, Shido didn't have much interest in their reaction. After saying goodbye, Shido walked out of the teacher's office. Although it took a little time, he successfully demolished Hiratsuka's plan in the end.

In this way, he perfectly avoided the plot of SNAFU, and would not get involved with Yukino, therefore, he may continue living happily by himself in this school.

As for Hachiman, would he continue to act like in the original show and join the Service Club? Well, it shouldn't be his concern…

Last year, when Shido was enrolled in the school, he discovered that there were many weird clubs in this school, many of which were exclusive associations of certain anime he knew in his previous life, such as the online game department, GJ Department, Cultural Research Society, or Classical Literature Department, etc.

In order to avoid being invited to join these weird clubs, Shido deliberately joined the art club of this school and became a ghost member.

The art club was a very free place. As long as they participated in art competitions regularly, members did not need to come to the club every day. It was simply because the teachers believed that most artists did not like being locked in a small space for creation. Instead, letting them finish their work outside would be better.

This was also the reason why the Art Club was suitable for Shido. He liked this kind of association that did not take attendance. In fact, he had been in the Art Club for so long and yet hadn't been checking in more than a few times over the last year. No one even knew that he was an artist.

As for the competition just mentioned, Shido also took part seriously. After all, he had helped Nia draw so many illustrations that he developed adequate drawing skills as well. So, it was not difficult to draw some fine art paintings.

It was just that until now, it seemed that he never won any prize.

Of course, Shido joined the Art Club mainly for a reason to reject other clubs. For example, if Hiratsuka just wanted him to join the Service Club, he could say that he was already in the Art Club.

In order to avoid getting to know other beautiful girls and make the Spirits worry about him derailing, Shido has made full preparations.

Shido nodded proudly, but at this moment, he found a familiar figure walking towards him...

It was a long, black-hair girl with big bright eyes, a straight face, and red ribbons tied to the sides of her hair. It was Yukino Yukinoshita whom Shizuka Hiratsuka mentioned just now.

The two passed by, and did not speak because they did not know each other. Shido noticed that Yukino walked into the faculty room, and should have gone to find Hiratsuka.

After taking a look, Shido felt a little strange. According to the plot of the original show, shouldn't Yukino stay in the Service Club while reading a book, waiting for Hiratsuka to look for her?

Shido gently shook his head, and didn't think about Yukino again. Even if the plot changed, what would it have to do with him? !

Moreover, he must rush to the publisher as soon as possible. The phone call from the editor Toki just now was urging him, but Shido used the teacher as an excuse to temporarily evade it.

Although Shido didn't care much about the copied work, he still cared about the money! That was the cost of living for him and the Spirits in this world!

Shido walked away from the school quickly, then he took the Shinkansen and went to the Rabbit Hill Shopping Street, where he found the Fusuikawa Bunko next to him, and then as the editor Toki said earlier, he went to the office on the fourth floor.

Fusuikawa Bunko was the largest library in the light novel industry. There were countless well-known light novel writers under its name. Among them, Shido can only be regarded as a mediocre kind.

The size of the office of Fushikawa Bunko was quite large, but it seemed that because of the nature of the industry, it could be seen that the interior was very chaotic...

There were briefcases full of tables, novel materials, cartoon posters, manuscripts, and even a few middle-aged men lying on the ground slumbering. Shido didn't know whether these people were editors or writers.

In fact, this was not the first time Shido has come to the library. He has been here several times when he submitted and signed documents before, so he was familiar with it.

Shido came to the staff lady at the front desk. As far as he knew, the meeting between the editor and the writer was arranged by this lady.

The lady recognized Shido, knowing that he was the person waiting for the editor Toki, she nodded and smiled sweetly:

"Itsuka-kun, you are finally here. Editor Toki and the others aree already waiting for you in conference room 5..."

"Okay thank you..."

Shido politely thanked him, but then he felt a little strange again. What did the lady mean by 'them'?

Isn't editor Toki alone in the conference room?

It's just that when he came outside the door of meeting room No. 5, he frowned again, because he saw that meeting room No. 5 was obviously larger than an ordinary meeting room, and he had an unpleasant feeling in his heart.

Generally speaking, when he was the only editor with Toki, they all met in conference rooms 1 to 4. There could only accommodate two people, but it was also enough for the editor to talk about the work with the writer just now.

Now that we were going to use conference room No. 5 in the big circle, it means that it was very likely that Toki is not the only editor in it, but there were others!

"Who are 'they'?" Shido had no way to guess. He could only hope that it would not be a troublesome figure...

Shido sighed, then knocked on the door. After hearing the response from editor Toki, he walked in cautiously and said in a low voice:

"Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long..."

"Finally here, the Great Writer?"

A woman standing in the corner sneered, then looked at Shido with an unhappy expression.

It was a girl with short black hair and a black-and-white OL costume. This woman naturally knew Shido. She was editor Machida who met with him once.

Shido understood Machida's attitude. After all, in order to avoid getting involved with Kasumigaoka Utaha, he strongly and unreasonably asked the library to change his editor.

This was a very rare request, especially for a new writer like Shido, but because editor Toki suddenly lost one of his authors, after some discussions, the editor of Shido was successfully changed to Toki.

Therefore, Machida had always felt upset with Shido's request to change the editor, and since Shido did not have any good results after his debut and that she had waited for so long just now, naturally she would not be polite with him.

Shido didn't care, since the other party was not his own editor, and no matter how much she hated him, it wouldn't affect his work. He just smiled and nodded at Machida, making it difficult for the other party to continue taunting.

The girl sitting next to Machida was a familiar figure. She had long waist-length black hair, white skin like snow, long black silk legs full of texture, and white headband ribbon. She was also wearing the school uniform of the third grade. It was Utaha that Shido just met at noon.

Like Machida, Utaha also had an unhappy face, and she kept shaking her legs. Not knowing if it was an illusion, Shido felt that she saw the mysterious dark atmosphere behind the other party.

Shido couldn't understand why editor Toki asked them to be here, but Shido knew what he had to do, at least behaved a little more ordinary.

He looked at Utaha with a surprised expression, as if he was very surprised that she came here, asking:

"Kasumigaoka-senpai?"

Utaha raised her head slightly, and found that the boy in front of him was an unknown boy, but seeing the other party's school uniform and the name just now, he naturally understood that the other party was a student of the same school as she.

She didn't know him, but she believed that it was normal for Shido to know her. After all, she was a well-known beautiful girl in the school, and it was only natural for these juniors to know her.

Utaha nodded coldly. In front of unfamiliar people, she had always maintained such a cold image.

Of course, what she didn't know was that because he had seen the anime about her, Shido was too familiar with the real face of Utaha Kasumigaoka.

Seeing that Utaha ignored him, Shido didn't care, since it would be better this way. He turned around and looked at editor Toki and asked curiously:

"Editor Toki, is there anything you asked me to come over after school?"

"The sales volume of the latest volume of your light novel became much worse, and it had almost reached the lowest bottom line that it could accept..."

Editor Toki said calmly, in fact, he was not very optimistic about such works from the beginning, but the editor-in-chief thought it had commercial value, so he let it be published.

As a result, the sales volume of the first few volumes was not bad, because it looked cool, but reading two more volumes of this kind of novel would cause aesthetic fatigue. Therefore, receiving fewer and fewer fans while getting more and more negative reviews.

If it weren't for the illustrations of the mysterious illustrator, the sales would have been even worse.

"So is it going to be cut?"

Shido frowned. If it got cut, what garbage works should he copy next?

editor Toki didn't know that Shido was worried about this kind of thing. Thinking that the other party was frustrated by his sales performance, so he shook his head hurriedly and explained:

"It hasn't been cut yet, but the publisher hopes that you can hold a signing event to increase your popularity!"

"Signing Event?"

Shido murmured, if it was an ordinary signing event, it would definitely bring fans to cheer for him, but it would not increase his popularity.

Not just that, what were Utaha and the others here for?

Shido looked at editor Toki in confusion, hoping that the other party would explain it clearly.

Editor Toki sighed, then explained to Shido:

"It means that you and Utaha-chan, two authors, will hold an signing event together!"

"What?"

Shido asked with a little excitement: Why suddenly let him hold a signing event with Utaha?

Shido glanced at Utaha who was sitting on the side. It was hard for him to believe that the other party would agree to such a proposal.

"Don't look at me! I am also firmly opposed to it!"

Utaha said coldly. She just wanted to write a novel well and didn't want to copy anything, but unfortunately, sales in the light novel industry were everything, and she could not tolerate her choice.

"There are three reasons..."

Editor Toki raised three fingers and explained one by one:

"First, you are all relatively young, have room for improvement, and have great potential. The library is willing to give you time and opportunities. To progress, you need to learn together.

Itsuka-kun, you are very good at grasping the selling points of light novels, but the writing plot is very general. The writing plots of Utaha'chan are first-rate, but the selling points of the works written are seriously insufficient.

Therefore, the editor-in-chief wants you to get to know each other, learn from each other's strengths, and improve your own shortcomings, so that you have the opportunity to become a great light novel writer on your own! "

Utaha shook her legs and asked questioningly:

"I have also read 'Smartphone man' written by Itsuka. It is basically toilet paper presented with good illustrations, and it has no nutritional value. Put it bluntly, it is a waste of time to read it. Is it really necessary to learn from it?"

"Senior Sister Kasumigaoka's work...sorry! I haven't read it!"

Shido also wanted to say something, but only to realize that he had not read Utaha's novels, so he could only tell the truth, but this was also mockery enough. He saw that after he said those words, Utaha showed a darkened expression on her face.