With her eyes shut, Nibutani Shinka's breathing sped up, and a flush had long since spread across her cheeks.
She'd always been a pretty girl, but right now she looked even more tempting.
Hayashi Maki reluctantly pulled away from her soft lips, watching her leaning shyly against his chest, and couldn't help the pleased smile tugging at his mouth.
"Alright, class is about to start. Let's head back, Mori-sama~."
"Hmph, I told you not to call me 'Mori-sama'… you just love making fun of me."
Shinka shot him a glare, using her small hands to straighten the school skirt he'd just messed up, and retie the bow at her chest.
Faced with this guy who knew all about her chuunibyou past and still kept teasing her about it, she really had no way to deal with him.
"Hehe, that's because Mori-sama is too cute. Every time I see you all flustered, I find it super entertaining."
Hayashi Maki ruffled her hair affectionately.
That earned him another dramatic eye roll, but Shinka didn't actually hold it against him.
After all, she really was "Mori Summer" now—no longer just some wannabe chuunibyou.
Once you've actually grasped real mysterious powers, it doesn't feel quite so embarrassing anymore.
Back in the classroom, Nibutani Shinka was immediately hit by staring beams from Mahiru, Miura Yumiko, and the others.
Yumiko glanced at her with a strange expression. "Shinka, why are your lips all swollen?"
"Ah… are they?" Shinka's cheeks flushed and she instinctively covered her mouth.
"They are, it's super obvious."
Yumiko's tone was full of teasing.
She could easily guess Hayashi Maki must have gotten a little too enthusiastic with Shinka.
After all, she'd been in the exact same situation before.
Feeling ridiculously self-conscious under her friends' looks, Shinka could only fumble for an excuse and claim she'd eaten something too spicy.
Mahiru, though, shot a quick look in Hayashi Maki's direction.
So… that "spicy snack" Shinka ate—was that serious?
The afternoon rolled around.
Once classes finished, it was club time.
Those with club activities went to their respective rooms.
Some dedicated "go-home club" kids headed straight back to their apartments.
Hayama Hayato, still basking in the praise of his friends like Tobe and Ooka, headed to the soccer club.
Hayashi Maki, on the other hand, took Mahiru, Shinka, Katou Megumi, and the others back to the clubroom for the first time in a while.
He had said he was going to make a game, after all, so he couldn't just drop it halfway.
This time, he'd decided on a magical girl game.
The script was already done.
All that was left was to flesh out the characters.
Magical girls were all cute girls, so of course their designs had to be gorgeous too.
Artwork-wise, he could leave things to Mashiro and Eriri.
The script itself could be polished by Utaha.
What Hayashi Maki was struggling with now was the villain side of the cast.
He could hand the chuunibyou "elf" character straight to Shinka and let her play the role herself to deepen the character's personality.
But writing the female villain's lines from that perspective? That was a bit harder for him.
He wasn't truly chuunibyou, and he couldn't naturally come up with those dramatic, cringey, yet badass lines from a girl's point of view.
So, he decided to mine Machida Sonoko for gold.
As an editor, Machida Sonoko read tons of submissions every day.
Maybe, if he poked around, he'd find something good.
He was pretty confident in his luck, after all.
When he arrived at the editorial department, he ran smack into a familiar silhouette.
A petite, adorable girl with golden hair fluttering in the air, slightly pointed ears, looking for all the world like a fairy who'd walked out of a storybook.
Yamada Elf.
The industry-famous hit author, writer of Fantasy Fairy Chronicle.
Seeing him, Yamada planted her hands on her hips and huffed proudly.
"Hayashi Maki, the collab between me, Kashiwagi Eri, and Eromanga-sensei is about to drop at your company. Hmph! Just wait to see your precious little light novel crushed by my SUPER novel!"
Hayashi Maki rolled his eyes at her.
"Little girl, aren't you overthinking this? Even if your work sells like crazy, it's not going to affect me much, okay? If anything, now that you're working with Kashiwagi Eri, it might actually boost my sales."
"This is called the celebrity effect, also known as a commercial chain reaction. When readers see Kashiwagi Eri's name, they're going to look up everything else she's worked on."
Yamada's shoulders twitched; her face fell.
Come to think of it… that was actually true.
Her collab with Kashiwagi Eri wouldn't suppress Hayashi Maki at all—in fact, it would probably help increase his sales.
"Wait, forget that for a second—who are you calling 'little girl'?"
Yamada suddenly remembered something, standing on tiptoe as she glared up at him.
Hayashi Maki straightened up and looked down from his towering height at the tiny blonde girl who barely reached his waist, and couldn't help smiling.
He held a hand up to mark her height and raised a brow. "Obviously you, Yamada Elf. At your age, you should be going to school properly. I recommend transferring to our school—I promise I'll take reeeally good care of you."
"Who wants your care, you pervert?!"
Yamada puffed out her cheeks and snapped, "For your information, this lady is a fully grown adult. I am not a little girl and I don't need school anymore! I became a bestselling author before you, so you should be calling me 'big sis'!"
"If you did, I might consider mentioning your books to my readers, maybe throw you a little free promotion so you can ride my coattails."
Hayashi Maki eyed the tiny blonde who looked barely fourteen, still struggling to process that she was actually legally an adult.
But the way she puffed herself up and pretended to be lofty only made him more amused.
He bent down and murmured in her ear, "Fairy onee-san… won't you take care of this poor kouhai~?"
"Ah! Y-you… you actually said it?!"
Yamada's face went scarlet, and she jabbed a trembling finger at him.
Her whole body was practically shaking.
"Well, didn't you say you were an adult and didn't need school anymore? I'm still a high schooler, so I have to call you onee-san. So I'll be counting on you for the recommendations, Fairy onee-san~."
"Uaaaaaah! You jerk! How can you be this thick-skinned? Do you even know what shame is?!"
Yamada stomped her feet in frustration, completely at a loss for words.
At the same time, her ears were burning—his "Fairy onee-san" had made her feel like her ears might get pregnant on the spot.
This damn guy… so annoying!