Seeing Yamada Elf losing her mind like that, Hayashi Maki's mood lifted even more.
After asking this "senpai author" to promo his work on Twitter, he slipped past her and stopped in front of Machida Sonoko.
"Yo, Sonoko-nee, got a minute?"
Hearing his tone, Machida blinked, then smiled.
"What, are you asking me out on a date? No can do, Utaha will get jealous."
"Utaha" was obviously Kasumigaoka Utaha.
Machida knew full well those two were dating.
Seeing the teasing look on her face, Hayashi Maki shook his head and said more seriously:
"I'm here to beg for help. I'm working with the circle on a game right now, and we're short a few unique character concepts. I'm not good at that type of character writing, so I figured I'd come raid your stash and see if there are any promising new authors I can poach."
As one of Fushikawa's main editors, Machida received tons of submissions from new writers.
Once a manuscript passed screening and got signed, the author could become a professional and work from home.
For shut-ins and people who aren't good with social interaction, that's basically the ideal job.
When she heard what he was after, Machida just curled her lip and jerked her thumb at a huge stack of manuscripts beside her.
"Help yourself. While you're at it, see if any of them are actually good."
With that, Machida basically slid the editor-in-chief's job over to Hayashi Maki and headed home for the day.
Don't forget, Fushikawa now officially belonged to Sanzenin Nagi, and given how close Hayashi Maki was to the ojou-sama, part-timing as her chief editor was no big deal.
Machida trusted him enough to just straight up slack off.
If someone's willing to cover your shift, why not?
Hayashi Maki plopped down into Machida's chair and started reading slush.
Very quickly, he got a taste of the pain she had been living with.
Some of these newbies were writing absolute nonsense; a few couldn't even use punctuation properly.
Reading those pages all the way through was a form of torture.
Of course, there were a few promising ones—interesting setups and strong openings. Hayashi Maki flagged those and set them aside.
When Yamada Elf saw Machida dump the pile on Hayashi Maki and bail, she was a little stunned.
Bored out of her mind, she dragged a chair over, sat next to him, and watched what he was reading.
Every now and then she'd run into something so bad it was funny and couldn't help laughing out loud.
Hayashi Maki twitched his lips and glanced at the small blonde who was practically leaning into his chest.
"Fairy onee-san, you that free? Didn't you say you were going to create the world's greatest light novel? Shouldn't you be home typing?"
Yamada's cheeks flushed as she fought the urge to punch him and loudly insisted:
"Don't call me onee-san! I…I'm actually younger than you!"
"Oh, really? Then why don't you try calling me 'big brother' and let me hear it?"
"No way! Why would I just do what you say?" Yamada glared at him with those pretty eyes.
Hayashi Maki's smile sharpened. "I literally just called you onee-san a minute ago. Now you admit you're younger than me, so shouldn't you at least call me onii-chan to make up for my emotional damage?"
"Like hell. You didn't suffer anything!"
She pouted, her expression peak tsundere.
Hayashi Maki waved a hand. "If you're not calling me onii-chan, don't get in the way of my work. Go home and type."
"Hmph, I refuse! When I don't feel like writing, I absolutely will not write! For me, the only time I should write is when inspiration hits—that's how you get twice the result with half the effort!"
"And anyway, how exactly am I bothering you? I'm a top-selling author in this industry too, you know. I'd say me helping you screen these is totally legit!"
He shot her a look of pure disdain. "I didn't come here to screen submissions, though. Go home. Sonoko already left."
"No! I want to see what the newbies wrote!"
Yamada clenched her little fists and stared him down, stubborn to the core.
"Oh? You really want to read?" Hayashi Maki asked, amused.
"Yes! I really do!"
She nodded hard, eyes shining.
Hayashi Maki reached out, wrapped an arm around her slender waist, and pulled her straight into his lap.
"Ah! W-what are you doing?! You finally couldn't hold it in and decided to put your hands on this beautiful maiden? You pervert! Creep! Loli-con!"
Sitting on his lap, Yamada's face went bright red as she pounded lightly on his chest with her fists, her heartbeat going wild.
She wriggled, trying to escape his arms.
"Shut it. If you want to keep reading, sit still," Hayashi Maki barked.
Yamada's whole body trembled, and her eyes went a little misty.
"R-rude… You take advantage of me and then you yell at me…"
Hayashi Maki sighed and patted her head. "You were the one who insisted on reading with me. You're so short you kept craning your neck to look, doesn't that hurt? I'm letting you sit here so you can see comfortably. Talk about not appreciating kindness."
"Forget it. If you're not reading, go home and stop bugging me."
"I am reading! I definitely want to read!" Yamada shouted back, flustered.
"Then behave and stop squirming. We'll read together."
Hayashi Maki leaned in and blew softly against her ear, speaking in a gentle tone.
The warm breath made Yamada shiver, her face turning bright red all the way to the tips of her ears.
"O-okay… I won't move."
Softening, she answered in a tiny voice, settling obediently in his lap.
Her heart was pounding, her nerves completely on edge.
To distract herself, she forced her eyes back onto the manuscript in his hands.
Hayashi Maki's lips curved into a satisfied smile.
Of course he'd done it on purpose.
Seeing her being this obedient made him even happier.
Sure enough, the one who takes the initiative gets the sweets.
Yamada Elf knew perfectly well that for a girl to sit this close, on a guy's lap, was very not okay.
But her body felt weak and warm; she couldn't muster the strength to push him away.
And nestled against him like this, she could hear his strong heartbeat clearly.
That heavy, distinct masculine scent around him made her head spin.
After a while, Yamada started to feel something… change beneath her.
Once she realized what it was, her face went red as a tomato. She shot him an accusing glare.
He looked back at her with feigned innocence and kept on reading.
Yamada, seeing him still pretending to be serious, couldn't help silently cursing him.
Perverted loli-con.