“Besides offering desserts and coffee, this shop also accepts consultations for all sorts of customer problems—whether it’s work, romance, or life’s worries…
We also offer delivery service…
Yo?”
Standing at the cafe entrance, Makoto read the words on the sign aloud and commented, “The handwriting is quite cute.
This must have been written by a super beautiful girl, right?
Am I correct?”
“You are absolutely right!
Absolutely right, big brother!”
Nishikigi Chisato, the former head of Lycoris Recoil and current cafe employee, beamed with joy at Makoto’s compliment.
Stars were practically shining in her eyes.
Chisato sized up the new customer.
Makoto was also sizing her up.
A beautiful girl with short blonde hair.
Her features were very cute, no doubt, and she radiated an energetic aura all over.
“Nice to meet you.
I’m the cafe’s mascot, you can call me Chisato-chan.
Tell me if you have any needs, customer!
Oh, by the way, today’s Matcha Parfait is half price~ Would you like to try one?”
Her smile was brilliant, full of youthful vitality.
Anyone looking at her smile would feel their mood improve.
“Miss Chisato, you are very cute.”
“Hehe, thank you for the compliment!”
Makoto found a seat in the corner, casually ordered a cup of coffee and a cake, and noticed that Inoue Takina wasn’t in the shop, guessing that the ‘Lycoris Recoil’ plot had likely not begun yet.
He took out a book he had just bought from the bookstore, took a sip of coffee, and casually flipped through it.
It was fortunate that there was a bookstore nearby.
And even more fortunate that the shop happened to have this light novel with terrible reviews.
That was right, it was Kasumigaoka Utaha’s ‘Love Metronome’.
He glanced at Kasumigaoka Utaha, who was frowning not far away, subtly withdrew his gaze, and continued looking down at the book.
Not long after reading, he showed an impatient expression, as if thinking, ‘This is so boring, when will the protagonist get to the good part?’
Although he knew from watching the anime in his past life that the characteristic of the book ‘Love Metronome’ was ‘delicate writing’ and’school romance,’ he still held onto a sliver of hope…
After all, this was a light novel.
In Makoto’s impression, Japanese light novels were equivalent to domestic web novels.
Big concepts, fast pacing, full of fantasy and chuunibyou elements.
Even with delicate writing, it should still be the type focusing on campus romance, right?
But there was none!
Not a single suggestive scene!
This ‘Love Metronome’ was not a light novel at all! This chapter was copied from novelping.com without permission.
“Sigh.”
After forcing himself to read a little longer, Makoto finally sighed and put the book down—his strategy was simple and crude: pretend to be a fellow book fan who met by chance to approach Kasumigaoka Utaha, and then find a way to seduce her.
A classic routine.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t get into the author’s work at all.
If he couldn’t read it, there was no need to pretend to be a book fan.
At his age, he was long past the stage of believing in love, and he certainly wouldn’t force himself to package himself into the appearance a woman liked just to pursue her.
That was impossible.
This was also why he took no action despite knowing that Yukinoshita Yukino was at Sobu High and Toyokawa Sakiko was suffering as a nobody at a customer service company.
He was neither gentle nor infatuated.
He had no interest in delving into the depths of a girl’s heart, nor did he regard romance as the main theme of life.
He was fundamentally not the type that Yukinoshita or Sakiko liked.
He wasn’t even the type most female leads in 2D media preferred.
Makoto was self-aware of this point.
Compared to using the high-difficulty weapon of ‘romance’ for conquest, he preferred to use ‘money’ and ‘power’.
Especially the latter!
He liked to see them reluctantly climb into his bed under the coercion of power!
He was waiting for the day he could be an emperor.
“In the end, my power is still not strong enough to make this world operate according to my will.”
He couldn’t openly establish a large harem.
He couldn’t have women throw themselves at him, willingly or unwillingly.
It was all due to a lack of power.
Or rather, it was all due to a lack of strength!
“Is this book good?”
Just as he was contemplating, a cute little head poked over beside him.
It was the overly familiar Nishikigi Chisato.
“This book, well…”
“Let me see, the title is ‘Love Metronome’?
Ooh, ooh, just by looking, it seems like a sweet school romance novel, yuck~ Customer, do you like this type?”
Noticing that Kasumigaoka Utaha was already looking over.
Makoto suddenly sneered.
“It’s not good, a waste of money.”
…
Kasumigaoka Utaha looked displeasedly at the screen of her laptop.
It wasn’t writer’s block; she had just received news from her editor, Machida Sonoko: the sales for the first volume of “Love Metronome” were poor, and it was about to be axed by the paperback imprint.
The young woman couldn’t help but laugh self-mockingly.
This was society outside of school.
People wouldn’t care how good the story she wrote was, or how brilliant her writing style was; people only recognized sales figures.
High sales meant you were a respectable ‘Teacher.’
No sales meant you were a dog kicked to the roadside.
The victor is king, the vanquished is a bandit; this has been true since ancient times.
Just as she was feeling dejected, she suddenly heard a young man nearby reading her book.
Before she could feel surprised about running into a fan, she was doused with cold water by something he said.
“It’s not good, a waste of money.”
“Is the story no good?”
“Just a story about high schoolers dating—it’s incredibly common.
If it were an anime, I might watch it to see if the female characters are pretty, but text?
I can’t get into it at all.”
“Eh—”
Nishikigi Chisato drew out her vowel sound: “You don’t like stories about high school romance?
Chisato thinks that romance in school is wonderful, right?
Pure, sweet, and very cute, okay?”
“A romance with no economic foundation—what good ending could it possibly have?”
Amidst Chisato’s subtle expression, the transmigrator scoffed: “Love needs money as its foundation, understand?
A romance without a material basis, no matter how sweet, is just a castle in the air.”
“Ah, your view on romance is too realistic.”
“Then, signboard girl, what kind of boys do girls your age generally like?”
“Hmm…”
Chisato pondered before answering: “Probably someone good-looking, someone gentle, someone pure.”
“Not someone rich?”
“Of course, I wouldn’t think in that direction!”
“That evaluation hasn’t been starved before.”
Makoto shifted the topic: “Putting that aside, regarding this book specifically, its selling point is its delicate writing style.
However, light novels don’t need any writing style at all.
How many otaku guys care about writing style?
This author named Kasumiko should submit to traditional literature, not a light novel imprint.”
That was true.
The light novel, *The Plain Protagonist Girl*, was filled entirely with dialogue, as if a group of people were performing a comedy sketch together.
Where would writing style be needed?
“And I speculate that this author, Kasumiko, must be a melodramatic woman, probably one who has never been in love.”
“How can you tell she’s never been in love?”
He smiled politely: “Only people who haven’t experienced love can write something this sickeningly sweet.”