All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

Another night passed as Izumi Kotomi sat in front of her computer, typing away. The more she wrote, the more she could feel the excitement and joy welling up from deep within her heart.

[With just a few movements, I was already out of breath. My limbs, which hadn’t been used for two years, protested with pain. But how could I show weakness now?]

[A voice urged me to hurry, faster. My whole body yearned for her presence. Until I could once again hold Asuna—Yuuki Asuna—in my arms, my battle was not over.]

[Gripping the IV stand that had replaced my beloved sword, I leaned on it and took my first step towards the door.]

At this point, Kotomi’s fingers paused slightly over the keyboard. She then took a deep breath and typed out the final line of the first volume.

[Sword Art Online Volume 1: Aincrad - End]

”Yes! I finally finished Volume 1!”

Kotomi instantly felt like a warrior who had just conquered the highest peak in the world. She stood up on her chair in excitement, cheering triumphantly.

Luckily, since she had become a girl, her weight was lighter. Otherwise, suddenly standing on the chair might have resulted in her falling off the next second.

”Oh, right, right, save, save!”

Remembering the most important task—saving her work—Kotomi quickly sat back down and saved the completed manuscript of Volume 1.

If something like a power outage caused her hard work from the entire night to disappear, Kotomi thought she would be too devastated even to cry.

After making sure everything was saved, Kotomi finally relaxed, shut down her computer, and lay down on her bed.

She planned to submit the manuscript to the Dengeki Bunko website after getting some sleep.

”What’s up with Sister these past few days? She hasn’t come down for breakfast at all,” Aimi asked as she sat down for breakfast, noticing once again that her sister wasn’t at the table.

”Is Kotomi not feeling well? Or did her game release some new event, and she’s been staying up all night playing it?” Kaneyoshi, who was sitting at the table reading the newspaper, asked. Today he didn’t have to work overtime, so there was no need to rush to the office.

In response to their questions, Akina simply smiled and placed the breakfast on the table. ”Don’t worry, Kotomi is working hard on something remarkable.”

”Something remarkable?” Kaneyoshi adjusted his glasses with a curious smile. ”Now I’m even more intrigued.”

”I thought maybe Sister suddenly remembered she had summer homework to do and has been frantically trying to finish it.”

”You think your sister is like you?” Akina teased her younger daughter without mercy.

”Could it be that Sister is someone who actually finishes her homework on time? I’ve never noticed that...”

”No, like you, your sister never touches her homework until the last minute. But she’s a bit faster at finishing it. What takes you seven days to complete, your sister can finish in three. Though I’m not sure if the answers are written with much care~”

”That’s probably so she can save the remaining four days to play games!”

Kotomi woke up feeling incredibly refreshed, stretching lazily as she sat up in bed. It was the first time since her reincarnation that she had slept so well.

Indeed, everything feels better after finishing a manuscript.

She got out of bed, drew back the pink and white curtains, and saw the sun already high in the sky. The clock showed it was noon.

After having lunch, Kotomi returned to her room, opened her laptop, and navigated to the Dengeki Bunko website on the G**gle browser.

She opened the registration page for authors, successfully registered an account and password, and linked her email and phone number for communication with editors. The only thing left was to choose a pen name.

”A pen name... I was so focused on finishing Volume 1 of Sword Art Online these past few days that I completely forgot about this important detail.”

Kotomi rubbed her head awkwardly and thought for a moment before typing ”Izumi Ki” in the pen name field.

”Izumi” was her last name. As for why she added ”Ki”...

It was because Kotomi wanted to pay homage to her favorite mangaka from her previous life—Fujimoto Ki.

After finalizing her pen name, the website took her to the page where she could upload her work.

Sitting in front of the computer, Kotomi took a deep breath to calm her excitement:

”It’s finally time to submit.”

She entered the title: Sword Art Online.

Volume 1: Aincrad.

After a few seconds, a message appeared: [Upload Successful]. This meant that Sword Art Online had successfully been uploaded to the Dengeki Bunko website.

”Yes~! It’s finally uploaded! Now all that’s left is to wait for the results.”

Kotomi chose to upload the entire volume at once, rather than uploading a chapter to gauge popularity and then releasing the rest gradually. Although this might slightly affect the data, uploading a complete volume allowed readers to experience the full impact and grandeur of the story.

Kotomi was confident in her Sword Art Online.

She hadn’t merely copied the original work from her previous life. Instead, she kept the essence and improved upon it. Good plot points were emphasized, while problematic ones were revised into something better.

”With Volume 1 successfully uploaded, it’s time to do something important.”

Kotomi said seriously, her expression becoming stern.

If she had white gloves and glasses, she would undoubtedly strike Gendo Ikari’s signature pose from Evangelion.

Hands covering her face, glasses reflecting light!

With a serious expression, Kotomi opened Steam on her computer.

Rainbow Six Siege, launch!

Today was another day of rescuing hostages!

Don’t worry, hostages—I, Fuze, am here!

Boom boom boom!

11 kills! -500 points!

As Kotomi showcased her ”pro” level of using breaching charges in Rainbow Six Siege, 40 kilometers away in Tokyo, the Dengeki Bunko headquarters was bustling with activity.

Unlike in her previous life, in this world, Dengeki Bunko was not part of Kadokawa Group. Instead, it was an independent light novel publisher created by the Dengeki Group, and it was a direct competitor to the Kadokawa Group.

”Sigh... I knew the number of submissions would increase after the competition started, but I didn’t expect it to explode like this. Thankfully, this time the submissions are all online. Otherwise, the editorial department’s inbox would have been overwhelmed,” a young, beautiful editor named Yukinoshita Haruno complained to her colleague. She had originally planned to visit her sister, Yukinoshita Yukino, today.

After all, Yukino was about to graduate from junior high and enter high school—such a momentous occasion that Haruno, as her older sister, naturally didn’t want to miss it.

But seeing the scale of this competition...

It looked like she would be working overtime tonight.

”That may be true, but you should be prepared for overtime from today onwards,” her friend and colleague, Kagami Ai, laughed softly. The two had met during their university days and had ended up working together at Dengeki Bunko after graduation.

Beautiful women often have other beautiful women as friends.

Take Kagami Ai, for instance—she was just as stunning as Yukinoshita Haruno.

In fact, with Haruno’s capabilities and the influence of the Yukinoshita family behind her, she could have easily worked for a better company. However, Haruno disliked following the path set out by her family, so she had chosen to submit her resume to Dengeki Bunko and become an editor there.

”I was hoping to have dinner with Yukino tonight, especially since she’s about to start high school in a few days,” Haruno said, a little disappointed.

”Despite appearing indifferent to your sister on the surface, you’re actually a very caring older sister deep down,” Ai teased.

”Oh, come on, Ai, stop teasing me. I’d better get back to work.”

”But you were the one who started the conversation...” Ai muttered, shaking her head at her friend’s antics.

As Haruno moved her mouse, her eyes were focused on her computer screen. ”Just while we were chatting, several new books were uploaded. Every time I refresh, there are one or two more. The number of participants in this competition is much higher than before.”

While the increased workload was obvious, the more participants there were, the more it would enhance the prestige and visibility of the Dengeki Novel Grand Prize.

Last month, Kadokawa Bunko had released a hit light novel that had significantly outsold Dengeki Bunko, which had left the entire Dengeki editorial department feeling frustrated.

Normally, being overtaken occasionally wasn’t a big deal, as it was impossible to always be at the top of the sales charts.

But the key issue was that last month, the entire Dengeki team had been focused on promoting the upcoming competition, hoping to attract more attention from light novel authors and bring in a wave of new talent.

However, just as they were at the height of their promotional efforts, Kadokawa Bunko swooped in and stole some of their thunder. It was hard to believe that Kadokawa hadn’t done it on purpose!

”Editor-in-Chief Hiratsuka has been gearing up for this Dengeki Novel Competition since the beginning of the year. After losing out to Kadokawa last month, she’s been determined to make this the largest competition in Dengeki Bunko’s history. I’ve heard they’re even increasing the prize money, possibly up to two million yen for the Grand Prize.”

”Two million yen?! This is the first time Dengeki Group has increased the prize for the competition. It looks like this year’s contest is going to be the biggest in Dengeki Bunko’s history. The Dengeki Novel Grand Prize might also become the most prestigious one yet,” Haruno said with a sigh.

”Do you remember what Editor-in-Chief Hiratsuka said during yesterday’s meeting?”

”An eye for an eye, payback double!”

Just thinking about how Hiratsuka Yuko had gritted her teeth and said this during the meeting made Haruno want to laugh.

”Editor-in-Chief Hiratsuka’s energy and determination are really impressive—she’s like a woman on a mission, despite already having a daughter. Oh, by the way, speaking of Hiratsuka’s daughter, Shizuka Hiratsuka, I remember she’s a Japanese language teacher at Sobu High School. Didn’t your sister get accepted to that school?” Ai recalled.

”I didn’t know Hiratsuka’s daughter was teaching at Sobu High School. That’s news to me,” Haruno said, a bit surprised.

”Shizuka Hiratsuka is quite a beauty. She’s thirty now, and I’ve often heard Editor-in-Chief Hiratsuka lamenting that her daughter hasn’t brought home a boyfriend yet. Apparently, Shizuka hasn’t even dated anyone and is close to becoming a spinster.”

”Everyone has their own path,” Haruno said with a smile. She herself had never dated anyone, simply because she had no interest in romantic relationships.

If nothing unexpected happened, she might go through her entire life without ever considering romance.

Haruno then turned her attention back to her computer screen.

As she scrolled down the page again, she noticed a newly uploaded book.

”Another new book? Hmm, this one’s classified as a game-themed light novel.”

”A game-themed light novel? But I thought the focus for this competition was on fantasy and isekai themes. By the way, what’s the title of this game-themed light novel?” Ai asked.

”The title? Let me see... It’s called Sword Art Online.”