All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

”I saw it too. I had previously tried promoting Hanayui-sensei, but it wasn’t very effective. It really is a case of the carefully planted flower refuses to bloom, while the unintentional willow thrives. Who would’ve thought that just by getting your Twitter account officially verified, Izumi-sensei, we’d also inadvertently boost Hanayui-sensei’s account, bringing in a solid seventy thousand new followers?”

Haruno Yukinoshita sighed. Sometimes, she seriously suspected that Kotomi was a girl blessed by the goddess of fortune. And being around her seemed to bring good luck as well.

She wondered if her icy little sister at home had benefited from this luck…

Haruno mused to herself. Lately, she had been working overtime at Dengeki Bunko and hadn’t seen Yukino for almost a week.

She had planned to subtly ask Yukino over the weekend whether she had made any friends at school. But judging by her current workload, that plan was bound to fall through.

”I wonder if Hanayui-sensei has noticed her sudden surge in followers yet,” Kotomi remarked. She hadn’t expected that her casual retweet last night would end up giving Mrs. Yuigahama another unexpected boost.

The embarrassment she had been feeling moments ago over her social disaster suddenly lifted, and she found herself in a much better mood.

So this is the reward of doing good deeds?

”By the way, Editor Yukinoshita, did you just call the chief editor Hiratsuka Editor-in-Chief?”

Kotomi, still basking in the satisfaction of helping out Mrs. Yuigahama, finally voiced the question that had been lingering in her mind.

Was there some connection between Chief Editor Hiratsuka and Shizuka-sensei?

The surname was identical.

Haruno Yukinoshita wasn’t surprised by Kotomi’s question. As a signed author with Dengeki Bunko, it was only natural for her to be curious about the chief editor. Without overthinking it, Haruno shared everything she knew.

”Dengeki Bunko’s chief editor is Hiratsuka Yūko. How should I describe her?”

”She’s a strong-willed, no-nonsense career woman—highly capable and razor-sharp with her words. On the surface, she might not seem that intimidating, but once she gets serious, she can be downright terrifying!”

”Apparently, she has a 29-year-old daughter who works as a high school Japanese language teacher. She’s never been in a relationship, let alone married, and every time the chief editor brings it up, she gets absolutely furious.”

29 years old… never dated… still single… a high school Japanese teacher…

That’s 100% Shizuka Hiratsuka.

Kotomi thought to herself, feeling a bit surprised. She had never expected that her homeroom teacher’s mother was actually the chief editor of Dengeki Bunko.

And now, here she was—writing novels under contract with Dengeki Bunko…

Kotomi couldn’t help but chuckle silently. In a way, Shizuka-sensei’s mother was now also her boss.

Please don’t let Hiratsuka Yuko tell Shizuka Hiratsuka about me! Kotomi prayed in her heart.

”Hiratsuka-sensei’s daughter—is she teaching at Sobu High School?”

”Yeah, yeah! I totally forgot to mention that just now. Wait—could it be that you’ve met her before, Izumi-sensei?”

”More than just met her—she’s my homeroom teacher!”

”Whoa! So she’s your homeroom teacher, Izumi-sensei? Eh-heh, this is kind of embarrassing to admit, but I almost forgot for a moment that you’re still a high school student.”

”Do I really seem that mature?”

”You do, actually.” Haruno Yukinoshita chuckled softly, her tone carrying multiple layers of meaning.

Kotomi could tell there was more to Haruno’s words than met the ear. She instinctively pouted, her cheeks flushing slightly, before sighing, ”I never expected that cute little Shizuka’s mother would turn out to be the chief editor at Dengeki Bunko. Good thing Editor-in-Chief Hiratsuka doesn’t know yet that I’m one of the students in her daughter’s class.”

”Cute little Shizuka?” The tone on the other end of the call suddenly shifted.

”Ah, nothing! Just a slip of the tongue, don’t mind it.”

Kotomi quickly backtracked. Who knew if Haruno might go and tattle? She absolutely did not want Editor-in-Chief Hiratsuka to find out that she called her daughter ”cute little Shizuka.”

”I just thought that nickname ’cute little Shizuka’ sounded oddly familiar.”

”Editor Yukinoshita, you must know the chief editor’s daughter too, right?”

Haruno Yukinoshita, however, murmured in slight confusion,

”My mom and Editor-in-Chief Hiratsuka get along well, so I know she has a daughter. But as far as I remember, I’ve never actually met her. Just now, when you said ’cute little Shizuka,’ for a split second, I recalled a little girl I used to know when I was a child.”

”Huh, really?” Kotomi looked puzzled. She had just casually thrown out the nickname, yet somehow, it had triggered a childhood memory in Haruno.

Haruno glanced at the half-finished Excel spreadsheet on her computer screen. Figuring that she was going to be working overtime tonight anyway, she might as well take a little break.

With that thought, she wasted no time in slacking off. Haruno stretched slightly, then took a big gulp of coffee from her soda can.

”Consider this a little stolen break during overtime—I’ll tell you about a girl I knew when I was young.”

”Then I’ll slack off too. No writing tonight.”

Since her editor was setting the example, as an author, she naturally had to show some solidarity. In the blink of an eye, Kotomi had already hopped from her chair onto her bed.

”Dengeki Bunko has a special little black room just for authors who keep delaying their drafts until the very last moment. I’m guessing you wouldn’t want to experience it firsthand, Izumi-sensei?” Haruno Yukinoshita asked teasingly, with a sly smile.

”Absolutely not. Actually, I have you on speaker right now—I’m totally writing as we speak.”

Lying on her bed, Kotomi responded with utmost seriousness.

Yeah, right...

Haruno struggled to keep from laughing.

She knew that Kotomi preferred using either a mechanical keyboard or an electrostatic capacitive keyboard when writing. Regardless of the type, they all made distinct typing sounds.

Yet right now, Kotomi was claiming to be writing—but there wasn’t a single keystroke to be heard from her end.

Like hell she was actually writing!

This little gremlin was full of tricks!

However, Haruno didn’t dwell on it too much. After all, Kotomi’s submission speed was reliable—at least for now, there was no need to worry about her suddenly turning into a procrastinator.

Even if Kotomi wanted to slack off, Haruno was confident she could lock this little pigeon up in a ”birdcage.”

”Alright, enough fooling around. Let me continue the story.”

That was the first time in my childhood that I attended a banquet with my parents. The invited guests were all prominent figures in society—including my family!

Receiving an invitation felt like a big deal to me as a kid, something to take pride in. But when I actually got there, I found the event unbearably dull. The adults were busy using the banquet as an opportunity to talk business and expand their networks.

I, on the other hand, was bored out of my mind, silently trailing behind my parents while holding a glass of juice.

Just as I was hoping for the evening to end quickly, a little girl suddenly poked me. She was completely different from the other girls at the event—none of that delicate, pampered ”rich girl” attitude. If anything, she was a bit of a tomboy.

Unlike me, who kept my boredom to myself, she boldly blurted out, ”You think this place is boring too, right? Let’s go play together!”

When my mother glanced at the girl, she must have recognized who she was, because she allowed me to go off with her. Thanks to her, I didn’t feel bored at all for the rest of the night.

Most kids don’t care about socializing the way adults do, so I didn’t even think to ask her name until it was almost time to leave.

She grinned and said confidently, ”My name is Shizuka the Cool!”

At that point, Haruno Yukinoshita couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

”No matter how you look at it, that was obviously a fake name. Before leaving, she even tried to act all cool, deliberately giving me what she thought was a stylish parting pose.

That’s why I still remember her to this day. The moment she called herself ’Shizuka the Cool,’ I could tell she was the kind of girl who loved acting cool.

When you accidentally blurted out ’Shizuka the Cute’ just now, it immediately reminded me of this.”

”Giving yourself a fake name like ’Shizuka the Cool’—that’s the kind of thing that only seems cool when you’re a kid. Once you grow up a little, you’d probably feel embarrassed just thinking about it,” Kotomi chuckled as she shared her thoughts.

Still, it was probably just a coincidence that both that little girl and Shizuka Hiratsuka happened to have the name Shizuka.

After chatting a little while longer, Kotomi, knowing that Haruno was still working overtime, decided not to disturb her any further and ended the call.

She sat back down at her desk, placed her hands on the keyboard, and stared at the Word document filled with lines of text…

After taking a short break, she found herself even less motivated to write.

Screw it!

With practiced ease, Kotomi saved the document, skillfully shut down her computer, and immediately hopped back onto her bed, ready to play some games before going to sleep.

Just as Kotomi was about to use the 5,000 jewels she received from Princess Connect to summon Princess Kokkoro…

Aimi, having just finished her homework, was on a call with Iroha Isshiki.

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