All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

Kotomi sometimes struggled with procrastination, but when she was determined, she acted with lightning speed.

Like right now.

”Leave the book situation to me! If even the original author can’t get a copy of their own novel, that’d be the biggest joke of the year. Don’t worry—your dear Senpai is fearless! Just sit tight and wait for your signed edition!”

With that, Kotomi hung up the call and bolted downstairs.

On the other end of the phone, Iroha Isshiki stared at the abruptly disconnected call and let out a helpless smile. Senpai had hung up in such a rush that she didn’t even get the chance to congratulate her on the novel’s success.

Still, recalling Kotomi’s words just now, Iroha’s smile grew even brighter. She glanced out at the night sky, reminiscing about the most beautiful night view she had ever seen—the dreamlike scenery she had shared with Kotomi on that deserted observation deck, just the two of them.

”I wonder if I’ll ever get the chance to watch the night view with Senpai again...” Iroha murmured to herself, gazing at the stars.

She distinctly remembered telling Aimi before: ”Don’t worry, I’ll never fall for your sister.”

Back then, it was just a casual joke between friends, something neither of them took seriously. But now... could she still say those words without hesitation?

The answer was already clear in Iroha’s heart.

”Of course... I can’t.”

...

Kotomi arrived downstairs, where her mother, Akina Izumi, was sitting on the sofa, her left hand petting Wolong and her right hand stroking Phoenix, engrossed in her weekly Friday night drama.

Kotomi had watched this drama with her mother before—or rather, this drama had been running for so absurdly long! It had first aired when she was in elementary school, and now it was already on its fifth season. Yet, rather than making progress, the romance between the male and female leads had only grown more convoluted, with the character relationships becoming increasingly tangled.

From what Kotomi could remember of the plot:

The female lead originally married the second male lead. Then, at a banquet, the male lead fell in love with her at first sight and relentlessly pursued her. She refused him with all her might, but little did she know, the second male lead had secretly harbored feelings for the male lead for fifteen years. He had only married the female lead due to an arranged marriage between their families.

Watching the male lead repeatedly fail to win over the female lead, the second male lead felt guilty. His inner monologue went: Since I can’t openly love you, I’ll let her love you in my place!

So, he staged an affair for the female lead to discover, leading her to despair and divorce him. At her lowest point, the male lead swooped in, and within months, they were in love and married.

But then, another woman—the second female lead—kept appearing around the male lead. As a child, she had been saved by a boy in a moment of danger and had adored him ever since. Later, she found that the male lead bore an uncanny resemblance to the boy from her past and spent years pursuing him, only to face repeated rejection. When she saw the female lead effortlessly capture his heart, jealousy consumed her.

Thus, she began scheming against the female lead, only to eventually discover that the boy who had saved her all those years ago was actually the female lead, who had short hair at the time.

With the truth revealed, the second female lead suddenly switched targets—abandoning her pursuit of the male lead and instead chasing after the female lead, turning her schemes against him instead.

That was just the summary of season one. It had left young Kotomi utterly dumbfounded. She had wanted to crack open the writer’s head and see what kind of brain could come up with such an earth-shattering script.

Akina had been following the series not because she particularly liked it, but out of sheer curiosity—to see just how much more absurd the plot could get after five entire seasons.

Kotomi stood there watching for a moment, but she could no longer make sense of the plot. How had the male lead suddenly become the female lead’s mortal enemy from her past life?

Apparently, in her previous life, the female lead had killed the male lead’s mother.

And in his next life, the male lead killed the female lead’s mother.

Then, in this life, both of their fathers had suddenly died together in a plane crash.

In the latest episode, the plot had taken yet another wild turn—revealing that the second female lead was actually the mother of the female lead from three lifetimes ago!

”This drama... aliens might feel right at home watching it.”

Akina twitched at the absurdity of it all. She had finally reached her limit and grabbed the remote to switch to another channel.

”I thought that after so many seasons, the screenwriter’s brain would at least function normally. But after watching today’s episode, I see they’ve really stayed true to their roots,” Kotomi remarked as she sat down beside her mother.

”It’s quite rare,” Akina commented.

Kotomi assumed her mother was referring to the screenwriter’s sheer creativity and nodded in agreement. ”Yeah, it’s impressive how they’ve managed to keep up five seasons of completely ridiculous plot twists. This screenwriter is truly a mad genius.”

Akina shook her head. ”No, I meant it’s rare for you to be sitting here watching TV instead of holed up in your room playing games, writing novels, or drawing manga.”

See? That’s a true mother for you—always able to land a perfectly timed roast when you least expect it. And every time, it hit like a critical strike. It was like stacking three green cards and then drawing three red cards in a row.

”Hehe, I just wanted to chat with you, Mom. I mean, I’m heading off to Kyoto soon, and I’ll be gone for three whole days. Of course, I’ll miss you! Don’t you miss me too?” Kotomi said sweetly, resting her head on her mother’s shoulder.

When she was younger, this was her go-to move whenever she wanted to act spoiled with her mom.

That said, neither Kotomi nor Aimi had ever succeeded in getting their mother to indulge their whining…

Akina reached out her hand, and Kotomi thought she was going to pat her head. Just as she was about to lean in closer, her mother suddenly plucked a hair from her head.

It was quick and sharp, and Kotomi didn’t even register the pain until a few seconds later. Then, she clutched her head and whimpered, ”Mom, how could you be so heartless as to pluck a strand of your adorable daughter’s beautiful hair?”

Akina smiled and nodded.

”At least hesitate before nodding!” Kotomi sighed dramatically.

”Alright, tell me—what do you want from me?” Akina asked with a knowing smile, casually comparing the strand of Kotomi’s silvery-white hair to her own artificially dyed white strands.

No matter how much she tried, her dyed hair could never match Kotomi’s naturally snow-white locks.

Kotomi’s hair was like silk—when tossed into the air, it floated down like a feather. From afar, it looked like a snowflake drifting to the ground, blending seamlessly into a pure, serene world of white.

”Mom, didn’t you buy an extra first-edition limited copy of Sword Art Online Volume 1? I was wondering if I could have that copy now. In a few days, Dengeki Bunko will send me another two copies, so I can just replace it for you then.”

Akina raised an eyebrow.

”If it’s just for you, of course, I don’t mind. But judging by your expression, this isn’t for yourself, is it?”

”If Dengeki Bunko is going to send you copies anyway, why not just wait a few days for the package? You seem a little too impatient to wait even that long.”

”Oh ho, don’t think you can escape your mother’s eyes. You’re asking me for that extra first-edition limited copy because you want to give it to someone, aren’t you? And not just anyone—someone you care about a lot. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be this impatient, unwilling to wait even a few days.”

Akina confidently laid out her deduction. The terrifying part? From Kotomi’s perspective, her mother was half right. Akina even mimicked pushing up imaginary glasses with her finger, only to realize a second later that she didn’t actually wear glasses.

So, Akina stood up and headed to her bedroom...

”Kaneyoshi, let me borrow your glasses for a second.”

”Huh? Sure, but why do you need them?”

”Just give them to me! Hmph, I’ll return them later.”

With that, Akina returned to the living room, sat back down, and put on Kaneyoshi’s glasses. Then, she repeated her deduction word for word, finally fulfilling her wish of pushing up the glasses on her nose—perfectly imitating that famous little grim reaper detective, Edogawa Conan.

Pointing dramatically at Kotomi, Akina, still wearing Kaneyoshi’s glasses, lowered her voice and declared:

”The truth is always just one! Kotomi, have you taken a liking to some young girl and are planning to use your novel as a way to chat her up?”

”Tsk tsk tsk, young, talented, already a published author, and popular on top of that—these traits are basically an unbeatable weapon against younger girls. You can strike wherever you want, whenever you want.”

”Impressive, Kotomi! You really know how to use your strengths. You’re not planning to become a player, are you?”

”A player? Pah! I, Kotomi Izumi, despise players more than anything!” Kotomi declared righteously, her voice firm and resolute. She looked down on cheaters more than anything else.

To prevent her mother’s imagination from running too wild, Kotomi decided to come clean.

”I actually want to give it to Iroha.”

Akina smirked knowingly, nodding with an expression that said, Just as expected.

”Oh ho, my motherly instincts are undefeated. So, you really do like Iroha!”

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