All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

Just as she put her phone down, Kotomi received an email from Asuka Chizuru. Opening it, she couldn’t help but smile.

She really could trust Asuka’s talent!

Honestly, once her gaming company, Type-Moon Realm, officially got off the ground, the very first thing Kotomi wanted to do was find a way to poach Asuka Chizuru from Shueisha.

The font style on the cover, the blurb on the obi strip, and the bonus item included with Volume 1—everything matched Kotomi’s taste perfectly.

Since Chainsaw Man was Izumi Ki’s first serialized manga and her debut tankōbon with Shueisha, the Volume 1 bonus was naturally in line with what most rising stars received: things like acrylic stands, cards, bookmarks, etc.

For Chainsaw Man Volume 1, Chizuru had chosen and designed a holographic foil card. It featured Denji holding a chainsaw with a fierce grin, and the adorable Pochita perched on his shoulder.

Kotomi was familiar with these kinds of foil cards. They had a solid, quality feel in the hand, and when viewed from different angles or under light, they sparkled brilliantly.

The obi text especially caught her eye—not only hyping up the name ”Izumi Ki,” but also proudly displaying the slogan in prime position:

”A dark hero story that will shake the world!”

Both obi and bonus item were included with the first print run only. Once that first batch sold out and reprints began, the new editions would no longer include those extras.

Which meant the first-edition limited version of Chainsaw Man Volume 1 would skyrocket in value.

She could already imagine resellers who hoarded multiple copies listing them at premium prices on second-hand marketplaces—and they’d sell out instantly.

But that wasn’t Kotomi’s concern.

It’s not like she could ask Shueisha to impose purchase limits: one copy per customer, or something like that. That would be absurd. Even top-tier manga authors didn’t have the clout to demand that—unless the company made such decisions themselves.

It was too much trouble. For publishers, producing a single volume involved both economic and time costs. They naturally wanted to sell as many as possible, as fast as possible.

Recoup costs and start turning a profit quickly.

Whether it was a light novel imprint or a manga publisher, everyone knew people would bulk-buy first editions for resale. But they usually turned a blind eye.

Why? Because it created a sense of urgency for regular readers. If you wanted the first edition, you had to stay alert and grab it the moment it dropped.

To balance this out, publishers would usually increase the print run for particularly popular works—especially first editions, special editions, or limited runs.

After all, if readers with busy lives kept missing the first edition and were forced to buy reprints or overpriced second-hand copies, it could spark a major backlash.

And those resellers who profited off hoarding? They couldn’t be allowed to win every time. Sometimes, publishers would deliberately overprint to flood the market and tank resale prices—making the hoarders bleed.

That was the ruthless nature of corporate profit-seeking, and Kotomi knew it well. She didn’t say much about it, because with her current influence, she had no say in these power struggles.

If she could step into that battlefield, it wouldn’t be for some noble cause—she just wanted a bigger slice of the pie.

She wanted to build her own company and retain all the rights to her creations, so that every future collaboration with light novel publishers, manga publishers, or anime studios would happen on equal footing.

A beautiful dream!

And the first step toward realizing it? Establishing a company.

But how to earn that first bucket of gold?

Right now, she was relying on writing novels and drawing manga, but Kotomi wanted to accelerate that process a bit.

The game industry was evolving rapidly. If she didn’t act quickly and prepare thoroughly, she might miss her chance to grab a head start.

She didn’t just want to be the first to eat the crab—she wanted to be the one who devoured all the best meat on the crab without anyone daring to say a word. That was the first lesson Yakken Izumi had taught little Kotomi.

Kotomi still clearly remembered how shaken she was the first time she heard those words—a testament to the Izumi family’s generations of ambition, dominance, and capability.

”I’m still earning money too slowly. Even if I don’t aim for a whole office building, I at least need enough funds and connections to run a decent mid-sized studio. Ugh... This pressure is unreal. Maybe I should just take a nice bath, freshen up, find a rich sugar mama to spoil me, and sweet-talk her into investing.”

Leaning back in her chair, Kotomi mumbled to herself, a little anxious about how to speed up her wealth accumulation.

Sure, when Chainsaw Man Volume 1 launched next month, her bank account would get another hefty deposit. But she was still far from her goal of earning a hundred million yen as her first capital reserve.

And for now, there wasn’t any obvious solution. Unless a rich woman dropped from the sky—or she got dolled up and delivered herself to one.

She chuckled bitterly at the thought, shifting her focus elsewhere. After all, she was still a sweet, cute high school girl. Starting a company required more time and energy than she currently had.

Human energy is finite.

For now, she just needed to live at her own pace.

She sent a quick ”OK, no problem” reply to Asuka Chizuru via LINE, then shut off her computer. Her writing session for the day was done. Time to pick things up again tomorrow.

After dinner, she remembered she had school the next day. After bathing, she headed straight to her bedroom to sleep.

Kotomi began undressing for bed, and just as she was about to get fully ready for sleep like usual, she heard a soft knock at the door.

When she opened it, Aimi stood outside.

Kotomi involuntarily shivered.

That night flashed through her mind again.

That night had left quite the impression.

It was the first time in her life she had been foot-locked.

And the person who did it was Aimi!

The moment Kotomi opened the door, she saw a sparkle in Aimi’s beautiful eyes.

”Onee-chan, I just watched a horror movie and got a little scared. Can we sleep together?”

She said it with absolute confidence.

As if it were true.

But those sparkling eyes didn’t match up at all with someone who had been scared by a horror movie.

I clearly remember you were watching a comedy in the living room just now... and you almost laughed yourself breathless... Kotomi muttered silently to herself.

Not long ago, Kotomi had been laughing in the living room with Aimi over a comedy film—to the point they were nearly out of breath. So when Aimi now came asking to sleep together because she was ”scared by a horror movie,” Kotomi didn’t believe a single punctuation mark of that excuse.

If it had been before, Kotomi might have laughed and scolded playfully:

”Getting brave now, huh? Even daring to lie to your big sister? You were just cracking up over a comedy in the living room, and now you’re telling me you can’t sleep after watching a horror movie? Do you take me for a fool?”

Then she would’ve coaxed Aimi back to her own bedroom.

But now, Kotomi hesitated. She thought of that night Aimi locked her legs around her, and of that morning at the front door—

Under Aimi’s hopeful gaze, Kotomi rubbed her eyes and said, ”You’re impossible. Who told you you’re still my silly little sister who hasn’t grown up? Come on in.”

With that, Kotomi turned and walked back to her bed. Aimi grinned from ear to ear and followed with a spring in her step.

The way Aimi bounced reminded Kotomi of when she used to pick her up from kindergarten. Every time Aimi saw her big sister there, she would skip and bounce all the way over.

”Whee~ I fly!”

As soon as she got close enough, Aimi launched herself onto the bed, hugging Kotomi’s pillow and burying her head deep into it, rolling back and forth like she had done this countless times before.

Seeing Aimi immediately take over her pillow, Kotomi chuckled and shook her head, used to this behavior. She turned to the closet and pulled out a spare pillow and blanket.

Aimi had a quirky little habit. Every time she climbed into Kotomi’s bed, she absolutely loved ”claiming” her sister’s usual pillow, blanket, and even the pillowcase. If she were allowed, she’d probably try to roll herself up in Kotomi’s bed sheet too.

This habit apparently started even before Aimi began kindergarten.

Incidentally, Kotomi was the only one who knew about this. She never told their parents—not that she could, or would have the nerve to. It simply became their little secret.

Looking at Aimi now, rolling around with her pillow and blanket, Kotomi’s smile grew gentler. In school, Aimi put on the perfect school belle facade, but with Kotomi, she could just be her true self.

A girl who loved rolling around on her sister’s bed. A girl who was smart and dependable but still wanted to act spoiled like any other little girl.

Kotomi remembered how, back when they were younger, she was often the unreliable one. Many who first met them thought Aimi was the older sister and Kotomi the younger.

So Aimi’s desire to fully lean on her sister, to be pampered and spoiled, had to be reined in. Instead, she looked for little moments when she could be the younger one again.

Luckily, Kotomi had shaped up over the years. From the useless older sister who needed her baby sister to mix formula and hold her like a baby, she had become someone Aimi could occasionally count on.

While Aimi rolled about, Kotomi quietly placed two bottles of milk on the nightstand.

Ten minutes later.

Aimi finally began to settle down, still clutching Kotomi’s pillow and blanket. After lying still for a bit, she turned to see Kotomi holding a new pillow and blanket, and puffed her cheeks in mock displeasure:

”Onee-chan, do you not like me or something?”

”How could I not?! If you asked me who I care about most in the world, I would, without hesitation, say Izumi Aimi!”

Aimi’s cheeks flushed slightly red at that. After all, she was still a middle schooler. Hearing something like that from Kotomi would naturally make her blush. But Aimi and Kotomi had one big thing in common: stubborn pride.

Even though her cheeks were already warm, she deliberately pretended nothing was wrong and kept speaking: ”Then why did you bring a separate blanket and pillow?”

That was the very reason Aimi had pouted a moment ago, visibly unhappy.

When Kotomi realized that, she paused. Right now, she could only blame herself for not having gone through any formal training—otherwise, she might have managed to hold back her smile instead of—

”Pfft~”

Kotomi let out a soft snort of laughter. Her gaze toward Aimi turned pure and affectionate. If she had still been harboring any mixed feelings due to what Aimi had said and done earlier that morning or that night—

In this moment, all those hesitations vanished like smoke. What remained was an overwhelming desire to simply dote on this adorably silly little sister.

Kotomi even started to wonder: had Aimi picked up some of her own goofiness from years of clinging to her side?

Aimi was usually quite clever. Why did she suddenly say something so... goofy?

Seeing her sister’s reaction, Aimi blushed even harder. She was frantically wondering if she’d said something wrong.

”I’m starting to worry that all this cramming for your high school entrance exams is turning your brain to mush.”

Kotomi laughed as she placed the new pillow on the bed:

”Forget the blanket for now—if I didn’t bring another pillow, what were we supposed to do, share one between the two of us?”

”Please, my silly little sister, this isn’t one of those storybook pillows that’s so big it can double as a body pillow. It’s just an ordinary pillow, average size. If the two of us tried to share it, ’awkward’ wouldn’t even begin to describe it.”

After hearing Kotomi’s explanation, Aimi turned beet red.

All she’d been thinking about was finally getting to share a bed with Kotomi tonight. So when she saw her sister pull out another blanket and pillow, she’d been disappointed that her grand plan had crumbled.

She hadn’t even considered the size of the pillow—it simply wasn’t big enough for two.

I need to save up and buy Kotomi a new pillow.

That thought quietly took root in Aimi’s mind.

And by the very next day, she’d already clicked the payment button.

Her already dwindling allowance took a huge hit after she bought a custom oversized pillow designed for two people to share.

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