Chapter 3: The Simpleton Mei
"So, there's no need to be this angry, right? Nia, it's been a whole day already, and you're still holding onto this grudge?"
"Hmph! Fine then, just let your big sister be abandoned by the times and become an unwanted old auntie!"
"..."
What kind of nonsense is this?
Looking at the silver-haired girl sitting beside him, her face filled with anger as she pouted and turned her head away, Satoru couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
Just because of that one sentence yesterday, she's actually been holding a grudge until now? Isn't that being a bit too petty?
Though he thought so, he wasn't foolish enough to say it out loud—that would be like slapping himself in the face!
Seeing Nia sulking like this, he had no choice but to quietly start writing his manuscript.
After all, they were at school, and there wasn't much else to do, so he had become a "literary copycat," churning out large amounts of content using the writing skills he had acquired.
This was probably his biggest source of income at the moment.
Though he wasn't short on money, since there wasn't much else to do at school, he kept writing. As long as he didn't disrupt class, the teachers didn't bother him.
And since he had just started a new book, he was quite enthusiastic about it...
"So, explode, normies... Hey~ Satoru, you're writing a new book? What's it called?"
But just then, a voice brimming with curiosity came from not too far in front of him.
A curvaceous orange-haired girl with her hair tied up tilted her head curiously, blinking her big eyes as she peered at the manuscript he was writing.
"Nothing much, just trying to change the mood."
"My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected—a story about the cynical protagonist Hachiman Hikigaya meeting the energetic girl Yuigahama and the cold beauty Yukinoshita, forming a club to help others... Ohhh! Did you adapt mine and Ayano's story into this? That's so fun~!"
Picking up the first page of the manuscript and reading the title and synopsis, the orange-haired girl clenched her fists excitedly and gave a little hop.
But perhaps because her French assets were too generous, her external armor noticeably jiggled a couple of times, making Satoru sigh in admiration at the greatness of the Creator.
If only his girlfriend had external armor of this caliber, how wonderful that would be...
"Oh? Let me see—it's not another harem with some overpowered male protagonist, is it? Clearly just some third-rate trash where the author fantasizes about having a harem to resonate with lonely otaku and stroke his own ego~ Mei-chan, don't get fooled~"
"..." x2
But some people were clearly too sharp.
Noticing the orange-haired girl's actions and a certain someone's gaze, Nia, sitting nearby, casually laughed and voiced her thoughts, her words dripping with sarcasm, leaving the two of them awkward.
Was it really necessary to put it so harshly?
Sure, he did write harems, but they had gained a lot of popularity and royalties—it wasn't that bad.
Faced with such prejudice, the orange-haired girl scratched her head awkwardly with an embarrassed chuckle, while Satoru also averted his eyes without directly denying it.
After all, seeing the murderous glint in Nia's eyes, he knew she was still seething with anger!
Ahem, no need to be so jealous, right? Yuigahama-san didn't even say anything.
Well, this girl's name was Yuigahama—though not Yui, but Mei.
...Her face was vaguely familiar from anime, but she looked noticeably younger and seemed far more carefree.
He wasn't sure why she was in this class. Honestly, he hadn't even recognized her at first. If the teacher hadn't called out "Yuigahama Mei" during roll call, he wouldn't have noticed her at all—his attention had been entirely on Nia at the time.
Come to think of it, why hadn't her surname changed? Was it due to the convergence of worldlines, or was the original "Yui" just her family name?
But these were questions that couldn't be answered in this world, so he didn't dwell on them further.
"Ahaha~ It's not that bad~ Satoru isn't such a terrible person~"
"Mei-chan, you're just too trusting. You've been lucky not to get tricked by bad men before, but you should be careful from now on. With how naive you are, any shady guy could fool you in a heartbeat."
"That's so mean! I-I wouldn't be fooled that easily!"