In this crossover anime, Yoshikage Kira longs for a peaceful life.

Kashiwagi Nagisa frowned slightly. Kaguya Shinomiya's sudden change in behavior made her keenly aware of one fact: Kaguya Shinomiya wanted to run away!

Upon thinking of this, Kashiwagi Nagisa's eyes suddenly sharpened!

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The top floor of the Hotel Okura, the staircase of angels.

Ding dong~!

The elevator doors slowly opened, and an adult woman dressed in office attire, with a slender figure and shapely legs encased in black stockings, led another girl with equally straight and beautiful legs, also wearing black stockings, but dressed in a JK uniform, towards the bar.

A black-haired woman in office lady attire gently comforted a high school girl, linking her arm with her own.

"Shi-chan, cheer up! There's still a chance."

The high school girl with long, straight black hair, wearing a headband, bit her lip tightly, looking dejected.

"You don't need to comfort me. With such poor results, a 50% drop is almost inevitable."

"Mmm~"

Machida Sonoko felt somewhat helpless. This child was good in every way, except that she was a bit stubborn.

Once a decision is made, there's no going back. Although, the grades are indeed a little bit poor...

Machida Sonoko sighed, sat down on the high stool at the bar, and looked at the tall, blond bartender:

"A glass of gin and tonic."

"Ok."

Yoshikage Kira responded skillfully, taking out gin and tonic water from the liquor shelf and starting to mix them.

The girl in the JK uniform with long, straight black hair seemed to be turning her grief into strength, gritting her teeth as she said:

"I'd like a Long Island Iced Tea!"

"Poetry Sauce".

Machida Sonoko felt somewhat helpless, but she didn't stop them.

Soon, two glasses of wine were placed in front of the two men respectively.

Machida Sonoko took a small sip, and her eyes lit up immediately.

Kasumigaoka Utaha hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth, tilted her head back, and was about to drink it all in one gulp.

"Sweet?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha paused for a moment, somewhat puzzled. Is this what sake tastes like?

Yoshikage Kira tidied the table and said calmly:

"Black tea is sweet, of course."

"black tea?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha was somewhat dissatisfied:

"I ordered a Long Island Iced Tea, but you gave me black tea? Is this how the waiters here treat their customers?"

Yoshikage Kira's answer remained calm:

"The customer is king, but minors are prohibited from drinking alcohol."

"whispering sound."

Kasumigaoka Utaha clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction, picked up her wine glass, and took another sip.

Actually, it tastes pretty good.

Although she was in a bad mood, there was no need for her to take it out on a waiter.

She can still distinguish that.

"Mmm."

Machida Sonoko chuckled, "Shi-chan, minors really shouldn't drink alcohol~. Besides, the sales aren't actually that bad, so I'll try to help you; there's a possibility of releasing a third volume."

"impossible."

Kasumigaoka Utaha said without hesitation, "With such dismal sales, they'll definitely be halved!"

Machida Enzi was helpless:

"Although sales are a bit low, there are still people watching..."

"for example?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha countered, "Can you give me an example?"

"for example……"

Machida Sonoko was somewhat troubled, but then she caught a glimpse of Kira Yoshikage out of the corner of her eye, and her eyes lit up immediately:

"Hey buddy, Kira Quinn, Kira might have seen this before? Hey buddy, have you seen 'Love Metronome'?"

Machida Sonoko read out Kira Yoshikage's name from the nameplate on his chest, and quietly clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture, hoping he could say a few kind words to encourage her.

Kira Yoshikage, who was wiping the cup, replied without looking up:

"I've seen it."

"is it?"

Machida Sonoko immediately breathed a sigh of relief and asked with a smile:

"So what is your opinion of this work?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha added sharply:

I want to hear the truth!

Although that's what she said, there was a hint of expectation in the girl's eyes.

She longed to hear praise from others; only then could she convince herself to keep writing.

Yoshikage Kira thought for a moment, then said seriously:

"In terms of evaluation, I'd say it's a passable roll of toilet paper."

Chapter 31 Feels Less Like a Harem

"Toilet paper..."

Kira Yoshikage's words were like a sharp knife, piercing the girl's heart. Kasumigaoka Utaha bit her lip tightly; her pride made her want to retaliate fiercely, but the dismal sales figures were an undeniable fact.

Kasumigaoka Utaha inexplicably felt a tightness in her chest, making it hard to breathe. She clutched her chest, lowered her head, closed her eyes in pain, and gave a bitter, bleak smile.

Toilet paper?

Is this how others evaluate her work?

It turns out that in other people's eyes, her painstakingly crafted work was actually so unbearable.

Machida Wanko felt a pang of sympathy looking at Kasumigaoka Utaha's appearance.

She only wanted to find a stranger for encouragement, but she didn't expect it to turn out like this, so she hurriedly tried to salvage the situation.

"Shijiang, don't take his words to heart. He clearly hasn't read your book and is deliberately trying to make you angry..."

"I am fine."

Kasumigaoka Utaha took a deep breath, raised her head again, and looked at Kira Yoshikage with a hint of stubbornness:

Why did you give a review of the toilet paper?

Kasumigaoka Utaha felt a pang of pain in her heart. To have an author admit that their work was toilet paper was undoubtedly the greatest insult to her.

But she just wanted to know why.

Why is her novel, to which she poured her heart and soul, so disregarded?

Well, how should I put it?

Yoshikage Kira stopped wiping the cup, thought for a moment, and then slowly spoke:

"If we were to summarize, the problem was with our positioning."

"position?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha frowned, while Machida Wanko looked somewhat surprised.

She initially thought Yoshikage Kira was just making things up, but now it seems he wasn't entirely lying...

"To be fair, the author's writing is delicate and graceful, comparable to many well-known veteran authors, and even stronger. After all, many veteran authors still need to find someone to polish their work."

Hearing these words, Kasumigaoka Utaha inexplicably found Kira Yoshikage much more agreeable, but this was not what she wanted to hear.

"The author's problem lies in the positioning of the work."

"The first volume of 'Love Metronome' depicts the innocent love between the male and female protagonists, and if it were to be categorized, it would be a single female protagonist story."

"However, Love Metronome is different from typical single-female-lead novels because the author's descriptions clearly focus on the female lead, Sayuka, indicating that the author obviously put himself into the role of Sayuka when creating the novel."

"The reader's sense of identification often comes from the author's words. When the author puts himself in Sayuka's shoes to write this novel, the reader will also instinctively identify with the female protagonist Sayuka, rather than the male protagonist Naoto."

"Single-female-lead light novels are inherently a niche genre, and their sales are far inferior to harem novels. Due to this difference in positioning, most male readers simply cannot empathize with the male protagonist. On the contrary, female readers tend to have a strong sense of identification when reading such novels."

"They would put themselves in Sayuka's shoes and fantasize about having a sweet romance with the male protagonist, Naoto."

Seeing Kasumigaoka Utaha's expression, which seemed to have been struck at the heart, Kira Yoshikage continued:

"And the author made the same mistake when writing the second volume."

Kasumigaoka Utaha's fingers clenched tightly, her pretty face slightly pale:

"Because of Shinichi?"

"Correct."

Kira Yoshikage withdrew his gaze from the girl's slender hand:

"The addition of Makoto in the second volume is clearly a compromise by the author when he found that the first volume was not selling well."

"The author attempted to boost sales by adding a new female lead and using elements of factional strife and love triangles commonly found in romance novels, but this backfired and caused the positioning of 'Love Metronome' to deviate once again."

"Although the sales of the first volume were not good, that was because of the limitations of the subject matter, which screened the readers from the beginning. Most of the people who read this novel were drawn by the 'single female lead' theme. However, the second volume suddenly turned into a battle between opposing factions, which was equivalent to a second screening of the already small number of readers."