"Phew..." "Good thing I ran fast. That Eri Ri, honestly."
"To actually want to use the image of her savior for a doujinshi..." Mochizuki scoffed at Eri Ri's behavior. He would never help her do such a thing.
He arrived at the door of the Service Club classroom.
Mochizuki pushed the door open and entered.
Besides Yukinoshita already being there, the client, Yoshiteru Zaimokuza, had also arrived.
And surprisingly, Hikigaya Hachiman was also there.
Meanwhile, Hikigaya was thinking, "Why am I still in a place like this today...?"
Mochizuki walked over to Yukinoshita.
"Sorry, I had something to do and came a bit late."
"You're too slow!" "It's fine, we just arrived..."
One sentence was said by Yukinoshita, and the other was surprisingly spoken by Hikigaya.
Then Yukinoshita looked up at the person with the dead fish eyes, a little surprised by his sudden remark.
And Hikigaya, feeling Yukinoshita's sharp gaze, visibly flinched. He was just stating the facts!
They really just arrived!
"I'll just listen quietly, no more talking..."
"Oh! Let me hear your thoughts!"
Yukinoshita took out Taimokuza's novel manuscript from yesterday, and Mochizuki also took his out.
And Yoshiteru Zaimokuza, uncharacteristically, wasn't spouting nonsense; he sat quietly in his chair, ready to listen.
"Please be mentally prepared."
Yukinoshita spoke, and Mochizuki and Hikigaya felt the same way.
But Taimokuza himself still looked full of confidence. It seemed he hadn't realized the shortcomings of his own work at all.
"To be frank, your novel is boring. Deathly boring, to the point where you can't even read it.
It's hard to believe such a light novel exists!
If a work like yours could be published, the industry would surely be finished!
If this weren't a request, I would have torn up the A4 paper the moment I saw the first paragraph of the manuscript..."
Yukino Yukinoshita said a large chunk of words in one breath. It seemed reading Taimokuza's novel had accumulated quite a bit of resentment in her.
Mochizuki, who was closest, faintly felt the anger emanating from Yukinoshita.
And Taimokuza, with every word from Yukinoshita, took a step back, finding it hard to believe he was receiving such criticism.
No wonder... no wonder she told him to be mentally prepared.
Mochizuki and Hikigaya looked sympathetically at the gradually disheartened Taimokuza.
"Phew... I'm finished."
Yukinoshita's tone returned to normal. Because she had spoken too much at once, Yukinoshita picked up the cup in front of her and took a sip of black tea.
"Ho- How could this be..."
Taimokuza then turned his gaze towards Mochizuki. Perhaps because Yukino Yukinoshita was a girl, she didn't understand how to appreciate his masterpiece?
Surely this boy would be able to understand his novel!
Feeling Taimokuza's fervent gaze made Mochizuki swallow back his critical words, even though he also found it very difficult to read.
But he really couldn't bear to hurt the person like that.
"My opinion is basically the same, but..."
"But what!"
Taimokuza seemed like a drowning person grasping at a straw.
"Ahem... but your imagination is good, for example, the way various messy things are mixed together, and maybe you're suited to writing an autobiography?"
This made Yukinoshita, who was drinking black tea, laugh, and Hikigaya was also suppressing a laugh.
"Hey, don't laugh!"
"Au... autobiography?"
"Messy, huh..."
Hearing these words completely deflated Taimokuza, leaving him looking utterly dejected. Could it be that only Hachiman could understand him!
As for Hikigaya, having already read Taimokuza's novel before, all of this was, rather than surprising, expected.
"Well then, how about taking a look at this book."
Following that, Yukino Yukinoshita was seen taking a book out of her bag.
Seeing the cover, Mochizuki was a little surprised. Isn't this my book... no, my work!
Yukinoshita also glanced at Mochizuki beside her, because the author's name of this book was quite similar to Mochizuki's.
The book clearly stated 'Written by Tsukiyo', which made Yukinoshita couldn't help but think of Mochizuki.
But after thinking carefully, Yukinoshita shook her head.
Although it was rumored that the author was a high school student, no matter how she thought about it, Yukinoshita didn't believe it would be Mochizuki sitting next to her.
She didn't believe Mochizuki could write such a work.
According to what Yukinoshita understood, this book was currently very popular on the market, and it was already difficult for ordinary people to get a copy.
Just finding a way to buy this book yesterday took her quite some effort, and then she stayed up all night to finish reading the book, as well as Taimokuza's manuscript.
"Because I'm not very familiar with light novels, in order to give you more accurate advice, I also looked into the current light novels on the market last night."
"This work currently has a good reputation on the market, and the target audience is mainly boys."
"I also finished reading it overnight last night. The author might need to improve their writing style, but whether it's the plot, character design, creativity... there are many things worth learning from."
Only then did Mochizuki notice a slight dark circle under Yukinoshita's eyes. So she had stayed up all night; Yukinoshita was truly dedicated.
"Starting from zero..."
"...in a different world."
Hikigaya and Taimokuza spoke one after another, and then both of them were attracted by the book's cover.
--+--
T/N: Although I'm an inexperienced Editor, I do have a Patreon account! Although it seems like I don't have many supporters right now, my webnovel will be released in full every day, and the advanced chapters will be uploaded to Patreon.
It may not be worth it now, but who knows, it might be different in the future. Who knows!
patreon.com/Greyhounds
If you want to see it, then why not?