"Little Bocchi, come on... After the script meeting, you can go home... President-san, please help us~"
As soon as Rin Ito left the Fairy's yard, he saw Little Bocchi struggling to escape in the distance, with Nijika and Ryo Yamada holding her back. Nijika was in front, pulling Little Bocchi's arm, and Ryo Yamada was behind Little Bocchi, pushing her shoulder... Nobody could stop them from making money! Not even Little Bocchi! That was their performance fee! That was the money they needed to produce their album!
Rin Ito jogged over to the three of them. Upon seeing Rin Ito, Little Bocchi immediately lowered her face guiltily. It wasn't just the message asking him to be her sugar daddy, but also the fact that she had bragged to her parents, sister, and dog that he was her boyfriend.
"How about I have a little private word with Little Bocchi?"
Ryo and Nijika exchanged glances and let go. Rin Ito grabbed the shoulder of the still-trying-to-escape Little Bocchi, leaned his lips close to her ear, and spoke in a low voice.
"You don't want them to know you sent me a message asking me to be your sugar daddy, do you?"
"Eek!!!!" Little Bocchi turned completely gray.
Then, Rin Ito straightened up and smiled, handing the now-compliant Little Bocchi back to Nijika and Ryo.
"H-How did you do that? That's amazing."
"It's a secret. Alright, let's go."
The two girls supported Little Bocchi, and together with Rin Ito, they arrived at the Fairy's house. Facing the girls sitting on the sofa, Little Bocchi instantly shrunk behind her bandmates.
"Hello, everyone~ We are Kessoku Band. I'm Nijika Ijichi, the drummer. She's Ryo Yamada, the bassist, and this is Hitori Gotoh, we call her Little Bocchi~"
"Yo." Ryo Yamada coolly raised her hand and greeted the Fairy and the others.
Unlike their previous meeting where she wore her school uniform, today Nijika was wearing a simple white off-the-shoulder short-sleeved top paired with a sheer skirt and white sandals, making her look less lively and more pure. Ryo Yamada's attire was more masculine, a black shirt paired with dark casual pants, along with her shoulder-length dark blue hair and indifferent expression, effortlessly giving her a cool vibe. As for Little Bocchi... the ever-present tracksuit.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Eiri, the initiator of the script meeting, stood up from the sofa.
"I'm Eiri, the lead artist. This is Megumi Kato, who handles programming, and Nanami, who does the voice acting. As for that gloomy woman over there, she's the scriptwriter. We're holding this script meeting to prevent her from writing anything too dark or disturbing."
"Prevent me from writing anything dark? Instead of worrying about me writing disturbing stuff, you should be wary of Eiri, who loves to draw girls being violated, and prevent her from secretly adding her perverted fetishes." Utaha didn't directly expose Eiri as Eriri Spencer Sawamura, but she had certainly not pulled any punches.
Hearing the word violated, the little angel Nijika blushed slightly.
Nijika had seen the names Eiri, Nanami, Megumi Kato, and Utaha Kasumigaoka in the group chat, so... who was this other cute girl?
Noticing Nijika's gaze, the Fairy gently placed her hand on her collar and offered an elegant smile.
"I'm Emily Yamada, and I'm the owner of this Crystal Palace~"
"Emily... Yamada?" Utaha Kasumigaoka frowned slightly. Emily Yamada was not the Fairy's real name; it was a pen name she borrowed from her brother. Even Rin Ito and Sagiri didn't know her real name.
"What's wrong?" The Fairy looked curiously at Utaha Kasumigaoka. "Ah, I heard you write light novels, too? Hehe, then you must have heard of my name, right? What's your pen name?"
Utaha, who had been sitting with her legs crossed, separated them, and her legs, encased in black tights, trembled slightly. After a while, she slowly gave her pen name.
"...Utako Kasumi."
"Utako Kasumi...?"
The Fairy's expression froze the moment she heard Utaha's pen name. Utaha Kasumigaoka was familiar with the name Emily Yamada. She had read Emily Yamada's novel and her evaluation of it was... trash. Likewise, the Fairy was familiar with the name Utako Kasumi. The Fairy's evaluation of Utako Kasumi was... she seems to have a serious problem.
"Hmph... so you are Utako Kasumi. It's a small world, isn't it?"
Chin lifted, the Fairy looked down condescendingly at Utaha, who was sitting on the sofa. Seeing this provocation, Utaha stood up, crossed her arms, and emphasized the size of her generous bust.
"Emily Yamada? Heh heh... you're truly a child, aren't you?"
A Love Triangle (Shuraba) instantly formed. Little Bocchi immediately hid behind Nijika and Ryo, while Rin Ito looked at the two women, confused... What was going on with them?
Eiri was stunned for a moment, then a sly smile formed on her lips. Eiri had heard about the conflict between Emily Yamada and Utako Kasumi. There was no direct conflict between them; it was purely a fan war that escalated to the authors. Although both wrote light novels, the more articulate Utaha wrote refined romance stories, while the Fairy, who was a middle-school dropout, could not match Utaha's writing style. The Fairy wrote sexually suggestive harem novels.
The two didn't know each other and initially had no conflict. When Utaha first started writing, her sales were poor and her series was close to being canceled. At that time, fans of the Fairy jumped in and criticized Utaha's novel. Later, when Utaha's sales rebounded, her fans retaliated by attacking the Fairy for poor writing and only writing trashy, simple stories. Both were the type to follow community discussions, so their impressions of each other naturally soured.
Although neither of them directly engaged in the online argument, Utaha, given her personality, couldn't resist a few thinly veiled insults in her books... which were then used by her fans as weapons against the Fairy. The Fairy, naturally, wasn't one to back down, and she also wrote sarcastic, pointed remarks in her books, which were then used as weapons by her fans.
Although the incident was in the past and the fans only had occasional minor clashes, the bad blood between the two authors had been established. They had thought they might run into each other at some publisher's dinner, but they never expected to meet in this manner.
"I'm a child? Heheh... If I'm a child, you're a small fry who can't even beat a child." The Fairy looked triumphantly at Utaha. "A small fry with a battle power of only 500,000."
Utaha's mouth twitched. She couldn't refute that point. A writer's "battle power" was their sales figures. The 500,000 battle power wasn't a number the Fairy had fabricated; Utaha's Love Beat had sold 500,000 copies, earning her the title of a best-selling light novelist.
But, well... there were differences even among best-sellers.
2.2 million! That was the Fairy's battle power. The Fairy's debut work, Explosive Dark Fairy, had sold over 2.2 million copies. The Fairy's debut sales were almost five times Utaha's, and it was even slated for an anime adaptation. In the realm of light novels, Utaha was undeniably, completely defeated.
No matter how much she boasted, the sales figures wouldn't lie, and the Fairy was younger than Utaha. Seeing Utaha's tight-lipped, frustrated expression, Eiri was overjoyed. The enemy of my enemy is my friend!
The Love Triangle! Deployed!