All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

But she caught herself just in time. Unless Kotomi admitted it herself, she couldn’t make such a bold assumption. After all, a girl cuddling up to another girl didn’t necessarily mean romance. It didn’t automatically mean they were gay.

On the contrary, they might be straighter than steel beams.

Only straight girls joked around that intimately without hesitation. Unlike her and Seiko, who always had to be careful and reserved.

Thinking that, Hibiki was glad she hadn’t spoken out loud. If she had, she might have accidentally outed her and Seiko’s relationship... and that was absolutely not an option!

”I’m going to the restroom,” she said, using it as an excuse to temporarily leave the Green Car lounge.

Kotomi looked down at the small head resting on her shoulder, Mashiro’s eyes gently closed. She let out a silent sigh. Originally, she had planned to use this delay to work on the first volume of her novel Redo of Healer on her laptop.

But that clearly wasn’t happening now. Her laptop was in her backpack, and she could easily unzip it—but her left arm was being gently hugged by Mashiro.

She wasn’t exactly a one-armed martial artist who called out to their aunt all the time. Sure, she could manage to pull the laptop out one-handed, but typing one-handed like usual? Sorry, not happening.

Her plan to get some writing done while waiting was now just a fantasy.

Though, honestly, even if Mashiro weren’t clinging to her, Kotomi probably wouldn’t have written anything anyway.

More likely, she would have put on her headphones, opened drive D, and booted up a galgame.

Buzz buzz—

Her phone, which had been set to vibrate, buzzed in her pocket. Kotomi pulled it out and saw a message on Line from Haruno Yukinoshita.

[Kotomi, the first print run of Sword Art Online Volume 1 sold out even faster than expected! All 100,000 copies are gone! Luckily, Dengeki Bunko already approved the reprint. The next batch is currently being printed and bound. By next weekend, the printers should be able to ship out the first 30,000. The remaining 80,000 copies should reach bookstores sometime between early to mid-November.]

[Hanayui-sensei is currently reading through Volumes 2 and 3. She said she’ll probably begin working on the illustrations by the end of the month. Once we have the artwork for both volumes, we’ll begin prepping for publication. We’re aiming to have Sword Art Online Volumes 2 and 3 on shelves by the end of the year.]

So Haruno was reporting work to her.

Sometimes, Kotomi thought how nice it would be if Haruno could become her full-time assistant. Life would be so much easier.

Ever since Haruno had become her editor, her skills and efficiency had earned Kotomi’s wholehearted admiration.

Maybe I should really make her my assistant... If that ever happened, I could just sit back and hand off all the annoying stuff to her. Kotomi half-joked to herself.

She quickly sent a reply:

[Got it. Thanks for your help, Haruno Onee-san~]

Seeing Kotomi call her ”Haruno Onee-san” again, Haruno Yukinoshita gripped her phone with both hands and shouted internally, ”YES!” Whatever sisterly energy Yukino lacked, she was definitely making up for with Kotomi.

[No problem! Just leave everything to your big sis!!!]

[Hey, Kotomi, are you coming to Tokyo in the next few days? Volume 1 of Sword Art Online has been a massive hit, and the editor-in-chief and deputy editor want to treat you to dinner.]

Worried Kotomi might get nervous, Haruno followed up with several more messages:

[Don’t worry—I’ll be there with you. It’s nothing formal, just the four of us: the chief editor, deputy editor, you, and me. They’re both really nice. Last time, I even said to the chief editor, ’We should take turns being chief—next year it’s my turn,’ and she didn’t dare say a word in response!]

[If possible, try to come before tomorrow night, since the deputy editor, Sonoko Machida, is going on a business trip the morning after. If you’re coming, just let me know your location and I’ll drive over to pick you up. After dinner, your big sis will personally drive you back home~]

[PS: Don’t feel shy! If you really feel bad about it, after I drop you off, you can let me stay the night and share your bed. I absolutely won’t say no!!!]

After reading Haruno’s extra-long follow-up, a bead of sweat ran down Kotomi’s forehead.

Forget the content—how did she even type all that in under a minute?

Kotomi could already picture Haruno furiously tapping her phone screen, or hammering away at a keyboard in front of a computer.