All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

Because the shop would close tomorrow, every dessert today was sold at a particularly cheap price. It was, in a sense, a way to close the business with no regrets—lowering prices just enough to clear out everything without taking a loss.

Although the official closure would start tomorrow, Tomoka Yuigahama hadn’t announced it publicly. She hadn’t even put up a simple ”Clearance Sale” sign on the window. If you didn’t ask, you’d have no idea the shop would be closing tomorrow.

The decision to close had come suddenly—made the moment Tomoka woke up that morning.

That’s often how decisions work. You can spend days or weeks hesitating, weighing every possibility—but when the time finally comes to decide, it happens in an instant.

She made the decision so quickly that she hadn’t even had time to tell her two daughters yet.

Perhaps it would’ve been better to wait a little longer, but Tomoka Yuigahama now just wanted to focus completely on illustration. Not long ago, she had heard from Haruno Yukinoshita that Kotomi Izumi’s Sword Art Online manuscripts had already reached Volume 11—and that the illustration request documents had been written up through Volume 9.

When Tomoka learned that Haruno was sitting on such a massive pile of manuscripts and illustration notes, she was shocked. She knew Kotomi wrote fast and likely had plenty of drafts saved up, and as Kotomi’s editor, Haruno naturally had a few volumes waiting. But she had expected maybe four or five volumes—not eleven! And when Kotomi emailed the Volume 11 manuscript, she had also attached the outlines for Volumes 12 and 13.

After learning that, Tomoka realized she couldn’t delay any longer. She had to close the cake shop and dedicate herself fully to illustration—determined to push her progress to at least Volume 5 before Sword Art Online Volumes 2 and 3 were released.

When Tomoka asked Haruno why she hadn’t told her sooner about the backlog of Kotomi’s manuscripts and requests, Haruno had looked helpless.

”It’s not like I didn’t want to tell you,” Haruno explained. ”Normally, after I review the manuscripts and the illustration requirements and find no issues, I’d contact you right away to start drawing. But Kotomi told me that you’ve been busy lately and said I shouldn’t rush you—that she’d let you know herself when the time came.”

After hearing that, Tomoka’s emotions became complicated. How could she not see what Kotomi’s true intention was? Kotomi wanted to keep her from feeling pressured—to let her work slowly and comfortably, at her own pace.

But after learning this, Tomoka made up her mind even more firmly. She couldn’t take advantage of Kotomi’s kindness by actually taking it easy!

If Kotomi wanted her to be her sole illustrator, then she had to live up to that trust—she absolutely couldn’t drag Kotomi down!

”Phew, that should be enough. Ever since I had your Baumkuchen the last time, I’ve been craving it again. Now that you’re closing, I don’t know where I’ll ever find Baumkuchen this delicious again.”

Akina Izumi, who had come with Tomoka Yuigahama to the Dango Cake Shop—perhaps to support her friend’s business, or maybe just because she wanted some sweets—bought a whole pile of them. Especially the maple croissants; she bought every single one left on the shelf.

But… there was no worry about waste. One of Kotomi Izumi’s favorite breads was exactly that—croissants brushed with maple syrup.

If those croissants were left for Kotomi alone, she’d probably finish them in less than a day—snacking on them one after another while watching anime.

Besides croissants, Akina also bought a lot of other desserts, including butter toast bread. Toasted in a bread maker and paired with ham, vegetables, and salad dressing, it made for an easy, delicious sandwich. Thanks to the added butter and cheese, the bread was so soft and fragrant that even eating it plain, without jam, was a simple delight of gentle sweetness and fluffiness.

”Are you sure it’s okay to buy this much? It’ll be a waste if you can’t finish it.”

Tomoka Yuigahama couldn’t help but remind her. Although she ran the cake shop and naturally wanted to sell as many sweets as possible, whenever someone bought too much, she would habitually caution them—after all, wasting food was never a good thing.

”It’s fine, it’s fine. You’ve seen my Kotomi’s appetite before, haven’t you?” Akina Izumi replied casually, waving her hand as if it were nothing.