All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

”Even if Izumi Ki is popular and selling well right now, it’s still a newcomer work that hasn’t been out for long. Maybe Dengeki Bunko thinks the serialization period is too short, so they didn’t invite Izumi Ki to the festival. Heh. I’ve always said novels like this—with no literary depth, just face-slapping wish fulfillment—don’t belong in refined settings.”

But those comments were quickly crushed.

”Is there something wrong with your brain? What kind of pretentious poverty mindset produces nonsense like that?”

”We’re talking about commercial fiction, and you’re bringing up seniority?”

”I’m just an ordinary guy who works himself to the bone every day. When I get home, I just want to read some satisfying power-fantasy from Izumi Ki. What’s wrong with that?”

”Dengeki Bunko publishes novels to make money. Authors write there to make money. What do you think this is—a literary press? Literary standards? Give me a break. Everything depends on strength. High sales and high popularity deserve the best treatment. Mutual benefit. If your sales aren’t high, even if you’ve been writing since Dengeki Bunko was first established, they still won’t invite you.”

”Whoever wrote this participation list—are they out of their mind? So many best-selling titles made it on. Why is Izumi Ki the only one missing?”

Although there were a few comments saying it was reasonable not to invite Izumi Ki, they were like tiny insects in a garbage heap—hardly worth mentioning.

In order to demand an explanation for Izumi Ki and Sword Art Online, readers had pushed the comment section from just over eight hundred messages to ten thousand.

Ai Futada quickly compiled a summary of the issue and sent it to the editor-in-chief. The participation list for the Dengeki Festival had originally been approved by the chief editor. Now that there was a problem, it naturally had to be reported upward.

After sending the summary, Ai Futada finally let out a small sigh of relief. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with a wet tissue, then continued scrolling through the comments.

She could not help but marvel:

”Izumi Ki’s readers are incredibly loyal. It’s been less than six hours since the participation list was posted, and the comments have already surged past ten thousand.”

At the same time, she felt puzzled.

”Why didn’t Chief Editor Hiraya include Sword Art Online on the participation list?”

...

Editorial Department.

Yuko Hiratsuka was holding a meeting with the editors in the conference room. The three-hour meeting had been dominated by matters related to the Dengeki Festival, which took up three quarters of the time. The remaining issues were compressed into the final quarter for brief discussion.

Just as Yuko Hiratsuka was about to close her laptop and announce the end of the meeting, she suddenly received a message.

After opening it and giving it a quick read, she let out a helpless smile and addressed the editors in the room.

”Sorry, everyone. There’s been a small situation regarding the Dengeki Festival. Let’s extend the meeting for a few more minutes.”

With that, she projected the summary feedback from the Operations Department onto the large screen in the conference room.

After a few minutes of reading, the editors understood what had happened in the comment section.

”What are everyone’s thoughts on this?” Yuko Hiratsuka asked with a faint smile.

One editor spoke up first.

”The Dengeki Festival is just around the corner. To preserve the mystery of the signing event, I think we shouldn’t announce in advance that Izumi Ki will be attending.

”To put it bluntly, judging by the recent popularity and sales, Izumi Ki’s Sword Art Online has been dominating the charts. None of the others can really compete. Right now, readers might still be speculating about whose signing event it will be at this year’s festival.

”But if we announce ahead of time that Izumi Ki will attend, then who the main attraction of the signing event is becomes obvious. It’ll definitely be Izumi Ki.”

Another editor quickly agreed.

”Exactly. It’s already set in stone that Izumi Ki will attend the Dengeki Festival and hold a signing event there. If we keep quiet for now, we can maintain some suspense. The answer will be revealed soon anyway, and readers will be satisfied.”

A third editor spoke up at that moment.

”That makes sense, but I still have to rebut what Editor Iwata just said. What do you mean by ’none of the others can compete’?