Ch 08 – 26 April, Recruit Utaha 02

Kouta felt a bit nervous, but at the same time, he was helplessly excited too. And he couldn't help but feel this way before the encounter. It was the first time he tried his own to meet character. She may be an ordinary girl in those worlds, but because Kouta saw her in his memories of another world, it felt like trying to meet an actress or idol.

Well, she was kind of famous at this school. So it was still a bit nerve-wracking.

After Kouta got caught by Eriri, and he needed to talk to her about his plan for a bit. Before proceeding to the second floor, where the second-year classroom is located. He came to her classroom, 2D.

"Um—Is Kasumigaoka-senpai here?" Kouta called after he could see her classmate tell her that someone was calling her.

Suddenly, in front of Kouta appeared a tall and beautiful slim-figured girl with mid-back length dark hair and a white hairband. Her red eyes, with such disinterested expression, stared at him.

"Is there anything?" Utaha asked. She didn't recognize the underclass mate who called her, so she thought he was ordered by someone to call her.

"Well, actually, I really need to talk to you about something." Kouta simply replied with a small voice, as if he didn't want anyone to hear. He knew that Utaha didn't really care people knew about her career as an author. But he's still trying to be careful.

"It's about Koisuru Metronome." In a fading voice, he added.

When Utaha heard that, he was surprised to find someone would say that in front o her at school. In the end, she was a new author, and the sales were actually not very good right now.

"Err—I—I—Hm—Understand." Utaha, who had not expected this kind of encounter, stutters for a moment before regaining her composure.

"Yeah, can we talk in another place?" Kouta requested to go to Utaha as he wanted to have a conversation in somewhere desolate.

"Yes, of course."

Two of them left the Utaha classroom and went to an empty classroom. The place they occupied, an audiovisual room that was rarely used.

"Actually, I have read Koisuru Metronome and I like it very much." Kouta said with a smile while taking out the Koisuru Metronome.

"Ah, thanks." Utaha responded with a coolly smile, and her face showed a bit of excitement.

"It's may be sound rude, but I truly like your work—that's why. Can you take a look at this? My proposal!?"  Kouta asked, the famous second-year cool beauty and an author, Koisuru Metronome to read the dating sims' proposal.

"Hm—Proposal?" Utaha was confused and wondered what this boy talking about.

"Yes, I'm really like your work. It may be look rash, but I want you part of my project. Project to make this dating sims called Fate/Stay Night."  Kouta explained his intention while giving her a paper contained project proposal.

"Project? Dating sims?" Utaha surprised as she felt the conversation escalated very quickly.

"Yes, I want you to join this project as a writer. At least, can you read it first?"

"This—" Utaha was so overwhelmed with this development that she agreed.

The two of them sat down as Utaha read those project proposals quite seriously. It took much longer, that Kouta thought, before she finished reading the proposal.

"This—fascinating." Utaha stated her true feelings.The storyboard was easy to understand and had a good idea. The rough sketch of design character was quite polished, and each girl had a definite charm.

"Glad to hear that. Also, you don't have to worry about other things since I've already secured the illustrator." Kouta said to Utaha, while once again giving her another paper.

"You're really prepared. This—" Utaha replied, and she stopped when she saw the picture on the paper. Although it is only a rough sketch, it differs from the proposal drawing. Utaha realized how good the art was.

"And this one is one of her illustrations for this dating sim."

Finally, Kouta showed Utaha the art that Eriri had created the night before. Seeing Eriri's art, made Utaha fall speechless for a moment. A picture of a young girl in her early-mid with a slender physique, soft skin, and green eyes. She was wearing shining gray and blueish armor with a beautiful golden sword in her hand.

"This is saber, one of the main heroine." Kouta explained.

"This—are you really serious, want me to join this project?" Utaha who had previously been quite confident, became a bit nervous since she thought it was just a high school project. But after she read a quite good proposal with such professional art, she began to question her place.

"Yes, of course." Kouta replied immediately.

"But, you know—I'm writing a romance novel. Do you think I would just be able to write a story for a fantasy like dating sims." Utaha responded.

"Well, I do. Especially since, in the end, we're just a small doujin team. I think you can do it. I mean, Utako Kasumi's talent has yet to be fully realized." Kouta said it with such confidence.

Kouta's voice was serious. Even though, Utaha felt this under classmate a bit cute, she couldn't help to her hearth throbbing from happiness and embarrassing that her cheek reddish.

"But—"

"Also, you don't have to worry. Even though, at this moment, you may be a new author and it looked like the sales weren't good this week. Your book is excellent, people will like your work, and it will soon become a big success."

"Eh—"

"I think I can help it. It may work, but I'm already giving the novel to acquaintance. And if he is like those novels, He will make fan site and spread your novel, and I'm confidence it will help to increase some sales."

"Fan site!?"

"Yeah, it may not work. But at least could be increasing around 30% sales. He's quite well known as a good reviewer, after all. But, you can take it with a grain of salt. So, are you interested or not?"  Kouta explained that easily.

"This—" Utaha, couldn't help to felt a bit indecisive. Since the request was too sudden, but the project was interesting for her, she thought about it for a while. Before she accepted.

"I'm might still not have much experience, but I accepted became writer for this project." Utaha answered, then she looked at Kouta in front of him. Looked at his confidence, expression was quite something.

"Is that so!? That's glad to hear that." Kouta sighed and nodded his head. "If that case, can I ask you schedule? I need to make a timeline for this project."

"Okay, by the way, what's your name?" Utaha asked Kouta name.

"Ah, that's true. I've been rude. My name is Suzuki Kouta and I am in class 1-C. Nice to meet you." Kouta introduced himself.

"Un—I'm Kasumigaoka Utaha." Utaha responded with a slightly happy tone.

"By the way, what is the illustrator's name?" Utaha asked again.

"Ah, well, he's quite embarrassed and working by making a lot of R-18 doujin."I'll ask him later. So can you wait for a day." Kouta replied to Utaha.

Utaha laughed, "Is that so—"

Afterwards, Kouta and Utaha had a lot of conversation. Talking about this project would be helpful, and of course other things would be too. Kouta felt quite happy to successfully recruit Utaha to his side, even before the protagonist.

At least, Kouta may have advantages over the protagonist. But for now, he didn't have any plans to do something for Utaha. His focus right now was Eriri.

It was much better to get as close to Utaha naturally as he could while they're doing a project.

After a long conversation, they exchanged their numbers before they left the school. Kouta satisfied with the result he got today. With the help of his memories, Kouta may have a cheating skill, and if he worked on it slowly with those memories, he may become excellent. But in the end, Kouta felt that having many excellent acquaintances would benefit him, especially if they could work together. And if it was a beautiful girl, that was a double plus.

And Kouta messaged Eriri to come to his place after dinner while he walked toward the street stores surrounding the station with Utaha beside him.

"How about we're going to the nearest family restaurant? It's embarrassing, but can I ask something? Of course, I'll pay for you." Kouta invited Utaha.

"Eh, okay, then—" Utaha agreed, and they stopped at a family restaurant. Kouta bought a drink and snack, while Utaha ordered tea and sweets.

"So what do you need?"

"Ah, I kinda forget. But can I ask you to sign this book?"

"Eh, well. That's fine really." Utaha grabbed the novel and signed it. She still looked aloof without many expressions, but there was a small blush on her face. She hadn't had a signing event yet, and no one was asking her to sign, so she felt awkward and excited for some reason.

"Thanks very much."  Kouta said before, that he was following what protagonist did to Utaha. If he wasn't wrong, they became close by talking with Utaha about her novel in the café and the like.

"Well, it felt inappropriate to talk about this novel when we had discussions about our project, but can I talk about your novel."

"Well, of course you can—"

"If that is the case—"

And so Kouta talked about the Utaha novel. He shared his thoughts with her, pointing out many things he liked and disliked, among other things.

Kouta still had time after all, before he met with Eriri after dinner. He made every effort to make the most of the time he had. Enjoying his time with Utaha, before spending his next time with Eriri.