Crossover Anime: The Heroine's Savior in the Other World

"Senior, I've finished reading the third volume of the novel."

Kitahara Sousuke changed the subject.

"Hmm, any thoughts?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha snapped out of her daze, staring blankly at the brown paper bag containing Volume 3, and reached out to take it.

"Love Metronome" is Kasumi Akiha's debut novel. The novel follows the same template of a campus romance novel with one male and multiple female characters, but it is full of highlights under the senior's superb writing skills.

However, after reading the latest volume, Kitahara Sosuke really had a toothache. Sayuka, one of the two female protagonists, has a cold and aloof personality, a slightly sarcastic tone, and her outfit of wearing black pantyhose that she rarely changes throughout the year looks exactly like a reflection of the senior in the novel.

As for the indecisive male protagonist Naoto, it wasn't apparent in the first volume, but starting from the third chapter of the second volume, his various personalities and ways of dealing with people, along with the other female protagonist Mako who appeared earlier, made Kitahara Sosuke unconsciously start to imagine the image of Aki Tomoya.

As for the third volume, Sayuka and Naoto's relationship begins to heat up rapidly, making people wonder if the love triangle that has lasted for about two volumes is about to come to a conclusion. However, the crucial ending of the volume leaves Naoto's choice very vague.

The writing style remains the same, but the plot development is significantly worse than before, which is probably one of the reasons why the light novel editor rejected the third volume.

Kitahara Sousuke had roughly grasped the crux of the problem: a writer's writing is rooted in reality yet transcends it; the two volumes of his senior's previous novels largely reflected the people and events around him.

However, in the crucial plot involving the choice of the male lead, Kasumigaoka Utaha has no real-life role model to draw upon, and Aki Tomoya is still undecided between Kasumigaoka Utaha and Eriri, with the addition of Kato Megumi as another option.

Therefore, Kasumigaoka Utaha is currently feeling somewhat lost.

Honestly, despite her impressive titles like "One of the Seven Beauties of Toyonosaki Private Academy" and "The Highest Flower in the Academy," and the fact that suitors could line up from the classroom door to the school gate, she's still a lifelong single. Without dating experience, it's hard for her to write authentic stories that resonate with readers.

In the original work, Kasumigaoka Utaha added her memories with Aki Tomoya to the sixth chapter of the second volume and showed them to him, saying that after reading them, he would understand her feelings. However, Aki Tomoya covered it up.

I wonder if the outcome will be the same in this life.

In short, Aki Tomo didn't make a choice either, and even if Kasumigaoka Utaha wrote a storyline where Sayuka and Naoto were together, it would be difficult to compare the quality with the first two volumes.

"This is a psychological problem..."

Kitahara Sosuke thought to himself with a helpless sigh.

The simplest way is for Kasumigaoka Utaha to take Volume 3 and throw it directly in front of Aki Tomoya, asking him whether he likes Mayuka or Yui.

However, this might not necessarily get the answer the senior student hopes for. Perhaps after a clear rejection, she might even fall into a complete creative slump...

Of course, the chances of that are very small, at least until Aki Tomoya's game is completed.

"The senior seems unsure who the male lead will choose?"

Kitahara Sosuke tentatively voiced the question, and Kasumigaoka Utaha's face immediately stiffened. After realizing that the other woman didn't show any further emotional reaction, Kitahara Sosuke continued to explain:

"I think the senior hopes that Sayaka will eventually end up with Naoto, but she can't be completely sure, probably because of the male lead..."

"You're very perceptive, Kitahara-kun..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha wore a bitter smile.

"Did you show it to him?"

Kitahara Sousuke asked.

"not yet."

Kasumigaoka Utaha shook her head.

Afraid of rejection?

Kitahara Sousuke glanced at the other person, then shook his head and denied his own idea. "Probably not. After all, Naoto is a very indecisive person. He will most likely continue to maintain this ambiguous relationship between the three of them. That's fine too, the audience likes to watch it."

"That's what the editor said too. They hope we won't get a conclusion in such an early chapter, since there are quite a few readers who like Makoto."

The mentality of stock market investors is understandable. After all, once a winner is decided, they may lose about half of their fans and popularity. Repeatedly pulling the line between winners and losers can keep readers interested.

"Don't you also feel that it doesn't matter if we keep dragging it out? Anyway, it's fine as it is now. If we force him to make a decision now, Sayuka still has a 50% chance of losing."

Kitahara Sosuke directly saw through the other party's thoughts.

"After all, it's true to Yui..."

Just then, the classroom door was suddenly pushed open, and a girl with red lips, white teeth, a pretty face, and golden pigtails walked in.

Eriri, seeing Kasumigaoka Utaha sitting in the first row, was about to say something when she caught a glimpse of Kitahara Sosuke next to her out of the corner of her eye. She paused slightly, then instinctively blurted out:

What are you doing here?

"Eri, what's wrong?"

Aki Tomoya squeezed in from behind the girl and saw Kitahara Sosuke sitting with Kasumigaoka Utaha. His face stiffened, and then he forced a smile: "Senpai, aren't we having club activities today?"

Why are the upperclassman and Kitahara together? And it looks like they've been chatting here for quite a while...

Eriri and Aki Rin were also present. Kasumigaoka Utaha regained her cool demeanor and said calmly, "It's alright. Kitahara-senpai and I just had some private matters to discuss, and we've already finished talking."

"I'd like to borrow this classroom to write something. I won't disturb your club activities. I hope you don't mind, An Yi?"

Kitahara Sosuke picked up his laptop and moved to the corner of the second row, speaking to Aki Tomoya.

"do not mind……"

Aki Tomoya forced a smile.

Kitahara Sosuke ignored him, figuring that given the other's previous experience of being humiliated, he probably wouldn't try to kick him out of the classroom again.

He simply opened the game description of the first chapter of the prologue of "White Album" that Kasumigaoka Utaha had sent him before, and began to browse it seriously.

"Mr. Ethics, is the plan ready?"

As Kitahara Sosuke retreated to a corner of the classroom, Kasumigaoka Utaha quickly settled into her club activities.

"oh oh."

Aki Tomoya nodded, forcing himself not to think about what had just happened. "These past few days, I've been collecting a lot of information about story-driven romance games online. This is my latest planning proposal based on their work..."

Chapter 159 Stay

"This is roughly my progress right now. By the way, Eriri, how's it going on your end?"

After reporting his progress, Aki Tomoya adjusted his black-rimmed glasses. Relieved that the others weren't mocking him as before, he turned to look at Eriri.

"I... I'm still doing the same thing here," Eriri said somewhat guiltily, pulling out the results from the last club activity. "I can only start working on the character designs once Tomoya's proposal is finalized..."

She couldn't very well say that she'd been busy drawing for Kitahara Sousuke lately and had completely forgotten about the club, could she?

Eriri glared resentfully at Kitahara Sosuke, who was sitting in the corner, and tried to change the subject:

"Kasumigaoka Utaha, what about you? You didn't write any plot at all, did you?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Sawamura-kun. I didn't slack off for a whole week like someone else."

Kasumigaoka Utaha opened a file on her computer and turned the screen towards everyone. Aki Tomoya immediately came over.

"Has the senior finished?"

Aki Tomoya looked at the other person's laptop screen with anticipation and surprise.

after awhile.

Kasumigaoka Utaha crossed her legs and hugged her chest, her expression subtly expectant: "Rin-kun, how does it feel?"

"It feels like..." Aki Tomoya read through the entire book, "...it still feels like something's missing..."

What's missing?

Kasumigaoka Utaha pressed for an answer.

Aki Tomoya kept scrolling the mouse wheel, his furrowed brows never easing. "It's hard to explain, but I just don't feel that kind of heart-fluttering feeling from my senior's script."

"No one could possibly understand such a vague statement, right?"

Eriri, having also finished reading Kasumigaoka Utaha's script, commented from the side.

"But……"

"I understand. I'll go back and revise it again, making the plot more detailed."

Kasumigaoka Utaha frowned. Aki Tomoya's explanation was too vague, but she didn't press him further. She hadn't expected the script to be approved on the first try anyway.

The moment Kasumigaoka Utaha retrieved her laptop, she inadvertently saw Kitahara Sousuke sitting quietly in the back row, intently reading the prologue of her novel, "White Album." The boy was looking at her script with admiration.

"Leave professional matters to professionals," "I have complete faith in my senior's abilities," "You are, after all, Teacher Xia Shizi."

If only the Ethics Master could understand this principle.

"Wow, what a great storyline! Kitahara-kun, have you already finished writing the game's script?"

A light and pleasant sound drifted into my ears.

The girl's voice was like a flower petal fluttering in the wind—beautiful, but lacking in distinctiveness, and easily drowned out by the noise of classroom discussions.

Kitahara Sousuke was taken aback, thinking he was hallucinating, until the second call rang out. He then turned around and saw Kato sitting next to him.

"Yes, it's really great, but I didn't write it. It was Kasumigaoka-senpai who added the plot for me."

Kitahara Sosuke nodded to the girl as a greeting.

"Oh, it's Kasumigaoka-senpai. No wonder."

Kato Megumi, intrigued, followed Kitahara Sosuke as they began to browse the prologue's synopsis.

"Doesn't Kato-kun need to participate in the game club's discussion?"

Seeing that the girl showed no sign of leaving, Kitahara Sosuke asked curiously.

"No need. Aki always says things like 'I can't build up the character' or 'I don't have the charm of a female lead,' which bothers me a lot."

Kato Megumi's rosy cheeks puffed out slightly. Although her expression remained calm and composed, one could sense the girl's inner unhappiness.

"So recently, my friend Aki has recommended a lot of visual novels to me, hoping that I can get some inspiration from them."

"My task this week is to play games."

Do you like visual novel games?

Kitahara Sousuke stopped what he was doing and looked at the girl.

"Not bad?" Kato Megumi tilted her head, blinked her eyes gently, and pointed at Kitahara Sosuke's computer screen, asking curiously, "The art style of this drawing is similar to what Sawamura drew before."

"That's right, it's Sawamura's work."

Kitahara Sousuke readily admitted it.