How to raise a random guy's wife

"I...I what I!"

"Because your senior created a cute female protagonist based on her own image in her new book, do you also want to create one that surpasses her?"

Eriri bristled, "Do you think I'm that childish?"

Kobayashi Sora nodded, "That's right."

"Answer in a second..." Eriri yelled in exasperation, "Ugh... I just don't want to lose! So what!"

“That’s fine,” Kobayashi Sora replied. “I don’t want to lose either.”

“You…” Eriri glanced at Kato Megumi, who was holding rice cakes.

What are your chances of losing?

"However... now that you mention it, I do have a pretty good image of blonde twin tails." Kobayashi Sora thought for a moment and wrote down her lines on a piece of paper.

"Not only is there absolutely no way to start..."

"She even said she'd help me find a boyfriend..."

"He really didn't treat me like a romantic partner at all... Ah."

"So what! I am Mirika!"

"With my abilities, I can definitely make Naoya fall in love with me!"

“Ah…” Eriri looked at the few lines of dialogue.

This overwhelming courage.

If only I could be that brave...

This is it!

"This..." Eriri asked impatiently, "Does this manga have a name?"

Childhood sweethearts will never lose; the sweet campus life with twin tails; the kind of thing a young, naive boy would never dream of, like twin tails.

"This one," Kobayashi Sora recalled for a moment, "'My Girlfriend Is Always There'."

Chapter 151 Life's Puzzle

"Huh?" Eriri asked in confusion. "What?"

"It's a heartwarming story where the protagonist has a lovely girlfriend, and after getting her consent, he gets another girlfriend, and the three of them start living together," Kobayashi Sora replied.

"Isn't this like having your cake and eating it too?" Eriri questioned. "Where's the warmth in that?!"

"Hmm... the three of us sleeping together or something."

“It’s not that warm feeling!” Eriri took two deep breaths. “Okay, so it’s a harem comedy, right? The kind where the twin tails win in the end?”

"In the end, the last five of them lived together."

"He's juggling four relationships!" Eriri exclaimed, her eyes wide. "Where did he get the fourth leg?!"

“Aren’t you curious about the third point… Oh, never mind.” Kobayashi Sora raised an eyebrow. “Without comparison, there is no harm. If you want to defeat others, you can’t be afraid of comparison.”

"That seems to make sense... never mind." Eriri shook her head. "Twin tails are the main heroine, right?"

"third."

"How come we're only third?!"

"Important characters always appear later in the story."

Eriri sighed, "Okay, so twin tails are childhood friends?"

"Childhood sweetheart is the leading lady."

"Change it!"

"It involves a lot of plot points, so it can't be changed."

"How many plot points can you come up with in such a short time?"

"Eighty-eight chapters."

"Bullshit!"

"Really." Kobayashi Sora said earnestly, "We're friends, why would I lie to you?"

"Who would believe you!"

"Um..." Kato Megumi spoke up, "Eriri, do you remember the final exams?"

"Huh?" Eriri was dumbfounded.

"You seem so energetic, you must have studied very well, right?"

"Ah." Eriri stared in disbelief.

"Could it be... that I guessed wrong?"

"Hmm." Eriri's gaze wandered.

"Put the new serialization aside for now," Kobayashi Sora sighed. "You need to focus on preparing for your exams."

"Okay!" Eriri replied irritably, "You're more annoying than my dad."

"Uncle, it's me..."

"Shut up!"

“I mean,” Kobayashi Sora continued, “that in order to avoid you having to take extra classes, we’ll study together for the rest of the time.”

"Who wants to be with you!"

"Hmm..." Kato Megumi tilted her head, "Eriri, don't you want to study with me?"

"No... I... I'll do it." Eriri turned her head to the side and muttered softly.

Speaking of which... this mixed doubles feeling feels so familiar...

In conclusion, the three-person study group was thus established.

As Kasumigaoka Utaha said, Eriri's blood flowed with the lament of her British bloodline.

She's terrible at English; that's a perfect description of someone like her.

As for the reason...

Eriri: "Dad said that to enjoy otaku-related fun, all you need to do is understand Japanese."

It's clearly family education.

Eriri, who originally came to draw manga, left with a notebook full of wrong answers.

She must be very happy to have learned so much.

Learning requires a balance between work and rest.

While Kobayashi Sora was processing emails, Kato Megumi skillfully started playing the game.

"Sky blue".

"Ok?"

"Speaking of which, there are a lot of guys who build harems in bishoujo games."

"To be precise, it's because there are more female characters," Kobayashi Sora explained. "Everyone has different preferences, and if there aren't any female characters that match those preferences, players won't buy the game. So, assuming the characters are well-developed, the more diverse the female characters, the safer the sales will be."

"Is that so? Does Kong Qing also want to have a harem?"

"I've thought about it."

"Huh?" Kato Megumi turned to look at Kobayashi Sora.

"But the effort and the reward were not proportional, so I gave up."

"Uh-huh?"

"Well..." Kobayashi Sora composed herself, "Have you heard of the life jigsaw puzzle theory?"

No.

“Imagine everyone’s life is a jigsaw puzzle without any reference points, with everyone randomly piecing together the pieces,” Kobayashi Sora explained. “Because there’s no clue, you can only start piecing it together from the four corners, which are [family], [friends], [interests], and [work]. These four corners extend inwards and eventually come together to form life. Of course, there are adjustments along the way. For example, to work, you have to suppress your hobbies and take care of your family, which inevitably means neglecting your friends.”

"That's a very vivid description."

“This is one person’s life,” Kobayashi Sora continued. “Then, before the four corners are even complete, a piece of the puzzle appears in the center, which is the ‘partner.’ This piece of the puzzle gradually expands and eventually combines with one’s own piece to become a complete picture, which is two people’s lives.”

"That's good too."

"But here's a problem: the number of people doing the puzzle has increased from one to two, which is equivalent to introducing an external variable. Once the two conflict with each other, the originally completed puzzles of [family], [friends], [interests], and [work] may fall apart in the conflict."

"That makes it even more vivid."

“Then, starting a harem is like introducing a complex number of unknown variables,” Kobayashi Sora summarized. “I would have this thought, just like standing on a high place and having the thought of jumping off, but I wouldn’t actually do it, just like standing on a high place and not jumping off.”

"Now that you mention it, I can understand." Kato Megumi easily followed Kobayashi Sora's train of thought.

Although Kobayashi Sora has changed somewhat by now.

However, he is, after all, a person with a strong desire for control.

Introducing one variable is already the limit; introducing more variables is simply against his personality.

"So," Kato Megumi asked curiously, "is it because of a lack of ability?"

"Huh?" Kobayashi Sora asked, puzzled. "Why do you say that?"

"That's what you said, because it's not worth the effort, so you won't have a harem." Kato Megumi tilted her head. "So if you could handle it well, you would have a harem?"

"If we assume that, then yes." Kobayashi Sora nodded and answered truthfully, "If I had the ability and the ideas, I would certainly have done it in the past."

"I see..." Kato Megumi realized the key point, "Before?"

“Because now, I’ve already pieced together the four corners and found the most suitable one in the center.” Kobayashi Sora smiled. “The remaining space is for adjustment, there’s no more space left.”

Kato Megumi turned to look at the game, a slight smile playing on her lips. "I feel like playing a jigsaw puzzle now."

"Which one do you like? I'll look it up online."

I'll just browse around when I go grocery shopping tomorrow.