The Demon of Pleasure: Starting with Angel, Shiina Mahiru! Chapter 18 18: Targets Lock

As lunch break ca to an end, the students of Class 1-B slowly trickled back into the classroom.

The first class of the afternoon was Classical Japanese.

And the mont Hayashi Maki saw the tall, curvy beauty in a white lab coat with long black hair walk in, he recognized her instantly—

Hiratsuka Shizuka, also known as "Shizu-cute," the eternally single older woman always being nagged by her parents to get married—but constantly failing at blind dates.

She insisted she was forever 29.

According to rumors, she was still… pure, technically.

But more than any of that, to Hayashi Maki, she always felt like a Onee-san-type sensei—reliable, understanding, and great at guiding her students.

Well, if Kirisu Mafuyu's teaching here, it's not surprising Hiratsuka Shizuka is too.

After sneaking a few glances, Hayashi Maki pulled out his textbook and pretended to pay attention.

Classical Japanese, huh. If you know, you know.

So after listening for a while, Hayashi Maki ntally checked out.

His light novel was nearly done—volu one almost complete.

Thanks to his double stamina, super regeneration, and knowledge of countless works from his past life, his writing speed had improved drastically compared to his forr struggling-writer self.

Since the manuscript was nearly ready, it was ti to consider submission.

He'd done his research.

There were two major publishing houses in Japan:

Dengeki Bunko, which specialized in isekai and action-adventure light novels and manga.

But Hayashi Maki's story was a stock-trading, school-romance, youth cody. Definitely not a fit.

So that left only one option:

Fushikawa Bunko.

They focused on school-romance titles, and their breakout hit, Love trono, had sold over 500,000 copies of its first volu.

With his target publisher decided, the next step was picking an editor.

Fortunately, editor emails were public online.

After class, Hayashi Maki opened his laptop to check.

The mont he spotted the na Machida Sonoko, his eyes lit up.

She was the editor for Love trono and worked directly with its author, Kasumigaoka Utaha.

Getting in touch with her ant… maybe I'd get to et Kasumigaoka Utaha herself.

For Hayashi Maki, who wanted to contract beautiful girls as followers, this was the perfect opportunity.

With that decision locked in, Hayashi Maki could barely contain his excitent.

Before he realized it, the class ended.

Hiratsuka-sensei left the room in a hurry after assigning howork.

Hayashi Maki yawned and slumped onto his desk, bored.

Then he rembered—

Wait, I still have an in-ga wife online.

He perked up, opened his laptop, and logged into the ga.

Right as he logged in, a ssage from the priest character "Ako" popped up in rapid fire:

"Darling Innocent-kun, you're finally back! I was so scared you abandoned ! I've been waiting for you every day!"

"…Uh." Hayashi Maki stared at the over-the-top ssage, speechless.

Then he checked her login status—

Damn. Dozens of hours. She hadn't logged off at all.

She's seriously addicted.

Hayashi Maki's in-ga na was Innocent Hayashi, hence the "Innocent-kun."

He sighed and typed a reply:

"Sorry, Ako. I had a cold these past few days and couldn't log in. You really shouldn't stay online so much—make sure to rest, okay?"

She responded instantly:

"Okay! I knew it! I knew you wouldn't abandon , darling~ ♥"

"Wanna do a quick dungeon run? I've got class soon, so only one ga."

"Yup! Let's go!"

They ran a dungeon together. Hayashi Maki played along, humored her a bit, then logged off.

Please let her really be Tamaki Ako from Netoge no Yo…

If it turns out my in-ga wife is actually so dude, I might throw up.

Shutting the laptop, he ntally shifted gears. One more class left today.

The final period of the day was outdoor P.E.

Everyone changed into short-sleeved gym uniforms.

The P.E. teacher, Tanaka, was a massive, muscular guy who led them through warm-ups before asking the class president to bring out the volleyballs.

He told everyone to team up freely for volleyball drills.

And this—this was where friendship really mattered.

If you didn't have any friends, group activities like this beca painfully awkward.

Hayashi Maki was about to ask Hayama to team up—

But that guy was already laughing it up with Tobe Kakeru. Of course.

Tobe had glued himself to Hayama the mont the teacher finished speaking, leaving Hayama with no polite way to say no.

Left with no options, Hayashi Maki turned toward a guy who radiated lonely energy—dead fish eyes and everything.

"Hey, Hikigaya-san. You're alone too. Wanna team up?"

Hikigaya Hachiman had been sighing as he watched his friend Totsuka go off to laugh with other classmates.

Surprised at being approached, he blinked—but agreed quickly.

"Sure. I don't mind."

Seeing him agree, Hayashi Maki smirked.

Of course, there's a reason I want to get close to Hikigaya Hachiman…

His little sister, Hikigaya Komachi, was adorable.

And I'm not missing out on contracting top-tier waifus.

If the opportunity cos up—

Whether it's "stepping up"… or "signing a contract"…

He was going to make his move.