The Demon of Pleasure: Starting with Angel, Shiina Mahiru! Chapter 64 64: Utaha's PM, Kashiwagi Eri as the Illustrator!

Back ho, Shiina Mahiru and Aoyama Nanami still weren't back.

Hayashi Maki opened his laptop and logged into his author account under the pen na Kurosora Twilight.

As soon as he clicked in, he saw a flood of positive comnts under his work. Lots of trial readers were excited for the next chapters. They'd even split into two camps, arguing over who was better: the tsundere blonde twin-tails or the black-stockings senpai.

Of course, there were so negative comnts too. After skimming for a bit, he lost interest.

This was only his first book anyway—he'd write more and shake this world up! He'd dominate the light-novel scene, crush Yamada Elf, and beco the king of best-selling light novels.

Click, click—one comnt stood out:

"I'm Kasumi Utako. Kurosora Twilight-sensei, can we add each other as friends?"

Kasumi Utako?

That was Kasumigaoka Utaha, the genius beauty light-novel author he'd always admired—the real-life model for his heroine Tsukimi Miyabi.

Interesting.

Since Kasumigaoka Utaha was adding him, of course he accepted.

On her end, Utaha—who'd been typing—saw the friend request approved and imdiately sent a ssage:

"Hello, Kurosora Twilight-sensei. I'm Kasumi Utako in person. Have you read my light novel?"

With a senpai this polite, Hayashi Maki naturally replied at once.

"Of course—Love trono, right? I've read it. And if Kasumi Utako-sensei has read my LN, it should feel familiar."

Utaha arched a brow. His reply confird her suspicion: he'd been paying attention to her.

Kasumi Utako: "Yes, very familiar. Your heroine, Tsukimi Miyabi, who wears black stockings and a white headband—she's modeled on soone real, isn't she? And her personality is based on my heroine Sayuka?"

Kurosora Twilight: "Right. There's a very pretty senpai at my school—I once saw her from a distance and thought she was perfect as an LN heroine. After reading Love trono, I overlaid Sayuka's personality onto her. Looks like it worked."

Utaha's cheeks ward for no clear reason. Knowing that the kouhai really had used her as the basis for his heroine gave her a curious feeling.

She shook it off, took a breath, and got serious.

Kasumi Utako: "Kurosora Twilight-sensei, I'm having trouble with my writing right now. Could I ask for your advice?"

Kurosora Twilight: "Advice is too much—I'm your kouhai, and your prose outclasses mine. But we can definitely discuss things and help each other improve."

Kasumi Utako: "Then I'll be direct. Could you look at Love trono Vol. 2? Machida-san has even suggested axing it, but I'm not willing to give up."

Kurosora Twilight: "Axing it? That serious? Send it and I'll take a look, then give you my thoughts."

Utaha sent over the file for Volu 2.

Kasumi Utako: "Sorry to bother you at this hour—read it when you have ti and reply whenever. I'm logging off for now."

Kurosora Twilight: "OK!"

After the chat, Hayashi Maki dug into Love trono Vol. 2. If you want to charm a girl, you'd better take her work seriously.

Before long, he'd finished it.

How to put it… the prose was as good as ever—well beyond him. But the plot was a ss. Red flags everywhere: characters felt broken, sudden fantasy elents clashed with the Volu 1 tone, and so scenes were downright implausible.

Volu 1 ended with the MC and heroine officially getting together, building anticipation—but Volu 2 felt flat.

The date scenes read empty, like soone who'd never actually dated.

Which told him plainly: in love, Kasumigaoka Utaha was a total novice.

Having pinpointed the issues, he drafted a long ssage with detailed feedback—but she was already offline. He'd wait for tomorrow.

With Utaha's request handled, Maki invited his in-ga "wife," Tamaki Ako, to party up—and pulled in mbers from the adventurers' guild, too. Mid-run, the guild leader suggested a real-life etup at the end of the month. Maki was curious whether "Ako," who always called him hubby, was actually a girl, so he agreed.

After logging out, he noticed Mahiru still wasn't ho and thought about paying Haruno a little "midnight visit." Just then, Machida Sonoko called.

"Moshi moshi—Hayashi Maki here. Machida-san?"

Machida: "Kurosora Twilight-sensei, the illustrators you asked to contact—Kashiwagi Eri and Eromanga-sensei—got back to . Eromanga-sensei is unavailable; she's already taken on Yamada Elf's commission for an isekai adventure LN. Kashiwagi Eri says she'd be happy to illustrate your book, but wants to et in person to discuss."

Maki smiled. "Let's go with Kashiwagi Eri then. When is she free?"

Machida: "This weekend. She's probably already sent a friend request to your author account—approve it when you see it."

"Got it—I'll check now."

Machida hung up—editor life ant etings, slush, and wrangling authors.

Speaking of slush: the author "Black Cat" had submitted again today. Machida actually admired this persistent newcor: rejected more than a dozen tis and already over a million words written, yet still submitting weekly.

In terms of raw output, she was every editor's dream. But it wasn't that Machida didn't want to sign her—the work just wasn't publishable: super niche topics (lots about a "Night Demon Queen"), cramd with chūnibyō lines and otaku references, and way too much setting—ten-plus pages of lore notes. Better suited as a doujin ga setting book than a comrcially released light novel.

Back on Maki's side, he logged into his author account again and, sure enough, saw Kashiwagi Eri's friend request. He accepted imdiately.

A ssage arrived:

"Hello—are you Kurosora Twilight-sensei? I'm Kashiwagi Eri. Thank you for thinking of and inviting to illustrate your work. Um… are you free this weekend? I'd like to et and discuss the illustrations properly."

Illustration isn't sothing you just throw together—you should read the LN's setting and get the author's sign-off.

Maki agreed at once.

Kurosora Twilight: "Absolutely, Kashiwagi Eri-sensei. I'm free this weekend—how about the morning? Let's et at the most famous maid café in Chiba—does that work?"

Kashiwagi Eri: "Perfect—see you then!"

Lying on her bed, the blonde beauty let out a cheer, excitent lighting her face. "Yes! Soone finally asked to do official illustrations—and it's a hot new author!"

If she built a good relationship, maybe she could angle for the manga adaptation down the line.

The so-called Kashiwagi Eri often drew R-18 doujin. People who didn't know assud she was so skeevy shut-in dude. In reality, Kashiwagi Eri was a half-Japanese blonde twin-tails beauty—Eriri, one of the heroines of Saekano.

Eriri didn't want to draw ero; she wanted to go pro. This was her shot—no way she'd miss it. Re-reading the exchange with Kurosora Twilight-sensei, she couldn't help feeling a little anticipation.

As for Hayashi Maki—he had already shifted into magic form and, in an instant, appeared at Yukinoshita Haruno's side.

~~~

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