"Wonderful, thank you so much for trusting us, Sensei," Ayano Iida said excitedly.
Over the next period, Ayano Iida thoroughly explained the promotional plans for the two manga series post-signing, as well as details about revenue shares and even future animation adaptation plans.
That's right—though only the first volumes had been released, animation adaptations were already almost certain. Once the manga progressed far enough, FULLDRIVE Publishing planned to immediately begin production.
Eriri didn't really care about the promotional or revenue aspects. After all, the first volume alone had already earned her a solid reputation within the otaku community of the Oreimo world.
She was confident that the upcoming volumes would become just as popular, if not more.
However, the animation adaptation was something she took seriously. All of her regular manga works in the Saekano world had been adapted into anime by studios under the Sawamura Group, and those adaptations were 100% faithful to the source material.
She absolutely couldn't tolerate the idea of her work being butchered in an anime adaptation here.
So she clearly laid out her expectations to Ayano Iida—she would need to personally approve the adaptation before it could be released.
FULLDRIVE Publishing had no objections to this request and agreed readily.
Since Eriri didn't drag things out, the entire meeting took less than half an hour.
"Alright, that's everything," Eriri said, handing over the second volumes of both manga to Ayano Iida, indicating the end of the discussion.
Understanding the cue, Ayano Iida didn't try to extend the meeting, even though she would've loved to chat more with her idol.
She stood up from her seat, once again extending her hand with a smile.
"Thank you again for choosing FULLDRIVE Publishing, Sensei. You can rest assured—we'll implement all of your requests."
"Mm, I'll be counting on you then. We'll take our leave for now," Eriri replied with a smile, shaking Iida's hand before standing up.
"See you next time, Editor Iida," Mrs. Izumi chimed in cheerfully, also rising from her seat.
Meanwhile, Sagiri quietly stood and followed Eriri without saying anything to the editor.
After some brief farewells, the three of them began heading out of the meeting room.
But before they could go far, Ayano Iida called out behind them, her voice laced with a hopeful tone.
"Wait, Eri Kashiwagi-sensei, and Eromanga-sensei—do you have time later today? How about grabbing lunch together?"
The three turned back instinctively.
Seeing Ayano Iida standing by the meeting table, holding the manuscript pages and looking at them with hopeful eyes, Eriri let out a soft laugh and shook her head.
"Thanks for the offer, Editor Iida, but it's already past two, and we just finished lunch not too long ago. Let's plan for another time."
Hearing that, the light in Iida's eyes dimmed slightly, but she understood. Her timing had been off, and she didn't push further.
"Alright then. At least allow me to see you out."
Eriri naturally didn't refuse. This kind of gesture was perfectly normal—even though most editors only walk their authors as far as the department doors.
And so, with several curious gazes following them, Eriri, Mrs. Izumi, Sagiri, and Ayano Iida walked out of the manga editorial department together.
The manga editorial department was located on the twelfth floor of the building, but it wasn't the only department on that floor.
On the opposite side of the twelfth floor was the light novel editorial department of FULLDRIVE Publishing, occupying the other half of the space.
As Eriri and her group arrived at the elevator lobby, someone was already waiting by the center elevator.
The person waiting had beautiful golden hair tied with a red ribbon headband. Two thick locks of hair were styled into ringlets that draped over her shoulders.
She wore a red and white gothic lolita dress adorned with ruffles. Due to the chilly weather, she had layered a pink winter coat over her dress and wrapped a matching pink scarf around her neck, which reached up to her chin. Her delicate face and fairy-like pointed ears peeked out.
Looking at the petite figure—standing at barely 150 cm tall—Eriri couldn't help but smile in amusement. She led Mrs. Izumi and Sagiri toward the girl casually.
However, before they reached the girl, the elevator in front of her opened with a ding.
Seeing this, Eriri and the others quickened their pace and stepped into the elevator right after the golden-haired girl entered.
...
"Hey, why are you staring at me? Do I have something weird on my face?"
Inside the smoothly descending elevator, the golden-haired girl—Emily Granger—spoke up in a puzzled tone, noticing that the other blonde girl across from her had been staring with an odd expression.
Emily knew she was quite cute, but she had to admit, the girl across from her—with similarly blonde but much thicker hair—clearly surpassed her in beauty.
She was used to people staring at her because of her looks, but this particular gaze felt more… mischievous.
"It's nothing. You just looked really cute, that's all. What's your name, little miss?" Eriri replied with a playful smile.
"Hmph! As if I didn't already know I'm super cute!" Emily lifted her chin proudly, placing her hands on her hips and laughing loudly. "Listen up! My pen name is Elf Yamada—history's greatest beautiful girl light novelist and the future savior of the light novel world!"
Her declaration caused everyone else in the elevator to glance in her direction.
Far from being embarrassed, Emily puffed out her flat chest with even more pride.
Eriri couldn't help but smile. As exaggerated as Emily's introduction was, it somehow came off as endearing.
Still, Emily was only twelve years old—two years younger than when she debuted in the original story. According to Eriri's scans, she hadn't yet published her debut work, The Dark Fairy of Explosive Flames, let alone reached the top of the ORICON rankings.
So Eriri decided to tease her a little.
"Oh? So you're a light novelist? Since you sound so confident, mind telling me what your work is called?"
"Since you asked so nicely, I'll graciously tell you! My masterpiece is titled The Dark Fairy of Explosive Flames. It's a work destined to stand at the pinnacle of the light novel world, hmph~"
Hearing her boast, Mrs. Izumi couldn't help but speak up. "Huh? The Dark Fairy of Explosive Flames? I've never heard of that one."
As a seasoned otaku, Mrs. Izumi was familiar with all the popular works on the market. Even if she hadn't read certain titles due to personal taste, she at least knew their names.
But she was certain she had never heard of a light novel called The Dark Fairy of Explosive Flames.
Sagiri, for her part, said nothing. She just looked curiously at the cute but slightly eccentric girl in front of them.
Ayano Iida also nodded. "I don't think I've heard of it either."
Hearing their responses, a playful smile spread across Eriri's face.
"See? None of us have even heard of your work. Could it be that it's a flop with zero popularity?"
"Of course not! My masterpiece is not a flop—it just hasn't been published yet!"
Eriri's teasing made Emily visibly flustered. She stomped her red shoes on the elevator floor in frustration, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.
"Just you wait! Once it's published in a few days, you'll all be shocked by how amazing it is!"
"Alright, alright. I'll be waiting to be amazed," Eriri said, chuckling.
Seeing Emily all puffed up like an angry kitten, Eriri couldn't help herself and reached out to pat the smaller girl's head.
Feeling a hand ruffling her hair, Emily quickly took a few steps back, freeing herself from Eriri's grip.
Given the small size of the elevator, she backed right up against the wall.
With her arms crossed in front of her, she glared warily at Eriri. "What are you doing?! Just because you're pretty doesn't mean you can do whatever you want to me."
"Huh? A head pat counts as 'doing whatever I want'? Or are you saying you want to know what that really means?"
With a mischievous smile, Eriri stepped forward again, ignoring Emily's resistance and placed her hand on her head once more, gently ruffling her hair.
"Stop! Don't pat my head!" Emily cried, gripping Eriri's hand.
Despite her protests, her expression didn't show much resistance—in fact, it seemed more like reluctant acceptance.
Behind them, Mrs. Izumi, Sagiri, and Ayano Iida stood wide-eyed, completely confused as to how things had turned into this bizarre scene.
Just then, Emily noticed the manuscript pages Ayano Iida was holding.
The distance wasn't far, and she could clearly see some of the exposed artwork.
Eriri had given Iida not only full-color pages but also the covers for both second volumes.
Emily's eyes locked onto part of one of the covers visible in Iida's arms. She recognized the character art and the first two characters in the title.
Her fake resistance came to an abrupt halt as she stared in shock, letting Eriri continue patting her head without protest.
"Wait… is that… are those the second volumes of Eri Kashiwagi-sensei's manga?" Emily asked, her eyes fixed past Eriri toward the manuscripts in Iida's arms.
"Oh, you mean these? That's right. I just got these directly from Eri Kashiwagi-sensei herself~" Iida replied.
She wasn't trying to be mysterious—she openly held up both volumes so Emily could see the full covers.
However, she had no intention of showing Emily the actual contents. Since the volumes hadn't been officially published yet, no one besides the chief editor was allowed to see them.
Fortunately, Emily didn't make any move to ask Ayano Iida to let her read the manuscripts. Though she was dying to see the new content, she had something more important she needed to confirm.
"Since you just received the manuscripts, and now you're with them…" Emily said as she glanced between Eriri, Mrs. Izumi, and Sagiri. "That means Eri Kashiwagi-sensei must be one of the three of you."
She paused for a moment, then fixed her excited gaze on Eriri.
"Based on the information I've gathered recently, you're Eri Kashiwagi-sensei, aren't you?"
Emily stared at her from less than a meter away, eyes gleaming with anticipation.
Like Ayano Iida, Emily was a devoted fan of Eriri. Over the past few days, she had read the first volumes of both manga multiple times.
But after the initial read-through of the online scans, Emily had spent a considerable amount of money to buy both deluxe, full-color physical editions from someone who had purchased them at the doujin event.
She had since re-read them several times.
Of course, her excitement wasn't just from meeting her favorite mangaka.
There was another, even more important reason behind her eagerness.
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