Chapter 40: Suzuki Misaki’s Persuasion

Sakai Izumi’s beauty was undeniable.

Just like her name, she was truly as pure as a clear, transparent spring.

She was also called the most beautiful female rock musician in history.

Beautiful, clean, pure.

This was the first impression everyone had upon seeing her. But these alone were far from enough to describe her beauty.

Because the ethereal, elegant aura about her couldn’t be put into words.

Honestly, in this moment, Kitahara’s heart was moved!

In this instant, his heart, which had always been calm as still water, suddenly rippled layer upon layer as if a stone had been tossed into it. An indescribable feeling surged up in his chest.

This stirring wasn’t sudden — it was like a seed buried deep underground, quietly breaking through the soil unnoticed, rapidly growing and spreading.

At this moment, he distinctly felt the emotions that had been dormant deep in his heart begin to awaken and stir.

Because once upon a time, he too had been a boy who believed in pure love.

It was just that after being hurt in love, he thought he would never love again.

Especially after transmigrating here, Kitahara’s initial thought was to play through life, facing this life with a cynical attitude.

Because a wounded heart is like shattered glass — the foolishness of having loved can never be restored.

He didn’t want to be love’s captive anymore!

But the moment he saw Sakai Izumi, Kitahara felt he had fallen in love again.

Damn it!

How could Izumi-nee be so beautiful?

You really couldn’t blame him for being so useless!

Kitahara Chiki didn’t rashly go up to greet her. Instead, he quietly watched Sakai Izumi walk further and further away, finally disappearing into the crowd.

Rushing up to greet her would be meaningless.

As everyone knew, Sakai Izumi was very shy by nature. Doing so might very well startle her.

Besides, he didn’t have any spare girlfriend slots right now. This matter should be planned carefully.

Reluctantly withdrawing his gaze, Kitahara silently resolved in his heart — he would definitely make Sakai Izumi, the future "national goddess" of Japan, his girlfriend... one of them.

...

In the editorial office on the third floor of "Shueisha," Kitahara Chiki waited a while before Suzuki Misaki returned from her regular meeting.

Just as he remembered, Suzuki Misaki was a woman with a full figure and abundant mature charm.

Her headlights were even more impressive than Hayami Rina’s.

With ear-length short hair, the ends slightly curled inward, paired with her lovely features and a professional suit, she looked clean and efficient, with a capable air about her.

She was truly a mature, elegant, intellectual beauty.

Seeing her, Kitahara’s affection for Sakai Izumi from earlier faded quite a bit.

A wise man doesn’t fall into the river of love; the iron pot only stews the big goose.

This thing called love — whoever touches it gets fooled. Whoever loves first loses.

He must never forget his original intent.

If he really fell in love, what about someone like Suzuki Misaki before him? And what about the ill-fated sister-in-law Rena, whom he hadn’t even met yet?

On this island, there were still countless beauties waiting for him to take care of!

"Must stay true to my heart!"

Kitahara Chiki reminded himself inwardly.

"Good morning, Kitahara-kun. I didn’t expect you to come so early. Hurry and show me your new manuscript — I’ve been rather impatient to see it!"

After Suzuki Misaki bustled into the office, she tossed a stack of documents onto her desk, then greeted Kitahara while taking off her coat.

After a brief moment of distraction, Kitahara snapped back:

"Oh, right! Here, here. Misaki-nee, please take a look!"

Taking the manuscript from his document bag, Kitahara went to Suzuki Misaki’s side and handed it to her.

Being close, he caught a pleasant scent from her.

It was a ripe, fruity fragrance, faintly lingering at the tip of his nose, making him involuntarily feel somewhat intoxicated.

He couldn’t help but sniff a few more times.

And incidentally, he carefully sized up her impressive figure.

"Huh? Why is the title so long? That’s so strange! Kitahara-kun, what were you thinking? Why give it such a long title?"

Suzuki Misaki didn’t notice Kitahara’s improper behavior. She had put all her attention on the manuscript.

When she saw the extremely long title at the beginning, she voiced her question.

"Isn’t it to highlight the selling point? The longer the title, the more eye-catching, and it can display more information about the book’s content. This should be fine, right?"

Kitahara explained, asking somewhat uncertainly.

He didn’t know if Japan’s cultural industry authorities had any regulations about this sort of thing.

Anyway, in his previous life, he knew Japanese light novel titles were all quite long.

This even indirectly influenced the domestic novel scene, making titles longer and longer.

If not for the fifteen-character limit, who knew how long those failing authors would dare to make their titles!

It was pretty ridiculous!

Honestly, it was hard not to complain about it, and hard to understand.

Such long titles made people feel at a glance that they weren’t concise enough, lacked depth, and were definitely trash. The author’s level was surely mediocre too.

Kitahara thought so as well.

But you couldn’t deny it brought traffic!

If short titles could bring the same amount of traffic, Kitahara wouldn’t have given titles he himself looked down on in his previous life.

Of course, this life was different. In his previous life he was passively accepting it — this time he was doing it deliberately.

Mainly because this kind of title really did have a selling point!

Making money — no shame in that!

Hearing this, Suzuki Misaki shook her head:

"There’s no hard rule about it. Nowadays, these bizarre and romance-type light novel titles are indeed generally long-winded, but none compare to yours! We’ll discuss the title issue later. Let me read the content first!"

After a brief explanation, Suzuki Misaki carefully began reading the manuscript.

While reading, she even praised: "Kitahara-kun’s writing is still so beautiful and fresh, so smooth and natural."

As an editor, her reading speed was very fast. In less than a minute she had flipped through several pages, and those blush-inducing scenes came into her view.

She looked up in shock, her face full of disbelief:

"Kitahara-kun, this is an erotica novel? How can you write this kind of thing?"

"Why can’t I?" Kitahara Chiki shrugged and countered.

"Because... Kitahara-kun, are you giving up on yourself because your previous books didn’t perform well? You can’t do this. Aren’t you wasting your talent?

Yes, literary creation is hard and grueling! But you can’t just give up easily! Just this morning I got the data — Murakami Haruki-sama’s Norwegian Wood has sold three million copies. What inspiring news that is.

Kitahara-kun, I’ve always believed your talent is no less than Murakami-sama’s. You should persevere!"

Suzuki Misaki earnestly tried to persuade him.

Hearing this, Kitahara could only shake his head with a bitter smile:

"Misaki-nee, a book like Norwegian Wood — I could never write in my whole life. Norwegian Moan, though, I could. Want to read it?"