Chapter 113: Kasumigaoka Utaha's Intrusion
Mai raised her beautiful eyebrows. If anyone else had said this to her, she would have assumed they were making excuses, but if it was Shunsuke...
"Is this also part of your Puberty Syndrome ability?"
"Actually, my ability is a bit more complicated." Shunsuke didn't answer directly but instead opened the rooftop door. "Come on, Mai, stand on the middle step of the staircase."
"Alright." Mai didn't ask further. After setting her bento box aside, she stood in the middle of the stairs and looked at Shunsuke, who was standing at the top.
"Like this?"
Za Warudo!
Shunsuke stopped time, moved Mai to the bottom of the staircase while keeping her in the exact same pose, and then returned to his original position.
Using time-stopping powers for something like this... If Za Warudo had a consciousness, it'd probably be thrilled.
"Take a look."
When time resumed, Mai realized in an instant that her position had changed. She had gone from the middle of the staircase to the very bottom.
"So, what do you think? Understand now?"
Mai nodded seriously, her face solemn. "I understand. Your new ability is controlling staircases."
Shunsuke put his hands on his hips and struck a JoJo pose—or perhaps it should be called a Dio pose—his expression both charming and arrogant. "As expected of Mai, but this isn't just controlling staircases. To be precise, it's the control of height differences in a broad sense."
'In this world, there's no such thing as a truly level surface. "
"Everything, every interconnected atom in this universe, can be seen as an overlapping staircase."
"My ability lets me stop or manipulate any staircase."
"This allows for a variety of fascinating things.'
"For example, preventing anyone from ever touching reality, stopping all staircases to halt time, or accelerating all staircases to reach the future."
To prevent anyone from ever touching reality.
"Wow... so powerful." Mai looked utterly stunned, fully playing along with Shunsuke's performance. But the next second, she returned to her usual self. "Alright, enough playing around. So, Shunsuke-kun, your ability has to do with time manipulation, right?"
Shunsuke immediately snapped back to normal. "That's right."
"Then I only have one question."
"Go ahead, Mai-san."
"Shunsuke-kun... you haven't used this ability to do anything bad, have you?"
Shunsuke clutched his chest in mock agony.
"Mai-san, what kind of image do you have of me?"
"So? Did you do anything?"
"...I did..."
Mai crossed her arms and stepped back two paces, only to bump into something soft and fleshy.
Shunsuke covered his face. "Stop retreating, Mai-san. What kind of things do you usually watch? I didn't do anything that bad... Wait, Utaha?"
—Utaha?
"Trash-kun, hiding in the staircase of the rooftop... What exactly were you planning to do with our superstar here?" Utaha stood with a bento in her left hand, her right hand resting on her chest.
Her elegant demeanor was offset by the sharp expression on her face as she glared at Shunsuke.
"Trash-kun?" A flash of alertness crossed Mai's face.
"Kasumigaoka-san, who are you referring to?"
"Oh my, is there anyone else here besides a certain harmful individual who deserves to be called Trash-kun? Unless, of course, Sakurajima-san thinks I'm talking about you?"
"Is that so? Personally, I think someone who gives others such nicknames fits the title better."
"Is that right? Such a big reaction, Sakurajima-san. Could it be that someone here is already guilty and taking it personally?"
—It seems Mai and Utaha don't get along very well?
Watching the two women bicker the moment they met, seemingly forgetting his existence entirely, Shunsuke couldn't figure out what was going on between them.
If they'd always been on such hostile terms, Mai wouldn't have been ignored at school the way she was.
But whatever the reason, Shunsuke couldn't just let their sarcastic jabs escalate unchecked.
Even if stepping in now might cause unpredictable consequences, this was the burden one must bear to open the path to a harem!
With this noble resolve, Shunsuke fearlessly inserted himself between the two. "Utaha, it's been a while. You look so exhausted—your dark circles are so bad they can't even be covered up."
Thanks to makeup, most dark circles could be concealed, but Utaha's current state screamed "overworked night owl" at first glance.
Hearing this, Utaha lost interest in sparring with Mai.
The hand on her chest tightened reflexively, emphasizing a breathtaking curve, as her face twisted in frustration. "Because I'm not convinced! That wretched old woman dared to ignore me! So what if she debuted a few years earlier and wrote a few more books than me? If I were her age, I could achieve everything she has and more!"
"I'm just thinking about writing a new novel as soon as possible to show her the price of underestimating me!"
"Uh..." Seeing Utaha so visibly agitated, Shunsuke thought for a moment before deciding to tell the truth. "Utaha, that so-called 'old woman,' Kirihime Natsuno, is actually about the same age as you."
Utaha froze. "That 'old woman' has published so many books already—how could she be the same age as me?"
"Well, the reason her publishing record makes her seem like such a senior isn't just because she debuted slightly earlier than you. I think the main difference is your respective writing speeds."
Utaha's writing speed was decent for the light novel industry—four novels in two years, averaging two books a year. But Natsuno's pace was more akin to that web novel authors.
Even the weakest among them, who update just once a day, can produce 60,000 words a month, which is enough for a volume.
The output is on a completely different level. Honestly, Natsuno was practically a human typewriter at this point...
No, that comparison wasn't fair. Legendary "typewriter" authors like Kawabata, who could churn out 10,000 words daily, only "limited" themselves to publishing one novel per month because that's all their editors could process and publishers could release.
These monsters were in a league of their own.
And as for web authors managing multiple series while consistently writing tens of thousands of words a day?
That likely involved ghostwriters working from outlines provided by others.
Utaha opened her mouth, trying to retort with something like, "My novels aren't just disposable light novel toilet paper!" or "Crafting a polished masterpiece is the true path!"
But when she thought about Natsuno's works—better or at least equal to hers in both quality and average sales per volume—her words caught in her throat, and she trembled silently.
Shunsuke patted her shoulder consolingly.
Come on, Utaha.
Natsuno is the protagonist of novels like this, while your niche is writing stories geared toward galgames.
Don't pick fights over specialties that aren't yours.
Look at Eriri—does she ever try to compete with Mashiro's art skills?
This is what we call self-awareness. Those who lack it, like Sagiri, end up almost shutting down again.
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