"Then you..."
"Slap!"
Sagami Minami was about to continue her attack when a fair hand slammed down on her desk.
The blond girl, imposing as a queen, gazed at her coldly:
"That's enough."
"Nakano-san just transferred here, and you're already so eager to bully her?"
"Bullying...?"
Sagami Minami's momentum immediately faltered. "I-I was just joking around with Nakano-san..."
Miura Yumiko interrupted her again, showing no mercy:
"If you're really that bored, go study instead of spreading rumors and slandering people here."
Sagami Minami's face flushed bright red. The strange looks from the surrounding students made her wish she could disappear.
If this continued, she would become a complete laughingstock.
Driven into a corner, she had no choice but to fight back. Gritting her teeth, she shouted:
"I wasn't spreading rumors!"
"Oh?"
Miura Yumiko exposed her without the slightest hesitation:
"Are you very familiar with Kira-kun? Otherwise, how would you know he fought delinquents from another school over the weekend?"
"Or are you saying you've been following Kira-kun, which is why you know his whereabouts so well?"
"Why were you following him, then? Don't tell me you have a crush on him?"
"Of course not! How could I possibly like someone like that?"
Sagami Minami denied it immediately, just like Nakano Mayu had earlier.
"So you admit that you were spreading rumors?"
Miura Yumiko folded her arms and looked down at her.
"I'm feeling a little unwell. I think I'll go to the nurse's office..."
Sagami Minami's face paled slightly as she immediately realized the trap in those words.
The strange looks from those around her were more than she could bear. She didn't dare stay any longer, and after dropping that one sentence, she fled the classroom.
"Thank you."
Nakano Mayu spoke softly.
Miura Yumiko glanced at her and said indifferently:
"I wasn't helping you."
The girl turned around smartly, her dazzling blond hair tracing a graceful arc through the air.
She really hadn't stepped in to help Nakano Mayu. She had done it for the slandered Kira Yoshikage.
The reason she hadn't come forward from the beginning was that she knew Kira-kun wouldn't like something like this.
As the popular girl, stepping in on behalf of the isolated Kira Yoshikage would only make him the center of attention, completely shattering the peaceful life Kira Yoshikage longed for.
So Miura Yumiko needed a suitable opportunity—a stepping stone.
And Nakano Mayu was that stepping stone.
Everyone would think she had stepped forward for Nakano Mayu, and no one would pay attention to Kira Yoshikage anymore.
"What's this?"
In the office, Kira Yoshikage looked puzzled as he took a form from Hiratsuka Shizuka.
Hiratsuka Shizuka sat cross-legged in her swivel chair and raised an eyebrow:
"It's a Work-Study Program application form. Fill it out now, and I'll submit it for you later so you can secure a spot first."
Fifty part-time positions might sound like a lot, but compared to the huge base of 1,500 students in Mixed Academy, they were barely enough. After all, that student population was already twice that of an ordinary high school, and that didn't even include Pure Academy.
At an ordinary school, most parents wouldn't want their children to work part-time. But this was Shuchiin Academy!
The expensive tuition was certainly beyond what ordinary people could afford, but most parents would still grit their teeth and send their children here, all so they could enter this famous elite school.
And since this was a part-time job organized through Pure Academy's Shinomiya Kaguya and the school, those parents and students would likely view it as some kind of "opportunity." A job that could earn money while also offering a chance to establish a connection with the Shinomiya Family was something no one would refuse.
Therefore, Hiratsuka Shizuka could already predict that there would be a huge number of applicants!
That was also why she had called Kira Yoshikage over—
Other people were taking the job to establish a connection with the Shinomiya Family, but Kira Yoshikage genuinely couldn't afford to eat if he didn't work part-time.
Kira Yoshikage shook his head, placed the form on the desk, and politely declined her kindness:
"No need, Teacher Hiratsuka. I've already found a job."
"The boss is very kind, so I don't want to quit for now."
Hiratsuka Shizuka raised an eyebrow again:
"Are you sure? Ministop pays 1,200 yen an hour. There's practically no part-time job in Tokyo with a higher hourly wage!"
"Really, there's no need. My current job is pretty good."
Although he knew Hiratsuka Shizuka was simply being competitive, his current job paid a full 2,000 yen an hour, and older girls occasionally gave him tips. A mere 1,200-yen-an-hour job wasn't enough to make him switch employers—unless they raised the pay!
Besides.
Kira Yoshikage had a strong premonition that accepting this part-time job would bring a lot of trouble.
Hiratsuka Shizuka knitted her brows tightly. She assumed that Kira Yoshikage couldn't bring himself to tell the shop owner he wanted to quit. High school students cared about their pride, and she could understand that.
But this really was a rare opportunity, and she didn't want to watch Kira Yoshikage let it pass him by.
Hiratsuka Shizuka clicked her tongue:
"Don't be so absolute. There's still a week before applications close. Think it over carefully."
She had already decided to find an opportunity to visit the place where Kira Yoshikage worked and pick a fault or two!
What's There to Argue About?
Tokyo Metropolis, Chiyoda Ward, 8-19 Fujimi 1-chome.
Inside the meeting room of the Dengeki Bunko editorial department.
Kagurazaka Ayame sat on the right side of the meeting room, her gaze sweeping over the other editors-in-chief on both sides.
It had been two weeks since the submission deadline for the Dengeki Bunko Newcomer Grand Prize. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the editors, the 4,607 submitted works had basically all been reviewed.
Although the schedule was somewhat tight, there was nothing they could do about it—
The list had to be announced before May 10, but Golden Week began on April 28.
There were four consecutive statutory holidays during that period. Combined with the weekend, that meant at least a week of rest, and in the longest case, as many as eleven days!
This year's Golden Week holiday period wasn't quite that long, but it still lasted a full nine days.
The advantage was that the overworked employees could get a proper stretch of rest. The disadvantage was that once Golden Week ended, it would already be May 7—
Only three days remained before the deadline for announcing the list.
By then, the overworked employees who had been on holiday for ten consecutive days definitely wouldn't be able to return to work immediately. That was why Dengeki Bunko had to finalize the preliminary list for the first round of the Newcomer Grand Prize today—the final day before Golden Week began.
The head of the editorial department spoke:
"I've reviewed the documents you submitted. They don't need much revision. There are 1,123 shortlisted works in total."
"Pass them around and check whether any works were overlooked."
The documents were quickly distributed to every editor-in-chief, and the meeting room soon fell silent except for the sound of pages turning.
The documents each editor received were different because they did not contain the list of all the submissions. Instead, they listed the works they had been responsible for reviewing, allowing them to confirm more easily whether anything had been missed.
This process didn't last long. Soon, everyone raised their heads and turned their gazes toward the department head.
"Department head, there are no omissions on my end."
"Same here."
The department head glanced around the room:
"If there are no problems, then let's move on to the next topic."
"Among this year's submissions, which work do you have the highest hopes for?"
Although this was only the first round of judging, discussions about which works were qualified to win awards had already begun.
Editors generally divided all submitted works into four tiers:
Grand Prize, Gold Prize, Silver Prize, and Encouragement Prize.
In truth, the fate of most works had already been decided at this moment.
The Encouragement Prize corresponded to the first round of judging, the Silver Prize to the second round, and the Gold Prize qualified a work for the third round.
Usually, only works marked for the Grand Prize qualified for the final award stage.
But when faced with this question from the department head, quite a few editors-in-chief looked troubled.
Nearly every editor-in-chief had one or two Grand Prize works among the submissions they reviewed—
Those works might not actually be good enough to win, but they had still been given Grand Prize evaluations.
There was no other reason. They simply couldn't allow the editor-in-chief to lose face, so the works were there to fill out the numbers.
And precisely because they knew the works under them were just there to make up the numbers, they had even more reason not to answer this deadly question...
The department head saw that no one was volunteering and could only call on someone himself.
His gaze fell on Kagurazaka Ayame, who was listlessly biting her pen on the right side of the room, and he asked out of the blue:
"Editor Kagurazaka, do you have an opinion?"
"Huh?"
Kagurazaka Ayame was caught off guard when she was called on. She blinked and answered without hesitation:
"If you're asking me, then I'd definitely choose Infinite Stratos!"
The department head asked:
"Why?"
Kagurazaka Ayame patted her ample chest and answered confidently:
"Because it's a work I reviewed!"
The meeting room fell silent, and the other editors-in-chief wore complicated expressions.
Some were envious, while others were jealous.
Two years ago, Kagurazaka Ayame had still been an ordinary managing editor, but she had an author under her whose pen name was Senju Murasama.
Moreover, in less than two years, Senju Murasama's Record of Lodoss War had reached a cumulative circulation of over fourteen million copies!
Outsiders might not understand what fourteen million copies in two years meant, but insiders could describe it in only two words—
Absolutely terrifying!
Before that, the best-selling light novel series in the entire Japanese light novel industry had been The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya series.
To date, its total circulation had exceeded twenty-four million copies.
In second place was Slayers, with cumulative sales exceeding twenty million copies.
In third and fourth place were Record of Lodoss War and Record of Lodoss War, both with cumulative sales of around ten million copies.
Yet Senju Murasama's Fantasy Demon Blade Legend had reached the terrifying figure of fourteen million copies in only two years, successfully surpassing Record of Lodoss War and climbing to third place on the all-time light novel circulation rankings!