Handouts from a Fan's Bias

An hour later, after the banquet had ended, Leo and Asuna Yuuki left the Okura Hotel together and got into a stretch limousine.

The driver familiar silently started the engine and stepped on the gas, driving Leo and Asuna Yuuki toward the estate.

Asuna Yuuki turned around and watched the Okura Hotel grow farther and farther away. For some reason, a hint of wistfulness appeared in her eyes.

"Are you already starting to miss your family?"

Leo's voice came from beside her, bringing Asuna Yuuki back to herself.

"If you really don't want to stay here, you can go back to Tokyo." Leo wasn't looking at Asuna Yuuki. He folded his arms and leaned against the seat in the limousine, speaking as if he were resting with his eyes closed. "As long as you come over to the estate at night and do what needs to be done, I won't force you to stay."

It was true that, personally, he preferred having all his servants stay with him, but he wasn't going to insist on it.

If Asuna Yuuki really didn't want to stay at the estate, then she could go back. He wasn't the type to force someone to stay just because he was lonely.

Asuna Yuuki might or might not have realized that. She sighed and composed herself.

"No, this is a rare opportunity, and I want to try living a new life." Asuna Yuuki gazed ahead. "Besides, it's not that I can't bear to leave. I just feel like something has officially come to an end, so I'm a little conflicted."

Thinking of how her family had accepted that she was now someone else's servant and retainer, feeling helpless about it but not angry, Asuna Yuuki had, for a moment, even wondered if she didn't matter to them at all.

Especially her mother, Kyoko Yuuki. All she cared about was how upset she was that the life she had planned for her children had been disrupted. She hadn't shown the slightest concern. Asuna Yuuki had truly begun to wonder whether her mother even considered her her own daughter.

Look at Yukino Yukinoshita. She had always seemed to think she was unimportant at home, just a substitute for her older sister. She had always been somewhat isolated in her family and nowhere near as doted on as her sister. Yet after what had happened today, her family had kept her behind. They must have had plenty of important things to say to her.

And what about her?

Her father was grateful to her master for saving her, and her brother blamed himself for failing to protect her. But in the end, neither of them had tried to stop her. They had simply let her leave with Leo...

She was about to embark on a completely different life. Didn't they have anything they wanted to say to her?

Unable to avoid such thoughts, Asuna Yuuki's mood had clearly grown low.

"Tap!"

Suddenly, a hand reached over and flicked Asuna Yuuki on the forehead.

"Ah!"

Asuna Yuuki let out a startled cry, whether from surprise or pain.

"What are you thinking about so seriously?" Leo, the culprit, withdrew his hand without a trace of guilt and spoke leisurely. "You're at an age when you get sentimental, but seeing you look so abandoned still makes me feel a little unhappy."

"...Aren't you only a year older than me, Mr. Leo?"

Asuna Yuuki rubbed her forehead and muttered softly.

"But you make me feel like I'm taking care of my daughter." Leo smiled wryly. "I wouldn't mind skipping ahead to having a little girl of my own, but you're a bit too old. I'd be better off waiting until you bring home some AI Girl."

"An AI Girl?" Asuna Yuuki was taken aback, confused. "You mean artificial intelligence? Can you pick one of those up?"

"Who knows?" Leo replied with a casual smile. "I don't think that could happen in this world, but you've got to have some dreams, right?"

"...I don't understand what you're talking about." Asuna Yuuki furrowed her pretty brows and pondered for a while, but eventually gave up. "Mr. Leo is always like this. You say strange things from time to time, and then you do things that leave people astonished."

"That's how you keep from getting bored." Leo gazed at Asuna Yuuki's delicate profile and smiled. "Maybe I used to live too ordinary and repressed a life. Now I'm letting loose a little. My motto is to do whatever feels right."

"That really does sound like a demon's way of life." Asuna Yuuki seemed to sense Leo's gaze. A little embarrassed, she tucked her hair behind her ear. "But I envy you."

"You don't need to envy me. You can do it too." Leo patted Asuna Yuuki on the shoulder. "From now on, live however you want. Nothing will be able to hold you back anymore."

"Really?" Asuna Yuuki seemed to be in a better mood, and had even learned to joke around. "But aren't you my master, Mr. Leo? Won't you hold me back?"

"That depends on whether you behave." Leo spoke as if he meant it. "If you don't, I'll tie you up and spank you."

"...Pervert." Asuna Yuuki's face flushed slightly as she muttered the insult. "I won't give you the chance to bully me, Mr. Leo."

"Then I'll look forward to it." Seeing that Asuna Yuuki's mood had completely improved, Leo smiled. "I hope we get along, Asuna."

Asuna Yuuki was taken aback, then nodded firmly and smiled.

Not long afterward, the limousine reached the estate, drove into the garden, and stopped in front of the mansion.

Leo and Asuna Yuuki said goodbye to each other on the first floor, then returned to their respective rooms.

However, before Asuna Yuuki could get back to her room, her phone received a Text Message.

"Remember to take care of yourself. —Kyoko Yuuki"

Asuna Yuuki's eyes grew moist as she read the message.

Meanwhile, after returning to his room, Leo took out his phone and checked his new messages.

"My sister and Mom will take me to school tomorrow. Let's meet there. —Yukino Yukinoshita"

"How did it go? Have you met Ms. Musashi yet? —Sona Shitori"

"Perverted Devil-kun, I've finished another new draft. This one is definitely going to work. I'll send it to your computer first. Take a look and tell me what you think. —Utaha Kasumigaoka"

Besides messages from these familiar people, some of his contacts had also sent scheduled updates, reporting various things to him.

Leo read them one by one and then replied, leaving only Utaha Kasumigaoka's Text Message unanswered.

"She's already written something new?"

Leo raised an eyebrow, stood up, and picked up the laptop from the bedside table.

He turned on the computer and opened his Email. Before long, Leo found an email from someone signing herself "Utako Kasumi."

He opened it and read through it, then immediately replied.

"Isn't this just the same old thing in a new package? It's still a sugary romance between the male and female leads, sweet from beginning to end. In a way, it'll definitely make readers smile, but it's still the same problem: there's nothing to look forward to, and it's nowhere near as compelling as the first volume. Out of ten, I'd give it a three. One point for your beautiful prose, Senpai; one for your charming heroine; and the last point is charity from a fan's bias. You'll have to keep working hard~~~"

After finishing, Leo clicked send, tossed the laptop onto the bed, and went to take a shower.

Little did he know that, at that very moment, a certain rising Light Novel author was furious.

"What do you mean, 'charity from a fan's bias'?!"

In an apartment in Chiba City, Utaha Kasumigaoka was shaking with rage after receiving the reply email. She nearly threw the laptop in her hands.

Utaha Kasumigaoka was in her room, apparently fresh out of the shower.

The evidence was her still-wet hair and the steam rising from her body. She was wearing nothing but a bath towel, leaving her shoulders, arms, and thighs exposed. She looked incredibly alluring.

"That perverted Devil-kun... How dare he say something so awful..."

Utaha Kasumigaoka was almost completely naked, grinding her teeth in fury. Her chest rose and fell, and the knot of her towel loosened a little, revealing quite a bit.

"I was so excited to hear what he thought, and this is what I get. I should've never sent it to him."

Unable to contain her anger, Utaha Kasumigaoka grabbed a pillow from the bed and started beating it wildly, as if its face belonged to someone.

Once she had vented enough, Utaha Kasumigaoka picked up the laptop with an unhappy expression, reread her new story, then let out a faint sigh.

"Is it really that bad?"

Utaha Kasumigaoka muttered to herself, her spirits sinking.

She had never shown this side of herself in front of anyone else. She only let herself act this way when she was alone in her room.

"Does this mean I really can't write a second volume? Do I have to watch Koi no Metronome get canceled?"

Utaha Kasumigaoka was troubled, her worried expression enough to make anyone feel for her.

"Is there any way..."

Utaha Kasumigaoka began pacing around the room. She didn't even care when she kicked the clothes she had thrown on the floor. In fact, she kicked them even farther away.

"Hmm?"

Just then, Utaha Kasumigaoka noticed an old-fashioned piece of parchment that had fallen out of the pocket of the clothes she had kicked aside.

Utaha Kasumigaoka remembered how she had gotten it.

"This is a very effective talisman. When you're troubled, it might be able to help you."

The image of the boy handing it to her with a radiant smile was still fresh in her mind. Utaha Kasumigaoka was both annoyed by it and yet picked it up anyway.

"If you can really help me, then hurry up and do it." Utaha Kasumigaoka snorted. "Help me finish the second volume. Don't let Koi no Metronome get canceled."

The moment Utaha Kasumigaoka said those words...

"Zing—"

The simple magic circle on the parchment lit up.