"Ugh..." Sogo Doma rolled his eyes inwardly, but said aloud, "Utaha, you could be a little bolder and turn that question into a statement..."
Before he could finish, however, Utaha Kasumigaoka snorted coldly. "Hmm?"
What did he mean, she could turn the question into a statement? Was the question asking whether she wasn't serious? Would changing it into a statement mean she really wasn't serious?
"What I mean is..." Fortunately, Sogo Doma had long grown accustomed to repeatedly dancing along the edge of death. "If you, Utaha, don't count as serious or hardworking, then there wouldn't be anyone serious or hardworking left in this world. Think about it—you have to write novels while keeping your grades from slipping..."
Although she had been slacking off ever since finishing Love Metronome, with not only no new book but not even a new-book proposal approved yet, Sonoko Machida practically wanted to lock Utaha Kasumigaoka and Sogo Doma in a little dark room whenever she mentioned either of them, that didn't stop someone from talking nonsense with his eyes open.
"Uh..." Still, Utaha Kasumigaoka was someone who cared about her pride—she knew her own situation best. Faced with Sogo Doma's utterly shameless praise, she was more or less embarrassed by it, so she hurriedly murmured, "Let's not talk about that. After all, it's for work..."
Sogo Doma: (￢_￢)
He really wanted to tell her—then go say that to Sonoko Machida!
However, while he enjoyed repeatedly dancing along the edge of death, now clearly wasn't the time to court death. After all, the important thing was whether Mashiro had been making unnecessary additions. If she hadn't, he could serve some tea and send Yukinoshita and the others off. Vacations were supposed to be spent lounging around lazily—how could he let Yukinoshita and the others disturb