Although Utaha Kasumigaoka did not have many friends, as a light novel author—one who specialized in writing about relationships—she understood the human heart and human nature...
So, after the publisher made it clear that unless a miracle happened, Love Metronome would most likely be axed, she, who already had few friends to begin with, became even more unwilling to let anyone get close to her.
Still, humans were social creatures by nature. Rationally, Utaha Kasumigaoka, who knew full well how treacherous people's hearts could be, did not want to interact with anyone while she was failing. Emotionally, however, she longed for someone to talk to, someone to comfort her, or rather...
Someone who would stand up and tell her, even when she herself had lost faith in Love Metronome, "Love Metronome is truly amazing. Both its prose and its emotional expression are deeply moving. Although the second volume has a few flaws compared to the first, still..."
Fine, even in her fantasies, Utaha Kasumigaoka knew very well—the second volume really had not turned out as well as she had hoped.
But what if? Wasn't it like how a failing student who knew nothing after an exam would still think, What if I guessed every multiple-choice question right? Then wouldn't I be just one step away from passing? And if heaven smiled on me and I happened to get a few fill-in-the-blank questions right too, wouldn't that be even better?
After all, the publisher had said it themselves: unless a miracle occurred, Love Metronome was basically facing cancellation. It sounded despairing, but if she looked at it another way, didn't it mean the publisher did not dare to completely rule it out? Maybe a miracle really would happen?
Although she herself was not particularly satisfied with the second volume of Love