Tokyo, Akihabara District, X Bookstore under Fujimi Bunko.
At Utako Kasumi's autograph event, five minutes before it began.
Tomoya Aki felt as though he had encountered fate. The upperclassman at his school was the author of the smash-hit Love Metronome, while Lady Umaru, the popular-girl heiress in his class, was actually a light novel fan. At one autograph event, he had discovered two hidden secrets. What kind of galgame-like development was this?
In this real-life galgame, he would become the protagonist!
But...
Tomoya Aki looked around. Nearly everyone was an otaku like him. If he simply went up and asked for an autograph, he would probably only leave behind the impression of an otaku reader. Both heroines would see him as nothing more than a background extra. How could that do? Tomoya Aki began carefully considering his advantages.
Advantage one: he attended the same school as both heroines. Since the two of them had hidden themselves so thoroughly at school, they definitely did not want anyone discovering anything. Utako Kasumi was one thing—she was already a bestselling author, so if her identity was exposed, then so be it.
But if Umaru Doma knew Tomoya Aki was there, even if he did not say anything, she would certainly grow suspicious and anxious. Wouldn't that give him an opportunity to interact with her?
Advantage two: his established persona was someone who had absolutely no interest in real-life girls. With that persona, almost no one would guard against him approaching them.
Advantage three: his otaku knowledge was extensive, and he was even a somewhat well-known blogger himself. A book like Love Metronome had become wildly popular thanks to the God's Tongue's recommendation, but several small details in it clearly contained mistakes only a newcomer would make. If he praised it first, then offered