Though saving a beauty in distress was a cliché—and an absurdly melodramatic one at that—wasn't the reason clichés became clichés precisely because people were happy to embrace them?
Tomoya Aki, who knew two-dimensional culture inside out, understood this all too well. That was exactly why he kept emphasizing that he had been "asked" to do it.
What disappointed Tomoya Aki was this: how had Love Metronome become popular so quickly? If Love Metronome had performed poorly, then with his efforts to turn things around and bring it the success it had today, he believed he would surely earn a place in Utaha Kasumigaoka's heart.
That damn God's Tongue—couldn't she just focus on cooking? What was she doing stirring up trouble in the ACG scene?!
Thankfully, God's Tongue was a young lady. If she had been a man like him, Tomoya Aki could not imagine how he was supposed to win Utaha Kasumigaoka's affection away from her...
Thank goodness she was a young lady...
Still, what had happened had happened, and Tomoya Aki had no intention of dwelling on it. Since Love Metronome was already popular, he would save the beauty another way.
By becoming the "benefactor" he had mentioned earlier...
As long as Eriri came through—drew the illustrations Utaha wanted, the illustrations readers wanted, and... as long as she could boost Love Metronome's sales once more—then, with his repeated reminders that he had been "asked," that impression would be firmly etched into Utaha's heart.
In that case, it would be the same as indirectly saving Utaha once. Wouldn't her affection for him shoot straight up?
On top of that, Utaha and that idiot childhood friend of hers, Eriri, would become collaborators. During that time, who knew how many assists that foolish childhood friend would hand him? Just thinking about it,