"All right, Sogo, since you can't learn the art of reading faces, let's do some research instead." Utaha Kasumigaoka was extremely good at knowing what to prioritize.
"Ugh, question: who was it that just said research was no big deal?" Sogo Doma was in full steel-hearted straight-man mode.
"Sogo, boys who dwell too much on the past tend to get hurt often, you know..." Utaha Kasumigaoka activated threat mode.
"I think you're absolutely right, Utaha." Sogo Doma had never been a man who clung to the past, so when Utaha Kasumigaoka approached him with a frosty expression and threatened him, he merely took one step back before speaking his mind. This definitely wasn't cowardice—it was following his heart:
"Still, to be honest, although I've written novels before, this is my first time doing research. Though I've used research as an excuse to delay manuscripts, or made my editor run all over the place... I've done plenty of that."
Utaha Kasumigaoka: (⊙⊙)
Had Sogo unwittingly exposed another secret?
"Sogo, only by placing yourself in the same environment as the protagonist can you write about her thoughts and feelings with true empathy. That's what real research is..."
"The same environment as the protagonist?" Before Utaha Kasumigaoka could finish explaining, Sogo Doma glanced around. "You mean the rooftop?"
"That's right! The heroine—"
"Ugh! Wait a second, Utaha. Don't tell me what you're writing this time is the kind of thing you have to be eighteen to read? Ahem, rooftops and all..." It couldn't be helped. Rooftops were famous as battlefields...
Sogo Doma even suspected that Utaha Kasumigaoka might use research as an excuse to do that to him. Damn it, he still wasn't mentally prepared, so should he firmly refuse first and then pretend to accept? Or accept while putting up token resistance?