Haruka Kasugano was taken aback for good reason.
He had initially assumed that Love Beat was a single-heroine novel about high school romance, focusing on the awkwardness and beauty of first love. But by the second volume, the style completely changed.
Just looking at the outline, Haruka Kasugano felt his stomach start to churn.
This was a sure-fire White Album scenario, wasn't it?
A melodramatic love triangle, was there going to be a "Why are you so experienced?" type of tsukkomi as well?
After carefully reading through the outline, Haruka Kasugano gathered his thoughts and cautiously asked, "Senpai, could you tell me why you added a character named Mai to the second volume?"
"What's wrong with that? If there were only Naoki and Sayuri, the plot would be too thin, wouldn't it? Adding a character makes it easier for readers to be drawn in by the entanglement between the three of them, right?"
Hearing Kashiwazaki Shizuka's answer, Haruka Kasugano wanted to tear the outline in his hand to shreds and throw it on the ground.
Are you kidding me?!
Whether it's a harem or a single-heroine story, it doesn't matter.
No matter how you write it, there will always be a part of the readers who like it and a part who don't.
But if you try to do a "stock market" scenario, those two groups of readers will unite and spit on you, then walk away without looking back.
"Senpai, with all due respect, I don't think you've ever been in love, have you?"
At Haruka Kasugano's question, Kashiwazaki Shizuka's eyes narrowed.
"Does not having been in love mean you can't write a romance novel?" The girl felt a little stifled, but the criticism and tone from this underclassman were still quite polite.
Compared to the taunts of those old authors, this was nothing.
Thinking back to their words, Kashiwazaki Shizuka was so angry that her chest started to hurt.
"Little girls are all about lovey-dovey stuff, who would be interested in this boring, melodramatic plot?"
"Some people are just too young. They always like to idealize things. They've never experienced it themselves, but they still love to live in a fantasy world."
"This kind of book probably only fools kids. Anyone who's been through it knows better than to have such childish ideas."
But it was precisely because of those taunts that a stronger Kashiwazaki Shizuka emerged.
Besides the discerning eye of her former editor, Kashiwazaki Shizuka was talented in her own right. If she were just a pile of useless mud, no matter how much you invested, she would still be swallowed by the tide of time.
Haruka Kasugano certainly didn't mean to taunt her. After all, the senpai in front of him was his "Golden Sponsor," right? He came here today for the money.
A full fifty thousand. If it were before, he wouldn't even be able to leave the house in this weather, let alone make money.
But now? Lying… no, standing there, making money, that feeling was amazing.
However, even though Kashiwazaki Shizuka was his "Golden Sponsor," that didn't mean Haruka Kasugano would back down without any principles.
The reason was simple: if Love Beat ended with the second volume, wouldn't he be jobless again?
If he got the reputation of being a "light novel author killer," he would never be able to make it in the illustrator's circle for the rest of his life.
People's minds are so strange, when they encounter something unexplainable, they always find some ridiculous reason to blame someone else.
Didn't many of the people burned at the stake hundreds of years ago suffer the same fate?
Want them to admit they're bad? Impossible.
But if you want them to admit that someone else is unlucky?
That's much easier.
So even if he had a difference in opinion with Kashiwazaki Shizuka, he couldn't back down.
Big deal, he gets fired. Even if he goes back to his old life, it's no big deal, it's just a bit more work. He won't starve.
The young man looked seriously at Kashiwazaki Shizuka and said, "Senpai, don't misunderstand me. I just want to tell you, if you're in love and your boyfriend is wavering between you and another girl, and in the end, he might choose her or he might choose you, what kind of experience would that be?"
The black-haired girl immediately got goosebumps.
When designing the outline for the second volume, she only thought about adding characters and increasing conflict. She forgot that in real life, when people encounter someone like this, they would just say: "Pfft, what a 渣男!"
Plus, Kashiwazaki Shizuka is a girl, right? If her boyfriend dared to do such a thing, she would immediately prepare her scissors.
"So Senpai, don't just add characters for the sake of expanding the plot. While I have to admit that Mai's character design looks really good in this outline, if Senpai doesn't plan to write a harem, it's best to rewrite this outline and cut down on Mai's scenes."
"A character who's been given so much attention and development and then ends up as a side character will definitely be criticized by the fans."
"Senpai, you have to know, you don't tease without planning to marry!"
…
Indeed, as Haruka Kasugano said, whether Mai wins or not, according to the senpai's current outline, the book's reputation will definitely plummet in the second volume.
Because compared to Sayuri, the heroine of the first volume, Mai has been given a significant amount of attention and screentime!
Unless Kashiwazaki Shizuka plans to write a harem, she will definitely be criticized mercilessly. This is no different from a "stock market" scenario.
Moreover, Haruka Kasugano knew that Love Beat was originally a single-heroine novel.
If you really write it according to the outline in the young man's hand, it would be diametrically opposed to Kashiwazaki Shizuka's idea.
The original setting was a single heroine, but everyone who wanted to see a harem ran away.
But halfway through, they realize it's a harem, so everyone who wanted to see a single heroine runs away as well.
In the end, they realize it's a "stock market" scenario, so they all come back.
To spit.
After Haruka Kasugano's explanation, Kashiwazaki Shizuka also realized the problem.
Even she herself couldn't explain why she added a character like Mai.
Maybe it was really because the plot wasn't full enough and needed more conflict.
Or maybe it was because when she wrote the second volume, she suddenly felt that Naoki, the male protagonist, wasn't actually a suitable boyfriend?
Besides the cliché "kind" trope used in light novels, he had nothing going for him.
Could someone like this truly be Sayuri's perfect match?
After all, Sayuri is her own embodiment…