Before Hikigaya Hachiman could speak, Zaimokuza Yoshiteru stepped forward on his own and said to Yukinoshita Yukino, "I heard this is a place where dreams can be realized! I…"
"I think you may have some misunderstanding."
Yukinoshita Yukino glanced at him and directly cut off what he was about to say.
The cool girl raised her slender, pale fingers and gently rubbed her temples, her tone sounding rather helpless.
"I don't know where you heard such things, but in reality, our Service Club does not directly fulfill your wishes. We only teach you how to achieve them."
"You ever heard of the old saying 'Giving a man a fish is not as good as teaching him how to fish'. I don't expect you to understand the meaning of the Service Club, but I hope you can understand that there is no such thing as a free lunch…"
The entire clubroom fell silent, with only Yukinoshita Yukino's voice echoing faintly.
Her voice was cool and distant, as if a saint in white were reciting from a holy book.
After a long while, Yukinoshita Yukino finished!
"Bravo!"
Sato suddenly began clapping, and soon everyone in the clubroom followed with enthusiastic applause.
"No matter how many times I see it, Yukinoshita-san looks really cool at times like this!"
"Yeah! Suddenly it feels like Mio got overshadowed!"
"But Akiyama-san has those shy moments, right? Yukinoshita-san doesn't, does she?"
"Huh? That's true, suddenly it feels like Mio won a point back!"
"Ritsu, shut up!"
Faced with the suddenly noisy clubroom and the endless applause, a faint blush appeared on Yukinoshita Yukino's face. She shot Sato an annoyed glare.
What are you making a fuss for?!
Meanwhile, Zaimokuza Yoshiteru stared blankly at Yukinoshita Yukino for a long time before coming back to his senses.
"Yes! Please guide me, Yukinoshita-san!"
He suddenly dropped to one knee, placing his left hand on his knee and his right hand on the ground, bowing loudly to Yukinoshita Yukino.
"Tch."
Sato couldn't help clicking his tongue. This guy was also a chunibyo.
But compared to the many deeply immersed chunibyo girls in the club downstairs, he seemed somewhat more normal.
At least he hadn't reached a completely unbearable level of embarrassment.
Yukinoshita Yukino's expression did not change at all. She looked calmly at Zaimokuza Yoshiteru kneeling before her, like an ice queen from a frozen land.
"Stand up. Tell me what you need help with."
"Yes!"
Zaimokuza Yoshiteru stood up with a serious expression, took out a stack of A4 papers from his coat, and respectfully handed it to Yukinoshita Yukino.
Not far away, the seemingly forgotten Hikigaya Hachiman couldn't help but complain inwardly, What kind of historical drama are you acting out?!
"In truth, I wish to become a light novel author, but I cannot find the way. I humbly request guidance from Yukinoshita-dono!"
Zaimokuza Yoshiteru spoke in a half-modern, half-archaic manner, fully immersed in his role.
A light novel author?
Hearing this, Yukinoshita Yukino couldn't help but frown slightly and subconsciously looked toward Sato.
Why is she suddenly looking at me?
Sato raised an eyebrow, sensing there was something he didn't know.
Yukinoshita Yukino took the manuscript from Zaimokuza Yoshiteru and returned to her seat.
The manuscript in her hands had some weight, probably forty to fifty pages.
However… although she had read many literary classics, she had not had much exposure to light novels as a genre.
Thinking of this, her gaze drifted toward Sato again.
When she had visited Sato's apartment before, she had accidentally noticed a whiteboard beside his desk, filled with a dense mind map. Among it, she had caught glimpses of keywords like "Gensokyo," "development," "light novel," "manga," "online paid model," and so on.
Although she knew it wasn't proper, she couldn't suppress her curiosity and later searched it online after returning home.
The results had shocked her.
The Gensokyo, far removed from the mundane world, was now one of the hottest forums in the entire ACGN community, and also the first light novel website to establish an online interaction model…
It had originally been the personal website of a light novel author named "Miyabi." With his support, that personal site had, in less than two years, become a major force in the entire ACGN world.
And Ye Zhi's credentials were even more astonishing. Despite his young age, he held numerous terrifying records…
"The strongest middle school light novel author," "The fastest to reach ten million sales," "The one who achieved ten million sales within a single year"…
The things recorded on the whiteboard and that name made it impossible for her not to connect Sato with that Miyabi.
And now…
Yukinoshita Yukino suddenly took a deep breath and looked up at Sato from across the room. "Nohara-kun, are you familiar with light novels?"
"Light novels…"
Sato's expression suddenly became subtle. Why would Yukinoshita suddenly bring this up? She must have realized something.
But whether Yukinoshita Yukino knew or not didn't really matter to him. She didn't seem like the kind of person who would spread it everywhere and make it widely known.
"I have some understanding."
Sato was actually being modest. To support a site like Gensokyo and gain recognition from major publishers in the industry, both he and the editors on the site possessed real editorial ability.
In fact, many authors who had come through his hands had achieved good success in the light novel world, such as Kasumigaoka Utaha, Kunimitsu Shidou, Kusanagi Ryouki, and many other rising stars who were closely connected to him.
"Then could I trouble you to help review this?"
Sato paused for a moment and said, "Sure."