Chapter 31: Minami Kotori
Homura walked into the shop and a beautiful maid with long grayish-brown hair walked toward him and greeted him, "Welcome back, Goshujin-sama!"
Homura was stunned. The appearance of the maid was unexpected but also somewhat expected...
"Minami Kotori... um, I mean, Minalinsky!" he instinctively blurted out the maid's real name, but quickly corrected himself by emphasizing her stage name. {TN: Minalinsky is her other persona when working as a maid in Maid Cafe at Akihabara}
"!!!"
"Um... excuse me, do you know me, Goshujin-sama?" Kotori asked, shocked and puzzled. 'I've only been working here for a few days, how does someone know me!?'
"Coincidence! Yes, a coincidence," Homura wiped his cold sweat and quickly changed the subject. "By the way, someone made an appointment with me here. Do you know where Iida Ayano-san is?"
After giving him a deep look, Kotori slightly bowed and said, "Iida Ayano-san? Please follow me, Goshujin-sama."
Homura quickly followed her and thought about the changes that would come with the discovery of Kotori, and whether he needed to adjust his plan.
He only roughly considered it and didn't have time to think deeply. The key issue now was the manga, which involved Homura's progress.
"Oh! Nice to meet you, Minamiya-sensei!" Ayano noticed Homura's figure and stood up to greet him.
Kotori was puzzled. 'Minamiya-sensei? Isn't he about the same age as me? Why is he called Minamiya-sensei?'
Homura reached out his hand and said, "Nice to meet you, Editor Iida. I am Homura, you can call me Minamiya or Homura, but skip the 'sensei' part."
Ayano was also straightforward and shook hands with Homura, "Then I'll call you Homura, and you can just call me Ayano."
'Editor?' Kotori suddenly understood. 'So this Minamiya-sensei is actually a light novel or manga author?'
The two sat down, and Kotori approached them, "This is our menu, may I take your order, Goshujin-sama?"
"What would you like, Homura?" Ayano handed the menu to Homura.
Homura casually glanced at the menu and then closed it. "Since we're in a maid cafe, we should get an omurice."
Ayano raised her eyebrows, "Oh? You're quite knowledgeable, Homura!"
Then she looked at Kotori, "I'll have the omurice too, and for the drink..."
She looked at Homura with an inquiring look, and Homura gestured for Ayano to order for both of them.
"Two glasses of cola, please!" After ordering the drinks, she handed the menu back to Kotori.
Kotori write down the order and confirmed with her sweet voice, "Two omurice and two glasses of cola, right? Please wait a moment, Goshujin-sama. By the way, do you have any particular title requirements for how we address you?"
Homura's eye twitched at her words, but he remained composed and said, "Please address us as you wish, Maid-san."
Ayano looked at him in surprise and asked with a smile, "Can we use any titles?"
Kotori smiled and replied, "Yes, Goshujin-sama, Onee-sama, Hime-sama, or Ojou-sama, whichever you prefer."
"Then let's go with Ojou-sama!" Ayano said directly.
Homura looked at her speechlessly. He never expected that Ayano would be such a person!
Just as he was thinking that; Kotori looked over and said, "Then, over here is Onii-chan, right!"
Homura felt ashamedly shaken. Was this the infamous black-belly Kotori? It must have been on purpose!
"Well then, Onii-chan and Ojou-sama, please wait a moment," Kotori said with a smile before leaving. Homura felt that there was something hidden in her smile.
After a moment of silence, Homura looked at Ayano, who was still smiling at him, and asked angrily, "By the way, how did you decide to come to a maid cafe?"
Although he had unexpectedly gained something from this.
"Well, I considered your age and interests!" Ayano said candidly, "And this is the best place to sign the contract!"
Upon hearing this, Homura sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"I really lost to you... Never mind that! Let's talk about the contract first!" Homura got to the point.
"In fact, there's no problem with signing the contract right here and right now!" Ayano said directly, "Manke Bunko can offer you the highest profit distribution!"
Homura was surprised.
Could this be possible?
They were being so straightforward?
They didn't even try to bargain for the publisher's interests and his royalty?
Seeing Homura's expression, Ayano continued, "Of course, it's because your work has that level of quality. Otherwise, even if you were from the Minamiya Family, the publisher wouldn't do this."
"...What does this have to do with the Minamiya Family?" Homura seemed to have figured out something and asked.
Ayano shrugged, "Don't you know? Manke Bunko is your family's business."
"... I just guessed a little, but you're so direct." Homura shook his head with a wry smile. In the end, the source of funding was still related to his father.
He didn't really intend to just leave and switch to another publishing company, but because of his connection with Iida Ayano, and her connection to Shiina Mashiro, and since it was his own family's publishing company that was having problems, he decided to help out!
"My father knows about this, right?" asked Homura.
"He should know, the chief editor would have reported it," guessed Ayano.
Homura nodded. "Okay, then I guess my father will call me in the next couple of days."
Ayano looked a bit surprised at the words and wondered if there was a bad relationship between the father and son. Shaking her head without asking further, she took out the contract for signing.
Homura took a look and not finding any issues, then signed it right away.
"I was actually planning to argue about the interest with you for a while, but I didn't expect to become the one who profited the most," Homura said with some emotion.
Ayano smiled. "To begin with, it was your family's profit because it's your work. It's only natural to allocate more to you, After all, you are the family's young master, and you also have the ability and talent. So, It doesn't count as a loss for the publishing house."
Homura laughed. "Well, then I really have to give you a gift!"
Ayano looked at the gift that Homura had placed in front of her, one of which was the continuation of "Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun" and the other was... a new manga?!
She was shocked.
What was this progress? Two at once? What if both failed?
"Go ahead and open them, see if you're satisfied with my gifts," Homura said, gesturing to the gifts.
Looking at Homura's expression, Ayano felt he was serious.
After a brief thought, she picked up "Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun" and checked out the already agreed-upon work first.
Across from her, Homura watched as she looked through the pages with a smile on her face, but she managed to contain her own laughter. He felt like she was really a professional editor, not someone that could be compared to anyone.
A pity that he was just thinking too much. The first time Ayano looked at it, she wasn't any better than anyone else...
Ayano said with satisfaction, "Impressive, the quality hasn't dropped at all, and the new character traits are very distinctive. They should be able to attract a lot of fans."
Nearby, Kotori watched Ayano's expression and couldn't help but sigh. 'It looks like Editor Iida is really impressed. Minamiya-san is really amazing.'
"Thank you for the praise," Homura continued. "Now, please take a look at the second gift!"
'Alright, I hope the quality of this gift is high enough...'
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