Kuroda felt like he had grown a few more white hairs recently.
There was no particular reason, other than the fact that his workload had doubled over the past few days.
The story went back to a few months ago. Right as Kuroda was about to sneak away for the evening, he was summoned by Editor-in-Chief Hirayama.
Then, Kuroda received a thick stack of manuscripts from Hirayama.
Hirayama's next sentence made his heart skip a beat:
"This manuscript was handed over personally by the Editor-in-Chief herself. Quickly review the layout, and handle the publicity and distribution as fast as you can."
"Understood." Kuroda, who had initially wanted to complain about his workload increasing for no reason, immediately adopted a respectful attitude as he took the manuscript, then asked Hirayama in a low voice, "Could this be personally from the Editor-in-Chief..."
"I can't say for sure," Hirayama mused. "But regardless, this manuscript was delivered personally by the Editor-in-Chief herself, which goes to show how much importance she attaches to it."
Hirayama stood up, walked over to Kuroda, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Out of the entire Yae Publishing House, you are the editor I value the most. This is a direct order from the Editor-in-Chief, and now I am entrusting this task to you."
"I will definitely not let down the heavy expectations of the Editor-in-Chief and the Editor-in-Chief!" Kuroda had fallen victim to corporate gaslighting once again.
Thus, Kuroda found that he was receiving a thick stack of manuscript pages almost every single day. To finish reviewing them in time, he frequently had to pull all-nighters.
"You've got to be kidding me, bro."
Looking at the towering stack of manuscripts, Kuroda felt a surge of irritation.
Even the donkeys on a communal farm don't work this relentlessly. How could there be so many manuscripts delivered every single day? Was the author born with the sacred constitution of a writing machine ox?
Yet, upon second thought, realizing this might actually be the work of the Editor-in-Chief herself, Kuroda quickly clapped a hand over his mouth.
Uh... probably not, right? After all, it was really hard to associate the Editor-in-Chief with the image of someone burying their head in writing.
Let us turn our gaze back to Grand Narukami Shrine.
Inside a certain room, Youying finally put down his pen and stretched after finishing the final section of his writing.
"Oh my, finally done?"
Just as Youying had set down his pen, a woman's voice that made his scalp tingle reached his ears, and a pair of hands gently rested on his shoulders.
The fright caused Youying to quickly straighten his posture.
After all, during this period, Youying had been thoroughly squeezed dry by Yae Miko... for manuscripts and tales from another world.
Youying had originally thought that life during this time would just involve finding a place to write novels to pay off his debts. But once caught in the palm of a fox, how could escape be so easy?
Especially after he had rejected Yae Miko's invitation to become a Shrine Maiden.
Consequently, by Yae Miko's orders, Youying had been living in a small pavilion at Grand Narukami Shrine ever since. During the day, he basically wrote manuscripts right here, and the furthest his range of motion went was sitting behind the Sacred Sakura to admire the scenery of Araumi.
House arrest, this was sheer house arrest!
Youying protested against a life where he lost his freedom and was forced to churn out words like a farm donkey every single day.
However, this free meal was so fair-skinned... ah no, it wasn't that bad.
As for his living quarters, while called a small pavilion, its size was clearly different from the quarters of other Shrine Maidens. It was Yae Miko's nominal residence within Grand Narukami Shrine, and a section of it had been specially partitioned off to serve as Youying's current writing and resting space.
Shrine Maidens constantly brought him food, clothing, and daily necessities. Aside from high-intensity writing, life wasn't actually too bad?
It was just that those Shrine Maidens occasionally cast rather strange looks his way. It didn't look like they were gossiping, though. Instead, it looked like...
Looking at a little eunuch in the imperial palace?
Outrageous! Just wait until I make something of myself in the future; I'll let these Shrine Maidens know the meaning of terror.
A man drops from the sky and starts cohabitating directly with your supreme boss Yae Miko, yet you people actually think of me as one of the girls?
"Avoid the sharp edge, and bear with it for now."
Besides, Youying had originally only intended to quickly churn out a short-to-medium length completed work to resolve his urgent crisis, so such high-intensity writing wasn't really a big deal.
Alas, that crafty fox frequently came to disturb him, by means including but not limited to night raids.
As for her purpose, it was naturally to make Youying talk about his experiences on Earth.
After all, Yae Miko had always been a woman who put amusement above all else.
The silver lining, however, was that Youying could feel his distance from Miko closing considerably over this period.
At least during his first few days living at Grand Narukami Shrine, Youying was quite certain that Miko had harbored some intent of keeping him under surveillance. Now, two months later, that sense of surveillance had completely vanished.
"Well, the content of the first volume is basically finished." Youying slowly closed his eyes to rest his mind.
(Actually, as a pure, innocent young virgin, he simply didn't know where to look when keeping his eyes open.)
Miko leaned her head in close once again.
Youying could already feel the soft touch at his back and the somewhat warm breath against his neck.
"Not bad at all... hmm... it looks like your name will be gracing the bestseller lists of Yae Publishing House quite frequently for some time to come."
"Oh my, it seems Yae Publishing House is about to witness the rise of a new light novel star."
"Looks like your debt-paying days won't last much longer. It won't be long before you can pack up and move out of my Grand Narukami Shrine. Little one, are you happy, or will you be sad that you can no longer be in close contact with me?"
"Hoh..." This puff of air was directed right at his ear. Deliberate. Absolutely deliberate.
"Lady Guuji..."
"All right, all right, I won't tease the little one anymore." Miko picked up the manuscript from Youying's desk, turned around, and leaned against the edge of the bed to flip through it.
"Um... my bed."
"Strictly speaking, the ownership of everything inside this Grand Narukami Shrine belongs to me."
"But I finally finished writing and just wanted to lie down for a bit..."
"My bed is quite large. Does the little one want to come up and try lying down together?"
Miko intentionally scooted inward, clearing up a bit of the spot where she had just been lying.
"The little one wouldn't have the heart to try, but lack the courage, would he?"
"I wouldn't dare offend Lady Guuji."
"Didn't I hear you calling me directly by my name behind my back? And what was it you said after the Shrine Maiden delivering your food left? Something about displaying your masculine might?"
No way, she could hear him even when he was just muttering to himself?
"I wouldn't dare desecrate Lady Guuji. It must be that Lady Guuji heard wrong."
"...Sigh..."
A low sigh echoed in the room.
Then, Youying only felt a blur before his eyes, and Yae Miko's face appeared right in front of him at close range, looking down at him from above.
At the same time, her delicate hand gently stroked Youying's cheek:
"Little one, are you... really that afraid of me?"
Youying looked at Miko before him. At this moment, Miko's eyes were slightly narrowed, with purple light flashing intermittently, making Youying's scalp tingle slightly.
Miko was angry.