"Um… Editor Yos.h.i.+zawa, actually I…" Seiji wanted to explain.

"You don't need to say anything more, Harano. I'm aware of your resolution now." Saki interrupted him, her cheeks still flushed deep red. "Amami-san believes you're an excellent employee and a hard worker, and I trust her judgment. Plus, from what I can tell, you have a nice appearance and a good personality. Since you also have similar interests as Mayuzumi and potential in the same career as her, you'll make an excellent boyfriend for her."

Seiji was rendered speechless by her attempt to comfort him.

"Even though you might not really get married with Mayuzumi, I think it's nice that you've prepared yourself for that outcome. Mayuzumi is… a girl that really needs someone to take good care of her, so I humbly request that you treat her with love and respect." Saki finished by bowing to Seiji in a serious manner. "Let's finish our conversation here; I still have other matters to attend to, so goodbye."

Saki bowed to Rika Amami as well before giving a final glance to Seiji and leaving. Her face remained tinged with red as she left, and her footsteps seemed rather hurried.

Was she… escaping? Seiji was stunned.

Just what exactly happened!?

He turned to his boss and discovered that she was still covering her mouth, attempting to conceal her amus.e.m.e.nt by turning her head in the opposite direction. Looking down, Seiji noticed her shoulders were still trembling.

"Store Manager!"

"My apologies… Haruta-kun, I can't stop myself, hahahaha!" Rika finally burst out into laughter.

This was the first time that Seiji had ever seen the store owner laughing like this.

The seductive, beautiful store owner was covering her mouth while holding herself with her other hand, unable to suppress her laughter. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s kept jiggling under her s.h.i.+rt as she laughed; it was an appealing sight to almost any sane man.

Sigh… Just as Seiji prepared to speak up, there was a popping sound.

Although it was slightly faint, it was still audible. The source of the sound was in front of the store manager's majestic chest.

The cause of the sound was a tiny, glimmering… b.u.t.ton!

Seiji instantly widened his eyes and focused on it.

Time seemed to slow down for him as he saw the b.u.t.ton's trajectory clearly. He also caught a brief look of the slightly opened s.h.i.+rt, which exposed a tantalizing glimpse of the store manager's ivory-white cleavage …

Ahh, this was the legendary unexpected lucky event—"b.u.t.ton-popping b.r.e.a.s.t.s!!!"

This scene lasted for only an instant.

However, Seiji felt as if it lasted for an eternity!

So what if he was mocked or misunderstood? Everything was worth it just for witnessing this moment!

With a clattering sound, the b.u.t.ton landed on the floor and coincidentally rolled in front of him.

With a devout feeling in his heart, Seiji leaned over and picked up the b.u.t.ton.

"Oh my! Sheesh, another one popped off!" Rika was finally forced to halt her laughter as her face reddened slightly. She covered her chest with her hand and said, "Haruta-kun, that b.u.t.ton…"

"Store Manager."

Seiji clutched the b.u.t.ton tightly with a fervent expression; he almost seemed like a monk under divine guidance.

"Could you possibly permit me to keep this holy artifact?"

"…What?" Rika wasn't sure if she heard him correctly. "Holy something... What did you say?"

"Holy artifact." Seiji coughed shamelessly before continuing, "This b.u.t.ton… please may I keep it?"

"Why do you want that b.u.t.ton?" Rika dazedly looked at the boy in front of her. She then came to a sudden realization, causing her face to turn even redder.

"No! Give that b.u.t.ton back to me!"

"Eh? I can't? I just want to take it home and wors.h.i.+p it…"

"What the h.e.l.l's with wors.h.i.+pping it!!?"

For the first time ever, Rika Amami rebuked Seiji forcefully as she glared at him with a reddened face while covering her bountiful chest with both hands, completely ruining her strict image as the store manager and owner.

"Hurry up and return that b.u.t.ton to me, then get out!"

"Oh… Okay." With a regretful expression, Seiji placed the b.u.t.ton on the table while showing an obvious unwillingness to do so.

"You want it that much?" Rika continued to blush. "Honestly, Haruta-kun… You're obviously so handsome, but you still have such a strange habit…"

"Store Manager, you should know already that I'm an otaku." Seiji glanced outside the window, acting as if he was looking into the distance. "Otakus all conceal a gentlemanly perverted spirit within them."

Rika was lost for words upon hearing him speak so shamelessly.

And so, the gentleman who was unable to obtain the holy artifact (b.u.t.ton) finally left the store manager's office, filled with regret.

As he sincerely told her "thank you for the treat" just before leaving, the beautiful owner gave him a death glare.

It didn't matter!

Seiji was in an excellent mood.

That legendary event gave him a deep and lasting impression. It didn't even matter if that icy beauty of an editor misunderstood him; after all, that was such a small matter in comparison! All he had to do was explain later.

He went back to work in high spirits.

After the end of his work s.h.i.+ft.

Seiji took his notebook home with him and typed it all up on his computer. After saving the doc.u.ment, he emailed it to Saki Yos.h.i.+zawa.

'This will be fine. I wonder when I'll receive a reply... I hope it's quick.' He stretched himself.

Finally, Seiji checked his system in order to confirm how many points he received from an all-nighter's worth of the [write a story] option.

The result was a surprising 10 points!

It seemed quite high, but upon consideration, the efficiency rate was actually quite low.

'Not only that, the option's now darkened. I can't select it again for the entire day… So yesterday's [write a story] option lasted for two days and counted for today as well. It's actually points for two days' worth." Seiji rubbed his chin as he pondered on the situation.

He earned 10 points in two days, which meant he received 5 points per day… It seemed pretty good at first glance, but if the action required such a long time, then it wouldn't be good.

'Let's try it again tomorrow. If I just [write a story] normally without pulling an all-nighter, how many points will I receive?'

Seiji looked at his other available [actions].

Like usual, he could grind [write a diary] and [draw]. He could also [write an essay], which had a prerequisite of 40 academics, and [write a poem] which had a prerequisite of 40 academics and 25 charisma.

Of course, it was time to grind.

Writing an essay was fairly simple. All Seiji had to do was think of a topic, and he was able to inject his feelings into his essay thanks to his newfound writing ability.

As for writing a poem... Seiji scratched his head.

It was mostly similar to writing an essay. He just had to imagine the scene and inject his emotions into it, but compared to an essay, it was deeper. His word choice also needed to be more precise and simple.

To use an a.n.a.logy, Seiji believed that writing an essay was like casually pouring loose sand. In that case, a poem needed to be like an hourgla.s.s. He couldn't just pour the sand everywhere; he had to use a specific format instead to allow the sand to trickle and form into a beautiful hill.

It seemed difficult.

After finis.h.i.+ng his poem, Seiji read it over but couldn't tell if it was high quality or not.

He received 2 points for his essay and 3 for the poem.

Not bad.

Seiji inferred from this that [write a story] would normally give him 3 or 4 points, more likely 4.

'Let's calculate it as a minimum of 3. This means that all the new [writing] actions available to me now will give me 8 points every day. It'll take only a mere four days for me to earn back what I spent on it!'

Seiji believed he had made the correct decision to focus on more ways to earn points.

So, should he activate some more cards instead of exchanging for skills? He felt that would be a good choice.

It didn't matter much if he had to type his stories into the computer after writing it, as it would only take some extra time. He didn't need to hurry and exchange for [writing—typing].

That skill seemed like a waste of 55 points, shees.h.!.+

Seiji finally realized that unless he had enough actions to earn points with, skill cards were all a huge trap for his points!

Even including [Bullet Time]...

But [Bullet Time] was a limited time only discount; even if it slowed down his development, it saved him 75 points.

So did he profit or not? Seiji wasn't sure.

'Forget it. Let's stop thinking about this topic.'

Seiji yawned as he had pulled another all-nighter followed by a day at work. It was time to rest.

After all, there was another battle to be fought tonight.