blueteamnovel Chapter 31 Yuta must be very popular at school, right?
Chapter 31 Yuta must be very popular at school, right?
Rewind 20 minutes.
The third floor houses the office of the third editorial team.
When the secretary walked in with the freshly printed contract, she gave Kudo Sakae a barely perceptible nod.
If it were Shirakawa Yuta yesterday, he probably wouldn't have noticed this small gesture from the other party.
However, after equipping the controller today and gaining "Reaction +2", his sensitivity to all changes in the external environment has been greatly enhanced, resulting in a qualitative leap.
Therefore, the act of nodding is clearly visible.
But what does it mean when the other person nods?
Yuta Shirakawa was unaware of this, but his vigilance was at its highest.
He didn't speak, but simply watched the two of them silently.
Kudo Sakae naturally took the contract and casually glanced at it, pretending to be unconscious.
However, the sudden focus of her eyes when she saw a certain page and the uncontrollable trembling of her fingers still revealed the intense emotions surging within her.
Yuta Shirakawa saw all of this and had a vague guess in his mind. Perhaps the glance he saw when the other party's eyes suddenly focused was the key to everything.
"Yuta!"
Kudo Sakae's sudden voice interrupted Shirakawa Yuta's thoughts.
The other person wore their usual warm smile again, but beneath that smile lay a hint of tension and urgency that was hard to detect without careful observation.
Normally, Shirakawa Yuta wouldn't have cared at all; after all, it's a contract signing, so it's normal to be a little nervous.
But now that he has suspicions, every unreasonable action of the other party will deepen his suspicions even further.
Although he had doubts in his heart, his expression remained the same as before.
Faced with the other party's slightly puzzled look, he smiled and explained his momentary daze: "I just got a little excited when I saw the contract. It's 45,000 yen per page, and if we calculate it as 20 pages per period, that's 900,000 yen. My parents probably only make about that much a month."
Upon hearing Shirakawa Yuta's words, Kudo Sakae smiled inwardly, unconvinced.
A country bumpkin is a country bumpkin; she simply doesn't realize that for a manga of "Rurouni Kenshin's" caliber, the payment per page is negligible. What's truly valuable is the copyright she's about to swindle into handing over.
However, what the other party said was exactly what she wanted to hear, so her smile became even more genuine, and she said, "In that case, let's sign quickly, so we can relax sooner."
Yuta Shirakawa chuckled and said, "It's alright. We've come this far anyway. As long as the contract is 'fine,' I'll definitely sign it quickly, right, Manager Kudo?"
When Kudo Sakae heard the other party emphasize the words "the contract is fine," her heart skipped a beat, thinking that Shirakawa Yuta had discovered something in advance.
But after recalling the whole incident, she remembered that the plan she was currently implementing was something she had made on the spot, and the other party hadn't even seen the problematic contract yet. So she quickly calmed down.
After silently cursing her as a "little fox" in her heart, she said with an unchanged expression, "That's right, the contract is definitely fine!"
As he spoke, he spread out the contract and pointed to the 45,000 yen/page section, saying, "Look, the only change in the entire contract is here. If there are no problems, you can sign it and the contract will be officially established."
After saying that, without waiting for Shirakawa Yuta to speak, he flipped to the last page of the contract, pointed to the signature area, and said, "Just sign here."
Yuta Shirakawa narrowed his eyes slightly. Did they really think he was a fool? They changed the contract and made him sign it without even letting him look at it.
He waved his hand and declined, saying, "No rush, let me look at the contract one more time..."
But before he could finish speaking, before he could even utter the word "sign," Kudo Sakae suddenly stood up, pointed out the window, and said in a stern and impatient tone to suppress his guilty conscience:
"Mr. Shirakawa, it's almost dark outside, and it's almost time to leave work. It would take you at least 20 minutes to review the contract again. This contract is only slightly different from the last one, with only minor changes to the pay section on each page. Is it really necessary to review it again?"
Seeing how quickly the other party's attitude changed, Shirakawa Yuta became even more certain of his suspicions: this contract was definitely a scam!
So he stood up as well, completely unconcerned about the pressure emanating from the other person, and calmly said, "It's necessary! Since it's already past Kudo's closing time, I'll come back tomorrow. I'm not in a hurry anyway."
As he spoke, he started to walk outside.
Kudo Sakae felt a pang of anxiety, suddenly realizing that she had indeed been a little too hasty.
I had hoped to overwhelm him with my presence and force him to sign the contract, but I didn't expect this little brat to be completely unfazed by the pressure.
She forced herself to calm down, took a deep breath, and called out to Shirakawa Yuta, who had already reached the door.
"Yuta, I was a little too hasty just now. I had planned to go on a date with my boyfriend today, and I got a little impatient. Please don't mind."
Yuta Shirakawa smiled and continued, "Since Team Leader Kudo really has something else to do, how about we reschedule for another day?"
Kudo Sakae shook her head, her usual professional fake smile returning to her face: "The purpose of tonight's date was to celebrate signing such a talented author as you. The contract hasn't been signed yet, so what's the point of going on a date?"
After saying that, she continued without waiting for Shirakawa Yuta to speak, "Since Yuta wants to watch it again, that's fine too. But how about I watch it with you? We can quickly skip over the parts that don't have any problems, okay?"
Yuta Shirakawa hesitated for a moment before agreeing. With his current intelligence level of 9, he could usually get a general idea of the terms with just a glance.
There isn't a significant difference between watching it on your own and watching it with someone else's guidance.
So the two people who had almost fallen apart just moments ago sat together again. Shirakawa Yuta wrinkled his nose at the strong perfume on the other person, but didn't say anything. Instead, he and the other person started looking at the terms and conditions page by page.
To show that he had no hostility, Kudo Sakae even made special explanations on some potentially controversial points.
The 32-page contract was flipped to page 25 in less than ten minutes.
Although there had been no problems so far, Shirakawa Yuta did not relax at all and continued to watch carefully.
Just as they were about to turn to page 26, Kudo Sakae, after explaining a clause, suddenly said, "Yuta is so handsome and talented, he must be very popular at school."
Upon hearing this, Shirakawa Yuta was taken aback. The image of Takahashi Masako inexplicably flashed through his mind, followed by several other familiar faces. A smile involuntarily appeared on his face: "No, not really."
He was completely unaware that, while he was distracted, the contract had jumped from page 25 to page 27.