After a Dog Tried to Scam Me, I Fell in Love with a Cursed Speech Sorcerer

Here's a little volleyball story I'm hoping to get published. The blurb is at the very bottom! I, Tadano Eri, am a newly hired veterinary assistant at Beika Pet Hospital. While waiting for a grilled rice ball, a white-haired boy who seemed to be having a chuunibyou episode asked for my contact information. I fell silent for a moment. "I get it, I get it. It's a dare, right?" The white-haired boy, who had even turned up his collar to cover the lower half of his face in the restaurant, crossed his arms in front of his chest. "...Bonito flakes." I thought his chuunibyou act was pretty funny, so I copied his pose and gave him an emphatic rejection. A few days later, I opened my door to take out the beer cans and other trash that, like me, wasn't much use to society. I found a Pomeranian abandoned right outside my door, as if it had been delivered with pinpoint accuracy. Me: ??? I cried out in despair, "What kind of monster thinks someone making 180,000 yen a month and working 996 hours can afford a pet?!" The dog woke from its nap and looked up at me in confusion. Then its eyes widened and it yipped, "Woof!" I heard it say, "Mentaiko." After a long silence, I patted its head and said mournfully, "Oh, you like mentaiko? Sorry, I usually have convenience-store rice balls that cost 120 yen for breakfast..." Two months later... My worldview collapsed. I was about to point at the white-haired guy, who I suspected of being a dog thief, and demand, "Where's my dog?" But he slowly pried my fingers open and gently rested his chin in my outstretched palm. My face was full of question marks. "...What?" He tilted his head and mouthed, "Wan wan" (the sound of a cute dog barking). (The blurb was screenshotted on September 13, 2022.) 1. The original story's plot is not covered, and the timeline is a mess. 2. A sweet little everyday romance, older-woman-younger-man dynamic, extremely out of character (hehe, look at the cover. Cute, right? So cute!) 3. For more reading guidelines, see the author's note in Chapter 1. Below is the blurb for my upcoming volleyball story, Oikawa Can't Sleep: Mayu's perspective Life in Miyagi Prefecture moves at a gentle, leisurely pace. There's the flower shop my grandparents carefully tend, and my like-minded friends in the drama club... It's a lovely, fulfilling life. That is, until we were assigned new classes in our second year of high school, and the volleyball club's hugely popular star sat down beside me. I immediately mourned inwardly for the peaceful school life I was about to lose, because he was glaring furiously at me. I had a pretty good idea why. He was the very guy people on the forum called a flirt: he accepted Valentine's chocolate cookies from anyone and then turned around and shared them with his teammates. He'd once tried a clumsy pickup line on me, and I'd seen right through it! Seriously, who still opens with, "Haven't we met somewhere before?" these days? Oikawa's perspective Mayu is a girl as pretty as a doll. I picked up this piece of information by chance from the conversations of the boys around me, but I didn't pay it much attention at the time. On the eve of the school festival, I passed a doll wearing heavy stage makeup and blurted out, "Haven't we met somewhere before?" She gave me a strange look, then finally managed to say, "I know you. You're that flirt from the volleyball team. I'm gonna pass." I froze on the spot. Not only because I'd inexplicably been accused of being a flirt, but because the doll's voice had accompanied me in my dreams on countless nights. ...Damn it. I'll just have to see when she finally remembers me. Reading guide: * Volleyball setter x musical theater actress * Also known as: Welcome to Aoba Johsai Romantic Academy. What comes to mind when you hear that the heroine is in musical theater? The Lorelei from the choir club and the drama club!! It's a mashup with the Nozaki-kun cast. Don't sweat the details; just imagine the schools merged into one romantic academy (beams, showing all my teeth) (?) * Out of character! Out of character! Theme: Reverence for nature, respect for life, and living in harmony