Ah yes, the "reference material" brand of story. Nothing wrong with that, it's always interesting to see how it gets brought up in these stories.
Hmm, so that Higashino guy rushing them was, in fact, him just being a wingman, right? By introducing a sense of urgency, it prompted her to take desperate measures and volunteer as his reference material.
Well, his despair when it comes to working in a job where pretty much everyone just sleeps at the office certainly sounds very believable. And hey, I'm sure it'd help his motivation if she gave him a 'reward' every now and then...
Great ending though! Ah yes, she's mad, but rather than resort to violence or anything of the sort...Well, she just increases his workload. A win-win for both her and the company output, really.
Uh, ... guess this could be considered yet another instance of "Art Imitating Life", where (as to be expected) "... the names have been changed to protect the innocent".