Izumi Sagiri puffed her cheeks in frustration.
It was all because of that boy.
She couldn't completely immerse herself in the main character anymore.
Grabbing her digital drawing tablet,
Izumi Sagiri began to illustrate.
She didn't need to think too much.
In her mind, the lives of the boy and the girl were clear,
She just needed to draw what she saw.
....
Elsewhere.
At Yukima's house.
"Home so early? Not going to have dinner before heading home?"
Yukima Azuma stood at the entrance, gently trying to advise the girl to stop.
"I would like to stay, but my sister is off today and came home, so I have to go cook."
"Otherwise, my sister will starve to death."
Kato Megumi said.
After hearing this, Yukima Azuma could only laugh bitterly.
"Ah, so younger sister has spoiled older sister and made she into a brat."
"If you meet my sister, Azuma-san, don't say that."
"Eh? Why can't I say it?"
"That's right, my sister is very sly."
Yukima Azuma nodded.
From Kato Megumi, one could sense a kind of inherited slyness.
But since Megumi was gentler, the slyness wasn't very apparent.
After changing her shoes, Kato Megumi waved goodbye to Yukima Azuma.
In response, Yukima Azuma didn't wave back. After changing her shoes, she walked with her to the station.
At the station, Yukima Azuma finally waved goodbye to Kato Megumi.
Getting on the train at Shibuya station, Kato Megumi got off at the station near her home.
She arrived home, took the key out of her bag, and opened the door.
As soon as she opened the front door,
A grown figure with black hair rushed out.
Kato Hiromi.
Her older sister, six years older than Kato Megumi.
She is preparing to graduated from university this year.
"Sis, what are you looking for?"
Kato Megumi asked as she saw her sister rushing out, looking around.
"Of course, I'm looking for your boyfriend. Aren't you bringing him home?"
Kato Hiromi said matter-of-factly.
"I don't have one."
"Are you lying? I heard from Mom and Dad that there have been several times you didn't sleep at home."
"I just stayed over at a friend's house, helping to take care of the stray cat that we adopted."
"That's a clumsy excuse, even worse than mine back in the day. Come on, Megumi, tell the truth."
Kato Hiromi and her current boyfriend had secretly been in a relationship since high school.
Back when she was in high school, Kato Hiromi had also often stayed out, not coming home to sleep.
Kato Megumi had even helped cover for her.
Last year, Kato Hiromi finally brought her boyfriend home.
After meeting their parents, they got engaged.
The wedding was scheduled for this winter.
The same time Kato Hiromi graduated from university.
With the experience of someone who had gone through it,
Kato Hiromi understood all these little tricks.
Under pressure from her sister's questions,
Kato Megumi thought about a certain boy.
But right now, they were just friends.
They could only be considered good friends, not quite to the level of a romantic partner.
Besides, there were still many competitors.
Kasumigaoka-senpai was the biggest threat.
Then there was Yukinoshita-san.
And the pink-haired girl Megumi met at the live house in Shimokitazawa.
Kirisu-sensei also didn't seem easy to beat.
Each competitor was very strong.
Hmm... did I forget someone?
Never mind, it's not important.
Anyway, Kato Megumi didn't want to talk about romance with her sister for now.
At least, she would wait until after achieving success.
"If you keep talking nonsense, you'll be cooking dinner yourself tonight."
Kato Megumi said lightly.
With that strong threat,
Kato Hiromi chuckled and immediately ran into the house.
"Megumi, I'm going to read a light novel for a bit. Call me when dinner's ready, love you!"
That was the last thing her older sister said before disappearing without a trace.
"Light novel... huh?"
Kato Megumi muttered, then went to the kitchen, put on an apron, and skillfully tied the bow behind her.
After cooking dinner,
Kato Megumi went to her sister's room and knocked on the door.
Kato Hiromi immediately opened the door and stepped out.
The two sisters sat down at the dining table and began chatting.
"Sis, what's the female protagonist in a light novel usually like?"
Kato Megumi casually started the conversation.
"Eh? I thought you didn't like light novels?"
"Just answer the question."
"Let me think... first, the female protagonist has to be very beautiful, someone who stands out in a crowd."
Kato Megumi stroked her cheek and then twisted a strand of her hair a bit too hard.
"Then, she usually has one standout quality, like being a genius in some field."
Kato Megumi took a sip of orange juice, and when she pulled the straw out, there were small bite marks on it.
"Lastly, she has a personality flaw, or a sad past that she keeps hidden. This is an important element that drives the plot."
Kato Megumi thought for a moment.
She had both parents, an older sister, a home, she wasn't kidnapped when she was young, and her grades were normal, so there wasn't really anything to regret.
"Megumi, could you scoop me another bowl of miso soup?"
"Go scoop it yourself. You're always bossing me around like this. If you keep going, you'll turn into a useless person!"
"Ehhh!? What's going on!?"
— — — — — — — — — — —
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Chapter 111: The Publication Day of "Saekano"
Sato Kazuma.
An otaku.
Normally, when he's not playing games, he's either reading light novels or watching anime.
He is the type of person who can seriously say:
"Yesterday, my team and I went through a hard adventure, overcoming dangerous challenges, and finally accomplished a great feat."
This could be used to describe the boss from the game we fought together yesterday.
Being able to get into Toyogasaki High School was definitely pure luck.
Picking random answers, but just right enough to pass.
Speaking of which, this guy Sato Kazuma has been very lucky since he was young.
He has never lost at rock-paper-scissors.
Today, the online game Sato Kazuma plays is undergoing maintenance and updates.
So, with nothing else to do, he casually reopened the light novel website "Let's Become a Novelist!" after a long time.
He skimmed through the rankings a bit.
"Honestly, can these authors just die already?"
On the rankings, from bottom to top:
"The Legend of the Phantom Blade", "Jujutsu Kaisen"...
He looked at them all.
They were all battle stories, fantasy.
Moreover, they were either the most famous works in the light novel industry, like Muramasa Senju-sensei's "The Legend of the Phantom Blade," or manga works that had been expanded into light novels, like "Jujutsu Kaisen."
Clearly, the industry is in trouble, and everyone is struggling to survive.
For this reason, Sato Kazuma had not visited the light novel website for a long time.
When he was about to close the website, the top-ranked work immediately caught his eye.
"The Youth of a Lonely Boy Will Not Dream of a Passerby Heroine."
It was a romance-comedy novel.
This was what made Sato Kazuma pay attention.
Even though he had previously criticized the industry as being on the brink of death, he couldn't do anything about itthe market currently favors battle stories, fantasy, and isekai.
This is an undeniable fact.
In this context, a romcom still managed to carve out its own niche to stand out.
Sato Kazuma couldn't wait and clicked on the page to read.
"Yukimi Azuma? This author's name is so similar to my friend's! Just one character different, almost the same pronunciation."
When he saw the author's name, Sato Kazuma froze for a moment.
But soon, he didn't care.
Just a casual thought, then he moved on.
There's no way that guy, the riajuu, could be the author of this light novel.
Then later.
"Holy Shit, looks like it really is that guy!"
Sato Kazuma held his head.
Why was he so sure?
Because he saw his own name in the novel.
The protagonist's best friend.
This time, he didn't even bother changing the name and used the original one directly.
It immediately made Sato Kazuma stunned.
After reading the posted content, Sato Kazuma was left in a daze.
After finishing reading, his first feeling was extreme jealousy.
"Sure enough, the top student in school writes really well."
As a seasoned otaku, Sato Kazuma had also tried writing light novels.
The result... don't ever bring it up again...
That's why he understood just how good "Yukimi Azuma" is work was.
With mixed emotions, Sato Kazuma opened his YouTube and Twitter accounts.
As an otaku, Sato Kazuma often livestreams gaming on YouTube.
On Twitter, he runs game and light novel reviews.
Both accounts combined have over a million followers.
On his accounts, Sato Kazuma started tweeting.
[Advocating of Gender Equality:
Book recommendation, not an advertisement, enjoy freely.
By the way, before introducing the book, I want to say to other light novel authors: Stop being stupid and copying each other, dominating the rankings with nearly identical stories all the time, just die already!
Main content: 10/10, 120% recommendation, "The Youth of a Lonely Boy Will Not Dream of a Passerby Heroine." by Yukimi Azuma-sensei.
Link here: (pa.treon.com/curse_heian_chef).
Reason for recommendation: Honestly, you'll understand once you read it, and if anyone doesn't like this book, all I can say is: "Go ahead and enjoy your brain-dead isekai harem stories"]
A tweet as sharp as this one is rarely posted even by bloggers who specialize in attracting attention.
But it's true, compared to ordinary tweets that are nothing special.
A sharp way of speaking like this easily piques people's curiosity.
There are quite a few fans of Sato Kazuma.
With the thought: "This guy is definitely getting paid for advertising," they clicked on the link.
Preparing to look at a few pages and then return to scold Sato Kazuma thoroughly.
However, almost no one came back.
"Saekano" was posted on the web light novel and reached the top of the rankings in just one day.
Apart from being introduced by many bloggers.
The quality of the book itself left people with nothing to say.
Especially in the context of an industry flooded with isekai and fantasy novels in the past few years.
Where readers have started to feel tired of these genres.
Before the real promotion campaign even started, the book's popularity had already reached its peak.
Izumi Sagiri's work was completed very quickly.
Within just a few days, all the beautiful illustrations were sent.
Yukima Azuma took a look.
The quality exceeded expectations.
After sending the illustrations, there was no further response.
Perhaps they had already fallen into a deep sleep.
These illustrations were definitely drawn with full effort, without rest.
The love the girl had for the work was clearly visible in every stroke.
Yukima Azuma packed up the illustrations and went to Laplace.
The seventh floor of the Laplace building.
Currently, this is the office of Laplace Bunko.
It was previously Dengeki Bunko, and after the name change, the original team still works here.
Machida Sonoko had also resigned from Fujikawa and moved here.
Upon meeting, Machida Sonoko couldn't hold back and immediately asked:
"How about the illustrator, have you found one?"
"There will be a storm coming soon, it will affect distribution, if we hesitate any longer, we'll have to wait until July to release it."
"By then, the current hype online will be wasted, we need to act fast!"
Yukima Azuma said nothing, just handed the materials to Machida Sonoko.
Machida Sonoko took them, opened them up.
Immediately, she was overwhelmed by the exquisitely surreal illustrations.
She widened her eyes, staring at Yukima Azuma.
She couldn't understand at all.
Yukima Azuma, a rookie in the light novel industry, had no connections.
How could she find such a talented artist in such a short time?
This isn't something that can be solved just with money.
She took an illustration out of the file.
Machida Sonoko looked at the bottom right corner where the signature was.
When she saw the name Eromanga-sensei, she no longer wanted to ask anything.
This is ridiculous.
Nevertheless, Machida Sonoko only wanted to say the more ridiculous, the better.
She had gambled her whole career when she moved here.
Yukima Azuma was even more of a monster that ordinary people could not understand.
She felt even more excited.
"Everything's ready, then let's start the marketing campaign immediately, we'll officially release it this Saturday."
"With the current hype online and Eromanga-sensei's fanbase."
"It will definitely succeed, it must succeed! Hey, kid, what's the first print run, you decide."
"My plan is at least 500,000 copies!"
Machida Sonoko said excitedly.
A rookie and a new work, a first print run of 500,000 copies.
Saying it like this, there will definitely be people thinking this editor is crazy.
Usually, for a new work from a rookie, if it can print 10,000 copies in the first run, it's considered a success.
And 500,000 copies.
Currently, the record for first-day sales in the light novel industry is nearly that.
And this record was set by a work that had accumulated countless fans, a work that had gone through multiple volumes.
After hearing Machida Sonoko's words, Yukima Azuma thought for a moment.
Then gave his response.
"For the first print... one million copies."
Machida Sonoko, in her excitement, froze for a moment, staring at Yukima Azuma.
Then said nothing and continued with her work.
The office, which was previously quiet, immediately became busy.
It was once Dengeki Bunko, now Laplace Bunko.
This is a third-tier publisher that has been in the industry for many years.
