"Oh my... Senpai's ideas are truly novel! Is he really not considering the readers' feelings by writing like this? Even Nayuta feels a bit displeased... I suppose tomorrow will bring a storm of criticism, right? But he's always gone through this before. Just how strong is Senpai's mind?"
After marveling at the content, Kani Nayuta was now more concerned about Senpai's mental and physical well-being.
Public pressure has always been incredibly strong. Those who can stand firm need a resilient mind; otherwise, it's easy to change one's original intention under the sway of the public.
But Izumi Saikou is clearly not like that. He has never changed his ideas because of public discussion, whether it's demon slayer or puella magi madoka magica... He has always stayed true to himself.
This is Izumi Chihiro in Kani Nayuta's eyes.
It was also because she admired such a person and took him as her role model that she was able to quickly overcome her difficulties and free herself from the shackles of her heart.
...
Just as she had expected, the internet once again launched a verbal and written attack on Izumi Saikou.
Of course, the fervor this time was far less than before. The people expressing their opinions were generally those who had been following the story, or those who had been 'holding a grudge.' As soon as they saw a plotline they didn't like, they began to show off their presence.
Izumi Chihiro, however, found these comments quite interesting.
Because it didn't affect him; it was just an expression of the readers' temporary emotions and wouldn't impact their enthusiasm for buying light novels. So, he could view the online comments with the mindset of watching a show.
["Shocking! The magical girl turned into a witch! Is this the Old Thief's creativity? He's truly an unfathomable man."]
["Sayaka: It hurts, it hurts so much!"]
["Ugh, my Sayaka, she's so unfortunate! She used her prayers to gain the hope of saving the person she loved, but that hope turned into despair and backfired on her..."]
["If it were any other magical girl, Sayaka would have long since seen the light, given up on this unstarted romance, and then gotten close to other magical girls, entering a yuri storyline. But... this is the Old Thief's writing! There's no hope for salvation for anyone!"]
["She died, and then she turned into a witch. Isn't this even more torturous than what happened to the senior? The plot of these two volumes has completely made me withdraw, boohoohoo..."]
["The Old Thief is truly outrageous. How could you be so cruel to such a pitiful Sayaka? Oh, no, it's you, you're the one who made Sayaka so pitiful!"]
["Kyoko is also an unfortunate soul. Can't you arrange a couple for them? Wouldn't it be better if it wasn't so dark, Old Thief!"]
["What are you all getting so excited about? Haven't you seen through it yet? This guy is deliberately trying to torment people, purely disgusting. Everyone, stop reading!"]
["Hmm? Am I the only one concerned about Homura Akemi? Doesn't everyone want to know the story of Homura Akemi's timeline?"]
["Tsk tsk, you all get so invested in a light novel? I really don't understand. Such a brilliant idea of a work was almost ruined by you guys! Luckily, the author is smart and didn't listen to you, otherwise, he would have fallen for the trap."]
["The person upstairs, why are you acting so high and mighty? You don't know anything about magical girls!"]
["I will always support Teacher Izumi! Ganbatte! I hope Teacher, after seeing this message, can contact me. I want to chat with Teacher in person ~"]
...
"Heh, you want to contact me? You want to chat in person? Do you think I don't know what would happen? You'd definitely put a sack over my head and beat me up!"
Izumi Chihiro read through the comments one by one until he saw this one. After a cold laugh, he chose to close the comment section.
I've completely seen through your schemes!
The avatar even uses Madoka's illustration. It's definitely not some cute girl; it's obviously some big, rough man!
After enduring a round of not-so-forceful verbal and written attacks, he shook his head in disappointment.
This really isn't very forceful!
Or, are his readers all civilized people?
Izumi Chihiro smiled dismissively, then rolled himself into his blanket and fell asleep.
Because he had school tomorrow, he had to go to bed early.
"Good morning, Ni-san."
"Good morning, Sagiri."
Early in the morning, the two siblings greeted each other.
"Hehehe, Kasan, do you know what people on the internet are calling Ni-san now?"
Sagiri started a casual conversation.
"What are they calling him?"
Not only Mrs. Izumi but also Izumi Kotetsu pricked up his ears, wanting to hear his reputation.
Izumi Chihiro raised his eyebrows and said nothing.
"It's 'Old Thief,' you didn't expect that, did you?"
Sagiri instantly revealed the answer.
"Old Thief?"
"Why is that so strange? Chihiro is so young."
The couple exchanged glances.
"Because Ni-san, he..."
Sagiri explained the whole story to them.
"I see, no wonder Chihiro has such a mismatched nickname as Old Thief..."
Mrs. Izumi suddenly understood.
"Hahaha, that's so interesting! Chihiro, you've already reached this level! That's truly amazing!"
Izumi Kotetsu pressed a hand to his forehead and burst out laughing.
He felt genuinely relieved.
This child was more capable than he had imagined.
Not only his abilities but also his temperament had already matured considerably.
"Ahem, this isn't what I wanted, actually. 'Old Thief' or whatever, it doesn't sound like anything special."
Izumi Chihiro couldn't remain silent any longer, so he coughed a few times and said.
"Don't be modest. You're good at everything, except you lack a little confidence. To achieve this much, you should be proud of yourself."
Izumi Kotetsu patted him on the shoulder.
Izumi Chihiro was startled by his words.
If he had truly achieved such success at this age, then he should indeed be proud.
Because, apart from those two, no one else could compare to him.
However, the truth was not like that.
In terms of psychological age, with the overlap of two lives and so many experiences, he should be considered a more mature high school student. Plus, with the advantage of plagiarism, achieving such success could only be said to be natural; there was nothing to be proud of.
But then again, perhaps it shouldn't be seen that way.
Because if he didn't work hard, the results would only be worse, and his goals would become distant luxuries rather than achievable targets… so he should indeed feel proud.
Understanding this, Izumi Chihiro smiled and said, "You're right."
This unintentional conversation gave him stronger self-confidence.