"You're here again?"
Yukino felt a strange sense of coincidence the moment Reina arrived.
It had been the same yesterday. She had just finished reviewing Haruto's manuscript when Reina came in to submit hers. And today was no different. She had just seen Haruto out, and less than half a minute later, Reina appeared once more.
Both of them were students from the same High School, and neither of them knew the other.
Yukino quickly brushed these irrelevant thoughts out of her mind and refocused on her work.
On-site manuscript reviews like this were part of Crimson Maple Literature's editors' daily routine. Editors took turns being on duty.
In reality, although dozens of people might come to submit manuscripts in a single day, it was very common for none of those submissions to be worth keeping.
Most novice authors preferred to submit by mail. Not everyone lived in the same city, and not everyone had the time or confidence to show up in person.
But yesterday was different.
Yukino had received two on-site submissions that she genuinely felt had potential.
One was, of course, Haruto's Blue Spring Ride.
The other was Reina's Yesterday's Starlight.
Although she felt that Yesterday's Starlight was slightly weaker than Blue Spring Ride in terms of emotional pull, it was still a very engaging novel overall.
Because of that, Yukino also planned to submit Yesterday's Starlight for review at the upcoming serialization meeting.
She had asked Reina to revise a few details and bring the manuscript back today, which was why their discussion now closely mirrored the conversation she had previously had with Haruto.
Yesterday's Starlight and Blue Spring Ride belonged to very similar genres, and the magazines suitable for their serialization largely overlapped.
In other words, the two novels were, in fact, competing with each other.
The difference was that Reina was not as selective as Haruto.
As long as her novel passed the serialization meeting, she did not mind even if it ended up in Orange Heart, a magazine with only thirty to forty thousand copies in circulation.
"So I need to remind you," Yukino said seriously, her expression firm.
"The result of the serialization meeting is still unknown. You need to be mentally prepared for both outcomes, whether your work passes or not. If it doesn't pass, adjust your mindset and don't get discouraged."
"But if it does pass, the pressure will not be light. I don't want to see your novel fall behind schedule, get abandoned, collapse in quality, or end prematurely due to slow writing speed or any other reason."
"Since your school still has two or three days before the new term starts, use this time to flesh out the later plot as much as possible."
"I understand. Thank you for the reminder, Aoyama-san," Reina replied, her expression turning solemn.
She was just an ordinary high school girl. Despite her good looks, she had almost no real-world experience. Writing novels was simply her hobby and her dream, something she had been secretly doing without her family's knowledge.
Hearing Yukino speak so seriously naturally put pressure on her.
Hiatuses, unfinished endings, creative burnout.
Reina honestly did not know whether she would encounter such problems if she truly became a serialized light novel author.
After all, she had only spent half a month outlining Yesterday's Starlight up to Chapter Four before mustering the courage to submit it. She had no real confidence about whether she could smoothly continue writing the later parts.
"Don't call me Aoyama-san," Yukino frowned slightly as she corrected her. "Just call me Yukino."
Reina nodded.
Her mind then drifted to the boy she had brushed past earlier, the one who seemed to be from the same school. She remembered that the author name on his manuscript's first page had been Haruto.
There were only two days left before school started. If he really was a classmate, she might try to pay attention after the term began.
Writing romance novels in secret and submitting them without her family's knowledge made Reina feel conflicted.
In her parents' eyes, she was an exemplary student.
Among relatives and acquaintances, she was the refined, well-behaved young lady.
She did not dare reveal what she truly enjoyed.
Yet discovering that someone else at her school was doing the same thing gave her an unexpected sense of kinship.
Haruto returned home and finally let out a long breath.
After being busy with this for several days, things had finally gotten off to a good start.
Still, Yukino's words that day lingered in his mind. The three chapters he had submitted were nowhere near enough. What really mattered was the story that came next.
Without wasting any time, he dropped his bag and went straight to his room to write.
In the blink of an eye, two days passed.
The date became February fifth.
It was the day of Crimson Maple Literature's serialization meeting.
Early that morning, Yukino arrived at the company carrying the manuscripts she intended to submit.
Inside the company, the atmosphere was already tense.
Competition existed everywhere.
On ordinary days, editors got along well enough, but at serialization meetings, it was a different story. Sharp words flew, and everyone fought for their own candidates. Every editor wanted the novels they had selected to successfully earn serialization slots in the company's magazines.
At nine o'clock sharp, all editors entered the largest conference room and took their seats around a round table. The atmosphere was solemn.
Crimson Maple Literature was best known for youth romance novels, though it accepted submissions of all genres.
Among the five major light novel publishers in Minamijo City, Crimson Maple held a clear reputation advantage in the romance category.
Every day and every week, the number of manuscripts submitted to Crimson Maple was enormous. Editors could only select a handful of works they personally believed in and bring those to the serialization meeting. Time was limited, so only the very best could be considered.
As for whether a work ultimately passed, that was decided collectively by all editors present and the editor-in-chief. The final authority lay with the editor-in-chief. Everyone else could only present their arguments.
At nine ten, the editor-in-chief, Akira Kurokawa, took her seat.
She was in her early forties, elegant in demeanor and slender in build. The sharpness in her gaze behind her glasses revealed her keen judgment.
Since romance submissions dominated, the editorial team was composed mostly of women, roughly sixty to seventy percent. As the meeting began, each editor had neatly organized stacks of manuscripts beside them.
In total, more than thirty selected novels awaited review.
"First, the opening submission," an editor began. "That Summer We Bloomed, a new work by veteran light novel author Chisaki-sensei, who has collaborated with us for four years. The plot is delicate, and the character settings show clear breakthroughs compared to her previous works."
As the editor introduced the novel, the sound of pages flipping filled the room.
Two minutes later, discussion erupted.
"I don't think the first chapter is very gripping. This kind of timid heroine doesn't get great market feedback lately."
"But that's not absolute. A newcomer might struggle with this type of protagonist, but Chisaki-sensei's skill is well known. Her previous work ran in Crimson Maple for three months and received excellent reviews."
"Even so, this opening chapter is clearly less engaging, so it's hard to directly compare the two."
Yukino remained silent throughout. The editors debating now were all aiming for the single available serialization slot in Crimson Maple, the company's flagship magazine. That had nothing to do with her.
She had no manuscript suitable for Crimson Maple this time.
Although she believed Blue Spring Ride was good enough, Haruto's status as a newcomer was a fatal drawback. Editor-in-chief would never risk approving it for the flagship magazine.
After about a minute of debate, Akira spoke.
"Pending."
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