Because of Haruto's game matches with Reina, what should have been a simple one-hour manuscript review often got dragged out to two hours. More than once, they only left Yukino's apartment after wasting time battling it out on the console.
And lately, Haruto could no longer crush her effortlessly with one hand.
That sharp little gremlin had learned the controls, and the moment she got comfortable with the game's flow, her growth became absurd. If Haruto let his guard down for even a second, she would sniff out a crack and pin him briefly, forcing him to take it seriously.
Still…
She had not beaten him even once.
Not yet.
Haruto had nearly ten years of arcade experience behind him, while she only got to touch the game on the handful of days she came to Yukino's place to submit manuscripts.
The gap in experience was simply too wide.
"But even so," Reina said calmly, her hand tightening slightly, "since the very first installment until now, my numbers have been completely crushed by Blue Spring Ride. Ratings, votes, support totals, everything. I have not even gotten a single chance to overtake it."
She stayed clear-headed even when Yukino praised her.
The more Yukino described her as impressive, the more impressive it made Haruto look, because he was the one pressing her down so relentlessly.
Her voice sounded light and serene, but inside she felt awful.
No one was good at everything.
There were countless things she could never compete in. If it came to raising pigs, doing farm work, or managing crops, she could work her whole life and still not catch up to people who had grown up with that world in their hands. But she did not care about those fields. She had no emotional attachment to them. Losing there did not sting.
Only this did.
Novels.
Because of the strict way she had been raised, she had not been allowed many hobbies. The only thing she truly loved was reading fiction, and occasionally watching anime when she could squeeze time out of her schedule.
And because she loved it so much, she had finally gathered the courage to hide it from her family and submit her work, becoming a serialized author.
Yet in the one industry she cared about most, the moment she debuted, she was met with the same opponent again and again. The same age. The same school. Haruto.
They had submitted on the same day, been signed under the same editor, and ended up serialized in the same magazine. A perfectly fair competitive environment.
And she had been losing ever since.
Reina's gaze flickered toward Haruto.
This was someone she would never have paid attention to at school. Just an ordinary student, the kind who blended into the crowd.
And yet he was suppressing her in every category.
Maybe this was what fate had arranged for her. A rival placed directly in front of her. A mountain she was meant to climb. A whetstone meant to sharpen her.
Her desire to win had already mutated into something heavier.
Something obsessive.
She even dreamed of beating him, whether it was in game matches, or in the rankings.
Haruto thought Reina was the real genius.
Reina thought Haruto was the rival destiny had assigned her, the peak she had to surpass.
As for Yukino, she only felt like she had stumbled onto two treasures. And even geniuses needed a professional editor to point them toward the right career path.
Akira wanting these two to represent Crimson Maple Literature in the "Ascent of New Gods" selection looked rash at first glance.
But the more Yukino thought about it, the more she felt it made sense. Two young authors with this kind of potential should not be confined to one region.
Their stage should be all of Japan.
If they could truly take part in "The Ascent of New Gods," and make an appearance in front of readers nationwide, it would be an enormous boost to their careers as authors.
"After your current series ends," Yukino said slowly, "don't waste time. You should pour everything into planning your next work. You need to secure your popularity and even strengthen it. And you should aim for one thing."
She looked between them.
"Get your next novel serialized in Crimson Maple."
The "Ascent of New Gods" seed spots in their region were chosen based on a combination of factors: a rookie author's serialization results in major regional magazines, tankōbon sales, and other overall performance metrics.
Historically speaking, the rookies selected to compete in "The Ascent of New Gods" had all, within two years of debuting, earned serialization credits in top flagship publications like Crimson Maple or Blue Sky.
It was simple logic.
If a whole region only got three seed slots across two years, why would anyone choose you unless you had that level of potential?
Sure, even those selected authors often ranked in the lower half of the magazine. Some even scraped the very bottom, because they were still inexperienced.
But they were scraping the bottom of magazines that sold seven hundred thousand, eight hundred thousand, sometimes close to nine hundred thousand copies per issue.
In the eyes of most people in the industry, being the weakest in a top-tier magazine still carried more weight than being number one in a smaller one.
Even if Haruto topped Fleeting Blossoms, many editors would still rank that achievement half a tier below barely surviving in Crimson Maple.
Because most of the series in Fleeting Blossoms were, bluntly, works that had failed to secure a slot in Crimson Maple.
So even if you dominated Fleeting Blossoms, you were still just the tallest person in a shorter crowd.
"Huh?" Haruto blinked.
Why was Yukino suddenly talking about aiming for Crimson Maple with their next work?
Of course having that goal was good, but the urgency in her tone felt unusual. Yukino was normally steady and measured. This sounded like she wanted them to achieve it fast.
Reina also looked at Yukino, sensing how seriously she was taking it.
Seeing the confusion in their eyes, Yukino explained, briefly but clearly, what "The Ascent of New Gods" actually was: a nationwide selection event for promising rookie light novel authors.
A few minutes later, both Haruto and Reina nodded, still slightly dazed.
"So you understand now," Yukino said. "Around the end of the year, the seed slots for each region will start being evaluated. Then early next spring, the Ascent of New Gods magazine will go on sale across Japan. But if you want even a chance at being selected for our regional seed slot, you need a work that earns real results in Crimson Maple."
She leaned back and continued.
"And you can't assume serialization openings appear whenever you want them. Sometimes two or three slots open up in a short time. Other times, you might not see a single opening for months. That's why you need to prepare a new, high-quality manuscript in advance and wait. The moment a slot opens, you strike."
Then she smiled, as if she had suddenly remembered something personal.
"Let's see which of you gets into Crimson Maple first. If either of you pulls it off, it'll make me look good too. I've been working here almost two years since graduating, and I still haven't cultivated a single author who landed a series in Crimson Maple. It's honestly been a regret of mine."
She paused, as if she almost said something else, but swallowed it. When she noticed neither of them seemed to catch the slip in her wording, she relaxed. Her pale, cute face brightened, and she laughed.
"Anyway, whoever helps me achieve that goal first, I'll give you a reward."
"A reward?" Haruto's eyes lit up immediately.
"What kind of reward?"
"Well…" Yukino brushed her hair behind her ear, her eyes smiling.
"A fun reward."
She leaned forward a little, clearly enjoying herself.
"And listen, I'm saying this now, so you can't back out later. Even if you don't like it when the time comes, you're not allowed to refuse."
"…," Haruto said, suddenly uneasy.
Reina had been quiet for a long time. The atmosphere started to feel faintly strange, and both Haruto and Yukino turned to look at her.
Reina, meanwhile, was fully immersed in Yukino's words.
A race.
A contest.
After their current novels ended, they would compete to see who earned a Crimson Maple serialization slot first.
Victory.
Defeat.
Competition.
Her chest tightened, and something hot surged up inside her. Right now, both novels are at their fifth installment, but Blue Spring Ride still crushed her Yesterday's Starlight. Would Yesterday's Starlight ever overtake it before ending? She did not know.
But at least right now…
She looked at Haruto, and her fighting spirit flared.
Losses happened. That was normal.
The pain of losing with Yesterday's Starlight was real, but facts were facts.
Still.
If Yesterday's Starlight could not surpass Blue Spring Ride even by the time it ended, then at the very least, in their next duel…
Reina's heartbeat quickened.
She would win from the beginning.
And by "beginning," she did not mean the first installment's rankings.
She meant the moment their new manuscripts were submitted to Crimson Maple's editorial department.
She meant that moment when the editors, after reviewing both works, would sign off decisively and unanimously, saying, Reina's new work was clearly better than Haruto's.
They would praise her series with the kind of admiration she had always wanted to hear, and when they spoke about Haruto's manuscript, it would be reduced to a single sentence.
Just imagining it made the corner of Reina's lips lift. A dazzling, beautiful smile surfaced, so vivid it almost seemed unreal. For a moment, both Haruto and Yukino froze.
She smiled so nicely.
No, that was not the point.
The point was, why was she spacing out in the middle of a serious conversation, and why was she smiling to herself like she had just won the lottery?
It did not match her ice-cold genius honor student reputation at all.
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