At that moment, the boy and the girl found themselves thinking about almost the same thing.
The atmosphere turned subtly awkward.
For a while now, Haruto and Reina had been meeting at Yukino's apartment twice every week like clockwork.
Each time, after settling manuscript issues, they would sit down and game against each other until they lost all sense of time.
Did that count as being friends? Or was it simply a relationship between rival writers? Or maybe… there was no relationship at all, and they were essentially just strangers who had met a few times?
"All right, what's with the sudden gloomy faces? You're making things awkward for me too," Yukino said quickly, stepping in to break the tension.
"Whether you sign the long-term contract or not, that's fine. Now let's move on to the second thing."
It had been almost two years since Yukino graduated from university, and because of work, she often forgot what her student days had been like.
But these past two months, working with Haruto and Reina, both still in high school, had frequently brought those memories back. Even though they had not known each other for long, this was exactly why her fondness toward them had grown so quickly. To her, they felt like junior schoolmates she was looking after.
"The second thing tonight is that we're celebrating the completion of Blue Spring Ride and Yesterday's Starlight," Yukino said.
As she spoke, she pulled a large poster out of her bag, spread it open, and temporarily taped it to the wall.
When Haruto and Reina saw it, their expressions turned strange. It was clearly something Yukino had made herself using some rather clumsy photo-editing skills, then printed at a copy shop.
The poster displayed the serialization results, cover visuals, and a few congratulatory messages for both Blue Spring Ride and Yesterday's Starlight.
Honestly, both Haruto and Reina found this kind of celebration a little awkward. But awkward as it was, they still felt genuinely happy inside.
"What, you don't like it?" Yukino shot them a look.
"Well, haha, I do like it," Haruto said.
"M-me too," Reina added.
"So forced?" Yukino sneered.
She did not keep teasing them, though. Standing up, she ran into her bedroom, and about thirty seconds later came back out carrying two beautifully decorated gift boxes, handing one to each of them.
"What's this?" Reina asked, looking confused.
"A gift, obviously," Yukino said smugly. "I've been working closely with you two for a while as your editor. Now that the novels are finished, and since we get along pretty well, go on, open them."
Reina hesitated for a moment, but curiosity won out. She opened the box. Inside was a brand-new game console along with a game cartridge.
"The console you always play at my place is a limited collector's edition, so there's no way I'm giving that away," Yukino said. "This is the regular version, plus a copy of True Iron Soul. The fact that they're still producing new units of this old thing just proves how many retro fans there are these days. Take it home, practice more, and hopefully next time I'll see you beating Haruto senseless in this game."
Haruto immediately opened his own box. Inside was an anime figur
"I remember you saying that he was your favorite childhood anime character," Yukino said, looking at the two of them with a smile. "A friend of mine had one in her collection. I shamelessly begged her to ship it to me."
She straightened up and spoke with clear sincerity.
"Congratulations on Blue Spring Ride and Yesterday's Starlight reaching a successful conclusion. And I hope your future paths as light novel authors are smooth and steady."
At that moment, both Haruto and Reina felt a kind of happiness they could not put into words. Yet despite that, they could not bring themselves to smile right away. They simply stared at the gifts Yukino had given them, remaining silent for a long time. Because for both of them, this was the first time in their lives that a friend had ever given them a gift.
Time passed.
Both Blue Spring Ride and Yesterday's Starlight had entered their final stages, and the publisher had already informed readers in advance through the magazine.
Yesterday's Starlight would publish its final chapter next Wednesday.
Blue Spring Ride would publish its finale next Sunday.
Normally, Fridays had always been the day Haruto and Reina went to Yukino's place to submit manuscripts.
This routine had continued ever since the school term began.
But now…
For the first time since the start of the semester, both of them found themselves with nothing to do on a Friday night.
No writing.
No manuscript submission.
No discussing plots with Yukino.
No gaming duels at her place.
The past two months of serialized light novel life felt like a dream. Instead of relief, both of them felt like something was missing. As if life had suddenly lost a bit of its flavor. Still, there was a clear countdown timer ticking in both their minds, constantly applying pressure.
Yukino had already told them that by late May, Crimson Maple magazine would have two open serialization slots.
If they wanted to compete for those slots, then the time they had left to prepare a new work was just a little over a month.
"Reina, aren't you going to piano lessons tonight like you usually do on Fridays?"
After knocking, Reina's mother entered her room and brought her a bowl of dumplings in syrup.
"I'm not going," Reina replied softly. "I've been really focused on studying lately."
"My daughter is amazing," her mother said proudly. "You're completely different from those underachievers who only read novels, watch anime, and play games all day."
"But even if you study well, you still need balance. If you're interested, I can sign you up for horseback riding. A lot of my friends have been posting pictures of their daughters riding lately. I think you'd be even better than them."
"No need… for now," Reina replied.
After a few more casual words, her mother left the room, slightly disappointed. As soon as the door closed, Reina pulled out several books from her desk drawer and immersed herself in study.
The Path of Writing.
Three-Act Story Structure Techniques.
Light Novel Writing Guide.
The Life of an Author.
They were all well-known writing guides from Japan and abroad.
Up until now, her light novel writing had relied purely on talent. She had never systematically studied these things. But now she understood clearly that locking herself away and relying only on intuition was inefficient. Learning from the accumulated experience of great writers was the fastest way to grow. For the next month or so, she would devote herself entirely to studying writing.
Only then could she… surpass Haruto.
Meanwhile, Haruto was at home sorting through his personal belongings.
In just over a week, he would be moving out.
The house he had lived in for ten years was about to be seized and auctioned off. He felt a lingering sense of reluctance and melancholy. But there was nothing he could do. He was a law-abiding high school student.
He would have to find a new place to live.
Monday arrived.
One full week had passed since the release of the Blue Spring Ride and Yesterday's Starlight standalone volumes. Because there had been no work over the weekend, the sales data that should have been compiled on Saturday was only processed on Monday.
Yukino arrived at the publishing house early in the morning, waiting for the first-week sales results of both novels.
At nine o'clock, staff were still coordinating data with distributors.
By around ten, the figures were finalized.
The data was uploaded to the internal system, where any editor could access it.
Aside from Yukino, many editors at Crimson Maple were also paying close attention to these numbers. After all, from magazine serialization alone, it was impossible to accurately judge popularity or fanbase size.
Fleeting Blossoms carried over a dozen serialized novels. Out of its three hundred thousand sales,
how many readers were actually fans of these two works? No one could say.
Standalone sales were different. They were direct and unmistakable. That was why, in the light novel industry, standalone volume sales were effectively treated as a novel's true achievement and status.
Yukino felt a little nervous. Even though she knew the results were ready, she hesitated for nearly a minute before opening the report.
Meanwhile, voices were already rising in the open office area.
"No way. Is it really that high?"
"I knew it. They ordered a reprint by Tuesday. Obviously Blue Spring Ride exceeded expectations, but I never imagined it would exceed them by this much."
"And Yesterday's Starlight too. Even though it didn't sell as much as Blue Spring Ride, its late-stage quality jump was insane. The rating climbed to 8.9, second place in the magazine rankings, and third in votes. As expected, standalone sales don't lie. These two are both monsters."
The editors began buzzing with excitement.
Yukino finally stopped hesitating and opened the report.
Two lines of data appeared on the screen.
Blue Spring Ride, Volume 1.
First-week total sales: 180,186 copies.
Yesterday's Starlight, Volume 1.
First-week total sales: 65,982 copies
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