Date A Live Encore - Volume 9 - Chapter 3

Natsumi Challenge

 That afternoon, nothing special happened. 

 As always, the supermarket was full of delicious ingredients and there were no impediments on the way home. There was no blood on the hand sanitizer bottle. And there were no freshly decapitated heads as I put the things I bought into the refrigerator. 

 It was a calm afternoon as usual. I looked at the clock and I realized it was already 4 pm. I was starting to get a little hungry. For a late afternoon snack, Shido brewed black tea and brought some biscuits and chocolates from a shelf and returned to the living room sofa to sit down. 

 After taking a sip of tea, Shido stretched out his hand to pick up the remote control to turn on the TV. It was at that moment— 

 “—Huh?!” 

 Itsuka Shido finally noticed something and shrieked in surprise. 

 His reaction was understandable, of course. After all, where he had been sitting was now playing host to some sort of messy-looking, mysterious object. 

 Wait a second, once he calmed down and got a closer look, he quickly realized that this wasn’t some strange creature or some undiscovered monster. Instead, it was a little girl hugging a cushion tightly while squatting there. 

 “N-Natsumi?! What are you doing…? Never mind that, when did you get here?” 

 After Shido asked that question, the girl named Natsumi did not answer. 

 Her lifeless eyes stared into the void and her currently half-open mouth mumbled occasionally—much like a fish trying to get oxygen—little by little. Seeing this apparently problematic predicament, Shido frowned with concern. 

 Although she was not normally a girl with a lively personality, this expression was even odder than usual. Shido gently shook her shoulder and spoke. 

 “Natsumi, are you okay? Natsumi?” 

 Then, Natsumi seemed to have finally recognized Shido’s presence. Her gaze turned to meet his and with a big sigh, Natsumi started to speak: 

 “…I want to move…” 

 “…Huh?” 

 Her unexpected answer confused Shido. 

 “What happened? Natsumi?” 

 After Shido asked the question, Natsumi sighed once more and began to groan audibly. 

 “…Eh?” 

 —That morning, when Natsumi came down to the apartment’s common room, she was met with a terrible surprise and instinctively frowned in response. 

 But that was completely understandable. 

 Although there were already a couple of people present, it wasn’t who but rather what they were doing that was, at least at first glance to Natsumi, completely incomprehensible. 

 One of them was a young girl with red hair tied into two twin tails with black ribbons—Itsuka Kotori—who was holding what looked like a particular type of ribbon in her hand with a look that expressed equal parts surprise, curiosity, and envy all intertwined on her face. 

 The other person was a girl with blonde hair so long that it touched the floor—Hoshimiya Mukuro—but she wasn’t wearing her usual casual clothes. Instead she was wearing the same school uniform that Kotori wore when she went to school… Although, the shirt of the sailor uniform was boldly rolled out and her chest was exposed. Her large chest contrasted with her young appearance and accentuated with mature-looking underwear that didn’t really suit her, giving her a subtle sense of maturity. 

“…Ah, excuse me…” 

 After standing there, shocked, for a few seconds, Natsumi mumbled a little and then quietly closed the door. 

 Except, almost immediately after she closed the door, the sound of footsteps clicking towards her could be heard and the door was violently thrown open again. 

 “Hey! What’s with that sort of casual reaction?!” 

 Kotori shouted in a panic as she grabbed Natsumi’s wrists tightly before she could do anything. 

 “Sorry… please just let me go… I promise I won’t tell anyone who is misleading Mukuro and forcing her to do a little special roleplay…” 

 “Just as I thought! You are really misunderstanding this! That’s not what we’re doing at all!” 

 “Uh… then sure enough, your real intention was to use some sort of black magic to give yourself some of Mukuro’s chest…” 

 “How would such a thing even work?! And more importantly, what do you mean by ‘sure enough’?!” 

 Kotori shouted loudly as she dragged Natsumi over to where Mukuro was standing. 

 It was at that moment that Natsumi looked at the ribbon-like object that Kotori had been holding the entire time, and noticed it was labeled with intervals of numbers. 

 “…A measuring tape?” 

 “Yes, I wanted to measure Mukuro for a school uniform.” 

 Kotori explained and Mukuro gently nodded. 

 “Indeed, Muku borrowed a uniform from Imōtogo, but the top did not fit. Although what followed was almost…” 

 Kotori’s face trembled as Mukuro spoke. If the observation equipment of <Fraxinus> was monitoring Kotori’s mental state, it wouldn’t be surprising if the alarm went off. 

 “Okay, I understand that part… but why are you wearing a junior high school uniform? Is this something Shido’s into?” 

 “How did you come to that conclusion?! Please fix your perspective.” 

 “Eh, for uniforms, what other uses are there for them aside from that kind of play…” 

 “Wouldn’t you normally use them to just go to school?” 

 Kotori let out an unbearable cry. That question caught Natsumi by surprise and an involuntary frown overtook her. 

 “Go to school?” 

 “Mun.” 

 Mukuro nodded and then explained. 

 “Muku told Imōtogo that I wanted to start at the same junior high school with her in April.” 

 “So that’s all it is, although I don’t know how old Mukuro actually is. If she wants to go to school anyway, I figured she would feel more at ease if she came with me to my junior high school.” 

 “Hah…” 

 Kotori and Mukuro’s explanation made Natsumi sigh. 

 School, needless to say, was synonymous with hell. It was essentially a compulsory containment facility that forcibly packed people with different qualities together for an attempt at a semi-normal life. 

 “To willingly choose to take this path… such a thing is really admirable. Please grant me your gracious blessings.” 

 After she said that, Natsumi bowed down to her. Then Mukuro mimicked Natsumi’s behavior when she first came in. In front of Natsumi was an impressive chest which was like a blessing of some sort in her eyes. Specifically, it was like offering a tribute every day and praying hoping to the breast enlargement god that your chest would get bigger. It wouldn’t be a surprise if someone decided to worship something that would help them enlarge their breasts. 

 “What are you doing… could it be that you want to too, Natsumi?” 

 “…Huh? What are you talking about?” 

 “Go to school! Go to school! Haven’t you ever enrolled before?” 

 “…Huh?!” 

 This new piece of information that they shared made Natsumi’s eyes widen in shock. 

 “Wai-Wait a minute! Wait a minute! What are you trying to say?! This is the first that I’m hearing about any of this…?!” 

 “Well, that’s why we’re telling you about it now.” 

 “No! No! No! No, that is definitely not the case! When did you get to decide this sort of thing for me without asking my permission?! No, I definitely won’t do it!” 

 “Really? But didn’t Yoshino already happily accept?” 

 “Eh…!” 

 When she heard this, Natsumi gasped and trembled. 

 Yoshino was one of the Spirits living in this apartment complex just like Natsumi. She was a goddess who would treat everyone kindly, even Natsumi. However, Natsumi had been unwilling to participate in the enrollment experience before. In the end, it was Yoshino’s begging that was Natusmi’s main reason to agree to go. 

 However, Natsumi’s trembling was not just because of this. From what Kotori said, there was one more thing that was making Natsumi uneasy. 

 There were now ten Spirits under the protection of <Ratatoskr>. Tohka, Origami, Kaguya, Yuzuru, and Miku, who all attended high school. Kotori who went to junior high school. Nia who has a job and Miku who also works as an idol. 

 That’s right, if Yoshino and Mukuro started going to school, that meant that among the Spirits under the protection of <Ratatoskr>, Natsumi would be the only person not doing anything and spending all her time wrapped in a cocoon. 

 In her mind, Natsumi’s overactive imagination began to spur. Every day the sun rose and she woke up alone. Every day she would eat a prepared breakfast (when it was already time for lunch instead). Because she had nothing to do, she would either go back to sleep or go play a game online. By the time she would get hungry again, it would already be evening. She would have dinner with the others who came back from school but everyone’s gazes gradually became more sinister-looking—What’s that, she doesn’t want to go to school yet? Just because Spirits have <Ratatoskr> to support them, it’s easy to take care of yourself—No, it’s okay, Natsumi-san. Everyone has their own way to live their lives so don’t worry… Eh? Play games together…? I’m sorry, I have homework that I have to do…Well, it would be nice to take a bath, I always feel comfortable after taking a bath every day…? 

 “AAAAHHHHHHH!” 

 Natsumi screamed. No, Natsumi knew that none of the others would say such things about her but she had a notorious streak of self-loathing. 

 No! No! This was really bad! It would be better if Yoshino and Mukuro didn’t go to school and have their innocence completely exposed. 

 Or at least, Yoshino and Mukuro could wait until they got used to life on this side. They were not the same as Natsumi who’d long since learned to adapt to society. Natsumi already understood that. But now that she was confronted face-to-face with it, she felt a burning, stabbing pain assaulting her. 

 But despite that, Natsumi still couldn’t imagine having to go to school every day. What other options did she have— 

 “…Ah!” 

 Almost immediately, Natsumi felt a bolt of inspiration shoot through her mind. 

 Originally, Natsumi thought that there were only two options: either go to school or just stay home and wrap herself in a cocoon. But that wasn’t the case. She did have another option. 

 That’s right—she could work. 

 If she did that, she could live comfortably without help from anyone else. As long as no one had problems with it. 

 “What’s wrong, Natsumi. You suddenly started yelling and stopped talking…” 

 “…I was just thinking about it for a bit. Perhaps this would be…” 

 Natsumi finished explaining in a hollow tone and then left the common room with slightly swaying footsteps. 

 “N-Natsumi?” 

 “Mun, where are you going?” 

 Natsumi heard those voices from behind her but she could not muster the strength needed to answer them. 

◇◇◇

 “…So, you thought that it would be okay if you didn’t go to school as long as you worked? But it wouldn’t be possible to work just by looking through applications and such. You know that, right?” 

 After Shido summarized everything that Natsumi told him, she nodded with a dark expression on her face. 

 “…Although, I looked at job recruitment magazines and websites, what the hell is with this? Why do all of these jobs require strong communication skills? Sales are definitely not possible; Marketing is impossible; and the relationships with coworkers in the workplace. Just thinking about it makes me want to vomit… professional work is super hard. It’s incredible. Many companies’ employees are superhumans. The working class can be just as incredible as Superman…” 

 Natsumi spoke with a sluggish smile as she shrugged. Her desire for independence made Shido smile. 

 “Well, I agree that people who work are very powerful… Anyway, you said you still hate school right? Didn’t you mention that you made some friends when you tried enrolling in the past?” 

 “…Those are two different things. I don’t hate Kanon and we can always meet outside of school. But a one-day limited experience of enrollment was enough. Just the thought of going to school for an entire year makes me want to vomit.” 

 “Yes, I guess it would… So what are you going to decide to do?” 

 “…I’m not going to go to school but I don’t want to just stay at home since no one else is going to be here. Could I do what Nia does? I don’t mind just messing around during the daytime…” 

 “Like Nia… uh, she is a manga artist so she’s not just messing around, is she…?” 

 Shido suddenly found himself becoming uneasy. Nia didn’t really need to go to work because she didn’t work for a company, but Nia was probably pretty busy as well… 

 At that moment, Shido frowned slightly. Natsumi seemed to realize what he was thinking and her eyes widened. 

 “Huh? What’s wrong, Natsumi.” 

 “—That’s it.” 

 “A manga artist! Why didn’t I think of that sooner? I often help Nia with her manga so I can do at least the most basic art possible. I can do it without having to leave the house. But more importantly, I can always do the same work that Nia does. I can do this…!” 

 “…A-Ah, uh—? Wait, that…is that true?” 

 Shido sighed in embarrassment. He suspected that being a manga artist was not an easy job but it looked like Natsumi was genuinely excited about her idea. Shido wasn’t going to ruin her mood and throw cold water on her idea. 

 “…Okay, since this is my decision, I'd better get started right away. I’ll start by drawing a storyboard. Thank you Shido, you’re really helped me. Ah! But you can’t tell any of the others about this!” 

 After Natsumi finished speaking, she stood up and made her way out of the living room with brisk steps that were completely unimaginable for someone like her. 

◇◇◇

 It was several days later when Shido made his way toward Natsumi’s room at the top floor of the Spirit apartment complex and knocked on the door. 

 “Hello, Natsumi? Are you there?” 

 There was no response to Shido’s calls. She didn’t even answer when he rang the doorbell. 

 “What’s going on? Wasn’t she the one that called me…?” 

 Shido tilted his head in confusion. That’s right. The reason why Shido had come here was because Natsumi had sent him a message requesting help. 

 He suspected that there weren’t enough people to make sure the manuscript was perfect. It was something that was easy to take for granted. Manga artists with a serialization in the works usually had at least a few assistants to help them prepare the manuscript. 

 Or maybe she was having trouble with her story. That’s also possible. Natsumi is an incredible artist and she was very good at imitating other people’s skills. But as far as Shido knew, original stories had to be written from scratch. 

 “Huh…?” 

 After knocking on the door a few times, all of a sudden, the doorknob turned and the heavy door opened. 

 “Oh, Natsumi, I’m here to help you. How has you progress been—” 

 In an instant, Shido fell silent. 

 The reason was simple. Instead of the petite girl on the other side of the door, there was a beautiful young woman with a slender figure. 

 She had gorgeous long and silky straight hair. She had almond shaped green eyes. Even the most gorgeous models would be willing to face hurricanes and disasters for a body like that. She wore a bold gown that put her mature charm on full display. 

 “Uh… eh?!” 

 “Ah, Shido-kun. I’ve been waiting for you. Please come in.” 

 After greeting Shido, the beautiful woman took Shido’s hand as she guided him inside. He was pulled straight into the room, but in the process, Shido managed to calm down as he was looking at her. 

 “N-Natsumi? Why did you transform…?” 

 Shido narrowed his eyes as he asked her that question. 

 That’s right, the person standing in front of Shido was undoubtedly Natsumi herself—but she somehow managed to transform herself with her Angel <Haniel>. 

 Natsumi chuckled without a hint of surprise. 

 “This? You see, because I have to take this somewhere afterwards, if I look like how I normally would, they probably wouldn’t let me in, right?” 

 “No, I don’t think… uh, where are you planning on taking that?!” 

 What Natsumi said made Shido shout in surprise. 

 As it turned out, Natsumi intended to deliver the manuscript to the publishing house and present it to an editor. There were plenty of other manga artists who were chosen by editors and then had their chance at a debut. 

 Natsumi’s revelation that she intended to take the manuscript to the publishing house took Shido by surprise (well, so it turned out that way), but more to the point, Shido was more surprised that Natsumi managed to finish the entire manuscript on her own. 

 “Did you already finish drawing it?!” 

 “That’s right, after I finished the story, I drew up an outline of the manuscript that day. It took a day to write the composition and took two days to finish the complete manuscript. I probably could have done it faster if I had an assistant since it took awhile for me to understand how the colors work together and finding materials with complex backgrounds…” 

 “Whoa, you really didn’t make any mistakes…? So, why did you need my help?” 

 “Ah… that…” 

 After Shido finished speaking, Natsumi smiled cheerfully as she turned around. 

 “Eh…?!” 

 Shido flushed as he saw Natsumi’s back. Because the zipper on the back of Natsumi’s dress was not zipped up properly, leaving her delicate bare back exposed. 

 “I can’t go out dressed like this. Now could you help me zip this up?” 

 Natsumi whispered sweetly. Shido averted his gaze as he pulled up her zipper with slightly trembling fingers. 

 “Ah, thank you very much, Shido-kun. Well, I’m off. Look forward to good news!” 

 Having finished speaking, Natsumi picked up the envelope containing the manuscript and put on her shoes. 

 At that moment, Shido, who’d been completely entranced by the situation, suddenly realized what was about to happen as his eyes widened. 

 “Hey! Wait a minute! Are you planning to go out dressed like that?” 

 “Eh? That’s right. Is there a problem?” 

 As she spoke, Natsumi turned around, her skirt boldly showing Natsumi’s legs… this sort of dress was better suited for a nightclub or perhaps a banquet hall. It was definitely not suitable for going to a publishing house. At least, that’s what Shido believed. 

 “Anyway, isn’t this dress too intense?! You should at least try to be a little more modest…” 

 “Eh—Shido-kun is acting like an Otou-san right now. Or could it be… that you don’t want anyone other than you to be able to see me like this?” 

 “Y-You…” 

 Shido muttered as he blushed while Natsumi smiled playfully and shrugged slightly. 

 “Okay, okay. Then today I will listen to you, Otou-san.” 

 Finally, she snapped her fingers and with a flash of light emitted from Natsumi’s body. Her previous outfit was replaced with a professional-looking suit. 

 …Well, he could still make out her breasts through the gap in her blouse and he could still see her impressive legs through her stockings but it was significantly better compared to the outfit she’d been wearing previously, and could be considered at least passable. 

But almost immediately, Shido realized something. 

 “…Wait, if you could change outfits like that, then why did you bother asking me to help with zipping it up…” 

 “Ahaha… I’m heading out.” 

 After Shido finished speaking, Natsumi stuck out her tongue playfully before she headed out. 

◇◇◇

 “Furumi-san, the woman who brought her manuscript is waiting for you in room 13.” 

 “Alright.” 

 Kensuke Furumi, a member of the editorial department for Shounen Blast Weekly magazine, sighed as he saved the document that he was working on and stood up from his seat. 

 “Alright, let’s get this over with…” 

 After he finished speaking, he yawned softly. In the seats on either side of him, his colleagues shrugged and smiled bitterly. 

 “Hey, I know that you’re tired but you don’t want to let the woman who brought a manuscript see you with such an irritated expression, right? Maybe this one could be the golden egg.” 

 “Haha… Sorry, but we haven’t seen any genuinely good manuscripts in such a long time…” 

 “But we have had a few gems like that occasionally. Remember: this sensei brought the manuscript herself.” 

 “It’s been a decade since that’s happened…” 

 Furumi smiled wryly as he left the editorial department filled with books, materials, and personal effects as he took the elevator to the second floor. 

 He was going to a simple meeting space for consultation. There were a few tables and chairs spread across a wide space, each of which was separated by a partition. 

 It was here that the woman he’d be meeting would be waiting for them to review it. Furumi stretched out just as he reached room 13. 

 “Hello, I’m sorry for making you wait so long, ah…” 

 After stepping into the room, Furumi’s shoulders trembled. 

 The reason was simple. The woman sitting in the chair across from him was so intensely beautiful that it made him feel goosebumps. 

 “—Hello. I’ll be in your care for today.” 

 After she finished speaking, the woman winked at him. Seeing this, it was as though a bullet had pierced his heart. His whole body could only tremble in awe. 

 “Ara? Is there something wrong?” 

 “…! Ah, no. There’s nothing wrong.” 

 Furumi managed to regain his composure as he took a seat. While working in the editorial department for the Shounen Blast Weekly magazine, Furumi had previously even worked with famous idols. It took him by surprise but compared to them, this woman…wow, she really was more beautiful than any other… 

 However, in order to focus, Furumi shook his head. She wasn’t an idol with any huge posters hanging on the walls. She was here to show a manuscript to the editor. In that case, the most important thing to evaluate was her manga. It was not the manga that had her face on it. Her appearance could not influence his evaluation. Furumi was determined. 

 “Anyway, could you show me your manuscript please?” 

 “Of course. Please take a look.” 

 The young woman passed the envelope that contained the manuscript over to him. He could see the title of the manga and “Nanako” written on the cover. It seemed that she intended to use “Nanako” as her pen name. She seemed very confident. 

 “…Wow…” 

 Furumi pulled out the manuscript from the envelope and examined it carefully. 

 —First off, much to his immense surprise, her drawings were amazing. He couldn’t but suspect that she was already a professional artist. He strongly suspected that she was a fan of Honjou Souji, as the art style was a little similar to his. However, it would be wrong to say that she was imitating him, it was clearly drawn with her own style at the forefront. Moreover, the appearance of her characters were also fantastic. As he watched the story unfold… were there just no flaws here? Wow… something like this—! 

 Furumi took the manuscript from the paper bag and looked at it carefully. 

 “—My God…” 

 After a few minutes of inspection, Furumi let out a heavy sigh. Although he couldn’t afford to show such an expression, this was the first time he’d ever had this kind of experience in his life. 

 There were completely new and unbelievable emotions flowing through Furumi’s heart that he hadn’t felt in the past 10 years when he first started as a spry new editor in this industry. 

 That’s right. Furumi used to have dreams of being able to find geniuses like this hidden amongst the common people. He could feel surprise mounting as he continued reading. Furumi had felt his faith in his old dream returning little by little. He wanted to be part of the story of one of the people who aspired to becoming a manga artist. 

 But ten years in the industry took their toll on the previously enthusiastic editors as they came to understand the reality. The reality was that they would eventually burn out and have to make a compromise: putting out sloppy but finished products that were honestly failures so the lazy editors could live peacefully. There was constant discussion of running out of time and there was no way to listen to themselves. In order to get a stable output and end up becoming more distant from those ideals from ten years ago. 

 But now… what was this feeling of lightness in his heart? He felt a newfound heat driving his heart forward. Furumi spoke after taking a deep breath. 

 “—Genius.” 

 That was the only word that could describe this manuscript. Furumi leaned forward to re-read the manuscript from the beginning. 

 —It was awesome. It was the best way he could describe it. Even if it was meant to be the first part in a series, that was no problem. But more importantly, Furumi soon found himself wanting more: he wanted to be able to read a sequel to this story. 

 “Well, if this manuscript hasn’t been sent to any other publishing houses—” 

 “No, this is the first one I visited.” 

 “Yes! That’s great to hear!” 

 Furumi couldn’t help but laugh. It was a really stupid question to ask. If she’d taken it to another publisher and they had turned her down, that editor could only be an incompetent representative for their profession. 

 “Then, something like this, I hope you also agree that this must be published in our next issue!” 

 “Ah, really? That would be an honor. But is it really that simple?” 

 As she said that, Nanako (pen name) smiled and giggled lightly. 

 “It’s not a problem at all! This manuscript is absolutely perfect! If the editor-in-chief says ‘No’, I will resign from this unsightly editorial department immediately!” 

 In the next moment after Furumi made that declaration, the sound of “Oh, really?” could be heard from another meeting area separated by a partition. 

 “Is something wrong? Those are some bold claims.” 

 From the partition next to theirs, an older man peered over to them. It seemed that this other editor was also in the middle of consultation. 

 The editor-in-chief moved and came into the room where Furumi and Nanako were sitting. After spotting Nanako, his eyes narrowed. 

 “Hmm? Model-san? If you looking to be an idol, this is a Shounen magazine—” 

 “No! She is the woman who brought a manuscript for submission!” 

 “Submission…?” 

 The editor-in-chief frowned before grabbing Furumi’s shoulders and then muttered softly. 

 “Hey, while it’s true that she is quite beautiful, are you sure that you’re aspiring to be an editor for her manuscript and not her beauty?” 

 “I-I wouldn’t do such a thing! Anyway, you have to read this! I personally recommend that this manga be published in the next issue!” 

 “What…?” 

 After Furumi passed the manuscript, the editor-in-chief’s expression morphed to one of surprise at Furumi’s insistence as he began to read it. 

 Then, as he continued reading, his expression changed— 

 “…Furumi, you can’t see it. You think that this should be just published in the next issue…?” 

 “What…editor-in-chief, in my honest opinion—” 

 When Furumi was about to protest further, the editor-in-chief grabbed his shoulder again. Then, more quietly in a voice so that ‘Nanako’ could not hear. 

 “—I don’t think it should be just published as part of the next issue. Although I can’t say too much in front of the author herself, I definitely agree that this work would definitely be well received. I was considering starting serialization so continue with the consultation.” 

 “…! Yes, editor-in-chief!” 

 Furumi’s expression cleared as the editor-in-chief smiled and shook Furumi’s hand. 

◇◇◇

 “—Whew—!” 

 That evening, Natsumi returned home (having reverted her body back to her true form) and then went to visit the Itsuka household, threw herself onto the sofa and began hugging the cushion. 

 “Natsumi…? How did it go? How did the editors respond to your manuscript?” 

 After Shido asked the question cautiously, Natsumi’s gaze sharpened and with tears in her eyes, she responded resentfully. 

 “No matter how you look at it… you know what they’re like. Not at all…!” 

 While Shido mumbled an, “Oh…”, Natsumi sunk into the cushions. 

 “The manga that I drew for the first time, I wanted to publish it! Honestly, I never should have had such a naive hope, they actually said that…” 

 “Wait, are you serious?” 

 “…I took the manuscript in my adult form, so I didn’t notice it at the time. But now that I think about it, it hurts a lot more. They read and laughed at the manuscript. Then after I told them that I hadn’t sent my manuscript to any other publishers ‘how could you have the courage to bring such rubbish’ as they laughed. Saying stuff like that…” 

 “What…” 

 Natsumi’s words made Shido sweat unconsciously. Although he’d heard that bringing a manuscript to an editor for feedback could lead to a harsh evaluation, he never would have guessed that they would be so vicious. 

 “They also said something like, ‘No matter what, it would be a bad idea to publish it in the supplemental area of the magazine.’ Then the editor-in-chief came and said ‘So you can’t do that. You can’t be serious. You must be joking.’ Saying something like that…” 

 “Hey… they also said that…?! I can’t forgive something like that! Natsumi, you don’t have to take that from them! We can withdraw the manuscript from that publishing house!” 

 After Shido finished speaking, Natsumi raised her head and nodded weakly. 

 “Y-Yeah… maybe it would be for the best to not work in that kind of place…” 

 “Well, there’s other kinds of work than just being a manga artist. We can look for something that Natsumi can do instead.” 

 “Ah… speaking of which…” 

 After Shido finished speaking, another thought came to Natsumi’s mind as she pulled out her phone and operated it for several seconds. 

 “…For the next thing, I want to give this a try…” 

 “Huh…?” 

 Natsumi turned the phone’s screen toward Shido. Shido took a closer look at the page. 

 “Become a novelist…? What is this?” 

 “…This is a so-called submission website. Anyone can submit a story regardless of their qualifications. If it’s popular enough, a publisher may offer to publish it.” 

 “Hey, that sounds perfect! Speaking of which, Natsumi, do you still write?” 

 “…Well, you see, light novels can be written by anyone as long as they understand Japanese, right? Most people who write them wanted to be manga artists but can’t draw, so I think this would at least be suitable for me.” 

 “I feel like you just offended a lot of people. Please don’t say such things!” 

 Faced with that dangerous atmosphere, Shido wailed. 

 Having said that, Natsumi’s motivation was still something to be celebrated and encouraged. Shido gave himself a moment to recompose himself. 

 “Well, let’s do this.” 

 “Right…” 

 Natsumi’s gaze was dark but she nodded in agreement. 

◇◇◇

 “Huh…?” 

 The editor at the Interstellar Publishing house, Mitsunori Nagano noticed the change of atmosphere in the editorial department when he arrived at the office. 

 It seemed that several editors held their smartphones or tablets and were discussing something in excited tones. 

 “What’s going on? Did something happen?” 

 “Ah, Mitsunori-san. Good morning. Have you seen this?” 

 “What—?” 

 The editor passed the tablet screen to Mitsunori who adjusted his glasses and took a closer look at it. 

 “What is it? Have you become a novelist? Has someone claiming to be a well-known criminal appeared? Or could it be that someone who claims to be a professional writer is trying to make their way into the industry?” 

 “No, it’s nothing like that. There’s an incredible new work. The author’s name is “Nuts”. It looks like this is their first submission but even so, they’ve already received more than a million clicks!” 

 “Hmph…” 

 Mitsunori sighed in boredom as he accepted the tablet and took a closer look at the screen. 

 “Well, the prospect of more newcomers itself is very welcome. Please have a greater sense of urgency. After all, wasn’t the prospect of being published the reason all these newcomers started appearing in the first place? Just staring at online novels all day, with a little editorial pride…” 

 Mitsunori was about to start giving a full blown lecture but suddenly fell silent. 

 This was not a deliberate pause. It was because, unconsciously, he soon found himself immersed in the novel written by “Nuts”. 

 —The first thing he felt was how ingenious the story was. The alternating pacing and rhythm brought the scenes to life in his mind. There were many points that stood out in his mind, especially the sense of sarcastic humor. Nonetheless, it was still easy to read. It was almost as though the author wasn’t even writing at all. The same was true of the character and the plot: it was as though a miracle had descended and everything fell perfectly into place. It was impossible for him to stop reading. The adventures of these characters was beyond anything he’d ever seen before and he wanted to know more about them. Mitsunori blinked as he found himself completely immersed in the story. 

 “…Who?” 

 “Huh?” 

 After reading the story, Mitsunori shouted, and the editors tilted their heads in disbelief. Mitsunori’s head shot up violently as he shouted again. 

 “Who was the one who discovered this work first?! Have you sent them a publication application yet?!” 

 “Eh…I-I heard about it from Taguchi-san…” 

 “I heard about it from Sakamoto-san…” 

 “No, I was…” 

 “Idiots—! We have to send them an application immediately! We can’t afford to let another publisher get a hold of this! We need to let the other party know what conditions they can agree to! Also, inform the producer of the animation department immediately!” 

 “Y-Yes!” 

 Mitsunori shouted and the editors all responded in unison. 

◇◇◇

 “—AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!” 

 Natsumi screamed. It was a few days after Natsumi declared her intention to write and submit a light novel online. Natsumi visited the Itsuka household under the same circumstances as when she brought her manga to the publishing company as she threw herself onto the sofa and started crying into one of the cushions. 

 “W-What happened, Natsumi…?” 

 After Shido inquired, Natsumi looked up from the cushion stained with tears and yelled “Assholes—!” before she turned to look at Shido. 

 “…I said that I wanted to become a novelist so I tried submitting a draft…” 

 “Eh, you already submitted one? That was fast.” 

 “…Well, unlike with a manga, it’s okay to submit an unfinished manuscript. You can edit it and add more whenever you want.” 

 “Haha… so that’s how it works… So then the reason you’re so upset…” 

 After hearing what Shido said, Natsumi groaned as she slumped back onto the sofa, kicking her legs. 

 “Yeah! There’s no way! No way! And even if it gets ignored, there are so many comments posted on forums, bulletin boards, SNS…” 

 “…What’s going on?” 

 “…’Hey! This is awesome! Do you have more of this?’ ‘I’m looking forward to reading more of it!’ ‘The quality is really high!’ ‘This is too exciting and moving!’…” 

 “Eh? Aren’t these compliments?” 

 “…You’re too naive. Read it vertically and concentrate on the first word in each of the comments.” 

 “? That would be…‘he’ ‘ta’ ‘ku’ ‘so’?”…” 

 “That’s right! Don’t think I didn’t miss that, those bastards! After that, I got some weird email…!” 

 “A weird email…?” 

 “…Um, they’re claiming to be a publishing company. They’re asking me to let them publish my novel immediately.” 

 “Huh? But isn’t that amazing?” 

 “Would you really believe these kinds of scam emails?! Obviously, they’re just trying to toy with me! After I reply seriously to this email, they’ll make the content public just to make fun of me! Don’t think you can mess with me like this you bastards!” 

 Natsumi screamed as she threw the cushion she was holding. After it hit the ceiling and landed back on the sofa, Natsumi’s expression fell. At the same time, Natsumi’s arms and legs that had previously been flailing about slowed to a stop. 

 “…Ah… I guess it really is true. The life of a novelist is truly rotten. I can’t do this…” 

 “No, didn’t you only just get started? You shouldn’t give up so easily…” 

 However, just as Shido moved to reassure her, Natsumi suddenly sat up and pulled out her smartphone to show to Shido. 

 “…I’m going to try this next.” 

 “Huh? What’s this…?” 

 After taking a closer look at the picture. Shido’s eyes widened. This seemed to be an animation submission site. ‘Contribute to the 'Original Song’ animation with pictures of cute girls.” 

 “…DTM (Disk Top Music)…In short, it’s where you compose music on a computer to sing with a VOCALOID. If your song is popular enough, even an individual can produce a CD… Well, now this type of distribution is the mainstream option…” 

 “Really? But isn’t it really difficult to compose…? It takes a lot of technical skills…” 

 “…Well, maybe if I was doing it from scratch, you see, but am I not good at imitating others? It’s not like the songs are made from scratch. It’s mainly just mixing songs that are already popular. The lyrics come from songs that already exist.” 

 “Hmm… is that really okay…?” 

 “…Because music composition has been so thoroughly explored, it’s almost impossible for people to come up with their own compositions. In fact, professionals do this sort of thing all the time.” 

 “Can you not just say things that are going to easily provoke others?!” 

 Despite Shido’s shouting, he couldn’t help but wear a tired expression while smiling vaguely as he chuckled. 

◇◇◇

 “—What did you think when you encountered 7P?” 

 “When I think about it… There is really only one way to be able to describe it: ‘Revolution.’ No, it was just a chance encounter. Truthfully, I haven’t actually met 7P face to face but even compared to an ordinary conversation, I’ve already felt her soul—even though their gender has not actually been disclosed.” 

 “The first time I listened to her music, it felt like my body was being completely rewritten. That’s right, at that moment, it felt as though I was being given a second life—her music was so sensual yet simple, made with innocent but aggressive lyrics. I was immediately entranced by it.” 

 “It seems that a savior has appeared to rescue the musical world, no doubt.” 

 “—Naturally, I made every effort to contact her immediately, but she never responded. In the end, no one knows who ‘7P’ is.” 

 “There were so many traces of many other composers and musicians in her music—at least, that’s what I think. Perhaps, ‘7P’ was an angel sent down to the world by some deity of music. 

 —(Apollon Music Co., Ltd., Producer MAIKO). 

 “The chance to start making music—…There was something that happened several years ago. There was that whole affair ‘7P’ that was a topic on an animation website I think?” 

 “Although I was a salaryman at the time, after listening to the music of that person, I found myself asking, ‘Is it really okay for you to continue on like this?!’ You only get one chance to live, do you think it’s enough to just endure so much for nothing?!’ ‘Right? What the hell was I doing back then (laughs).” 

 “It was thanks to that song that I am who I am now. I quickly submitted a resignation letter to the company I was working for at the time, I took out a loan and bought a guitar. Then I started living life as a street artist. A lot of things happened back then and here I am now.” 

 “…Ah, I guess that you realized that, in fact, my stage name was inspired by ‘7P’ (laughs).” 

 (Musician, Summer Pondering) 

 “Have you ever heard the name ‘7P’? They were a composer that appeared suddenly, like a comet, on the Internet a few years ago. The song that ‘7P’ created instantly attracted a lot of attention but no one could figure out why they never released anything after the first song. Although there were many rumors such as ‘they’re dead’ or ‘career code name’, the truth is still unknown.” 

 “However, there was one coincidence: the day that ‘7P’ uploaded that song to the animation site was the anniversary of Moritoshi Alto’s death.” 

 “According to a professional analysis, the tune of ‘7P’ has a strong defensive character. What does that mean?” 

 “There is no denying that Moritoshi composed many popular songs, but at the same time, it was rumored that there were plenty of unpublished works. Perhaps a disciple or a family member who knew about his unpublished work decided to publish his music on the day of his death as a form of remembrance.” 

 “Whether you believe it or not, you decide.” 

 (Urban Legend Researcher, Kojiro Takayama). 

◇◇◇

 “…AAAAAAHHHHH…” 

 Natsumi suddenly screamed a few days after she submitted her original song to the animation submission website. Much like before, she rushed into the Itsuka residence and started slamming her head against the wall. 

 “Grr… Rggghh… Grrr… Rggghhh! I’m such an idiot… I’m such an idiot…!” 

 “…I guess it didn’t work out?” 

 Shido noticed her reaction and could probably guess what happened as he smiled wryly at her. 

 Natsumi looked up at him, her face twisted in an indescribable expression. 

 “…Fine! That’s right! If you want to laugh, then laugh! Just like when I tried to become a novelist! Someone commented on it just to make fun of me! What kind of sentiment, plainness, innocence, the meaning of those comments makes no sense…!” 

 After she finished speaking, Natsumi slumped onto the sofa and kicked her feet as though she was swimming… Although Shido didn’t quite understand what happened, it was clear that it still didn’t make any sense. 

 “Ah… I guess I should have realized it from the beginning. Idiots like me are no good at all… I just didn’t want to recognize the reality of the situation… People like me, the only thing that I’m good for is staying inside for the rest of my life… living in the dark… I don’t want to live as a human anymore…” 

 “There’s no need to be so pessimistic. No one is ever good at anything right from the start, are they?” 

 Despite Shido’s best efforts to reassure her, Natsumi still remained completely absent of confidence… Admittedly, this girl was hardly the definition of ‘self-confident’ at the best of times but compared to her current state, she would have been the epitome of ‘self-confident.’ She had been denied her desired aspirations three times in a row, which made the situation more serious than previously expected… In the end, Natsumi wasn’t a professional manga artist, novelist, or a composer. She just didn’t want to go to school. 

 As Shido was thinking about this, the doorbell suddenly rang. 

 “…Huh? Is there a delivery?” 

 However, just a step faster than Shido, the sound of the door being open could be heard followed by a familiar girl entering the living room. 

 She had wavy blue hair and gentle eyes, and a puppet rabbit worn on her left hand— 

 “Ah—Natsumi-san! So you really are here.” 

 “Yoshino?!” 

 She suddenly called out the other girl’s name. Natsumi, who’d been previously lying on the sofa like slowly melting cheese, immediately sat upright. 

 “Wh-What happened, Yoshino, what are you doing here…?” 

 “What made you come here?” 

 Shido smiled bitterly at what Natsumi said as he looked back at Yoshino. 

 “It’s pretty rare for you to actually ring the doorbell. It’s not a problem if you just come in directly.” 

 “Ah… no, I wasn’t the one who rang the doorbell…” 

 Yoshino glanced over her shoulder. 

 Then, there appeared two other girls dressed in the same school uniform. 

 One of them was a girl with an elegant air about her. The other was a girl who had an air of maturity about her. The two stood together, making them feel like a rich girl had come over. 

 “—Please excuse us.” 

 “Sorry for the intrusion.” 

 “Huh…?!” 

 After spotting those two girls, Natsumi stared at them in surprise. 

 “K-Kanon and Noriko…?!” 

 The names that Natsumi uttered brought back a memory from Shido’s mind. When Natsumi and Yoshino went to experience what it was like to enroll before, they mentioned having made a couple of friends back then. 

 “Ah, long time no see, Natsumi-san.” 

 “W-Why would you…?” 

 “I’m here to say hello—look.” 

 After she finished speaking, Kanon pulled out a notebook from her bag and handed it to Natsumi. After Natsumi silently accepted it, she looked from Kanon to the notebook and back in doubt as she took a look at the cover. 

 “This… what is this for?” 

 “Those are the class notes for the lessons. Use it to catch up.” 

 “Huh…? W-Why would you give me this…?” 

 Natsumi frowned and Noriko, who’d been standing behind Kanon, spoke gently. 

 “We heard that Yoshino-san and Natsumi-san would be starting school in April, so Kanon-chan was very excited. We know it would be bad if they had to stop coming to school because they couldn’t keep up with the coursework!” 

 “There’s no need to say unnecessary things!” 

 Kanon shouted as she tried to kick Noriko. However, Noriko managed to evade her. 

 “…Anyway, I don’t know what happened to you at your old school, but don’t worry, it should be fine to not come to school for a little while!” 

 “Huh…?” 

 Natsumi froze for a moment but just then a thought came to her mind as she let out an, “Ah…” of realization. 

 A thought immediately came to Shido’s mind. Because Natsumi and Yoshino were in the delicate period when they experienced enrollment, it made sense that Kanon would think the way she did. 

 Then, from her place behind Kanon, Noriko murmured. 

 “Really. In fact, Kanon-chan here also had to deal with a lot of bad things in the past so she also didn’t go to school for a while, but everything is good now.” 

 “I already told you not to say unnecessary words, Noriko!” 

 When Kanon moved to try to hit her, Noriko managed to evade her once more. Because she’d overexerted herself, Kanon hit the wall instead and recoiled, holding her hand in pain. 

 “A-Are you okay…?” 

 “I’m fine!” 

 Natsumi took a closer look anxiously while Kanon straightened her posture. She had tears in her eyes but didn’t say anything about it. 

 “That’s right! If there’s anything you need, you can rely on us.” 

 “Eh, no… but… why would you want to…” 

 “Why—” 

 Natsumi stuttered as Kanon looked away from her, her cheeks flushed a faint pink. 

 “You and I… we’re friends… right?” 

 “—” 

 Kanon’s words made Natsumi’s eyes widened, and Yoshino smiled a little shyly. 

 Kanon was silent for a while and finally, she couldn’t seem to handle the situation and turned around. 

 “Sorry for bothering you! Let’s go, Noriko!” 

 “Ah, o-okay. Then goodbye Yoshino-san, Natsumi-san.” 

 After they finished speaking, they turned to Shido, said “Sorry for the disturbance,” and left. They were two very polite girls. 

 Shido watched their backs before turning back to Natsumi who was standing next to him. 

 “…Goodbye…” 

 After Shido finished, Natsumi held the notebook in her hand. 

 “…I’ll think about it.” 

 She finally murmured shyly. 

◇◇◇

 That night, just like always, the Spirits all came together at the Itsuka household. 

 It was essentially tradition by now, but every time dinner rolled around, everyone came together. Today’s supper was a pork cabbage pot. With some orange juice added, it was very refreshing and delicious. Generally for this many people, hot pots like this could end up being very expensive. 

 “Yeah! This is delicious! Boy’s dishes are so delicious and good! You can marry me whenever you want!” 

 After she finished speaking, Nia slapped her knee. She looked as energetic as usual as she smiled. 

 “Haha, thank you!” 

 “No, I’m serious! If you can’t be a son-in-law at home, then why not become my assistant? I’ll pay your wages!” 

 “Thank you but isn’t that just the same as just coming over to my house for dinner?” 

 “No! No! No! Every minute and every second before the deadline will determine my life or death! I don’t know how long it would take for me to come here!” 

 “Speaking of these days, you’ve been coming over for dinner every night… Are you really working?” 

 “Of course I am! Have you seen the most recent issue of Shōnen Blast?! There’s been a shocking development!” 

 Nia suddenly mentioned something like this. 

 “—Ah, speaking of which, that reminds me. A few days ago, a super rookie brought in a manuscript to submit.” 

 “A super rookie?” 

 “Yeah, I also read the manuscript and found it very interesting. Whoever made this was definitely not a novice. She was also said to be an extremely beautiful woman. The whole editorial department was up in arms about it. Everyone was fascinated. Really, Shounen Blast found an incredible writer…” 

 “Wow, to think such people like that exist.” 

 Sitting at the opposite end of Nia was Yuzuru who was also eating the hot pot, and stared in surprise. Nia waved her hand and smiled. 

 “It was clearly stated that it would be serialized immediately, but unfortunately the other party couldn’t be reached and the envelope that she brought with her only had a pen name and no other identifying information. That editor was super miserable and listless. There are even rumors that she was some wandering yokai.” 

 “Occasion. Yuzuru had heard something similar recently, as well.” 

 “Huh?” 

 Nia tilted her head and Yuzuru glanced at Kaguya who was seated next to her. It took a moment for Kaguya to think but nodded as she remembered. 

 “It was a story of a hermit enshrouded in darkness. On the edge of the electronic sea that I occasionally peruse, there was a talented person that suddenly disappeared as quickly as they appeared.” 

 “Supplication. The novels normally posted on that website usually get only 200 hits a month. By the way, 50 of them are from Kaguya.” 

 “Why would you mention that now?!” 

 “Supplement. The remaining 150 are from Yuzuru.” 

 “Eh…?” 

 Yuzuru’s words made Kaguya drop her chopsticks in surprise. 

 “Ah, that reminds me.” 

 Miku spoke up. It seemed that she remembered something as she raised a finger as she spoke. 

 “I also heard something similar as well. There was a super-genius composer that showed up but no matter how many producers tried to contact them, they never got a response and now they’re all very troubled…” 

 “Hey…” 

 After everyone mentioned those incidents, Natsumi looked at them with half-opened eyes as she sighed. 

 “…That’s a pity. Talented people really don’t know what they’re thinking.”