Chapter 132

He continued writing until late at night before falling asleep.

The next day.

Train station.

Natsume Chikage looked back at his sister, who was still clinging to his back, drowsy and sleepy, and wondered why she was always so tired even though she went to bed earlier than him?

He figured she must really be in a growth spurt.

And his sister was just a little bean right now, she needed to supplement her calcium.

Otherwise, he was afraid she wouldn't grow tall in the future.

He hadn't had time to buy any for her before, but now it seemed he had to find the time.

"Ruri, I'll buy you some milk, calcium tablets, and vitamins later, remember to take them every day."

Natsume Ruri asked curiously:

"Why are you suddenly buying these for Ruri?"

Natsume Chikage gently patted her little head and muttered:

"You're in a growth spurt now, you need to supplement your calcium."

"Big brother wants you to grow taller."

Natsume Ruri blinked, then compared her height to Natsume Chikage's, and was instantly dumbfounded.

She really was a bit short...

And she also noticed that her brother seemed to have grown a centimeter or two taller than before.

"Big brother, you've grown taller!"

Natsume Chikage was stunned.

"Have I?"

"Yes!!"

Natsume Chikage thought, maybe it was because his physical fitness had improved, causing him to grow taller?

Or was it just natural growth?

...Regardless, since his sister said so, he must have grown taller.

"I'm only sixteen now, it's normal to grow a bit taller."

"That's true... big brother will keep getting taller, I need to grow taller too!"

Natsume Ruri felt that if she were too short, standing next to her brother wouldn't look very matching, and it would look strange.

"Buy them, big brother, Ruri promises to eat them on time every day before going to sleep!"

"Mm."

A vibration sound slowly came from the tracks.

The train approached from far to near, moving rapidly.

Finally, it stopped at the platform.

But just as his sister's train arrived, Natsume Chikage's train also happened to arrive.

"Big brother, Ruri is leaving first, your train is here too, hurry and go."

"Mm-hmm."

Natsume Chikage pretended to go to his train, looked back, and seeing that his sister had already left on her train, he felt relieved.

He then prepared to leave the platform.

Because the publishing house was in Shibuya, he could walk there directly without taking the train.

The only reason he came here was because he hadn't earned a large amount of money from the shogi match yet, so he couldn't explain the real situation to his sister, lest she get angry because he was spending money recklessly.

But just before Natsume Chikage left.

Yukimura Suzu in the carriage happened to make eye contact with him.

The two stared at each other.

Yukimura Suzu looked confused.

Natsume Chikage's expression was a bit strange.

The train was about to leave, and the doors closed.

Just as they were about to part ways.

Yukimura Suzu shook her phone.

Natsume Chikage paused, took out his phone, and found that Yukimura Suzu had sent a message.

[Yukimura Suzu: Aren't you going to participate in a match? Why are you still wearing your school uniform?]

[Natsume Chikage: This... it's a long story.]

[Yukimura Suzu: What's the situation?]

Natsume Chikage explained it to her.

[Yukimura Suzu: So... you didn't tell your sister about participating in the match because you were afraid she'd be angry that you spent the rent money on it?]

[Natsume Chikage: Yes, please help me keep it a secret, if my sister finds out beforehand, the situation will be very terrible.]

There was silence on the other end for a long time.

[Yukimura Suzu: Aren't you worried you won't be able to earn back the match fees by doing this?]

[Natsume Chikage: No, I'm very confident.]

[Yukimura Suzu: When do you plan to tell your sister about this?]

[Natsume Chikage: Let's wait until I win the third round. If I only win ten thousand yen, I'll still inevitably get nagged.]

[Yukimura Suzu: Indeed. But... have you told anyone else about this?]

[Natsume Chikage: No, you're the only one who knows this secret.]

[Yukimura Suzu: Only me...]

Yukimura Suzu looked at the message and was silent for a long time.

She hadn't expected Natsume Chikage to actually dare to spend twenty thousand yen on a match when he couldn't even pay the rent.

But looking at his reply, he really did seem very confident.

She figured Natsume Chikage had been studying shogi for a long time since he was a child, at least starting with several thousand games, otherwise he wouldn't be so confident.

Since that was the case, participating in the match to win prize money and ease the family's financial situation was indeed feasible.

But since Natsume Chikage had told her this secret, she felt she should keep it a secret too.

At the entrance of the publishing house.

Natsume Chikage had just arrived.

The receptionist greeted him with great excitement:

"Natsume-kun, right?"

Natsume Chikage asked in surprise:

"You remember me?"

The receptionist said happily:

"Of course, after all... cough, cough, after all, Editor Takahashi, Editor Niigaki, and Section Chief Miyagi instructed me to let them know as soon as you arrived."

Natsume Chikage frowned:

"Editor Niigaki and Section Chief Miyagi?"

Who were these two?

"Natsume-kun, please wait a moment in the lobby, the editors are in a meeting, it might take some time."

"Okay."

Natsume Chikage wasn't in a hurry.

Anyway, the shogi match was around one o'clock in the afternoon, and it had just passed eight o'clock.

Thinking this, he sat down in the lobby's waiting area and scanned his surroundings casually.

Quite a few authors were gathered in the lobby, all quietly waiting for their respective editors.

Just then, a familiar figure passed by—it was the editor from the first group he had met once before, Uta Ayaka.

She saw Natsume Chikage at a glance, her eyes lit up, but then a strange feeling arose in her heart.

Why was this boy here again?

No... something felt wrong somewhere.

She subconsciously adjusted her appearance in the bright glass door and then walked quickly toward Natsume Chikage.

"Natsume-kun, good morning."

"Editor Uta, good morning."

Uta Ayaka covered her mouth, showing a surprised expression: "Eh? You actually remember my name?"

"It's written on your name tag."

"...Cough, cough." Uta Ayaka cleared her throat to hide her momentary embarrassment and asked instead, "By the way, are you here to revise your manuscript this time?"

"No, Editor Takahashi asked me to come over to sign a contract."

"Ah?!"

Uta Ayaka was truly stunned.

In the editorial department, the probability of a high school student author successfully signing a contract was extremely slim.

Even if Takahashi Jun's judgment was poor, there was still the weekly Sunday editorial department collective cross-review session to gatekeep, so there was no way they would just let a high school student sign a contract so easily.

But now Natsume-kun himself said he was going to sign a contract...

Didn't that mean the quality of his manuscript was quite good?

Otherwise, how could it pass on the first try?

It's over...

It seems I missed a good manuscript, and even more so, I missed Natsume-kun himself...

Uta Ayaka clicked her tongue secretly, regretting that she hadn't been more determined to let Takahashi Jun leave; if she had, Natsume-kun and this manuscript might have been hers.

However, on second thought, it didn't seem like a big deal.

How excellent could a high school student's work be, even if it passed?

You have to know that getting a book on the shelves for sale is just the first step in a new author's long career.

After it's on the shelves, the book still has to compete fiercely with other works from the same period.

Only those with good sales can get a chance for a reprint.

Such "flop" new books naturally don't earn much money, and the royalty income is at most one or two hundred thousand yen, which might not even be as much as an ordinary office worker's monthly salary.

You have to know that every suspense mystery novel requires the author to invest a lot of time in conceiving, polishing, refining, and adjusting the plot before they can finally complete a "passable" work.

Afterward, it still has to go through multiple plot revisions and content corrections by the editorial department, and be revised several times before it can finally be put on the shelves.

This process, taking a year or two, is a common occurrence.

Uta Ayaka wasn't joking.

Compared to many light novels or mainstream literary works, the creative threshold for published suspense mystery novels is higher and more mentally taxing.

Because this type of work tests the author's logical structuring ability to the extreme; once there is a fatal flaw in the logic, the foundation of the entire book collapses.

And even if the logic is sound, if the plot is cliché and boring, it still won't pass.

Furthermore, even if it luckily passes and is successfully put on the shelves, if the story itself isn't attractive enough, it still won't make money, wasting months to years of hard work in vain.

The field of suspense mystery novels is just that cruel.

Therefore, its difficulty is recognized as being among the best in all novel genres!

However, conversely—once your novel achieves tight logic, a novel plot, rich emotions, and a well-paced rhythm...

Hey, then you've hit the jackpot!

Write one book, and you're directly financially free!

Without a doubt!

Because in Japan, the reader base for suspense mystery novels is extremely huge.

Just from the number of authors submitting manuscripts to the publishing house lobby every day, it's enough to see how many people are pouring their hearts into this genre.

Therefore, Natsume Chikage being able to break through this cruel track at the age of a high school student and successfully sign a contract shows that his talent is indeed ridiculously high!

And a boy who possesses such talent, has such an outstanding appearance, and is so young, once he undergoes professional guidance and packaging, even if his novel is just average, he can rely on his own comprehensive advantages to attract a large group of female fans in the suspense mystery novel world!

In this circle, the spending power and enthusiasm of female fans are extremely astonishing.

Once they "fan" an author, their support is nothing short of crazy.

Especially for an author like Natsume Chikage, whose looks are unbelievably high, perhaps just simple promotion would be enough for him to directly "debut."

Even if his book hasn't been put on the shelves yet, there might be a large group of female fans willing to pre-order it.

This situation is not without precedent in the industry.

Uta Ayaka remembered that not long ago, at Japan's largest literary publishing house, Shinshu-sha, there was a female middle school student author named Yukimura Suzu.

She submitted a literary novel, the content itself was very excellent, and coupled with her outstanding appearance, the number of reader fans during the pre-order stage of the work was astonishing.

This also directly helped her win the previous year's Newcomer Literary Award.

Of course, that girl herself came from the literary family "Yukimura family," with a deep background, so naturally, she couldn't be compared to Natsume Chikage's "halfway monk" situation.

But this precisely proves that the reader fan base does indeed have requirements for the author's own appearance and image.

Japanese readers already have a considerable yearning and filter for the profession of "writer," and authors with high looks naturally have more attention and room for development than other authors of the same period.

Thinking of all the above, Uta Ayaka believed that she had no reason not to fight for Natsume Chikage with all her might!

She cleared her throat and said:

"Natsume-kun, since you're here to sign a contract, it's crowded here, let me take you to the conference room first."

Natsume Chikage didn't think much of it and nodded:

"Okay, thank you for the trouble."

After entering a quiet conference room, Uta Ayaka instructed:

"Natsume-kun, please wait here for a moment, I'll go notify the editor in charge."

"Mm, thank you."

Natsume Chikage thanked her politely.

As soon as Uta Ayaka left the conference room, she immediately ran to find the section chief of her first editorial group and quickly reported Natsume Chikage's situation.

They were the first editorial group, and Takahashi Jun belonged to the second editorial group.

There was already a fierce competitive relationship between different editorial groups, and fighting over potential authors was already a common occurrence in the company.

Therefore, Uta Ayaka felt no guilt about this at all!

As for being called "despicable"?

She didn't care at all!

Society is like this.

Things you don't actively fight for will naturally be snatched by others.

When you are hesitant, others have already made a fortune.

If you don't earn it, others naturally will!

The section chief of the first editorial group—Hiiragi Kyoichiro, after listening to Uta Ayaka's report, immediately went to the door of the conference room to take a look himself.

When he saw Natsume Chikage's astonishing looks and the high school uniform he was wearing that represented youth, his eyes lit up instantly.

He knew this well: a boy with this age, talent, and appearance conditions, with just a little guidance and packaging, could be directly "god-made," creating a superstar in the suspense mystery world!

At that time, their first group, relying solely on Natsume Chikage's novels, author photos, posters, and other peripheral products, would be enough to make those fanatical female fans buy crazily, and they would definitely make a fortune!

Hiiragi Kyoichiro exchanged a look with Uta Ayaka, and the two nodded tacitly.

Hiiragi Kyoichiro didn't hesitate, immediately took a standard contract, and walked directly into the conference room.

Uta Ayaka tacitly stayed at the door, keeping an eye on the movement outside.

Hiiragi Kyoichiro put on a professional, friendly smile and reached out to Natsume Chikage:

"Teacher Natsume, hello! I am the editor who will handle the signing procedures for you—Hiiragi Kyoichiro."

"Hello, Editor Hiiragi."

Natsume Chikage shook hands with him, but his expression was a bit subtle.

He remembered that his editor in charge should be Takahashi Jun, so why was it this "Editor Hiiragi"?

"Editor Hiiragi, I would like to ask, where is Mr. Takahashi, the editor in charge of me?"

Hiiragi Kyoichiro's smile didn't change, and he answered calmly:

"Editor Takahashi still has some urgent matters to deal with and won't be able to come over so soon. I see you're still wearing your school uniform, you must still be in high school, right?"