Chapter 837

"Haha... something like that."

"Eh——?!"

Upon hearing this, Natsume Ruri's eyes widened instantly.

Immediately, her fair cheeks puffed up at a speed visible to the naked eye, like a little squirrel stuffed with pine nuts.

Her beautiful eyes were filled with "as I thought" and a hint of shame at being "deceived."

"Then... doesn't that mean!"

"That when you played guidance games with Ruri before, you were also deliberately going easy on Ruri?!"

"I had a vague feeling about this before!"

"Now that I hear you say that, it must be like that, right?!"

Looking at his sister's puffed-up and slightly aggrieved appearance, Natsume Chikage couldn't help but laugh.

He reached out, gently pinched his sister's puffed-up, soft cheek, his tone gentle and soothing:

"No, not at all."

"The shogi Ruri plays is really amazing."

"In many places, brother really felt it was very difficult to deal with, and I didn't deliberately go easy on you."

Being praised and soothed so seriously by her brother, the little awkwardness in Natsume Ruri's heart vanished instantly, replaced by sweet joy.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

She narrowed her eyes happily.

But in fact, deep in her heart, the details of playing against her brother, and the unfathomable shogi strength he had shown while watching his tournament recently, all made her vaguely feel...

Her brother's words just now were perhaps more to comfort her.

She knew very well that it was a fact that her shogi level was much stronger than ordinary peers, but it was still far from being truly "amazing."

She couldn't even beat Aunt Kondo Miyuki.

And her brother could defeat a semi-professional shogi player who was countless times stronger than Aunt Miyuki...

The gap between the two was like a chasm.

When her brother played with her before, he was absolutely, absolutely being considerate of her.

Thinking of this, instead of feeling lost, a deeper warmth of being cherished surged in her heart.

Kaga Reisa listened quietly to the siblings' conversation, her gaze falling on Natsume Chikage's gentle, smiling profile.

Her heartbeat skipped a beat inadvertently.

Immediately after, it was a clearer, more undeniable agitation.

She only felt that the Natsume-brother in front of her seemed even more amazing, even more... mysterious than she had ever imagined.

Clearly, what she had heard from Ruri-chan before was that her brother spent most of his time at home, and it seemed that apart from playing games, he didn't care much about other things.

But the Natsume-brother now...

Could draw sketches that were not a bit worse than theirs.

Could defeat a semi-professional shogi player in the shogi tournament under the eyes of everyone.

The first novel he wrote was also very good.

These rays of light, any one of them would be enough to make people marvel if placed on a peer, and he possessed them all at the same time.

But such an amazing Natsume-brother only liked to play games before and didn't study these at all...

It seems... Natsume-brother really, really likes playing games.

Kaga Reisa secretly remembered this hobby of Natsume Chikage.

At this time, Natsume Ruri seemed to suddenly remember something important.

She leaned forward, her hands supporting the edge of the small table, looking at her brother with bright eyes, her tone carrying a hint of doubt:

"By the way, brother!"

"This afternoon, Reisa-chan and I ran to the nearby Shimizu Bookstore, wanting to buy your 'The Devotion of Suspect X'."

"But... we searched the mystery novel section several times, and couldn't find a single copy!"

She wrinkled her small nose.

"What's the situation with this?"

"Isn't it on sale today? Or... did some other problem occur?"

Kaga Reisa on the side heard this, and a worried look also appeared on her face, and she echoed softly:

"Yeah... we asked the clerk, and the clerk also said they didn't know the specific situation very well."

"Could it be... that something went wrong at the publisher's side?"

Her voice carried a hint of nervousness.

Natsume Chikage looked at the worried expressions of the two girls and couldn't help but smile slightly.

He shook his head, denying it in a relaxed tone:

"Nothing went wrong."

Natsume Ruri was even more confused:

"Since nothing went wrong, why wouldn't it be in the bookstore?"

"Surely they wouldn't not put out even a single copy?"

Natsume Chikage explained:

"Because it was just put on the shelves this morning, and it all sold out."

"So, when you went in the afternoon, naturally you couldn't find a single copy."

"..." Natsume Ruri was stunned.

She blinked, as if needing time to digest this information.

The next second.

"Sold... sold out?!"

"It sold out in the morning?!"

She straightened up from the cushion, her voice full of unbelievable surprise.

"Really?!"

Natsume Chikage nodded with a smile, confirming:

"Really. I went to the publisher in the afternoon, and the editor confirmed it personally."

"Ah——!!"

Natsume Ruri couldn't help but let out a short cheer, so excited that she jumped a little on the cushion.

"Doesn't that mean, brother, your novel is in a super bestseller state?!"

"Then... what about next?"

She asked eagerly, her eyes shining.

"Is the publisher going to reprint it immediately? Just like those big-selling movies that add screening sessions?"

Natsume Chikage nodded, his smile deepening:

"Yeah, that's what the editor said."

"Just when I went to the publisher, I heard the editor say, it seems like there will be at least five times the initial printing."

Natsume Ruri immediately lowered her head, stretched out her fair fingers, and calculated seriously.

"The initial printing is... five thousand copies."

She muttered to herself.

"Five times, that is... twenty-five thousand copies!"

She raised her head, her face filled with irrepressible excitement.

"If you add the five thousand copies that were already sold, the total is... thirty thousand copies!"

"The price of one copy is 1,200 yen, and if your share is 40%... that means we can earn 480 yen per copy!"

She took a deep breath, as if to use all her strength to announce that number:

"Thirty thousand copies... doesn't that mean 14.4 million yen?!"

"Brother!"

She excitedly grabbed Natsume Chikage's arm, her voice even trembling.

"Now our family is really rich!!" ===== CHAPTER 838 =====