"I’ll die if I don’t become handsome."

When Seiji told them the name of his novel, he noticed that both Chiaki's and Mika's expressions changed slightly.

He was slightly embarra.s.sed at this. Even though Seiji could proudly slap his chest and claim that his novel was an excellent story, he was still embarra.s.sed about it.

"It’s quite an amusing name; I feel tempted to read it right now," Chiaki said with a chuckle. "I’m really curious about the contents." 

Mika also nodded energetically.

"It should be published in the Thunderbolt Literature’s next magazine, which will be released on—"

Before he could finish speaking, Seiji’s cell phone started ringing.

When he checked the caller ID, he saw that the call was from Editor Yos.h.i.+zawa!

'Could it be...'

When Seiji received the call, his suspicion was confirmed. The editor had called him especially to notify him that the magazine with his story being published in it would be released tomorrow.

After he finished the call, Seiji immediately relayed this news to the two girls.

"What a coincidence! We were just talking about this subject when your editor called you." Chiaki smiled. "I’ll get up early tomorrow and buy a copy of the magazine to check out just what you wrote, Seigo."

Mika also had an expression of antic.i.p.ation.

Seiji smiled, and his eyes burned with a proud light. "I’m confident in my own story, and I hope that you guys will like it."

To Mika and Chiaki, his current expression made him seem like he was s.h.i.+ning with the brilliant light of charisma.

"What about the current story you’re writing together with your adopted younger sister Kagura-san? What’s the name, and what’s it about?" Chiaki asked.

"About this..." Seiji averted his gaze. "The name will be ‘Brother Monogatari,’ and it’s about a brother and sister dealing with demons."

"Brother Monogatari?"

A brother and sister fighting against demons?

Chiaki and Mika exchanged awkward glances with each other.

Chiaki lowered her voice. "This... could it be a story about the real life of you and Kagura-san?" 

It really seemed so to her.

After all, Seiji and s.h.i.+ka Kagura both had "mystical" powers, and the two adopted siblings indeed could be fighting against demons... this already sounded like a fantasy story!

"Of course not! I wouldn’t write about something from my real life." Seiji waved his hand in denial.

"I suppose so. But..." When Chiaki considered it more closely, she felt that the situation was somewhat strange.

An actual magical ability user writing a fantasy story... would his story count as non-fiction or fantasy?

The tomboy was struggling with internal conflict; she wanted to remark on the strange situation but was lost on how to go about it.

Not long after, the bell that signified the beginning of the next cla.s.s began ringing.

When Seiji returned home after school, he saw a brand-new living room.

High-quality tatami mats had been placed all over the floorboard, and some renovations were also done to the walls and ceiling. Together with the newly installed furniture, it seemed simple and beautiful. It gave the room the atmosphere of a family dwelling.

The renovation company did an excellent job, as expected of a company personally recommended by the landlord.

Seiji sat down by the table, and s.h.i.+ka brought out a teapot and some teacups, sitting down beside him.

The black-haired beauty sat down on a tatami mat, placed the cups, and began pouring tea.

This scene was so beautiful that Seiji was slightly startled He only regained his senses when s.h.i.+ka handed a teacup to him.

He took the teacup, had a sip, and felt the warm and slightly bitter tea run down his throat.

'Mmm... it's pretty good.'

Seiji and s.h.i.+ka enjoyed their tea for a while in silence. Then, Seiji laid down on the tatamis and tried rolling around on them.

s.h.i.+ka imitated him and also rolled around. Both of them exchanged glances and laughed as they lay on the mats.

The black-haired girl rolled over to Seiji’s side, and Seiji offered her his arm as a pillow. s.h.i.+ka laid her head on his arm and closed her eyes.

Seiji watched his adopted sister’s face for a while, before closing his eyes as well. Without saying anything, the two of them napped like two idle cats.

Nighttime.

Seiji stretched; he'd just finished another chapter of "Brother Monogatari" and had decided to stop for the day.

He felt that resting was necessary. Last time, he was so engrossed in writing that he accidentally pulled an all-nighter, which he didn’t enjoy.

He also wanted to relax after concentrating for so long on writing. Seiji went to the living room and poured himself a gla.s.s of water.

After he finished off most of the water, he simply sat down quietly on the tatami mats for a few minutes to help his brain to relax after working so hard.

'Should I continue writing?' he wondered.

After a few moments of internal deliberation, he decided on a change of pace; he would practice his [Astral Vision].

So, Seiji simply laid down on the tatamis and began practicing. Yesterday night, he'd finished reading the material on [Astral Vision], and his system indicated that he had reached 100% progress for the [reading a manual] requirement.

The difficult part of this spell was concentrating his Mana on his eyes. If a person didn’t have good control of their Mana, this would be impossible. To make a comparison with a certain game from his past life, Seiji felt that the [Body-Strengthening Technique] was akin to "awareness" of Mana, while [Astral Vision] relied more on "mechanical skills" to use Mana.

He needed patience and refinement. His body relaxed and his mind calm, he concentrated on perceiving and controlling the Mana.

Satisfied that he was sufficiently connected with the surrounding Mana, he took the opportunity to activate the power in his eyes with an incantation and his eyes shot open.

There was a red flash in his eyes—[Astral Vision], activate!

His vision sharpened, and everything in his field of vision glowed faint red, but his vision returned to normal after only a few seconds.

It was still no good. Seiji was aware that it wouldn’t be this easy to succeed and that he still needed to practice.

‘I should chat with s.h.i.+ka about this and have her teach me.’

He rose to his feet and went to knock on his adopted sister’s door.

The next morning was a special day for Seiji.

The weekly edition of Thunderbolt Literature’s magazine was publis.h.i.+ng Seiji’s story I’ll Die If I Don’t Become Handsome on this day.

He got up early to purchase a copy and read it together with s.h.i.+ka during breakfast. Seiji felt inwardly satisfied at seeing his own original work being published on paper.

This was just the beginning. This was only a short story published in a magazine, and his next goal was to publish his own full-length light novel!

It was a light novel that he worked on together with s.h.i.+ka, one which would have an exquisite cover and excellent insert art.

Seiji and s.h.i.+ka both wished to see this in the future. On the way to school, Seiji showed the magazine to Mika.

Kaede asked what was going on when she saw this, and she showed interest after she learned about it. She promised to purchase a copy to show her support, and Seiji thanked her for this.

When they arrived at school, they saw that Chiaki was already in the cla.s.sroom reading the same magazine.

When Chiaki saw Seiji, she gave him a big thumbs-up.

"I haven’t finished reading yet, but I think you’ve written really well so far." The tomboy smiled as she gave him her review.

Then, she kept on reading.

Mika also sat in her seat and read her borrowed copy of Seiji’s magazine; she seemed to be very enthused.

Cla.s.s time.

Seiji ignored the content of the teacher’s lesson and secretly worked on his novel.

Suddenly, a system notification popped up in front of him—

[Your written novel has been officially published and truly liked by one hundred readers. The [novel rewards] option has been activated under your [rewards] option, and you can now be continuously awarded points and items as more and more readers truly appreciate, praise, and support your novels.]

Seiji's eyes widened in surprise. ‘Wow, this is...’

He hurriedly opened up his system and checked the new option.

First, he noticed that he'd received four reward points.

And right as he was looking at it, this four changed into a five!

The system said he would be continuously awarded... so this was like income, not a one-time deal! The more readers that liked his novel, the more points he would receive.

And there were item rewards as well as points.

Seiji took a look at the first item reward; it was called [Random Draw Shard]!