"Don’t misunderstand—I’m just going by my impression as a reader, not my review as the head editor," Souzo explained after he noticed the editors’ expressions. It seemed that he'd realized what they were thinking. "This story made me recall the feeling I had reading that story from ten years ago... and as the head editor, I can only say that so far this story seems to be written quite well and has a good chance of becoming popular. As for how popular it can become... that will depend on luck and the audience’s tastes."

The editors finally understood.

A popular story’s success didn’t depend solely on the quality of the written work. Luck was also a factor, and more precisely, it depended on what the general public wanted to read at the time.

If luck wasn’t on a story’s side, even an excellently written story wouldn’t become popular. And if the audience simply wanted to read a certain genre, some stories that had only average writing quality could also become a huge hit.

Another way of putting it was that some stories mysteriously fell flat, while others became popular for no apparent reason. The light novel market was just such a mysterious creature.

This was already the case for popular stories, so of course it also applied to legendary stories.

Even Head Editor Hattori, who had been in this business for several decades, and read countless amounts of light novels wouldn’t be able to tell just from a draft if it would become hugely popular or a legendary success.

"Yos.h.i.+zawa-san, give me a report about this story’s situation... as for everyone else, why are you just standing around here? Hurry up and go do your work!"

All the other editors scattered after being reprimanded by the head editor.

Saki then informed Souzo about the story and the author.

"He doesn’t want to publish Become Handsome and wants to publish this Brother Monogatari instead," Souzo muttered to himself. He mulled it over, considering the matter deeply as he stared at the computer screen. "Judging by the quality of his draft so far, it’s probably okay. But still, we should wait until he finishes the final draft to set it in stone. Yos.h.i.+zawa-san... tell him that if he can finish the final draft with this same quality—if he pa.s.ses our standards—then we’ll give him the highest-level contract for newcomer authors and promise to get his story published as soon as possible!"

A strange light flashed in Head Editor Hattori’s eyes as he made his decision.

Seiji received another phone call from Editor Yos.h.i.+zawa during his lunch break.

Although he hadn’t finished his draft yet, his word count was quite high already, so Seiji had figured that she wouldn’t call him until later this afternoon or even tonight as it would take time to finish reading his draft. This was earlier than he expected.

Saki gave him a glowing review of his draft and told him that he would receive the highest-level contract for newcomer authors if he could finish the final draft with the same quality. She also informed him the head editor had promised to get his story published as quickly as possible.

Seiji was delighted to hear all this, and, moved by Thunderbolt Literature’s sincerity, he agreed.

He immediately called s.h.i.+ka to tell her about the good news.

s.h.i.+ka was also delighted and said that this was only to be expected. "Brother Seiji’s story is the best!"

"No, this wasn’t written by me alone—we wrote this together!"

Seiji wished that s.h.i.+ka could be prouder of herself, instead of giving him all the credit.

After he finished talking to s.h.i.+ka, Seiji also informed Mika and Chiaki, who were both eating lunch with him, of the situation. Kaho wasn’t with them this time.

More than ever, Mika and Chiaki were anxious to read the finished version of Brother Monogatari now that it had received recognition from a professional editor.

After school, Seiji and his friends walked to the library again to join the drama club study group.

Hiros.h.i.+ Fuuma, who had collapsed yesterday, didn’t come today.

The club members asked Vice President s.h.i.+na about how he was doing.

"Fuuma-san didn’t tell me why he fainted; he simply thanked me and also asked me to thank Harano-san and Wakaba-san for helping to take him to the infirmary," s.h.i.+na said. "He also mentioned that we shouldn't worry about him. As for today, he took a day's leave to rest at home, so he hasn't come to school."

In the end, they still didn’t know the real reason. It wasn’t actually the so-called "truth" from yesterday, was it?

Seiji and everyone had rather subtle expressions as they thought about it.

"What’s the matter?" s.h.i.+na felt that everyone was acting a little strange.

Everyone looked in Nakajima’s direction.

"The cruel truth shouldn’t be told more than once; it should be allowed to disappear peacefully and rest in the darkness," Nakajima murmured, looking off into the distance wistfully.

‘The h.e.l.l with disappearing! You’re probably just afraid of ‘Demon Face’ s.h.i.+na’s forceful retorts!’ was what ran through the drama club member's minds.

s.h.i.+na was mystified by his vague words. "Nakajima-san, what are you saying?"

"Don’t mind him, Vice President," Chiaki said quickly. "It’s just a joke. We should begin studying now."

s.h.i.+na still wondered what was going on, but after Chiaki told everyone to study, she decided not to pursue her inquiry.

Everyone began studying diligently. Seiji continued working on his novel and tutored Mika and Kaho whenever they had any questions.

Time pa.s.sed steadily just like that.

After the study session was finished, Seiji and Mika said goodbye to Chiaki and Kaho and went back to the apartment together with Kaede.

When they reached a certain street intersection, they saw a boy who was walking rather unsteadily.

Seiji recognized him—it was Hiros.h.i.+ Fuuma. 

This actor who had played the "Ice Prince" now looked much worse than yesterday. His face was as pale as paper, he had dark circles under his eyes, and he seemed incredibly fatigued. In combination with his unsteady gait, it seemed like he had been hollowed out.

Hiros.h.i.+ was also crossing the intersection, but apparently he didn’t notice the fact that the traffic light was red. He walked to the middle of the road shakily.

A truck was pa.s.sing through the intersection; the driver was going rather fast.

The truck driver suddenly noticed that there was a pedestrian jaywalking through the red traffic light and hurriedly ground his foot on the brakes, but he wasn’t going to make it in time.

Just as an accident was about to occur, a figure rushed over at an incredible speed and dragged the curly blue-haired boy to the roadside just in time to avoid the truck!

"Seigo!?" "Harano-kun!?" Mika and Kaede both shouted in astonishment.

The other bystanders were also awed by this spectacle.

The truck driver broke out into a cold sweat as he reflected how lucky he was to have not hit this person.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Don’t you see that there’s a red light!? Do you want to die!!?" the middle-aged driver stuck his head out and yelled at the blue-haired boy. He was evidently angered by the fact that the pedestrian was clearly in the wrong.

He then drove off in a foul mood, swiftly escaping from the scene.

Seiji glanced at the truck as it left, before looking back at his fellow schoolmate, who he'd just saved.

"Are you alright, Fuuma-san?"

Hiros.h.i.+ Fuuma’s expression was rather blank; it was if he hadn’t realized what had just happened.

"You didn’t pay attention to the red light just now, and you were almost hit by a truck," Seiji told him.

Hiros.h.i.+ finally reacted and blinked his eyes. "Oh… you’re Harano-san… thank you for saving me," he said in a weak voice as he lowered his gaze. "I… wasn’t being careful…"

Seiji furrowed his brows upon noticing that Hiros.h.i.+ was absolutely shattered.

At this moment, the light turned green, and Mika and Kaede hurriedly crossed the intersection.

"Seigo…"

"Harano-kun…"

Both the double pigtailed girl and blonde beauty had expressions filled with concern.

"I’m fine; there's no need to worry." Seiji smiled in an attempt to rea.s.sure them.

Only when they confirmed that he was indeed fine did both ladies finally relax.

"Honestly, suddenly rus.h.i.+ng out like that… it’s quite startling!" Mika’s tone carried a trace of complaint.

Kaede didn’t say anything, but her eyes flashed with a strange light.

"My apologies for having scared you two," Seiji said sincerely, before turning back to look at Hiros.h.i.+. "Fuuma-san, your complexion really seems terrible, you can’t even walk steadily, and it’s obvious that your attention was elsewhere. Just what exactly happened to you?"