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Chapter 4
Now there is a boy friend too
“Sup, the handsome guy’s here.”
It was evening. While Itsuki remained holed up in his room, working, the bell rang, followed by a shameless line from outside.
Itsuki scowled as he opened the door.
That line itself was terrible, but the person standing there was really a handsome guy, as declared.
He was in his early 20s.
He had narrow eyes, an impressionable handsome face, and wears
thin framed glasses; his hair was dyed bright brown, short and unkempt.
He was so skinny, but despite this, he did not look weak at all. His legs were half as long as his body.
He had a kind smile on his face, and overall, was a youth giving off a vibrant flair.
If a handsome guy calls himself handsome, I wouldn’t know how to
react, so stop with that, Itsuki thought. But if a handsome guy’s going
to act humble and say ‘I’m not some handsome guy~’, it’ll be really
infuriating, so—
“—So the conclusion’s that all handsome guys should die.”
“What kind of conclusion is that?”
The handsome guy showed a wry smile after being told to die, but that wry smile gave a refreshing impression for some reason.
Itsuki did not know his actual name, but the pen name was Fuwa Haruto.
Like Itsuki, he was a novelist working under the same label, and
debuted in the same newcomer award along with the former. They were
authors from the same batch.
“Yo, Itsuki. Doing well recently?”
“Humph. Sort of.”
“Washed your p*nis properly?”
“Do-don’t say such things so openly out there!”
Itsuki panicked, his face reddened, and Haruto laughed,
“Relax. Your 4 neighbors to your left and right side, top and bottom are all college students who should be at school now.”
“…How is it that you know about the people living in the apartments here more than I do…?”
Itsuki groaned with his eyes half opened, “Anyway, come in.” and invited Haruto into his room.
“Please excuse me. Ah, here’s a present. I’ll put it in the fridge then.”
“Oh.”
Haruto opened the fridge as though he was in his own kitchen,
placed the tote bag filled with numerous bottles of foreign beer into
it, and took out one bottle of the Gouden Carolus (Belgium Beer) Tripel
and Christmas[5] each.
Itsuki’s room was for his personal use, but the fridge was family
size. 20% of the space was used for the food Chihiro prepared, while
60% were beer bottles and cans.
The remaining 20% were PET bottles filled with water and tea, raw ham, cheese, sausages, chocolate, dried fruits, tsumami[6], snacks[7] isotonic drinks and so on.
The alcohol in the fridge were basically all foreign, half of
them Belgium beer, and there was also beer from other countries, like
Germany, Holland, America and England. The only Japanese beer were a few
cans of Yona Yona Ale. Most of the beer and tsumami were brought over
by Haruto.
Itsuki’s room was close to the publisher, so whenever Haruto paid a visit to the publisher, he could pop by on the way here.
“I’ll borrow a plate here.”
Without waiting for Itsuki’s reply, haruto went to take a large
plate from the kitchen, opened the packaged raw ham he brought along
with the beer, arranged it along the circumference of the plate, placed
the cheese and dried fruit prettily on the plate, and served it onto the
kotatsu.[8]
He then took out two grail-shaped beer glasses[9]
that were meant for Gouden Carolus from the cupboard, washed them
briefly, and put them along with the two bottles of beers and the opener
onto the table.
“Kept you waiting!”
He finished his preparations as swiftly as Chihiro, and entered the kotatsu.
“Oh.” In response to Haruto, Itsuki nodded in an exaggerated manner.
On a side note, while the guest Haruto was busy serving beer and
tsumami, the owner of the room, Itsuki, remained at the kotatsu the
entire time, reading manga.
“Which one?”
Haruto took the two bottles, asking, “This one.” Itsuki pointed to the Christmas version.
Haruto opened the bottle, and poured into the glass.
The rich brown color frothing with bubbles filled the glasses,
and the room was immediately filled with the scent of herbs and spice.
“Anyway, good job!”
“Oh.”
They gave a toast, knocking the glasses lightly, and Itsuki was
anxious to have a quick sip of beer, only to be suddenly stopped bu
Haruto.
“Ah, wait.”
“?”
“Itsuki, make a peace sign on the plate.”
“…Like this?”
Confused as he was, Itsuki obedient put down the glass, put his
hand on the somewhat glamorous looking plate filled with tsumami, and
did a scissors sign.
Haruto then reached his left hand out, put it beside Itsuki’s
hand, and did a peace sign too, taking a photo on the smartphone using
his right hand.
“Right, okay. Erm, ‘I’m having a meal with my batchmate Hashima
Itsuki-kun’s house ^^, we’ve been meeting three times a week recently,
time to get married’…uploaded.”
“…What are you uploading?”
“Hm? I’m declaring on Twitter that I have gay tendencies.”
In response to that question, Haruto answered as he tapped at his smartphone.
“…?”
Hearing that, Itsuki still had no clue, and Haruto continued,
“Haven’t I been showing up out there, recently?”
“Yeah.”
Fuwa Haruto’s debut work ‘Keikai no Chevalier’ series was no
match for Kani Nayuta’s ‘Silver Lanscape’, but it was one of the top
selling hit series under the label, and was to become an anime on April
this year.
Because of the anime, Haruto began to hold autograph sessions,
interviews from anime magazines, internet news websites, and video
sites. Due to his looks, he was starting to be recognized as the
‘handsome guy’ author.
Haruto’s reader demographic was focused on young men, and
typically, most of the readers would not have much interest in the
author. However, some of them were spiteful at the sight of a handsome
guy, and some were really worried that the author would be too handsome
he would eat up the voice actresses in the anime.
“That’s why I need to act like I got some gay tendencies. I just
need everyone to think that I prefer to hang out with guys rather than
flirt with girls, and I won’t have to worry about being hated by the
fans of those voice actresses. Also, I’ll be able to attract the older
sister type fans who have such interests, whichs makes it killing two birds with one stone.”
“…You have it rough, huh.”
While Itsuki looked dumbfounded and somewhat sympathetic, he suddenly realized something.
“Huh? If I’m going to get involved in showing gay tendencies, then what about me…!”
“Hm? Come out of the closet with me.”
“Do-don’t kid me now! Why do I have to be mistaken by everyone for a gay just for the sake of protecting you!”
“Eh? What’s the problem with that? Maybe you’ll open up to a new fan group.”
“Like hell I need it! I won’t feel happy about selling books through an author’s personality and characteristics!”
“…!”
For a moment, Haruto showed a serious look, but he then gave a
bitter smile, saying, “You’re really serious in some weird way…” And
then,
“But even if the world thinks of you as gay, you don’t really care anyway, right?”
“You got to be kidding! If my work’s adapted into the anime, and
there’s rumors out there of me being gay when I’m going to get married
to the ultimate voice actress voicing the ultimate little sister that’s
the main heroine, that’s going to be troublesome, right!?”
“Eh, you want to marry a voice actress, Isuki?”
“Fuhahaha, you idiot! I’ve no intention of marrying at all. The
important thing is that the image of me going ‘I’m the golden standard
to the voice actresses’ looks cool and great fuhahahaha!”
“…Are you getting tired?”
“…Ah, um…I’ve been getting writer’s block recently…”
Haruto asked, giving a serious look, and Itsuki nodded with a ω look.
“…Really? Better not drink for today then.”
“No, maybe I’ll get some inspiration after I get drunk, so I’m drinking!”
Saying that, Itsuki gulped down the beer
The splendorous fragrance mixed with many herbs and spices
entered filled the nostrils, and the rich sweet taste lingered in the
mouth, followed by a comforting, complex bitterness.
The alcohol content of Gouden Carolus Christmas beer is 10.5,
more than twice of an ordinary beer in Japan, but it did not feel as
such, and so he could not stop drinking.
“Ah…this is great.”
Itsuki’s face was flushed red, his eyes blurred as he exhaled.
“Don’t drink at such a high pace there.”
Haruto gave a bitter smile, and took a little sip, letting the beer roll on his tongue as he tasted it.
“You said you reached a block, so I guess it’s that? Jäger, the first work which you didn’t use an imouto heroine, Hashima.”
“…No, I scratched that.”
Itsuki answered a little apologetically.
Haruto was often checking the recent novels and anime, and was
very well-informed on the recent trends, so when Itsuki was pondering
over the ‘Bright Red Jäger (tentative name), he sought Haruto out for
advice, and showed the latter the draft for the prologue.
“Scratched? Really? Why?”
Haruto was taken aback, and Itsuki finished up the contents of the glass.
“I need to have an imouto heroine in my work no matter what!
That’s why I’m thinking of starting a new project and think of an
ultimate little sister nobody has thought of before!”
“…Your siscon tendencies are too ingrained.”
Haruto chuckled dumbfoundedly, and ate a piece of dried fruit to go with the beer.
“…I have a real little sister, and to be honest, a little
sister isn’t as nice as you think, you know? No matter what I do, I’ll
get nitpicked here and there, and she’ll find fault with me, saying that
my novels are boring and disgusting, that after watching my interviews,
she just feels annoyed, feel like puking and such, it’s really
depressing.”
“You idiot! Don’t compare that filthy thing taking on the appearance of a little sister to my little sister.”
“Fi-filthy thing…? My little sister isn’t that bad, alright!?
She’s actually quite cute in the past and when I fell sick from a cold
just a while back, she ran off to buy jelly for me—anyway, you don’t
have a little sister!”
“No I do!”
“Eh!?”
“She’s in my heart!”
“O-oh…I see…”
Haruto showed a look of sympathy.
“…But to be honest…recently, your novels, even though I don’t
have that cute little sister element …they’re getting a little out
there, you know? I’m seeing reviews on the internet, like ‘it’s getting
harder to put myself in the protagonist’s shoes’.”
“Why are you looking at reviews of my books on the internet…!?”
“Don’t mind. It’s my interest to read reader reviews on other novels.”
“Hmph…”
Itsuki snorted in annoyance, poured some beer into his empty glass, and downed it all,
“…I know that there’s been a lot of such noise from the readers
recently. I thought they were just a bunch of guys who used the Amazon
reviews as their own diary entries, or just some anons trolling away,
only daring to post such things on imageboards, but the editor told me
that in the questionnaire for the middle and high school students, the
only one that actually matters, such sentiments are becoming more
common…”
Itsuki continued to down the beer dejectedly,
“But!”
Don! He slammed the kotatsu table,
“I’m never going to lose to those commoners! If I’m to compromise
because I’m scared of being criticized that I’m too far from reality,
I’m never going to write out the ultimate little sister! I might as well
go all the way and create a groundbreaking originality for an absolute
Godly Little sister everyone in the world will kneel to, and dice up
those foolish commoners’ souls!”
Itsuki boasted with enthusiasm, and drank some beer.
After that, Itsuki continued to passionately talk about little
sisters, the world and grumble at the editor, while Haruto merely
responded with things like ‘oh~’, ‘yeah yeah’. Soon after, Itsuki was
completely drunk, and no matter what Haruto said to him, all he could do
was answer ‘Nyanpasu’[10].
“Really…I told you not to go at such a high pace…”
“Nyanpasu~”
Itsuki’s consciousness was almost gone as his eyes remained closed, raising a hand, giving off a comfortable, feeble voice.
“…Your name is?”
“Nyanpasu!”
“…And where do you stay?”
“Nyanpasu!”
“Nyanpasuu~”
“Nyan…pasu…?”
Itsuki finally collapsed backwards, facing up, and went to sleep.
Haruto gave a bitter grin as he watched that blissful sleeping face,
“…I guess Nayu-chan will be delighted if I take a photo of this and send this to her.”
Haruto said this as he took a photo of Itsuki’s sleeping face,
but he did not send it to Nayuta, but kept it in his smartphone instead.
“Fnya…nyan…pasu…”
While Itsuki continued with his sleeptalk, Haruto paid no heed as he poured beer for himself.
“Well, do your best then…while you geniuses remain stuck on such stupid things, I’m going to move a move forward…”
The handsome, refreshed smile remained on Haruto’s face, but deep within his eyes, something seemed to be burning.
匚
After approximately two hours of drinking a few bottles of beer
and finishing the tsumami, Haruto washed the dishes and bottles, moved
Itsuki, so deep in sleep from the kotatsu to his bed, and left the room.
The chilly winds immediately robbed the heat from the body heated up by the alcohol, and Haruto shivered.
—For Fuwa Haruto, Hashima Itsuki was not simply a friend to ask
out for drinking, but also an ally working together in him in the same
industry, under the same label, a little brother that would need lots of
care, and at the same time, an ‘enemy’ he aimed to defeat.
Both Haruto and Itsuki were awarded ‘prized work’ in the same
rookie awards, but the reviews they received were completely different.
Till this point, Haruto could not forget the appraisal of their works.
—it’s crude, there is a lot of problems with the content, and to
be honest, there’s doubt as to whether this work can be pushed out to
the market. However, the work is filled with an indescribable charm.
This certainly is a work only he can write, and as for what kind of
author this person will develop into, I’m really interested in it.
—This one has in-depth research on the recent trends, and a model
student’s level of work. The quality is sufficient enough for publishing
immediately, and they’ll probably sell. (Digs nose)
There was no need to mention whose work was whose.
At the moment the reviews were made, Haruto angrily thought of
beating up that reviewer, but when he actually read Itsuki’s work after
it was published, “I lost.” he had the thought.
Haruto’s novel had an overwhelming advantage in sales volume, so
much that it was able to be adapted into an anime, but he did not feel
that he won.
The term defeat was as such—nothing to do with the reviews from others on sales volume, fame, social rating and sorts.
Further enhancing the sense of defeat in Haruto was when he saw
Kani Nayuta read Itsuki’s work a year ago, and aimed to be an author—how
he saw the living example of Itsuki’s work changing a person’s life.
To roughly classify authors, they could be grouped as the
‘artist’ type who would use their own senses as weapons, and the
‘technician’ who would analyze market trends and write accordingly.
Of course, such classifications could not be used universally on
all authors, and most of them had both of such natures, like ‘an artist
with some technical flair’, or ‘mostly classified as a technician’ and
such, but Itsuki and Nayuta were mostly the former type, while Haruto
was the latter.
Artists, and technicians; for an author, there was nothing to
decide which type was superior. Only by producing actual results would
there not be a need to feel so inferior.
To be honest, the artist type would be easily affected
emotionally, and the fluctuation in work quality and creativity speed
would be great, with the worst-case scenario being that they couldn’t
write at all. In contrast, the technician type that is able to write at a
steady, solid pace of stable quality would be more favored by the
publishers.
Haruto himself understood this logic well, but…
“…If I really have to choose, I rather be a genius…”
His muttering vanished into the night, never reaching anyone’s ears.