I really don't want to be reborn.

Kyosuke, mimicking her boasting, smiled and said, "I'm super amazing."

The girl clicked her tongue in admiration. She didn't quite understand what this meant, only that her brother was very capable—which was only natural, and she naturally brought up a promise she had made earlier.

"You have enough money to buy a house now, right? Hehe, I remember you promised me that you would always save a room for me in the house you buy in the future, right?"

"I thought you had forgotten about it."

"How could I forget! Hey, is your income enough now?"

Kyosuke Kosaka patted her hair: "I've found someone in Shinjuku, but I'll need to earn extra money for renovations and such."

"It's just an animated adaptation? That's very lucrative?"

Is adapting anime into a lot of money?

Actually, the accurate statement is not necessarily true.

Because royalties are always the author's main source of income, and the most fundamental source of income—light novel authors ultimately have to make a living through their writing.

In contrast, animation is a form of self-affirmation and an additional source of income for him.

“Animation is not necessarily a source of revenue. It’s not about how much money animation can make. The main value actually lies in multimedia and related merchandise.”

Multimedia development is typically exemplified by game development. According to current industry practices, after all the calculations, players can usually get about one percent of the game's selling price as royalties.

Secondly, there are gambling machines like pachinko. The copyright fee is calculated at 7% of the price of a machine, and the author can get about 1% to 3%. There are a huge number of gambling machines, so it is not a small amount.

"Besides that, of course there are the figurines you're familiar with, and keychains printed with character images, which should account for about four percent. Pudding-chan promised five percent, but unfortunately I didn't agree..."

After getting the information out of her brother that Pudding-chan was a fierce and wicked person, Kirino didn't care anymore: "So, the benefits of the anime adaptation itself aren't actually that great?"

"Of course, the biggest benefit is actually to increase the exposure of the work. As long as the animation is popular, it will boost the sales of the original work and other related merchandise, and the compound growth in profits will be very high."

He silently told himself that this was also a way of proving himself, and perhaps he wouldn't be interested in doing this in the next reincarnation.

Kyosuke stared blankly at the night outside the window. The night outside was so dark that it could be sliced ​​off with a knife; it was thick and deep.

Kirino quietly raised her eyes and noticed the emotion in her brother's eyes reflected in the glass, causing her breath to catch in her throat slightly.

That year, I caught that cicada and thought I had captured the whole summer.

That year I saw you, and I thought I saw the whole past—but now she truly realizes that understanding her brother's heart is far more difficult than catching cicadas in the summer.

It's really hard to understand my brother.

That was the only thing Kasumigaoka Utaha said that made her feel frustrated.

And I hope I can comfort her.

So what's on your mind?

She gazed at the pair of unfocused eyes reflected in the glass, as if looking at the layers of lights on the shore.

"Cough!"

Kirino, not wanting her brother to remain in that damned daze, coughed heavily: "So, all these profits depend on the animation's production quality, right?"

"...Well, if the animation flops, then this money is just a worthless check. Hmph, the editor-in-chief of Dengeki Bunko is trying to fool me into thinking I don't know anything, saying he'll deal with it when I'm in college."

The loneliness in his eyes faded, replaced by the old fox's mockery of the seasoned veteran: "Did you really think I was some clueless newbie? That's why you sold it to XEBEC, and I'm willing to give up half of the one-time usage fee just to get involved."

"And then what?"

"Although I have Akamatsu-sensei's guarantee, there's no guarantee that Otsuki won't inexplicably get involved again, so I'm going to write the episode scripts myself..."

Actually...

She didn't hear a word her brother said.

"And then? And then? There must be a hefty usage fee, right?"

"Anyway, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya sold over eight million copies, and Tanikawa's royalties were almost double the production cost of the anime. It's not a lot..."

The 05 group leader was indeed cheap.

He felt guilty and thought to himself, "The comparison I just made was with the 09 version of 'My Chief and My Regiment'."

Kirino had no idea what he was thinking. She hugged his neck and gently rocked him, feeling like she was the donkey Nietzsche had described.

They can only revel with their owner's permission.

"elder brother……"

"what happened?"

The girl closed her eyes, and the courage she had just mustered vanished like a feather, completely gone.

The bedroom exuded a calm, serene atmosphere, like the calm before a volcanic eruption.

"I want to sleep……"

"Good night."

On Kyosuke's bed, his younger sister closed her eyes and fell asleep.

The light at the end of my consciousness was the desk lamp my brother used when he was writing.

It started raining outside.

------

It's decided! I'm going to beat the entire Oreimo game.

It seems like the siblings in the game aren't related by blood...

Please vote!

Chapter Three: This problem is a bit bloated, bloated in a convoluted and tense way.

"Cultural Festival?"

"They said they recommended me to be the chairman of the executive committee..."

The girl's slightly yellow voice came from the other end of the phone: "Are you going? Actually, if you're bored, you might as well find something to do."

"I thought about it and still felt it wasn't necessary."

Kousaka Kyosuke wanted to hear her voice, so he spoke much slower than usual.

This is probably what first love feels like.

Having lived for many years, he realized in September that his current state could be described in one word.

First stirrings of love.

A light rain began to fall from the sky, and my pounding heart sprouted, its petals unfurling, rash and uncertain.

Her words sounded warm and pleasant to the ear, like honey flowing into the ear, but after entering the heart, they became fragmented and disordered.

Every day I spend a lot of time thinking, imagining, and reminiscing, I can't be still—my calm and organized thoughts are like a group of leaves rolling around in the wind, this is what is called restless.

"Let's not talk about me anymore. How's things going on your end?"

"It's alright. Taking care of the elderly here means listening to the same old stories every day, over and over again..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha's voice sounded a little impatient, but it immediately transformed into a sugar cube soaked in coffee, almost melting his eardrums: "Any new members joining the club? Like some young girls who admire you?"

"Many admire me, but not a single one wants to join the Literature Club."

Kyosuke joked with her: "Didn't I say before that true literary girls are actually very rare? There are three-strand braids like a cat's tail, there are those who are always making jokes by the river, and there are even beautiful cat-like class presidents with glasses... It's a pity I haven't met any of them."

Kasumigaoka Utaha pondered for more than ten seconds: "Is this supposed to be a reference to some anime character? Why haven't I heard of any of them?"

Since these characters haven't been released yet, it would be a miracle if you'd even heard of them.

"It's nothing. What I meant was that there aren't many high school girls who truly love literature. To be honest, meeting you was the luckiest thing that happened to me in high school."

"Just because I'm... a literature enthusiast?"

He lowered his voice: "Of course not."

"What has Kirino been up to lately? Has she been playing games with you, or writing her... novels?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha suddenly changed the subject, which puzzled him: "Why are you suddenly concerned about her? You two have never gotten along."

"..."

"Well, lately she's been asking me to teach her how to write more, but to be honest, she really doesn't have a talent for it. Her word choice and word arrangement are quite terrible, but—"

When Kyosuke Kosaka heard a knock on the clubroom door, he drew the curtains: "But her desire to express herself was almost implied in every word, a bit like me when I wrote doggerel in elementary school."

"Humph."

"Don't laugh... Never mind, I have something to do right now, let's talk about it tonight."

Kyosuke hung up the phone and went to open the door, where stood a figure who hadn't appeared in a long time.

With a head of handsome, clean red hair, a face that's considered quite good-looking for Benzen High School, and that almost signature goofy smile, he stood at the door with his hands in his pockets: "Kousaka, I'm here."

"...Akagi, what are you doing here? The soccer club's offices aren't on this floor."

Akagi Kohei revealed a hint of resentment: "Let's go back together!"

"Um……??"

Kyosuke Kosaka finally couldn't maintain his smile and cautiously took a few steps back: "Mr. Akagi, please have some self-respect. I'm not a man who can't find women."

Then they went home together.

The background music featured the classic Huangmei Opera melody of "Husband and wife returning home together".

"So that's what happened, they just wanted to show off to me."

Two teenagers walked down the street. Akagi recounted with great enthusiasm some of the perverted things he had done not long ago, such as hiding in the closet to spy on others, groping the breasts of cute little girls, and so on...

"Aren't you afraid of getting your legs broken? I'm more curious about just how cute your little sister is."

Akagi said confidently, "Isn't my sister cute? Otherwise, why would I be showing her off to you? Of course, of course, I invited you home to comfort you, didn't I?"

Yes, everyone knows that Kasumigaoka Utaha is taking a break from school for a few months due to special circumstances, and is going back to her hometown or something.

This was a significant blow to Kosaka, who was deeply in love at the time. He would often stare blankly at the sky after class, which made many girls feel sorry for him and invited him to lunch several times.

"See? Even though you refused them all, the girls in the class feel even more sorry for you. They're practically ready to transfer to your literature department."

"No way, isn't it good that I'm all alone? It's not good to be flirting with other girls."