My transformation into a beautiful girl started with a hemorrhage.

"A date? No."

"Uh... so what do you do every day?" Fujiki Asuka asked, looking at her with a disappointed expression.

"Well, in the morning I go to school with Hui, then we go to class, have lunch together in the cafeteria, after class in the afternoon I take Hui home, then I go to work, and go home in the evening..."

"Stop, stop—" Fujiki Asuka originally wanted to look down on her brother, but after hearing what he said, she gave Kouta a thumbs up, "Brother, you're amazing! You won over Kei-nee-nee so quickly."

"Asuka, what do you mean by 'taken down'? Don't talk nonsense. Don't you know how Kei feels about me?" Fujiki Kouta stopped his sister's ramblings.

Fujiki Asuka looked at her brother, who seemed genuinely confused, and instantly gave him the look of someone looking at an idiot.

"Brother, throw the book away! Stop reading, you'll still be a fool no matter how many books you read. I feel sorry for Sister Hui, you're so stupid, only Sister Hui is kind enough to put up with you. If it were me, I would have thrown the book in your face long ago."

"Uh..." Fujiki Kouta was completely confused. Am I that stupid?

Seeing her brother still looking bewildered, Fujiki Asuka bluntly asked, "Brother, when are you planning to confess to Kei-neechan?"

"Confess...?" Fujiki Kouta blushed. "But... if Kei doesn't agree, won't we lose even the chance to be friends?"

"You idiot, do you want Sister Hui to confess first?"

"Uh... no, I'm just afraid that Hui doesn't like me. If that happens, our relationship will be over!"

"Don't like it? You don't like it? Others will go to school with you, eat lunch with you, and go home with you. They'll give up all their free time to be around you? Do you think you're gold? Uh... maybe in Sister Hui's eyes you really are gold!"

"Well, we're neighbors. Hui only knows me at school, so she's spent more time with me, right?" Kouta asked uncertainly.

"Uh—I feel sorry for Sister Hui. Brother, you should stay single!"

Brother, if Sister Hui and another boy went to school together, ate lunch together, and came home together every day, what would you do?

Asuka Fujiki, seeing her brother's apparent confusion and clear-headedness, continued to offer him guidance.

Kouta Fujiki froze for a moment, not knowing why.

He suddenly thought of Yamada-senpai, who had been trying to get close to Kei for the past few weeks. At the time, he hadn't felt anything when Kei ignored, rejected, and disregarded him every time.

However, after hearing his sister's words, he couldn't help but think: what if... what if Hui was moved by his persistent pursuit...?

Seeing her brother's stunned expression, Fujiki Asuka thought to herself, "There's still hope!"

"I...I have to strike first!" Kouta realized, a lingering fear washing over him. "I have to confess to Kei!!!"

I've been with Hui almost every moment these days, and I haven't even realized it yet.

However, the mere thought of Hui being with other boys... no! Just having contact with them, made him feel terribly uncomfortable.

If such a thing were to actually happen, he wouldn't be able to resist the urge to destroy, to wreak havoc...

At the same time, Fujiki Kouta made a decision in his heart: after the final exams, he would confess his feelings to Kei!

Even if I'm rejected, even if we can't even be friends anymore, I'll still kneel down and beg her to say yes!

Because he simply couldn't accept the sight of Hui with other boys.

As Asuka listened to her brother's words, her face showed a look of relief, as if her child had finally grown up, and she even wiped away imaginary tears.

Seeing his sister's strange expression, Fujiki Kouta humbly asked, "Asuka, what do you think I should do to confess to Kei?"

"Confessing your love? Of course, it's a date! Imagine this: in a garden full of flowers, a pair of mandarin ducks fly overhead, a pair of flounders leap out of the pond... people around you look at you with envy, and you put your arm around Hui-jie's waist and say tenderly to her: I love you! Would you marry me?... Ah! I can't take it anymore! It's too cheesy!" Asuka covered her face with her hands, unable to continue.

However, Kouta took this to heart and decided to go on a date with Kei after his exams, and then confess his feelings to her...

******Divider Line*********

Let's go back to the present.

The lush green roadside trees cast dappled sunlight, illuminating the two figures standing side by side, making them shine brightly.

"Hui, how's your final exam preparation going?" Kouta asked suddenly, as if he had made up his mind.

"Exam? I think I'm doing alright!" Hui replied.

"Hui, um... um! Do you... have time after the exam?" Fujiki Kouta asked again.

"I'm all set after the exam, I have plenty of time. What's wrong? You're acting strange today!" Hui stared at Kouta with her adorable eyes, asking curiously.

Looking at the stunningly beautiful girl before him, Fujiki Kouta wanted to pull her into his arms, but after shaking his head, he said, "Ke, after the exams, let's... go on a date!"

After saying that, Fujiki Kouta nervously looked at the sky, waiting for Kei's reply.

The deafening thump-thump of his heart made Kouta feel like his heart was about to leap out of his chest.

Looking at Kōta's comical appearance, Hui thought to herself: This idiot has finally figured it out and dares to ask girls out?

She smiled and said, "Sure!"

"Uh... so it really doesn't work? ... Uh, Hui, what did you just say?"

Hui looked into Kouta's eyes, staring at him somewhat shyly, before repeating, "Okay!"

Kouta Fujiki was overjoyed, shouting in his heart, "Oh...yes! First step successful!!!"

He smiled at Hui and said, "Then I'll come and wake you up at ten o'clock the next morning after the exam!"

"Mmm!" Hui replied with a smile.

"So... Hui, is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

"Where do you want to go?" Hui looked up and thought for a moment. "I don't think there is. You decide, Mr. Keng!"

······

Meanwhile, at the Kadokawa Bunko headquarters building in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.

In the room marked 'Online Submission Department D'.

There are more than a dozen editors responsible for reviewing the manuscripts.

In this era of writing for everyone, Kadokawa Bunko receives thousands or even tens of thousands of submissions every day.

Each editor is assigned an unusually large workload.

This is why Hui hasn't received a response after submitting her article for a week: there are too many articles, and they can't review them all!

At that moment, a middle-aged editor named Maeda, who wore glasses and had a full beard, saw Hui's manuscript.

He has read more than 200 submissions today, and almost all of them are poorly written and unreadable.

However, out of professional ethics and company regulations, he gritted his teeth and read through a pile of manuscripts that he didn't know what they were, and he also had to write comments on each one, and then... return them one by one.

He's become numb to it all.

At that moment, he saw Hui's submission.

"Girl in a Shell? What kind of name is that? Ha... Momotaro comes out of a peach, and you come up with a girl coming out of an egg..."

Maeda had no hope; he thought it was some elementary school student's essay.

Opening the manuscript...

······

As he watched, Maeda broke out in a cold sweat.

What... what is this?

I'm sick of all those harem, romance, wish-fulfillment, angel, demon, isekai, hero, demon king, and sci-fi-cloaked love stories...

The theme of "The Girl in the Shell" is so obscure and heavy:

A near-future setting filled with wildly imaginative scenarios, bizarre murder cases, and amazing cyborgs.

In addition, the most crucial elements are hatchet and artificial intelligence.

With these keywords complementing each other,

Although it is only 5 words long, the characters are well-developed, the emotions are genuine and simple, the social reality is cruel and realistic, the sentences are fluent, the plot is tight, and the psychological portrayal and detailed descriptions are very successful, leaving the reader with a lasting impression.

Maeda's heart was filled with unease! He was also incredibly curious about the upcoming plot; since becoming an editor, this was the first time he had ever seen a manuscript like this.

I watched it several times.

He couldn't make a decision because the topic of this manuscript was completely different from the current mainstream, but there was no doubt that it was real gold!

"Clang—" Maeda stood up.

Maruyama, the head of 'Online Submission Review Room D', looked at Maeda, who had just stood up, and asked, "What's wrong, Maeda?"

"Director, please take a look at this draft. I can't make up my mind."

"Oh, Maeda, if you can't make up your mind, then I'll have to take a good look."

Maruyama, the department head, opened the manuscript titled "The Girl in the Shell"...

After a long while, Maruyama breathed a sigh of relief after reading it and said, "I'm going to take this manuscript to the editor-in-chief and ask for his opinion!"

Harada's office.

Bang! Bang! — A knock sounded on the door.

"Come in!" said Editor-in-Chief Harada.

"Click—" The door opened, and Maruyama bowed and said, "Editor-in-Chief Harada, I'm sorry to bother you. We have a manuscript here, and we can't make up our minds."

"Oh, let me see it."

After Editor-in-Chief Harada finished speaking, a young, professionally dressed secretary next to him went over and took the printed manuscript from Maruyama's hand.

After a while, Harada put down the manuscript in his hand.

"Yes, if the plot can maintain this level of quality, it should be able to sell over a million copies, despite the limitations of the subject matter and length," Harada commented highly.

"Who is the author of this work?" Harada asked Maruyama, remembering something.

Maruyama replied, "This is an online submission. All I know is that the pen name is 'queen,' the address is Aomori City, and the contact information is ********."

"Aomori City? Nakano! Have the Aomori City branch draft an A-level contract and instruct them to secure her signature." Harada instructed Nakano after hearing this.

"Yes." Nakano Shoko, the sexy secretary dressed in business attire, answered in a standard secretary's tone.

"Has the title for next month's publication been finalized?" Harada continued to ask Nakano Shoko.

"not yet."

"If the contract is signed and there's still time for the manuscript, then add this piece in," Editor-in-Chief Harada instructed.

"Yes," Secretary Nakano continued in response.