In crossover anime, who isn't a childhood friend?

The ninth and tenth dan levels are not attainable by ordinary people; usually, only those who have made significant contributions to swordsmanship can receive this honor.

Even Dokushima Dairyu, who has been deeply involved in the field of kendo for many years, has only reached the eighth dan in kendo.

Considering he is a descendant of a kendo family, has won numerous awards in competitions, and actively opened dojos overseas to promote kendo culture to the world, this is all he has achieved.

Then you'll understand just how difficult it is to take another step forward.

Saeko's father ultimately suffered from his age; it's estimated that he might have a chance to be promoted to the ninth dan in kendo when he reaches his fifties or sixties.

There's no way around it; when it comes to kendo ranks, you just have to work your way up slowly.

This can be considered a kind of honor; it's just showing up at the exam venue, which isn't that difficult.

In any case, as long as Gen Chiya maintains his current level of swordsmanship and continues to win in various competitions, no one will think that he is just a novice at the first dan level.

And then there's...

The professional recording studio that Touma's family was renovating has been completely completed.

The various professional equipment purchased by Ms. Touma Yoko has arrived one after another, and all of them have been installed and debugged.

Yuan Qianye had been visiting her house repeatedly lately, showing great interest in touching and fiddling with the expensive machines.

Seeing him like this, Kazusa helped him study how to use each device.

Gen Chiya hummed the melody of a song he remembered from his past life that didn't exist in this world, asking the musically gifted Kazusa to help him materialize the melody and record it with different instruments according to his request.

He added his own lyrics, put on headphones, and in the recording studio, under the teasing gaze of Kazusa standing on the other side of the soundproof glass, he tried singing it himself with a flushed face.

After the song ended, we waited for him to come out.

Kazusa's gesture changed from putting her hands on her hips to tightly covering her chest.

His expression changed from amusement as he watched the spectacle to a deep, meaningful gaze, revealing his trembling.

After she roughly presented the melody of the song according to Yuan Qianye's request, she simply thought it sounded very nice and was a little surprised that he had such talent.

But to her utter surprise, the moment he began to sing, she felt as if she had been struck by lightning. His eyes shone with brilliance, all her other emotions were soothed, and it was as if the world consisted only of the two of them...

It's only natural that things turned out this way.

Jay Chou's "Seven Mile Fragrance" is just a joke.

One last thing.

It's also one of the most important things.

This is the topic that Kasumigaoka is currently discussing: Minamoto no Chiya is studying literature.

To be more precise, it is about studying the many highly successful literary works in the world and the reasons why they are so popular and sought after by the masses.

Or rather, they might share common patterns.

I've gained some insights and think I've pretty much grasped the direction of the literary content that Japanese people in this world are fond of.

Because Shiyu kept coming to his house to bother him during this period, his writing ability has reached the LV4 level.

The improvement in my abilities is almost sufficient, and the research in this area is also almost complete.

He felt it was time to decide on the direction he would take when he officially began writing.

"I've suddenly become interested..."

Minamoto Chiya's words were simple, but they involuntarily made Kasumigaoka, whose mind was currently filled with girlish sentiments, think of them.

It seems that no one around him likes to read. Oh, the poor and thin Yukinoshita could be considered one, but she's abroad, so it's definitely not her concern.

Moreover, Qianye said that it was a recent interest of hers, so without a doubt, it seems to be related to her.

Knowing that I enjoy reading, I make it a rule for myself to do the same, so that I can have more topics to talk about with myself.

That seems to make sense...

Is there a problem?

"No~" Kasumigaoka smiled happily, came to Minamoto Chiyo's side, deliberately put her hands behind her back, and forcefully thrust out her ample curves, looking at the gradually darkening sky outside with him: "I was just thinking that if we have time in the future, we can go to the library together, exchange the books we've been reading recently, and discuss our thoughts and feelings after reading them."

“That’s definitely a good idea.” Yuan Qianye stroked his chin, thinking that her suggestion seemed quite good.

Kasumigaoka's eyes lit up, thinking to herself, "You've suddenly started to enjoy reading, so it must be for my sake after all." "Then I..."

"Buzzing—"

Just as she was about to press her advantage and extend an invitation, a vibration came from inside the house.

It wasn't anything strange; it was just that my phone suddenly rang.

She took out her phone and saw it was the editor's call. Realizing it was work-related, she suppressed her annoyance at being interrupted, gave Yuan Qianye an apologetic look, and, afraid of disturbing the baby's sleep, ran to the balcony to answer the call.

A moment later, she returned to her room and made a request to Yuan Qianye: "Qianye, may I use your computer? The editor sent me the draft illustrations for the new volume of the novel, and I need to check them now. If there are no problems, the illustrator can continue drawing. I need to reply as soon as possible, as it's not convenient for me to view them on my phone."

"Of course, no problem."

"Thank you."

Kasumigaoka sat at Minamoto Chiya's computer desk, opened her email, logged in, and downloaded the attached document file to her local computer.

The illustrations in the new volume are getting better and better, perfectly matching my pursuit of aesthetic beauty. They're really great.

She breathed a slight sigh of relief and replied to the editor that she was very satisfied, and also asked her to thank the illustrator on her behalf.

In less than ten minutes, Kasumigaoka finished dealing with his business.

She returned to the desktop and was about to shut down the computer when a document on the desktop caught her attention.

The document is titled "Outline." Could it be that Qianye is also trying to write a novel?

Kasumigaoka subconsciously made associations in that direction.

She turned her head to look to the side, where Yuan Qianye was tidying up his bookshelf.

After thinking for a moment, she decided not to click on it directly, but instead asked, "Qianye, what is this?"

Yuan Qianye walked to the computer and saw where the mouse was hovering. He thought to himself that this was a coincidence, even if it was just a fluke.

This is a novel he's been practicing writing recently. He hasn't written much yet, but it's a good opportunity to show it to Shiyu so she can get some professional feedback and maybe even some advice from her.

Therefore, he frankly admitted, "This is a novel that I've been trying to write recently."

That's really true!

Yuan Qianye looked at her in confusion: "Why are you suddenly smiling at me like that?"

Of course, I'm happy to know that you want to share the same hobbies as me!

"Hmm, did I smile?"

"He laughed."

"Go ahead and laugh, I love to laugh anyway. May I take a look?" Kasumigaoka's eyes were filled with little stars, each one sparkling with anticipation.

Yuan Qianye nodded: "Okay, but my writing skills aren't very good, so please don't laugh at me if I don't write well."

"How could that be? Chiyo, your grades are so excellent, your novels must be amazing too," Kasumigaoka said, flattering him.

She planned that after watching it, even if her overall impression wasn't great, she would still offer praise, but she couldn't be too obvious to give him away; she had to be subtle, restrained, and genuine.

That's right, even before it officially started airing, Kasumigaoka had already made a less than optimistic judgment in her mind.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Yuan Qianye, but writing was not easy. It was different from essay writing. To write words that readers would agree with, the effort required was something that couldn't be learned in the classroom.

She herself stumbled and struggled for a long time before she finally figured out some tricks and techniques, developed her own style, and gained a group of loyal fans.

"Then I'll open it now."

"Order."

Minamoto no Chiya was amused by Kasumigaoka.

Why does she seem even more nervous than I am?

Kasumigaoka opened the document, and the title of the novel appeared at the top—【Four-Body—Chapter One】.

Hey, this looks pretty impressive but I don't really understand it.

…………

P.S.: Due to certain risks, I used the name "肆体" (Si Ti). Just so you know which book it refers to.

Volume 1: Chapter 122: 4,000 words a day?! What kind of tentacle monster is this?!

Kasumigaoka sat at his desk, his gaze finally settling on the words that Minamoto no Chiya had typed out.

His relaxed face, which had been holding a faint smile, gradually became serious.

Below the title is not the main text, but a relatively brief story outline.

[…………] (See ps)

Although it was only a few hundred words in outline, Kasumigaoka read it with great focus.

The writing style might not be immediately apparent from the outline, but whether the story itself is interesting is quite easy to discern.

"Using solar amplification signals to establish contact with extraterrestrial civilizations... Earth coordinates... protons... colony fleets... technological blockade... the confrontation between Earth and extraterrestrials..."

Kasumigaoka stared at the computer screen, muttering to herself unconsciously, her eyes gradually brightening.

Her academic performance is particularly outstanding in the humanities.

Therefore, the books she prefers to read in her daily life are mostly literary works covering humanities, documentaries, history, drama, and love.

The novel that Yuan Qianye is currently writing clearly falls into the category of science fiction.

This is a type of literature that she rarely engages with on her own initiative. It's not that she doesn't understand it, but everyone has their own preferences, and she just naturally isn't very interested in this kind of literature.

But the words that Yuan Qianye, a complete novice in writing, presented to her at this moment immediately invigorated her, and a strong sense of anticipation welled up in her heart. She wanted to eagerly enter the main text and follow his words on a thrilling mental adventure!

"Qianye, when did you start writing?"

Kasumigaoka noticed the document's upper right corner, which displayed the exact number of words.

Including the outline, it totals more than 62,000 words.

This is already quite a lot of words. You should know that the light novel she is currently serializing usually produces about two thousand words a day.

This level of burnout was only achieved when she pushed herself, and when the editor occasionally offered comfort and seemingly "casual" inquiries about the progress of her new novel.