Iruma-san wants to win the Akutagawa Prize

This incident was very painful for Iruma Hibiki who wanted to help her, because at this moment he could only choose to watch.

"Thank you, Iruma-san."

"Hmm? Why thank you?"

As they approached the station, Nagasaki Suyo sincerely thanked Iruma Hibiki.

"Because—Iruma-san noticed my fingers."

"Ah, that matter, it's just a small matter."

Iruma Hibiki smiled. It was time for the two of them to say goodbye here. After all, Iruma Hibiki lived in Edogawa District, while Nagasaki Suyo lived in Ikebukuro.

"Be careful on your way, Shigaraki-san."

In the end, Iruma Hibiki said goodbye to Nagasaki Motoyo with these words.

31 Nagasaki Suyo's Confession

Minamikasai was quiet and silent late at night. Although the place where Iruma Hibiki lived was not too remote, it was not a busy city either. Only occasional vehicles passed by on the streets at night.

There's absolutely nothing normal about someone wandering the beach late at night, especially when they're high school students. Such behavior always makes people think of something bad, but for Hibiki Iruma, it's simply a side effect of staying up late.

Because he slept too much during the day and had a reversed day and night cycle, he didn't know what to do at night so he chose to go for a walk in Linhai Park.

The lights in many places in Linhai Park are not bright enough at night, and the sea breeze is still very strong at night. It is already a warm spring, but the wind at this moment always reminds Iruma Xiang of the cold winter a few months ago.

Come to think of it, in January, when he was about to graduate, he seemed to have wandered around Linhai Park late at night like this.

But now is different from the past.

At that time, he might have felt more unwilling and indignant, as well as an urgent desire to change the bad situation at that time. It was like a certain simulation business game that will update a new Cthulhu-themed DLC tomorrow. For players who have been looking forward to it for a long time, the last few days are torture and torment in a sense.

At this moment, Hibiki Iruma was actually feeling calm.

Although he probably realized that he might not meet the heroine in the story and experience a brilliant life, is it so bad now?

"call--"

After taking a deep breath, Iruma Hibiki actually felt that there was still something wrong with his emotions.

exhausted.

It's not happiness, excitement or anticipation.

Yes, he was clearly not sleepy at the moment, but he felt waves of fatigue.

Spending the past few days with Ijichi Hongxia and Nagasaki Suyo did give him a happy feeling, but—

He was tired of it.

Is this the price of friendship?

Thinking of this, Iruma Hibiki laughed at himself. He didn't know when it started, but he gradually lost the ability to recognize these sparse and ordinary things in the world.

Thinking of this, he turned on his phone.

The chat with Nagasaki Motoyo ended at 10 o'clock sharp.

The last chat with Ijichi Hongxia ended around 12 o'clock.

It is now 1 o'clock in the morning. Iruma Hibiki decided to go home before 2 o'clock and then sleep until 7 o'clock tomorrow morning to go to school. No matter what, she cannot continue with her current schedule.

Staying up late is always the enemy of youth.

Unless you have a group of nocturnal friends.

After taking a simple walk for half an hour, Iruma Hibiki started his journey home.

In fact, he never thought that anything strange would happen tonight, but when a cell phone beeped, Hibiki Iruma took out his cell phone in confusion.

Perhaps because of his past habits, he actually only opened the text message alerts of a few people.

Among them were his parents. He had never exchanged email addresses with Goto Ichiri. Exposing the relationship between Iruma Rengen and Guitar Hero would only bring about a terrible disaster. The only people who would issue such a prompt tone were Ijichi Nijika and Nagasaki Soyo.

Because he is a [comrade] in the band.

A community of shared destiny in a sense.

Nagasaki Suyo might have just been a nice line, but Hibiki Iruma has remembered it so deeply until now, and there's a high probability that he won't forget it. For a lonely guy like him—

Santa Bear and Salmon are not only special attacks on Goto Ichiri, but also on him.

In other words, all a lonely guy needs is the promise of companionship. The sweet, ocean-colored love that Xianchong longs for will be degraded to plain friendship for a lonely guy.

As long as they have these, they are willing to do anything.

It’s like an author can always work hard to create excellent works under any circumstances as long as he has the company of readers.

Hibiki Iruma had no doubt about this because that was just who he was.

So he chose to remember, believe and practice Nagasaki Suyo's words.

It doesn't matter if it's just nice words and deception.

At this moment, the news also came from Nagasaki Suyo.

In fact, when he saw the light-up portrait of Nagasaki Motoyo and the hint [1] behind it that looked like a red apple with a bright reflection, Iruma Hibiki was stunned for a moment.

Nagasaki Suyo is not a high school girl who goes out at night.

She is a young lady living in the sunshine. Maybe she needs someone to take care of her, or maybe she is a little lonely as Ijichi Hongxia said, but there is no doubt that she is definitely a dancing butterfly, not a moth that mistakes candlelight for the sun and wants to chase warmth at night.

Yes, deep down in Iruma Hibiki's heart, he believed that this was the gap between him and Nagasaki Soyo.

The moth likes candlelight because of the sun, and he likes the sun because he longs to dance with the butterflies on a warm day.

And aren’t the butterflies that appear at night a little strange?

With a hint of strangeness in his mood, Iruma Hibiki opened the chat with Nagasaki Suyo. He did not intend to hide the fact that he had been staying up late until now.

In fact, most people who stay up late will use the excuse of sleeping to perfunctorily deal with those who go to bed early. The reason may be to prevent the other party from worrying about themselves, or just to pretend to be normal, or simply want some precious time that belongs to themselves that they don’t usually have.

As for Hibiki Iruma, he didn't bother to hide this fact, and he was also tired of having time that belonged only to himself.

Or perhaps it was because she felt that something was wrong with herself. Ever since Goto Ichiri, that cute, beautiful girl with a great figure who was always alone, Iruma Hibiki had made up her mind to make changes on her own.

The prerequisite for change is never to escape but to face it.

Hibiki Iruma faced up to his own abnormality at the moment.

As a reward——

Yes, perhaps this world is a stupid game, one where choosing challenges and coping with difficulties always yields rewards.

The moment Iruma Hibiki opened the message.

His pupils contracted, and then he froze in place.

His mind went blank in an instant.

He probably had never had a moment in his life when his mind was as blank as it was at this moment.

And on the other side.

Nagasaki Suyo's face is facing Ikebukuro late at night, and from here you can overlook the entire bustling city.

She opened the curtains, and both the night sky and the world were within her field of vision, as if within reach, but her sight was limited to the small screen.

The message that Nagasaki Suyo sent was very simple, so simple that her heart was pounding after she sent it.

She already felt that she might have acted a little impulsively.

"I find myself kind of falling for you, Iruma-san. We don't even know each other that well... Hehe, this is definitely going to bother you, Iruma-san, but can I ask, are you dating Ijichi-san right now?"

Nagasaki Suyo said this in the small chat box.

He completely ignored the impact that simple text would have on Iruma Hibiki on the other end.

32 Iruma Hibiki's Response

Iruma-san actually didn't come to school during the first week of school, which was in early April. At that time, I only knew that he was sitting in the seat behind me, but I had no idea what kind of person he was.

Later, when he came to school, we quickly struck up a conversation and got to know each other. Well, I thought Iruma-san was incredibly handsome back then. Nagasaki-san, have you heard the story of the Santa Bear and the Salmon?

……

In an earlier time.

Probably before everything developed to the current situation.

Because Iruma Hibiki said she was going to take a shower and help her family with housework, she left for a while, so Nagasaki Soyo started exchanging text messages with Ijichi Kouka.

Both of them were the type who liked to chat, and as the topic went on, it was brought up to Iruma Hibiki. After all, the only common topic between the two of them was probably the third member of the band, so this situation was only natural.

How well does Ijichi Nikka know about Iruma Hibiki?

In fact, it is quite obvious. In her opinion, Iruma Hibiki is handsome, cheerful, and straightforward. Unlike most introverted male high school students, he is a generous, considerate and gentle boy. He is very sensitive and careful in many things, but does not know how to hide his kindness and intentions.

Just like the part-time job on Fridays and Saturdays, for Ijichi Hongka, it was a gentle and somewhat excessive help. She actually felt and saw through the concern that Iruma Hibiki expressed to her.

The reason she didn't point it out was probably because she was at a loss, coupled with a little guilt and more gratitude that she didn't know how to express.

In short, Ijichi Nikka has almost only good feelings towards Iruma Hibiki and no bad feelings at all.

Even some of the pranks Hibiki Iruma played on her at the beginning became a plus because of what happened later.

And the topic about Iruma Hibiki has been continuing.

As Hongxia was telling the story, Nagasaki Suyo gently played with her fingers. The rustling sound on the cloth surface of the animal bandage became more and more obvious as she rubbed it with gradually greater force. The completely different touch from usual made Nagasaki Suyo slightly fascinated, and this little action continued for a long time.

Until Ijichi Hongxia finished her description.

[Ijichi-san, you really care about Iruma-san.]

She didn't know what kind of mood she was in when she said this.

"Actually, I'm the one who's being taken care of. Iruma-kun just gets confused for a moment, but as soon as you give him an answer, he immediately reveals his super cool side."

However, this is the message sent from Ichichi Hongxia.

In Nagasaki Suyo's opinion, this was not a statement. She could imagine Ijichi Kouka's expression when she typed these words.

She must be smiling brightly, like a child showing off a toy, and saying to her in a proud tone:

"Actually, I'm the one being taken care of."

Nagasaki Suyo felt a little suffocated.

Fortunately, the communication at this moment ended with Iruma Hibiki's return.

Afterwards, Ichichi Hongxia remained the same as always.

So does Hibiki Iruma.

Only Nagasaki Suyo, who was stroking her fingers, tossed and turned in bed until 10 o'clock. She knew that Ijichi Hongka was definitely not that kind of person and would not say those words to her in that tone, but for her...

And on that day, Iruma Hibiki didn't chat with her except for the final goodbye.

Nagasaki Suyo felt uneasy.

She finally found the band that now feels like home and companions who are willing to care about her.

"Ah, speaking of which, Nagasaki-san, do you know Iruma-san? He's the popular and talented light novel author, Iruma Rengen-sensei. His new book is going to be released soon in Fuzugawa Bunko, and it seems to be very highly regarded. I was shocked when I first heard about this."

"Hahaha, but this kind of thing should be very common for you, Nagasaki-san. Are there many such talented people in Tsuki no Mori's junior high school?"

……

[Actually, no, I've never heard of a writer in Tsuki no Mori.]

[Hahaha, I see... For me, becoming a writer in high school is incredible! I'm definitely going to buy a copy of the novel when it comes out!]

……

Late at night, Nagasaki Suyo, who woke up from a nightmare, found this chat record. It was 12 o'clock at this time, and the date had just been changed not long ago.

Soon, Nagasaki Motoyo found Iruma Hibiki's novel on the official website of Busugawa and clicked on the pre-release poster of Busugawa Bunko.

On that poster was an illustration of Iruma Hibiki's novel. Iruma Rengen's pen name was displayed in eye-catching yellow artistic fonts right below the poster along with the title of the book. In that illustration of the novel, there was a girl with long flaxen hair wearing a JK uniform that was almost the same as Tsukinomori's. She was walking on the street with her head down, playing with her hands.

Behind her was a young man who was staring at the girl's profile.

The promotion for Hibiki Iruma's novel actually also included the release of the very first clip.