Iruma-san wants to win the Akutagawa Prize

dong dong dong-

There was a knock on the door of the cabin.

Not long after, a weak female voice came from the door:

"Xiang, I'm back."

"Welcome...home..."

Iruma Hibiki, who had dark circles under his eyes, responded softly, but when he tried to stand up, he suddenly felt a sharp trance.

Too reluctant...

When he realized this, Hibiki Iruma gave up his plan to go to the entrance and open the door at this moment, and instead leaned on the back of the chair to relax himself.

Just wait a moment.

There was a slight click of the door lock at the entrance.

"May I come inside?"

The soft female voice was still confirming.

"no problem."

Iruma Hibiki responded.

Then——

After a moment, Iruma Hibiki felt a soft touch.

"Hibiki, are you okay? Should we go to the hospital, but…"

The girl in front of him was visibly panicking.

Her hair was emitting a pleasant citrus scent, which was the scent of the classic shampoo that cost only a few dozen yuan a bottle in the store downstairs. They had just bought it.

"I'm fine, just need a little rest."

Iruma responded.

He let go of the chair.

The chair with wheels slowly moved backwards, and Hibiki Iruma suddenly buried himself in the arms of the girl in front of him.

This scene is somewhat funny.

After all, he was much taller than the girl in front of him. Although the girl's chest was full enough for him to bury his face, even in the crowded, humid and hot atmosphere, if he continued to bury his face like this, the gradually thinning air would bring a terrible feeling of suffocation.

In just a few minutes, some wet marks appeared there.

"It's finished."

Iruma Hibiki suddenly said this.

"Eh? I'm done!"

The girl in front of him exclaimed in surprise.

Behind Hibiki Iruma, on the computer screen, a blank page contained only one line of finished dialogue.

That is the last sentence of the novel:

【For those who have returned disappointed on this road. 】

This is followed by a sentence that concludes the book.

The messy manuscript papers piled up on the table, making it look a bit sloppy. It was at this time that Iruma Hibiki noticed a tiny bit of ice on the girl's shoulder.

"Cold?"

He asked.

"Well, kind of...it's snowing outside, so I was wondering if Hibiki might want to go outside too."

"One mile..."

Hibiki Iruma muttered the name of the girl in front of him.

"Ah, it's okay if I don't go out... My spoken English is completely terrible! I just made a fool of myself when I went shopping, but luckily the store owner knew us and was very easy to talk to."

"I brought breakfast back."

The girl in front of Iruma Hibiki is Goto Ichiri.

How many weeks have they been living together?

Probably no more than four weeks.

Because if it exceeds that, it will be next year.

If they don't go back after the winter vacation, it will obviously cause trouble to many people. It is better to say that they are already causing trouble to others. Now that they have come out with Goto Ichiri, the band's activities have also been suspended.

Although Ijichi Hongxia said:

【It's a good time for everyone to take a good rest this winter. 】

But after all, it was a little late to contact Iruma Hibiki and Goto Ichiri, who felt a little guilty.

"Thanks for making you worry."

Iruma Hibiki spoke, his throat full of hoarseness.

"It's okay. Xiang used to take care of me like this..."

Goto Ichiri muttered softly with a happy smile on his face.

On the balcony of the cabin, a clean white bed sheet was hanging. The remaining traces on it had disappeared along with the reliable laundry detergent, but Goto Ichiri still felt a little uncomfortable until this moment.

"That's why it's so unbelievable. I completed a mile."

There was a hint of crying in Iruma Hibiki's voice.

"Hmm... it's done! This work will definitely be a success!"

Goto Ichiri said seriously while looking at the document on the computer.

At this moment, the word count of that document is around 30 words.

Goto Ichiri, who witnessed everything starting from scratch, was also a little dazed.

But at least I have no regrets.

This winter vacation, this Christmas, she made her own decision. In the last month before entering her second year of high school, she took a very important step.

"My editor read my draft and said it was nonsense."

Iruma Hibiki took the breakfast.

It was a bowl of soy milk, two red bean paste buns, and a fried dough stick. Iruma Xiang pinched the two ends of the fried dough stick and then broke it apart. As the soy milk went down his throat, the dizziness he had originally felt much better.

"But didn't I also say... that this work might even get a nomination for the Akutagawa Prize?"

Goto Ichiri spoke hesitantly, she actually didn't know much about these things.

After a slight hesitation, Goto Ichiri did not take the fried dough sticks on the other side, but first took off his cotton jacket which was a little wet due to the melting snow, and then took off the sweater inside the jacket.

The heating in the room was turned up quite high. When he had taken off all his clothes except for his innermost shirt, Goto Ichiri finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the feeling of depression in his chest was finally released.

"But I just debuted, so the possibility of getting nominated is not great. Compared to the Akutagawa Prize, perhaps other literary awards are more realistic. Besides..."

Iruma Hibiki hesitated.

"Winning an award or something... Actually, I haven't thought about it. I just..."

Hibiki Iruma looked out the window. The Oriental Pearl TV Tower standing in the distance was only a vague outline in the university. The sounds outside the window were very light. Indeed, it seemed that it was said in the physics textbooks of very low grades that snowy days are always more peaceful.

"One mile."

Hibiki Iruma kept repeating Goto Ichiri's name.

"Ah."

Goto Ichiri responded. She was still a little upset about what Iruma Hibiki wanted to say just now, but she didn't have the courage to ask further.

For her, getting along with Hibiki Iruma was a bit cautious.

Of course that's not unfamiliar.

But it is about cherishing the current relationship.

Breakfast is over.

But Goto Ichiri felt an even sweeter taste.

That was a kiss from Hibiki Iruma.

It's time to go to bed.

The two of them kissed each other gently for a while as usual, and then hugged each other.

The bad things he had done before were a bit excessive, and this morning was completely harmless. With the early morning snowstorm, Iruma Hibiki fell into a deep sleep, and Goto Ichiri soon followed.

And on the other end.

Kasumigaoka Utaha and Machida Sonoko sat together, and both fell silent when faced with the manuscripts sent to them.

There are always people saying——

The highest praise for a truly great work is: a masterpiece done in one stroke.

But at this moment, in front of the two of them, Iruma Hibiki's work was not like this, because after watching it, the melancholy was like...

They became knights, and the last thing they wanted to face in their past lives was a monster that was just a windmill.

Hibiki Iruma hugged Ichiri Goto, and the two of them were very close. In his sleep, Ichiri Goto had a happy expression and his cheeks were slightly rosy.

She dreamed of the words she had timidly said when she called home not long ago to tell her parents she was safe:

"Mom, um...Xiang and I are dating."

"Iruma, ah, so you two are just dating."

……

This was the response she received at that time.

In fact, Goto Ichiri was still a little nervous and a little scared.

After all, this was something she had never faced before.

Of course, the previous fantasy of [Iruma-san] doesn't count.

After all, even if you fantasize about it a hundred times, you will still panic when you actually encounter it. That's just how she is.

In the dream, the next scene that Goto Ichiri saw was the two of them hugging each other affectionately in Iruma Hibiki's "home". The atmosphere was just right, and everything continued like this. However, Iruma Hibiki failed to enter several times and was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. The atmosphere was completely lost.

"Would you like to take a look at the guide..."

Subconsciously, Goto Ichiri said this at that time, as if the two of them were just playing a game like before, and had encountered a place that they could not get through no matter what.

Of course, even so, the experience at that time was not perfect. Iruma Hibiki was a little careless, and Goto Ichiri subconsciously tried to please him too much.

It hurts.

The so-called happiness is nothing more than being with the person in front of you.

As for Hibiki Iruma, he had a cold dream with many faces in it. It all started a few months ago, after that perfect performance.

Unconsciously, Hibiki Iruma felt a sense of sadness in his sleep, and he hugged the person in his arms even tighter.

It was as if he was avoiding something.

01 Rebellion from a Loved One

How many people attended the performance of "Kasuga Shadow"? Iruma Hibiki can't remember, but perhaps because of the dwindling "prestige" of the Toyokawa name, or perhaps because everyone has so many friends, some strange comments appeared on the Internet that day:

Iruma-kun must be unhappy that he can't perform with Guitar Hero! He must be forced.

There are many people who support this view, and there is also a small group of fans who are opposed to Crychic's performances.

But that day, Ring's audience was packed, with partygoers even standing all the way to the door. It was so dense that the moment he went on stage, Hibiki Iruma wanted to remember every detail of the performance and every person in the audience, but this idea became a complete luxury after seeing the actual situation in the audience.

He remembered that it was under such circumstances that he started his performance.

Toyokawa Shoko was smiling that day.