Hikigaya Hachiman is still in the dark

That's right, many novels now have this setting, and the subsequent plots are probably all the same, the protagonist suddenly discovers that he has strange powers, and then, he takes the girl to travel the world or something like that...

"There are no problems elsewhere, although the setting is a bit old-fashioned. But if we can write something new, it should be pretty good."

"Are there any differences from the other settings?" Yukinoshita continued to ask me.

"If there is any, it should be that the male and female protagonists are swapped once a day, and it is mandatory, not permanent."

"Is that so? It's indeed a good idea, but I always feel that there are some areas that can be slightly improved. How should I put it? For example, places like the settings can be slightly adjusted?" Yukinoshita rubbed her chin, thinking carefully.

"Where exactly is it? Can you be more specific?" Since we were discussing my own novel, I discussed this issue with Yukinoshita very seriously.

"If I have to say, it should be a condition or something. There are many body swapping settings, and there are also many novels where two souls are entangled together."

"What you said makes sense, another personality or something..."

"That's it. Basically, if you want to swap bodies, there are conditions. For example, in some novels, two people can swap bodies by kissing, or hugging. In short, under certain conditions, two people will swap bodies.

In addition, some novels have time limits, such as one day or one month. To be more specific, some novels have space limits, usually in schools. Although the setting of body swapping is very common, if the conditions are carefully considered, there should be many novel settings. "

"Like, I think it's funny when you lift up my skirt or something! Wait, why are you looking at me like that?" Noticing the disdainful looks from Yukinoshita and Yuigahama, I argued uneasily.

"Xiaoqi, this is so disgusting."

"Hikigaya-kun, as expected, you fell even deeper into darkness when you wrote the novel."

"That's not the case! It's definitely not what you think! This is just the setting of a friend of mine who writes novels. I have definitely never written such a novel!" I hurriedly explained that I would definitely not write such a novel, and I had never thought of such a strange setting!

"With a friend like this, I can't trust you very much anyway."

"It's true! It's just that the person talked to me about it when he was setting up the novel. I didn't participate in it at all. Besides, I haven't read such a novel."

"Don't be so anxious to explain. It makes you look suspicious."

Yukinoshita's words immediately blocked my way out. Damn it, she is still so good at playing word games...

"Anyway, put aside your dirty thoughts for now. What I mean is, can you start with the condition of body swapping and use more innovative conditions to make your setting interesting to people?"

"This is a good direction to think about, but as far as I know, there are many strange settings that have been mentioned in many light novels."

Although what Yukinoshita said makes sense, it is not a difficult question to think about. There must be many light novel writers or cartoonists who have written works about body swapping. The settings they can think of must be much more than what Yukinoshita and I can think of. The wisdom of an individual can never compare to the wisdom of the group in broad matters...

"So what should we do? In my opinion, although the setting of swapping bodies after one day is acceptable, strictly speaking, the two are only different in time, and it is no different from novels that swap bodies at a set time. To be more practical, it is actually just a slight modification of the setting, and most of the style has not changed."

"What you said makes sense." I responded to Yukinoshita with a frown.

She was right. If you simply consider the time setting, it is indeed easy to be labeled as similar. After all, if the time is different, then the general content is not much different. If you follow the original design, even if you write well, it may not be very popular with readers because it lacks novelty.

"So what should we do? In my opinion, this setting is very old-fashioned. If possible, can we change our thinking? Change all the settings?"

"I don't think this approach will work." I rejected Yukinoshita's opinion: "The general settings have been handed over to the editorial department. If we want to modify the most critical settings, the editorial department probably won't agree to do so easily. This is also to prevent some novelists from changing their minds at the last minute, resulting in the magazine suffering losses due to the similarity of other novels on the market."

"Well, that's understandable, but given the current situation, I can't think of any interesting conditions for swapping bodies."

"How about adding an object? If two people touch something together, they will swap bodies?"

"This actually goes back to the previous question. Moreover, the heroine in the setting is very outstanding. She would not be willing to swap bodies with the hero."

"That's true. If I have to swap bodies with Hikigaya, it would be more painful than killing me."

"Could you please not give weird examples like this?" Does this person really never forget to mock me?

"What to do?"

"I don't know what to do..."

Yukinoshita and I looked at each other helplessly.

There is something I haven't thought about. The direction that Yukinoshita and I are thinking is generally correct. But following the right direction does not necessarily lead to the right answer. Sometimes, even if you are thinking in the right direction, you may not get the answer you want.

If we put aside this inherent thinking and do not consider the conditions! Then, we can only change the most critical setting of body swapping as Yukinoshita said and write the rest of the novel.

However, if I were to change my original idea, it would be like writing another novel from scratch, and I would have to abandon almost all of my previous settings. Although they were still scattered, I had thought of many interesting plots. If I were to give up this novel, it would mean that I would have to give up all the hard-earned things I had obtained through my hard thinking...

Thinking about it this way, it seems that it will take more time, but if the settings are not changed properly, it will be difficult to continue writing!

"Well, I have something to say." Yuigahama spoke in a low voice.

Chapter 153 Xiaozhi Editor-in-Chief Always

"What?" My tone became unfriendly because I didn't come up with the answer I wanted. In my opinion, Yuigahama was unable to give any constructive suggestions. Perhaps, she would only give opinions that were dispensable or even disruptive to our thinking.

Yuigahama noticed that the atmosphere was not right and started to panic.

"Well, that's it. What I mean is why do we have to set conditions? Can't we do without conditions? It's just like practicing cooking. If you really want to learn, you won't set a time for yourself. You will practice hard when you have free time. Well, that is to say, don't put too much pressure and restrictions on yourself. For example, the design of the flower shop uniforms does not have to follow the styles that were commonly used before. It would definitely be better if you can give up..."

Automatically filtering out the unimportant content of Yuigahama's words, I carefully savored what Yuigahama said. Indeed, I over-thought about the restrictions, but if we skip the conditions themselves, it would be better to say, if there were no conditions, then what would it be like for two people to swap bodies?

My thinking seems to have become much broader, and I finally figured out something that I had no idea about for a long time!

I looked at Yukinoshita with joy, and noticing my gaze, Yukinoshita shrugged.

"Ignoring your personal bias, this is indeed a very good suggestion."

"What do you mean by personal prejudice? I'm serious, Yukino-chan! Regarding store uniforms, I really want to use more novel ones!"

"turn down!"

"Hey, can't you be flexible, Yukino-chan?"

"Rejected." Yukinoshita's voice was unusually firm. Realizing that there was no point in asking Yukinoshita, Yuigahama had no choice but to look at me with eager eyes.

Considering what she has done in the past few days, especially the outfit she wore today in the Sobu High School uniform...

"Dismissed." I responded to Yuigahama with a smile.

"Eh, why?" Yuigahama asked disappointedly.

"It seems that you and I have the same idea about the novel." Yukinoshita looked at me, and we both deliberately ignored Yuigahama who kept saying "don't think about it again" and "I think this can definitely be a selling point" and so on.

"Well, we can completely break away from the restrictions of the conditions. In other words, there will be no signs when the male and female protagonists swap bodies. They can swap bodies anytime and anywhere."

"It's like a prank from God..." After thinking for a long time, Yukinoshita blurted out these words.

That's true. The calling without any warning at any time and place really sounds like a prank from God.

"Well, how about this setting? I think it's a good setting. It will attract readers, and it can also be used to write many funny stories."

"That's true, and I feel like this is more suitable for articles like romantic comedies." I looked at Yukinoshita in agreement.

"A romantic comedy? Looking at your previous novels, it's hard to imagine that you would write something like this."

"Hehe, people will change. No matter how sunny a person is, he will eventually turn dark and become part of the darkness."

"It's understandable, but you haven't changed at all in your twisted and rotten state." Yukinoshita rubbed her temples with a headache.

"Now that it's confirmed, would you like to call your editor to confirm? According to what you said, your magazine should be very concerned about the modification of the settings."

"If you hadn't reminded me, I would have almost forgotten it."

Basically, the magazine's management of writers is still very loose. Even if the settings are changed, there will not be too many inquiries. But if a key part is changed like now, the editor must be informed.

I took out my cell phone and called Isshiki. Although I didn't want to admit it, I seemed to be getting more and more accustomed to Isshiki's position as my editor. The initial discomfort and disbelief seemed to have disappeared now.

"Hey, is this Isshiki?"

"Hey, is that you, Senior?" She already had my number saved in her phone, so when she answered the call, she should have known it was me...

Why does she always act surprised when I call her?

"There's something I want to talk to you about."

"What's the matter? You want to take me out to play and also take me out to eat?"

I don't remember when I called you, asking you to go out and play, or to go out for dinner. You forced me to do that in high school. Last time, it was just a chance encounter, and I really couldn't refuse you. So, could you understand all this earlier?

"It's not about that. It's about my novel."

"Oh, that's how it is."

What's the matter with such a cold attitude? Please be more aware of yourself as an editor. When the authors come to you to discuss their works, shouldn't you be very happy?

"There are some things that need to be modified about the settings. It's quite important, so I want to tell you..."

"Huh? The novel's setting needs to be significantly revised? Hikigaya, you came to this conclusion after just one day of writing?"

Before I could finish my words, an extremely rude voice interrupted me from the other end of the line, and I was so scared that I almost dropped the phone to the ground.

"What's wrong, Hikigaya? Why aren't you talking?"

"No, no, editor-in-chief, why are you here?"

"Did you forget to tell me? Editor-in-Chief Xiaozhi and Senior Ai Shang are having breakfast with me." This was Yi Se's voice.

Then, "Hello, Hikigaya," came the polite voice of Senior Ai Shang from the other end of the line.

I'm not feeling well at all! Rather, I feel really bad right now.

"Ha, what's going on, Hikigaya? Can't I be here? Also, please answer my question. I asked you to hurry up with the manuscript, and this is your answer? Modifying the setting of the novel, this is obviously an act of evasion, right? When did you become so perfunctory about your work? Since you don't have passion, just jump into the Pacific Ocean to feed the fish and make the most of your last value!"

"Wait, editor-in-chief, that's not what I meant. The purpose of this modification is to make the work more attractive and to attract more readers." With beads of sweat on my head, I explained anxiously.

There are deep reasons for my panic. I still can't forget the fear of being dominated by the editor-in-chief. I absolutely don't want to experience that again. Now, I must comfort the editor-in-chief.

"There's no point in asking questions. I think you've forgotten my usual ways! I'll be at your apartment right away!"

"Wait, editor-in-chief, that's not the case." I opened my mouth to explain something, but a "beep, beep" tone came from the other end of the phone.

It's all over! Why did things suddenly turn out like this?

"What's wrong, Xiaoqi? Why are you so flustered all of a sudden?"

"This is a serious situation. I might die soon!"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey!"

"Why do you have such a strange exclamation?" I looked at Yuigahama speechlessly.

"Dead? Is that a strange thing? Xiaoqi, has your condition deteriorated into leukemia?"

"Yuigahama, don't talk." This person's imagination is enough to make him a competent editor of Korean dramas. Fever deteriorates into leukemia? I'm sorry, in my understanding, fever can only deteriorate into pneumonia.

"It's just that your editor-in-chief is coming, right? Why are you so flustered?" Yukinoshita looked at me puzzledly: "As for the editor and the author, generally speaking, the author should take the leading position, right?"

"Ha, what are you talking about? I don't know how it is in other publishing houses, but in our magazine, the editor is absolute."

"Such a high authority?"

"Of course! Our magazine has very strict requirements for editors. Once an editor takes up a post, his or her work performance will be examined. But in return, the editor's power is much greater. In many cases, the author must listen to the editor's opinion."

"It sounds like a very cruel rule."

"Editors are hired after a rigorous screening process and are rigorously evaluated during their work. So basically, the editors at our magazine are all very serious about their work."

"Is there anything wrong with this? Without deliberately abusing their power, editors can indeed think about issues from the perspective of the magazine better and help it make more profits. At the same time, according to what you said, editors should not make random comments, which should also have many benefits for authors."

"I don't deny that, but, but..." Seeing that I seemed to be getting to the point, Yukinoshita straightened her gaze and looked at me seriously.

"But asking for updates is really troublesome! The editors there are so crazy that they will even move to your apartment and live with you in order to ask for your submissions! They may appear near you in the next second! You will feel like you are being completely monitored. In short, you will feel very, very stressed! And the most terrifying thing is that there is absolutely no way for you to escape the editor's clutches..."

"Personally, I think the starting point is that you are wrong for delaying the manuscript. Your editor is just working hard, right?"

“But it’s really scary.”

"I didn't deny it..."

"You've completely missed the point, okay? Anyway, I have to leave now, or I might really die! The editor can only be considered a small boss, but if it's the editor-in-chief, he can definitely be called a demon king-level figure. I have to escape immediately!"

"Is it really that scary? He's such a small person..." Yuigahama asked in confusion: "Xiaoqi, are you thinking too much?"

"No, you won't understand my pain unless you experience it."

Without further explanation, I prepared to get up and leave the apartment.

"Your body hasn't fully recovered yet, so you can't go out." Yukinoshita said coldly beside my bed. It seemed that there was no room for negotiation at all.

I've already said that I was just pretending to be sick! But if I tell it to others, I will definitely be killed by Yukinoshita...

What should I do? What should I do? If I tell the truth, I will be killed by Yukinoshita. But if I don't tell the truth, the editor-in-chief will come and take my life.

There is no other way. Let me sneak out when they are not paying attention. After all, Yukinoshita and Editor-in-Chief Kozhi are too scary. No matter which side goes against me, I will definitely leave this beautiful world... When I made up my mind, the doorbell suddenly rang.

This came too fast!

Chapter 154 Hikigaya Hachiman Doesn't Understand