The next two days passed without much change in Ichin's daily routine.
However, one significant shift did occur—Ichin now had a girlfriend.
Every morning when leaving the house, what was once a solitary bus ride turned into one shared with soone else. The sa held true for the commute back ho after school.
Their relationship, however, remained a secret from others for now. Utaha wanted to enjoy a peaceful world shared by just the two of them.
On Friday afternoon, after classes had ended, Ichin and Utaha packed up their bags and headed to the clubroom. anwhile, mbers of the neighboring Service Club had also gathered—Yukino Yukinoshita and Eriri Spencer Sawamura were both present.
That said, as usual, the Service Club had not received a single request.
It wasn't surprising. Clubs that focus on helping others typically rely on publicizing their services on noticeboards, but without such an effort, hardly anyone would know they existed. Furthermore, their advisor, Shizuka Hiratsuka, wasn't the type to promote the club either.
If anything, Hiratsuka probably wished Yukino would give up on the club entirely and just focus on attending her classes quietly.
Upon reaching the clubroom, Ichin and Utaha noticed it had been a while since the place was cleaned, so they grabbed a cloth and broom and tidied it up.
As they worked, Ichin asked, "Utaha, how's your novel coming along?"
"Quite smoothly!" Utaha replied with a bright smile. "I've been overflowing with inspiration these days. I should be able to finish the second volu by the weekend. Ichin-kun, would you co with to the publisher next week? I'd like to show the manuscript to my editor."
"Sure," Ichin agreed readily, smiling. "I've never visited your publisher before. This will be a good chance to et your editor. From what you've told , she sound very responsible and have given you lots of helpful advice."
The light novel industry was highly competitive. Popular series often dominated the bestseller lists, making it nearly impossible for new authors to break through. In recent years, the prevalence of isekai light novels had made it even harder for unique and interesting stories to erge.
In this climate, Utaha's modern, youth-focused romance novel stood out. By steering the story towards romantic cody from the second volu onwards and pairing it with her writing style—far more refined than most light novel authors—she might not reach the very top, but achieving respectable sales was certainly within reach.
Still, her writing style…
Ichin paused, then looked at his girlfriend and said, "Utaha, I'd like to ask you for a favor. Would that be alright?"
"Hm?" Utaha glanced at Ichin with a playful smile. "Are you asking for a kiss? If so, I don't mind!"
Ichin quickly denied it, flustered. "No, that's not it!"
Although they were officially dating, they hadn't had a proper kiss yet. The closest they'd co was when Utaha kissed him on the cheek.
To say he didn't want it would be a lie, of course.
Ichin glanced at Utaha's soft, pink lips and shook his head. "We can talk about that later. What I wanted to ask is—Utaha, would you be interested in writing the script for my ga?"
"Hmm? A ga?"
Utaha's montary disappointnt faded as she looked at Ichin with curiosity. Hollow Knight?"
"No, not Hollow Knight," Ichin clarified. "The story for Hollow Knight isn't that complex and doesn't require much text. I'm talking about the ga my studio plans to develop after Hollow Knight. While we haven't decided on the specifics yet, it'll be much larger in scale, with an expansive world and a variety of characters. While I could write the script myself, it definitely wouldn't compare to what a professional could do. For a project like this, we'd need to hire a professional scriptwriter anyway. So, I was wondering if you'd be interested…"
"I'm in!"
Before Ichin could finish, Utaha agreed imdiately. "I'll continue writing light novels, but any ga you're working on is bound to be interesting. Writing the script for a ga like that would be great practice for . I'm in! Just let know when you're ready to start. Though, I'll need to keep improving my skills until then."
"That's fine. There's no rush," Ichin said with a smile. "When the ti cos, I'll provide a general story outline, world-building details, and main character settings. You'll just need to craft engaging, imrsive stories within that frawork. We can also include side quests to enrich the ga's content."
"That sounds fascinating—completely different from writing novels."
Utaha stepped closer to Ichin, looking into his eyes. "When that ti cos, we can work together toward the sa goal!"
Ichin nodded firmly. "Yes, that day isn't far off."
As they gazed at each other, the atmosphere between them grew increasingly intimate.
But just then, a knock on the clubroom door interrupted them, cutting short their mont.
Reluctantly, Ichin withdrew his hands, which had been resting on Utaha's slender waist. He said softly, "I'll get the door."
Utaha nodded, her cheeks tinged with red. "If you want to continue, we can always do so later at ho."
Suppressing his racing heartbeat, Ichin walked over and opened the door. As expected, the person knocking was Eriri.
When the door opened, Eriri peeked inside and said, "Oh, you're cleaning up. Need any help?"
"No, we're almost done."
After letting her in, Ichin asked, "Is sothing up?"
"Well, tomorrow's the weekend, right? I was thinking about visiting your studio. Are you guys working over the weekend?"
"The studio?" Ichin thought for a mont before replying, "We don't usually work on weekends, but tomorrow we're holding a cooking competition. If you're interested, you could join us as a judge."
"A cooking competition?"
Eriri's eyes lit up with curiosity. "Is everyone from your studio participating?"
"Yep!" Ichin said with a grin. "We can't always be focused on work. It's nice to have so fun activities to relax. Everyone's excited about it."
"I want to go! I'll be a judge!" Eriri exclaid enthusiastically. Then she added, "Oh, can I bring Yukino along too?"
"Yukinoshita?"
Ichin exchanged a glance with Utaha, who smiled and said, "Sure, the more, the rrier. But will Yukinoshita agree to co?"
"Leave it to !"
Eriri dashed back to the neighboring clubroom. Three minutes later, she returned with Yukino Yukinoshita in tow.
"It's settled—Yukino's coming too!"
Yukino, on the other hand, looked slightly exasperated. "I'm currently living alone in Tokyo, so I've been wanting to learn more about cooking. I hope I won't be a bother."
"Not at all," Ichin replied, surprised that Eriri had managed to convince Yukino. Still, the more, the rrier.
"Alright then. I'll see you both at the studio tomorrow," he said warmly.
...
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