14AmyChan: just something to blow off steam right now. XD
Mai: AmyChan does not own Ghost Hunt!
No, he did not show emotion. No, he was not like any other man. No, she did not care. Would you care to know why? Fine, I'll tell you.
He was hers, hers and hers alone. And that was all that mattered.
Mai finished writing her standalone oneshot and sat back, a satisfied grin on her face. Her tale of romance, adventure, and peril had taken her three days to spin, and two more to edit correctly. She had fretted and stressed until every word was just perfect.
And now it was ready.
Ready for what? Why, the harsh internet, where people would read it and give it either critique or praise, of course! It was now up to the readers to decide how well her story fared.
After about half of an hour deciding on a decent title, writing an acceptable summary, and fitting her story into the correct categories, Mai happily clicked the "submit" button, eager to see what the people of the internet would have to say.
Mai awoke to her alarm blaring in her ear. Blearily, she checked the clock to see that it was TEN IN THE MORNING! She was late for work!
For the sixth time this week, but who's counting?
Hurriedly, she jumped in and out of the shower, got dressed for the day, placed a piece of uncooked bread in her mouth, and practically sucker-punched the door in a desperate attempt to flee down the street to the office that was sure to hold her doom.
Mai ran as fast as she could, hoping—no—pleading with God that Naru would not be in a bad mood today. She almost jumped up the stairs in an effort to not be quite as late as she possibly could, and attempted to tip-toe down the hallway to her desk.
"Mai, you're late," a cold voice caused the exhausted girl to jump nearly a foot in the air. She whirled about to see a certain boss of hers glaring at her as only he could glare. She gulped.
"H-hi, Naru," Mai stuttered as she attempted to smile. In truth, she was exhausted, and right now, she wanted to get to a computer as quickly as possible. Naru sent a dissatisfied grunt her way before retreating to his bat cave. Mai nearly collapsed with relief into her seat when the inevitable call came.
"Mai, tea!"
Mai groaned, just knowing it was going to be one of those days.
Mai returned safely to her house that night after a typical day at work. No, she had not been able to get to a computer, and she was anxious to see who had said what about the story she had uploaded the night previous.
Quickly, she made a beeline for her computer. Within a few minutes, she had the machine turned on and had already logged into her email account. As she waited for it to load, excitement came over her.
Maybe someone loved it? Maybe someone hated it? Maybe she got one of those really mean critiques that she had seen floating around? I mean really, critiques can be helpful, but no need to be rude about it…
Then, finally, her email loaded upon the page. Mai scanned through her messages, filing away notes from Naru and Lin about work, responding happily to Madoka, Bou-san, and Ayako, and responding cordially to Masako. At the end of the night, one thing had been certain.
No one had reviewed her story.
Mai could feel the burden weigh even more on her heart. Was her story so bad that everyone was ignoring it? Not one person would take ten seconds to say if they liked it or not?
Seriously…? Though, it has only been one day… Mai thought as she leaned away from her computer. She decided to give the people of the internet the benefit of the doubt. It's not like their life revolves around romantic tales of awesome proportions. I'll probably get one review before the week is out.
Mai hit her head on the desk in front of her, frustrated that she had not gotten one review in three weeks! The poor girl was beginning to loose hope. She glared at the monitor, as if doing so would bring one person to read the story she had painstakingly written and review on it.
No such thing happened.
"Ugh! Getting reviews from these people is like pulling teeth from a donkey," Mai grumbled, thoroughly not impressed with the lack of response. She had even checked the first page of the fanfiction genre. Since her one shot, several new stories had come out, and every. Single. One of them. Had. At least. One. Frigging. REVIEW!
Mai hit her head on her desk again, groaning at her misfortune. Would it really be so hard for one kind soul to somehow miraculously find her story and give her their opinion?! It did not even have to be nice anymore, just so long as someone told her what the heck they thought!
Ding!
A new email arrived in her inbox. Mai ignored it for a moment, taking deep breaths to calm herself down.
Ding! Ding!
Three new e-mails in a span of less than three seconds? This was new. Curiously, Mai peered up from her desk, oblivious to the huge red mark that had appeared on her forehead from where she had hit it earlier.
Three new emails from her fanfiction website.
Mai's eyes widened and she eagerly opened the most recent of the three. She quickly scanned its contents and became elated.
MTeaToGo,
The following member has added your story to her/his Story Alert subscription:
Pen Name: OliNollGhost
Profile: XXXXXXXXX
Story: Why She Came Back
Link: XXXXXXXXX
This is an automated email. Do not reply to this email. To disable these emails, please login to your account and disable Plus+ Alerts.
To commemorate the occasion of the first person to follow one of her stories, Mai created a new folder in her emails, specifically for good news from fanfiction. Excitedly, she moved this email to the new folder. With a beam on her face, she moved to the next email.
MTeaToGo,
The following member has added you to her/his Author Alert subscription:
Pen Name: OliNollGhost
Profile: XXXXXXXXX
This is an automated email. Do not reply to this email. To disable these emails, please login to your account and disable Plus+ Alerts.
Mai's eyes widened. She had only ever written one story, so the fact that this person was now following her made her happy. She squealed happily, taking care not to be so loud. She was, after all, in the middle of work. She was currently on her break, and that was why she was checking her email in the first place, but she was still in the building and still had to remain courteous of the other people in the building.
Attempting to calm herself down from her new state of euphoria, Mai moved this email to the new folder as well. Her first follow—on both her story and on her as a writer—was an event worth commemorating. Now, she opened the third email.
MTeaToGo,
A new review has been posted to your story.
Story: Why She Came Back
From: OliNollGhost ( XXXXXXXXX )
Reply URL: . XXXXXXXXX
The first thing I noticed about this story is its great abundance of grammatical errors. For example, "Him and me" could be exchanged with "Him and I", as well as several commas being traded out with semi-colons. When a new character is speaking, it is always prudent to start a new paragraph, and when one ceases to talk, place a comma in front of the end quotation, rather than a period. This is to ensure the reader knows that you are to continue the sentence.
Now, as for the story in question, I believe—
This message has been cut due to length. In order to view the original message, please click the link above.
Do not reply to this email.
Mai was unsure how to take this review. On the one hand, SOMEONE REVIEWED! On the other, there had been nothing positive yet in said review.
Well, it's not spam, Mai thought as she clicked the mentioned link. It opened a new tab on her computer in order to see what else this OliNollGhost had said about her story. It could not be denied that while it was not exactly positive reinforcement, it was not exactly bashing either. This person was just telling her what she could do better. She took a deep breath and continued to read the review. She read it all from the beginning.
The first thing I noticed about this story is its great abundance of grammatical errors. For example, "Him and me" could be exchanged with "Him and I", as well as several commas being traded out with semi-colons. When a new character is speaking, it is always prudent to start a new paragraph, and when one ceases to talk, place a comma in front of the end quotation, rather than a period. This is to ensure the reader knows that you are to continue the sentence.
Now, as for the story in question, I believe it is far-fetched. No sane human being would love one so emotionally stifled—I would know. Nevertheless, it was a good way to waste a few minutes taking a break from work.
When is the next chapter coming up? I would like to see how this boy will react to the situation he has now found himself in.
-OliNollGhost
Mai sat there for a moment. She was unsure to be happy that this person did not hate her story entirely or sad because he felt that emotionally stifled people were unloved. She chose both as she responded.
Duly noted. I'll take care with those mistakes in the future.
And for the storyline, it's not far-fetched at all. I happen to love someone who is emotionally stifled, and I'm sure you're loved as well. You just don't know it yet. ;)
And ASAP. I'll have to think about it for a while, but it'll come up.
BTW, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THAT MEANS TO MEEEE!
With that happy note, Mai clicked the 'send' button and began to brainstorm. She opened up a new document in word and got to work.
Hey, all! This chapter is dedicated to my ONLY reviewer, OliNollGhost! This is for you!
To say he was surprised would be an understatement...
As his brunette continued to type happily, Naru shut his door quietly. He returned to his computer, just in time to hear a slight noise from his computer, indicating that he had received an email.
Naru: You also forgot to do a disclaimer in your story, Mai.
Mai: NARU REVIEWED! *hugs and doesn't let go*
14AmyChan: If you feel as I do, then be nice, take the time to review! XDDD
Naru: and now you will go back to writing for your other story?
14AmyChan: sure, why not? *^_^*