For the rest of the week at school, discussion between most students and even some teachers was abuzz with discussion of Dekomori's Halloween party. Many had become more interested in the western ideas of Halloween and talked about costumes they had found on the Internet. Others were more inclined to host their own parties now too having seen how well Dekomori played host. And not a minute went by where Dekomori herself was not being congratulated in the corridor, complimented in the classroom, or thanked again for a job well done.
People who knew where to find Dekomori were even dropping by the clubroom to speak to her. It had gotten to the point where Dekomori was getting sick of it.
"When will these people leave me alone. That was the twentieth person today." Dekomori said and sighed as she slid shut the door to the clubroom.
"Everything will have died down by next week. Anyway, how many people praised you the day after. Was it fifty-two, fifty-three?" Nibutani said from the room's central table.
"Fifty-seven. I give up. The next lowly human who comes by just to say something nice to me will receive a crushing blow from the Mjolnir Hammer."
"People are only being nice, there's no need to be angry about it. And just so you know, you're a lowly human too."
"Nonsense! I am an inhabitant of the World of Darkness, and wielder of the legendary Mjolnir Hammer! I am above you mortals." The clubroom door slid open again for the millionth time that day, and the visitor could barely finish a sentence before Dekomori delivered her crushing blow.
"Dekomori, thank you for letting me borrow your..."
"Mjolnir Crusher! Devastating Impact!" Dekomori spun round and with deft precision delivered her two hair buns into the side of Miss Tsumoko's head. A loud crack drew everyone in the rooms attention to the scene.
"Dekomori, why are you assaulting my homeroom teacher?!" Yuuta shouted.
"Dekomori, that is a most fearsome foe you have chosen to trade blows with. Choose your next move carefully." Rikka said nodding to herself.
"M, M... Miss Tsumoko, I... err..." The completely petrified Dekomori allowed her two hair strands to slip from her hands as she stood there is disbelief.
"Dekomori..." said Tsumoko.
"Y, yes Miss Tsumoko?"
"Come to the staffroom with me, I want to have a word with you."
"Yes, Miss Tsumoko..." Dekomori resigned to her fate and dropped her arms to her sides in defeat as she followed Tsumoko out of the classroom.
"Wow, I've never seen Dekomori get in trouble before." Said Nibutani.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later with her being the way she is." Yuuta responded.
"Mmm. Eventually."
"Yutta, what if the dark witch steals the crystal of the abyss to avenge her brother?" Rikka asked. The two of them had been sat at the table keeping what they were doing to themselves.
"What is she talking about Yuuta?"
"Do you remember when you said that with their imaginations Rikka and Deko could write a book? Well, that's what she's trying to do."
"Oh cool. So how's it going? What's it about?" Nibutani walked over and leaned in to see what was written on the pages.
"Slowly, I guess. Rikka has some writer's block. Also, I think you can guess what it's basically about."
"Here, let me see." Rikka was hesitant at first, trying to pull the notebook away from Nibutani. With some reassurance from Nibutani, Rikka reluctantly handed it over.
"Hmm... You know, I don't ever recall you talking about any of the stuff that's in here. You know, like the Tyrant's Eye or the Dark Flame Dragon or Guerzoniansus or whatever."
"What do you mean?" Rikka asked questioningly.
"Well, I'm saying that you don't always have to write something completely new. Write what you know."
"So you are saying I should write about the Tyrant's Eye and the Dark Flame Master?" Rikka asked.
"Sure. Why not."
"Err, maybe you should leave the Dark Flame Master out of this one. I don't want my dark past published for all the world to see."
"The Dark Flame Master is an important part of the World Line of the Tyrant's Eye. I cannot simply leave you out, leaving you adrift on the currents of time to be forgotten by history."
"Huh? World Line? What's that?" Nibutani asked.
"Err, it might be something I taught her. It's kind of hard to explain. It's a physics term which means an object's path through time."
"Huuuh. Maybe you should use that for your book then, Rikka. Sounds interesting. Well, see ya! I have to get to the drama club." As Nibutani left, Rikka spent a moment pondering what she had said.
"Write what I know huh..."
After Yuuta and Rikka got home, Rikka retreated into her room for almost the entire evening, only coming out to eat dinner. When questioning her on what she was up to, Yuuta would only get unhelpful responses. Later that day, however, Rikka would reveal what she was doing.
"Yuuta, I've got it!" Rikka, in her room at her laptop, called for Yutta with excitement.
"Yuuta, look, come in here!" A moment after her second call, the door swung open and Yuuta entered the room whilst letting out a sigh.
"What, what is it?"
"I've done it Yuuta, come and look." Rikka said, whilst beckoning him over to the computer screen. Yuuta sat down next to her and stared at the screen.
"Huh, what's this?" Yuuta's gaze met with the top left of the screen. ' '.
"Oh, so you finally know how to write your story?"
"Yes!"
"Right, let's see then..."
*After a grave fate befell her, a young girl had her dark powers awaken when she encountered the Dark Flame Master, who had sealed within him the Black Flame Dragon. This girl, with her new dark powers, and after sealing a powerful demon in her right eye, would manifest the Tyrant's Eye, a relic of supreme power, from which she could perceive all of time and space.
With the help of the Dark Flame Master, the Tyrant's Eye quests to uncover the Ethereal Horizon, so that she may properly move on from her dark past.*
"Hmmmm..." Yuuta hummed to himself, after finishing the passage.
"Well? Well? What do you think?" Rikka asked impatiently.
"So it's basically about us?"
"Yeah!"
"Well... I don't know if there's any book or light novel out there like this already. I don't think there is, but I haven't read much since my middle school days, so I might be wrong."
"And?" Rikka asked again as if waiting for a conclusion.
"I... think it has potential? I would definitely like to see what you go with this. If this is the actual synopsis, maybe explain more about what the characters will get up to, the Dark Flame Master and the Tyrant's Eye I mean. It doesn't tell you much at the moment."
"Mmm!" Rikka responded like she'd been given the go ahead. She got to work editing some of the text.
"And don't you think you should call them something else? Otherwise, people may know it's us."
"But look, I didn't use either of our real names, just Dark Flame Master and Tyrant's Eye. I wasn't planning on doing so either. Also, I was gonna make the characters look different too."
"Hmm..." Yuuta made a sigh of reluctance. "I guess it's ok then."
"Good!" Rikka got back to work, typing away as her thoughts steamrolled out of her head and onto the page. Yuuta smiled and left her to work.
The entire walk to school the next week Rikka was questioning Yuuta about specific details of her book. She also questioned him on his middle school days. Rikka hadn't heard a great deal about Yuuta's eighth-grade syndrome, and she couldn't catch every detail from when she used to watch him. Also, Yuuta didn't like to talk about his past but reluctantly agreed when Rikka asserted that it was for her book.
"So what about that rifle you used to carry around, Yuuta?"
"Ah, that was my Titan DFM 'Vanquisher'. It was my favored weapon to take into battle against the Cult of Drowning Light when I went to the netherworld."
"DFM? Dark Flame Master? So you just put your own name into the gun's name?"
Yuuta anxiously rubbed the back of his head. "Ha ha, yeah. In my early days as a chuuni I really didn't have good naming sense and I didn't want to change it since I'd already written it down. I have good names for some of my other weapons, though."
"That's ok. I can come up with my own names for the story." Yuuta pouted slightly, before turning to face Rikka and delivering a chop to her head.
"Hey! You don't get to talk! Your umbrella has an overly complicated, long name!"
"Ow." Rikka quickly drew her umbrella from her thigh, turned around and jabbed at Yuuta with it.
"It's not an umbrella, it is my Schwarz Sechs Perfect Customize Guerzoniansus. If I put it into shield mode, it would deflect an infinite number of shots from your weapon, Dark Flame Master." Having caught him at a weak moment, Yuuta made exaggerated movements with his body before finally posing with arms in front of his face, gesturing forward with his open palms.
"Do not be so sure, Tyrant's Eye. For an expert marksman such as myself would tear through any defense with deadly precision."
"Is that what you think. Then you leave me no choice. I believe it is about time for me to test the power of that Dark Flame Dragon of yours myself."
"Suit yourself, Tyrant's Eye!"
Rikka slid back on her wheeled shoes to create more distance and began to remove her eyepatch.
"Reality, be bent! Synapse, break! Vanishment... this... WORLD!" Removing her eyepatch fully and leaning back, Rikka let forth the power of her eye. Yellow light fired into the sky and the world around them dissolved. Buildings, paths, cars, and even the sky shattered and revealed a faceless void. The water of the lake Yuuta and Rikka passed every day poured like an endless waterfall into a bottomless abyss. All that remained was the same bridge they crossed every day, crumbled and in ruins, floating in the darkness. Without missing a moment, Rikka propelled herself upwards and raised her weapon above her. Purple light gathered at the edge of the black form of her mace, coalescing into a sun-like sphere of energy.
*Dark Matter Blaze!* Rikka dived down and drove the blow into Yuuta's open palm, he had caught it effortlessly, canceling all of the momentum of her attack.
"Foolish Tyrant's Eye. Did you think you could strike me down with such a futile attempt?"
"Buh... but how? You didn't even flinch!"
"The answer lies here." Presenting his open palm, dark mists gathered and parted again to reveal gleaming, black scales.
"The, the Dark Flame Dragon protected you?"
"Precisely. The Dark Flame Dragon which resides within me sensed I was in danger and moved to protect me. None of your attacks will be able to harm me."
"That's what you think!" Slingshotting herself backward, Rikka braced herself against the recoil of her own rapidly charging eye beam. Magic sigils illustrated the path of the soon to come deadly strike.
*Wicked... Twinkle!* A purple stream of plasma arced straight through the darkness and made it's way to Yuuta. With the blow just inches away, Yuuta sprouted black, leathery wings and jumped into the air like a shockwave.
"The Dark Flame Dragon protects me in other ways, Tyrants Eye!"
"Nonsense! Be it wings or scales or the mouth of the infinite abyss itself, I will find a way to surmount all of it and find a way to defeat you!" With a widened stance and outstretched arms and fingers, Rikka conjured star-like orbs of white light all around her.
*Purgatorial Fascination!* Beating and humming with great intensity, they charged quickly before arking their light in massive arch-shaped streams towards Yuuta, spiraling towards his raised hand.
"Ward of Indomitable Darkness!" In a split second, a dome of shadowy clouds engulfed the area around Yuuta, obscuring his image almost entirely.
"Haaaaaaaaaah!"
"Haaaaaaaaaah!"
In the heat of the battle, moments before final contact between Rikka's attack and Yuuta's wall of shadows, the two heard a snigger to their side. A couple of kids in their schools uniform were staring and giggling from a car driving by with the window down. Looking around, a few people had slowed down going over the bridge to see what was going on. Some less juvenile adults glared with condemnation. Others were simply looked with confusion and bewilderment. Yuuta, now red-faced and in shock, lowered his hand which he raised to catch Rikkas umbrella in full swing, then hopped down from the bridge railing. He looked away and over the bridge, while Rikka stared at the ground to avoid anyone's gaze. After the last car who had seen them acting passed by, Rikka spoke.
"I win."
In the clubroom, Rikka was settled in the corner of the room on her laptop, hard at work on her story. She would sit down every day for hours at a time and completely immerse herself in her writing. It had been like this for two weeks every evening when the club members would usually gather. In response to this Dekomori had substituted Yuuta for Rikka to help indulge her chuuni fantasies.
"Okay, now then... Dark Flame Master, place your hand on the deathly circle and I will commence the incantation."
*Sigh* "Don't you and Rikka always do this? Why do I need to play with you?"
"For as long as my master is describing her sacred World Line so that her legacy may last forever, we cannot partake in our usual activities, so I must settle for the Dark Flame Masters modest help."
"Fine, fine. Just get on with it. I'm waiting for Rikka anyway."
Dekomori stood in front of the clubrooms magic circle with hands together and in focus. Yuuta knelt in the center with one hand on the lights. After a brief period of silence, Dekomori began the incantation in near-perfect English.
"Spirits of the exiled, submerged in endless darkness. We beckon you from the other side. Bend the walls of reality, buckle and crack at the seams. Tear a hole in space-time!" By pushing a switch with her toe, Dekomori brought the lights to life. The room with filled with their ominous glow.
"Is that it? Can I stop now?"
"Be patient, Dark Flame Master. The incantation is incomplete. The spirits have not yet heeded our deathly call."
"And... Release!" Dekomori reached up and pulled a string hanging near her. There was a tearing sound, followed by silver glitter in great quantity pouring from the ceiling, leaving a shimmer in the air for several moments.
"What the hell?!" Yuuta shouted whilst brushing glitter from his hair and clothes. "Why did you go to all the trouble of setting that up just to make this much mess?"
"It worked! We broke through to the other side! I must tell master!"
"Hey! Clean this up first!" Yuuta's commands went unnoticed by Dekomori as she ran to Rikka's side.
"Master Master! We opened a portal to the World of Darkness! We can cross over freely now!" Dekomori said excitedly, running over to the corner where Rikka was typing. After a moment, Rikka realized she was being spoken to and faced Dekomori.
"Dekomori, I must complete my writings on the Ethereal Horizon, the Tyrant's Eye, and the Dark Flame Master quickly. I do not have time to engage in otherworldly activities."
Dekomori sighed with disappointment and drooped her arms to her sides. "Very well, Master. I will leave you to your deathly work." Dekomori slowly walked out of the clubroom, looking down as she went.
"Hey! Aren't you gonna clean this up?!"
Yuuta sat at the dinner table that evening while Kuzuha prepared dinner. Even with Rikka wholly devoted to completing her story in a timely fashion, she would still find time to prepare dinner herself just like she'd promised. She took her turn on weekends when she had more time to spend on her book.
"So how's Rikka coming along with her story?" Kuzuha asked from across the room.
"It's coming. I think she's at least half done. What she's written seems good, well, the bits she's let me see so she could ask me what I thought. Rikka's been doing a lot of reading herself as well. One website she was looking at said that one of the best ways to become a better writer was to read more and I think it's working."
"That's good then. It's good that she has her time devoted to something other than playing games all the time."
"Well it's certainly given me a break from the chuuni stuff, that's for sure." Kuzuha smiled at this remark, as she poured curry from a pot onto a plate in front of Yuuta.
"Rikka! Dinners ready!" Yuuta shouted out to the corridor. Yuuta felt that he wouldn't get a response after just one call.
"Rikka! Don't make me come in there and pull you out!"
"Woah, don't get too forward Yuuta. Do you want me to call Toka?" Yuuta ignored this, and after a moment Rikka skulked into the room, laptop in her arms.
"Hey Rikka, I've said this before. No laptop at the dinner table. It's dinner time, we eat dinner together."
"Yes..." Rikka moaned, as she turned around to put her laptop back in her room. A few seconds later, Rikka reemerged with a sullen look and sat opposite Yuuta. Kuzuha poured some curry into Rikka's plate.
"So Rikka, Yuuta says your story is coming along well." Rikka perked up quickly.
"Yes! I'm about two-thirds through the book now and I've established most of the main characters and their personalities and I think I know what route the story's going to go and I have an ending planned out and maybe some cliffhangers and stuff too in case I decide to write a sequel but I'm stuck on this one part I'm on right now and I'm..."
"Rikka, Rikka! Slow it down a notch okay! I don't think Kuzuha even heard a word of that.
"It's okay, I got it. So, did you say you were stuck on a park Rikka? What part is it? Maybe we can help."
"I'm at a part where the Dark Flame Master is telling the Tyrant's Eye about his dark past, but I'm not sure what parts of his past to include."
"Hmm... Something from Yuuta's dark past... Have you thought about including something truly dark? Yuuta's most embarrassing moment?"
"You guys have pulled me to pieces so much already. I don't think there's anything left that's truly embarrassing."
"Oh, it's that so Yuuta?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"There's nothing you're forgetting? Something you might have suppressed?"
"No, I don't think there is."
"The locker room."
Yuuta froze for a second with his mouth open. Completely stunned for a moment, Yuuta entered a full panic, slamming his hands on the table as he stood up and looked straight at Kuzuha.
"Wait, no Kuzuha! Anything but that! That is the darkest part of my past and must never be revealed! Please don't tell Rikka! Especially not Rikka!"
"The darkest part of Yuuta's past? I must know this secret Kuzuha." Rikka stared intently and waiting for Kuzuha to divulge Yuuta's history.
"I dunno, Yuuta. Looks like Rikka really wants to know..."
"Yes, I do."
"No, Kuzuha! Don't!" Yuuta had long since given up on trying to stop Kuzuha from revealing any of his past secrets. Whenever he attempted to restrain her, she would move out the way whilst speaking. So Yuuta planted his head onto the table and put his hands over his head and waited for his eternal nightmare to end. Rikka seemingly pulled a notepad and pen from nowhere and pressed pen to paper ready.
"No, don't write it down, Rikka!"
"Okay, so on one of our family weekends away, we went camping like we usually do. We weren't the only people at the campsite, though. There were other families as well. Parents with kids of different ages and stuff. Anyway, this campsite also had some neat facilities as well. There were toilets, benches and even some locker rooms, male ones and females ones. Yuuta was his usual self from back then. He had a toy gun and that lock, black coat. Some of the girls there camping with other families saw Yuuta and giggled whenever he was around and Yuuta assumed they thought he looked cool or something."
"I did look cool, those girls just had no fashion sense." Yuuta said, his voice muffled in his arms.
"Anyway, me and Yuuta decided to go for a swim. Yuuta wanted to go to the lake to fight some monsters or something and went to the locker rooms to change. Only, he walked into the females locker rooms by mistake just before a bunch of the girls had gone in. I saw all this because I went in after Yuuta with all of the girls. We all saw him there naked down to his underwear. Some of the girls blushed, some turned away and some giggled. When Yuuta saw them he turned with that stupid smile on his face. Realizing he was exposed and... excited, shall we say, he said something I don't think he would have said if he realized I was there."
"Kuzuha, don't..."
"Ah, the dragon has awoken! You like what you see ladies?" Yuuta tightened his grip over his head and Kuzuha finally gave in and began laughing uproariously.
"Ooh, and interesting tale. I would very much like to meet this fearsome dragon of Yuuta's."
"Err, Rikka... It's not that kind of dragon..." Rikka paused in thought for a moment before realizing what it meant and what she'd said, then turned bright red. Rikka began laughing loudly along with Kuzuha as Yuuta curled up even tighter.
"Ah ha ha, ha hauuh. Ah, it's not often I get to tell that story, it gets me every time I tell it, though."
"The Dark Flame Master was so bold back then..."
More than a month had passed since Rikka had started writing. She had continued to spend every club room session typing, and several hours at a time at home typing, as well as thinking about writing during class. Rikka had gotten in trouble plenty of times for 'daydreaming' and a couple of times for not finishing homework.
When confronted by Tsumoko about all of the trouble she was getting into, Rikka admitted to her that she was preoccupied by her writing. Tsumoko seemed intrigued and pressed for more information. She almost got excited when she heard that it was nearly complete, and she was planning on reading it out in front of the whole club. Tsumoko asked if she could attend also and hear the story. Rikka agreed, and just two days from then, the whole club has gathered, plus Tsumoko, like the usually, did that evening and listened to Rikka for over two hours as she read her light novel, World Line.
"...and as the dust settled, blinding light filled the Tyrant Eye's vision, so much so it took her breath away. When the light died down enough for her to grow accustomed to it, she saw it. Saw what she'd been looking for all this time. The Ethereal Horizon, and the man that helped her find it. The Dark Flame Master, Yukio. The man she had grown to respect, and love. Ran reached out to the shimmering sky and finally said what she'd been waiting to say all this time.
Goodbye... Father...
The End."
Rikka made a light sigh and shut the laptop. Yuuta was the first to start clapping, then the room filled with light applause for a moment.
"Well done Rikka. That was really good. You worked so hard on that." Yuuta said as he touched Rikka's shoulder with encouragement.
"Thank you, Yuuta."
"That was deathly good, master! I especially enjoyed your reimagining of my fight with the fake Summer!" Dekomori said, jumping for joy at her master's achievement.
"Thank you, Dekomori."
"That's was cool. Back in my chuuni days, I used to read stuff like that and I definitely would have picked your book up if I had seen it in a store." Nibutani said.
"Thank you, Nibutani."
"Very good, Rikka. I'm glad I came. It was well thought out and had a good pace..."
"Thank you, teacher."
"You know Rikka, my brother is an important guy at this publishing company for light novels in Tokyo. I could probably get him to see you if you wanted to make some money from this."
"Wow, really teacher? You'd do that for Rikka?" asked Yuuta.
"It's no bother, really. It was a pleasure to sit here and listen to the work that Rikka poured her heart and hard work into. It's the least I could do."
"Hey teacher, aren't those publishing companies really strict about what they publish and stuff? And you don't get to pick the cover art right?" Nibutani asked inquisitively.
"Don't worry. I think Rikka's story is sure to get accepted and I can get my brother to pull some strings if Rikka had some specific artwork in mind."
"Thank you, Miss Tsumoko. Please ask your brother to meet with me."
"Very well. Let me just get a copy of the story so he has a chance to read it and I'll let you know."
Rikka was apprehensive the entire time she was waiting for Tsumoko to get back to her. She would make Yuuta come to school earlier so she could get to Tsumoko earlier and ask her about her brother. This went on for a few days until Rikka finally got her news. Tsumoko came to the clubroom to tell Rikka that her brother had contacted her and asked if she would come for a meeting in Tokyo that weekend. Rikka agreed to be there and Tsumoko gave her the address on paper. On the weekend Rikka went on the train with Yuuta and Kuzuha to Tokyo to meet with Tsumoko's brother Naoko at the publishing company.
After making sure the two of them made it to the correct building, Kuzuha left the two of them to go shopping. Rikka and Yuuta went inside and told the woman at the reception desk who they were. After a quick phone call, she brought them up the elevator to the fourth floor, to a corridor with a waiting area just outside a door that read 'meeting room 4'.
"I've let Mr. Tsumoko know you're here, so just wait here and he will come out shortly.
"T, thank you!" Rikka shouted out nervously. The women left the two of them alone in a quiet sitting area.
"Yuuta, I'm scared..."
"Huh? What's there to be scared about? Teachers brother asked to meet here today so he already likes the book. This is just to discuss all the details so we know how everything works."
"I know, but I don't like the feel of this place. It may have been infiltrated by the Crimson Order so that can steal my work and discover my secrets!" Yuuta choppedRikka on the head.
"Don't say stuff like that while we're in there. Just don't think about it too much and you'll be fine. Think about something else." Rikka considered this and sat silently for about half a minute in contemplation. Shaking so much she nearly burst, she eventually shouted.
"It's not working!"
"*Sigh* Okay, then, how about this." Yuuta gently grabbed Rikka's chin and pulled himself in and kissed her cheek.
"That's a little better." Rikka said, blushing slightly at the thought that just a light peck could easily calm her down.
"Okay, let's just wait then."
"Wait Yuuta..." Rikka reached both her arms around Yuuta's neck and pulled him in tight. Their lips locked and they both eased into each other. They went a while uninterrupted until they realized someone was standing near them with the meeting room door open behind them.
"Ahem." The man cleared his throat and Rikka immediately retracted and turned bright red, looking away.
"You must be Rikka Takanashi, yes?" Said the man. He looked a lot like Tsumoko. Easy on the eyes, thick, dark brown hair and kind eyes.
"Y, yes sir!" Rikka responded quickly.
"And who might you be?"
"I'm Yuuta Togashi sir. Nice to meet you." Yuuta offered out a hand and the man shook it.
"And you're here with Takanashi I presume. Might you also be the Dark Flame Master?" Yuuta sighed a little. He had expected this to happen so he was somewhat prepared.
"Was it that obvious?"
"Not entirely, although when I look at the two of you, you do both seem to fit the characters in the story. Especially with Takanashi wearing that eye patch." Both men turned around as if to acknowledge Rikka's eye patch.
"Please come in, both of you. We shall discuss your light novel, Miss Takanashi." Yuuta and Rikka followed the man through the door. The room was dominated by a large, round table with several seats around it. The man sat down next to another man, who seemed a bit young to be in a suit at a big company.
"Please, have a seat." The man gestured to two empty seats opposite him. The first man spoke first after they sat down.
"Now then, allow me to introduce myself. I am Naoko Tsumoko, I am in charge of approving submitted stories for print. I read them, I make some notes, I relay any changes I think need to be made to the author. Then once they've given me the okay I hand the finished text over to printing." Rikka listened intently, nodding at each point given. Yutta listened carefully also.
"With regards to the actual story itself, Miss Takanashi, I don't feel there is much that really needs to be changed. I've made some notes on some small modifications that I feel would enhance the finished product, you can go over them at home and get back to me later." Naoko slid a piece of paper across the table towards Rikka, who promptly picked it up and began skimming the page.
"These seem fine..." Rikka said quietly, after a few seconds of silent contemplation.
"Excellent." Naoko remarked. Rikka put the paper back down.
"My turn?" asked the younger man to Naoko's side. Looking around for Naoko's approval, he eventually spoke. "Okay! I'm Taro. I'm one of the guys on art direction upstairs. I've prepared a few concepts for some cover art based on Naoko, err Mr. Tsumoko's descriptions of your characters." Taro rummaged around inside an art case for a moment before pulling out some laminated sheets with art drawn on them. He slid the sheets over to Rikka across the table and Rikka separated them so they were side by side.
"Woah. These are so cool!" Rikka said, excitedly.
"Haha. I'm glad you like them. And you can choose your favorite to go on the cover. That's what I'm here for."
"Mr. Ishida here is our best young artist. Since I took a liking to your story and my sister asked me personally, I asked him to prepare the art for your book."
"They're all so good, I can't choose one. Which do you think Yuuta?" Rikka looked over to Yuuta with the wonder still in her eyes. All eyes in the room were not on Yuuta, while they waited for him to choose one. Yuuta also thought that each piece of art was remarkable, but one drawing stood out to him. It featured the two of them, or rather, the Dark Flame Master and the Tyrant's Eye in the center, back to back. Him with a rifle in two hands, and her with a fantasy weapon in one hand, with the other over her glowing, yellow eye, both of them surrounded by hellish creatures and angelic beings.
"This one." Yuuta pointed to his favored concept. "They are all amazing pieces of art Mr. Ishida, sir, but I feel that this one captures the personality of the characters the best." Rikka nodded at this statement.
"I completely agree with you, Mr. Togashi. If it were up to me, I would have chosen this piece of art as well." Said Naoko. "Do you agree Miss Takanashi?"
"Yes. I agree with Yuuta's decision as well."
"Excellent. Now I'd just like to ask you a couple of brief questions. Contact information, royalties and the like. Then if you have any questions after I can answer them for you."
"Okay."
"Right then. Can I get your contact number please..."
When the trio finally got home that afternoon the first thing Rikka did was flop face down onto her bed, relieved that she had no more writing to do. She enjoyed it, but nearly six weeks non-stop took its toll. Suddenly, her phone rang. It was her sister.
"Toka?"
"Hello, Rikka. Are you well?"
"I'm good thanks. How's the restaurant?"
"Busy. I'm managed to squeeze in a 5-minute break to make this call, but them I gotta get back to the kitchen. How's this book I've heard about?"
"Err... Who told you about that?"
"Kuzuha told me. I have to get her to send me updates otherwise I never know what you're up to."
"Sorry."
"It's fine. So how did it go with the publisher?"
"It went well. They say it could be on shelves by Christmas."
"That's pretty quick. You think I could get a copy?"
"They said I could get some first editions for friends and family before it's released. I'll post one to you."
"Okay, great thanks. Hey, you didn't make me some tyrannical priestess in your book did you?"
"I, err, I did..."
"Haha. It's okay. Kuzuha mentioned that you didn't use anyone's real name, so I'm fine with it. Listen. I don't know if I'll be bale to get Christmas off to come to Japan, that's why I visited back in the autumn. But I'll try okay?"
"Okay."
"See ya."
"Bye."
The last day of school for the year came, which meant one more visit to the clubroom before the new year. Yuuta had done his best to keep Rikka from going to the clubroom too early, stalling her as best as he could. When the two opened the sliding door, they were met with the club members all waiting with decorations including a big sign which read...
"Congratulations!" Everyone shouted.
"Wuh... what's going on?! Yuuta, did you know about this? Were you part of this ambush?"
"Relax, Rikka. It's just a small celebration in honour of your hard work and achievement, that's all." Nibutani said.
"Yes, since this was the last time we would see you before Christmas at my house again, we gave you a deathly surprise!" said Dekomori. Miss Tsumoko, who had been part of the decoration effort, walked forward and handed a small present to Rikka.
"Rikka, to commemorate your achievement, I present to you this gift. Merry Christmas."
"Teacher..." Rikka said, solemnly. "Thank you." Rikka pulled away the paper to reveal a premium writing pen, purple and decorated with fake crystals.
"Now whenever you sit down to write, you will have your own special pen to remind you that your hard work will pay off."
"Wow, Miss Tsumoko. Is that from the custom gift show in town near the cafe?" Nibutani asked.
"Yes, I got the idea when I was walking past that store and saw their pens in the window." Rikka thanked Tsumoko again under her breath whilst examining the pen.
"Yuuta."
"Yes, Rikka?"
"Do you think this wand used to belong to an arch magister? It reminds me of this time I was fighting a planeswalker, and he..." Yuuta delivered a chop to Rikka's head.
"Hey, aren't you all chuunied out after spending close to six weeks writing that book?"
"Never." Yuuta smiled at this response.
"Hey, Yuuta. I told you not to let me forget!"
"Huh? Forget what?" Rikka took off her bag and pulled out several paperback books with the cover art Yuuta had chosen on them, the two of them back to back surrounded by enemies.
"I have some of the first editions and I brought some for you." Rikka handed books to Dekomori, Nibutani and Tsumoko. They each thanked Rikka and they all spent a while talking over food and drink about the book, about different books, and about Christmas, which wasn't far away. After one final goodbye before they would meet up again on Christmas, Yuuta and Rikka headed home. Hand in hand, Rikka stopped Yuuta as soon as they reached their bridge.
"Thank you, Yuuta."
"Huh? What for?"
"I wouldn't have finished without you. You helped me write the story. You told me what was good and what was bad and gave me encouragement."
"Don't worry about it. I'll be here to support you whenever you need it."
"Okay."
"Now let's get home quickly now. I'm looking forward to introducing you to my father." Rikka and Yuuta exchanged warm smiles to each other before continuing home, treading snow on the way.