Seems like the special chapter went well, and I probably should have delayed it a bit to make it a "fitting" Halloween special. Well we will be beginning our new arc, which will be based on 'Re:Zero'! '
I'm already thinking about the next two arcs, and I think I'll have another vote to decide the next arc for the future. Last time the votes were a bit too "spread out" so I think I will have to limit the options this time.
That's why... we will be having a theme for the next arc! This theme will be... RomComs!
For those who don't know, RomComs are a short for "Romantic Comedies", and are essentially stories that contain romance and comedy.
Here will be the Candidates:
1. Komi-san wa Comyushou desu (Komi can't communicate)
2. Kaguya sama: Love is War
3. Oregairu: (My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU)
4. Horimiya
5. Tonikaku Kawaii (Over the Moon for you)
You can vote for other works too, do not worry. HOWEVER, I will only acknowledge them if:
-I have watched/read the work before.
-The work is a RomCom
-There are 3 or more votes of this series.
Phew! That was a lot of rambling, my bad. Let's get started.
"Here's your new workplace." Yoshikawa opened the door before me to see a completely empty room about 5 times larger than my apartment. The place seemed to have the bare minimum necessities for a workplace, as it really only had a bathroom in a separate place. If I ever did want to work here, I'd have to move all my desk and tech over to here.
I liked my old apartment better. My home felt cozy and comfortable to be working, but this place somewhat just gave me the chills.
"This place somewhat gives me bad vibes." I commented, glancing around the empty room. It was somewhat in need of… pretty much anything.
Like an empty white canvas, this room felt unbelievably bland as well.
"Well, you'll have to work on your budget on your own now. Good luck decorating!" Yoshikawa said, taking her leave. I sighed, and placed a backpack I was carrying onto the ground.
This backpack carried my very basic needs when it comes to writing a story. I suppose the only thing I'm missing would be food to keep me up and alive.
Now, you may be wondering where the rest of my things go. Like my bed, basic cooking utensils, and almost everything else I used to have in my apartment.
Here is what happened earlier yesterday…
"Wait… the author looks exactly like the Railgun though?" Frenda suddenly pointed out.
"WHY DO ALL OF YOU ALWAYS RESORT TO VIOLENCE!?" I screamed. "ALSO, YOU RUINED MY MOMENT, DAMMIT!"
Almost as if the ITEM members had ignored my cry in pain, and looked directly behind me to see my older sister.
Mikoto stared at the squad without flinching with her arms crossed.
Almost in sync, Frenda and Takitsubo looked at my older sister. Frenda glanced back at Takitsubo, as if she was expecting her to say something.
"…the AIM field is matching. That's the third ranked esper all right." Takitsubo said, confirming in a blank face.
As if almost comically on cue, Frenda and I slowly looked towards Mugino's face. Her face remained as a smile, but I could notice several veins in her forehead.
Frenda groaned after a second or two. "O… oh, shi-"
CRASH!
Completely cutting off Frenda's profanity, a green laser beam came out of nowhere. My head jerked backwards, almost grazing the tip of my nose.
Immediately after the beam, crackling lighting engulfed the room. Light bulbs flickered, as the lightning somehow parried the beam into a different direction, still annihilating the window behind Mikoto.
Broken glass flew everywhere, and they definitely cut the side of my face before I even knew what was happening.
"Why the hell are you here, bitch?!" I heard Mugino yell. I still had my eyes shut, helplessly shielding myself from being stunned by the broken glass.
"Excuse me? This is my younger sister's home! You better back off or I'll be frying you." Mikoto replied aggressively.
"Well give it your best shot, little girl! It'll just be a repeat of last time you know?!" Mugino almost screamed back. I didn't see her face, yet I could already feel her smiling from ear to ear.
"It will be different this time!"
I don't have my gun with me anymore, so there was no way for me to defend myself.
Because of this, I objectively did not know what to do. I had to run, obviously, but run where? Mugino was blocking the exit, and jumping off the window would be suicide!
"What's super happening!?" Kinuhata yelled. "Did something happen between you two?!"
"Stop! You're going to trash the place!" Mai tried to reason.
I should have seen this coming. Mugino and Mikoto obviously weren't on good terms because of their encounter in the SISTERS arc.
"Gahhhh!" I screamed upon seeing my paper drawings, and notes go up in flames from Mikoto and Mugino's stand-off. I quickly grabbed everything important while on all fours, then I put them under my desk.
I hid under my desk along with all my novel-making necessities, then I closed my eyes in resignation as my whole apartment got destroyed.
I heaved a deep sigh. It was almost a miracle that the entire building didn't collapse. However, the whole situation made my room almost completely inhabitable.
'Well, I guess I'll start working now. Better sooner than later.'
I already declared to myself that I'd be recreating Re:Zero next. So I had to brainstorm as to how I was going to lay out the entire story. Not to mention the fact that the series isn't even finished yet, and there was no way for me to know what would really happen next.
I remembered heavily theorizing about the future events of Re:Zero, from listening to Tappei Nagatsuki's interviews, to all of the IF stories. If anything, I saw finishing the story the way Nagatsuki-san intended would be a fun challenge for me to pull off.
It will be one step closer for me to become a true author.
Re:Zero is an Isekai that takes a very different approach to every usual Isekai.
Of course, the whole genre itself is successful purely because of how harsh reality can be, so they make our protagonist a relatable character, and have them whisk away in another world where only paradise awaits.
Most of the bad, generic novels and manga of this world were like this.
Re:Zero on the other hand, is almost the complete opposite. Our protagonist, Natsuki Subaru goes through so many hardships, so much so that almost everyone agrees that Subaru had it harder than anyone else ever had it in the past, present, and future.
This novel really does take a "Carrot and Stick" approach with Subaru, making him go through so many hardships. However in the end, the benefits and rewards feel more legitimate and deserving.
Now, for another thing that made this special was the whole concept of death.
I didn't mean to brag, but I had already experienced death many, many times. I even occasionally have nightmares of Accelerator when I sleep because of this.
Not to mention, I even feel awkward around him sometimes. I can't exactly walk up to him and be like: 'Hey! Remember when you ripped my foot off? Good times, eh?'
I felt shivers go down my spine. At least the feeling of death can be better visualized and described in my stories thanks to these weird experiences.
I shook my head to clear my mind. This was not what I needed to be thinking about right now. I decided to flip out my drawing pen, and get to work.
The first Illustration I planned to work on is the significant scene where our protagonist meets our main heroine, Emilia.
This truly reminded me of the first time I had watched Re:Zero. Natsuki Subaru, shopping bag in hand, gets saved from a group of thugs by Emilia.
I didn't miss a speck of detail. From her pointed ears, to her little companion Puck.
I sighed and took a look at my progress. I noticed that I was working at a much slower pace than before. I stopped drawing, and I noticed my fingertips were quivering vigorously. It wasn't the feeling of Carpal Tunnel I experienced before. My arm seemed to have strained up because I felt… scared?
Though I didn't notice because I was immersed in my work, my breathing had elevated, my heart pounded harder, and my hands were shaking.
What was causing this? I put down my pen and looked around.
"-!"
I dashed out of my working spot. I tripped over my bags carrying my surviving possessions from the apartment incident. I quickly got up and made it to the bathroom so I could throw up in the toilet.
This indescribable feeling suddenly felt increasingly more familiar to me. The whiteness of the office I was supposed to be in, resembled the place where I had first met him.
I knew in my head that I really shouldn't be feeling this way. However, my heart felt extremely paranoid. It certainly didn't help that I was writing a novel based around death.
I stood up and looked in the mirror in front of my sink.
I wiped my mouth, and leaned my body forwards towards my sink, seeing a long brown haired girl who looked like she had witnessed a ghost event from Phasamaphobia.
I took deep breaths to calm myself down. Even then, I simply could not find the motivation to begin working.
Should I go outside again?
No, I have already done that too much already.
I was gonna have to force myself to work one way or another, so I slapped myself in both cheeks, looking at a Misaka Mikoto with longer hair and a pair of goggles.
I then observed my hands. They were still trembling, so I don't think I could draw precise and nice drawings for the moment. I should probably write instead for now.
I'll get through this no matter what!
"So…" Someone's voice said.
"Your hands don't feel well, you're saying?" It was Mai, she had come to visit me to work alongside me. I only managed to tell her that I wasn't really in the mood of drawing, so my novels will have to be delayed. I couldn't exactly tell her that I was a clone, anyway.
"I'm sorry if this is bothering you, I just can't find myself to draw at the moment. Especially in this empty, creepy white space
"Ah, no, no." Mai shook her head and hands vigorously. "Everyone can have moments like that, it's completely normal!"
"Ahaha…" I laughed nervously. "Thank you very much."
At this moment in time, I had already finished the first arc of Re:Zero, just without any illustrations. The first arc is one of the shortest arcs, so it wasn't anything to be cocky about.
Mai was around halfway finished editing my first arc, which is a little behind then usual. This must be because I'm not spending time drawing.
Putting the lack of illustrations aside, I needed to decide the length of each of the volumes.
Since the first arc was pretty much covered by the first volume, I can call the first volume as good as done for now. Though the other arcs will be far longer.
"Come to think of it, this is the first time you developed a 'magic system' right?" Mai spoke, as she continued the work with her laptop.
What Mai meant by "Magic system" was apparently a term that describes how the concept of magic works in fantasy light novels. Not that I ever thought it mattered, because the light novels around here were very inconsistent.
"I guess so." I replied. "I'm not really focusing on that though."
"…"
The conversation died quickly. I couldn't really come up with anything to talk about.
Mai suddenly sighed, and I felt shivers on my back. Did I make her angry…?
Then, Mai spoke. "Sensei, let's hire an illustrator."
"…"
"Eh?" I finally let out, after processing what she had just said.
"Only one!?" Mai shouted, almost crumpling the papers she was reading in disbelief.
It's been two days since that last conversation, and Mai had apparently worked hard to create a recruiting poster to notify the "The great Ayaka Hiiragi is hiring illustrators".
However, she was baffled to see that only one person had signed up.
"Figured as much." I said, leaning back on my chair. Mai wouldn't listen to a single thing the past two days, so now finally seemed like the time to tell her.
Mai jerked her head at me, awaiting an explanation.
"Mai, I get your initiative to help me and I really do appreciate it. However, it's obvious that no one is going to sign up because they're simply not going to believe us."
"E-eh…?" Mai only uttered out. This blunder was quite unlike her.
"Seriously, think about it for a moment. How did you react when I tried telling you that I wrote my books?"
Mai turned bright pink, realizing her mistake. "O-oh… right…"
I sighed. "At least we got one person interested. I'm honestly surprised." The baseless claim being Hiiragi-Sensei aside, Mai was actually a pretty skilled marketer and persuader. The poster skillfully tells all information needed, without having the reader put in much effort or attention. Not only that, the poster was designed to attract people's attention in the first place. If it weren't for the poster claiming to be Ayaka herself, who knows how many more people would end up being interested?
I picked up the sheet that Mai had almost crumbled, to see that it was a biography.
Family name: Kobayashi
Given name: Yusuke
Sex: Male
Age: 16 years
Work experience:
Freelance online artist
Manga assistant (1 year)
Volunteer translator for Manga and Light Novels (1 year)
Skills:
Drawing
Fluent in Japanese
Moderate fluency in English
Limited fluency in Korean
The page looked like an ordinary resume. Reminded me of those times where I had to write a resume of my own. Not that it was ever used though.
I took a look at this guy's experience and skills. For someone only 16 years old, it was pretty impressive. I honestly expected a middle-aged man or something.
"He's a lot younger than I expected." I mused.
"Well, manga is usually for younger teenage audiences after all. I'm not too surprised."
His work experience tells me that he must have loved Manga and Light Novels. As a fellow Manga lover, I'm pretty curious as to what this Kobayashi Yusuke is like. "I kind of want to do an interview of sorts."
"Ah!" Mai piped up. "I already arranged for that, he's coming in two hours."
"..."
I silently looked around our office, to see that it was still an eerie white emptiness.
Though it took me a bit to process this, I still reacted nonetheless.
"HAH!? THAT EARLY!?"
