Afterword
“All done reading, Sensei.”
I was at my desk, glued to my computer, when Yasuha-chan’s voice made me spin around with an “Oh!”
Yasuha-chan peeked through the door, her eyes landing on my monitor with a look of exasperation.
“Sensei… are you watching YouTube?”
“Gathering intel’s part of a writer’s job, y’know.”
“Writers sure have it easy, turning everything into ‘work.’”
“You get it for someone so young.”
I flicked off the monitor and headed to the living room with Yasuha-chan.
As for my relationship with her—Kakitsubata Yasuha-chan—let’s just say she’s my niece for the purposes of this series. Recycling old settings saves me the hassle of coming up with new ones.
But here’s the straight-up truth: her eye for novels is sharp enough to rival any pro writer or editor. These days, she’s not just my second-in-command—she’s practically my zeroth editor.
“This volume was packed. Not just the page count, but the sheer volume of the gaming scenes…”
Yasuha-chan said, brushing her hand over the manuscript for Tier 1 Shimai Volume 2 on the table.
“I’m not super into games myself, but the passion came through loud and clear.”
“I’m a total casual, though. Tendonitis killed my ability to play anything too intense.”
“But you still pulled off a story like this, Sensei. I was kinda shocked by how shonen-level intense the descriptions got.”
“That’s ‘cause you haven’t read much of my web novels, have you?”
“I’m caught up on Tennige through the latest chapter. When’s the next one dropping?”
I nodded vaguely, dodging the question.
“Let’s put that aside for now—thing is, this is the kinda stuff I used to write. Somehow I ended up a rom-com writer, but back in the day, I was doing esports stuff. Well, not pure esports—it was more VRMMO PvP-focused, so not exactly the same.”
“You didn’t plan to write an esports novel from the start this time?”
“I’ve tossed the idea around with my editor, but there’s a lotta messy details to deal with… If this volume gets good buzz, I might consider it, though.”
“I think the content in Volume 2 is solid, but I’m a little worried about it being the second volume of a rom-com. Readers coming for the romance might get whiplash from all this dense gaming stuff. I wonder how they’ll take it.”
“Yeah, that’s… I was a bit concerned about that too, to be honest. But c’mon, writing Meru without leaning into the gaming side? That’d be impossible, right? And if I’m gonna do it, I gotta go all out.”
“Fair enough.”
“If this were a manga serialization, I’d never take the risk. But with a light novel, I can’t help but wanna push the boundaries of what’s allowed. Like, genres aren’t that big a deal, y’know?”
“That’s how light novels were back when you were reading them the most, right?”
“Yeah… Well, now that I think about it, maybe not exactly.”
“Then what is it?”
“Dunno. Maybe it’s just my wishful thinking. I wanna believe light novels are this free space where, as long as you’ve got illustrations and a heroine, you can write whatever the hell you want.”
“…And if it’s not that kind of space, what’ll you do, Sensei?”
“Who knows? Maybe I’ll make a game or something.”
“What kind of game?”
“An eroge, obviously.”
“…I got all sentimental for nothing.”
I’m being serious, though—guess it’s a bit too early for Yasuha-chan to get it.
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