The next morning…
Asuto successfully met the MF Bunko editor at Make Cafe.
The editor handling his contract was a very young woman. She looked like a recent university graduate and had a clean, gentle aura. She was also extremely beautiful.
At first glance, interacting with such a beautiful female editor might seem like a huge win for Asuto.
But, in reality, this was not necessarily a good thing.
According to Japanese work culture, companies generally prefer to assign important clients to older employees, as they appear more mature and reliable.
Clients that they weren’t especially optimistic about were usually handed over to newcomers for training purposes.
“Excuse me, are you Editor Wakayama Kishia?”
“Huh?”
Sitting in her seat, Wakayama froze for a moment before hurriedly standing up.
“Y-Yes, that’s me. And you are…?”
“We contacted each other through email before. My name is Asuto. Please take care of me.”
“Asuto… Akashi-San?”
Wakayama Kishia was instantly stunned.
She had originally been feeling a little nervous. After all, she had only recently graduated, and this was her first time meeting an author alone. She was worried that her young age would make her seem unreliable.
But she never expected the author she was meeting to be younger than her.
Their publishing company had received submissions from high school students before. However, generally speaking, the lack of life experience of high school and university students meant that their submissions rarely passed review.
Yet the manuscript submitted for Cautious Hero, although the writing style wasn’t fully polished, couldn’t be called immature either.
At the time, the senior staff at the publishing company unanimously believed that the author was a young adult who had already graduated and had some writing experience.
“Editor Wakayama can just call me Asuto. So, could I first take a look at the contract?”
Young people had their advantages.
At the very least, Asuto could get straight to the point when speaking with Wakayama Kishia instead of wasting time on meaningless pleasantries, as he had done with everyone in his previous life.
“Ah~~ O-Oh! Of course, no problem, Asuto…-kun.”
Wakayama Kishia hurriedly regained her composure before taking out a contract and handing it over.
After glancing through it a few times, Asuto realized it was essentially a standard contract for a beginner author.
In Japan’s publishing industry, authors are paid based on royalty percentages, and beginner authors generally receive a fixed royalty rate of 10%.
If sales later exploded and the author became famous, the publisher would usually raise the royalty split on their own to keep the author’s future works with the company, even if the author never requested it.
“Asuto-kun, your work follows an unconventional route. The concept is very fresh, but the publishing company is currently finding it difficult to judge how the market will accept this type of novel. Actually, given your writing style, you could opt for a more traditional heroic approach. After all, hero novels are still very popular right now,” Wakayama Kishia said.
The structure of Japan’s publishing industry meant that the creation of a successful work was inseparable from the collaboration between author and editor.
Many rookie authors matured slowly under the guidance of veteran editors.
Likewise, many famous authors had an editor who practically acted like a second parent.
So, as Asuto’s editor, it was perfectly normal for Wakayama to offer writing suggestions. And, except for a tiny number of special cases, editors generally had no intention of harming authors.
After all, nobody hates making money.
However, after hearing Wakayama Kishia’s suggestion, Asuto thought about it for only a few seconds before shaking his head.
“No. From the very beginning, this work was intended to follow an unconventional route.”
In truth, the subject matter of Cautious Hero was somewhat ahead of its time in the current market.
However, since Asuto had chosen this novel, he was clearly acting with confidence.
He knew that, although hero-themed novels were still popular, this was the genre’s final golden age.
The Japanese hero genre originated long ago, and after so many years, the concept had been written to death countless times.
The only hero novels still selling nowadays were written by veteran authors, using the fame they had accumulated in the past to force sales.
If Asuto were to switch genres, competing against those veteran authors who had been writing for years would simply be suicidal given his current level of writing experience.
Seeing that Asuto had made up his mind, Wakayama Kishia didn’t try to persuade him any further.
The two discussed a few more details regarding the work before eventually parting ways.
…
Tuesday afternoon…
The members of Karasuno High School arrived by bus at the gates of Aoba Johsai High School.
Hinata had been so nervous on the ride over that he ended up vomiting all over Tanaka’s trousers, which made him even more nervous afterwards.
The moment they got off the bus, several Karasuno members rushed towards the restroom.
As they stepped inside, they unexpectedly encountered three Aoba Johsai players:
Yūtarō Kindaichi, Shigeru Yahaba, and Mishita Ryūhei.
“Hm?”
As it was the first time the two groups had met, everyone froze momentarily.
After a while, Mishita Ryuhei was the first to break the silence.
“Long time no see, Oda.”
“Uh… it actually hasn’t been that long, has it? School only started less than two weeks ago.”
Mishita Ryuhei: “······”
“Damn it, you really do talk too much.”
Mishita Ryuhei fell speechless for a moment before walking over and lightly bumping fists with Oda Miki.
The two of them exchanged a glance, then burst out laughing simultaneously.
“So these are your current teammates?”
“Yeah. This is Tanaka Ryunosuke, my senior from the volleyball club. And this little guy is Hinata Shoyo,” Oda Miki introducing them.
“Oh? So it’s you!”
Mishita Ryuhei looked at Hinata Shoyo, surprise evident in his eyes.
“I didn’t expect you to end up at Karasuno too.”
During the first round of the Nationals qualifiers, they had observed Kitagawa Daiichi and had seen Hinata Shoyo then.
Hinata’s performance at the time had made quite an impression on Mishita Ryuhei.
“(｀Д´) Hey, hey, hey~~ Oda, who’s this guy? You two seem pretty close!”
Tanaka put on a tough guy act and aggressively questioned him.
Oda Miki covered his face.
“Please stop doing that, Tanaka-senpai. We came here for a match, not a fight. It’s honestly kind of embarrassing watching you act like this.”
“Hahaha~~~ Oda, your current teammates seem pretty interesting.”
Mishita Ryuhei suddenly remembered something and laughed.
“This Tanaka-senpai reminds me of what Asuto used to be like.”
“Uh… pfft!”
Oda Miki also recalled the days when Asuto used to act like a delinquent.
At first, he hadn’t thought it was especially funny, but when he compared that image with the current Asuto, the contrast instantly made him laugh out loud.
“Oh right, where is that guy anyway?”
“You mean him? Given his personality, what else would he be doing right now but training?”
“Training? Don’t tell me he’s not participating in this practice match?”
“Uh! Well, actually, the situation is like this…”
(End of Chapter)