"Have you agreed to do the voice acting?"
The next day, at noon, Takumi was having lunch in the cafeteria and was surprised to discover that Shiori had changed her mind.
"Yes, I accepted". Shiori sat in front of him and said: "Don't forget to write your name."
"Of course". Takumi nodded. 'Isn't it easy to write a name? Just use a stage name or remain anonymous.'
"Can I stay at your house for a while?" Shiori asked again. "I don't have time to ask the school for an overnight pass. I have to leave after today's exam and have nowhere to stay."
"Easy." Takumi smiled.
Takumi's house has two bedrooms and a study. In fact, there is no space for Shiori, but he has other options: "I'll get you a room at the hotel."
Alice brought in some voice actors from outside, and Hinotori Publishing reserved a room at the hotel to accommodate them. Adding one more is no problem.
"Okay." Shiori was a little dissatisfied, but she said nothing.
In the afternoon, after the exam, many cars were parked in front of the gate of Osaka's N.º 1 High School.
"Shiori, goodbye."
"Let's go to the train station."
The two roommates took out their large suitcases to say goodbye to Shiori. Takumi looked at the crowded bus and said, "Take my car."
He asked the driver to take the two reserved girls to the train station and let Shiori get in.
"Take her to the Platinum Hotel and book a room for her."
Takumi told the driver, who nodded: "Yes, Takumi-sama."
Before saying goodbye, Shiori asked Takumi curiously: "What are you going to do?"
"I have something else to do." Takumi bid farewell to the three girls and called Alice. Shortly after, Alice arrived.
"Am I your backup driver now?" Alice said angrily.
"No, I was going to pick you up anyway." Takumi shook his head and smiled: "I'm going to Hirano-sensei to show him a song, but he's not at school. Take me to his house."
He and Hirano-sensei had agreed to inform him of the situation from time to time.
This matter caused him no stress. After Alice drove him, he naturally played a song, and Hirano-sensei was delighted.
"Good, good! You've improved a lot with the piano! You haven't lost more than a month!"
Hirano-sensei applauded and praised Takumi's shyness. He felt a great sense of relief and even enthusiastically invited him to dinner.
"No, my mother is still waiting at home."
After Takumi's refusal, he went home with Alice.
On the way, the driver called him to tell him that Shiori was already settled. Takumi asked Shiori, and the girl had already had dinner in the hotel room.
"Shiori is a great girl." After Takumi finished the call, Alice, who was driving, exclaimed: "I was surprised by the appreciation party last time. I didn't expect her to not only sing, but also have so much talent as a voice actress."
Alice wasn't bad at studying when she was young, but she wasn't as versatile as Shiori in other aspects.
Takumi nodded: "Shiori is great, but she's still a little worse than you."
'That's what he thought in his heart. Only in terms of talent, Takumi believes that Shiori is better than him. She's a gifted genius. But talent is not the standard for determining a person's strength. Shiori has talent, but she doesn't want to use it, which is almost the same as not having it.'
As for Alice, Takumi didn't find anything particularly outstanding about her, but she used her skills well, had clear goals, and did things perfectly and thoughtfully, which made people feel more comfortable.
"Don't praise me; I don't dare compare myself to Shiori." Alice laughed self-deprecatingly, shook her head, and didn't want to think about the problem: "By the way, Takumi, you should pay more attention to the impact of the assistant announcement these days."
"Don't you think it's okay?"
Takumi asked curiously. Weekly Shōnen had been on sale for a few days, and readers hadn't shown any objections.
"Nothing has happened yet; there's nothing wrong with paying attention." Alice added: "If something unexpected happens, there will be problems."
It would be good if this matter were resolved peacefully, but as long as there's a trigger, it could explode, as in Five Centimeters Per Second: no one can predict what will happen next.
Takumi nodded.
"Okay."
After returning home, Alice left, and Takumi waited for Aika to finish eating and turned on the computer in his free time.
In his personal space, sales of Five Centimeters Per Second multiplied by 10,000, but this is one month's data. Now almost no one is buying it. Takumi transferred the money to his bank card and reviewed the comments. He found a strange post.
"Mirai-sensei, this week's Conan is great..."
"Mirai-sensei, have you read the private message I sent you? It's my photo, isn't it adorable?"
"Mirai-sensei, can you reply to me?"
"Mirai-sensei..."
The reader of this post kept talking. Takumi felt uncomfortable watching her. He wanted to close it, but he remembered Alice's reminder in the afternoon and thought it would be better to take a look.
After flipping through a few pages, Takumi was practically sure that this reader had a mental illness. She always talked nonsense and, despite others' obstructions, kept updating the post. At first, there were third-party comments, but then no one paid attention.
Takumi continued reading, a little surprised. From what the reader said, he realized that there were problems in her family. Her father always treated her with violence. Perhaps that was the reason for her abnormality.
"Mirai-sensei, I saw the newspaper. Are you going to find someone to write Detective Conan for you?"
"Mirai-sensei, aren't you going to draw it...?"
"Mirai-sensei, I'm very depressed. Can you reply to me? Aren't you going to write Detective Conan? Are you going to leave this manga...?"
"Mirai-sensei, please keep drawing Detective Conan, why aren't you paying attention to me?"
"Mirai-sensei, my father hit me again. It hurts so much. I can't bear it..."
...
"Mirai-sensei, I ran away from home. I want to find you. Where are you?"
"Mirai-sensei, the Hinotori Publishing security guard won't let me in. I really want to see you."
...
"Mirai-sensei, I'll wait for you at the Kamo River Bridge."
"Mirai-sensei, why aren't you coming? My phone is dying..."
"Mirai-sensei, I want to jump off the bridge. If I die, will you appear?"
"Mirai-sensei..."
...
Takumi stood up with a cold sweat. He looked at the time of the last post. It turned out that just a few minutes ago, this reader was about to jump into the river to commit suicide.
"Is it really that serious?"
Takumi rubbed his eyebrows. 'How could there be such a sick reader?'
"Is it a scam?"
This thought crossed Takumi's mind, but no matter what, he had to go take a look.
If a suicide occurred, he would be in trouble.
- - - -
Big News!
Thanks for reading! Your support this week on both Webnovel and Patreon has been incredible.
As a result, this week we'll have 4 daily chapters on Webnovel and 8 daily chapters for paid Patreon subscribers.
Also, if we can reach 20 paid subscribers a month, the base number of daily chapters will permanently increase to 3 on Webnovel and 6 on Patreon! Your support on Patreon is key to making this happen!