A few days passed in the blink of an eye.
Sunday arrived once again, bringing with it the release day for the latest issue of Fleeting Blossoms.
The second chapter of Blue Spring Ride unfolded at a slightly slower pace. After Futaba reunited with Kou at school following their separation of three years, the narrative shifted its focus to one of her classmates, Yuri.
Yuri was gentle by nature, with a soft personality and an adorably dazed appearance.
Her movements were elegant, her speech polite, and to the boys in class, she was undeniably popular.
At the same time, she was the target of collective exclusion by the girls in their class. Because of this, Futaba saw her own middle school self reflected in Yuri.
She approached her almost unconsciously, only to discover that they got along far better than expected. Before they parted, Yuri shyly gifted Futaba a small charm to hang on her school bag.
"Futaba, thank you for talking to me," Yuri said quietly. "Even though everyone else avoids me like that."
Then came Yuri's inner monologue.
"If being a little gentle and wanting others to like me is a mistake, and that's why the girls isolate me, then why do they all spend so much time dressing up every day? Don't they also want others to think they're cute? In the end, what's the difference between them and me?"
Yuri was the kind of girl who could smile softly while saying something so piercing.
The entire second chapter devoted a great deal of space to depicting the gradual formation of Futaba and Yuri's friendship.
When classmates whispered behind Yuri's back, saying she was deliberately acting cute to seduce boys, Futaba did something she rarely did before. Instead of ignoring it, she spoke up.
"Putting on a fake act in front of boys is disgusting."
Futaba took a deep breath and shot back, "If you think Yuri is disgusting, then doesn't that just mean you also want boys to think you're cute? If that's the case, why are you standing here saying nonsense instead of trying to do the same thing?"
"Who would ever want to fake it like that?"
someone snapped. "We just hate people like Yuri!"
"Putting others down might make you feel superior," Futaba replied, her expression filled with anger, "but you're completely wrong. You're only saying those things because you're so jealous you can't ignore her."
When Reina reached that line, her fingers tightened slightly around the book.
This was what immersion really meant.
In the novel, middle school Futaba and high school Yuri were singled out by others simply because they caught the attention of a few boys, and that alone was enough to spark intense jealousy.
And Reina herself had always been the center of male attention at school.
Naturally, she was also the center of whispered criticism among the girls.
Some smiled warmly to her face, but behind her back, their jealousy festered into rumors.
They said her mother had been a mistress who climbed her way into the family.
They said she had dated seven boyfriends back in middle school.
They even claimed she had been unbearably ugly in elementary school and that her family had spent millions of yen on plastic surgery during junior high.
She was mostly immune to such talk now, but seeing these scenes written out so vividly still stirred something deep inside her.
"Is he really a boy?" Reina wondered as she lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling.
She could not understand how Haruto, a male high school student, could write such a painfully realistic girls' romance story.
And yet, Futaba as a protagonist felt so cool.
If someone had stood up like that for her when others spoke badly behind her back, she was certain they would have become close friends.
She could not help but envy Yuri for meeting a friend like Futaba.
Perhaps this was why people loved novels. They were a place to find emotions and moments that rarely existed in reality.
A faint smile curved Reina's lips as she continued reading.
After speaking up in class, Futaba's relationship with the girls deteriorated completely.
She retreated to a corner, blaming herself for ruining what little harmony she had, and finally broke down in tears.
Just then, other students happened to pass by.
Panicking at the thought of being seen with her face twisted from crying, she lowered her head and searched desperately for somewhere to hide.
That was when Kou appeared.
He stepped close, used his shoulder to shield her face, and gently pulled her in, pretending they were a couple so no one would see her tears.
"You're trying so hard to achieve what you want," his calm voice whispered near her ear, "that you've lost sight of what you wanted in the first place."
His quiet words smoothed the ache in Futaba's chest.
Even though he usually acted indifferent toward her, he always appeared at critical moments to support her. That was what made him the male lead. In the second chapter of Blue Spring Ride, Futaba lost the shallow, fragile friendships she had with a group of girls. In return, she gained something far more precious.
Yuri's sincere and wholehearted friendship.
As for the romantic progress between Futaba and Kou, it remained slow, almost restrained.
But the gentle warmth hidden between the lines flowed out of Fleeting Blossoms that Sunday, reaching tens of thousands of readers across the prefecture.
Some readers finished the chapter feeling only mild emotion. Others, like Reina, found it impossible to calm down even after closing the magazine.
No novel could satisfy every reader, but in the end, the second chapter of Blue Spring Ride won the approval of the vast majority of Fleeting Blossoms' fans.
Online readers spontaneously formed fan groups for the novel, recruiting members and discussing the plot together.
On Crimson Maple Literature's official website, within the forum section dedicated to Fleeting Blossoms, the discussion boards that Sunday were almost entirely dominated by topics related to Blue Spring Ride.
"Chapter two of Blue Spring Ride felt way too real. I could relate to it so much it made me want to cry."
"A review from someone who was isolated by classmates since childhood after reading chapter two."
"Is it really wrong to want others to think you're cute? Of course not. If you have the looks, why not show them and accept praise? The people who can't stand that are just consumed by jealousy. I love Yuri so much, especially how she shuts down those red-eyed classmates."
"I genuinely love Futaba as a heroine. It's been so long since I've seen a female lead this real, this distinctive, and this lovable."
"The author 'Shiori Takahashi' must have gone through this kind of isolation as a kid to write something like this."
"Why does everyone keep calling the author 'Shiori-chan'? Has the author's age been revealed?"
"Only teenage girls could write something this youthful, right? Do we even need to ask? Adult authors mostly write workplace romance now."
"Outstanding people always get excluded."
"Kou is so easy to understand. That moment when he blocked Futaba's crying face with his shoulder honestly made me tear up. Why don't boys like this exist in real life?"
"Why does it feel like everyone posting here is a girl? Are there no guys who like Blue Spring Ride?"
"Of course there are. I'm a bearded middle-aged man lurking in the shadows."
"Heh, even though I'm already in my twenties, I still have a maiden's heart. I love pure romance stories like this."
"I like gentle boys like Kou too. Learned a new move today. Next time my girlfriend cries, I'm just pulling her into my arms."
"Stop chatting and go vote. There's a code in the back of the magazine. Log in and rate the novel. This really matters. Good votes and ratings mean the editors will ask the author to write longer. Bad results mean the story might end early or even get canceled. If you like it, go support it."
Once someone started talking, discussions about Blue Spring Ride spread like bamboo shoots after rain. Naturally, these fans also recommended the novel to others online and offline, steadily expanding its influence.
As of the current stage, by Monday morning at nine o'clock, Crimson Maple Literature completed its internal data compilation. Twenty-four hours after the release of chapter two, Blue Spring Ride had received a total of 3,512 votes through the official website, placing it third among the thirteen serialized novels in this issue of Fleeting Blossoms.
Its rating rose by another 0.1 points, climbing from 9.2 to 9.3 and remaining firmly in first place.
When these numbers settled, many editors at Crimson Maple Literature fell silent.
From any angle, the growth of Blue Spring Ride's popularity was frighteningly fast.
The previous issue had only garnered a little over two thousand votes. This time, it had jumped straight past three thousand.
And ratings above nine were notoriously difficult to raise further.
Yet this novel had somehow done exactly that.
How much did readers have to love it to give such a score?
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