— — — — — —
At the Kawasaki House—
In the kitchen, Kawasaki Saki was making dinner for Taishi and Keika.
Things hadn't gone too smoothly with the uniform idea at first. In the end, after discussing it with Yui Yuigahama, they decided to switch to armbands instead.
Kawasaki disliked Yukino; that much was true. But in some areas, she genuinely acknowledged Yukino's competence.
Of course. Only in some areas.
"Taishi, what do you want for dinner tonight?"
She called toward the room where Taishi was studying. He wanted to get into Sobu High like her, but judging from his current grades, it wouldn't be easy.
And speaking of grades, there was no avoiding the topic of the second half of this year...
Kawasaki truly couldn't understand it. Why was Oikawa always sleeping or zoning out during class... Yet somehow his grades were still ridiculously good?
Unlike her, who had to pay for remedial classes and stay up late studying every night.
Kawasaki yawned.
Part of her resisted the thought of more studying later, but after a moment she could only sigh helplessly.
If you're not naturally smart, then all you can do is work harder.
"Sis, I want grilled fish. And later, can you help me with a few questions? There are some math problems I don't get."
Taishi's voice drifted over from the other room.
"Sure. I'll take a look after dinner." Kawasaki agreed immediately. Explaining middle school material shouldn't be a problem for her.
After answering, she took several frozen sardines out of the fridge and left them to thaw.
Then she sat down at the dining table, propping up her chin as her thoughts wandered.
Before long, a faint blush crept onto her face.
She hurriedly shook her head, trying to throw that scene from the other day out of her mind.
But it was impossible. That memory clung to her like a parasite attached to the bone, impossible to scrape away.
Thump thump~
Kawasaki suddenly realized her heartbeat had sped up.
She quickly shook her head again, this time even harder.
Nearby, Keika-chan was watching anime on Kawasaki's phone. Seeing this, she gave her sister a look full of contempt.
Then she muttered quietly, "Hah. A woman in love really does lose all her brain cells."
Kawasaki immediately shot her a murderous glare.
Keika quickly turned away and pretended nothing had happened.
Right then, Kawasaki's phone chimed with a message notification.
Keika instinctively opened it.
A black leather outfit and two longswords instantly filled the screen.
Her tiny eyes widened with massive confusion. She couldn't understand what she was looking at, but somehow still felt deeply shocked.
"Keika, who's the message from?"
No response.
"Keika?"
Kawasaki looked over suspiciously, then immediately noticed the strange expression on Keika's face.
Her heart skipped a beat.
She rushed over, snatched the phone back from Keika's hands, and the moment she saw the photo Oikawa had sent—
Her entire face exploded red.
From the tips of her ears all the way down her neck.
"Sis, I swear I didn't see anything."
Kawasaki bit her lip tightly and said nothing as she marched straight into the bathroom with her phone.
Then both hands turned into blurs. Her fingers flew wildly across the screen.
At this moment, Kawasaki was practically like someone opening the Eight Gates. Her face burned crimson hot, combat power skyrocketing in a straight line.
The way she stabbed at the screen looked like she was trying to punch holes through the phone itself.
"Idiot… Complete idiot."
Biting her lip, Kawasaki kept muttering curses at Oikawa under her breath.
...
..
Meanwhile, after sending the picture to Kawasaki, Oikawa quickly returned to the important task of curing Japanese netizens of their internet addiction. There was no salary involved, but somehow it made him feel fulfilled inside.
{"Do you seriously have something wrong with you? Why do you keep killing me? ...Stop killing me already! Why are you targeting me nonstop?! What did I even do wrong? Can't you go kill the Jungler instead?! Waaah, jerk… I never want to see you again! I hate you! Hate the game! I'm deleting it."}
Reading the messages from the enemy player named "Catgirl," Oikawa couldn't help shaking his head.
Japanese girl gamers really were way too harmless. Playing League of Legends was practically harming them. Oikawa felt like he was doing a saintly job—pushing them further away from bad things.
With a deeply hypocritical sigh, Oikawa controlled his hero and charged straight into the enemy base.
Across the screen appeared one glorious word: VICTORY
Just then, his phone screen lit up.
The moment he opened it, he was greeted by a flood of messages from Kawasaki.
"Idiot. You're seriously such an idiot. Why would you send me a picture like that?! I-I already agreed, didn't I? If I promise something, I'll do it, okay?! So what was the point of this?!"
"Keika saw it just now. It's over. My dignity as her older sister is completely gone now. It's all your fault. All your fault!! You pervert! Y-you, you, you complete jerk!"
"..."
Kawasaki had sent over ten messages in one go.
It might've been the first time Oikawa had ever seen her type this much.
And honestly... he kind of wanted to laugh.
Okay, maybe "kind of" wasn't accurate. He absolutely lost it.
After thinking for a moment, Oikawa finally replied, "This is exactly why you should never let other people look through your phone. How is this my fault? You're the one with zero sense of privacy protection. Besides, it's not even embarrassing. Honestly, you'd probably look really good wearing it. Young people should try new things once in a while."
Apologize? Impossible.
There was no way he was taking the blame for this in this lifetime. Because obviously, none of this was his fault.
A few seconds later, Kawasaki replied with only two words: "Complete idiot."
After that, no matter what Oikawa sent, she never replied again.
Oikawa sighed helplessly.
Still, Kawasaki was the type who always kept her word. If she promised him something, she would never back out of it.
Which meant... Oikawa was already starting to look forward to Kawasaki cosplaying 2B.
It would definitely be stunning.
At the very least, he absolutely had to take commemorative photos when the time came.
...
..
The next morning, someone knocked on Oikawa's door bright and early.
Still half asleep, he stumbled over to open it, only to discover it was the same delivery guy from yesterday.
Oikawa blinked in confusion. "I didn't order anything else though. Are you sure you've got the right address?"
"No mistake. Please sign here." The courier checked the address again, glanced at Oikawa, then handed over the package.
After signing for it, Oikawa carried the box back into his room while checking the sender information on the back.
"Crow Bookstore? Where's that? I've never heard of it before..."
After opening the package, he found a book and a letter inside.
The moment he saw these, Oikawa immediately knew who had sent the package.
It was that professor from online, the one who had spoken up for him.
Setting the book aside, Oikawa opened the letter.
To young friend Oikawa, thank you. My granddaughter was extraordinarily happy after receiving the copy of Your Lie in April you sent.
After reading it, she cried until her eyes were swollen with tears. And after I finished reading it myself, I ended up drinking a little alone. Such love feels very distant from a man like me, yet it still reminded me of a few fleeting moments from my own youth.
Winesburg, Ohio was one of my favorite books when I was young, so I'm taking this opportunity to give it to you in return.
The path of literature is vast, like the ocean itself. Seeing a brilliant new star such as yourself, I cannot help but think of a little of Mr. Dazai's youthful elegance. If you ever encounter confusion while writing, feel free to write back at any time. This old man still has two or three drops of ink left in him, at least... I only hope you remain humble and continue creating even better works.
...
The letter was only two or three hundred words long.
But after reading it, Oikawa felt warmth spread quietly through his chest.
The kindness of strangers was often the most touching kind.
For a moment, he wanted to write back. But after picking up a pen, he realized he had no idea what to say.
In the end, he could only give up.
After carefully storing the letter away, Oikawa washed up, checked the location Chris Yamada had sent him, and headed out.
Yesterday, Chris messaged him to say he had good news.
As for what kind of good news... Oikawa had a pretty good guess.
Most likely, Your Lie in April had finally gotten news about an anime adaptation.
And if that was true, then it really was incredible news.
If production started now, then by April, the anime could probably air right on schedule.
Just imagining that made Oikawa smile.
...
At the café—
The moment he walked in, he spotted Chris Yamada immediately.
That bright blond hair and unmistakably foreign features stood out far too much in a crowd.
Oikawa walked over.
The instant he sat down, Chris excitedly said, "Oikawa-sensei, the executives at Full-Drive Bunko have officially decided to invest 200 million yen into animating the first volume of Your Lie in April. The project's already been approved, and production should begin very soon."
"If things move smoothly, it could probably start airing in April like you wanted."
Oikawa had already guessed the good news was probably related to an anime adaptation, but hearing that Full-Drive Bunko itself was funding it still surprised him.
Good lord. From the way they handled things, that publisher really did seem absurdly rich.
And 200 million yen wasn't a small investment either.
Normally, anime production costs somewhere around 11 to 18 million yen per episode. But for a series like Your Lie in April, which didn't have many fight scenes, production costs would usually sit just above 11 million yen an episode.
The 18 million range was generally for action-heavy anime.
And for certain high-intensity scenes, the cost could even double or triple.
Take One Punch Man for example. The famous Saitama vs. Genos fight alone reportedly burned through over 20 million yen in just four minutes.
So if the entire 200 million yen was being spent on adapting the first volume of Your Lie in April, spread across twelve episodes, that meant each episode would average roughly 16.6 million yen.
At that price point, Oikawa figured the anime quality definitely would be very high.
"It'll really be finished by April? Looks like Full-Drive Bunko really does have deep pockets. Seems I picked the right partner after all, Editor Yamada." Oikawa joked lightly.
"Oikawa-sensei, don't worry. We absolutely won't end up like Dengeki Bunko. I've already contacted several influencers. The moment your Clannad manuscript is finished, we'll immediately begin promotion. This time, the editor-in-chief approved a full 30 million yen advertising budget. It's one of the highest promotional budgets in Full-Drive Bunko's history."
Chris spoke with complete seriousness, like he'd already committed himself fully with no route of retreat.
Even Oikawa felt a little overwhelmed hearing that.
Thirty million yen just for promotion? How many major influencers would that even hire?
At this point, they probably wouldn't even limit themselves to book reviewers anymore.
"Alright then. Guess I need to speed up my writing too."
Originally, Oikawa had planned to procrastinate for a few more days before sending the first volume of Clannad to Full-Drive Bunko.
Now it looked like he'd better hurry.
After that, Oikawa signed copies of Your Lie in April while chatting with Chris about details regarding the anime adaptation.
Once production officially started, Oikawa figured he'd get much busier too.
After all, there were plenty of settings and creative decisions the production staff would ask him about.
Things like selecting piano pieces, for example. And honestly, Oikawa felt it was better for him to be personally involved anyway.
After all, he'd already watched the Your Lie in April anime before. With such a polished example in his memory, there were plenty of important suggestions he could provide.
After signing more than a dozen books, the two shifted into casual conversation.
Most of what they talked about revolved around novels and literature.
It seemed most Japanese people really loved Osamu Dazai and Natsume Soseki, because nearly every topic somehow circled back to those two authors.
Oikawa hadn't read much himself.
For Dazai, he'd only read No Longer Human.
As for Natsume Soseki, he'd read a bit more, including I Am a Cat and Kokoro.
..
After chatting for over an hour and enjoying an expensive meal paid for with company funds, the two finally parted ways.
After eating, Oikawa didn't head home. Instead, he arrived early at the café where he'd arranged to meet Kawasaki.
First: tutoring. Then: going home to watch Kawasaki cosplay 2B
Suddenly, Oikawa felt a bit regretful.
Why had he chosen 2B? Wouldn't Catwoman or something even sexier have been better?
The more he thought about it, the more regretful he became.
Oikawa decided that next time he got an opportunity like this, he would absolutely choose carefully
...
Before long, Oikawa spotted Kawasaki through the café window.
She looked adorably puffed up with anger.
When their eyes met through the glass, Oikawa immediately grinned and waved at her playfully.
His lips silently mouthed, "Come on in."
Kawasaki stood outside without moving, cheeks slightly red, glaring at him furiously.
"Idiot."
That was probably what her mouth was saying.
Taking advantage of her guard being down, Oikawa launched a sneak attack.
He suddenly made a ridiculous face at her through the window. But the chair seemed to recoil in disgust, and the boy lost his balance, nearly falling over.
At the sight of this, Kawasaki burst out laughing.
Then she quickly bit her lip, trying desperately to suppress it. But in the end, she still failed.
Even through the glass, Oikawa could hear her bright, clear laughter.
And for some reason, he felt the whole world grow brighter just seeing her happy and laughing like that.
.
.
.
▷ You can read 30 chapters ahead, or support me on: patreon.com/_Coreal