Kono Monogatari O Kimi Ni Sasagu - Volume 1 Chapter 1.2

 

 

It was so sudden that Yuto couldn’t understand the meaning.

Confused by the words of the unfamiliar girl, Yuto waited a full five seconds before opening his mouth.

 

“I refuse.”

 

That was the encounter between Yuto Hiiragi and Kotoha Natsume.

When Yuto opened the front door, the heat filled with the smell of an eight-tatami mat room clung to his body.

 

The evening sun was streaming in through the window on the end wall.

In the center of the room was a rectangular low table, with the reference books and notebooks he had used last night still spread out on it.

There were two color boxes by the wall, stuffed with textbooks and reference books, and a black box squeezed in with the books on the bottom shelf. Apart from a few storage cases, it was a boring room.

 

“It’s hot…”

 

As Yuto entered the room, he placed the plastic bag with the convenience store bento on the table and then opened the south-facing sliding window.

A cool breeze with the quietness of water blew through.

 

In front of him flowed the Kiso River, shining brightly in the evening sun.

The river was about two hundred meters wide, and its flow was as gentle as a person’s walk. Several white egrets stood in shallow water, aiming for fish. A little downstream, a boat for river tours floated, intended for tourists.

A twenty-year-old wooden apartment, third floor, one-room eight-tatami mat room, fifteen minutes by bike from the school.

 

Yuto Hiiragi had been living alone, apart from his parents in Nagoya, since he entered the school.

He didn’t do it for a positive reason.

He just wanted to escape.

 

──From everything related to that event.

Yuto let out a deep breath.

 

In his mind, the memory of three years ago, when he was still a middle school student, surfaced.

The event that made him despair at his own incompetence.

The event that made him avoid the thing he loved most: writing.

 

Yuto shook his head, trying to shake off what was clinging to his heart.

 

Instead, he recalled the events in the classroom today.

“What was that about, that girl?”

 

The high school girl named Kotoha Natsume, who suddenly appeared in the classroom and declared herself his editor and demanded he write a novel. Judging by her ribbon color, she was a first-year student, yet she boldly entered the third-year classroom and showed no fear toward her upperclassman, herself.

“What does she mean, ‘write a novel’?”

 

Yuto spat out the words.

After that, Yuto and the girl who introduced herself as Kotoha Natsume had a childish back-and-forth of “Please write” “No” “Why not” “Just because” until Yuto, in frustration, ended the conversation and left the scene. It was oddly humiliating to run away from a younger girl, though.

 

Half a day had passed since then, but the memory of that time kept haunting him.

“Please let me be your editor.”

 

Her confident words still echoed in his ears.

When he closed his eyes, her defiant smile floated before him.

 

“Why?”

Why did she say he should write a novel?

 

Could it be that she found out?

Cold sweat formed on his back.

 

As the memories from those days threatened to take over his mind again, Yuto let out a big breath.

That can’t be. It’s okay.

 

Since entering high school, he hadn’t told anyone.

Moreover, it had almost stopped being a talking point in the public eye.

Nearly three years had passed since his last work was published.

 

That should be enough time for people to forget.

At that moment, the vibration of his smartphone brought Yuto back to his senses.

Seeing the name displayed on the screen, Yuto hesitated about whether to answer.

But as the call showed no signs of stopping, he reluctantly pressed the answer button.

 

“Hello.”

“This is Inamura from Otowa Publishing.”

A mature woman’s voice hit Yuto’s ears through the speaker.

 

Without waiting for Yuto’s reply, the voice continued.

“It’s been a while, Fuyutsuki-sensei.”

Yuto let out a sigh, careful not to be heard.

Memories of that time unavoidably resurfaced in his mind.

Haruhiko Fuyutsuki ── That was the pen name under which Yuto made his dazzling debut as an author five years ago.

It caused a bit of a stir at the time.

 

After all, it was a big deal that a first-year middle school boy won the grand prize in a novel contest.

Inamura became his editor then.

 

After the award-winning work was published, Yuto received offers from other publishers and began working with several editors. He published numerous books, which sold moderately well, if not as big hits.

But three years ago, when Yuto was in his third year of middle school, the tide turned.

 

“Fuyutsuki-san, I’m sorry, but I don’t think this project will go through.”

“Fuyutsuki-sensei, I’m sorry, but we can’t publish this manuscript as it is.”

“Fuyutsuki-san, even after all the revisions, I’m sorry, the quality is…”

The words thrown at him by the editors he had worked with at the time squirmed in his chest.

 

As the editors other than Inamura started to leave, Yuto found himself unable to write novels anymore. Even though he had been able to weave stories endlessly until then.

Yuto realized his writing ability ── his talent had its limits.

 

“Fuyutsuki-sensei?”

Called back to reality by the voice, Yuto, trapped in past memories, snapped back.

 

To calm his pounding heart, he took several deep breaths, making sure Inamura couldn’t hear, before speaking.

“…As far as I’m concerned, Inamura-san is the only one who keeps contacting a disappeared author like this. And I told you before, please stop calling me Fuyutsuki.”

“Sorry about that.”

 

Inamura apologized and then called Yuto by his name.

“…Hiiragi-kun.”

 

That hesitant call reflected the very struggle of Kaho Inamura, who still believed in Yuto’s future.

As his editor, believing in the next work of the former genius author, Haruhiko Fuyutsuki.