[Time passed in busyness.]
[After finishing the evening work, both you and Yanami felt substantial fatigue. You saw the girl rubbing her shoulders and then her cheeks, grimacing as she complained: "Ah, my face feels like it's going to freeze from smiling!"]
[Even so, the girl still turned to you with a smile, excitedly wanting to chat with you, but you had a serious expression.]
[For Yanami, today's corporate slave journey across the Sanzu River was over, but for you, this was merely the beginning of battle!]
[That's right! You still had to continue completing your career!]
[Thinking this, you suddenly snapped awake, ignored the beautiful girl in front of you, left the shop directly, and headed toward your destination—the internet cafe.]
Walking into the internet cafe, a subtle humid smell hit him in the face, like the scent of decay.
This was the cheapest internet cafe he had found nearby, charging only 100 yen per hour, with overnight stays costing just 1,000. Most importantly, they weren't strict about identity verification, allowing someone like him with no documentation to slip in without incident.
Of course, with that price, don't expect much in terms of environment and service. All the facilities were quite worn and old, but they could meet the most basic needs.
Kiyono habitually went to the front desk, first swiped his membership card, then took the elevator to the floor where his room was located. When the elevator opened, the first thing that appeared before him was a row of storage lockers. Most internet cafes he had tried before didn't have these things. These storage lockers indicated that many people chose to live here long-term.
"Don't ask how I know this—if you ask, it's because I've done it too."
Kiyono muttered to himself, opened his room door, took off his shoes and turned on the light. Calling it a room was generous—it was really just a small cubicle, about two meters or so in area, with the horizontal space being less than a meter. The entire room could barely fit a single bed, and with that pale white energy-saving light overhead, it could be used to film a horror movie directly.
He certainly didn't like this environment either, but he couldn't ask for too much. After all, it was still better than sleeping under a bridge with a small blanket!
Wasn't he working hard precisely to change this situation?
Rather than complaining about fate, it was better to steadily accumulate strength bit by bit.
"Simulated me, charge hard for me!" Kiyono muttered to himself as he opened the computer.
On the computer desktop, there was only one open Word document.
After these days of research, he roughly understood the effect of the [Literary Genius] trait.
It was a [Growth-type Talent], not a [Rule-breaking Talent].
At first, he thought he could just wave his hand and update ten thousand words daily, then editors would be shocked, readers would be shocked, media would be shocked, and big money would fall into his pocket, directly starting urban dragon mode... But when he actually started doing it, he discovered this was just fantasy.
[Literary Genius] did bring him outstanding literary talent, giving him natural sensitivity to words and storytelling. However...
Talent was just talent.
Even the most talented athlete would gradually fall behind others if they didn't practice diligently.
Even a supremely gifted painter would gradually lose their touch if they didn't draw regularly.
Talent had different effects on people with different personalities. If someone was arrogant, they might die from their own complacency. If someone was sensitive, they might never recover after experiencing setbacks... Those who truly achieved success not only had ability but also desperately honed their natural weapons to reach the summit.
[Literary Genius] was the same.
He was a true genius who could rapidly improve as long as he worked hard, but whether he would succeed afterward and what kind of achievements he could attain depended entirely on perseverance, luck, and himself.
"This is enough."
Actually, this was better.
Only things obtained through one's utmost effort would feel real.
All his current efforts in literature, all his painstaking work, were deeply carved into the depths of his mind. Even when returning to reality, he wouldn't forget any of it. Compared to the light and airy [Your light novel was a great success] brushed over in text, or so-called system-granted skills, he felt this was better.
With this thought flashing through his mind, Kiyono placed his hands on the keyboard, carving his ideals character by character.
"How can I make this more interesting?"
Kiyono's typing speed gradually slowed as he pondered over the document in distress.
His outline was as follows.
There were two main characters:
The male protagonist was a newly appointed grim reaper, while the female protagonist was a female high school student with a terminal illness who had only three months to live. Additionally, there were various supporting characters...
The story was very common terminal illness literature, just with fantasy elements added. The male protagonist's character design was: having witnessed too many lives casually passing away, he didn't understand the terror and essence of death, nor the value of protecting fragile and cheap life... He was carefree, willful, and contemptuous of life—a protagonist who appeared cheerful and funny on the surface but was actually full of coldness in his bones.
The female protagonist's character design was: cool, sharp-tongued, with long straight black hair, talented and beautiful, a flower on a high peak. Due to childhood experiences, she pursued absolute correctness. She seemed cold and difficult to approach, but actually had a gentle heart.
—He didn't deliberately use anyone as a character prototype.
The story began with the male protagonist disguising himself as a high school student to approach the female protagonist in order to escort her to heaven. After this, the two would encounter many, many people they couldn't meet before and experience many, many things. Those better people and beautiful experiences would make both of them truly understand life, death, and the meaning of a grim reaper's existence...
—Of course, the core element of their relationship warming up and pulling back and forth was indispensable!
—So he really didn't deliberately use anyone as a character prototype!
After making some more modifications to the document, Kiyono yawned heavily and suddenly felt a wave of fatigue. He glanced at the time in the bottom right corner of the computer—it was already one in the morning.
"Time to sleep. I still need to buy a bicycle tomorrow morning to deliver newspapers..." Kiyono saved the document on a novel website, then couldn't resist drowsiness and lay down on the mat behind him.
Light novels required submission, publication, and making money—an extremely long process. According to the information he found online, the fastest would still take half a year, so this kind of life would continue for a long time. He couldn't rush it.
[You instantly fell into baby-like sleep.]
[Early the next morning, you came to a second-hand store and bought a bicycle you had long had your eye on, but the coins spent made your expression heavy.]
[With the bicycle, you could finally start part-time newspaper delivery work.]
[You began delivering newspapers.]
[Your coins increased.]
[After arduously pedaling the bicycle, your first task was to go to the bathhouse to soak. Because you often slept in internet cafes, you inevitably picked up some strange odors. For a server, this was a serious problem, so every day before going to the shop, you would bathe and change into fresh clothes.]
[You went to the same bathhouse every day. The elderly grandmother who owned the bathhouse was very fond of you.]
Hey!
[The grandmother perhaps noticed your special circumstances, so she proactively offered to help wash and dry your dirty clothes. Honestly, this helped you a lot, since you had no residence and couldn't wash and dry clothes at the shop or hotel every day. In return, you would help the elderly couple clean the bathhouse during your free time.]
Yes, children, no one understands how to maximize economic savings better than me, not even a certain customer service lady!
[After bathing, you waved goodbye to grandmother with a smile and rode your bicycle to the shop.]
Staff break room.
Kiyono reached up and pulled open the staff room door, then heard strange sounds.
Crunch crunch.
Crunch crunch.
Like someone chewing something.
Kiyono turned his head to look, and at the edge of his vision sat a blue-haired girl. On the table in front of her was a potato chip bag, and she was eating chips with a happy smile while humming a song.
It's Old Eight... then it's not strange.
Watching the beautiful girl in front of him eating with a blissful expression, Kiyono felt strangely pleased. How to put it... it was like the world suddenly became a bit more sunny and relaxed, with the feeling of crouching down to watch a small animal eat.
Yanami seemed completely absorbed in the joy brought by snacks, completely unaware of his arrival. She even evolved into a second form, starting to alternately send chips to her mouth with both hands... You're no longer a small animal... you're a sea otter!
And wait, this chip bag packaging was the super-large size, right? The kind that several people eat together, yet she had almost finished it alone. On the table were other empty packages of rice balls, jelly, chocolate, and such...
Kiyono felt his eye corner twitching constantly. He couldn't help walking to Yanami's side and complaining: "Just earned money and couldn't help buying all snacks, huh?"
"Yesh, yesh!" The girl with chips in her mouth said unclearly.
Normally, here a normal girl or normal person would share the snacks in front of them with their companion, or at least politely ask. But Yanami seemed to have no such intention, still enjoying them alone, even stealing a glance at Kiyono as if afraid he would come to snatch them.
—I won't eat them!
Kiyono realized for the first time the true value of a gluttonous sea otter.
After another while, Yanami finally almost finished the chips. She straightened up, picked up the package, then...
"Here!"
The blue-haired girl handed the package to him with a bright, brilliant smile. If you ignored the chip crumbs at the corners of her mouth, it was honestly quite touching.
—Oh oh! Could this be the classic 'although protective of food, although very reluctant, but still shares important snacks with companions' character highlight scene!
Kiyono was just getting a bit moved, but this portion...
He looked into the package in bewilderment—only two or three chips left!
...Well, it at least counted as the girl's kind intention.
Kiyono was about to accept the chip package, but Yanami also noticed the remaining quantity of chips. She stared wide-eyed in surprise, then without hesitation raised the package and poured the only remaining chips into her mouth.
"Here, please help me throw this away, Little Senpai!"
"???"