No one noticed the grievance buried deep in Reina's eyes.
Whether it was Haruto or Yukino, neither of them could have imagined just how many obsessions and knots were tangled up inside her right now.
After a long pause…
"Thank you for the meal," Haruto said sincerely once they finished eating. "You stayed late to help with my work, and you even treated us to dinner."
She had worked overtime to go over his manuscript, and then she had paid for food on top of it. Haruto was usually a distant person, but after this meal, his impression of Yukino rose sharply.
She was seriously responsible, nothing like the lazy, careless editors people always complained about online.
"Next time, you can treat me," Yukino replied, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Her fair, pretty face brightened into a smile.
"Alright," she continued. "Take your drafts back and revise the small details."
Tonight had only been the review. The actual submission deadline was Friday.
"But there's something else I need to tell both of you."
Haruto's expression tightened. Beside him, Reina, who still had her head lowered and had not fully recovered from her successive mental blows, forced herself to perk up.
"Honestly, you don't need me to remind you," Yukino said slowly, making sure they had time to process every word. "Whether it's Blue Spring Ride or Yesterday's Starlight, for debut works by new authors, your results are outstanding."
"It's rare in the light novel scene to see two newcomers under twenty with this much potential. It's not just Crimson Maple Literature either. Editors from the other big publishers in the prefecture have started paying attention to you as well."
Then she added, almost casually,
"You're both young, you're both students, you're both talented… and, frankly, you have other advantages too."
"One of you is naturally handsome, and the other is a ridiculously beautiful high school girl."
Reina's face stiffened at those words.
"T-The publisher wants to use that," Yukino continued, "to market your works. They want to turn your identities and those 'extra factors' into selling points. It can help boost your serialized rankings. Also, it is not officially announced yet, but internally they're already leaning toward releasing both Blue Spring Ride and Yesterday's Starlight as tankōbon volumes."
"It'll happen soon, probably within a month or so. Once you have enough chapters serialized, the collected editions will start rolling out alongside the magazine."
"So…" Reina's expression shifted. "They want to reveal who I am?"
"There is that intention," Yukino said calmly, "but whether you agree is up to you. More specifically, how much you reveal is up to you."
Yukino looked directly at Reina.
"I understand your situation. Your family might not support you writing serialized novels. So you could refuse to reveal your real name and photo. You could simply allow them to say you're a student, and mention your school."
"Even that alone is a marketing hook. When the tankōbon comes out, a label like 'Genius High School Light Novel Author' is a strong advantage."
Yukino's gaze slid to Haruto as well. The meaning was obvious. She hoped he would agree too.
"If I reveal my name or photo, people will figure it out," Reina said, shaking her head.
"But… if it's only my status as a student and school, then that's fine."
"Same here," Haruto said. "I don't want to reveal my identity for now, but saying that 'Shiori Takahashi is a student at Minamijo Third High' is not a big deal."
"The school has thousands of people. Who is going to guess it's me?"
He absolutely did not want to be stared at in class by a swarm of female readers.
And honestly, it would not just be random readers either. In his own classroom alone, there were already eight or nine girls who openly loved Blue Spring Ride.
Yukino studied them for a moment, then sighed quietly.
"Alright. I'll respect your decision and report it to the company. It's late, so we'll end the meeting here."
Haruto and Reina both understood.
"Then I'll head out," Haruto said, standing up immediately.
"Huh? You're leaving already?" Reina's expression stiffened.
"What?" Haruto looked at her oddly.
It was already past nine. If he did not leave, what was he supposed to do here?
"I mean…" Reina's gaze drifted toward the game console they had fought over earlier.
'You beat me nine times and you're just going to walk away? Is that really acceptable?'
Her fingers tightened, then loosened, then tightened again, as if she were trying to squeeze the nervousness out of her hands.
Why don't we play a few more rounds before you go?
The words nearly slipped out, but no matter how much she wanted to say them, they refused to come. She did not even understand why her emotions were so unstable tonight.
Maybe it was because, for three consecutive issues, Yesterday's Starlight had been crushed by Blue Spring Ride.
And because Haruto was the same age as her and even went to the same school, that sense of unwillingness to lose burned even hotter.
Normally, losing to some gaming-addicted boy would never bother her. Not even a little.
But that "gaming-addicted boy" was also the author of Blue Spring Ride, Shiori Takahashi.
That changed everything.
She wanted Haruto to stay and keep dueling her in True Iron Soul.
Win once, then leave.
If she could not win, she could stay all night. She could skip sleep. She could even skip school tomorrow if she had to. She would keep playing until she took at least one victory from him.
But… Reina swallowed her words back down.
Why should someone waste their time just to satisfy her pride, something that would look insignificant to anyone else?
She sighed inwardly. Her self-control pressed down hard on her competitive urge.
After hesitating, she said nothing.
"You still want a rematch, don't you?"
Haruto saw where her eyes kept landing. How could he not understand?
Not wanting to lose was normal.
He smiled.
Maybe the legendary, untouchable genius girl at Minamijo Third High was not as cold and distant as the rumors claimed. She had ordinary human desires too.
At the very least, the urge to take a win back after losing a game was something Haruto understood perfectly.
"Next time we meet, if you still want to play, I'll be there," Haruto said.
Reina's fingers twitched slightly.
"Next time… we meet?" she blinked.
"Yeah. Friday," Haruto said. "We're both coming back here to submit our revised drafts to Yukino. If you still feel like playing then, I'm not going to be the kind of jerk who wins and runs."
With that, Haruto waved to both of them, hoisted his backpack, and left first. Reina stood there, staring at his retreating back for a moment, frozen.
Friday.
That night, after Haruto returned home and polished up a few details in his Blue Spring Ride draft, he went to bed early.
But somewhere else in the city… A certain girl lay awake deep into the night, her mind painfully clear.
The moment she closed her eyes, those nine nightmare matches replayed on loop, every exchange and every mistake flashing back with cruel precision.
She did not care much about games.
But she could not sleep.
Under her blanket, she pulled out her phone.
For the first time, she did not search for music lessons, art lectures, or study courses.
Instead, she typed in a completely different query.
"True Iron Soul character guide and combo list and strategy."
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