Coming out of the barbershop, Watanabe Yu took out his mobile phone, which had been vibrating for a while, and glanced at it.
After quickly scanning the increasing number of unread messages in the Private Chat interface, he stopped, stood to the side, and thoughtfully opened the Class Group to trace the source of the commotion.
Logically, the private chats that had just quieted down shouldn't have become lively again so quickly.
Unless someone had done something.
His gaze shifted slightly downward, and message after message was reflected in his eyes.
Soon, Watanabe Yu discovered the 'instigator' of this incident.
"You..."
Putting away his mobile phone, Watanabe Yu raised his line of sight and looked, laughing and crying, at Kiriyama Kazuma, who had already taken two steps to the side to avoid him.
"Sorry, I really couldn't hold back."
Kiriyama Kazuma clapped his hands together with a 'snap' and obediently chose to apologize.
His thought at the time was that he couldn't be the only one to get roasted; everyone in the Class Group had to get roasted too!
Otherwise, he would feel extremely uneasy!
Why is it always me who gets hurt!
"..."
Hearing this, Watanabe Yu rolled his eyes helplessly.
Kiriyama Kazuma's kneeling in apology was so fast that it completely blocked the words he was about to say.
What could he say?
He couldn't say anything!
He could only send a single '6'.
"I promise there won't be a next time!"
Kiriyama Kazuma glanced at Watanabe Yu's helpless expression and immediately added another sentence.
This kind of thing could be big or small; it mainly depended on his attitude when admitting fault.
"...Fine, let's go, time to head back and eat."
Watanabe Yu waved his hand and started walking.
It was originally a tiny issue, and in the end, it was nothing much.
But with Kiriyama Kazuma's snapshot skills, this kid might truly possess the Saint Physique of a private detective by birth.
"Oh."
Kiriyama Kazuma responded and quickly followed Watanabe Yu.
From his understanding of the latter, such a 'statement' was proof that the matter was already over.
"I've actually always been curious about one thing."
After the two had walked for a distance, it was Kiriyama Kazuma who couldn't hold back and reopened the topic.
"Mm-hmm?"
Watanabe Yu raised his eyebrows and looked out at the crowded street.
The street scene was reflected in his dark eyes.
The noon sun crossed the city's skyline, scattering across the road of the Shopping Street.
The outer display windows of the clothing stores radiated dazzling light, dewdrops clung to the roses displayed outside the Flower Shop along the street, and amidst the moving crowd, the noisy human voices mixed with the announcements from the notice boards. The bustling Shopping Street seemed overlaid with a filter at this moment, adding a touch of the leisurely feeling of an art film.
"Watanabe-san, what exactly do you do during your weekends?"
Kiriyama Kazuma said while looking curiously at Watanabe Yu.
On Saturday or the Weekend, the latter would start playing 'hide-and-seek,' and his Line Messages would generally take six or seven hours, sometimes even twelve hours, to receive a reply.
He seemed busy enough to never touch the ground.
"That depends on how long it's been."
Watanabe Yu subconsciously narrowed his eyes.
While chatting, the two had walked out of the street's gloom and into the sunlight. The white light radiating from the display window at the end of the street made his eyes water slightly.
"What do you mean?"
Kiriyama Kazuma didn't grasp the meaning of Watanabe Yu's statement.
"Literally."
Watanabe Yu moved a few steps toward the inner side of the Pedestrian Street, avoiding that overly dazzling white light.
"Then let's say recently."
Kiriyama Kazuma glanced at Watanabe Yu, not quite understanding the reason for his sudden small action.
Then, he tried it too.
Hmm, his eyes hurt a little; he understood now.
"Picking up a Fallen Saintess, precipitating."
Watanabe Yu thought for a moment, then made a small modification in his head.
To be precise, it was 'picking up a Saintess pretending to be fallen.'
"?"
Upon hearing this, Kiriyama Kazuma's eyes suddenly lit up, "Elaborate on the Fallen Saintess."
He was too familiar with that kind of trope.
Especially that classic line.
Guh... kill me!
"Shouldn't you elaborate on precipitating?"
Watanabe Yu quickened his pace. Heaven knew if it was because of his position, but the white light radiating from the clothing store's outer display window was becoming increasingly blinding.
If he kept being illuminated like this, he was afraid he would turn into light too.
"Is precipitating a prerequisite for picking up a Fallen Saintess?"
Kiriyama Kazuma asked subconsciously.
"...You are truly hopeless."
Watanabe Yu shook his head.
He now understood what it meant for boys in their Youth to only have harems on their minds.
"When did you ever have the illusion that I was salvageable?"
Kiriyama Kazuma retorted.
"..."
Watanabe Yu fell silent.
Well, Kiriyama Kazuma had completely let himself go.
The two walked out of the Shopping Street like that.
Kiriyama Kazuma's mouth didn't stop either, constantly looking for a topic, and Watanabe Yu would occasionally cope with a few replies, but his thoughts involuntarily focused on the matter of the Publishing House.
During this time, he had roughly looked into those few relatively famous publishing houses.
First was the one with the strongest overall capability.
The competitive pressure and intensity within it were the same as its status in the publishing world—it was all about the classic law of 《 evolution 》, survival of the fittest.
Its friendliness toward new authors was non-existent.
Furthermore, to submit manuscripts to this publishing house, one needed to already have a certain level of fame in the literary field.
In other words, you had to win an award and clear the promotion match of a bo3 before you could enter that circle.
Based on this screening model that required very high hard qualifications, this publishing house had the most well-known authors and the widest Promotion channels.
To put it plainly, if you submitted to that publishing house, you likely wouldn't have to worry about finding someone to write a recommendation blurb for the book cover.
The second-ranked publishing house was slightly weaker in overall capability than the first, and its friendliness toward new authors was slightly better, but only slightly.
Regarding compensation, it was quite regrettable.
It was one of those higher-ranked publishing houses that drove down prices quite aggressively.
As for the third-ranked Akiba Publishing House, its overall capability was slightly inferior to the second-ranked one, but because it was backed by Akiba Broadcasting Co., Ltd., its Promotion channels were superior to the latter.
However, since Akiba Publishing House only gradually entered the public eye in recent years, it suffered a disadvantage in terms of Popularity compared to the two established publishing houses.
But there is a trade-off; precisely because Akiba Publishing House is relatively 'young,' it is extremely friendly to new authors in order to seize more Market Share—it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it is the friendliest among the top-ranked publishing houses.
The compensation was the same.
Based on the terms offered by Akiba Publishing House, for new authors, the Royalty split for books of the same quality was generally 0.5% to 1% higher than the industry standard, and for some particularly excellent books, further negotiation was possible.
So...
The road ahead is long and arduous!
Watanabe Yu took a deep breath and looked at a notice board not far away.
It was a promotional notice board for a real estate company.
He wasn't interested in the formulaic content on it, but he was quite concerned about the house prices displayed.
【Urgent sale of a Detached House in Bunkyo Ward, convenient transportation, well-developed surrounding infrastructure, near Xinghai Elementary School, Tianxiang Middle School, and Fengjing Middle School, covering 37 tsubo （ Japan's area measurement unit, 1 tsubo ≈ 3.3 square meters ）, approximately 122.1 square meters, only 7400 Yen! 】
Only?
Yikes, as expected, housing prices in the central area are never cheap, no matter where you are.
The road ahead is long and arduous, Yu-ko!
1/2
Thank you to Super Electromagnetic Fireworks, K-On!, and Generous for the Reward, thank you to Venerable One is Me, Shichigen Yuki, Umbrella in the Night Without a Knife, and 9939 for the generous Monthly Tickets, and thank you to all the Brothers for the Recommendation Tickets. Your support is my motivation for writing.