Sunday, Kyousuke's single apartment.
No alarm clock, no blinding sunlight, no strange object pressing against his chest.
Kyousuke opened his eyes with satisfaction.
Finally, he had slept well for the first time in a long time.
He got up, washed his face, went for a run, practiced his swordsmanship, and had breakfast.
He contacted Satoshi Katagiri and sent Yuzuru back to Mizumon City.
When he returned home, Kyousuke sat at the low table in the living room, holding a pen, leaning against the couch, and staring seriously at the blank sheet of paper in front of him.
Slowly, he wrote down four characters: "Fighting Breaks XX."
That's right—Kyousuke had decided to follow the path of the celebrated "literary plagiarists."
After some careful consideration, he set his sights on this novel.
Classic tropes: arrogant enemies being slapped in the face, beautiful women, adventures, comebacks—all the ingredients were there.
First, an outline: Fighting energy, potion making, rings, elderly mentors, a wounded beauty in the mountains, strange fires...
He wrote an entire page, then put down his pen in satisfaction.
But what was he even doing? Given that his "chuunibyou" (adolescent delusions) made him cringe just thinking about the "handless demon," and his grammar was at a middle school level, there was no way he'd be able to write something even remotely readable.
He needed to think this through more carefully.
Maybe he should just open a cat-and-dog café.
Even so, he picked up the pen again and tried again, switching to a different novel idea.
Chinese and Japanese novels—he jotted down everything he could think of.
Thankfully, this world was quite different from the last one, so he didn't have to worry too much about accidentally plagiarizing anything that had already been published.
He wrote about a boy with small grass and a hammer who could turn into an orphan.
A boy with cat whiskers who could transform into a fox.
A boy with a yellow straw hat who became the sun god.
A boy with a green hat who became a born sufferer of misfortune; a boy with a mechanical spine who turned into a second-rate Flash; and so on.
After half a day of writing and drawing, Kyousuke glanced over his chaotic creations.
He put the pen down again, took a few deep breaths, and stood up.
He opened his closet, put on his clothes, and grabbed his motorcycle keys.
Just to clarify, he wasn't depressed or defeated.
He was simply going out to gather some material.
Downstairs, he hopped onto his Rocket 33 and sped toward Akihabara.
It certainly wasn't because he lacked the ability—definitely not!
In less than ten minutes, he arrived in Akihabara, which was in the Chiyoda district, right next to Bunkyo, where his apartment was.
It would only take a 30-minute walk to get there.
He parked his motorcycle outside and, due to losing some time earlier, it was already 1 p.m.
On Sundays, Akihabara turns into a pedestrian street starting at 1 p.m., and from April, people could walk around freely on the streets until 6 p.m. without any vehicles passing by.
Sunday afternoons in Akihabara were the busiest.
As he entered, he saw a giant blue sign—GIGO Arcade.
While he would have loved to go in and have some fun, Kyousuke resisted the urge.
He remembered the reason he was there.
He quickly found a shop selling manga and light novels.
Surrounded by otaku dressed in shirts featuring cute anime characters, he knew he was in the right place.
Entering the store, he was immediately greeted with a display of recommended works by the staff, and that was exactly what he was looking for.
He wasn't an expert otaku, so to get a sense of current tastes, he had to check out the most popular books.
Standing in front of the shelves, he looked at light novels with covers featuring various beautiful girls and fell into thought.
"'This Girl is Strong, But Too Cautious'" had a cover featuring a beautiful girl in armor holding a large sword.
The description read: "Transported to another world, max level at the start, but I'm still afraid." The rightful source is novel✦fire.net
It was a ridiculous type of novel, not really for him.
"'Why Did I Become a Vampire But Have to Sunbathe Every Day to Recharge'" had a cover that seemed to feature a... well, it might have been a guy, or maybe it was another beautiful girl?
The premise was confusing, so he skipped it.
Next, he saw a popular book with a cover featuring an androgynous, beautiful creature. Kyousuke gave up on it.
It wasn't something he could imitate.
Then, he found one that caught his attention: "'I Only Want to Drive, But I Was Forced to Become a Light Novel Writer.'" Perfect! A story about driving and light novels.
It was tailor-made for him.
Kyousuke quickly grabbed that book, but then kept browsing through more novels.
...He ended up passing on the strange and overly intense novels, leaving only one remaining.
"'The Love Metronome'" had a cover of a JK in black stockings with a man beside her. The author was Kasumi Utako.
Love metronome? It must be a guide on how to manage the pace of a relationship.
He thought about how Kisaki Tetta had found the right path in love with his guidance and confidently picked up the book.
If this book sold well, then as a self-proclaimed emotional mentor, he was sure the single men in Japan would buy it in droves.
He also grabbed the latest issue of "Weekly Shonen HIGH," the most popular manga magazine in Neon.
If he wanted to follow trends, this was all he needed.
After paying, Kyousuke felt a little pain in his wallet, but if it weren't for his limited funds, he would have bought even more light novels.
The beautiful girls on the covers were just so tempting; maybe looking at them would help him recall more memories from his previous life.
As he stepped outside, a blue, indistinct object suddenly crashed into him.
With his reflexes, Kyousuke could have easily dodged it, but he noticed that if he did, the person would collide with the door behind him.
So, he chose to stay still.
To his surprise, the person who collided with him was unexpectedly small, and they bounced back, tumbling away from him.
"Ah!" A girlish voice of surprise came from the figure who had fallen back.
"Oh no, if I hit the back of my head on the ground, I could bleed to death, right?"
"Dying in ugly overalls in front of a manga store in Akihabara, tomorrow's entertainment news will say 'The diplomat's daughter is a hardcore otaku,'" the voice lamented in a dramatic tone.
The figure—none other than Eriri—raised her hands reflexively as she tried to grab something to break her fall.
Her brown beret flew off, revealing her golden hair spinning in the air.
"Wait, maybe I won't die, but I could end up paralyzed... But why would I keep drawing after I'm paralyzed?" she muttered, her mind spiraling with thoughts of her future wheelchair-bound life, surrounded by her art.
"All because of this guy! Why's his body so hard?!" she complained, annoyed that the collision hadn't pushed him back and instead sent all the force back into her own body.
"Goodbye, mom. Goodbye, my unfinished doujinshi. Goodbye, the manga and novels I haven't finished reading..." she mused melodramatically, preparing herself for the worst.