The drizzle of the rainy season is like needles, like smoke and mist, falling aimlessly over Tokyo.
"What do you think we’ll be like after we get married?"
"We’ll definitely be very happy!"
Uesugi Sakura dozed off in the classroom, always thinking about Hanamaru Hanabi’s smiling face.
Every time he thought of her shy and resistant look, he felt somewhat restless.
"Hey, Uesugi, Uesugi, which school is your fiancée from?"
Uesugi Sakura opened his eyes and found that the professor of social literature on the podium was still diligently lecturing.
Sitting beside and behind him were his classmates Seisa Takeshun, Todaka Keichiro, and Umezu Nana.
He also noticed that many of his classmates were napping just like he was, without any self-awareness befitting a top student.
However, some Tokyo University students seemed lazy in class but could achieve scores above 90 with just a week of last-minute review by the end of the semester.
The grading standards, score composition, and score representation for Tokyo University’s subjects were all decided by the course instructor.
Fortunately, the professors at Tokyo University were quite easy-going; no matter how lazy one was in class, as long as they passed the teacher’s hurdle, it was fine.
Todaka Keichiro was inquiring about Hanabi’s earlier question.
"She’s not from our school," Uesugi Sakura woke up and found the blackboard densely packed, so he quickly took notes.
"I know that; I was asking which university she’s from. It’s rare to see her come to visit you."
"From Tokyo Art University, one time I went to their school to attend a class, and their teacher kicked me out." Just as Uesugi Sakura finished speaking, the bell rang, and the professor stopped lecturing and leisurely packed up his materials.
"Impressive! You actually dared to attend a class at Tokyo Art University without an invitation; I heard there were people yelled at to leave the campus."
"After all, there are many female students there; it’s not good for a male outsider to enter," Uesugi Sakura answered while taking notes, "Why are you asking about this?"
"Just curious, curious," Todaka Keichiro said with a smile, "I’ll let you in on something; many classmates here are asking me about your relationship with your fiancée. Your performance video at the May Festival was really quite popular."
Todaka Keichiro enjoyed having fun, was well-informed, had been to bars, worked as a male prostitute, and cycled around Hokkaido.
He didn’t have any special intentions, just wanted to experience life, and would only dabble without getting too deep.
As the saying goes, play a little and then let it go.
In high school, he often stayed up all night playing games and would oversleep the next day, simply giving up on going to school.
That someone like him could get into Tokyo University is truly infuriating.
As for the video he mentioned, Uesugi Sakura didn’t really care if it was popular online; he wasn’t relying on that fame to make a living.
Sitting in the back, Umezu Nana smiled and said, "Before that, I didn’t know you could play the guitar, Uesugi."
"I just feel like... you seem to be good at everything," Seisa Takeshun thought of his skilled archery, though he hadn’t been to the Kyudo Club recently.
"Not at all, I’m just an ordinary person, not a jack-of-all-trades," Uesugi Sakura picked up his bag, "I need your help with something."
Uesugi Sakura took out three stapled white envelope documents from his bag and distributed them to the three.
"Is the witch a Fox Demon?"
Todaka Keichiro looked through a couple of pages; it seemed like a light novel, "Uesugi, you’ve started writing light novels?"
Everyone looked at him.
"It’s not written by me," Uesugi Sakura told them, "How should I put it, if this book sells well, it would benefit me too."
"So it wasn’t written by you, huh."
"That’s a shame; I was looking forward to your light novel."
Todaka Keichiro and Seisa Takeshun, the two boys, had read some famous light novel works.
Like the "Monogatari" series, the "Zaregoto" series, and "Book Girl."
Umezu Nana hadn’t read much but had seen some jokes online, "I heard, isn’t it said that light novels are just selling illustrations?"
Todaka Keichiro: "That’s not necessarily true, although most genre literature is trying to capture a certain quirky gimmick."
Seisa Takeshun said, "This is actually influenced by acg; they make mainstream light novel works more visually oriented, increasing the importance of illustrations and gearing the overall style towards otaku culture, emphasizing conflicts and lacking logic, which also leads to more and more focus on beautiful illustrations, with text becoming less important.
"This is actually not good, because the true essence of novels is still in the text; without the spirit of the words, buying a light novel is just buying some illustrations with a brief description."
"It still depends mainly on who the author is," Todaka Keichiro flipped through the pages he had, reading the first few paragraphs, then looked up and asked, "Uesugi, is it a new author?"
"You figured it out?" Uesugi Sakura thought the document, which had been revised several times, didn’t have any immature parts.
"Yes," Todaka Keichiro glanced at the beginning again, "Because it’s not like a typical light novel; the first scene doesn’t immediately involve traveling to an Otherworld."
Seisa Takeshun looked at the white cover and noticed there was no author’s name; these thin pages were likely just the first volume:
"Senpai... the style feels familiar; does the author have previous works?"
Uesugi Sakura thought carefully for a moment, "There seems to be a debut work called ’Chasing the Stars.’"
Todaka Keichiro noticed Seisa Takeshun’s look of recognition, "You know it?"
"Yes, I’ve read it, and finished it."
Umezu Nana asked, "What’s it about? I want to try reading it too."