Chapter 4

Now there is a boy friend too

“Sup, the handsome guy’s here.”

It was evening. While Itsuki remained holed up in his room, working, the bell rang, followed by a shameless line from outside.

Itsuki scowled as he opened the door.

That line itself was terrible, but the person standing there was really a handsome guy, as declared.

He was in his early 20s.

He had narrow eyes, an impressionable handsome face, and wears 

thin framed gla.s.ses; his hair was dyed bright brown, short and unkempt.

He was so skinny, but despite this, he did not look weak at all. His legs were half as long as his body.

He had a kind smile on his face, and overall, was a youth giving off a vibrant flair.

If a handsome guy calls himself handsome, I wouldn’t know how to 

react, so stop with that, Itsuki thought. But if a handsome guy’s going 

to act humble and say ‘I’m not some handsome guy~’, it’ll be really 

infuriating, so—

“—So the conclusion’s that all handsome guys should die.”

“What kind of conclusion is that?”

The handsome guy showed a wry smile after being told to die, but that wry smile gave a refreshing impression for some reason.

Itsuki did not know his actual name, but the pen name was Fuwa Haruto.

Like Itsuki, he was a novelist working under the same label, and 

debuted in the same newcomer award along with the former. They were 

authors from the same batch.

“Yo, Itsuki. Doing well recently?”

“Humph. Sort of.”

“Washed your p*nis properly?”

“Do-don’t say such things so openly out there!”

Itsuki panicked, his face reddened, and Haruto laughed,

“Relax. Your 4 neighbors to your left and right side, top and bottom are all college students who should be at school now.”

“…How is it that you know about the people living in the apartments here more than I do…?”

Itsuki groaned with his eyes half opened, “Anyway, come in.” and invited Haruto into his room.

“Please excuse me. Ah, here’s a present. I’ll put it in the fridge then.”

“Oh.”

Haruto opened the fridge as though he was in his own kitchen, 

placed the tote bag filled with numerous bottles of foreign beer into 

it, and took out one bottle of the Gouden Carolus (Belgium Beer) Tripel 

and Christmas[5] each.

Itsuki’s room was for his personal use, but the fridge was family

size. 20% of the s.p.a.ce was used for the food Chihiro prepared, while 

60% were beer bottles and cans.

The remaining 20% were PET bottles filled with water and tea, raw ham, cheese, sausages, chocolate, dried fruits, tsumami[6], snacks[7] isotonic drinks and so on.

The alcohol in the fridge were basically all foreign, half of 

them Belgium beer, and there was also beer from other countries, like 

Germany, Holland, America and England. The only j.a.panese beer were a few

cans of Yona Yona Ale. Most of the beer and tsumami were brought over 

by Haruto.

Itsuki’s room was close to the publisher, so whenever Haruto paid a visit to the publisher, he could pop by on the way here.

“I’ll borrow a plate here.”

Without waiting for Itsuki’s reply, haruto went to take a large 

plate from the ki

tchen, opened the packaged raw ham he brought along 

with the beer, arranged it along the circ.u.mference of the plate, placed 

the cheese and dried fruit prettily on the plate, and served it onto the

kotatsu.[8]

He then took out two grail-shaped beer gla.s.ses[9]

that were meant for Gouden Carolus from the cupboard, washed them 

briefly, and put them along with the two bottles of beers and the opener

onto the table.

“Kept you waiting!”

He finished his preparations as swiftly as Chihiro, and entered the kotatsu.

“Oh.” In response to Haruto, Itsuki nodded in an exaggerated manner.

On a side note, while the guest Haruto was busy serving beer and 

tsumami, the owner of the room, Itsuki, remained at the kotatsu the 

entire time, reading manga.

“Which one?”

Haruto took the two bottles, asking, “This one.” Itsuki pointed to the Christmas version.

Haruto opened the bottle, and poured into the gla.s.s.

The rich brown color frothing with bubbles filled the gla.s.ses, 

and the room was immediately filled with the scent of herbs and spice.

“Anyway, good job!”

“Oh.”

They gave a toast, knocking the gla.s.ses lightly, and Itsuki was 

anxious to have a quick sip of beer, only to be suddenly stopped bu 

Haruto.

“Ah, wait.”

“?”

“Itsuki, make a peace sign on the plate.”

“…Like this?”

Confused as he was, Itsuki obedient put down the gla.s.s, put his 

hand on the somewhat glamorous looking plate filled with tsumami, and 

did a scissors sign.

Haruto then reached his left hand out, put it beside Itsuki’s 

hand, and did a peace sign too, taking a photo on the smartphone using 

his right hand.

“Right, okay. Erm, ‘I’m having a meal with my batchmate Hashima 

Itsuki-kun’s house ^^, we’ve been meeting three times a week recently, 

time to get married’…uploaded.”

“…What are you uploading?”

“Hm? I’m declaring on Twitter that I have gay tendencies.”

In response to that question, Haruto answered as he tapped at his smartphone.

“…?”

Hearing that, Itsuki still had no clue, and Haruto continued,

“Haven’t I been showing up out there, recently?”

“Yeah.”

Fuwa Haruto’s debut work ‘Keikai no Chevalier’ series was no 

match for Kani Nayuta’s ‘Silver Lanscape’, but it was one of the top 

selling hit series under the label, and was to become an anime on April 

this year.

Because of the anime, Haruto began to hold autograph sessions, 

interviews from anime magazines, internet news websites, and video 

sites. Due to his looks, he was starting to be recognized as the 

‘handsome guy’ author.

Haruto’s reader demographic was focused on young men, and 

typically, most of the readers would not have much interest in the 

author. However, some of them were spiteful at the sight of a handsome 

guy, and some were really worried that the author would be too handsome 

he would eat up the voice actresses in the anime.

“That’s why I need to act like I got some gay tendencies. I just 

need everyone to think that I prefer to hang out with guys rather than 

flirt with girls, and I won’t have to worry about being hated by the 

fans of those voice actresses. Also, I’ll be able to attract the older 

sister type fans who have such interests, whichs makes it killing two birds with one stone.”

“…You have it rough, huh.”

While Itsuki looked dumbfounded and somewhat sympathetic, he suddenly realized something.

“Huh? If I’m going to get involved in showing gay tendencies, then what about me…!”

“Hm? Come out of the closet with me.”

“Do-don’t kid me now! Why do I have to be mistaken by everyone for a gay just for the sake of protecting you!”

“Eh? What’s the problem with that? Maybe you’ll open up to a new fan group.”

“Like h.e.l.l I need it! I won’t feel happy about selling books through an author’s personality and characteristics!”

“…!”

For a moment, Haruto showed a serious look, but he then gave a 

bitter smile, saying, “You’re really serious in some weird way…” And 

then,

“But even if the world thinks of you as gay, you don’t really care anyway, right?”

“You got to be kidding! If my work’s adapted into the anime, and 

there’s rumors out there of me being gay when I’m going to get married 

to the ultimate voice actress voicing the ultimate little sister that’s 

the main heroine, that’s going to be troublesome, right!?”

“Eh, you want to marry a voice actress, Isuki?”

“Fuhahaha, you idiot! I’ve no intention of marrying at all. The 

important thing is that the image of me going ‘I’m the golden standard 

to the voice actresses’ looks cool and great fuhahahaha!”

“…Are you getting tired?”

“…Ah, um…I’ve been getting writer’s block recently…”

Haruto asked, giving a serious look, and Itsuki nodded with a ω look.

“…Really? Better not drink for today then.”

“No, maybe I’ll get some inspiration after I get drunk, so I’m drinking!”

Saying that, Itsuki gulped down the beer

The splendorous fragrance mixed with many herbs and spices 

entered filled the nostrils, and the rich sweet taste lingered in the 

mouth, followed by a comforting, complex bitterness.

The alcohol content of Gouden Carolus Christmas beer is 10.5, 

more than twice of an ordinary beer in j.a.pan, but it did not feel as 

such, and so he could not stop drinking.

“Ah…this is great.”

Itsuki’s face was flushed red, his eyes blurred as he exhaled.

“Don’t drink at such a high pace there.”

Haruto gave a bitter smile, and took a little sip, letting the beer roll on his tongue as he tasted it.

“You said you reached a block, so I guess it’s that? Jäger, the first work which you didn’t use an imouto heroine, Hashima.”

“…No, I scratched that.”

Itsuki answered a little apologetically.

Haruto was often checking the recent novels and anime, and was 

very well-informed on the recent trends, so when Itsuki was pondering 

over the ‘Bright Red Jäger (tentative name), he sought Haruto out for 

advice, and showed the latter the draft for the prologue.

“Scratched? Really? Why?”

Haruto was taken aback, and Itsuki finished up the contents of the gla.s.s.

“I need to have an imouto heroine in my work no matter what! 

That’s why I’m thinking of starting a new project and think of an 

ultimate little sister n.o.body has thought of before!”

“…Your siscon tendencies are too ingrained.”

Haruto chuckled dumbfoundedly, and ate a piece of dried fruit to go with the beer.

“…I have a real little sister, and to be honest, a little 

sister isn’t as nice as you think, you know? No matter what I do, I’ll 

get nitpicked here and there, and she’ll find fault with me, saying that

my novels are boring and disgusting, that after watching my interviews,

she just feels annoyed, feel like puking and such, it’s really 

depressing.”

“You idiot! Don’t compare that filthy thing taking on the appearance of a little sister to my little sister.”

“Fi-filthy thing…? My little sister isn’t that bad, alright!? 

She’s actually quite cute in the past and when I fell sick from a cold 

just a while back, she ran off to buy jelly for me—anyway, you don’t 

have a little sister!”

“No I do!”

“Eh!?”

“She’s in my heart!”

“O-oh…I see…”

Haruto showed a look of sympathy.

“…But to be honest…recently, your novels, even though I don’t

have that cute little sister element …they’re getting a little out 

there, you know? I’m seeing reviews on the internet, like ‘it’s getting 

harder to put myself in the protagonist’s shoes’.”

“Why are you looking at reviews of my books on the internet…!?”

“Don’t mind. It’s my interest to read reader reviews on other novels.”

“Hmph…”

Itsuki snorted in annoyance, poured some beer into his empty gla.s.s, and downed it all,

“…I know that there’s been a lot of such noise from the readers

recently. I thought they were just a bunch of guys who used the Amazon 

reviews as their own diary entries, or just some anons trolling away, 

only daring to post such things on imageboards, but the editor told me 

that in the questionnaire for the middle and high school students, the 

only one that actually matters, such sentiments are becoming more 

common…”

Itsuki continued to down the beer dejectedly,

“But!”

Don! He slammed the kotatsu table,

“I’m never going to lose to those commoners! If I’m to compromise

because I’m scared of being criticized that I’m too far from reality, 

I’m never going to write out the ultimate little sister! I might as well

go all the way and create a groundbreaking originality for an absolute 

G.o.dly Little sister everyone in the world will kneel to, and dice up 

those foolish commoners’ souls!”

Itsuki boasted with enthusiasm, and drank some beer.

After that, Itsuki continued to pa.s.sionately talk about little 

sisters, the world and grumble at the editor, while Haruto merely 

responded with things like ‘oh~’, ‘yeah yeah’. Soon after, Itsuki was 

completely drunk, and no matter what Haruto said to him, all he could do

was answer ‘Nyanpasu’[10].

“Really…I told you not to go at such a high pace…”

“Nyanpasu~”

Itsuki’s consciousness was almost gone as his eyes remained closed, raising a hand, giving off a comfortable, feeble voice.

“…Your name is?”

“Nyanpasu!”

“…And where do you stay?”

“Nyanpasu!”

“Nyanpasuu~”

“Nyan…pasu…?”

Itsuki finally collapsed backwards, facing up, and went to sleep.

Haruto gave a bitter grin as he watched that blissful sleeping face,

“…I guess Nayu-chan will be delighted if I take a photo of this and send this to her.”

Haruto said this as he took a photo of Itsuki’s sleeping face, 

but he did not send it to Nayuta, but kept it in his smartphone instead.

“Fnya…nyan…pasu…”

While Itsuki continued with his sleeptalk, Haruto paid no heed as he poured beer for himself.

“Well, do your best then…while you geniuses remain stuck on such stupid things, I’m going to move a move forward…”

The handsome, refreshed smile remained on Haruto’s face, but deep within his eyes, something seemed to be burning.

妹

After approximately two hours of drinking a few bottles of beer 

and finishing the tsumami, Haruto washed the dishes and bottles, moved 

Itsuki, so deep in sleep from the kotatsu to his bed, and left the room.

The chilly winds immediately robbed the heat from the body heated up by the alcohol, and Haruto shivered.

—For Fuwa Haruto, Hashima Itsuki was not simply a friend to ask 

out for drinking, but also an ally working together in him in the same 

industry, under the same label, a little brother that would need lots of

care, and at the same time, an ‘enemy’ he aimed to defeat.

Both Haruto and Itsuki were awarded ‘prized work’ in the same 

rookie awards, but the reviews they received were completely different.

Till this point, Haruto could not forget the appraisal of their works.

—it’s crude, there is a lot of problems with the content, and to

be honest, there’s doubt as to whether this work can be pushed out to 

the market. However, the work is filled with an indescribable charm. 

This certainly is a work only he can write, and as for what kind of 

author this person will develop into, I’m really interested in it.

—This one has in-depth research on the recent trends, and a model 

student’s level of work. The quality is sufficient enough for publishing

immediately, and they’ll probably sell. (Digs nose)

There was no need to mention whose work was whose.

At the moment the reviews were made, Haruto angrily thought of 

beating up that reviewer, but when he actually read Itsuki’s work after 

it was published, “I lost.” he had the thought.

Haruto’s novel had an overwhelming advantage in sales volume, so 

much that it was able to be adapted into an anime, but he did not feel 

that he won.

The term defeat was as such—nothing to do with the reviews from others on sales volume, fame, social rating and sorts.

Further enhancing the sense of defeat in Haruto was when he saw 

Kani Nayuta read Itsuki’s work a year ago, and aimed to be an author—how

he saw the living example of Itsuki’s work changing a person’s life.

To roughly cla.s.sify authors, they could be grouped as the 

‘artist’ type who would use their own senses as weapons, and the 

‘technician’ who would a.n.a.lyze market trends and write accordingly.

Of course, such cla.s.sifications could not be used universally on 

all authors, and most of them had both of such natures, like ‘an artist 

with some technical flair’, or ‘mostly cla.s.sified as a technician’ and 

such, but Itsuki and Nayuta were mostly the former type, while Haruto 

was the latter.

Artists, and technicians; for an author, there was nothing to 

decide which type was superior. Only by producing actual results would 

there not be a need to feel so inferior.

To be honest, the artist type would be easily affected 

emotionally, and the fluctuation in work quality and creativity speed 

would be great, with the worst-case scenario being that they couldn’t 

write at all. In contrast, the technician type that is able to write at a

steady, solid pace of stable quality would be more favored by the 

publishers.

Haruto himself understood this logic well, but…

“…If I really have to choose, I rather be a genius…”

His muttering vanished into the night, never reaching anyone’s ears.