But I Refuse

Kitagawa Marin put away her phone with satisfaction, her face glowing with a smile.

"Thank you~"

Her awkward English sounded a little strange, but to the people of Japan, that pronunciation was just right.

However, just as she was about to leave, Kira Yoshikage, who had been looking down at his phone, suddenly grabbed her hand.

"This isn't Aoyama Nanami's LINE, is it?"

Kitagawa Marin blinked and gestured for Kira Yoshikage to look toward the podium before saying slyly:

"Class is about to start~ I'll send it to you through LINE later."

Kira Yoshikage glanced at the teacher who was about to walk up to the podium, then released Kitagawa Marin's hand.

Kitagawa Marin returned to her seat and confidently flashed her friend Miura Yumiko an OK sign.

She could have simply given Aoyama Nanami's LINE to Kira Yoshikage, but Kitagawa Marin had her own selfish reasons. She had added almost everyone in the class on LINE, with the sole exception of Kira Yoshikage. That always made her feel as if something was missing.

8-19 Fujimi 1-chome, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo Metropolis.

The Dengeki Bunko editorial department.

"Ah, this is seriously too much!"

Kagurazaka Ayame, a brown-haired woman in a professional office-lady outfit, sat in front of her computer and let out a long sigh.

Although she was no longer an ordinary editor and had several highly successful authors under contract, she was still kept busy by the Newcomer Grand Prize, whose deadline was approaching in April.

Every year, thousands of light novel manuscripts were submitted for the Newcomer Grand Prize. These works were distributed among the various editors, who evaluated them and selected the qualified entries.

Although the first round was an open screening with no particularly strict requirements, each light novel submission was at least a hundred thousand words long. Four thousand manuscripts meant four hundred million words. More importantly, the vast majority of those thousands of works were nothing but pure toilet paper!

"No, they're even worse than toilet paper! Toilet paper at least has to be publishable, while these works aren't even worth publishing!"

There was more than a little personal feeling behind Kagurazaka Ayame's complaint.

Toilet paper wasn't the most painful part. The most painful thing was when a work had poor prose and a terrible opening, yet an exceptionally creative plot. With some polishing later on, it might even become a bestseller.

Therefore, to avoid overlooking such "gold," the editors had no choice but to force themselves to read every submitted light novel to the end.

"Reviewing manuscripts is already painful enough, and we still have to endure the agony of having our eyes polluted as we read them. This is practically murder!"

Kagurazaka Ayame grumbled under her breath, but her body honestly continued working as she opened another submission.

Infinite Stratos

Pen name: Seventeen Years Old, Afraid School Isn't Violent Enough

"Infinite Stratos? Infinite Stratos?"

Kagurazaka Ayame was slightly surprised. Light novel titles these days were getting longer and stranger. A light novel with such a "retro-style" title was indeed quite rare.

And then...

"Seventeen Years Old, Afraid School Isn't Violent Enough..."

The corner of Kagurazaka Ayame's mouth twitched slightly. What kind of bizarre pen name was that?

With that thought in mind, Kagurazaka Ayame clicked into the manuscript.

After only a cursory glance, her eyes suddenly lit up.

That was because the author's prose was exceptionally good!

Even if the article had been worse, she could at least have said that it was skillfully piling up flowery language.

However, after Kagurazaka Ayame finished reading the manuscript, her expression became somewhat complicated.

"The prose is excellent, and the world-building is quite clever. The plot is somewhat bland, but with the support of strong writing and harem fanservice, the plot is actually secondary. The only problem is..."

"Was this submitted to the wrong publisher?"

Although this light novel was indeed quite good, and although it included mecha elements, it was essentially still a school romance. It was completely at odds with Dengeki Bunko's main focus on Isekai stories, but it would fit perfectly with the publisher next door, Fujikawa—

As an aside, Japan's three major publishers were actually one family.

At first, the three major publishers had indeed been independent of one another. However, after their parent companies repeatedly acquired one another, the three publishers were now merely different departments of the same company.

Of course, for the sake of their respective performance, the three publishers remained competitors.

They had simply shifted more from vicious competition to healthy competition.

"Who cares!"

Kagurazaka Ayame slapped the desk and declared righteously:

"Once a manuscript reaches Dengeki Bunko, it's a Dengeki Bunko work!"

To prevent the author from running away after failing to win an award, Kagurazaka Ayame unhesitatingly gave it a "Grand Prize" evaluation!

After all, evaluations cost nothing, and she wasn't the only person judging.

She could give it a Grand Prize, while someone else might give it a Gold Prize, a Silver Prize, or even reject it outright.

These evaluations could only determine whether the work passed the first round. As for whether it could pass the second and third rounds and enter the finals, it would need to be evaluated again.

So, it was only one Grand Prize evaluation. No big deal~!

Ring-a-ling~!

12:40.

The four morning classes had all ended, and the next was an hour-long lunch break.

The small groups that had gradually formed gathered in groups of three or five. Some pushed their desks together and began eating the boxed lunches they had brought from home, while more left the classroom to eat lunch in the cafeteria.

After all, most of the students weren't locals. Their parents worked elsewhere and had no way to prepare boxed lunches for them.

Kira Yoshikage briefly replied to the message Aoyama Nanami had sent him on LINE, then rose and walked out of the classroom as well.

Miura Yumiko, who had always been forceful and had a head of slightly curly blond hair, pulled her friend into an empty stairwell and asked somewhat nervously:

"Haimon, how did it go?"

"OK~"

Kitagawa Marin made a V sign and showed Miura Yumiko the friend saved under the name "Kira-kun" on LINE.

"Phew, thanks!"

Miura Yumiko sighed in relief. While thanking her softly, she saved the contact information on her phone.

Kitagawa Marin found her cautious behavior rather strange.

"You could have just gone and asked him yourself, couldn't you, Yumiko?"

Miura Yumiko's eyes dimmed slightly, and she offered no explanation.

Yet her hesitant attitude not only failed to dispel Kitagawa Marin's doubts, it made her even more curious—

What exactly had happened between them before?

Chapter 10: But I Refuse

Ring-a-ling~!

At 3:20 p.m., when the bell signaling the end of the final class rang, Kira Yoshikage picked up his schoolbag and prepared to leave. At the same time, however, two female voices called out to him.

"Kira-kun."

"Kira Yoshikage!"

One voice belonged to the blond beauty Kitagawa Marin, who was waving at the instructor with a smile. Beside her, Miura Yumiko, who also had dazzling blond hair, looked somewhat regretful.

Miura Yumiko really wanted to stop her friend right then, but Kitagawa Marin, who had still intended to say more, voluntarily fell silent. At the classroom door, a black-haired female teacher in a white coat was walking toward them.

That was their Japanese teacher and homeroom teacher, Hiratsuka Shizuka.

Hiratsuka Shizuka walked straight toward Kira Yoshikage and spoke bluntly:

"Kira Yoshikage, come to the office with me!"

After saying that, Hiratsuka Shizuka left the classroom without looking back.

Several students immediately wore schadenfreude-filled expressions. They had no connection with Kira Yoshikage whatsoever, but that didn't stop them from kicking him while he was down.

Kira Yoshikage ignored the mocking looks of the others and calmly looked toward Kitagawa Marin.

"Kitagawa-san, did you need something?"

Kitagawa Marin gave him an open and sweet smile.

"Kira-kun, we organized a class gathering. Everyone's splitting the bill, and it's tonight. Do you want to come?"

Kira Yoshikage refused decisively.

"A gathering? Sorry, I have something to do. I probably won't be able to attend."

Student gatherings were nothing more than a waste of money and youth.

If it had been free, he might have shown some interest. But splitting the bill was something he absolutely wanted no part of.

After all, whenever everyone split the bill, some students would inevitably order particularly expensive things, making the total much higher than normal.

"Eh~ Is that so?"

The smile on Kitagawa Marin's face froze. She seemed somewhat disappointed, yet also unwilling to give up, and tried to speak again.

"Hey, Kira..."

The girl's words came to an abrupt stop before she could finish, because Kira Yoshikage had already left the classroom and followed the female teacher without looking back.

"Tch."

Inside the office, Hiratsuka Shizuka sat in a swivel chair with her legs crossed and said irritably:

"I'm asking you, Kira Yoshikage. You've been secretly working part-time behind my back, haven't you?"

"If Aoyama-san hadn't come to me, I wouldn't have known about it."

Although high school students in Japan were legally allowed to work part-time, they had to obtain permission from both their families and their school. On the family side, they naturally needed their parents' consent. On the school side, they needed their teacher's approval.

Usually, however, teachers rejected students' requests to work part-time. After all, if a student had an accident while working outside, the teacher would be held responsible. In such circumstances, avoiding trouble was better than inviting it, so outright refusal was the best choice.

Under Hiratsuka Shizuka's sharp gaze, Kira Yoshikage's expression remained unchanged.

"Strictly speaking, this wasn't something I concealed."

"I started working part-time half a year ago, while you've only been my homeroom teacher for two days."

Hiratsuka Shizuka took a cigarette from her pack.

"Even so, you still need my permission! And as far as I know, you've already been fired, haven't you? Without a certificate from me, no one would dare hire you for a part-time job."

"That won't be necessary. They won't think I'm underage."

Hiratsuka Shizuka had just raised the cigarette to her lips when she froze and lowered it.

Just as Kira Yoshikage had said, his height made it genuinely difficult for anyone to believe he was a minor. Hiratsuka Shizuka was considered tall among women, yet she was still a head shorter than Kira Yoshikage.

In fact, even Hiratsuka Shizuka herself, despite knowing perfectly well that she was in the office speaking with a student, had subconsciously overlooked the fact that Kira Yoshikage was merely a student because of his height and instinctively taken out a cigarette.

Hiratsuka Shizuka held the cigarette in her hand and tapped it twice against the desk, as if trying to change the subject.

"In any case, I've already looked into your situation, and I'll issue the certificate for you. But!"

Hiratsuka Shizuka raised her voice and leaned forward as if trying to display a teacher's authority. However, the enormous difference in height made the pose completely lacking in intimidation. Instead, she looked somewhat cute.

Hiratsuka Shizuka herself was entirely unaware of this. Instead, she solemnly emphasized:

"Your working hours must be strictly limited. You can't work more than twenty-eight hours a week."

"I can't do that."

Kira Yoshikage rejected her cleanly before she could finish speaking.

"Tch."

Hiratsuka Shizuka leaned back and rubbed her temples with a headache. "Listen to me first. In exchange, I'll also help introduce you to a job, and the hourly wage will be twice the minimum wage!"

Hiratsuka Shizuka had read Kira Yoshikage's records and had some understanding of his family situation. Therefore, she also knew very well that Kira Yoshikage wasn't a born workaholic. Working fifty-four hours a week was purely something he had been forced into.