Revival!

"Good afternoon." The silver-haired NPC suddenly stood up from her usual spot and, as if nothing were unusual, sat down beside Asakusa Toru.

Asakusa Toru: "?"

He thought she would say something else, but after sitting down, she said nothing. She simply resumed slowly flipping through the light novel in her hands.

...That was the worst book he'd ever written.

Re: Lickdog Reincarnation

An otherworld story hastily written in a fit of emotion, based entirely on the scraps of memories left in his mind and borrowing a few names and settings.

He hadn't drawn on the original's strengths. Instead, his dissatisfaction had made him exaggerate its flaws. It was a thoroughly inept... terrible book.

If he hadn't already had a track record and insisted on publishing it, his editor wouldn't have made the rash decision to release it.

But the facts had proved that a bad book was a bad book.

No matter how good the foundation or how brilliant the setting, bad writing couldn't be salvaged by those things.

So after the Sanctuary arc, the series had been unceremoniously axed.

He'd never expected the library at this lousy school to have such a terrible book in its collection—and for Shiina Hiyori to be sitting right in front of him, holding it and reading through it.

He'd already hidden it away. How had she dug it back up?!

"Flip..." The sound of a page turning drifted softly to his ears, and Asakusa Toru suddenly felt uncomfortable all over.

What would she think of it?

How would she judge the story?

Would she finish it?

As a writer, he'd borrowed ideas from great works in his previous life, but reproducing them perfectly was something only someone with a flawless memory could do.

Someone like him, who was usually just a reader, could only take someone else's excellent framework and use it to produce a new story that was more than a little inferior.

Even so, he sometimes wondered.

Could what he wrote convey even half the charm of the original? Would readers accept the story?

Even one written in a fit of emotion like this.

Time passed bit by bit. He couldn't focus at all on the mystery novel he'd grabbed. Every time he tried to immerse himself in it, his gaze would wander back to check whether the girl had finished reading.

Tsk. Didn't you like mystery novels? Why were you reading my terrible book?

Maybe he should find a way to take the books out of the library. At worst, he'd just have to pay for them.

Or should he simply tear it up? What was the point of keeping around this embarrassing relic?

He shouldn't have gotten carried away and written it in the first place.

His thoughts tangled chaotically, until at last the girl beside him let out a long breath.

"Phew..." The pages had somehow reached the end.

She gently closed the book, and Shiina Hiyori smiled with satisfaction.

Asakusa Toru thought she was finally going to say something to him, but she didn't.

She simply rose slowly, returned the book to its original place on the shelf, and left it with some space around it. Then she quietly came back over to him and took out her device.

Shiina Hiyori showed him her contact information.

"..." Asakusa Toru looked up at Shiina Hiyori's gentle smile. After hesitating for a moment, he took out his own device and added the contact she'd shown him.

...Why wasn't she saying anything?

Looking at Asakusa Toru's name now added to her previously empty friends list, Shiina Hiyori looked pleased.

She put away her device and began gathering up the things she'd brought with her.

"..." It looked like she was about to leave.

I should go, too.

He had no idea what she was thinking, but it seemed she wasn't planning to keep reading his terrible book.

...Actually, she'd already finished it.

He sighed silently. There was no point continuing to stare at the novel he couldn't focus on, so Asakusa Toru stood and returned it to its place. Then he went back to the spot where Shiina Hiyori had just put his terrible book.

He reached out, took the book down, and shoved it back into the corner.

Nobody read it.

After making sure it would probably be hard to find unless someone went looking for it, Asakusa Toru turned, satisfied, and headed for the library exit.

But the moment he stepped outside, the NPC behind him followed.

"Good afternoon, Asakusa." Shiina Hiyori held her hands behind her back, a faint smile on her face.

Asakusa Toru paused, then continued walking toward the dorms as if nothing had happened. He casually replied:

"You already said hello once."

"But you haven't answered me yet," she said.

"Then, good afternoon, Shiina." Asakusa Toru casually gave her the greeting she wanted.

He really wasn't used to the atmosphere in the library.

As soon as he stepped outside, he felt a whole lot better.

"Why did you sit next to me?" Asakusa Toru asked casually, glancing at Shiina as she walked beside him.

As far as he could remember, the only time he'd interacted with Shiina Hiyori was when he'd given her a voice recorder on the first day of school.

He couldn't figure out why she'd come over.

Shiina Hiyori tilted her head and said gently, "Because I wanted to get to know you, Asakusa."

"I was curious why you cared about that book."

Chapter 48: Revival!

"...Because it's a terrible book?"

"I think it's a good book," Shiina Hiyori said. "You can feel a lot of strong emotions in it."

"It's a shame there probably won't be a sequel, though."

Asakusa Toru: "..."

There was a sequel, of course. But that sequel wasn't a story I wrote. It was the story of some guy who'd died in another world and returned by death, acting it out for himself.

Come to think of it, I'd only written this terrible book because last year, after tearing down missing-person posters and cursing someone out in front of his parents, I'd looked at the complicated expressions on the faces of Mr. and Mrs. Natsuki at the police station. They'd seemed unable to say anything, as if they still hadn't fully come to terms with it. I'd been so annoyed that I'd gone home and started swinging my pen.

Unfortunately, books written in a fit of emotion weren't always masterpieces. They could be terrible, too.

"...It's not much to be sorry about." Asakusa Toru looked away. "More importantly, why didn't you say anything just now?"

Shiina Hiyori blinked and replied as if it were obvious, "Because we were in the library."

"In the library, you have to be quiet."

It was the most ordinary thing in the world.

Unfortunately, there were always people who didn't follow the rules.

The girl spoke gently, and her way of thinking was perfectly ordinary.

In Advanced Nurturing, where God-men seemed to be everywhere, Shiina Hiyori had an unexpectedly soothing presence.

"Even if you get close to me, I'm not lending you money."

For some reason, Asakusa Toru suddenly felt like he didn't know how to handle someone as 'normal' as Shiina.

He could provoke God-men without hesitation, say all kinds of ridiculous things without a filter, and watch them jump around for his amusement.

But when it came to a normal person like this...

Forget it. Why was he overthinking this?

Seriously, why was he being so sentimental, you stupid teacher? Couldn't he be a little more free? A little more uninhibited?

A beautiful girl had come over and tried to get closer to him. What was there not to like?

After berating himself in his mind, Asakusa Toru quickly shook off his gloomy, self-indulgent mood.

He figured the embarrassing memories had gotten to him. Just thinking about how he'd felt when writing that thing made him squirm. It made him want to charge into another world, drag Natsuki Subaru out, and slap him twice.

Sigh. When would my diary start giving me Magnetic Field Rotation?

His thoughts scattered in all directions as he and Shiina Hiyori walked back to the dorms side by side.

That's right. The dorms at Advanced Nurturing were co-ed.

They weren't on the same floor, but they were in the same building.

Impressive, right? He thought so, too.

Were they really not worried about students at this vocational school getting each other pregnant?

What was this, had Japan's birth rate fallen so low that they needed high school students to try harder?

"Ding—" A clear chime sounded as the elevator reached the first floor.

Asakusa Toru pressed the button for the fifth floor. Then he watched Shiina press the button for her own floor.

Well, although boys and girls lived in the same dorm building at Advanced Nurturing, there was still some separation.

The boys were assigned to the relatively lower floors, while the girls were all assigned to the higher floors.

So he'd arrive before Shiina.

"Ding—" The chime sounded again, and the elevator doors slowly opened.

As he stepped out, Shiina Hiyori behind him gave a small wave.

"See you tomorrow, Asakusa."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Asakusa Toru answered without thinking.

The elevator doors closed again.

"...Wait, we're not in the same class, are we?" Asakusa Toru suddenly remembered.

So... did she mean they'd meet at the library again tomorrow?

Damn it, I've been played.

April 11: Got a long-term daily quest from the Library Fixed NPC: write in my diary.

April 12: Heard a complaint from an NPC, passed along from Ryuen. Ryuen suspected that I'd leaked information to Class D and demanded his money back. He guessed right, but there was no reward. Kept writing in my diary.

April 13: The Plot Index had been stuck at E for ages. I was unhappy, so I went to the White Room to feel up some legs. Amazawa's legs were healthy and strong, as you'd expect from someone who came out of the White Room. It was very relaxing. I described the feel of her thighs in my diary. For some reason, I got a D rating instead.

April 14: Felt up some legs.

April 15: Felt up some legs.

April 16: I can't waste any more time feeling up legs. My White Room Membership Card is only valid for a year. Besides the regular daily workouts, I need to train more. If I waste my time feeling up legs, how am I supposed to graduate?!

April 17: Felt up some legs.

April 18: I've felt up enough legs. I'm done. On second thought, if I get my physical strength up and max out my experience, I should be able to do more than feel up legs. For an even better goal, I'm going to train!

April 20: I heard that the greatest masterpiece of the Black Room had skipped class to harass Class A. If I'm not mistaken, he definitely took money from Ryuen. He probably had his eye on the end of the month, when Ryuen would be nearly out of money. Compared to the vague ratings from Chabashira, that stupid teacher, the greatest masterpiece probably thought cold, hard cash was better. I hoped he wouldn't regret it next month.

April 21: A quiz. Then the greatest masterpiece started cozying up to Class C.

April 22: Sunday. Went to the movies with Ichinose and spotted Ibuki Mio at the same screening. Great. No need to think about it—it was definitely a terrible movie.

April 23: The movie we watched yesterday was indeed terrible. Why did this lousy school's theater show so many bad movies?

April 24: I think I'm getting used to having a Plot Index of E. The stuff I get is all pretty useless, but who knows?

April 25: I have a feeling a day with a high index is coming soon. The thirtieth!

April 26: I can feel her waist now.