In his dream, Natsuki Ayanagi felt a splitting pain in his head, as if someone had struck him several times with an iron rod. A flood of memories, some belonging to him, others not surged forth, colliding and merging together.
For a moment, he even felt as though he were about to become an entirely different person. But in the end, Natsuki's own will remained dominant.
Those memories that did not belong to him gradually transformed into something like fragmented videos, sinking deep into his mind. They became hazy and distant, much like how adults remember their infancy or early childhood, no matter how hard one tries to recall them, they remain blurred.
Yet anyone who has ever dreamed of scenes from the past while asleep would understand.
Natsuki was in exactly that state now.
In the dream, he was someone else.
And that someone… seemed to be a girl.
She lay in her bedroom at home, eating potato chips and drinking cola, her eyes glued to the computer on her desk. On the screen played scenes from a certain anime.
Ao Haru Ride.
Natsuki had never watched this series before, yet after slipping into the girl's perspective, the title surfaced in his mind almost instantly.
And so, in this strange dreamlike state, he calmly continued watching the romance anime through the girl's eyes.
In modern Japapn, light novels, anime, manga, and games, the entire otaku culture was deeply developed, forming one of the country's most influential entertainment industries. japanese works in this field were popular worldwide, and most teenagers were avid fans.
Natsuki was no exception.
Though the situation was bizarre, he found himself enjoying it.
Because his sense of immersion came almost entirely from the girl.
In the dream, the girl watched Ao Haru Ride episode after episode, genuinely happy.
She didn't have to work. She didn't have to go to school. She had no meaningless social obligations.
Her parents had passed away early, leaving behind an enormous inheritance placed in a trust fund. The portion she could freely use amounted to several million yen in annual returns.
There was virtually no chance of her ever becoming poor.
All she needed to do was live as she pleased.
She stayed at home, attended conventions as a cosplayer with friends, collected figurines, and poured every yen of her yearly income into the things she loved.
That was all.
So at this moment, Natsuki immersed in her perspective, felt just as relaxed and content while binge-watching the anime.
So this is the life of an ultimate shut-in…
She's really happy.
Halfway through the series, the girl ordered delivery: sweet rice dumplings in syrup.
She dipped them in chili sauce and ate them together with houttuynia leaves.
The taste left Natsuki, who felt everything through her senses, completely speechless.
Yet she ate with obvious enjoyment.
Natsuki desperately tried to erase the bizarre flavor from his mind.
He refocused his attention on the anime playing on the computer screen.
Beautiful artwork. A story overflowing with youthful emotion.
The female lead, Futaba Yoshioka, reunites in high school with Kou Mabuchi, the boy she once liked in middle school, someone who had moved away years ago due to family circumstances.
Thus began a bittersweet, youthful romance.
Though it was a shoujo anime, who said a teenage boy couldn't have a soft heart from time to time?
Natsuki had read plenty of romance novels and watched countless romance anime before.
As he watched, his consciousness grew increasingly absorbed.
This story… It's really good.
Two people who once liked each other. Reuniting after three years. Misunderstandings, youth, and emotional pain woven together.
Before he realized it, the story had reached Episode Six.
Futaba found herself lost and conflicted after discovering that both she and her best friend had fallen in love with Kou.
Should she preserve their friendship and suppress her own feelings, supporting her friend's confession? Or should she be honest, compete fairly, and risk destroying their friendship?
Unable to decide, Futaba chose to leave the answer to Kou himself.
On the way home together, just as the subway doors were about to close, she pretended she had forgotten something at school and stepped back off the train.
The doors began to shut.
A boy and a girl, separated by a single meter, gazed at each other through the glass.
Would he get off the train to accompany her back?
Or would he find it troublesome and continue home alone, leaving her to return by herself?
["If Kou doesn't get off the train with me, I'll stop liking him."]
["If he does… then I'll keep loving him."]
Futaba's inner monologue echoed as the background music swelled.
Kou had no idea that her impulsive decision carried such meaning.
And the choice he would make in the next second would determine whether her long-held feelings would continue to exist.
"Ah… I can't watch anymore. If Kou doesn't get off the train, I won't be able to sleep tonight."
"Hm… better to play it safe. I'll sleep first and continue tomorrow. No way I'm letting this affect my sleep."
The girl muttered to herself and snap, shut off the computer.
Natsuki's consciousness instantly fell into chaos.
No, don't stop there! Just one more episode!
Are you even human?! Cutting it off here and going to sleep?! Unforgivable!
Natsuki cursed furiously in his subconscious.
That disgusting feeling of being forced to stop right at a critical moment overwhelmed him.
Too cruel.
The screen went black.
Natsuki jolted awake in bed, drenched in sweat.
"That was… what?"
His voice was hoarse with exhaustion.
The dream from last night felt far too real.
Suddenly, realization dawned on him.
That girl… from another world? Did her soul enter my body… but fail to fully merge?
No.
It was a partial failure.
Her consciousness had already dissipated, leaving only residual memories sealed deep within his mind.
Only when he dreamed could he glimpse fragments of her life.
Which meant
That anime, Ao Haru Ride…
Natsuki ground his teeth in frustration.
Watching only halfway through before she went to sleep was pure torture.
But reality quickly poured cold water over his lingering emotions.
In the dream, he had shared her carefree state of mind.
Now that he was awake, the crushing pressure he had faced for the past month surged back all at once.
Natsuki Ayanagi
Age: 16
Height: 176 cm
Weight: 63 kg
Appearance: Decently handsome
A second-year student at Minami Third High School.
His mother had passed away from illness ten years ago.
One month ago, his father's small company collapsed due to an economic crisis.
Unable to bear the crushing debt and despair, his father chose to end his life—along with his mistress.
This was the kind of story Natsuki had only ever seen in newspapers. But when it happened to his own family, the Natsuki of a month ago was completely stunned. Yet after the shock and grief passed, the brutal reality of the world beyond school came crashing down on him, blood-soaked and unforgiving.
The enormous debts his father left behind couldn't be repaid even if the house Natsuki was currently living in were sold.
Under such circumstances, there was no way he could choose to inherit his father's "legacy." After all, the assets were worth far less than the liabilities over 20 million yen in debt, to be precise.
At most, in another two or three months, once the foreclosure process was nearly complete, he would be forced to move out of this home.
Natsuki had no relatives on either his father's or mother's side he could rely on. Most of the relatives he once had were essentially his father's creditors in life, and now part of the debt-collecting horde. Since Natsuki had clearly stated that he would not assume responsibility for his father's debts, he had effectively offended all of them. Expecting help was out of the question.
The harsh reality now facing him was simple.
Survival.
A sixteen-year-old second-year high school student, about to become homeless within three months.
The choices before him were limited.
Dropping out of school and entering society was one option. Continuing his education was another, though not an easy one.
University tuition in Japan was expensive. Prestigious schools and high-investment majors such as medicine or law could cost several million yen over four years. While the returns were high, these paths were not meant for ordinary people.
For most other majors, however, as long as one could get accepted, student loans were generally available.
Natsuki chose to continue his education. By the time he reached his third year and graduation approached, tuition—regardless of the amount could be temporarily covered through scholarships or aid.
So the road to higher education was not completely cut off.
Just… difficult.
Drop out and enter society?
Or grit his teeth and continue studying?
This was a question Natsuki had to answer soon. After all, it was already late January. In just over a week, the second semester of his second year would begin.
Most of his father's assets had already been seized. Aside from this apartment which he could stay in temporarily until it was auctioned off, there was nothing left.
The total amount of money Natsuki could currently access amounted to just 40,000 yen, saved from past allowance.
If not for his father's situation, Natsuki had originally planned to use that money during winter break to go on dates with his then-girlfriend, his classmate and student council secretary, Suzu Aoyama to strengthen their relationship.
But now…
After learning about his family's bankruptcy and his fall from a middle-class background to absolute poverty, Suzu had broken up with him almost immediately.
After all, Natsuki had pursued her with generous gifts funded by his father's money. Now that he might even need her help to survive, it was only natural for her to run as far away as possible.
Natsuki understood her choice.
But that didn't make it hurt any less.
Though cultures differed between worlds, one truth was universal.
Society was cruel.
Even high school girls placed great importance on family background when choosing who to date.
I might not marry you, but if you're poor, I won't even consider dating you. Romance itself is built on money.
"No matter what, I need to endure the remaining year and a half of high school," Natsuki thought as he lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "Dropping out now means I wouldn't even graduate. With only a middle school diploma, surviving in Japan would be nearly impossible. I've already spent over ten years studying, throwing away half of my high school life and not even getting a diploma would be unbearable."
As for whether he would pursue higher education after graduation.
"I'll take it one step at a time."
But if he chose this path
"First, I need to solve the problem of survival funds for the next year and a half. Living expenses, rent after being forced out… The 40,000 yen I have won't last long in a second-tier city like Minami."
Natsuki was mentally resilient. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to recover within a month from the consecutive blows of his father's death, family bankruptcy, impending homelessness, and breakup.
Even the fact that the soul of a girl from another world had fused with his own didn't faze him much.
When someone experiences enough hardship, they stop being easily shaken.
He adjusted quickly.
"There has to be a way for me to earn money while still attending high school…"
Despite his calm mindset, Natsuki lacked the life experience to come up with a good solution.
He sat down heavily on his bed and looked out the window from the twenty-first floor, overlooking Minami City's beautiful skyline.
His home was located in the city's core commercial district, nestled between mountains and water, with complete infrastructure.
"…What a waste. I won't be able to see this view in two or three months."
Feeling restless, Natsuki lay back down and turned his head toward the cabinet filled with anime Blu-rays, serialized light novels, and manga volumes.
His eyes suddenly sharpened.
"..."
He fell silent for a moment.
Then he muttered to himself again.
"I can't draw manga. I can't make games. I can't write anime scripts… but I can write novels."
"And the anime I saw last night—Ao Haru Ride—was really interesting. Way better than most of the romance stories in these light novels I've bought."
"Minami City has several local light novel publishers, right? If I adapt that story into a light novel and submit it… if it gets serialized, the author fees should be decent no matter what."
Light sparked in the boy's eyes.
In Japan's anime-related industries animation, games, manga, novels, every field was a graveyard for newcomers.
Brutally competitive. A vortex of endless internal competition. A textbook "stay-away" industry.
But then again
Has anyone ever heard of people fiercely competing to become security guards or public restroom attendants?
The reason this industry was so competitive was simple.
If you won, if you truly stood at the top the rewards were enormous. Far greater than most other professions.
That was why so many people were drawn to it.
From the perspective of a veteran otaku who had consumed anime, novels, and games for years, Natsuki believed the work he had seen in the girl's memories, Ao Haru Ride was genuinely compelling.
It was far more interesting than many of the works currently serialized in Minami City.
The original version had survived an unforgiving manga market in another world, eventually being adapted into anime, novels, and even live-action films.
Its quality was beyond doubt.
Sure, tastes differed between worlds. One person's honey could be another's poison.
But Natsuki believed his sensibilities weren't niche.
If a work could captivate him, there had to be a considerable audience that shared his taste.
There was no reason to believe it had zero chance of success if adapted into a serialised light novel.
He didn't need it to become a massive hit.
If it could just earn enough money to cover his living expenses and rent during high school, that would be enough.
Most importantly, writing serialized novels wouldn't interfere with his studies or his ability to obtain a high school diploma.
After school started, he could write during foreign language classes or math and physics lectures he barely understood anyway.
No other money-making method he could think of offered this kind of advantage.
…I really am a genius.
With that thought, Natsuki sat up and looked toward the stationery and pen on his desk.
But then came the biggest problem
He could only passively experience the girl's memories through dreams. He had only watched Ao Haru Ride halfway before the dream cut off.
How long would that interruption last?
Would tonight's dream continue where it left off? Or would he never see the rest again?
"Heh."
Natsuki let out a cold laugh.
Why worry about that?
The most urgent issue wasn't whether the novel would get axed midway because he could no longer access the latter half of the story through dreams.
That was far too distant a concern.
He hadn't even learned how to walk yet, why think about running?
Those were problems for the readers to worry about after the work actually got serialized.
As a prospective "author," what Natsuki needed to think about was simple.
If he wrote and submitted the portion of the story he already knew. How would he pass the editors' screening at a light novel publishing house?
If the manuscript didn't pass.
Then all of this worry was meaningless.
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