Haruto hummed a light tune all the way home, only to run into staff from the relevant authorities at his door.
After all, his father had taken his own life after leaving behind massive debts, and the apartment Haruto currently lived in was listed as collateral.
He let the officials inside to take photographs, chatted with them briefly, and signed several documents.
Once they left, the weight in his chest immediately returned.
There was no time to relax anymore. In at most three months, he would have to move out of the home he had lived in for ten years. After that, he would be facing the pressure of survival head-on.
He was only 16, and his family circumstances had collapsed overnight, but grief and sadness could not consume him forever. Right now, the most important thing was figuring out the path his life would take from here.
After seeing the officials off, Haruto did not rest. He immediately sat down and began revising the Blue Spring Ride manuscript according to the feedback Yukino had given him at Crimson Maple Literature.
Her suggestions might not all be perfect, but if he wanted to submit to her, he had to respect her professional judgment. Besides, the changes did not affect the core structure of the story.
That night, Haruto worked until late. Before he realized it, he had fallen asleep at his desk, pen still in hand.
The next afternoon, he set out again, revised manuscript in his bag, heading for Crimson Maple Literature.
He had already called ahead to schedule a meeting with Yukino. This time, the treatment he received was noticeably better than the day before.
Instead of being led into a generic meeting room, the receptionist guided him into an elegantly furnished private office. She even proactively handed him a cup of freshly ground coffee, her attitude far warmer than before.
Not long after, Yukino pushed the office door open.
Unlike yesterday, when she had been on duty reviewing walk-in submissions and dressed formally, today she was not assigned to that role and did not need to wear business attire.
The office building's heating ran all day.
Even though it was cold outside, she was dressed lightly, as if it were autumn.
She wore a light red jacket on top and a knee-length black skirt below. Her hair was tied into a single ponytail, fully revealing her refined and beautiful features.
Her long legs, clad in black stockings, were slender and graceful, and her high heels produced a steady rhythm as she walked. She looked both elegant and full of vitality.
"You work fast," Yukino said with a smile.
Haruto paused for a moment and quickly pulled himself together.
He was, after all, a teenage boy, and Yukino was far more attractive than his ex-girlfriend Rin, who had dumped him a month ago.
In real life, he rarely encountered women like her. It was the kind of beauty he usually only saw on television. Completely ignoring her presence was not easy.
"The sections that needed changes weren't very large," Haruto replied, handing over the revised manuscript. "I stayed up late and finished most of it in one night."
Yukino took the pages, then looked at him and smiled lightly.
"Would you like to listen to some music?"
"Music?" Haruto was momentarily taken aback, then nodded. "Sure."
Yukino walked over to a cabinet beside her desk, took out a vinyl record, and placed it onto a turntable.
Soon, a deep, clear piano melody filled the room, rich and layered.
"This is a piano piece called Toward the Light, composed by the foreign piano master Borg nearly half a century ago," Yukino said calmly. "This record itself is from that era. It's one of my favorite pieces to listen to when I need to focus."
After speaking, she crossed her right leg over her left, relaxed her posture, propped her chin on her pale wrist, and began flipping through Haruto's manuscript page by page.
She read. Haruto had nothing to do but sit quietly, listening to the music and watching her.
A beautiful woman paired with beautiful music. He certainly did not feel bored.
After all, Yukino had already read most of the manuscript the day before. This time, she was only checking whether the details she had previously pointed out had been revised properly.
The result pleased her.
At the very least, this manuscript would not be a problem to submit to the serialization meeting. The length was sufficient as well.
Three chapters of content was more than enough. In most editorial meetings, reviewers would not even read that much, usually only one or two chapters at most.
That did not mean there were no remaining issues.
There were many details she had not discussed yesterday.
"All right, Haruto," Yukino said, lifting her gaze to study him. Her cherry-colored lips parted slightly.
"How many chapters do you expect this novel to have in total?"
Haruto hesitated, falling into thought.
Over this period of time, on roughly half the nights, he had experienced fragments of Shiori's soul memories while dreaming.
He had learned a lot about that other world, but more importantly, through these days of trial and exploration, he had discovered something crucial.
Any memories he saw in his dreams could be repeatedly accessed once he was awake. As long as he guided his thoughts correctly, he could revisit them over and over in his mind.
For example, the first time he watched Blue Spring Ride through Shiori's memories, he could now replay it mentally at will, even scrubbing through it like a video.
So although the continuation of the story had not yet appeared in his dreams, he had still absorbed the basic information shown on streaming sites back then.
The anime had twelve episodes. The original manga had over a hundred chapters.
Haruto's novel adaptation was based on Shiori's memories. He was certain she had watched the entire anime. She was not the type to abandon a series halfway through.
Once she started watching something, she always finished it. It was practically a compulsion for her.
That meant the latter half of the anime definitely existed in her memories. As for whether she had gone on to read the manga afterward, that was uncertain.
Because of that, Haruto could only base his estimate on the anime's content, not the manga.
"The complete story should be finished within about fifteen chapters," Haruto answered.
Roughly speaking, one chapter of his novel corresponded to one anime episode, sometimes slightly shorter. Adapting twelve episodes into fifteen chapters was more than feasible.
"I see. That length would put it in the short-to-mid range," Yukino said after thinking for a moment, then smiled.
"That makes sense. You're a new author, after all. If you told me you planned to write a thirty or forty chapter work that could run for dozens of magazine issues, I would seriously question your ability to maintain narrative control."
She straightened her posture, lifting
her chin slightly as she looked directly at Haruto.
"Now then," Yukino said. "Let's get to the important part."
_______________________
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