The first things to enter Seiji’s line of sight were Shika’s planned titles for her books.
Seiji was rendered speechless by these titles!
He detected an overpowering aura of bro-con just from the titles!
As for the brother x sister shipping atmosphere contained within these names… it was so obvious that Seiji felt rather helpless.
‘It sounds so ominous! Maybe I haven’t read enough books to know the exact 100% definition of the word disqualified, but it doesn’t seem right to use that word here! Just what exactly are the planned contents of this book!?’
Seiji’s right cheek began to twitch uncontrollably.
Upon looking over the notes in more detail, there were also character settings and story outlines included in each note.
Seiji truly wanted to cover his face right now.
‘Shika-chan, there’s something wrong with your way of thinking! Out of your four stories, three of them are love stories between siblings! Just how much do you like this topic!?’
‘It’s already bad for normal stories to mention such topics, so it’d be even worse for light novels. It’s almost 100% that she’ll get rejected right away!!’
‘Stop considering this story and erase it from your mind.’
As for the other three, they were still worthy of consideration.
Seiji looked over the finer details.
It would probably be better to remove this one from consideration as well.
Seiji felt that the content of these two stories were much better and discovered many interesting story subplots within them.
After he finished reading, he turned to look at Shika again and saw that she was currently fidgeting anxiously while waiting for him to finish.
Seeing how she was acting, Seiji was unable to use any of his typical forceful comments. All he could do was smile at her.
“Your stories… are still a little rough around the edges, but they’re unpolished diamonds,” he said honestly.
Shika relaxed visibly after hearing his praise and revealed a faint smile.
While Shika’s ideas in her notebook were still rather unpolished, Seiji saw numerous possibilities within them.
He continued on and on with his description.
Shika listened to him attentively.
The more she listened, the brighter the light in her eyes grew.
Seiji’s words helped her own creative ideas flow and gave her a clear direction to go in when she had writer’s block.
“…After such a huge battle, the adopted brother’s mystery and strength are both at their highest levels.”
“After this, unleash Chekhov’s guns by revealing how the ‘adopted sister’ character, the narrator, is actually the truly mysterious person of this novel, even more so than her ‘adopted brother!’ This will instill the readers with shock and confusion.”
“Then you should end the first volume of the book on this note, to leave enough of a mystery to attract readers into reading the second volume.”
“That’s my main idea: to use a fantastical background together with romantic comedy in order to create a mystical story. So… what do you think?”
Seiji looked at Shika.
Shika blinked as she smiled lightly. “Brother Seiji… is so amazing!”
Seiji scratched his face awkwardly upon hearing this type of praise again.
“It’s not really all that special; I was just giving you one possibility. Whether or not you take the story in this direction is up to you. And whatever you do, the specific details, character settings, background, and so on are all up to you to imagine.”
“Yep!” Shika nodded her head energetically.
She was already envisioning many scenarios that she wanted to write down immediately.
This was the urge to create her own work… and she felt that it was a wonderful one.
Seiji could almost see the passion radiating from Shika’s face.
‘Nice, this is what a teenaged girl is supposed to be like.’
“It’s getting late, so I’m going to return to my room… If you decide to continue writing, make sure not to stay up too late.”
“Yep… Good night, Brother Seiji.”
“Good night, Shika-chan.”
After Seiji left her room, Shika instantly sat down again at her desk and crouched over the table, writing at a furious pace.
This was something that she was going to create together with her brother! Just thinking about it filled her with an endless amount of passion and motivation.
…
The next morning.
Seiji followed Natsuya to the hidden basement after eating breakfast.
Natsuya opened up the third wooden door, which led to a different room. In the room was a passage to a narrow space.
Was this an elevator?
Seiji followed Natsuya inside and watched her press a button with a down arrow on it. The door then closed automatically, and he felt his center of gravity shifting slightly.
As he had surmised, it was indeed an elevator .
Moments later, the elevator stopped and the door opened.
Seiji’s surroundings were pitch-black.
Natsuya stepped out first, and overhead, a light instantly turned on.
Seiji followed after her. As they walked down the area, the lights overhead continued to light up, and the entire space was now blindingly bright.
“This,” Natsuya said, “is the practice field.”
