Chapter 249: 249
Both Chiba and Yuriko were on the edge after they updated the novel.
After all, they had boasted about the ending of the third volume and the beginning of the fourth volume, saying that it would be a grand climax. The book might lose its good reputation if the readers disliked the plot.
Despite that risk, both of them were extremely satisfied with the plot. It was completely logical and reasonable, seen from either the perspective of a light novelist or a reader. Besides, it was the best climax that Chiba could think of.
However, it was futile if they could not gain affirmation from the readers.
Chiba was anxious about the addition of the setting of Ajin in the novel. Even if it was necessary to include this since it was related to the storyline. In addition, adding this new element would give her enough to work with to increase the length of the novel significantly.
She reckoned that the novel would reach its end after the fourth volume if she wrote that Manatsu Hokuto had solved the case after loading the files. In that case, the whole novel would only be about 40,000 words in length.
She had written short novels before, so she wanted to try writing a longer one.
Therefore, Chiba wanted to know if she could successfully write a long novel. She would end it decisively if she felt emotionally and physically exhausted by the word length. However, she certainly wanted to keep writing the book now, and she was quite passionate about it.
The quality of the novel was related to Yuriko's obsessiveness too.
So, Chiba sat in front of the computer after having updated 20,000 words. She kept refreshing the comments section to view the latest comments.
However, she didn't see any new remarks after refreshing her updated version of the novel a few times... She felt slightly worried about this.
On the other hand, Yuriko was calm. She's dead after all, what else can make her emotions fluctuate as a specter? She consoled Chiba while she was thinking, "Don't worry, Shiori, you updated 20,000 words. It takes time for the readers to finish reading that length. Besides, 'Loading File Of Tokyo' can't be read very quickly or easily - the readers probably need more than 10 minutes to finish reading."
Up until now, Yuriko was extremely confident in the quality of the book. Although she was an acclaimed critic in light-novelling, being good at identifying errors, she never had a book with such excellent performance.
She was worried about the book because she had contributed some of her thoughts to the novel. Even if most of the ideas came from Chiba. She knew that all they could do now was wait for the comments from readers - whether good or bad.
Upon further reflection, Chiba realized she was worrying too much for no real reason. The previous statistics had that "Loading File Of Tokyo" had been hugely successful thus far, and she had effectively pummeled her brain into coming up with the climax. If both Yuriko and she were satisfied with the story, the readers would be satisfied too.
Chiba slowly calmed down, thinking that.
"Let's sleep," Chiba said as she shut down the computer. What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over. The readers will undoubtedly give me a dressing down on the site if they dislike the story. It will be better for me not to read it, then, so that it will not spoil my mood. On the other hand, if the comments were all compliments, there would be no difference, even if she read it tomorrow. Moreover, tomorrow was the day when Kazuki would come over to show her the Vision Spell, and she wanted to read the comments together with him.
Kimura came to the Akihide High School at Seigyoku District the next day.
He came in with a joyful expression on his face. After sitting down at a milk tea shop together with Chiba, he said with a grin, "Congratulations to you, the new chapter that you updated yesterday is great." Kimura paid constant attention to the light novel, "Loading File Of Tokyo." He knew that many people were raving about it.
He did not mind that Chiba had included his name in the novel. It would certainly be better if this could help boost the popularity of the novel.
Chiba, who sat opposite to Kimura, looked at him oddly upon hearing that... She wrote that she was married to Kimura in the novel... She had even written that she had given birth to Kimura's children after 50 years. They were a pigeon pair, and she had thought about their names.
Didn't Kazuki say that he didn't read novels?
However, Chiba calmed herself down very quickly. She looked at Kimura, who looked joyful. She cautiously asked, "Have you read the contents of the novel?"
Kimura shook his head when he heard that, "No, I just read the comments." He did not really have time to read the novel. He would not be able to give any constructive suggestions even if he read it. But he went through the commentary site every day and felt relieved when he saw the positive reviews on the website.
Chiba heaved a sigh of relief.
She read through the commentary site in the morning and found that it was overwhelmed with comments. But most of the comments were pressing her to update the novel. Comments were saying that they would deliver cutters to her house and lock her up in a small black room.
She went through those reviews with a faint smile on her face. You don't even know where I stay, you can only say all this verbally.
However, she knew that apparently, she had written the correct storyline as everybody was singing her praises.
"It's a peak moment for 'Loading File Of Tokyo.' I think we can start looking for a publisher now." Kimura looked at her and said, "What do you think?"
The novel was written by Chiba and Yuriko, after all. He could not make decisions for them. All he could do was just give them some suggestions, or lend a helping hand if they needed it.
"I will look for some publishers in the industry over the next few days."
"What do you think about Seikisha?" asked Kimura after a brief silence. He continued, "I know Mr. Muraoka from the Seikisha. He's the manager for Seikisha. You should have heard about 'The Sword Saga' before, he's in charge of the project."
Although Seikisha was a new company, it was still a major publishing house that had various manga magazines and animation companies under its name.
If "Loading File of Tokyo" was handed over to Seikisha, it could be published or even adapted to the manga and animated format. The most important thing was to observe how the new animation, "The Sword Saga," performed under Seikisha first. He could reject Seikisha directly if the animation was crudely made. On the other hand, if "The Sword Saga" was successful, he could hand over the 'Loading File of Tokyo' to the company.
Muraoka Hiroshi called him in the afternoon, asking Kimura to introduce him to Miss Gentera. When Kimura frowned and asked him where he got the news, Muraoka Hiroshi had no choice but to tell him honestly that he heard it from Ono Nakamura.
Ono Nakamura had gone to watch the Jade Dragon Flag Competition together with his younger brother.
At that time, he wanted to greet Kimura when he bumped into him on the street at night, but he did not do so when he saw that Kimura was discussing something with Chiba.
However, he heard that both of them were talking about "Loading File Of Tokyo.". By listening in on their conversation, he found out that Chiba was the writer for this novel. He could not help but be shocked. It was the novel that his younger brother had been reading and was obsessed with recently. He had beaten him up several times because of this.
Therefore, he kept this information in mind and immediately told it to his brother-in-law when he got back home.
Muraoka Hiroshi contacted Kimura immediately once he learned about this.