I, Aki Tomoya, will not be a simp.

To be honest, Kudo Sayaka's attempt at creating art was something she herself told Aki Tomoya, and it was influenced by her senior Kasumigaoka Utaha, who was a second-year student in the Faculty of Letters.

"You can't say that. Back in high school, you and Eriri were also putting in a lot of effort for the project."

Even now, Aki Tomoya still doesn't know what kind of light novel Kasumigaoka Utaha wrote back then.

The reason I'm reading Kasumigaoka Utaha's new work is because the title piqued Aki Tomoya's interest.

"It's different. If I told people about how smoothly things went for me and Eriri, it would make them jealous..."

Upon seeing Kasumigaoka Utaha's reply, Aki Tomoya thought that the other party was being modest.

But the reality was just as Kasumigaoka Utaha said, things really went incredibly smoothly.

A powerful team joins forces; she's troubled by the plot, while Eriri is troubled by the character designs and illustrations.

and then?

Then Machida Sonoko would handle many things for them, and then they could just focus on their creations without having to worry about anything else.

Their collaborative work in high school was incredibly successful; it would have been difficult for it not to be.

Therefore, Kasumigaoka Utaha said the situation was different.

They both put their hearts into their creations and worked hard, but you could say they were desperate.

The reality is that even if someone works incredibly hard, achieving even one-tenth of their results would be considered impressive.

Moreover, looking back now, if we hadn't acted recklessly, things wouldn't have been that bad.

The novel told from Kudo Sayaka's first-person perspective depicts the mindset of those who risked everything to prepare for exams, which Kasumigaoka Utaha can understand, but in terms of experience, she has never been pushed to such a "desperate situation."

"Actually, if you hadn't said that, we could still be good friends..."

Aki Tomoya replied, accompanied by a wry smile.

He was even a little envious of what Kasumigaoka Utaha said.

Perhaps if they had advertised the game back then with Kasumi Shiko as the scriptwriter and Kashiwagi Eri as the illustrator, they could have split the profits...

But such things are just wishful thinking.

Some things you shouldn't overthink.

Kasumigaoka Utaha smiled after reading Aki Tomoya's reply and seeing the emojis he sent.

"I have to go now, I need to get to work. We'll talk again when we have time."

Aki Tomoya noticed the time; it was time to report to the pathology classroom.

Professor Yano's thesis was almost finished, and he began preparing for his trip to Paris.

But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing else going on in the pathology classroom.

Although his job involves studying books and absorbing all sorts of materials, he still has to study them, find the papers he needs to find, and carefully translate the texts he needs to translate.

"I'm going to Professor Yano's place first. You guys have fun on your own."

Aki Tomoya put away his phone and said something to Takagi and Majima beside him.

Takagi rolled her eyes at him, while Majima smiled silently and waved goodbye.

While Aki Tomoya was at the pathology classroom, Kasumigaoka Utaha, who was also at Keio University, was wondering if she had killed the conversation.

"Forget it, I shouldn't think about it anymore. What I should care about is the first week's sales."

Kasumigaoka Utaha muttered to herself as she typed "bye-bye" on her phone in reply.

Put everything else aside for now; the key is the novel's first-week sales.

Although she was just trying out a new identity to see if she could change her career path, she still hoped that this novel would achieve good results.

For her, this was an experiment, but that doesn't mean she didn't value it.

She can keep writing light novels in the future, and she can't just throw away her current popularity; she's not stupid.

However, people like Kasumigaoka Utaha are not afraid of challenging things.

Moreover, there's a saying that fits perfectly: "People strive to rise higher, while water flows downhill."

……

In late November, Professor Yano from the Pathology Department went to Paris, but he did not take Okajima with him.

As his associate professor, Okajima stayed in the pathology classroom, leading his students in pathology research and new paper writing.

Besides writing papers for Professor Yano, Okajima is also busy with his own papers.

He also bossed around the students in the pathology classroom without any hesitation.

At UDI, even if a body doesn't come in every day for an autopsy, there's still not much time to slack off, just like always.

Unlike Kube Rokuro, who was on leave from school, Aki Tomoya didn't show up there very often, at least not as often as Kube Rokuro, who went there almost every day.

Meanwhile, Aki Tomoya still doesn't understand why Kube Rokuro dropped out of school, but he would never be foolish enough to ask such a question.

The unidentified skeleton that Aki Tomoya took over when he returned to UDI in November still hadn't made any progress by the end of November.

Although the police are trying to narrow down the scope using the information provided by UDI, it doesn't mean they don't have other things going on.

Whether this will remain an unsolved case is unclear.

Anyway, when that incident was brought up, the other people in the office said they were used to it.

The police have plenty of unsolved case files and case files that have exceeded the time limit.

The entire month of November was spent in a busy state.

When December arrived, Aki Tomoya's first thought was that winter vacation was coming soon.

After the last month of December this year is over, and a few months from now next year, we will be entering the second year of science.

At this point in December, Aki Tomoya's biggest concern is still the scholarship issue.

He seems to have done a lot this year, but it's all related to his studies. His ranking among his peers is also slowly rising, at least keeping him within the safe range.

After all, he didn't want to spend his two years in the Faculty of Liberal Arts to have someone else take his place in the regular Faculty of Medicine.

Before Christmas, Aki Tomoya had already arranged the schedule for December at the end of last month, including the pathology classroom and the schedule at UDI.

Just when Aki Tomoya thought he could spend the last month of the year according to his own plan, he had to make some changes because of something.

Chapter 279 There's a mole! (1/?)

As December began, having fully adapted to the rhythm of traveling to and from the pathology classroom or at UDI, Aki Tomoya estimated that the last month of the year would be spent entirely in busyness.

To be precise, it will continue until Christmas when winter break begins, and then until the New Year.

May this year pass smoothly and peacefully, and may you be able to visit the shrine again on New Year's Day next year to pray for good fortune. May things continue to go smoothly for you in the future.

With the Japanese New Year just a month away, Aki Tomoya only hopes that nothing troubles him.

December 4th, Sunday evening.

Just as Aki Tomoya was about to go to sleep after finishing reading a book in his room, he suddenly received a call from Hyodo Michiru.

The call from his cousin came somewhat unexpectedly, but Aki Tomoya wasn't surprised.

Michiru Hyodo, who is already the lead singer of a debut band, would occasionally contact him on Sundays to vent her frustrations.

I wonder what kind of trouble this cousin has to confide in me today.

"Ah, Alan!"

Michiru Hyodo's voice carried a hint of panic, as if she had grasped at a straw for help the moment Tomoya Aki answered the call.

This was the first time I'd ever heard Michiru Hyodo's voice sound so panicked; I wondered what had happened.

Aki Tomoya frowned slightly, and immediately became worried because of Hyodo Michiru's slightly trembling voice.

"Don't rush, calm down and tell me slowly, what happened?"

He tried to calm Michiru Hyodo down first, so that she could explain things clearly.

If someone suddenly appears so panicked at night, it's best if they've encountered something dangerous.

While praying for his cousin, Hyodo Michiru, Aki Tomoya also tensed up and listened intently to Hyodo Michiru's voice.

"I'm outside our dorm! I'm outside our dorm!"

Michiru Hyodo's voice was still trembling, which made Tomoya Aki even more worried about her current condition.

What exactly is outside their band's dormitory?

Let alone encountering a ghost...

"Take a deep breath, calm down, and speak slowly."

"Hiss... Murderer!"

When Michiru Hyodo shouted those words, Tomoya Aki paused for a moment, then frowned.

"murderer?"

Outside their band's dorm?

Really?