Tokyo Soft Rice King.

During this time, polishing Kuroba Akira's light novel and discussing plot ideas with him benefited her greatly. She learned a lot and gradually understood the so-called 'popular tastes' and 'trendy elements'.

However, he also said that he "did not want you to become a slave to trends," and that although sales are important, if you only look at sales, you will only follow trends and lose your own ideas, becoming a second-rate author who just parrots others' ideas.

She remembered everything he said perfectly, without missing a single word.

Now, witnessing firsthand the phenomenal success of the light novel's sales, Shiori Shirai finally understood the message he wanted to convey.

For an author, it's always a particularly gratifying thing to have so many people willing to read their work.

However, this is also a sweet poison.

After achieving such remarkable sales results, it would be extremely difficult to accept that the author would then write a book that no one would read.

Therefore, they blindly pursue trending topics, gimmicks, and traffic...

At this point, can what the author writes still be considered what they wanted to write?

Kuroba Akira seemed to have realized this long ago.

He even calls himself a 'new author'... what a fool.

There is no such thing as a perfect work, but authors should still do their best to take into account their own ideas and the preferences of the general public. Only in this way can they be considered truly outstanding authors.

And one day, I will write a work that he himself will find impeccable, a truly excellent work.

Shiori Shirai held the book in her hand and silently made up her mind.

At the same time, after leaving the Literature Club, Kuroba Akira also stopped by a nearby bookstore on his way home.

He wasn't there to buy books, but rather to see where his works were displayed and how they were selling.

As soon as he entered the bookstore, he saw the clerk flipping through his light novel.

Kuroba Akira walked over and took the initiative to greet him.

"What a coincidence, isn't this Saionji-kun?"

"...?"

Hikawa Makoto frowned imperceptibly as she looked at the stranger who greeted her and mistook her for her older sister.

Who are you? Do I know you?

Chapter 283 Member Number Five of the Literature and Art Department

Wearing a bookstore clerk's apron, Hikawa Makoto closed the light novel in her hand and covered the cover with her palm, as if she felt it was embarrassing to be discovered reading such a light novel.

Kuroba Akira realized this, so he abandoned his idea of ​​using light novels as a starting point and instead brought up topics related to part-time jobs.

Are you working here?

It's quite unusual for a rich girl from Baihe Girls' High School to work at a bookstore. After all, she's the class monitor's childhood friend, so she must come from a wealthy family and certainly wouldn't be short of money. Maybe she's here to experience society.

Just as the thought crossed Kuroba Akira's mind, he heard the other person say something that made him so embarrassed he wanted to dig his toes into the ground.

"You've mistaken me for someone else. I'm not Saionji Machi."

Her cold tone was completely different from the gentle and generous Saionji Machen, giving people a feeling of keeping people at a distance. It was clear that she had a very thick wall around her heart.

Even if people look exactly alike, it's impossible for someone's attitude to change so drastically, unless they have a dual personality like Hongxiang.

As for her current situation, it's likely that Kuroba Akira has mistaken her for someone else, because there is another person in this world who looks very much like Saionji Makoto, and that is her younger sister, Hikawa Makoto.

"Ah... Could you be Hikawa Makoto?"

I had only seen her perform on stage from afar on the first day of the cultural festival when I was in the library with the class monitor. I remember she had a high ponytail and looked very cool. But now that she has her hair down, she looks exactly like her sister.

After all, they are twin sisters, so it's only natural that they look alike.

"You know me?"

"I know your sister, so I've heard of you before. Speaking of which, you've already performed on stage at the cultural festival. Look at my school uniform, how could I not recognize you?"

"..."

Hikawa Makoto frowned again, seemingly very much disliking being 'forced' to become famous.

After the cultural festival ended, people kept trying to chat her up, which annoyed her a lot.

It's just a school festival performance at a high school, students entertaining themselves, what's so special about it?

A real live performance... is far more impressive than this kind of 'childish' show.

Kuroba Akira approached her purely out of curiosity, wanting to know why Saionji Mako was working there and what she thought of his light novel.

So it would be the same if it were Hikawa Makoto, since Kuroba Akira wasn't there to chat her up anyway.

However, since the shop assistant in front of him was Hikawa Makoto, Kuroba Akira had one more thing to be curious about.

"Speaking of which, you stood me up for the performance on the second day of the cultural festival, didn't you? Was it the class representative... Hitomi who asked you to do it?"

The main reason is that when Hikawa Makoto disappeared, it gave Shion the opportunity to perform on stage, which is why Kuroba Akira speculated that this was also the class president's arrangement.

However, there was no conclusive evidence that the class president had secretly planned it, so Kuroba Akira wanted to find Hikawa Makoto, the person involved, to confirm.

As a result, when Hikawa Makoto heard Kuroba Akira's question, her attitude became very unfriendly, even somewhat angry.

"Why should I listen to her? She just told me that Zhencheng would be coming the next day. Not participating in the performance the next day was my own decision, and it has nothing to do with anyone else."

Hmm? I have a feeling... Makoto Hikawa seems to dislike the class president a bit?

That said, she actually calls her sister by her first name?

But the class monitor clearly said that the sisters' relationship remained good even after their parents' divorce... Could the information be wrong?

Wait a minute, the class monitor is so good at understanding people's hearts, she shouldn't be wrong about this.

But in Japan, close sisters probably wouldn't call each other by their first names, right? They'd probably call each other affectionately like "Nezha-san" (older sister) or something like that...

Or is it that I'm being stereotypical again...? Having never had siblings, Kuroba Akira really doesn't understand; it's a blind spot in his knowledge.

Hikawa Makoto was clearly annoyed by Kuroba Akira, but she still patiently explained.

"And I didn't stand him up. When President Miao asked me for help, she clearly said that she hoped I could help perform as a temporary member on the first day of the cultural festival. She didn't say that I would have to perform on the second day."

"But generally speaking, if you've already performed on the first day, there's no reason why you shouldn't come on the second day, right? Besides, I saw that you really enjoyed your performance on the first day, didn't you? And you sang very well too, didn't you?"

""

Kuroba Akira's half-praise-tinged question eased Hikawa Makoto's brow; the recognition of her musical abilities made her a little happy.

"So you didn't come because you didn't want your sister to see you perform? Why? Because you're embarrassed?"

"This is none of your business. If you're not buying a book, please leave immediately. You're disturbing my work."

Hikawa Makoto tightened her face and told Kuroba Akira to leave, but a new question arose in Kuroba Akira's mind.

First of all, it's certain that the class monitor probably knew that Hikawa Makoto didn't want to perform in front of her sister, so she deliberately leaked this information to her, causing her to skip the performance the next day and giving Shion the opportunity to perform on stage.

However, this contradicts what the class president said earlier, namely that Makoto and Makoto are sisters with a good relationship... If they are sisters with a good relationship, why would the younger sister hide from the older sister?

Furthermore, since Hikawa Makoto also addresses her twin sister Saionji Makoto by her first name, Kuroba Akira became even more curious about the relationship between the two sisters.

They were originally very close sisters, but they broke up because of something.

Kuroba Akira's desire to know these things wasn't fueled by a gossipy spirit, but rather a result of the same 'occupational hazard' as Shirai Shiori.

The light novels he's currently writing are about siblings, but the relationship and emotional connection between them are entirely based on Akira Kuroba's imagination. After all, he himself has never had siblings, so he doesn't really understand that kind of brotherly or sisterly affection.

The author of Naruto actually had a twin brother, which is why he was able to portray the almost twisted brotherly relationship between the Uchiha brothers... By the way, Masashi Kishimoto's brother was also a manga artist named Seishi Kishimoto.

This is something that Akira Kuroba lacks, and the members of the Literature Club also don't have brothers or sisters, so it's quite difficult to portray this part of the emotion well.

Wait, speaking of which, Grandma Kobayashi seems to have mentioned that the class monitor also has a younger sister named Anri Akira. I wonder how the class monitor views her sister. I'll ask her another day.

In short, with readily available 'material' right in front of Kuroba Akira, he naturally wanted to conduct some 'interviews'.

"Don't be so cold. There are no other customers in the store right now anyway. Chatting with customers is also the job of the staff, right?"

Makoto Hikawa rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"This is a bookstore, not a nightclub. If you want hostesses, go to Kabukicho."

"I'm a minor, you know. Minors aren't allowed in that place, and I'm not lonely and looking for someone to chat with, I'm just curious."

Also, because the girls around him were all 'too obedient,' encountering a girl who contradicted Kuroba Akira and had a terrible attitude actually piqued his interest.

What a wild horse! All that... it's just Kuroba Akira being a masochist, his masochistic tendencies really kicking in.

Based on the information he had, Akira Kuroba continued with his speculations.

"You were the one who told your sister about the future... about Takanashi's future, right? That shows you're actually a pretty kind-hearted person."

"A kind-hearted person would have rushed over to stop it the moment they saw it."

"It seems you regret not stopping her immediately back then? Let me guess, maybe you didn't want to perform on stage at all, since you don't seem to want to be famous at school, but because you felt guilty about the future and thought that her not coming to school was also related to you, you decided to accept Miao-senpai's request and perform in her place."

Hikawa Makoto frowned again. In just a short while, Kuroba Akira had made her twitch back and forth between frowning and brows several times.

After glaring fiercely at Kuroba Akira, Hikawa Makoto angrily rebuked him.

"Don't just casually put on that 'I understand you' act, it's disgusting!"

"Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, I just accidentally started analyzing things for you out of habit... If it made you feel uncomfortable, I apologize."

"..."

Although Hikawa Makoto was very unhappy, the truth was that Kuroba Akira had predicted everything.

Kuroba Akira knew he was right from her expression, and then began to talk about the 'sequel' that Hikawa Makoto didn't know.

"Speaking of which, Mirai actually came to the school festival the next day, and even performed on stage in place of you who didn't come. She also reconciled with the former band members, including that Yoshimura classmate. Mirai isn't coming to school now because she has something she wants to do, not because she's being bullied."

"..."

“Your sister asked Tong for help, and then Tong asked me for help. I helped resolve the future issues, so you don’t need to blame yourself anymore. The matter has been resolved satisfactorily.”

"..."

Although she didn't receive a response, Makoto Hikawa's brows relaxed again, indicating that she was somewhat relieved by the outcome.

Then, she finally looked at Kuroba Akira properly.

This man didn't seem to be there to chat her up, and he knew Makoto, Hitomi Anri, and had even solved Takanashi Mirai's problem...

Who exactly is he?