In the days that followed, Kuroba Akira stayed in close contact with Mori Keima, discussing contract details.
By mid-September, the contract terms had mostly been finalized. The royalty rate was set at 10%—exceptionally generous for a debut author.
Industry norms dictated that unpublished manuscripts typically received a 12% royalty, while works previously serialized or issued as bunko editions got about 10%.
Of course, an author's reputation could also influence this rate. Publishers frequently used this as leverage when courting authors. Don't underestimate this tiny 1% gap—for bestsellers selling millions, a single percentage point could mean millions of yen.
In the world of light novels, royalties ranged from 8% to 14%. Usually, new authors only got the minimum 8%, with 2% allocated to illustrators.
Mori Keima further promised that if Akira's chosen illustrator produced satisfactory work, he'd offer an exceptional 3% royalty rate, prioritizing her for future illustration projects.
In other words, now that Akira's light novel had the publisher's backing, Aizono Momo wouldn't have to worry about getting future commissions, provided her illustrations were good enough.
Long-term partnerships between illustrators and publishers were extremely rare, essentially guaranteeing a stable income.
With the contract settled, the next step was scheduling publication. Considering Momo had never officially illustrated before, Akira needed time to properly train her. Thankfully, her Artistic Proficiency was already at lv3, and she possessed some design skills, so switching illustration styles probably wouldn't be too challenging.
Akira also assured Mori that while waiting for the illustrations, he'd continue polishing the first volume and even start drafting the second volume's manuscript, putting Mori completely at ease.
Thus, publication for the first volume was tentatively set for mid-November.
By publishing standards, this was extremely fast—starting in September and hitting shelves by November meant less than three months from conception to release. It exceeded the industry's typical pace of 3-4 volumes per year.
Once he got even more skilled, perhaps he could challenge the legendary Kamachi Kazuma—the evergreen "typewriter" of the light novel world, famed for publishing 20 consecutive monthly volumes.
Meanwhile, back at school, Akira didn't immediately rush to smugly flaunt or brag in front of Shiroi Shiori upon getting his contract. Instead, he acted like nothing had happened, never volunteering news about his submission.
Shiori never asked either. After school, she'd briefly stop by the Literature Clubroom, silently glance to confirm Akira's presence, and then quietly head home.
Even when she stayed in the clubroom for a bit, she completely ignored Akira, creating an oddly tense yet tacit understanding between them.
Instead, as time passed, Aizono Momo grew increasingly anxious, as if she herself would be the one forced to strip if Shiori lost.
Relax... It's not even the settlement date yet.
Akira wasn't planning to end their bet prematurely. His idea remained the same: wait until Shiori's submission result arrived, then proceed.
If both succeeded in getting published, Akira would simply say: "Wow, our manuscripts were approved on the same day! What a coincidence!"—and consider the matter closed.
Class Rep had also advised against bullying Shiori too much. Akira himself felt making her strip and kneel naked was going too far. He wasn't interested in being harsh with a teenage girl anyway.
But Shiori would surely realize Akira was deliberately holding back, interpret it as an insult, and end up resenting him—thus ensuring he'd win his bet with Class Rep too!
Just as planned!
After finally getting some free time, Akira could leisurely read the manga and novels he'd borrowed, and even sit in on Shion's voice-acting practice.
Lately, Shion's mood had been especially bright, precisely because Akira was paying more attention to her.
Additionally, since Shion had resolved to go on the offensive more aggressively, she seized every opportunity to stick closely by Akira's side.
Akira also noticed how Shion had grown even closer to him recently, mainly by reducing physical distance and increasing bodily contact.
For instance, when Akira sat on his bottom bunk, Shion—seated on the upper bunk—would deliberately extend her white-stockinged legs through the railing, stepping gently onto his shoulders and giving him shoulder massages with her soles.
During dinner, she'd sit directly beside Akira, so close their shoulders nearly touched. Every time she lifted her spoon with her right hand, their shoulders would brush, stirring up an irresistible itch inside him.
When Akira read on the living-room sofa, Shion would casually drape her legs over his thighs.
Of course, the most obvious increase was in the frequency of foot massages—now nearly twice a day, once after dinner, and once again before bed.
Moreover, Shion thoroughly understood Akira's tastes, regularly wearing different new stockings every day. This kept Akira's experience fresh and novel, something he'd never tire of touching.
Things reached the point where Akira recently started dreaming about Shion's silk-covered legs doing… unspeakable things to him, forcing him to deal with the resulting "morning mushroom" problem in the bathroom.
Clearly, he'd been pent up for far too long...
Hence, Akira decided to extend his morning run, getting up at 5:30 AM, partially to avoid awkwardly revealing his morning "standing salute" to his roommate, Shion.
As a side benefit, by resuming his morning jog, Akira also began seeing Tomita Haruka again. Now acquainted, Haruka would accompany him on longer runs, jogging with him until leaving the riverside.
Thus, his enjoyment of bouncing beauties dramatically increased, greatly boosting his mood—though this reduced the fire-quenching effect of exercise significantly.
He did his best to focus solely on chatting with Haruka, desperately restraining his gaze from drifting downward to her chest.
What is this, some kind of celibacy challenge...? (Sob.)
And so, time slipped by quietly amid daily routines…
In a blink, it was already the final week of September.
At lunchtime one day, Hitomi told Akira she wouldn't be joining him in the Literature Clubroom today because she had something to attend to. Before leaving, she added meaningfully, "Looks like both our bets are about to reach a conclusion, Kuroba-kun."
From Class Rep's words alone, Akira guessed something unusual might occur today.
Sure enough, when he entered the clubroom, the atmosphere felt distinctly wrong.
Shiroi Shiori still wore her usual gloomy, lifeless expression, while Momo appeared deeply distressed, as if she herself were the one forced to strip naked.
Before Akira could even greet them, Shiori abruptly stood, trembling all over as she shouted at him:
"Kuroba Akira! Even if you haven't openly bragged to my face, I can see it clearly in your attitude! Recently, you've been utterly carefree, with no intention of starting a new novel. That can only mean your submission was accepted by the publisher—am I right?!"
"Well…"
Akira scratched his head noncommittally.
"...I know you deliberately waited until now. I know I've lost, but even so, I still wanted to try..."
As she spoke, Shiori pulled an envelope from her bag.
"Last night, I got the publisher's reply…"
She lowered her head, gritted her teeth, and forced the words out:
"My manuscript… was rejected."
"Ah..."
Shit… This situation just became impossible to gracefully resolve.
For both of us.
---
T/N: oof omg like UGH HOW AM I SILVER I IN CSGOOO
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