"Well… they're just ordinary friends, there's nothing much to say, right?"
Sato glanced at the girl and spoke cautiously.
"What do you think?"
Fujimiya Konomi smiled brightly, her curved brows and eyes as beautiful as a crescent moon.
"...Alright."
After thinking it over, Sato gave up resisting and said, "Yukinoshita is just an ordinary friend. As for the other two, at first they were more like online friends."
"Online friends?"
"Yeah, you could also say we're in the same field."
"The same field?"
"Mm. One of them is a light novel author, and the other is an illustrator."
Fujimiya Konomi suddenly stopped walking, her beautiful eyes staring at him in a daze.
"What's wrong?"
Her mouth opened slightly as she looked at him in shock. "You… debuted?!"
Back when Sato wrote light novels, she knew about it. But she had only thought it was a passing interest, so she did not pay much attention.
After entering high school, she had come to Itomori to study, and she was no longer at Asahigaoka. She had always assumed Sato had already given up, but now it seemed… things were not as she imagined.
Sato blinked. "You didn't know?"
Fujimiya Konomi narrowed her eyes. "Did you ever tell me?"
"Why did you two suddenly stop?"
Miyauchi Kazuho and Kagayama Kaede, who had been following behind, walked up and asked curiously when they saw the two standing still.
"It's nothing!"
Fujimiya Konomi turned back and replied hastily, then grabbed Sato and pulled him forward.
Watching their backs, Miyauchi Kazuho could not help sighing. "Sato and Konomi look quite well matched."
Kagayama Kaede nodded in agreement.
However, she soon turned to Miyauchi Kazuho and said calmly, "But they probably don't need you worrying about them, Kazuho-neesan. Shouldn't you be more concerned about yourself?"
"Huh?"
"After all, you're already in your twenties. If you just stay at school and home sleeping all day, can you really get married?"
Miyauchi Kazuho looked a bit embarrassed at that and waved her hand. "It's fine. Even if I don't get married, I won't starve. Our family still has some mountains and farmland."
That is the confidence of a landowner.
…
"Something this important, and you never told me!"
Fujimiya Konomi gritted her teeth and glared at Sato.
Sato put on a wronged expression. "You never asked me either!"
"You…"
Fujimiya Konomi was truly annoyed. She glanced around, and when she could not find a suitable weapon, her gaze suddenly fell on Sato's arm.
Sato immediately raised an eyebrow.
Fujimiya Konomi grabbed his arm, glared at him fiercely, and then bit down.
"Mm… ptoo, ptoo! Why is your skin so tough?!"
The girl said in sudden disgust.
"Tough? It feels pretty smooth to me."
Sato rubbed his arm, a faint smile appearing in his eyes.
After all, he was not an ordinary person. Even if he was not the type who specialized in physical strength, his body was still far above average.
Besides… the girl had not used much force.
"Hmph!"
Fujimiya Konomi snorted and stared at him. "Tell me your pen name."
"Do I have to?"
"What do you think?!"
"Miyabi."
Fujimiya Konomi immediately took out her phone and began searching online. Being close to Itomori, there was still signal here. In Asahigaoka, there were many places without even mobile reception, which showed just how remote it was.
She stared at her phone screen with curiosity, still a little annoyed. This guy had never told her about this!
Soon, a flood of results appeared. Phrases like "Strongest middle school light novel author," "Fastest light novelist in history to reach ten million copies sold," "Volume 13 of 'Hero Throne' about to release, first print run of 500,000 copies!" kept striking her senses.
Th-this is Sato?!
Fujimiya Konomi stared at the screen in shock. She also read romance light novels occasionally, so she knew exactly what such exaggerated numbers meant.
But… such an incredible light novelist was actually her childhood friend?
She tried searching for more detailed information about the author, but aside from official descriptions, there were no photos at all.
"Stop looking. I've never held a signing event, and I didn't allow them to publish my photos."
"This is really you?"
"As genuine as it gets."
Sato watched Fujimiya Konomi's reaction with interest.
Fujimiya Konomi fell silent. She had originally thought that even if Sato had debuted, he would just be a newcomer still working hard and struggling.
But reality told her that her childhood friend had reached the peak the moment he debuted and had already become a major figure in the industry. This absurd fact made her almost question the world itself.
Am I dreaming?
Her expression became dazed for once.
At that moment, the sunlight shining on them suddenly grew brighter, and the canopy above began to thin out.
Whoosh!
In an instant, the world opened up. The white clouds in the blue sky seemed almost within reach.
Ahead was a bare stretch of path. Going further up was a flat mountain pass, and beyond that, it looked as if the upper portion had been sliced clean off by a blade.
"Sato! Hurry up, this place is amazing!"
Ritsu and the others stood at the mountain pass, looking out excitedly. Their eyes, faces, and even their movements were filled with excitement.
"Coming!"
Sato smiled and walked up.
Only upon reaching the pass did it become clear that they were standing inside a massive crater.
The surrounding mountain ranges suddenly seemed small. Even the drifting clouds churned beneath their feet, as if… there was no place higher under this sky than where they stood.
Inside the crater basin, green grass spread endlessly. Several rivers shimmered under the sunlight as they wound through it. Most of the vegetation consisted of low shrubs, but at the very center stood a towering tree.
Its vast canopy spread like a pavilion roof. Its thick trunk would take more than a dozen people to encircle, and its roots sprawled below like coiling dragons, intricately intertwined.