— — — — — —
Yukino shot Oikawa a pleading look. She really didn't know what to do.
Oikawa frowned slightly, his eyes clearly saying: Don't accept it.
Without drawing attention to it, Yukino gave a tiny nod before turning back to Hayama and the others. "Sorry. I don't think we can help with this."
"I see. Then forget it."
Hayama didn't seem to expect the Service Club to solve the problem in the first place. Or maybe even he didn't want to get too involved in this matter.
Honestly, helping someone confess their feelings was kind of lame.
Watching the exchange, Oikawa quietly let out a sigh of relief. It was doomed to fail from the start, so what was the point in helping?
Birds in the sky and fish in the sea were never meant to travel the same path.
Still, not everyone saw it that way.
"Huh? Why not, Yuki? Come on, help him out!" Yui tugged on Yukino's sleeve, her face full of pleading as she tried to convince the club to take Tobe's request.
"Please, Yukino-san!"
Tobe stepped forward with a hopeful grin, "Oikawa too, help us talk her into it. We're classmates, aren't we?"
"Yeah, please, Oikawa!"
Unable to pressure Yukino directly, Ōka and Yamato shifted their focus to Oikawa instead.
Yukino glanced at him again.
Oikawa frowned, wondering how to refuse. He seriously did not want to get dragged into this mess.
Right then, the sliding door to the Service Club opened once more.
Kawasaki appeared in the doorway. She froze for a second at the sight of so many people inside, but quickly spotted Oikawa.
"It's time for tutoring."
"Ah, sorry. Totally slipped my mind." Oikawa's tone immediately relaxed. "You guys carry on. I need to head back to the Literature Club room and tutor Kawasaki."
Kawasaki really was his savior.
Without her showing up, even if he managed to escape the situation, things with Tobe and the others probably would've turned awkward.
Not that Oikawa cared that much.
Still, they were all classmates. If he could keep things smooth, there was no reason to deliberately ruin the atmosphere.
The moment he stepped out of the Service Club room, Oikawa let out a long breath.
"What were you all talking about in there?"
Seeing his exhausted expression, Kawasaki looked puzzled.
Oikawa looked at her, hesitating over whether he should explain. He trusted Kawasaki not to spread it around, but it was still Tobe's private business.
"It's okay if you can't say." Kawasaki noticed his hesitation and spoke up first. "I'm not that curious anyway."
Oikawa apologized softly before giving a brief explanation, "It's about Tobe. Personal stuff."
"Mm. Besides you, I don't really care about anyone else."
The moment the words left her mouth, Kawasaki froze.
Then she immediately started fumbling over herself in panic, "I mean... I mean we're friends, so naturally I care more about your stuff!"
"Right. That's exactly what you meant, I understand~" Watching Kawasaki trip over her own words, Oikawa couldn't help smiling widely as he said.
Face bright red, Kawasaki followed behind him.
Back in the Service Club, they were probably still debating whether or not to accept Tobe's request.
But none of that had anything to do with Oikawa anymore.
The farther away he could stay from troublesome things like this, the better.
...
..
After school, Oikawa got on the Shinkansen and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes tiredly.
He barely even wanted to go on the school trip anymore. All he wanted was to stay home and rest.
"Maybe I've been working too much lately..."
He stared out at the sunset beyond the window and murmured quietly to himself.
It was the first Saturday of November.
Since deciding to publish with Full-Drive Bunko, this was Oikawa's first time visiting the company in person.
Today, he was here to finalize the publication details for Clannad, as well as meet the illustrator face-to-face for one last discussion.
Full-Drive Bunko really did have money to burn. Their office building stood in Ginza, Tokyo's Chuo Ward, a district often ranked alongside the Champs-Élysées in Paris and Fifth Avenue in New York as one of the world's greatest luxury shopping areas.
Before coming, Oikawa had looked up Ginza's real estate prices out of curiosity.
The average price was 2.39 million yen per square meter.
Absolutely insane.
With his current savings of less than twenty million yen, he could barely afford a bathroom there.
...
Full-Drive Bunko occupied an entire standalone building.
The moment Oikawa stepped inside, Chris Yamada hurried over to greet him.
Apparently, he'd been waiting for a while.
"Oikawa-sensei, are you hungry? We can talk over lunch." Chris grinned conspiratorially. "And this is Ginza, so you can sample some amazing food. Company expense account, of course."
Oikawa didn't refuse.
Under Chris's enthusiastic guidance, they headed straight to a steakhouse that looked painfully expensive.
While enjoying lunch, they finalized some of the remaining details for Clannad.
Chris was incredibly thorough. He even asked about the setting behind the Light Orbs several times, and repeatedly confirmed whether the ending really counted as a happy ending.
Well, technically, it was a happy ending.
Oikawa just had no intention of including that ending in the actual book. Instead, he planned to release it later as an extra chapter serialized on Full-Drive Bunko's official website.
If he was going to harvest tears, he might as well do it as a gentleman.
Even Chris could only laugh helplessly at that decision. Still, he immediately stated that he respected any creative choice Oikawa wanted to make.
After a 300,000-yen lunch, Oikawa followed Chris back to Full-Drive Bunko to discuss the finer details of Clannad's illustrations.
"Copycat-sensei, it's an honor to meet you. Um... could I get an autograph? My daughter absolutely loves Your Lie in April."
The illustrator was a middle-aged man in his forties. The very first thing he did upon meeting Oikawa was ask for a signature.
Looks like his daughter had fallen deep into the fandom.
After the autograph and some small talk, the two got straight to work.
Most of the time, Oikawa would point something out, and the illustrator would make small adjustments accordingly.
About an hour later, all the illustration revisions were finished.
Oikawa snapped a couple photos, planning to post them on Twitter later and announce the upcoming release of Clannad, his new light novel.
Once the illustration work wrapped up, the artist took his leave.
Not long after, Chris returned with a bald man beside him.
"Oikawa-sensei, this is Tsuga Daisuke, the editor-in-chief of Full-Drive Bunko."
Tsuga Daisuke walked over with a broad smile and immediately extended his hand, "A true talent at such a young age. Seriously, youth is terrifying. Oikawa-sensei, we're very happy you chose to work with Full-Drive Bunko. And don't worry, we definitely won't disappoint you the way Dengeki did."
Tsuga Daisuke had a rough, almost gangster-like vibe to him.
Honestly, he looked less like an editor-in-chief and more like someone who used to run with shady organizations.
"Editor Tsuga, nice to meet you."
Oikawa shook his hand without the slightest bit of stage fright. "And I should thank Full-Drive Bunko for the Your Lie in April anime adaptation. I still don't know much about the rest of the company yet, but your financial firepower has already shocked me several times."
Commercial flattery?
Please. Like Oikawa didn't know how to play that game too.
"Oikawa-sensei, you misunderstand us."
Tsuga Daisuke smiled smoothly. "If Your Lie in April didn't already have the value to become an anime, upper management never would've approved investing 200 million yen into the project so quickly."
"Honestly, we might end up thanking you instead for helping Full-Drive Bunko make a fortune."
His words were airtight.
Whether sincere or not, they were incredibly pleasant to hear.
After another ten-plus minutes of mutual corporate ass-kissing, they finally got down to the last stage of negotiations.
And not only that. Chris even brought out a brand-new contract.
The terms were identical to the previous one, except this time the royalty rate had been raised to thirteen percent.
Full-Drive Bunko really managed to surprise Oikawa every single time.
This was blatant goodwill-buying.
Simple summary: rich and ridiculously generous.
...
By six in the evening, Oikawa finally made it home.
The moment he stepped inside, he collapsed onto the sofa like all the energy had been drained from his body.
Traveling around all day was exhausting.
After resting for a while, he pulled out his phone and drafted a tweet.
He attached the two Clannad illustration photos, then typed out the caption: {Illustrations for my new novel Clannad. This time, I can honestly swear on my conscience that it's absolutely a healing story.}
The instant the tweet went live, comments flooded in.
["Healing story? Copycat, do you seriously think we'll believe you anymore?"]
["Your conscience got eaten by dogs a long time ago."]
["LMAO. This might be the funniest joke I've ever seen."]
Setting his phone down, Oikawa stretched lazily and prepared to make dinner.
Right then, his phone chimed with a new message.
It was from Utaha Kasumigaoka.
"Oikawa-senpai, didn't you say your school trip was going to Tokyo? Have you decided where exactly you'll be going yet?"
Oikawa immediately looked awkward.
At first, he'd assumed the trip destination was Tokyo too.
Only later had he learned that Tokyo was just where they'd board the Shinkansen. The actual destination was Kyoto.
"Uh... the school trip is actually to Kyoto. We're just passing through Tokyo to catch the Shinkansen. I'm sorry."
Under Utaha's name, the "typing..." indicator stayed there for a very long time.
They'd originally planned to meet during his school trip.
Looks like that plan was dead now.
"It's okay. It's not your fault, senpai." Utaha's reply came quickly.
Feeling guilty, Oikawa sent another message, "Sorry."
"I already told you it's not your fault, so why do you keep apologizing?" Another message popped up right after. "Or do you actually think what you did was awful too? We promised we'd meet... I'd been looking forward to it for so long!"
"What's the point of just saying sorry over and over? Am I the only one who wanted to see you that badly? Senpai, did you not want to see me at all?"
And then, "Senpai, I really want to see you."
Even through the phone, Oikawa could practically feel Utaha's frustration.
After staring at the chat for a few seconds, he finally made up his mind.
"Let's meet. The day I go to Tokyo to catch the Shinkansen. Let's meet then."
A reply came almost instantly, "But won't you still have your school trip with your classmates?"
Oikawa quickly explained, "Our train leaves Tokyo at ten in the morning. I'll head out around seven and get to Tokyo by eight. Even if it's only two hours, I still want to eat with Utaha-chan, go crane gaming together, wander around, and walk through the streets of Tokyo together. Would you like that?"
On the other side of the screen, the lingering resentment on Utaha's face instantly melted away after reading those messages.
A bright smile spread across her lips.
"Oikawa-senpai, I'm really looking forward to that day. Even if it's only for two hours." She replied so quickly it was obvious she'd been waiting.
Then she buried herself under her blanket and rolled around on the bed in embarrassment.
Looking closely, even her skin had turned pink from sheer shyness.
.
.
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