The Protagonists

If you’re interested, I’d kinda like to be a couple.

A week had passed since Miyako gave her response to Haruto Fuwa’s offer—and two days had passed since Miyako tried her luck with Itsuki and failed spectacularly.

From the moment he voiced his feelings at that Belgian beer bar, and she left him at the rail station, Miyako had been seriously trying to figure out whether she could accept his feelings. It wasn’t the first time a boy had said he loved her; she was relatively popular in middle and high school. She even received romantic confessions from boys she thought were her friends. She had turned them all down, even though refusing the goodwill of people around her—especially people she interacted with on a daily basis—was deeply painful to her. She never got used to it, no matter how many times it happened, and by the second year of high school, she was making a conscious effort to avoid dealing with boys in general. Even now, in college, she turned down every invite to casual drinking parties she received.

She didn’t dislike Haruto at all. He was conventionally attractive, but he was actually super naive about this stuff. A virgin, in fact. And the passion he kept bottled up inside reminded her of Itsuki a little bit. The anime adaptation was a disappointment, yes, but he was still plenty successful as a novelist. He actually met his deadlines, unlike Itsuki and Nayuta. He didn’t hold unsolicited, high-volume public strip shows, unlike Toki and the rest of the GF Bunko editing team. Among the people in Miyako’s life, he was probably the most put together as an adult human being.

Plus…

You really saved me. Back then, I think you crying for me helped me stay strong when I was on the brink.

It’d be so awful to live in this world, I think, if everyone was supercool or whatever. The only reason all those cool people can keep trying is thanks to really kind, gentle people like you, Miyako. Willing to cry for the sake of someone else.

Haruto had said that just before he confessed. She felt those words. The sincerity behind them had assured her that she wasn’t at all empty inside; hell, they saved her more than anything she did for him. He had paid her back in full. This cool, handsome, gentle person—it sounded so hackneyed when put into words, but that’s exactly what Haruto was to her—she really thought that having him as a lover and moving forward together would have been wonderful. If Haruto was all for it, she thought it would turn out pretty well. Maybe even better than if she started dating Itsuki.

But…

“I’m sorry, Fuwa. I just can’t.”

After she finished her part-time shift, she met up with Haruto—fresh from an editorial meeting at the office—at a nearby café to give her obviously nervous, shaky-voiced response. Haruto sighed a little.

“…Oh.” He smiled, forlorn, as if he’d expected this answer.

“…I’m sorry,” Miyako repeated, tears forming. Haruto replied with a smile she knew was just for show.

“Nah, I’m sorry to cause trouble for you. Thanks for giving it to me straight.”

A pause.

“But…boy,” he continued in a light tone of voice he strained to achieve. “I’ve been so worked up about this over the past ten days. I couldn’t focus on work at all. It sucked. Now I can finally move on, I think. I am sad, don’t get me wrong, but honestly, I’m a little relieved, too.”

“Are you…?”

“Yeah. To tell you the truth, this is actually the first time I’ve told anyone in my life that I wanted to go out with them. Thinking about, like, how every couple in the world has to go through this at some point? I finally understand. I guess I can’t hate on normies that much anymore, huh? Ha-ha-ha…”

“A-ha-ha,” Miyako replied out of politeness. “I actually just popped the same question to someone two days ago. First time in my life, too.”

“Oh?” The contrived smile on Haruto’s face disappeared as his eyes opened wide.

“Yeah. To Itsuki. And he said no instantly, ha-ha-ha.”

The laugh sounded dry to Haruto. He blinked, unsure how to take the news at first. “Oh… Wow, I didn’t know…”

“I’m just awful,” Miyako continued with a frown. “Doing that before I even gave you an answer.”

“Huh? N-no, I’m not upset about that or anything…” Haruto carefully examined her. “But, man, that’s pretty gutsy. I mean, you realize who Itsuki’s decided on, right?”

“…Yeah. But, um, I sort of got carried away, so…”

Haruto let out a chuckle of disbelief. “Carried away?” he asked, fully believing it. “Well, that’s the way it goes, huh? Like, I knew you were into Itsuki, but I kind of got carried away, too, I guess.”

“Wha—? You knew?!”

He smiled again at her abject surprise. “Yeah…”

“But—but how did you, um…?”

“Because I’ve always paid attention to you, Miyako.”

“Oh…”

Haruto smiled warmly at Miyako. She averted her eyes, a little uncomfortable. He knew because he’d been watching her—because he liked her. It was the exact same way Miyako could read Itsuki’s feelings.

“Well,” he said with a sly grin, “if your first choice said no, you could say it’s time to mentally switch gears and find your next love…maybe?”

“Ha-ha-ha! Yeah… I think that’d be more constructive. Like, maybe I should try a little harder…”

“Yeah. Well, like I said, it’s a shame, but I’m glad you’re being earnest about it. Like, in anime and video games, some characters lose a lover and immediately fall into another relationship, but it’s the ones who have that kind of unrequited love for the protagonist who are more popular. Never experiencing another crush, even if she never gets noticed…”

Miyako gave this half joke a scowl. “I can’t say the idea of being popular as an anime character fills me with glee.”

“Ha-ha! I guess not.”

“And needing some time to recover is one thing, but never loving anyone else in my life? That’s a bit drastic, isn’t it? I’d feel bad for the protagonist and the girl he picked.”

“No, I mean, I like that kind of earnestness!”

As much of a dating-sim addict as Haruto was, he failed to see what turned off Miyako about that trope.

“That kind of goes beyond earnestness. It’s a little scary, actually! …Wait, is that the kind of girl you like, Fuwa?”

Haruto found his eyes wandering away from Miyako’s accusatory glare.

“…Um, in the 2-D world, yes.”

“Really…?”

“R-really! I mean, in real life, I kind of wish you’d shake off your feelings for Itsuki and go for me instead!”

He paused, then turned a little red once he realized what he’d blurted out. Miyako did the same, punctuating the conversation with a forlorn “Oh… I see…” They fell silent for a few moments, feeling each other out with their eyes.

“Pfft…” “Ha-ha…”

It was unclear who started it, and they both shared the laugh equally.

“…But real life doesn’t work that way, huh?”

“No,” Miyako said, responding to Haruto’s honest feelings. She began to tear up again. “But… But I’m not going to let this defeat me. Ever.”

Haruto softened his expression, a flame burning in his eyes.

“Me neither.”

Thus began a new story between Miyako Shirakawa and Haruto Fuwa.

Two days prior, after Miyako revealed to Nayuta what she had done, the two were cuddling in bed, naked. She began to nod off a little, basking in the glory of Nayuta’s supple body, when her friend suddenly spoke up.

“By the way, Myaa…”

“Yeah…?”

“…Have you completely given up on Itsuki now?”

The question made Miyako’s heart skip a beat. To be honest, she hadn’t fully decided. She had confessed her love and died nobly in the effort. Itsuki loved Nayuta…but while the feeling was mutual, they weren’t officially a couple yet. Maybe, she thought, if she didn’t give up the fight and kept pursuing him, there was a nonzero chance that Itsuki would come around.

“…What do you want me to do, Nayu?” she asked, keeping her voice flat.

No, the chances of him changing his mind weren’t zero. But it’d be tough. She had managed to salvage her friendship with Nayuta, but if she continued this extremely uphill battle, she could easily ruin everything. She had to avoid that at all costs.

“I think you should do what you want, Myaa,” Nayuta replied calmly.

“…Do you really mean that?”

“Yes,” she said, looking straight at Miyako. “I’m never going to give Itsuki to anyone else. That’s already set in stone, so you can go ahead and confess to him and seduce him and give him all the sexual favors you want.”

“I… I wasn’t planning on the last two options,” Miyako said, her face turning red. “But… Yeah, maybe it’s too early for me to give up.”

“Oh?”

“…You sure you’re okay with that? You never know. Itsuki really could just change his mind.”

“Well, you’re a wonderful person, Myaa, and maybe that really could happen…but if it does, I’ll just snatch him back. As many times as I need to.”

Nayuta’s voice was calm, but Miyako couldn’t help but smile at the sheer determination underneath.

“…Oh yeah? Well, you may think you’re so tough, but I won’t go down that easily, Nayu.”

Nayuta smiled back. “If Itsuki’s at stake, I’ll beat you any day of the week.”

For the first time, Miyako felt like she was facing Nayuta on even ground. They were in different social positions, different generations, different levels of talent—but here, they were both women in love.

…And if it wasn’t for this exchange, she just might have accepted Haruto’s offer two days later. But the conversation didn’t affect only Miyako’s future. It had a huge impact on Nayuta’s as well.

…The next day, in the early afternoon, GF Bunko editor Kirara Yamagata received a phone call.

“What?!”

She gasped at the contact shown on her phone screen. It was Nayuta Kani. Yamagata was her editor, on paper at least, but the author had almost never—not even once—taken the time to call her. Gingerly, she answered. Then came the second shock of the day. Nayuta actually wanted to talk about work.

“So you told me I’ve received several offers to adapt my series to other forms of media, right? If that’s still on the table, I’d like to hear more about it.”

She had received some. Actually, present tense. She was still receiving them. Anime adaptations, manga adaptations, video games, stage shows, live-action films, episodic TV dramas, spin-off novels, tie-ins with other games and novel series and restaurants and fashion magazines—if it had ever been done before in the world of light novel merchandising, the offer had reached Gift Publishing.

“…What made you change your mind?” Yamagata couldn’t help but ask.

“I’m thinking,” Nayuta replied, voice soft but burning with an indefinable fighting spirit, “that I need to start working a little harder.”

Yamagata didn’t ask for further detail. This was too big a deal to sweat the small stuff and risk letting the opportunity slip through her fingers. The editor in chief was instantly on the line, ready to hold a quick meeting over the phone. Diversifying and expanding the Landscapes series was an urgent priority for GF Bunko—and really, Gift Publishing overall.

A while later, after the call finally ended, Yamagata sighed.

“Phew…”

“What’s up?” a puzzled-looking Miyako Shirakawa asked from a nearby desk.

“Oh, nothing,” Yamagata replied, completely oblivious to the fact that the part-timer in front of her was the whole reason why Nayuta made the shift.