Another night passed. As Kotomi Izumi typed on the computer screen, the more she finished a section, the more clearly she felt the excitement and joy coming from within her.
"With just these few movements, I was already out of breath. The muscles in my limbs, which hadn't been used in two years, were protesting with pain. But how could I show weakness like this?"
"A voice urged me to hurry, hurry. My entire body yearned for her presence. My battle wouldn't be over until I embraced Asuna—Asuna—with my own arms again."
"Clutching the IV stand that replaced my beloved sword, leaning on it, I took my first step towards the door."
Upon writing this, Kotomi Izumi's hands paused slightly on the keyboard, then she took a deep breath and wrote the final line of the first volume.
"sword art online Volume 1: Aincrad – End"
"Yay! I finally finished Volume 1!"
Kotomi Izumi instantly stood up from her chair like a warrior who had conquered the world's highest peak, cheering with her arms raised.
Thankfully, after she became a girl, her weight also became very light. Otherwise, suddenly standing on the chair would likely result in her falling to the ground the next second.
"Oh, right, save, save!"
Suddenly remembering the most important task of saving, Kotomi Izumi temporarily suppressed her excitement at completing Volume 1, quickly sat back down, and saved the manuscript for Volume 1.
If an unexpected event like a power outage occurred at that moment, causing the manuscript she had painstakingly coded all night to disappear, Kotomi Izumi felt she wouldn't even be able to cry.
After saving all the manuscripts, Kotomi Izumi finally felt relieved enough to turn off her computer and lie back down on the bed.
She planned to submit it on the Dengeki Bunko official website after she woke up.
"What's wrong with big sister these past few days? She doesn't come down for breakfast every morning." Izumi Aimi, who came down for breakfast, couldn't help but ask when she saw that her big sister still hadn't come down for breakfast today.
"Is Kotomi feeling unwell these past few days? Or has her game had some new event, and she's been staying up all night grinding for it again?"
Kan'ya Izumi, who was sitting on a chair reading the newspaper, asked. He didn't have to work overtime today, so he didn't have to go to the company early.
Facing their questions, Akina Izumi just smiled and placed the prepared breakfast on the dining table: "Don't worry, Kotomi is just working hard on something remarkable."
"Something remarkable?" Kan'ya Izumi pushed up his glasses, smiling curiously: "That really makes one even more curious."
"I thought big sister suddenly remembered she also had summer homework to do and was frantically pulling all-nighters to catch up."
"You think your big sister is like you?" Akina Izumi mercilessly teased her younger daughter.
"Is my older sister someone who finishes her holiday homework on time? I really can't tell…"
"No, your older sister is just like you; she'd never touch her homework until the very end of the holiday. But she finishes make-up work a bit faster than you. Homework that takes you seven days to complete, your older sister can finish in three days. Though I don't know if she seriously writes the answers~"
"That's because she wants to leave herself four more days to play games!"
Lying in bed, Izumi Kotomi, who had just enjoyed a comfortable sleep, opened her eyes. This was the first time she had slept so soundly since her transmigration.
Sure enough, everything felt great after finishing the manuscript.
She sat up from the bed, stretched lazily, and pulled open the pink and white curtains.
The sun was already high in the sky, and the clock showed it was already noon.
After going downstairs for lunch, Izumi Kotomi returned to her room, opened her laptop, and clicked on Dengeki Bunko's official website in the Google Browser.
She clicked on the author registration interface, successfully registered her account and password, and linked her email and phone number for contacting the Editor. Only the last field remained: the pen name for publishing her work.
"A pen name… I've been fully focused on writing the first volume of sword art online for the past few days that I completely forgot about something as important as a pen name."
Izumi Kotomi rubbed her hair a bit awkwardly. After thinking for a while, she entered "Izumi Ki" in the pen name field.
Izumi is her surname. As for why she added 'Ki' after Izumi…
Because Izumi Kotomi wanted to pay tribute to her favorite mangaka from her previous life—Fujimoto Tatsuki.
After confirming the pen name, the official website interface jumped to the work upload page.
Sitting in front of the computer, Izumi Kotomi took a deep breath, calming her excited heart:
"It's finally time to submit."
She entered the book title: "sword art online."
Volume 1: Aincrad.
After waiting for a few seconds, the text "[Upload Successful]" appeared. This confirmed that sword art online had been successfully uploaded to Dengeki Bunko's official website.
"Yay~! It's finally uploaded successfully. Now I just need to wait for the results."
Izumi Kotomi did not choose to upload one chapter first to see its popularity, and then gradually upload subsequent chapters.
She chose to directly upload the entire volume. Although this might slightly affect the data, uploading an entire volume allows readers to read the complete story in one go, experiencing the impact and grandeur of the full plot of this volume.
Izumi Kotomi was full of confidence in the sword art online she wrote.
This was because she didn't completely copy the original from her previous life; instead, she took the essence and discarded the dross. Good plots were strengthened. Bad plots were revised into good ones.
"Volume 1 has been successfully uploaded. Next, it's time to do something very important."
Izumi Kotomi said with an extremely serious expression on her pretty face.
If she had white gloves and glasses right now, she would definitely strike the signature pose of Commander Ikari Gendo from "EVA."
Gloves covering face, glasses reflecting light!
With a serious expression, Izumi Kotomi clicked on Steam on her computer.
Rainbow Six, launching!
Today is also a day to save hostages!
Don't be afraid, hostages, Fuze is here!
Boom boom boom!
11 kills! -500!
While Izumi Kotomi was demonstrating her 'professional high-level Cluster Charge' skills in Rainbow Six, forty kilometers away in downtown Tokyo, the headquarters of Dengeki Bunko was bustling with activity.
Unlike in her previous life, Dengeki Bunko in this world was not affiliated with Kadokawa Group. Instead, it was a light novel imprint independently established by Dengeki Group, and it was a competitor to Kadokawa Group.
"Sigh… Although I knew the number of submissions would increase after the writing contest started, I didn't expect it to become so many all at once. Thankfully, this time the writing contest is through online submission. Otherwise, the Editorial Department's inbox would have been overwhelmed."
The young, beautiful Editor Yukinoshita Haruno complained to her colleague. She had originally planned to meet her younger sister, Yukino Yukinoshita, today.
After all, her younger sister Yukino was about to graduate from Junior High School and become a High School student. As an older sister, she naturally wouldn't easily miss such a memorable event.
But looking at the current scale of submissions…
It seems she'll have to work overtime tonight.
"That's true, but from today onwards, we need to be prepared for overtime."
Listening to Yukinoshita Haruno's complaints, Kagami Ai, sitting nearby, chuckled. She and Yukinoshita Haruno were good friends from University, and after graduating, they even worked together at Dengeki Bunko.
Beside a beauty, there are always other beauties as friends.
For example, Kagami Ai was a beauty who was in no way inferior to Yukinoshita Haruno.
In fact, with Yukinoshita Haruno's ability and the Yukino Shita Family behind her, she could have gone to a better company. However, Yukinoshita Haruno seemed to dislike following the arrangements given by her family, which is why she chose to submit her resume to Dengeki Bunko and become an Editor there.
"I had originally planned to have dinner with Yukino tonight. After all, that little girl will be starting High School in a few days." Yukinoshita Haruno said with a hint of resentment.
"On the surface, you always act a bit cold towards your sister, but deep down, you're actually a very caring older sister~" Kagami Ai teased.
"Oh, come on, Ai, stop teasing me. I'm not talking to you anymore; I need to start working."
"You were the one who started talking to me first…" Kagami Ai twitched her lips, looking at her good friend helplessly.
Yukinoshita Haruno, while scrolling her mouse, looked at the computer screen and said, "Just now, while we were chatting, several new books were uploaded. Every time I refresh, one or two new books appear. The number of participants in this writing contest is much higher than before."
Although the workload it brought was imaginable, the more participants there were, the better it could enhance the prestige and popularity of the Dengeki Novel Award.
Last month, because Kadokawa Bunko released a hit light novel, their monthly sales significantly surpassed Dengeki Bunko, which made everyone in the Dengeki Bunko Editorial Department feel very unwilling about it.
If it were any other time, being surpassed would be fine; after all, it's impossible to always be at the top of the sales charts.
But the key was that last month, all members of Dengeki Bunko were intensifying their efforts to promote the writing contest, hoping to attract more light novel authors' attention and bring more new authors into Dengeki Bunko.
However, they didn't expect that just when the hype was at its peak, Kadokawa Bunko directly stole some of the spotlight. To say that Kadokawa Bunko didn't do it on purpose, no one would believe it!
"As early as the beginning of the year, Chief Editor Hiratsuka was eagerly preparing for this Dengeki Novel Writing Contest. Last month, losing to Kadokawa Bunko in sales. Chief Editor Hiratsuka has been very unwilling and even vowed to make this writing contest the biggest Dengeki Bunko has ever seen. It's said that the prize money for the contest has started to increase, and the final grand prize for this writing contest might increase to two million Japanese Yen."
"Two million Japanese Yen?! This is the first time Dengeki Group has increased the prize money for a writing contest. It seems this writing contest will indeed be the largest in Dengeki Bunko's history. The final Dengeki Novel Award will also be the most prestigious award ever." Yukinoshita Haruno exclaimed.
"Do you remember what Chief Editor Hiratsuka said yesterday morning during the meeting?"
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!"
Thinking of how Hiratsuka Yuko gritted her teeth and said that phrase during the meeting yesterday morning, Yukinoshita Haruno couldn't help but laugh.
"Chief Editor Hiratsuka's drive and vigor don't resemble a mother who already has a daughter at all. Oh, right, speaking of Chief Editor Hiratsuka's daughter, Hiratsuka Shizuka. I remember she's currently a japanese language teacher at Soubu High School. I remember your sister's High School seems to be Soubu High School as well," Kagami Ai recalled.
"So Chief Editor Hiratsuka's daughter teaches at Soubu High School? This is the first I've heard of it," Yukinoshita Haruno said, a little surprised.
"Chief Editor Hiratsuka's daughter, Hiratsuka Shizuka, is a great beauty, you know. She's already thirty this year. I've heard Chief Editor Hiratsuka complain countless times about why her daughter hasn't brought a boyfriend home yet. It's said that Hiratsuka Shizuka hasn't even been in a single relationship and is almost becoming a 'leftover woman'."
"To each their own, I suppose."
Yukinoshita Haruno smiled. She hadn't been in a single relationship either. The reason was simple: she had no interest whatsoever in dating.
If nothing unexpected happened, she didn't want to consider dating for her entire life.
Yukinoshita Haruno then shifted her gaze back to the computer screen.
Scrolling down the interface once more, Yukinoshita Haruno saw a newly uploaded book.
"Another new book uploaded? Eh, this light novel's category is games."
"A game light novel? But I remember this Dengeki Novel Contest focused on fantasy and otherworld genres. Oh, right, what's the title of this game light novel?" Kagami Ai asked.
"The title? Let me see… It's called sword art online."