— — — — — —
Saturday tutoring sessions had begun.
They were supposedly for helping underperforming students from different classes, so it wasn't really a lecture format. It was more like a supervised study hall.
About a dozen students sat scattered across the classroom, quietly working through problem sets. Whenever someone got stuck, they would walk over and ask the teacher assigned to that subject.
Oikawa handled math.
Hachiman handled Japanese literature.
Kawasaki was responsible for geography and history.
Physics, chemistry, and foreign languages were all handled by Yukino.
Clearly, the capable ones were given the most work.
One thing that surprised Oikawa was that Kawasaki seemed to harbor a noticeable hostility toward Yukino.
Which was odd.
As far as he knew, the two of them had never interacted before.
As for Yukino, she remained exactly as she always was. Calm, distant, and cool. Even sitting in the same room as everyone else, she gave the impression of belonging to an entirely different world.
But the most unbelievable thing Oikawa discovered was something else.
Hachiman Hikigaya's math score was eight.
Eight.
Good grief. The man truly didn't study at all.
He was definitely the type who spent the entire class staring into space.
Speaking of which, there was another major difference between Japan's national universities and private universities besides tuition.
National universities required a unified entrance exam.
That meant six subjects in total. You had to meet the score threshold to get in.
Private universities, however, only required the three subjects relevant to the chosen major.
And most majors didn't even require math.
From that perspective, it was easy to understand why Hachiman didn't care about his math score at all.
Lucky guy.
If Oikawa could start life over, he'd choose the three-subject route too.
Just like that, time quickly slipped into July.
Final exams were right around the corner.
The dark circles under Kawasaki's eyes had grown even heavier. She looked like she wanted to split every minute into two just to have enough time.
Whenever Oikawa tried to tease her a little, she didn't even bother responding.
So boring.
…
…
Early July.
The illustrations for Your Lie in April were finally complete.
Ayame Kagurazaka sent Oikawa a trial print copy.
He was extremely satisfied after flipping through it.
Unfortunately, before he could even enjoy it properly, Shizuka snatched it away.
And when she demanded he deliver it, she also insisted it had to be signed.
Reluctantly, Oikawa scribbled down a signature, "Copycat Transmigrator."
Of course, Shizuka didn't take it for free. She treated him to a meal of A5-grade wagyu.
That dinner easily cost tens of thousands of yen.
Oikawa could only sigh.
That old woman was seriously rich.
...
Once July arrived, the promotional campaign for Your Lie in April gradually began.
The title started appearing on the Dengeki Bunko website, on various light novel review sites, and across reader forums.
Naturally, the internet started discussing it again.
In the rookie writer groups Oikawa belonged to, most people congratulated him.
But in the larger Dengeki Bunko communities, it was impossible to avoid a few sarcastic remarks.
"So Oikawa-sensei's novel is also scheduled for release in early August. Looks like the editorial department really believes in him. I wonder if readers will agree."
"Promotion must already be underway. I've seen several bloggers posting reviews. Funny how none of them say anything bad."
"Well, he's a 'Grand Prize' author who only appears once every few years. A little special treatment is only natural."
"I bet Oikawa-sensei is about to become famous with a single book. Maybe he'll break 500,000 sales in no time. When that happens, don't forget to share your success tips with us struggling authors."
Oikawa read the messages and simply smiled.
Then he casually typed a reply.
"What can I say? I'd love to keep a low profile, but my talent just won't allow it."
"Five hundred thousand sales? That's honestly nothing special."
"Some people think that would be the peak of their entire career. For me, it's just the starting line."
"Don't worry. When I hit 500,000 sales, I'll definitely come back and share my secrets. Make sure you all show up to support me."
When it came to sarcasm, Oikawa had never lost to anyone.
He had no intention of quietly swallowing insults from strangers. If someone tried to mock him, he'd mock them right back on the spot.
Why wait until success to respond?
Besides, by that time he probably wouldn't even remember the names of these clowns.
"You… you're completely out of line."
"You think you'll break 500,000 sales? I doubt you'll even hit 300,000. You're just a brat who got lucky and won the Grand Prize!"
"The higher you stand, the harder you fall!"
To Oikawa, this reaction meant only one thing.
Pure rage.
He fired back one by one.
"@Hayashi Hayato Yeah, I'm that arrogant. What are you going to do about it?"
"@Aimoji Koudai You call yourself my senior? How many books have you sold over 500,000 copies? Clown. Crawl back to wherever you came from."
"@Marumoto Ryu If you're so capable, go win a Grand Prize yourself. When I break 300,000 sales, I'll come back and slap you in the face with the numbers. Don't leave the group, okay? Otherwise I won't have anyone to embarrass."
"@ElephantKai Old man, you're outdated. These days the higher you stand, the better the view. Or have you never stood high enough to see it?"
One word.
Satisfying.
After countless sleepless nights trading insults with the "Utaka Kasumi," how could he possibly lose to these amateurs?
And honestly, he wasn't even using the full power he once wielded in the legendary online war zones.
He wanted to throw out a few more taunts. But suddenly the group administrator muted everyone.
Oikawa sighed.
He hadn't even gotten warmed up yet.
…
…
As final exams approached, Oikawa reduced the time he spent with his "wives" and turned his attention back to his textbooks.
To be honest, his previous ranking had left him very dissatisfied.
Sixteenth place in the entire school.
He had originally expected to make the top ten.
Apparently he had overestimated himself.
But this time would be different.
His goal: Guaranteed top five. Aim for top three.
Speaking of rankings, Oikawa genuinely admired Yukino.
Despite wasting so much time every day in the Service Club, she still held first place in the entire school without fail.
If he wanted to surpass her, he still had a long road ahead.
Even more ridiculous, yesterday while chatting with Utako, Oikawa discovered that the shut-in novelist was also permanently ranked first in her school.
From middle school all the way through high school.
Always first.
Oikawa found it absurd.
Still, it wasn't all bad news.
After seeing the screenshot Utako sent, Oikawa realized something important.
She was a first-year.
Heh. So she wasn't some intimidating senior after all.
Just a junior.
Over the past few days, every message Oikawa sent included the words junior, little, or chan somewhere in it.
It gave him a strange sense of victory.
And it made him look forward even more to his inevitable meeting with Utako Kasumi.
When that day came, he was definitely going to bully this little girl properly.
.
.
.