“Mr. Takashina isn’t all chintzy like that, and he’s definitely not a garbage playboy with a revolving door of lovers, and it’s not like my heart was all distressed over whether to pick him or Itsuki.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The conversation they had when he’d gotten back together with Nayuta flashed into Itsuki’s mind. For her, picking Itsuki over Takashina was a no-brainer…but what if it was Itsuki versus someone else?
Miyako, by the way, was currently dealing with a major headache. Just two hours ago, Izumi had sent her his revisions for Volume 1 of Dark Knight, so she immediately took a look at them, but…
“Uggghhh…”
After she was done, Miyako unconsciously groaned, and not in any kind of pleasurable way.
This hasn’t changed at all, has it? Like, what’s the deal?
The novel submitted was virtually unaltered from what had been uploaded to the web novel site. The decisions they’d made over coffee earlier—adding ups and downs to the story’s development, writing a more satisfying climax for Volume 1—weren’t acted upon in this manuscript at all. It wasn’t a matter of trying to improve it and failing; there was no sign of any attempt to change.
She wanted to talk to her boss, Ayane, about it, but she had just gone drinking with the other editors to celebrate the announcement of Branch Hill Bunko. Miyako was planning to join them as soon as she finished reading this submission. So she pondered over this alone, and in time, she sent an e-mail along the lines of, Are you sure you didn’t send the wrong file? Because the one you sent isn’t much different at all from the web version… Please check one more time.
It was a fairly serious guess on her part that Izumi really did send the wrong data over. But half an hour later, this came back:
This is the correct file for Volume 1.
I’ve given it a lot of thought on my part, but I believe that most of the people who purchase the book edition will be those who read it online and enjoyed it. If I change the scenes and story development from what they enjoyed in the web novel, wouldn’t that disappoint those people?
Also, I feel this series became popular because of the content that it has right now. Instead of making unadvised changes to it, I think it’d be best for those starting with the book version as well if we stuck to the web novel text.
“Nnngh…”
Izumi, to his credit, had a valid point. When adapting a web novel for traditional publishing, opinions often differed on how much extra revision should be made. Some publishers added new characters or made major changes to the story itself, while others literally copied and pasted the web novel text into a book template and sent it to the printers. Both approaches had produced lots of major hits.
But still:
“At least talk to me about this…”
Miyako let out a deep sigh. It had been nearly a month since they first met to work out the nature of the revisions. It wasn’t right for him to foist this manuscript on her without any advance warning. So, holding her irritation back, Miyako sent a reply to Izumi.
I understand your feelings, but if you wanted to change the direction we decided upon at the meeting, I wish that you had discussed this with me in advance. After reading your submission, I still think it would be better to make the discussed revisions in order to improve the quality of Volume 1. Thank you in advance for your consideration of this.
She spent a few anxious minutes waiting for Izumi to reply. Then, without warning, the phone on her desk vibrated. She picked it up and found a message from Haruto reading, Hey, if you’re free the next few days, wanna grab something to eat together?
“…!”
Something to eat together. In other words, a date. It made her heart skip a beat for a moment, but now wasn’t the time for that. She tapped out a short reply—Busy now. I’ll touch base later—and waited for Izumi’s reply once more.
Ten or so minutes later, it finally came.
“……Huhhh?!” Miyako exclaimed to herself.
I think it would be better to publish the web novel version as is. If you insist that it needs to be revised, then I would like to pretend this book project didn’t happen, please. Personally, I don’t see it as a must for me to force this story into publication no matter what.
“Why’s he jumping to that?!”
She looked up at the ceiling, leaning heavily against the back of her chair.
Is he really serious about stepping away? Dark Knight was already announced as part of Branch Hill Bunko’s launch family, and Hebomeshi, the illustrator, is already working on character designs and illustrations. There’s no way he can just say “never mind” at this point.
…But are these extreme requests part of Izumi’s tactics here?
Now Miyako recalled Kenjiro Toki’s story of how Izumi got kicked out of the GF Bunko family.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Well, as much as I know about that whole thing, I think Misaka’s partly at fault, too.”