Chihiro and my parents are watching…?
The pressure only got worse. He wasn’t even entirely sure whether his work was worthy of earning the top prize.
The nominees for the light novel award included More Than Any Starry Sky, More Than Any Memory, Nayuta Kani’s latest novel. She wrote it up after reading Itsuki’s You Tomorrow Is All I Need., and remarkably, it was set fourteen years after You Tomorrow, with the hero’s son embarking on an adventure. Itsuki had a feeling that whatever she wrote would function as a sort of reply to his work, but he never imagined that she’d produce an unauthorized sequel to his own novel. It took him a while to recover from the shock.
In a word, this novel could be described as a love story—not love between a man and woman, but family love, love for one’s homeland, love for the world, love for all the unknown people out there, motherly love, fatherly love, love for children, love for oneself. The story of a lonely hero who encountered all this love, only to have it save him. The kindest, gentlest story Nayuta Kani had ever written. Brand-new territory for her, something she could only have written after sharing a relationship with Itsuki and becoming a mother. GF editorial asked Itsuki for permission to publish it, and he immediately gave it. There was no way he could keep this masterpiece from the general public.
Nayuta Kani’s first new publication in two years taking the form of a sequel to someone else’s novel certainly confused a lot of the audience, but the overwhelming power of the tale created a massive amount of passionate fans, just like with all her previous work. It was locked in for a Reiwa Entertainment Award nomination, but it didn’t get the prize—being a derivative work probably knocked it down a few points.
In terms of completeness, Itsuki believed Nayuta’s novel was better than his. Really, You Tomorrow Is All I Need. got the nod in no small part because of the release of More Than Any Starry Sky, More Than Any Memory putting more attention on his work and giving it a huge sales boost. It was his first real competition against Nayuta Kani, something he had sought out for many years, but he couldn’t be too happy with how it turned out—Nayuta herself helped him past the finish line, really.
I am such a pain, aren’t I?
And, he thought, he was likely to be one for the rest of his life. In all the years to come, he’d see himself in fierce competition with Nayuta Kani and all the many other rivals in his mind; he’d win or lose in equal measures, and he’d burn up his soul fighting them all off. It was so fun, so engaging, so full of joy for him.
The ceremony began, and after a bit, it was Itsuki’s turn. He came up onstage, receiving a plaque from the presenter.
“Congratulations!”
“…Thank you very much.”
The emcee was Yuma Takashina, a famous actor who had appeared in many movie and TV adaptations of manga and light novels. This was the first time Itsuki had ever met him face-to-face.
So this is the bastard who tried staging an illicit affair with my girl…? God, he’s beyond hot…
It wasn’t just about being snappily dressed. His aura was all-encompassing. He was just standing there, but his presence was simply overwhelming. Itsuki was supposed to be the star tonight, but being next to him, he almost felt like he was fading out of sight.
This is how a real star shines…
Once again, Itsuki realized just how much of a miracle it was that he hadn’t lost Kazuko to him. A drop of cold sweat ran down his cheek.
“Now, Itsuki Hashima, a few words, please.”
When Yuma stepped away from the microphone, he gave Itsuki a smile packed with all sorts of intent.
Does this guy still have feelings for Kazuko?
Itsuki stared back at him, then came up to the podium, opening the envelope with his comments and leisurely reading them.
“Um, it’s a great honor to receive the first Grand Prix prize in this category. I’d like to sincerely thank the readers that supported me, as well as everyone on the selection committee.”
After that standard introduction:
“So I’m not used to this sort of thing, and I’m really nervous, but I don’t think I’ll have a chance to talk in front of this many people very often, so I’ll try my best… I think a lot of people may not be aware by this point, but in the four or so years since I made my professional writing debut, I wrote over twenty straight novels that were all in the ‘little sister’ genre. In other words, they were books where the main heroine was the protagonist’s little sister and they had a romantic relationship with each other.”
Itsuki spoke slowly, savoring the nostalgia of the words.
“At the time, I fully, seriously intended to keep writing little-sister novels and eventually come up with the ultimate little sister, something no one had ever seen before. I thought I’d write the best little-sister story ever, and then I’d take over the entire light novel market—all of entertainment, really. There were a lot of readers who supported me during that time, and of those books, All About My Little Sister received an anime adaptation as well.
“…However, after a certain point, I completely stopped writing novels in this genre. Or, to be exact, circumstances in my life made it no longer possible to write them. It was all kind of a unique situation, and it’s frankly a little too unbelievable to go into detail here. Regardless, I fell into a terrible slump in my career.”
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“Itsuki…”
At the Hashima residence, Chihiro Hashima, watching the stream with the rest of her family, couldn’t help but say his name out loud. She recalled that completely outlandish, yet rather fun time of her life when she’d hidden her gender and lived as Itsuki’s younger brother. Warm tears came to her eyes.
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“I hate to even think about those dark days any longer, but after overcoming that period of my life, the first novel I wrote was I Want to Be the Protagonist, which came out four years ago. The title of that novel is really the starting point behind my whole life, and even now it’s at the core of my psyche.”
Then Itsuki took the microphone off the stand and left his notes on the podium.
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“Oh, great, what’s he gonna do now…?”
“That’s the guy I know, all right.”
Miyako, watching from the front row, began to sweat. Setsuna couldn’t have enjoyed this more. Haruto was all smiles, too, but inside, he seethed over not being up there himself.
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“The way I see it, a ‘protagonist’ isn’t something you can try to become, but rather something you sort of happen to become when you’re not paying attention, after a long process of being lost, troubled, asking the world to figure out a way to live for you.”
He looked over the audience, flashing a knowing smile to the camera.
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“That’s why I, at least, believe that I’m absolutely a protagonist.”
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A shockwave erupted in the audience.
“…I’m sure some people listening to this, or seeing it later or reading about it in news coverage, must think I’m a twenty-seven-year-old man-child. A lot of them must be glaring at me right now, thinking I’m lecturing them, wondering why this random light novel writer is acting so full of himself. But to those people, I want to ask: If you read a novel that starred you as the protagonist, would you be able to enjoy the story? Because if you don’t think you could…then I think you need to change. Or, really, I think you’re wishing you could change.”
Itsuki was pleading his case before all the unknown people that could be out there listening—as if praying, or shouting. He truly believed his words would reach the ears of someone who sorely needed them right now.
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“Hee-hee-hee… Big bro Itsuki is so cool… So, so cool…”
Nadeshiko Kiso, watching the stream on her phone, let her fingers curl into a fist of determination. As the person who was such an inspiration to her, he was reaching her, at least.
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“All of us—not unusually powerful, or kind, just sorta halfway with everything—I don’t think we could ever be superheroes in a story, or even supervillains. But at the very least, I want all of you to love the stories you create, where you’re the protagonist. I don’t want you to give up on being a protagonist people can love.”
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“Hoo boy… Itsuki sure likes living life on the edge…”
Makina Kaizu, watching the stream with his wife, sighed a bit. His eyes narrowed slightly, as if Itsuki himself were shining brightly. That’s what writers did, he supposed—if they had something to say and a place to say it, they couldn’t help but dive right in, even if they knew the consequences to come.
“He sure does. I’ve always thought this, but that style of his reminds me of Kasuka in some ways.” Ashley sadly reflected on her husband’s words.
“Yeah. He was kinda like her apprentice…and just like her, he loves his readers and his novels way too much.”
“You’re right. So you need to keep an eye on him, all right? As a friend and as a veteran.”
She flashed an affectionate smile.