[CH.40] Formidable Rival (Part 5)
"Yes, I'm quite worried about my sister. She wasn't like this in the past."
She was laughing. Is it safe?
Many writers keep their work a secret from their families, so I made a careless comment. It seems that even her sister has thoughts about childhood friend stories.
"She writes long novels and constantly releases new short stories... She does it all to condemn childhood friends."
Huh, the atmosphere just changed, didn't it? The fluffy feeling around Asakawa-san was suddenly overshadowed.
"Come on, Hanamucchan, take responsibility."
"Huh? Why?"
"After all, writing a novel is a soulful endeavor. Releasing them recklessly is the height of folly."
"Oh, Asakawa-san?"
Asakawa-san took out her smartphone and showed it to me.
"I write under the pen name 'Aoimonogatari' at the same place as all of you. I've been interacting with you all as someone who aspires to the same goals."
'Aoimonogatari'...?
I had no idea. While her older sister, Akane, was a famous web writer, it seemed her younger sister was not so well-known.
When I peeked at her smartphone, I saw that Asakawa-san (the younger sister) had only one posted work: 'The Legend of the Hero Who Sacrificed His Arm for Wisdom.' How the heck do you even read that? Oh, it's 1.1 million characters... That's quite a long piece... Wait a minute!!
Is it actually 11 million characters!?
"That's... impressive."
"It's not that remarkable, really. If you write 5,000 characters a day for 365 days, you'll have about 1.8 million characters. I've just been doing that for roughly six years."
"Well, even for someone like me who's been writing, including drafts, it's not easy to reach that amount! Writing 1.8 million characters in a year is quite a feat! How much do you write?"
"Although I have a favorable opinion of Nishina-san... I can't tolerate his attitude towards novels. What's the fun in luring those amateurs with such a clichéd high fantasy?"
"I-It's fun! No one can keep up with your novels, Asakawa-san!"
"It's fine. If even one person reads and appreciates it... I will continue writing for that person."
Ah, I finally understood now. This person is definitely Asakawa-san's sister. Both sisters have a strong sense of purpose.
"No need for clichés in novels. True fantasy... is the foundation and pinnacle of it all."
Asakawa-san passionately delivered her speech. She was just like her older sister when she condemned childhood friends in her stories. Nishina-san looked at me with a stern expression.
"This is why I didn't want to talk about novels..."
"Why don't you engage in a debate with Asakawa-san, like the manager does?"
"Only the manager can compete with Asakawa-san... If it were you, Hanamucch... I mean, Hanamura, I'd probably cry."
Indeed... I can feel that.
For the next 30 minutes, Nishina-san and I had no choice but to wait until Asakawa-san was satisfied.
Oh... why is it that suddenly there are so many web writers around me?
But above all...
"Do all beautiful web writers have strong personalities?"
"I didn't hear that clearly, but why did you say that while looking at me? Hey, Hanamucchan, want to have a little chat?"
Afterward, Nishina-san was quite cold.
Even her coldness was something new.
---
When I got back home, I relaxed in my gaming chair and stared at my smartphone.
Hmm, 'The Legend of the Hero Who Sacrificed His Arm for Wisdom' by Aoimonogatari. It's Asakawa-san's work. Each episode is around 5,000 characters, and she updates it almost every day. So, she has written a total of 11 million characters.
Impressive... I've also written quite a few published works, but I've probably only reached around 23 million characters at most... And that's across different stories. How on earth does she come up with so much material?
There's about 80% narrative... it's so densely packed that it's practically unreadable. I guess this is what they mean by drowning in narrative. Whoever manages to read this to the end must be a god. Even though it's boldly labeled as 'non-cliché,' I won't say anything about how overflowing this topic is in this world. I think it's amazing that she can produce such a volume.
"Hmm..."
As I flipped through the over 1,000 episodes, I stumbled upon an interesting story title. It was a creative story with the same theme as what I was trying to do in 'Court Slow Life.' I had wrapped it up in about 10,000 characters, but this person had dedicated around 100,000 characters to focus on a single aspect.
"Hmm, this is impressive."
The story itself was dreadfully uninteresting, but it was well-organized as a resource. It even included references to the original sources. Maybe I should purchase those references as supplementary materials...
The characters in the story engaged in comical exchanges while crafting various items one by one. Successes and failures were intertwined. It seemed like they had done thorough research...
It's more understandable than most web references. It feels like it should be more widely spread, not just as a story but also as an educational resource. With a different approach, this could easily be sold as a world-building reference guide.
"But if I say Asakawa-san's work is a great reference book, she'd probably get angry."
The twins, the beautiful sisters. They were truly extraordinary individuals.
And I would soon meet them again.
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