Starting from Their Seventeen Years Old

"Pure romance titles are a huge hit right now, largely thanks to you, after all.

"Don't worry, Saito-editor — from here on out I'll be focusing mainly on pure romance."

"You have nothing to worry about on that front."

Tsushima Kagami had heard as much from Watanabe-editor before.

It was because of him.

Ever since he'd burst onto the scene, not only had many talented artists begun imitating his art style, but lately they'd started imitating his plots too. As a result, pure romance titles had been slowly gaining real traction, with sales climbing higher and higher — quietly threatening to overtake NTR.

"Then there's nothing to worry about," Saito-editor said with a smile.

"It's already noon, too. I know a izakaya with pretty good food. Shall we go check it out together?"

With neither Tsushima Kagami nor Saito-editor having any objections, the three of them left the café together, got in the car, and headed to the izakaya.

After finishing the meal, Tsushima Kagami had been planning to head straight home — only to be dragged off by both Watanabe-editor and Saito-editor for a round of golf, followed by a game of baseball.

Since Kagami was hopeless at both, he just sat and watched the two of them play all afternoon.

Only then did Watanabe-editor drive him over to the convenience store where Yukinoshita Shizuku worked her part-time shift — arriving right as she was clocking out.

The two of them grabbed something to eat outside afterwards, and waited until the sky had gone fully dark before heading back to the apartment.

The moment they stepped into the courtyard, Tsushima Kagami spotted two figures standing at the entrance to the apartment complex.

He and Yukinoshita Shizuku walked over curiously — and found it was Editor-in-Chief Kobayashi and Sato-editor, waiting there.

"Sorry — I completely forgot I'd arranged for Sato-editor to come pick up the manuscript today."

"Have you been waiting long?"

"I have your number, don't I? Why didn't you just call ahead?"

He quickly ushered both editors inside. Yukinoshita Shizuku brewed some tea, and Tsushima Kagami carried the cups over to Kobayashi Tomoaki and Sato-editor.

The two accepted the tea with smiles.

"Not at all — we only just arrived ourselves. We figured you might be in the middle of dinner at this hour, so we didn't want to bother you. Didn't expect you'd walk in from outside right then."

Looking at the two of them, it was obvious they'd been waiting for a while.

Tsushima Kagami didn't press the point. He turned to Sato-editor.

"Right — let me go get the manuscript."

He walked over to the dining table and rummaged through the storage box beneath it, pulling out the novel manuscript he'd written earlier.

He handed it to Sato-editor.

Sato-editor took it, and Kobayashi Tomoaki immediately leaned in from the side. The two of them looked at the title of this new novel: Pinball, 1973.

They flipped through it briefly, then looked up at Tsushima Kagami.

"Is this a sequel to Hear the Wind Sing?"

"More or less," Tsushima Kagami said with a nod.

Sato-editor's excitement was hard to contain.

"I never imagined you'd really continue submitting to our Gunzo, Tsushima-sensei. The editor-in-chief is going to be over the moon when he hears this."

Lately, Sato-editor had been frequently hearing the sound of a record player drifting out of the editor-in-chief's office. Whenever the editor-in-chief was in high spirits, he loved to dance alone in his office.

Watching Tsushima Kagami produce yet another novel — and one that appeared to be a sequel to Hear the Wind Sing, no less, destined for Gunzo — the Kobayashi Tomoaki standing nearby grew visibly anxious.

"Kagami-kun, you know how well the issue of Gunzo running Hear the Wind Sing is selling, don't you." He looked pained. "The pressure I'm under, watching a work like that slip right through my fingers...

"The editor-in-chief hasn't blamed me for it, but I haven't been able to eat or sleep properly for days. Hair falling out in clumps.

"I can barely show my face in the office anymore. That's why I shamelessly made the trip out here — to ask if you've written anything new lately. Even an essay would do.

"So why are you submitting to Gunzo again?!"

"Didn't we agree — just one commissioned piece, and then if you had anything else, it'd come to us at Shincho first?"

Kobayashi Tomoaki, usually so composed and somewhat stern, was today wearing the look of a wronged spouse with a face full of grievances. Tsushima Kagami scratched his head awkwardly.

He hadn't expected Kobayashi Tomoaki to show up on the exact same day.

The thing was, Hear the Wind Sing was followed by Pinball, 1973 and A Wild Sheep Chase — together they were known as the Hear the Wind Sing trilogy. And back in the day, Murakami Haruki had submitted Hear the Wind Sing to Kodansha's Gunzo and taken home that year's Gunzo New Writers' Prize in one fell swoop.

So Tsushima Kagami had figured he might as well write the whole trilogy and publish all three in Gunzo.

He just hadn't anticipated Kobayashi Tomoaki showing up to pour out his woes.

Normally, putting out one piece every six months to a year or even longer was perfectly standard. But Hear the Wind Sing had exploded in Gunzo — especially among younger readers — and that left the editorial team at Shinchosha in a frenzy. Kobayashi Tomoaki, caught right in the middle of it, was even more frantic.

Which is why he'd swallowed his pride and come in person to try and rush a manuscript out of him.

"Well...

"Sorry about that, Kobayashi-san. My head's been completely in the Hear the Wind Sing headspace lately, so I figured I'd just write it all out at once and finish the run in Gunzo.

"As for submitting to Shinchosha — ahaha, next time for sure!"

Kobayashi Tomoaki immediately pressed him.

"When exactly is 'next time'?"

"Well...

"One more volume and I'm done — then I'll submit to Shinchosha!"

Hearing that there was still one more submission to come — and that it was looking like Kagami was writing a full Hear the Wind Sing trilogy — Sato-editor broke into a beaming grin.

Kobayashi Tomoaki gave a bittersweet laugh.

"Kagami-kun, you really must do me this one favour.

"If this trilogy of yours puts Gunzo on the map in a big way... I'll become Shinchosha's greatest sinner."

"Kobayashi-senpai, pressuring Tsushima-sensei like this is a little unfair, don't you think?" Sato-editor quickly jumped to Tsushima Kagami's defence.

Tsushima Kagami laughed it off.

"Don't worry — next time! No wait, the time after next! I'll definitely bring out something that Kobayashi-san and Shincho will be happy with."

Hearing that, Kobayashi Tomoaki's expression softened into a fuller smile.

"Honestly, I never expected Kagami-kun's Hear the Wind Sing to put this much pressure on our house. If I'd known, I would've just accepted it then and there — and told Kagami-kun to dash off something light to throw at Gunzo."

"Kobayashi-senpai, I'd really rather not hear that said to my face," Sato-editor replied, still grinning from ear to ear.

Kobayashi Tomoaki ignored the laughing Sato-editor and continued.

"On another note — because of the impact of Kagami-kun's Hear the Wind Sing, reader letters have been coming in lately saying they'd love to see more stories like it: something younger, purer, a love story that feels uncluttered.

"I hope Kagami-kun's next work can be something similar — a story about pure love, like Hear the Wind Sing, but with that faint thread of wistfulness running through it."

After hearing Kobayashi Tomoaki's words, Tsushima Kagami went quiet for a moment.

Yukinoshita Shizuku, who had been listening to the three of them talk from the side, glanced at him with concern.

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing," Tsushima Kagami said, waving it off.

He couldn't help but notice — every single person he'd talked to today had somehow circled back to the topic of pure romance.

Could it be...

Had the age of pure romance arrived overnight?

____

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🔥 New history: Oshi No Ko: Co-starring with Kana Arima

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