Akira looked at her expression, which seemed to be suppressing a laugh, and quickly waved his hand in refusal:

"No need, I'm still a little confident in myself..."

Seeing this, Miyamura Shizuka didn't insist:

"Alright, if you have any questions later, remember to tell me."

After saying that, she put a piece of fish into her mouth and added:

"Oh, let me tell you in advance, your Dad and I won't give you any help with this idea."

"I wasn't planning on asking you for help anyway, okay?" Akira felt a bit speechless.

But he could understand what his Mom meant — after all, she probably thought he was just writing for fun.

"That's good."

"But I'll need to use Dad's computer in his study later."

Upon hearing this, Miyamura Shizuka decisively said:

"I can't make that decision. Wait until he gets off work and comes back, then you can talk to him."

There were some important documents and things on his computer, so it was better to wait for him to come back and ask before making a decision.

"Mhm." Akira nodded. Seeing that he had asked about everything he needed to, he sped up his eating.

"Tomorrow when I get off work, I'll bring you a laptop from the office."

During dinner, Akira had told Daiki about what happened at noon.

He didn't get encouragement, but he did get a temporary laptop.

Because Shizuka said he was still young, she would at most let him finish writing the first volume of the light novel. After submitting it online, he would have to put it away.

Akira had no objections to this, so upon hearing it, Daiki gave up the idea of buying him a new laptop.

Instead, he decided to bring back an old model from the office that no one used when he got off work tomorrow.

The next day.

Shouko came to a certain someone's room early in the morning and saw that he was still sleeping in. She didn't hesitate to lie down next to him, not forgetting to ask:

"Akira, I heard from Auntie that you want to write a light novel to submit tomorrow, right?"

This question was met with Akira's faint snoring.

Shouko wasn't annoyed. Her eyes narrowed slightly, and she reached out her right hand, wrapping it around that gentle and starting-to-be-firm arm.

Leaning against him, she sniffed the faint scent of shower gel still lingering on him after his morning run and shower. Then, she also fell back asleep just like him.

Her period wasn't over yet, so she was still considered a patient. Sleeping in with him like this wasn't too much, right?

"Bang... Thump... Thump... Bang...!"

After an unknown amount of time, Akira was woken up by a series of loud noises outside.

The moment he opened his eyes, he was almost startled. If he hadn't already gotten a little used to it from sleeping next to her yesterday, he really would have been startled by Shouko's sudden appearance beside him.

Who would understand? You're sleeping in, and when you open your eyes, there's a sleeping girl next to you.

"Wake up, Shouko." Akira didn't hesitate and reached out to poke the girl's soft cheek.

Seeing no reaction, he unceremoniously pinched one of Shouko's cheeks and pulled it outwards.

"Pat..."

In her daze, Shouko lightly swatted his hand away, while also not forgetting to lift her other hand to rub her eyes.

"Why did you come over and not wake me up?"

"I heard from Auntie that you want to write a light novel to submit tomorrow, right?" Shouko answered with a question.

"Mhm." Akira nodded and then asked in confusion, "I have that plan, why?"

Shouko looked straight into his eyes:

"If Auntie hadn't told me today, I wouldn't have known about this.

Why didn't you tell me yesterday?"

Akira shifted his gaze, looking at the ceiling, wanting to pull back the hand she was using as a pillow, but failed.

"Didn't I not write it yet? If I told you now, and then it didn't get accepted, how embarrassing would that be?"

Upon hearing this, Shouko quickly shook her head, denying his statement:

"No, if it doesn't get accepted, I can still comfort you.

I believe that with all the stories you've told me since we were little, it will definitely be accepted, whether it's April Is Your Lie or Anohana, etc...

And I don't want to be the last to know."

Akira stole a glance at her out of the corner of his eye, thinking that the last part of Shouko's sentence was probably the main point...

"If it gets accepted, I'll tell you then, wouldn't that be a surprise for you?" Akira tried to change the subject.

Shouko sat up on the bed, turned back to look at him lying down, and shook her head:

"I don't want any surprises, I just want to not be the last to know."

Well... subject change failed...

"Mhm." Akira looked at her brown eyes and nodded seriously.

Then he muttered softly:

"Yuzuru and them don't even know yet, how could you be the last."

"Pat..."

The person who got a slap on the stomach lay on the bed listlessly, refusing to get up.

After giving that slap, Shouko quickly fled his room.

Finally, seeing that he wasn't coming down, Shouko thought she had hit him too hard, so she secretly went upstairs to check.

Then, seeing that he had fallen asleep again, she couldn't help but flick his forehead.

"That's going too far, Shouko."

"Then flick me back." Shouko made a face at him and ran downstairs again.

Because of her action, Akira lost all sleepiness and could only obediently get up and go downstairs.

"Done!"

Sitting by the coffee table in the living room, Akira looked at the dense text on the laptop screen and couldn't help but snap his fingers.

All he had to do now was submit it online.

"Let me see, let me see." Upon hearing this, Miyamura Shizuka wanted to lean her head over.

But Akira stopped her.

Seeing this, Miyamura Shizuka suppressed her curiosity. Although she wanted to see, her stinky kid wouldn't let her, so she could only respect his privacy.

Anyway, whether it got accepted or not, she would be able to see it eventually, so there was no rush.

"Have you decided which publisher to submit to?" Miyamura Shizuka was also a little curious about this question.

"Futaba Publishing, I guess." Akira hesitated for a moment, then said lightly.

When he decided to write a novel, he had already searched for these publishers. The one closest to his home and also relatively well-known was Futaba Publishing.

"That's not bad. They've cooperated with your Dad's office a few times." Miyamura Shizuka stroked her chin and nodded.

"So?"

"But don't even think about it. I said I wouldn't provide any help for your decision, and I won't."

"That's not what I meant." Akira was a little speechless.

After saying that, he ignored his Mom, took out his phone, found the email address for online submissions for Futaba Publishing.

In a few quick steps, he successfully sent the first volume of Anohana that he had written over the past two or three days.

But he quickly received an automatic reply from the other party:

"Thank you for your submission. We will reply within one week. Thank you for your support."

That was roughly the meaning of the message. Akira glanced at it and withdrew his gaze. Now all he had to do was wait quietly.

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