Saturday Morning.

Akashi Asuka successfully met with the editor from MF Bunko at Make Café.

The editor in charge of his contract was a very young woman, who looked like she had only recently graduated from university. She had a clean, fresh aura and was undeniably beautiful.

At first glance, meeting such a stunning editor might seem like a great deal for Akashi Asuka, but in reality, it wasn't exactly a good sign.

In Japan's corporate culture, important clients are typically handled by senior staff, who appear more reliable due to their age and experience. When a company assigns a rookie to deal with someone, it often means they don't see much long-term potential in that client and are simply using the opportunity as training.

"Excuse me, are you Editor Wakayama Kika?" Asuka asked politely.

"Eh?" The editor sitting at the table looked up, startled. She stood up quickly and replied, "Yes, that's me. And you are...?"

"We've exchanged emails. I'm Akashi Asuka. Nice to meet you."

"Akashi Asuka… wait, you're Akashi-sensei?!"

Wakayama Kika was visibly stunned. She had been nervous about this meeting, after all, it was her first time handling an author alone, and she was worried about being seen as too inexperienced. But never in her wildest dreams did she expect that the author she was meeting would be even younger than she was.

It wasn't that the publishing house had never received submissions from high schoolers before. But typically, due to their lack of life experience, such manuscripts rarely passed the review stage.

However, this novel, Cautious Hero, although not the most polished in terms of writing, was far from immature. Many of the senior editors had assumed the author must be a young adult with a few years of writing under their belt.

"You can just call me Akashi." he said. "May I take a look at the contract now?"

One advantage of youth was being able to skip the usual formalities. Unlike his previous life, where any business interaction demanded layers of polite small talk, Asuka now went straight to the point.

"Ah! Yes, of course, Akashi-kun." Wakayama Kika said, quickly snapping back to attention and handing him the contract.

Asuka skimmed through it and saw that it was a standard new-author agreement. In Japan, authors are paid royalties based on book sales, and for newcomers, the starting rate was usually 10%.

If the book sold well and the author gained popularity, publishers would often increase the royalty rate, sometimes even unprompted, just to ensure the author's next book stayed with them.

"Akashi-kun, your story takes a very unconventional route." Wakayama said. "It's certainly fresh, but the publishing team isn't quite sure how the market will react. With your writing skills, you could definitely write something more mainstream. Right now, hero-centric fantasy novels are still very popular."

In Japan's publishing world, editors played a major role in shaping a novel. Many new writers grew and succeeded thanks to the guidance of seasoned editors. Likewise, some of the country's most well-known authors had behind-the-scenes editors who were almost like family to them.

So Wakayama offering writing advice was only natural. And unless an editor was an extreme outlier, they rarely gave bad advice, after all, no one wanted to lose money.

But Asuka only thought for a few seconds before shaking his head. "No. From the start, this story was meant to be unconventional."

In truth, Cautious Hero was ahead of its time.

Still, Asuka knew exactly what he was doing. Though hero stories were still popular, they were reaching the end of their golden age. Japan had been writing them for so long that the genre had grown stale. The only ones still selling well were written by veteran authors coasting on their reputation.

If Asuka tried to switch gears now and compete with those seasoned writers using his limited experience, he'd get crushed.

Seeing he had made up his mind, Wakayama didn't press the issue.

The two of them discussed a few more details about the book, and then parted ways.

…..

Tuesday Afternoon.

The Karasuno High volleyball team arrived at the gates of Aoba Johsai High.

On the bus ride over, Hinata Shoyo had been so nervous that he threw up all over Ryūnosuke Tanaka's lap... which only made him more nervous.

So as soon as they got off the bus, several Karasuno members rushed to the restroom.

And that's when they bumped straight into three Aoba Johsai players:

Kindaichi, Kunimi, and Ryuhei Sanashita.

"Huh?"

Both sides froze, startled by the sudden encounter.

A moment later, Sanashita was the first to break the silence. "Long time no see, Oda."

"Uh… it hasn't been that long, has it? It's only been, what, two weeks since the semester started?"

"..."

"Geez, you're still such a talker."

Sanashita rolled his eyes, then walked over and bumped fists lightly with Oda Mikki.

The two of them locked eyes.

And then, simultaneously, burst out laughing.

"So, these are your new teammates?" Sanashita asked.

"Yup. This here is my senpai in the volleyball club, Tanaka Ryūnosuke. And the little guy is Hinata Shoyo." Oda introduced them.

"Huh? Wait, it's you? Didn't expect to see you at Karasuno." Sanashita said, eyes widening in recognition.

He remembered Hinata from the first round of the nationals qualifiers. Back then, Aoba Johsai had gone to scout Kitagawa, and Hinata's performance had left quite an impression.

"Hey hey hey~~ Oda, who's this guy? He seems awfully friendly with you." Tanaka growled, trying hard to look intimidating.

Oda covered his face, exasperated. "Senpai, please don't do this. We're here to play volleyball, not start a street fight. This is really embarrassing."

"Hahahaha! Oda, looks like your team's got some real characters now." Sanashita laughed.

"This Tanaka guy totally reminds me of how Akashi used to be."

"Ugh... pfft!"

The moment Sanashita mentioned it, Oda couldn't help but picture the old delinquent version of Akashi Asuka. He hadn't found it that funny at the time, but now, with the reformed Akashi fresh in his mind, the comparison broke him. He couldn't stop laughing.

"By the way, speaking of Akashi… where is that guy?"

"With his personality? If he's not training, what else would he be doing?"

"Training? Don't tell me he's not playing in this practice match?"

"Uh… well, about that..."

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