The Little Sister's Novel (14)

꒰ঌ The Little Sister's Novel 14

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Let's talk about what happened afterwards in regards to the plagiarism situation.

Cindy Falleaf aka Cinderella admitted to having stolen the novel. It seemed that Cindy thought of the idea of stealing Naruko's work after reading her submission on the MyNovel i-Club and being deeply impressed by that work.

"… This really might seem strange considering how much I was bashing it before. But it was really interesting, seriously. Of course, the writing style wasn't good at all, and the grammar was terrible… if this were me ten years ago reading it, I probably would have wanted to kill her. But, you could really feel that she was having fun from the bottom of her heart while she was writing it. It was as if she was proudly shouting 'Hey look, this is me!' right in your face. But really, that was how I was like ten years ago too. Writing my first novel, I thought in a similar way, and definitely had a great time writing it. 'Let's do that, and this,' and getting a thrill out of it all. It really reminded me of those times… and for some reason I suddenly felt this annoyed, absurd feeling welling up in me…"

And then she had given into temptation.

Ibiki-san also lowered his head towards us.

"I really do apologize as well. There was absolutely no excuse for what had happened. I will have to apologize to the real Ruko Sensei as well."

After that, he also said this: "The special thing about webnovels may be precisely what Cinderella had felt. If you ask me, each and every one of us has the power to write things that only we can write, and to use that uniqueness to deeply impact a great number of people. This does not apply to only webnovels, but also doujinshi and doujinshi games, web novels, and even submissions on Nico Nico Douga and pixiv. And in these amateur works, it is common to find scattered about hints of the unique visions that the creators had for their work."

"You can see all the interesting bits and pieces laid bare there; bits and pieces that wouldn't survive the editing process if the work were to be prepared for sale on the market. Just like how it works with webnovels, you should seek to capitalize as much as possible on the uniqueness your works have as amateur works — the fact that this type of model actually can hold its own in the market is proof in itself that amateurs can sometimes surpass professionals. Of course, I won't deny that there are works among these that are severely lacking technically… but nevertheless, just because these works can be a mixed bag is no reason to just lump them all together and reject them all."

"On the one hand, Cinderella and Ruby-kun. The work you two have done does not interest our company very much, and we definitely would not be able to publish it. That is something that probably will not change. But, I firmly believe that the work you want to do still has a wonderful possibility to touch a lot of people. In other words, it's like this." A wicked grin appeared on his face. "Please continue to try as much as you can."

To those same words, Ruby had once responded with nothing but animosity… but this time, her eyes soon burned with the flame of determination to triumph over this old man.

And then… that day, Cindy got in touch with Naruko, and after Naruko recovered from the flu both Ibiki-san and Cindy went to apologize together. They gave her a rundown of the facts and details surrounding the situation (of course, they kept Ruby and my involvement in the matter a secret), and lowered their heads.

Naruko responded with something like "Hmph, it's fine. To be honest, it really wasn't bothering me anymore," and readily forgave them. I thought "But you were crying about this, weren't you?" but it really did seem like outside of me, Ruby, and Mio, Naruko managed to be pretty nice. If only on the surface. Well, granted, it was true that she was quite famous in this neighborhood even though her real personality was like that. Geez, what a screwed up world we live in. By the way, I heard about what had happened from Cindy and Naruko separately.

"By the way, you seemed to be pretty bothered by what was happening, so I'll tell you now."

"Not like I really care. Hmph, well, the book went out under your name, right?"

"Yeah. Well, it was a bother to change it, so we just kept the penname as 'Ruko'. Ibiki-san had said that doing that would make the book sell better. Hm, but…"

"What?"

"Nothing… hmm… it's just… there's something that doesn't make sense here. I mean, in the time I was stuck in bed, everything just resolved on its own, right? And I wasn't planning on doing anything about it either…"

"What's with that attitude? Just be happy that everything ended up going well."

It was February. Around half a month after those events, Naruko appeared to have recovered from the flu and jumped right back into her work and club activities. I stopped seeing the once familiar sight of her going around fiddling with her cell phone, so when I asked her about her novels, she gave me this response.

"Ah, that? I stopped."

She had already agreed to take on a second volume, but it seemed that her days as a novelist would stop after that. She had already written up the manuscript for the second volume, so there wasn't much left for her to do.

I was quite shocked. I mean… there are people who have been devoting themselves to this for ten years but haven't been able to publish anything, you know? Is it really alright… for her to just so casually throw that away? Did Ruby know about this?

Various doubts and feelings ran through my head, but Naruko seemed resolute. She had already sent her apologies to Ibiki-san and all the readers who were hoping to read more. Call it professionalism if you want, or rather a strong sense of duty.

"It's just that now, there are other things I definitely want to do. I have priorities, so I have to stop with the webnovels. I've also learned a lesson from collapsing after working too hard."

"Things you want to do? You don't mean new eroge releases, do you?"

"T-there's that too, sure!"

This girl!

"I want to play eroge, so I can't keep on writing books."

… If the aspiring novelists of the world heard you say that they would kill you, you know!? Geez, this is why people who are overly talented piss me off. Producing incredible results, but then nonchalantly throwing that away and moving right onto the next thing. For people who have spent their lives grinding away for results, all they would be able to say would be "I can't take this anymore!"

"You're thinking something rude, aren't you!? That's not the only thing I want to do!"

"Well then, what?"

"Huh? Why the hell do I have to tell you?"

"Fine! Forget I asked!"

Well, leaving that little exchange aside, today, for the first time in a while, Naruko's otaku friends had gathered at our house. Now that I think about it, this was the first time Mio had come over to our house. Also, I may have said that this was the first time in a while, but it really had been a few months since Naruko, Ruby, and Mio (with me as the extra) had been under the same roof together. Well, granted, they didn't go to the same school, so it's not a surprise. Things pile up, and they don't have enough time to see each other. So, really, you could say that this was a bit of a reunion party for friends who had not seen each other in a while. You might think that sounds pretty charming, but…

"Honestly, wasn't this supposed to be the continuation of the anime appreciation event we had last time!? So isn't it obvious we should finish watching Lucchan when we stopped in the middle of an episode last time!? But you want to play Siscali!? Why the hell would I invite you over just to be forced to play what you're good at!? Hey, answer me, you piece of shit wannabe vampire!"

"Isn't it natural that the host should make the guest feel comfortable? Even though I used up my long-awaited break to come here, the host seems intent on forcing us to do only what she wants to do… exactly what is the meaning of that? I even went so far as to bring a present for you."

When these two got together, it quickly devolved into this. Didn't they have other things they wanted to talk about that had built up over the past months? Why did they have to break out into a fight every time they met? Or was it that these fights were just their way of showing their affection for each other?

By the way, I guess I should mention that right now, we were in our living room. When I returned from the kitchen, carrying the snacks and juice I always prepared in situations like this, their battle had already begun. I didn't want to spill the juice, so I didn't approach the table.

"… Gift? Could you mean this?" As veins throbbed in Naruko's forehead, she took out a bundle of A4-sized papers. Ruby calmly crossed her arms and nodded. She spoke in an incredibly sarcastic tone.

"Yes, precisely. You should be thankful for all my work in collecting those online reviews of My Wing and bringing them to you. You're curious about how it was doing, aren't you? Ms. Ruko Sensei."

"Hmph, and that's why you cherry-picked all the trashy reviews and printed them out to show me!? How much of a crappy personality do you have!?"

"… How upsetting. This is the proof of our friendship, you know. It's a kind warning that you shouldn't get too full of yourself just because some overly generous readers praised the garbage you wrote."

"Why the hell do you care!? And what are you warning me about so smugly like that? Heh, you're just bitter, aren't you!? Nice one, you dumbass jealous wannabe!"

Continuing on by repeating "nice one!" over and over, Naruko began to mock Ruby with all her might.

"Kyahaha! Kyaaahahaha! Haaheehee!"

Almost dancing about, Naruko began to clap. While she looked at Ruby's face…

"Hey, what are you feeling right now? Hey hey, seeing someone who started writing after you debuted before you, what are you feeling right now? If you don't like it, why don't you just go and debut yourself? Doesn't it embarrass you as a creator to only be able to deal with your grudges by harassing me so childishly like this?"

"… Grrrrrrrrrr…"

Ruby was making a face I couldn't show to polite company. I really do wonder what she's feeling right now…

Ruby had gone through a lot to protect Naruko's webnovel too. She had to bear with harsh criticism of her own doujinshi, verbally sparred with Cindy, aired out her unsightly jealousy, but even after all that could put everything aside with a "but that is that'' and sincerely wished to help save Naruko's work. And then to be called a dumbass jealous wannabe by the very person you saved… it was just pretty terrible treatment all around.

But, if we told Naruko the truth about what had happened, it would be terribly embarrassing and would be nothing but committing suicide. Ruby and I were both determined to take this secret with us to our graves. Speaking of what I had gained from this entire experience, I guess I had achieved a strange semblance of camaraderie with Ruby.

"Hey hey Naruko, you're an author, aren't you? Do you really think you should be taking up such an arrogant tone towards the people who read your book? They all took precious time out of their schedules just to read it, you know. Well? The appropriate thing to do here would be to just keep quiet and listen to their advice, wouldn't it?"

"Are. You. An. Idioooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot!?"

Never before had I received such heartfelt words from my sister. I really wanted to believe that this personality problem was her problem alone, and that authors in general didn't have this issue.

After hitting me hard with her intense "Are you an idiot!?" Naruko suddenly seemed to have realized something, and began to scrutinize the top page on the pile of papers Ruby had given her.

"… By the way, this site's URL here… I've seen it on your SNS Profile Page, I think…"

"That's my site."

"Wha… !?" With no shortage of shock and anger, Naruko stiffened. The muscles on her face convulsed. "Y-y-you…"

"Is that your new impression of a chicken?"

"I'll kill you! I'll completely murder you! Y-you… Y-y-y-you…"

"O-Orange-chan! Calm down! What are you going to do with that ashtray!?"

I had already begun to run to try to stop Naruko, but Mio was one step ahead of me and bound Naruko's arms behind her back. Nevertheless, as she watched Naruko being restrained, Ruby began to throw oil on the fire.

"Hah, as expected from a webnovelist, your vocabulary is severely lacking."

"Gyaaaaaaaah!? Y-you just listen to me good! Alright!? Sooner or later, I'm definitely going to flood your damn site with flames!"

"Hmph, how boring. Kukuku… I look forward to that. I'll let you experience firsthand the power of someone who has been around since the golden age of text sites…"

"Y-y-you stink of jakigan as usual, don't you!? This is why you go so far as to bury blog posts with gross comments! Also, you're wearing the same damn Gothic Lolita outfit today… what are you supposed to be, some Digital Cute Eroge character or something?!"

"Wha… what did you say? O-once again, you've said something you shouldn't say… you tomato head bitch. Let me just take this opportunity to say that it's really gaudy for a first year high schooler to be running around with makeup on. Don't come too close to me, or that perfume reeking of bitch will get stuck to my clothes too."

"Shut up! Wear different clothes once in a while, dammit!"

For close to ten minutes after that, the two of them continued to throw cheap shots at each other. In any case, when I asked Mio, she told me that the impetus for this conflict came when they had a difference of opinion over what they should do first today.

Just hearing about what was happening tired me out, but for some reason Mio seemed happy. She was probably just glad that this group could finally get together again after such a long time. And her happiness was quite contagious. Even though I knew, I asked anyway.

"Hey, what are you smiling about?"

"Well, I was just thinking back on the first time we all met each other… over half a year has passed since then, right…? My my, time sure does fly."

"Yeah, I suppose."

Time certainly did fly. It flew, and during this short half a year I felt like I had changed quite a lot. For better or for worse. If I hadn't picked up that DVD case my sister had dropped… I probably wouldn't see Ruby and Mio as "my sister's friends", but also as my own friends… as very important people to me. I hadn't met with them very often, but this wasn't about how many times we've met.

As I sunk into these serious contemplations, Naruko took a break from arguing with Ruby and cut into Mio and my conversation.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Orange-chan. Haha, well, if you want to decide what we should do first, why don't we do the same thing that we did the first time we met?"

"What do you mean?" Ruby cut in and asked about Mio' proposal. But I had already caught onto what she meant.

"That, remember? Going in order and each of us getting a turn to speak."

"As expected from Haruto-chan, getting right to the point. At that time, we were allowed to ask the person introducing himself or herself a question… that kind of game."

That was a game? Naruko seemed to consent to this idea, and nodded.

"How nostalgic. Kukuku… the first time we met, you were huddled up like a scared little kitten, weren't you…?"

"Wha— …"At Ruby's recollection, Naruko flushed a brilliant red. "Y-you weren't any better, were you!?"

"Well well… hahaha, it is quite nostalgic. After that, you both really hit it off after talking about anime…"

"Don't be an idiot. Who the hell would 'hit it off' with this girl…"

"We definitely didn't 'hit it off'!"

They both collectively denied Mio' statement. Ah, yes, it was like that. They had a difference of opinion over Zodiac Angel Lucifen and Xgate Online, and got into a fight then too. And ever since then they had been like that. In a sense, they haven't changed at all. Just thinking about it made me smile.

… Hm, what was this? Could it be that I was enjoying a moment of reminiscence here? Ohh, that's pretty amazing if that's true. To think that I would be able to reminisce about something with my sister.

Mio forcibly pulled Ruby and Naruko apart as they had their glaring match. In order to steer the course of the argument in a different direction, she began to go on and on.

"In other words, this time, the one who gives the most interesting response to the topic can decide what we're going to do. And, the topic this time is 'something unexpected that happened to you recently.' Let's go in the same order as last time… Ruby-chan, go ahead!"

"As always, you're just arbitrarily deciding things…"

The first time we had met, Ruby had said something similar. But even so, she didn't seem as displeased as she let on. And she continued in the same way she had that time long ago.

"Well, fine… hmph 'something unexpected that happened to you recently,' was it? Well…" Ruby pondered the issue for a bit, and finally spoke in an indifferent tone while watching Naruko. "Your brother confessed his love to me."

Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough! I gasped for air. Ruby! What the hell?! W-w-w-what the hell are you saying… !? Certainly, I never said something like that!

Dammit! Through my violent coughs, I couldn't even put my explanation into words! As that was happening, Mio bent forward in curiosity and raised her voice.

"Hoh hoh hoh hoh hoh… and what exactly is the meaning of this? Please do fill us in on the details!"

"Sorry, but I cannot. That's our little secret. Right, Nii-san?"

"You're already making her call you Nii-san?! Haruto-chan, there's a limit to how much you can be into eroge!"

"Nooooooooooooooooo! Mio-chan, what the hell!? You're just being cruel on purpose!"

"Naturally."

This woman! I'll get both of them back for this someday! My fist shook in frustrated annoyance. As if dealing the finishing blow, Naruko, the only one who wasn't in on the joke, sent me a scornful look.

She looked incredibly displeased. She was probably not able to take the idea that I had gotten closer to Ruby. She might even be thinking that I was stealing one of her friends away from me. If that were the case, it would admittedly be a pretty cute situation. In any case, Naruko didn't seem to think too much of Ruby's response. Her chances of victory seemed to have slimmed.

Mio next announced that it was Naruko's turn, but having been put in a bad mood, Naruko turned away with an "I'm still thinking…" Having no other choice, Mio spoke cheerfully in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere a bit.

"Well, it's my turn then! Hmm, let's see… 'something unexpected that happened to you recently'… hm, I wonder what I should say…"

She didn't think of an answer even though she was the one who had proposed the topic? Well, it was pretty like her to do that, though. Finally, Mio clapped her hands once, and hit us with quite an amazing announcement.

"The incident where I went to an arranged marriage meeting while I wore this outfit and the person I was meeting fainted."

How sad! I was so filled up on how to snarkily respond to her statement that I didn't even know where to begin, but that's really not something "unexpected that happened to you", right? Instead, it was something "traumatic that happened to whomever you were visiting".

"Disqualification."

Our voices harmonized. It seemed that everyone outside of Mio had come to the same conclusion.

"Ah, but I was so sure that was a good answer… Well, that's fine. Then, once again, it's Orange-chan's turn! Have you thought of anything yet?"

"Hm, well… I don't think it's anything that impressive, but I guess I've thought of something… 'something unexpected that happened to you recently', right? Well then…" Naruko spoke in an unexpectedly hesitant way. "I guess when I bought a game called 'Brute Brother' and thought it was a little sister game, but it turned out to be a homo game."

Yup, we have a winner. What an awful conversation… I'm never playing one of Mio's topic games ever again.

And well, pretty much continuing in that way, the long-awaited otaku meeting came to an end. It seemed that their relationship hadn't changed a single bit in the space of these few months. It made me a bit happy to see that.

I saw Ruby and Mio off with Naruko in the entranceway, and the minute I turned back into the house Naruko called me.

"Bro."

"Yeah…?"

"The next time I ask for life counseling will be the last."

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