“The sky’s clear tonight, the moon’s beautiful. Care to take a look with me, Nogami-san?” Having washed up, Harutaki returned to his room. Seeing that Nogami hadn’t driven him out, he took her silence as tacit approval to stay. After the commotion earlier, neither of them could sleep. So he drew back the curtains and leaned on the balcony railing, gazing out at the waning crescent hanging over the spring night. Even though they lived in the heart of bustling Tokyo, few tall buildings surrounded them. From this second-floor room, one could see the moon suspended over the far eastern sea with startling clarity. “How cliché can you get, Natsume Hoshikawa-kun? Please, come up with something more original.” Arms folded, Nogami leaned against the headboard, her tone dry and mocking. Huh. So when he’s fired up and vengeful, he’s Hanzawa Harutaki, but when he’s relaxed, he turns into Natsume Harutaki? (TL: I don’t know the reference, sorry) “A lady from a noble family should at least decline in a more refined way, something like… hmm…” He paused dramatically, then smiled. “…‘The nightingale sings, yet drowsy eyes shun the tryst?’” “That doesn’t even rhyme. Spare Natsume Sōseki(poet), please.” “Then how about this, ‘Did you eat your dinner? Wanna come see the leftover pancake up in the sky?’” “What kind of grade-school metaphor is that? Lame.” Despite her words, Nogami climbed down from the bed and came to stand beside him, looking up at that thin crescent, the kind of moon you only saw at the beginning or end of the month. “Then what about dorayaki?” Their idle chatter drifted along with the spring breeze that carried a faint scent of salt from the sea. Every so often, it wasn’t bad to just… exist , she thought. Under the cold wash of moonlight, it felt as if all her earlier anger and humiliation had been quietly blown away. After basking in the moonlight for a while, she spoke suddenly, pulling his attention away from the distant red beacon blinking atop a skyscraper. “People who use violence are the worst.” “What are you staring at? I know, okay? I know I’m a mean, awful girl. I’m not pretending to be better than I am.” “The thrill of picking on someone interesting… the pleasure of it, you wouldn’t understand, would you? Tell me, what could be more fun than that?” She sounded like she was talking to herself. Harutaki received a look that clearly said, Are you stupid? You admit you’re awful, keep doing awful things, and you can still say it so boldly. You’re really something else, Nogami-san. “Speaking of awful people, Nogami-san, have you ever read biographies of great figures? You know, Zweig’s The Tide of Fortune, Franklin’s autobiography, Romain Rolland’s Lives of Famous Men…” The abrupt change of topic made her raise an eyebrow. “There was a time when I was obsessed with that sort of thing. I loved reading about those extraordinary individuals who shaped the world. Among them, there was one wise man I especially admired. His story went - ” “He came from wealth and privilege. Smart, diligent, praised by teachers and parents alike, a model child, the kind every parent compares their own kid to. Handsome, too, so much so that older girls would gush over him. Even in sports, he stood out to the point that a coach once invited him to join a pro training program. “But despite it all, the boy, keenly aware of his own talent, hid his pride deep inside, always courteous, always gentle.” “Who are you talking about?” Nogami asked, curious. A perfect prodigy like that must be someone famous, right? “Don’t you think he sounds… a little like you, Nogami-san?” “Tch, don’t think you can butter me up by complimenting me indirectly.” He couldn’t see clearly in the dim light, but her face was definitely a little red. “So what do you think of this flawless, gifted boy?” “Annoying. People like that make me want to kick them off their pedestal.” Ah yes, very on-brand for Nogami Izumi. “But it’s troublesome when there’s no weakness or leverage to exploit,” she added. As expected of Nogami-san, sharp and unapologetically pragmatic. “The boy thought much the same. He tried to please his teachers, asked questions even when he knew the answers, and volunteered even when the lessons bored him. With classmates, he stayed polite but aloof, too proud to mingle with what he saw as childish riffraff. He didn’t want trouble, so he just kept to himself during class events, bathroom breaks, and even walking home.” “Even so, his all-around excellence drew attention, especially from the girls. The prettiest one in class even fell for him after sitting beside him for a while.” “But the boy didn’t want a relationship with a girl who only had cream filling for brains. He knew that rejecting her outright would cause a scene, so he simply ignored her. He thought that as long as he isolated himself, he could live peacefully.” Nogami nodded approvingly. “A true wise man. Even as a child, he knew lions don’t mingle with sheep.” …That’s not quite the takeaway, though. “He made it to his final year without issue, until a transfer student joined the class. A tall, rough kid with dark skin, built like a tank. Two years older, a repeater. Proof that even talent can lose to time.” “From that day on, everything changed. The delinquents who hung around the transfer student started targeting the boy, tripping him in the hall, knocking his books to the floor, mocking his test scores if he didn’t get a perfect hundred, even laughing at his walk or his haircut.” “Pathetic. Only idiots resort to low-level bullying.” Nogami’s lips curled in disgust. “That’s why he’s a repeater.” Harutaki said helplessly, then asked for her opinion again. “Right. So, Nogami-san, what do you think the boy did?” Official source ıs 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✶𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✶𝓷𝓮𝓽 “If he tattled to the teacher, everyone would hate him. That’d just make things worse. He didn’t have many friends anyway, so I bet he swallowed his pride and endured it. If it were me, I’d use that guy’s being a repeater as a weapon to get even.” “Brilliant deduction as always. But the boy’s patience didn’t pay off. When the transfer student found out that the prettiest girl liked him, he lost it completely. At first, he just cornered the boy in the hallways, threatening him to stay away from her. Then, after she turned him down, he waited for the boy after school and beat him up.” “Even when the boy finally reported it to the teacher and his parents, the bullying only got worse. The transfer student, knowing he was one step away from expulsion, decided he might as well go all out.” “Only then did the boy realize how naïve he’d been, thinking that following the rules would protect him. That in a world full of people who don’t play fair, being the one who does makes you the biggest fool of all.” “…That’s why I hate people who use violence.” By then, Nogami understood why Harutaki had told her this story, why he’d scolded her before, why his forceful shove and mocking smile had filled her with that unbearable sense of powerlessness. She realized that all this time, what she’d relied on wasn’t her own strength, but the privilege of being someone the rules bent around, someone who only ever fought against those bound by them. But if one day she met someone who didn’t play by those rules… then, The memory of Harutaki’s grip, his smirk, his vulgar words– still lingered in her mind. “And then? Since you called him a wise man, I assume the boy eventually found a way to deal with it?” Trying to distract herself and perhaps genuinely curious, Nogami tugged lightly at Harutaki’s sleeve, urging him to go on. Originally, I’d planned to go public with the series at the end of Volume 1, but it looks like it still needs a proper wrap-up. That should take about three more chapters. Once the arc centered on Nogami Izumi’s bullying incident concludes, Volume 1 will officially come to an end. In terms of in-world time, that’ll cover about a month’s worth of events. Volume 2 will shift the spotlight to Shihou Chouko. Her story begins during the May Golden Week holidays and runs through the early summer of June. Volume 3 will focus on Hinata Sae. After all, when you think of summer, what comes to mind more naturally than a healthy, tan-skinned girl sweating under the sun on a school field? Sanada Minako’s storyline will roughly span the latter half of Volume 3 and part of Volume 4. Volume 4’s main heroines will be the Sakuramiya sisters, Saya and Hinata. As for Miyabi-senpai, she probably won’t make her proper debut until Volume 5. That said, the “main heroine” of each volume doesn’t mean she’s the only heroine, it simply means she gets the most spotlight. Miyabi’s main story may begin in Volume 5, but that doesn’t mean she won’t appear earlier. In the middle to later parts of the series, the story will start to include supernatural elements. Speaking of which… What about the little sisters? Right, the sisters, along with Lady Rurikawa and her maid Shion, are currently planned to appear intermittently in everyday scenes. Later on, there’ll also be a setting involving St. Lilium Girls’ Academy (which serves as the second part of the “Older Sister Experience [Ane Taiken Jogakuryou]” storyline). (TL: Rurikawa Tusbaki [Maid Kyouiku], Shion [Triangle of master and servant] … damn finding characters from hentai manga is sure hard) Although it’s described as an “reverse (inner) world,” it’s really more like a loosely connected world that brings together heroines with very different traits, a mixture of realistic coherence and deliberate distortion. As for the heroines’ character settings, I can’t strictly follow the originals. After all, the reviewer wouldn’t allow that. So there’ll be creative reinterpretations and reasonable adjustments. You can think of them as different versions of the same people, same names, same appearances, similar personalities, and partly shared experiences, just not exactly the same characters. It’s a neat way to sidestep the restrictions on using the originals. For example, take Fuyuno. The idea of her being a promiscuous grade-schooler is just too absurd, so in this story, she’s more of a mischievous, flirty little brat(kusogaki), bold on the outside but timid inside. Personally, I’m not fond of stories overflowing with brainless, overly lewd characters. I’d rather cut down on the “eye candy” types and make sure every heroine has her own distinctive side, her own emotions and story. As for adding more characters, that’ll probably be a decision for the later volumes. Some characters with too-similar archetypes might not make it in, since having too many of the same kind would just feel redundant. After all, if there are too many characters and everyone gets a token scene, the story ends up dull and lifeless. What I really want is for Nogami, Sae, Minako, Chouko, Miyabi-senpai, and the Sakuramiya sisters to each have their own stories and personalities, to be girls who can feel joy from delicious sweets, frustration from study pressures, and everything in between. Each of them should shine in her own way. They’ll change because of someone’s influence, and who in turn affect others, not just exist as characters designed solely to satisfy desire. Now then, let’s talk about the system and special abilities a bit. By this point in Volume 1, I’m guessing most readers have already forgotten that the protagonist actually has a system attached to him. Originally, it was planned as a “hard-work type” system, one where you gain proficiency through effort and can draw special abilities as a reward. But that setup ended up clashing with the tone I wanted for the early and middle arcs, which focus more on school life and youthful romance. Personally, I think systems involving gachas, sign-ins, quests, stat points, or item shops all tend to make the protagonist’s growth overly driven by rewards. And that kind of atmosphere just doesn’t fit the theme or tone of a coming-of-age school story, it’s like putting strawberries in mapo tofu. Writing something heartfelt is definitely harder than writing something purely indulgent, but I’ll do my best as a newbie author. I also hope everyone can calmly share their thoughts and feedback, what works, what doesn’t, so we can discuss and improve together.