As the top student in his grade, although Asakura did not know "Quantum Speed Reading," his reading speed was definitely guaranteed. He quickly finished flipping through the manuscript for the light novel volume.
"If I were to compare it to the first volume of Koisuru Metronome, to put it simply," Asakura said as he handed the manuscript back to the girl, stating concisely: "It's pretty trash"
"Ugh..." The girl looked devastated, as if she were about to burst into tears.
"Setting aside the decline in writing skill for a moment, even the fundamental concept and style of the work have changed," Asakura commented mercilessly.
"I... I told you, I wanted to write a slightly more sunny and cheerful story..." the girl defended herself in a small voice.
"The problem is that it's inappropriate," Asakura sighed. "The previous parts featured male and female protagonists with delicate emotions and sensitive minds engaging in a bittersweet, push-and-pull romance. Yet, the latest volume starts becoming nonsensical and slapstick, playing around with 'combustible oolong tea' tropes... No matter how you look at it, this isn't right. Isn't the change too drastic for a single work? Readers will find it very hard to accept"
"..This... this is the growing pain of a transition."
"Even if we take 40,075,077 steps back to consider it."
"That's way too many steps back! Wait, hasn't that just circled back to the starting point...?" the girl muttered.
"You actually understood that?" Asakura was startled.
"Hehe," the girl let out a slightly proud sound. "I'm not boasting, but at Toyogasaki, my grades are also among the top of the year. I at least know things like the circumference of the Earth..."
"Well then, top-of-the-year student from Toyogasaki, let us continue discussing the rejection of your novel."
"Ugh..."
"Backtracking 40.07 million..."
"Are we starting from there?" the girl couldn't help but complain quietly.
"Even if you say you want to write a sunny and cheerful story, and it clearly looks like you intended to take the comedy route based on the text, the actual execution is still quite terrible" Asakura began to analyze the problem more seriously.
"Um... I've already been shot down by the editor, so I don't need to be... uh..."
"Just call me Asakura."
"Al-alright. Anyway, I already know I'm a complete mess with no redeeming qualities, and that my delusions of becoming a light novel author are as pathetic as a toad in a well, so I don't need to be shot down again by you, Asakura-san..."
"That's not right," Asakura spoke up. The girl looked at him with shimmering eyes, seemingly expecting him to comfort her. Asakura then said solemnly: "The one looking at the sky from the bottom of a well is a frog, not a toad."
"Is that the part that needs correcting?!" The girl slumped onto the table, looking as deflated as a leaking ball, muttering, "As expected, a person like me..."
"Actually, writing style and genre can be set aside for now. The biggest problem with this volume isn't those things. Even if you say you want to write a lighthearted and happy story, your own mood while writing clearly wasn't 'lighthearted' at all."
Asakura's voice turned sharp: "It's like a gloomy, socially anxious guitarist trying to write sunny, positive songs just to be popular. Because you don't actually feel that way in your heart, you can only mimic popular songs and write hollow, ambiguous lyrics that fail to resonate with anyone."
He concluded decisively: "That's why it was an outright 'rejection' rather than a request for revisions... This simply can't be fixed; it has to be rewritten."
"So... so that's how it is..." Kasumigaoka Utaha showed an expression of sudden realization. "Although Asakura-san's example is a bit strange, I somehow understand it... As expected, it's my own useless problem. But surely there are people who like dark stories too..."
"Not necessarily," Asakura said casually, taking a sip of his honey specialty drink.
The girl seemed to realize something and asked after a slight hesitation: "...Um, may I ask, what happened to that guitarist in the end?"
"Apparently, she was scolded by the bassist until she started facing her own heart and wrote incredibly dark lyrics."
"I see..." The girl lowered her gaze, her tone sounding somewhat helpless. "Then the end must be..."
"By the way, although that band hasn't performed many live shows, they have become quite popular. In fact, if it weren't for certain reasons preventing them from exerting '1,000%' of their strength, it wouldn't even be impossible for them to perform at the Budokan or open a live show at a Dome within a year."
"Eh? That's amazing?! I thought..." Kasumigaoka Utaha's eyes widened in surprise.
"Thought that no one would like dark songs? No, you're dead wrong." Asakura shook his head.
"Whether it's sunny and bright or dark and sad, a light novel or rock music, their essence is no different. Everything, at its root, is just a 'work.' The only thing that determines a work's final value is its 'quality'—even if trash succeeds through temporary marketing, the bar charts representing its sales will only be a pillar of shame in history. The work itself will eventually fall into the dust, remembered by no one."
The girl remained silent, seemingly reflecting on Asakura's words. Asakura drained the rest of his drink from the plastic cup and prepared to leave. Although it was an accident, he had intended to have Eriri take him to see this Kasumigaoka Utaha before he set out anyway, as a way of repaying Eriri for drawing the costume designs. It seemed he couldn't find the reason for the girl's change for the time being; he would likely have to wait until his True Sight recovered.
Just as he was about to leave, the girl suddenly spoke.
"..I can't write it."
"Huh?"
"I can no longer find the feeling I had when I wrote the first two volumes of Koisuru Metronome... It's as if my past emotions have been extracted from my body. The current me is just the dregs of the original 'Utako'..." the girl said softly, her tone carrying an indescribable sadness. "Even if I force myself to write, it will just become what you said, Asakura-san, a hollow shell mimicking others... What on earth should I do now..."
Asakura frowned slightly. He had originally thought she hadn't noticed the changes in herself, but it seemed that wasn't the case. And hearing her say this, the change must have happened suddenly at a specific point in time.
Asakura sat back down. "Do you mind telling me about what happened on the day your 'emotions were extracted from your body'?"
"I'm sorry, I don't actually have a very vivid impression of it. It was just an ordinary day. In fact, when I first noticed it, I thought it was just a hallucination from not sleeping well the night before..."
Her answer was a major disappointment to Asakura. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Well then, are you interested in going on a spontaneous trip?"