"My name is Xingqiu."
Xingqiu blurted it out on reflex, caught momentarily off guard.
Hearing that answer, Fang Qiu's brain promptly stalled out.
Xingqiu?
The author of A Legend of Sword?
But wasn't that supposed to be a guy?
The spirited, sharp-featured young girl standing in front of her — no matter how she looked at her, from head to toe, this was unmistakably a girl.
"If I may ask — what is your name, miss?"
Xingqiu asked in turn.
"Fang Qiu."
Fang Qiu answered without thinking.
Now it was Xingqiu's turn to be stunned.
"You're the Fang Qiu who wrote Sword and Fairy?"
Xingqiu stared, disbelief written all over her face.
"Mm."
Fang Qiu gave a small nod.
"But I heard you were a seedy middle-aged man with a face full of stubble?"
Xingqiu said, clearly astonished.
"Huh? Has it really come to that?"
Fang Qiu didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Though, come to think of it — yes, there had been rumors like that floating around lately. She had heard people chatting about it just the other day while she was out eating noodles.
The rumors, of course, varied wildly. The "seedy middle-aged man with stubble" was only one version.
Some said she was actually a withered old man — because otherwise, how could anyone write books that good?
Others claimed she was a man who cross-dressed as a woman, and had used the feminine disguise to lure readers into buying her early books back when she couldn't write very well yet.
And then there was the truly inspired theory: that she was actually a Hilichurl disguised as a human.
Naturally, Fang Qiu had no interest whatsoever in setting the record straight.
The more confused people were, the better.
That way, she was far less likely to be recognized on the street.
With Bai Qing making the formal introduction, the two of them fully confirmed each other's identities.
Though neither was particularly thrilled to admit it — the striking, beautiful young girl standing before Fang Qiu did, in fact, appear to be a boy.
The atmosphere turned rather awkward for a moment.
But with Bai Qing steering the conversation, they loosened up after a few exchanges, and the tension dissolved.
During their chat, Fang Qiu also learned something interesting: just before she had arrived, Xingqiu had been in the middle of telling Bai Qing that he had been hoping to meet her.
He had said he wanted to see what kind of person could write something like Sword and Fairy — to meet the author behind a work like that in the flesh.
And in the course of their conversation, Fang Qiu quietly tested the waters — and confirmed once and for all that Xingqiu was an ordinary person. Not a transmigrator. Just someone with an unusually vivid imagination.
After chatting with Xingqiu and Bai Qing for a good while, Fang Qiu rose and said her goodbyes.
After so many days of non-stop writing, she deserved to stroll around, enjoy herself, and eat something good as a reward.
It was still a little early for lunch, technically speaking.
But, to borrow Xingqiu's phrase from the other day — stealing half a day of leisure from a busy life.
She was going to rest.
Besides, it wouldn't do to keep interrupting Bai Qing's work.
And so, after bidding farewell to Xingqiu and Bai Qing, Fang Qiu made her way out of the editorial office.
The moment she was gone, two female editors swarmed over.
"Ah Qing, Ah Qing — was Fang Qiu just here to submit a manuscript?"
One of them, a female editor named Li Yao, asked eagerly.
"Mm. Judging by the page count, it looks like a short novel — similar in length to Your Name."
Bai Qing gave a small nod, glancing at the thickness of the manuscript as she spoke.
"I'm so jealous. I wish my author was half this prolific. I went to his place yesterday to push him along, only to find out that after an entire month, his new book has exactly one thing — a title."
"Same here. When Fang Qiu submitted the manuscript for Your Name, my author hadn't touched a single word. Now Fang Qiu's already back to submit another new book, and he's still..."
"He still hasn't written a single word?"
"Two hundred characters."
"Oh, come on... Xiao Fang, why don't you just find a single bestselling author from your roster and marry him? Tell him he can't come to bed until he finishes his daily word count."
"Ha — didn't Sister Lin do exactly that? Married one of her own authors. At first it worked great — he was writing diligently every single day. But then, after a while, he started skipping his targets on purpose just to avoid coming to bed. Hasn't hit his quota once since."
"Ugh, never mind all that misery. Ah Qing — what kind of story did Fang Qiu write this time?"
Li Yao asked.
"I had a quick look at the opening. It seems to be set in the same world as Your Name."
Bai Qing said.
"Heh heh — Ah Qing, can we read Fang Qiu's new book together?"
Li Yao smiled and said, "I heard Fang Qiu had turned over a new leaf, so I went out and bought Your Name a few days ago. The ending was just so sweet. Since we're not doing much right now anyway — can we take a peek at the new book together?"
"Well... I suppose that's fine."
Bai Qing hesitated for a moment, then agreed.
Before she could even finish deciding how they would read it together, the two female editors had already dragged their stools over and planted themselves on either side of her.
Nearby, Xingqiu watched them with barely concealed envy.
He wanted to read Fang Qiu's new book too.
But...
Setting aside the matter of propriety between men and women — he and an editor were different things entirely. Editors reading and discussing manuscripts together was perfectly within the terms of their contracts.
But for an author to sneak a look at another author's unpublished manuscript? That would be a breach of contract.
Fine.
He still had several of Fang Qiu's books sitting at home that he hadn't gotten to yet. He would go home and read those.
And once this new book went on sale — he was going to be first in line to buy it.
With that settled in his mind, Xingqiu said his goodbyes to Bai Qing and made his way out of the editorial office.
Once he was gone, the three women settled in together and began reading Fang Qiu's new book.
"5 Centimeters Per Second? Trust Fang Qiu to come up with another bizarre title. Five centimeters per second — what on earth moves at five centimeters per second?"
Li Yao asked, baffled.
Bai Qing smiled and nodded in quiet agreement.
Fang Qiu's titles were never what you'd call catchy — nothing like the light novels coming out of Inazuma, where the title alone was practically a sales pitch. In fact, at first glance, they often felt downright strange. Your Lie in April. The Eternal. Your Name. All of them.
The only title that looked remotely normal on the first read was probably Sword and Fairy.
And yet — once you'd actually read the book, you came to realize that Fang Qiu's titles were nothing short of perfect.
Beside the title, a single line of small text.
It was the sentence printed on the title page of the book.
"I heard it's five centimeters per second.
Hm? What is?
The speed at which cherry blossoms fall — five centimeters per second."
Below that came the main text.
The story was set in Inazuma.
After transferring to a new school, Toono Takaki met Shinohara Akari, who had also just transferred in. Both of them were frail children who disliked going out to the sports grounds — they preferred, instead, to read books together.
And so, naturally, the two of them grew close.
But precisely because of that closeness, they were often teased by their classmates — people would write things like "Takaki and Akari are getting married" on the blackboard.
But Toono Takaki had stepped forward bravely, erased the words from the blackboard, and taken Shinohara Akari's hand as he led her away.
"As expected of Fang Qiu — this is really lovely. There's this warm, sweet feeling to it. Come to think of it, these two are childhood sweethearts, aren't they? Speaking of which, something like this might have happened to me when I was little too..."
The female editor Li Yao beside her smiled naturally, the corners of her mouth curving upward as she spoke.
"Mm, I suppose they are."
Bai Qing gave a small nod, murmured her agreement, and continued reading carefully.
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