Prologue (1/2)

Bungaku Shoujo: Volume1 Prologue

Mine has been a life of much shame.

Amongst a flock of white sheep, I was born the peculiar black sheep.

I cannot experience the joy my companions can feel, or the sadness my companions can feel, nor can I

eat the same things my companions can eat.

Alien to its companions’ feelings of affection- love, kindness, empathy, and many others, all the tragic

black sheep can do is cover its black wool with white powder, and pretend to be a white sheep.

Even now I am still wearing the mask, and play the part of the clown.

Prologue: The flashback that takes the place of my self-introduction ----- a

former genius Bishoujo writer

Mine has been a life of much shame.

What? Who once said something like that?

An actor? An athlete? Or was it a politician who got arrested for accepting bribes?

Let’s not mind too much of who said it.

I just entered my 2nd year of senior high school. It is a bit pretentious of me to say things like

“mine has been a life of…” But when I was 14, I did experience events that shocked all who

were involved. The events that happened knocked me over as if they were the rough waves of the

sea. In one short year, I actually felt as if my life had ended.

In one year, I became the mysterious Bishoujo writer who became popular and well known

throughout j.a.pan.

This happened in the spring of my 3rd year of junior high school.

Back then I was 14, and was fast approaching the 15-year-old mark. I was a very ordinary

student. I had friends, and I had someone I liked. Those were quite the days. And then, as if I

swallowed the wrong medicine, I submitted my very first novel scripts to an amateur writing

contest held by a literature magazine. Incredibly, I became the youngest writer ever to win the

contest. The story was written as a girl narrating in a first person point of view. Furthermore, I

used the female name Miu Asakura as the pen name, so the magazine thought-

“The youngest writer ever! The award-winning, 3rd year, 14-year-old girl author!”

“Such a genuine writing style and yet, such sensibly delicate delivery of the plot and theme! The

story has every judge complimenting it in glee!”

The magazine used such phrases to market my story.

Oh gosh, I feel so ashamed.

“Girl writers are usually more popular. Let’s market you as a mask-wearing, mysterious, cute,

Bishoujo writer!”

Under the extreme persuasions from the editorial staff…

(How would the reader know that I am a “cute” Bishoujo if I wear a mask?)

I all but grudgingly agreed to publish my story. Then the book became a bestseller. Then it

became a bestseller with more than a million copies sold. Then it got adapted into a movie, a TV

drama series, even a manga series. The whole population was practically talking about the book.