247 Popularity Is Strength! (1/2)
A [Random Draw] card... so such a card finally appeared, and it was even in a ”shard” form!
Seiji instantly understood what it was by the name. He checked the system’s explanation to confirm his thoughts, and it was just as he expected.
[When you have five [Random Draw Shards], you may combine them into a [Random Draw] card. If you don’t have enough [Random Draw Shards], you may also exchange for them with points.]
[Each [Random Draw] card will reward you with a random item.]
‘Now you’re giving me [Random Draws] and even [shards]... You’ve finally fallen to such an extent, system of mine,’ Seiji inwardly commented.
As anyone who’d played an internet-based browser game or cell phone game before would know, terms like [Random Draw] or [shards]—or their equivalent—were incredibly common in such games and the players viewed them with mixed feelings.
The thrill of [Random Draws] was addictive: there were wonderful surprises like ”drawing a legendary on the first try” or depressing events like ”drawing nothing but commons fifty times in a row.” It was a contrast between heaven and hell, the lucky and the unlucky... and games reaped huge amounts of profit from the maths behind probability. There were probably enough regretful players to form a line around the world’s equator.
And while ”shards” could give players a specific reward, they would have to obtain many of them through certain tasks or by grinding specific levels and so on, which wasn’t all that fun by itself.
Sometimes, players would even wax philosophical about it: ‘Am I playing the game, or is the game playing me?”; ”Is the time spent on this worth it?”; ”What is the meaning of life?’ Such philosophical questions were just a few examples from the many out there.
At any rate, if he wanted to, Seiji could comment on these two common game factors for three consecutive days and nights, but he decided to forgo that.
No matter what, it was good that he would be rewarded.
Thunderbolt Literature’s magazine would surely sell more copies, so his story would receive more exposure, and more and more readers would enjoy his work, so he would constantly receive more rewards.
‘Now that I have such a reward option, I really need to take novel writing super seriously,’ Seiji thought to himself. 'After all, popularity is strength!’
If he wrote even better novels, more readers would enjoy it, and he would reap a large number of points and items.
He continued writing his novel. And like this, it was lunchtime before he knew it.
Chiaki and Mika had both finished reading his novel and had given him excellent reviews.
”I think that your novel has the potential to be extended into a longer one... no, you definitely should continue it,” Chiaki told him. ”After I finished, I still wanted to read; I felt that there wasn’t enough to satisfy me.”
”It’s good that you guys like it.” Seiji smiled. ”As for continuing that story... I may do so in the future, but I don’t have any plans to do so right now. First, I want to focus on doing a good job for ‘Brother Monogatari,’ as I believe it will be an even better story than this short story here! That’s because I worked hard on creating it together with Shika-chan.”
Seiji assumed a resolute eexpression.
Both Mika and Chiaki were rather moved; they felt that he looked really cool with such a serious expression.
”I really look forward to it... when you’re done, could you let me look at your draft?” Chiaki asked.
”I’d like to see your draft as well.” Mika made the same request.
Seiji grinned. ”Of course. I should say that I'm hoping for the two of you to give me an early review.”
At this moment, someone walked up to them. It was Kaho Miyamoto.
She had a lunchbox in her hand and was blushing furiously as she walked over to them. She was obviously nervous.
”I... would like to eat lunch together with you guys. Is... is that alright?”
Seiji exchanged glances with Chiaki and Mika. ”Of course.”
”You’re more than welcome, Miyamoto-san,” Chiaki said.
”Please have a seat...” Mika chimed in.
Naturally, three of them had no problem with her presence.
Kaho inwardly heaved a sigh of relief and relaxed visibly when the trio greeted her amicably. She was still nervous, though, and sat down tentatively.
Her good friend Momoko Matsuoka had repeatedly encouraged her, and her friend's urging had bolstered her courage to the point of doing this.
If it had been up to herself, she would have been satisfied with just being able to talk to Seigo Harano during class time. A ”big event” like eating lunch together with him was something to be left for later...
But Momoko argued against her way of thinking and advised her that she needed to take action as quickly as possible in order to ensure their new status as friends.
Eating together during lunchtime was common for friends to do. If she could do this much, it would secure her relationship with him as a friend.
And if she didn’t do this much, their relationship as friends—which was only verbal—would gradually fade over time if they didn’t have constant contact. Eventually, they’d end up being ”casual friends.”
Kaho felt that Momoko was right, so she accepted her advice and decided to take this step forward.
Voluntarily getting closer to him and adding herself to his social circle... she'd done it once already during the laser tag activity, but this was different, as this was a commonplace, everyday activity rather than a one-time event.
Participating in an one-time event together was poles apart from doing something like eating lunch with him every day.
This was truly taking a step into his social world. She had taken this step, but she hadn’t crossed the threshold just yet.
She needed to do a good job and make it through lunchtime.
Just what should she do? What should she say? Should she bring up a topic of conversation? Would she be able to follow their topics of conversation? Such anxieties filled her heart.