Volume 1 - CH 2

Episode 2: Family Chaos after the Retirement Announcement

On my way back home, I walked slowly and dejectedly.

“Sigh… I’m depressed. I want to die.”

I thought Michiru had been constantly encouraging me all along. But I was wrong. She was just a fan of my work, and ultimately a fan of the author, Kamimatsu.

I thought Michiru saw me and Kamimatsu as the same person… Sigh…

“I’m getting tired of it all…”

I opened my smartphone and launched the web browser. I had just uploaded the latest chapter of “Digital Master” on a popular site called “Novelist? Let’s go!” or simply “Narou.”

I opened the author page on Narou.

At the top of the screen, there was a red notification saying, “Comments received.”

Whenever I updated a chapter, I would usually receive nearly a hundred comments. The number of bookmarks had also skyrocketed. Perhaps it was due to the impact of the movie adaptation; more and more people were reading it.

…

But today, I couldn’t bring myself to check the comments right away.

“Sigh… Should I just quit?”

I muttered to myself.

Yeah, that’s right. It doesn’t matter anymore.

I have no reason to keep pushing forward… Even though Michiru was encouraging me and was happy for me… I was doing my best for her…

“Yeah, I’m done. Let’s quit.”

I made some changes on the author page of Narou, writing in the afterword, “I’m quitting.”

Next, I opened Twitter.

I had created a Twitter account under the name Kamimatsu, just for the record.

I had 100,000 followers.

But that wasn’t my accomplishment; they were all people who followed me because they enjoyed “Digital Master.”

I wrote a single tweet: “I’m retiring.”

That should do it.

“Digital Master” will come to an end. It had been adapted into anime and movies… It’s enough, right?

And then, it happened.

Ding!

I received an incoming call on my smartphone.

[Sakuhira Mei]

“The editor…? I wonder what’s up.”

I pressed the call button.

“…Hello.”

“Sensei! Where are you now!?”

Mei-san’s loud voice came through the receiver.

“I… I’m on my way home…”

“I got it! I’m coming to pick you up at your house! See you later!”

She abruptly ended the call.

Huh… What’s going on with Mei-san?

“Why is she coming to my house…? …Well, it doesn’t matter.”

The work on the new book was already finished. Let’s just leave it at that. It’s fine if “Digital Master” remains incomplete…

I became apathetic.

I continued walking dejectedly and arrived home.

“I’m home.”

“Yu-chan!”

“Yu-chan, what does it mean that you’re retiring?”

“Why, big brother? Why are you quitting? Why?”

“I-I’m back… Mom, Shiko, Utako…”

Mother and my sister clung to me as soon as I came home.

“Big brother, did someone bully you!?”

“No, it’s not that… What’s with all this suddenness?”

“But, but! You said you’re deleting Digital Master and retiring on Twitter!”

Shiko took out her smartphone and thrust it at me.

“Mom, I’m going to school to protest a bit. How dare someone bully my son!”

My mother also had a smartphone gripped in her hand.

She was emitting an aura of extraordinary anger.

“N-No, it’s not like that… I’m not being bullied, so please, really…”

“Thank goodness…”

They both let out relieved sighs.

We returned to the living room for the time being.

When I sat on the sofa, Shiko sat next to me, and my mother sat on the other side.

“Why did you say you’re retiring?”

“Well…”

Both of them know that I write novels.

And yet, they are huge fans.

“I just… started feeling… disgusted…”

“Ah, a slump, huh?”

“Is it money? A woman? Status? Honor? I’ll do anything! So don’t say you’re retiring! Whoaaaa!”

…My mother grabs my excited father by the collar.

“You…!”

“W-What now…”

My mother glares at my father with a fierce expression.

“You know, don’t you? Yuuta doesn’t want to do it.”

“Well, yes… I’m sorry…”

To think this pathetic adult is my father…

“You know too, don’t you? Yuuta made a retirement announcement.”

“Yes, I know. So what?”

“It’s a big deal! If Yuta quits, there will be negligence in management, and I’ll lose my job!”

“Then it’s fine if that happens, isn’t it?”

“Mom!?”

Sigh… My mother sighs in exasperation and shakes her head.

“It’s just pathetic.”

“Ugh…”

“If you’re a competent editor, it shouldn’t be a problem even if Yuuta retires, right?”

“W-Well… That’s… Yeah, but…”

My father lowers his head dejectedly.

“That’s right, Vice Editor-in-Chief!”

TL notes: Man what a family,and is that a Jojo refrence?