[X] Maybe best to change the topic. "So, novelist huh? Is there anything you're writing right now, or got any good reviews lately?"
"
Now you're interested in my novels?" Koyomi asked while side-eyeing Miyako.
The girl twitched, thinking that Koyomi had figured out she was only trying to change the topic, but Koyomi then relented and said, "I'm not really writing anything at the moment, I've got ideas but right now they're just that, ideas."
"Ooh, what sorts of ideas?" Miyako chimed in like a cheerleader.
Koyomi shrugged. "None I'd bet you'd be interested in," she said. "Not one of them involves any Hanazakari for starters, except me obviously. I had thoughts about writing a Historical this time, but couldn't decide on the era, so I thought to pull a Vonnegut and have the protagonist disassociate between eras. All in her head, no time machine."
Miyako seemed into that idea, but then seriously asked, "Wait, what's a Vonnegut?" The only answer Koyomi gave to that was a long glare.
Afterwards, Koyomi lightened up a little, if with not at all a light topic. "I've also thought writing from the viewpoint of a serial killer," she smirked, "A female serial killer specifically, to comment on how the public treats them differently from male serial killers. But then I stomached a ton of shit true crime podcasts as research and lost interest altogether."
"Oh, don't worry, I've never been the sort of girl who's into true crime," Miyako smiled as she said.
"…Right, and I'm sure you think you're so much better because of that," Koyomi chuckled at her, despite her own previous comment about true crime.
Miyako twitched again. "Yeah, sorry about that. Didn't realise that was how I sounded," she said. "Guess true crime's just too… real for me. I mean, Hanazakari and the Frost Decade are obviously real too, but they're the 'wow, superheroes and aliens really exist' kind of real, while we've known murder has existed since forever." Not that Hanazakari and true crime never intersected, given certain 'affiliations' some had, something Miyako knew but chose to keep quiet on.
"And you were spared having to live through the Frost Decade, so for you it's all a step removed," Koyomi said. She then slumped back in a chair and put her arms behind her head, "Besides, I've been in the novel business for years now, I should be entitled to take a break. Pity publishers and deadlines don't see it that way."
"So, you've been writing that long," Miyako said then asked, "And… you haven't written any fiction about being a Hanazakari? Ah, that's okay of course," she gulped, "You're the author, I'm not saying you have to write any one thing. It's just, y'know, you're a magical girl and a writer, not a combo you see every day."
Only slowly did Koyomi admit, "I have written a Hanazakari story. One, the first novel I ever got 'professionally' published. Not that I wanted to, the publisher just wouldn't accept anything else from someone like me." Recalling that made her nearly retch. "I was not going to be a Magical 'Idol', even as an author and not some singer.
Fortunately, I found a new publisher for my second novel, and while let's just say I have 'issues' with them, they've never made me write about Hanazakari. As they saw it, any more reminders of the Frost Decade were the last thing readers wanted."
Miyako thought for a little while before she figured, "Guess you wouldn't have gone by 'Kuramazov' yet on that first novel, huh?"
"Nope, not till my second," Koyomi said, "And it wasn't under 'Black Rose in Full Bloom' either, before you ask, or Elohim forbid my real name. That publisher at least had the courtesy to not make me do that," then she reconsidered and added, "Likely only because I was never one of the bigger Hanazakari. Yeesh, no way they wouldn't have pushed me into the spotlight had I made more of a name for myself back in the Frost Decade.
And I guess some critics would argue all my novels are about being a Hanazakari, but metaphorically of course."
"Yep, metaphorically, got it," Miyako said, keeping a lid on her disappointment. It was ever clearer to her that she really shouldn't ask any more about Koyomi's first novel, hard as it was for her not to.
Though hey, an early Hanazakari novel with only one use of the author's pen name, shouldn't be hard to track it down. Might have owned it myself… oh no, that'd mean it's back at my parents' place, if they haven't thrown it out.
Then another thought came to her,
Wait, what if the publisher just reused her pen name, all Carolyn Keene-like? That's the sort of thing they can do, isn't it? Okay, calm down, it still couldn't be that hard to find…
"Oh yeah, you asked about my reviews, didn't you?" Koyomi said, then shrugged again. "They're alright. Doubt I'll get awarded the Akutagawa Prize till I'm dead, but nothing to complain about. Oh, except there's this one guy who keeps praising my work, but given how he writes female characters in his
own novels, I bet he's just trying to cover his tracks."
Suddenly, Miyako pulled out her phone, and found per Koyomi's warnings that the connection was laggier than usual here. "Since you brought up your reception, made me think to check your social media. Okay, I've got the page up now," she said, only for her eyes to widen. "Wait,
this is you online? You seem,"
much nicer, happier, "different. Er, not that we aren't all different online, of course."
"The answer's simple, that
isn't me online," Koyomi told her, as she narrowed her eyes at Miyako's phone, "It's my official account, sure, but my publisher gets someone else to run it. They kept insisting their authors be on social media, I kept telling them no, so we came to a compromise." She had to groan, "You need to have a particular personality to play the social media game, hell to be a public figure period, and you can already tell I do not. To their credit, were I to 'just be myself' online, all my sales would tank. I actually guested on a podcast once, and my publisher had to do massive damage control."
"…I see," Miyako muttered. She'd already said that people were rarely themselves online, but Koyomi's words had her now quivering over just how deep that rabbit hole went.
Even offline, are the author's notes in manga all lies, and the mangaka's never like that at all? At least she had to pride herself on thinking just like a journalist. "So it's like, the online Kuramazov is herself a fictional character, you could say?" she settled on.
"Good observation," Koyomi said, showing she could give compliments, "Problem is how many people have picked that unreality up, and how they'll react when they realise that's the truth."
This lighter topic having only grown heavier, Miyako again played the 'change the subject' card by asking, "By the way, Arisugawa-sama, how long have you wanted to be a writer?"
Koyomi laughed. "What, that old question? Next you'll be asking where I get my ideas."
But she then answered, "Alright, to get it out of the way.
[ ] I've wanted to be a writer since, well, as long as I could remember. My parents have still held onto all my juvenilia, suppose they've got to have something to embarrass me with."
[ ] Would've been since middle school. Admittedly I wanted to be a mangaka at first, but I couldn't draw nor could anyone I knew, so novelist it was. And then the Frost Fair put everything on hold."
[ ] Wasn't till adulthood. I hadn't thought of writing before then, but the Frost Decade meant I had a lot to process and heard that writing could work as a step on the road to recovery."
[ ] Just prior to adulthood, as the Frost Decade approached it's end. Seeing the light at the end off the tunnel got me thinking about the future, and creation was cathartic. I had to wait of course, but my mind was made up by the end. (Randino Treviani write-in)
[ ] Write-in
Miyako took that all in. "Wow, you really do have a way with words, Arisugawa-sama. If anyone asked why I want to be a journalist, I think I'd just stutter a bunch and not give any one answer," she said.
"Hah, I'll spare you the ordeal then," Koyomi said.
Dinner wasn't long afterwards, though as Miyako had feared from the pungent smells from the kitchen, Koyomi's cooking… wasn't the most appetising, looking like lumps of indistinguishable vegetable matter.
"What? It's incredibly nutritious," Koyomi told her. Miyako took her word for that but made a mental note to eat out whenever possible.
As night fell, she was shown that empty attic was indeed her bedroom, the futon Koyomi had dragged out certainly a change from the bedding Miyako was used to. Koyomi then left the attic without even bidding her goodnight, but Miyako still had one last thing to do before bed.
Phone in hand again, she withstood the lag to log back on to the chatrooms (her username MorandoKyo), where she'd first learned about a Witch in Hinodeharu. She wouldn't give Koyomi's real name of course, but she still had to say something.
[ ] "Guys, I've really met a Hanazakari, and…" It's been one day, and she's let me stay the night, so I can't be too judgmental. "She's everything I hoped she would be!"
[ ] "I've met a Hanazakari, and… she's really not what I expected. But that's okay, Hanazakari are people too, I suppose."
[ ] Arisugawa-sama thought I was a stalker at first, maybe I can at least throw people off her tail, give her privacy. "Sorry, I don't think there's any Hanazakari in Hinodeharu."
[ ] I mean, do I really need to say anything?
[ ] Write-in
Our first Arc,
Strange Kind of Spring, is now finished! This gives you
100xp total to distribute among Koyomi's and/or Miyako's stats (
their current stats can be viewed here). Note that future Arcs will be longer but will gradually give more experience:
Koyomi:
[ ] Technique
[ ] Physique
[ ] Heart
[ ] Mind
Miyako:
[ ] Emotional Intelligence
[ ] Emotional Strength
[ ] A mixture (write-in)
