ARC 1
The Fallen Millionbell
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Prologue
~what if~
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"I've always thought that my World, the world known as Tellus, is a small place. There are kingdoms ruled by monarchs and knights that protect the royals, but there isn't as many as the countries in reality. Since I'm not so good at portraying social, political, and cultural things, I've probably made more plot holes than I'm supposed to. I've added some important locations and landmarks where events happen, but my naming sense isn't that great, after all. I don't think I'll ever be able to explain all the details of the magic system that well, either."
The man adjusted his glasses and tried to smile.
"That's why I'm thankful for the people that have supported me until I got this far. My editor and my friends. The people who read my work. Some of you even followed my World's development from before it even began."
He took a deep breath, smoothing out any wrinkles on his clothes as best as he could. Despite the many times he straightened his tie to perfection, and how he never stopped trying to neaten up his messy black hair, his appearance can only be called average at best.
"After nearly ten years, I can say with pride that the story of Tellus and its people is finally coming to an end. I'm happy, but I'm also sad that I...I...I can't do this." At this point, the driver of his turbulent taxi ride took a sharp turn to the right, causing him to show an awkward grimace as he ended his mock speech.
"You'll be fine, Kazuki."
"I've said before that I'm bad with crowds, and you still let them do this to me! What kind of editor are you?" Kazuki looked away from his reflection on the car's side window and exclaimed at the sharply-dressed woman beside him.
"The kind that helps her writer's career," she answered. Even noticing Kazuki's angry look, her face was as stoic as always as she fiddled around with the cellphone in her hand. "As a good editor, I fully support any attempts to make the general populace know that you exist."
"Akiko...you know that I already have a lot of fans, right?"
A few faint button beeps later, she held her phone's screen in front of Kazuki's face. "Your blog has less than 500 followers." Before he could say anything, she quickly switched to another page and showed it to him again. "Your novels sold an approximate total of...5900 copies so far."
"That's not a bad number -"
"Let me rephrase. Five of your novels sold an approximate total of 5900 copies so far, not including the final one scheduled to be released next month."
"...Fine, I have some fans, and the sales aren't that great. B-but I still managed to write five novels! That has to mean that people like it enough for me to write that much - especially coming from only one series!"
Akiko shrugged, returning her phone inside her pocket. "I'm honestly surprised that they'd publish these many novels from a mediocre writer -"
"Hey, that's kind of insulting -"
"- but it's probably because of its charm. With the most recent trends of stories about reincarnations, harems, revenge, overpowered dimension travellers, virtual reality, otome games..."
Kazuki tapped her shoulder lightly, grabbing her attention. "Your bad habit is showing again."
"Oh, right." Without missing a beat, she went on, "It makes sense that with a traditional storyline, your novels wouldn't be an immediate choice to read, but those that do pick them up find themselves being immersed into the tale that you've created."
"Hmm...did you come up with that opinion yourself, or did you take that from someone else's words?" Kazuki wondered out loud, peering into his editor's dark eyes as he does so. Although Akiko is a beautiful woman, her difficult-to-read expressions and cold aura has always intimidated more people than necessary.
"The most recent review of the fifth volume. It might be the one that got you shortlisted for tonight's award." She chuckled at Kazuki's rapidly changing demeanour, from suspicion to surprise. "I take it you haven't read it before. Want to know the rest?"
"I'll read it again later, but let's hear it."
"Alright, from the part where I left off of: the reviewer mentions that since the first novel, he has never stopped looking forward to reading the next instalments. The stories that you've crafted, he says, can be joyful to read about at one turn, and tragic at another. The world is both beautiful and desolate, whimsical and serious, and always full of character that readers can't help but think of it as a place that actually exists. In fact, this is the series' number one strength: its realistic portrayal of characters and the places they encounter, despite being a fantasy."
Watching Kazuki's happy expression, Akiko grinned mischievously and finished off her reading of the review. "Some parts of the author's writing, though, are reminiscent of a children's fairytale - a bedtime story that parents tell their children, more so than your usual light novel. Although it doesn't deter from the overall reading experience, the overly simplistic parts of this work can be a jarring contrast to the rest. It is the reviewer's hope that the author will revise them before publication, especially since it is rumoured that the next volume will be the last."
"How come you've never told me about it when you were going through the manuscripts?" Kazuki asked after a while.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"It wasn't that big of an issue to me. I think it's just a matter of taste."
"So...I don't need to change my writing style at all?"
"We'll have to wait and see until you finish the sixth novel's draft."
Underneath the slowly darkening sky, the car continued towards its destination: the 15th annual Light Novel Awards ceremony. The writer and editor pair sat in silence for a moment, before the former broke it with a question.
"Hey, Akiko...do you think some parts of my writing really sound like a bedtime story?"
The woman closed her eyes, tapping her finger on the side of her chair in a rhythmical pattern. It took her a while to think about the answer, but she eventually nodded and replied, "There's nothing bad about it sounding like that. But if I'm the one describing it? It's like you were jotting down a story that someone else told you about."
At Akiko's comment, Kazuki looked down into his hands with an unreadable expression. "Is...is that so?"
"Is there something you're not telling me?" Akiko immediately shifted her attention onto Kazuki after watching his strange reaction. "Did you really get your story ideas from someone else?"
A nervous Akiko was something that Kazuki has rarely seen, so much so that he couldn't help but laugh. Finally, he managed to say, "There's...something about the story that I think you should know."
Inwardly, Kazuki thanked her for not saying anything at the moment. The truth behind his ideas, and the reason why he started writing these stories: he never thought about telling anyone until now. They carry with them the memories of his childhood, of his beloved family, but not all of them were fond remembrances.
"Everything I've written up to this point, besides the characters' names and their stories, was never my own." He paused to take a breath and resumed his explanation. "I guess I've never told anyone about this. My World...has always been someone else's. I grew up listening to stories about it - WATCH OUT!"
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What if he hadn't told her anything? Hadn't taken her attention away from her surroundings, had kept a comfortable silence?
What if he had noticed the speeding truck approaching from her side of the car earlier, instead of barely saving her life at the very last moment? Instead of reminiscing about the past, lost in thought?
What if he and the rest of them had managed to come out of the incident unscathed? Not just the unconscious driver at the front seat, and the editor whose desperate cries were the last thing he heard?
What if memories of his past hadn't flashed by? The first death he remembered was his kindhearted father's, who passed away a few years after Kazuki and his sibling had been born. The next was his mother's, a hardworking woman whose death could not be explained by normal circumstances, and remains a mystery even until now. Kazuki's little sister, who used to be his only remaining relative, was the last person to leave him, as she lost her life in an accident ten years ago. It had only been a few days after she finished reading his first novel.
No more what ifs.
The news on tonight's television channels told the tragic death of a novelist who was supposed to attend an awards ceremony for well-written light novel series, although his work was only shortlisted.
But beyond the image known to his fellow novelists and dedicated fans, he was also a man who lost his life in order to protect his editor - the woman whom he would have married in a few months' time - from getting hit directly by an out-of-control truck. A person who needed only one more volume to complete the continuation of the stories that his mother used to tell him and his sister.
At the same time that Arima Kazuki breathes his last, another world awakens.
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- Author's Notes -
Here is the beginning of a rather long story about a writer stuck in his own light novel series as one of its characters. Is this...considered as meta?
Was originally an exercise in writing with a 1st person LN-style POV (while also examining tropes inside the genre), but has developed into something completely different. The Tragedy tag is there for...reasons that will be evident as the story progresses.
(Then again, the protagonist's backstory told in this chapter can already be considered quite tragic...)
I'll try my best to realistically portray Kazuki having a normal Japanese 20-something year old man's mind. But since a. I don't live in Japan and b. I'm not a Japanese 20-something year old man, I'll definitely make mistakes and stumble along the way. Apologies in advance about that.
(Additionally, although it seems as if the protagonist's novel is the greatest thing in the whole galaxy - or some kind of lesser equivalent anyway - you might be disappointed to find that I...can't write a bombdiggity light novel like him. Sorry for making you look bad, Kazuki.)
Despite the fact that I've planned out a bunch of the arcs (sort of), updates will be sporadic. I'll try to finish up a few chapters of Arc 1 before I post something for next time.
I haven't written proper stories in a while, and my first language isn't English, so please feel free to comment about any stiff-sounding passages and/or grammatical errors. Enjoy the read!