The Endless Blue Expanse

Surprisingly, the equipment is nice. I was expecting this place to have original Pear IIs from how out-of-date the interior decor is, but there's a new gaming PC in every cubicle, complete with lights that flash several different colors every second. I could never afford a high-powered rig like those. Well, I probably could have- before my life went to you-know-where.

We sit down on the threadbare chairs in a cubicle that looks like it's older than the guy working at the front desk, and Hashigami eagerly grabs a melon soda out of the minifridge to the left, cracking it open with a satisfying pop. I log into the computer, and it whirrs to life as the LEDs inside cycle through every color of the rainbow.

Googol Maps time. "Fun things to do-"

"Sakuta-san, I wanna see something." She takes off her winter jacket, draping it over the chair, and the sight of a brilliant flash of red catches my eye. She's wearing an honest-to-God sailor suit, long-sleeved, the same deep navy as her skirt and tights, trimmed with thin white lines. The only color is the crimson-red scarf tied around her collar. It makes her pale skin even more striking.

...I never realized Seishin students still wore seifuku. It makes sense- the school's rich and uppity, but I always had a slightly different impression of those uniforms than the majority. I know a lot of guys find them to be cute, but I think it makes girls look childish. Not Hashigami, though. She pulls it off extraordinarily well.

"Open up your novel."

"Uh...okay." I oblige, and within a few seconds I'm into my N*rou account, with YuuSai pulled up. Only a few days after I finished it, it's at 5,545 views and 550 favorites. And it's up to #299 in the weekly activity rankings. I've finally cracked the top 300.

"You're past 300!" Hashigami chirps, taking another sip. "Not bad."

"Why did you want me to pull it up? To admire it? The contest starts next Monday."

"Just because you're done writing doesn't mean your work is done," Hashigami replies with a smug expression. "Now, it's time for the self-promotion step."

"What do you mean? I thought you said my novel was already doing well..."

"Think about it. You've got a lot of views, which is good. But how many users does N*rou have? 200,000? 500,000? If you're gonna win this contest, your novel can't be #299. It has to be top 10 in popularity to have a shot. The judges act like it's not a popularity contest- it is. The novel that wins is not the best-written one, or the most interesting one. It's the one that gets the most engagement."

"Like buying an advertisement or something?" My head is starting to swim. I know I can't afford to take out ads for YuuSai- and if it doesn't lead to me winning the prize, then I'm screwed even worse than I already am.

"No, not like that!" She quickly waves her hand back and forth. "I'm talking about community engagement. Reading other people's novels, commenting on them- hopefully, you'll make them feel obligated to read yours in return." She turns her gaze toward me. "Have you ever read another novel on N*rou?"

"Yours."

"You need to branch out."

"You really know a lot about how this site works." I don't mention that I've tried to read other novels on the website, but they were so awful I tapped out after just a few chapters.

"It's nothing special, really..." She hangs her head with a sulky expression. "Two years ago, I entered the contest, too...and I lost to a guy who posted in every comment section on almost every other entry..." She turns away with a look of frustration. "So that's what we're gonna do. Get your name out there. Go for the quantity over quality approach. I...uhh...Don't take that the wrong way."

So that's what I do for the next two hours, speed-reading other contest entries from the front page and writing comments that I don't actually mean. Most of the time I don't even read the stories. I just skim them, get the key details, and write a vaguely supportive comment that I don't actually mean. To be honest, most of the novels I read sucked. I'm not even trying to be mean. They weren't entertaining and they were the same done-to-death isekai I'd seen a million times before.

...To be fair, that could have been how YuuSai ended up, too, before Seigo Kurokami came along.

As I'm busy clicking the like button on the fourteenth chapter of a garbage-tier ecchi novel, the man from the counter interrupts us. "Excuse me, your time is up...Would you like to purchase some more?"

"Yeah, we're gonna be here a while," Hashigami chirps.

No, we are not. If I have to read another F-tier contest entry, I'm gonna run my head through the Brilliant LED Glass Window Gaming Case.

"I think that's enough for today..."

"Are you sure? Engagement matters."

"I'm positive."

With a look of discouragement, Hashigami stands up, pushes her chair in, and puts her jacket back on with a huff as we prepare to leave the computer dungeon, circa 1985. As soon as we open the front door and leave the toasty warm net cafe, the cold air slaps me straight in the face.

"You need to be doing this every day," Hashigami harrumphs as we walk down the street, heading nowhere in particular. "Leave as many comments as you can. Or more."

"I'll try..." Does she think I have nothing but free time? I work for a living...not a great living, but still, a living...I guess she assumes that everyone is as rich as she is and doesn't have to dirty their hands stocking shelves at the Kyoudai Mart.

This jacket may be thicker than my tracksuit, but it's still doing nothing to keep the icy chill of the wind off the back of my neck. Walking briskly is supposed to warm you up...it's not doing it here. I stick my hands in my pockets, trying my hardest to not let Hashigami catch on. Man, if she offered to let me borrow a jacket or something, that would be embarrassing. It's always the guy who does that, not the other way around.

"By the way, where were you originally wanting to take me?" she asks with a quizzical expression.

"It's in the A-Style mall...the official Janp merchandise store. They've got the biggest selection of Elves Chronicle gear north of Tokyo. At least, that's what the website said."

"Oh, yeah." She flips her hair dismissively. "I've been there before. There's barely any ElCro stuff there. It's all Hero Academy and Oni Slayer stuff...and recently there's been a bunch of Screwdriver Man merchandise. Sold to children. Haistep! has been over for 5 years and there's still loads of merch at that store because of all the fangirls...meanwhile, all ElCro has is one t-shirt and one cheap figure of Gawain. I think they only stock them out of pity. I'm kinda glad we didn't end up there...it would have been a waste of our time."

Somehow, I dodged yet another bullet out of sheer dumb luck.

"I really want a figure of Caelym, but they're so expensive at this point..." Hashigami sighs as her warm breath forms a cloud of steam around her mouth in the freezing air.

We turn a corner and are greeted by water, spreading out to the horizon as far as we can see. Beyond a concrete retaining wall extends a carpet of dull gray sand speckled with sea-grass, and past that is the ocean. Unlike the murky gray river, its color is a deep, opaque blue.

"I had no idea we were this close to the ocean!" Hashigami chirps.

It's not the most picturesque view. There's a factory to the left of us, a stand of trees behind us, and a large sandbar taking up the entire line of sight directly in front of us, and the beach is deserted. I mean, who in their right mind would come to a place like this in the middle of November? That makes us both stupid. Or crazy. Or both.

She takes a seat on one of the patches of grass, and I follow. Neither of us says a word for what feels like a century. We just sit there, watching the waves crash in and out.

The wind is still blowing, but somehow, it feels less cold when I'm with her.

Finally, she speaks, soft and downcast. "I'm glad we came here. I may not get too many more chances to see the ocean."

"Are you moving for college or something?"

"Kind of."

The answer seems a little odd to me, but I don't press her. It's obviously not any of my business where she's going to college or what she's doing. I just have to enjoy my time with her now.

Sitting next to each other, watching the waves crest- it's like we really are a couple.

Pffff...yeah, right. There's no way.