Self-reply

Several hours had passed since Aya had left. I had messaged Rei because if Aya had already published the story on the website, then probably Rei had done the same. I asked her for the title of her work and typed it into the site's search bar.

1 result. Good. I clicked on it. First, I read,

"A new chapter will be released every Monday and Thursday."

Wow, Rei even had such a well-organized schedule! And me... I was writing everything in the few days I had left... What should I write?

"A new chapter will be released every hour!"

For some reason, I had a feeling that such speed wouldn't be considered something positive. Actually, since Aya had convinced me to join the contest, a few days had already passed... If I had organized myself better, I could have had a more consistent publishing schedule, even with the limited time... okay, maybe it's not entirely Aya's fault... no, this time it's mostly my fault. I continued scrolling through the web page of the story...
Oh my god! What a beautiful cover! I can't believe she drew it herself! No, wait... I never found out if Rei had other hobbies... could she also be an amazing artist? If I were to judge her story, I would have already declared her the winner! This really makes me realize how slim Aya's and my chances are to win... (probably Aya, if she heard me, would think "Hey, why are you dragging me into this?!"). I hadn't even started reading the chapter, but I immediately noticed a good number of likes and several comments. Some comments said:
"Great, nice story, keep it up!"
and Rei responding:
"Thank you very much" under each comment... Huh? What did this guy write?
"Poor setting, shallow characters, and poor plot. You're not a promising writer."
And who is this rude person? I'm going to reply to him... how dare he... what a piece of...
My eye fell on Rei's response. I didn't expect her to take the time to reply to him.
"Thank you for the criticism. I'm aware that I'm still an inexperienced writer. I did many mistakes, thanks for pointing them out. I'll strive to provide more satisfying character development in the future. Thank you very much for commenting, and I hope you'll like the next chapters."
Rei-senpai! You're truly an angel! I would have immediately lost my temper and replied in my own way... wait, probably, with the response I'm thinking of right now, I would have also gotten myself banned from the site. Gosh, Rei is really a mature person.
Before reading the chapter, I'm curious to see how Aya handled the comments... heh heh heh... I imagine she replied snappily to anyone who even hinted at the smallest criticism. I searched for Aya's story and read the description.
"A new chapter will be released every hour!"
I had jokingly thought of it, while she actually did it! Well, in fact, Aya often uses humor to get out of situations that are not in her favor. Alright, now comes the best part. Let's get to the comments right away. 

However, I received a big surprise. I didn't find offensive or rude messages written by Aya. The reason was simple: no one had commented yet! While Rei had been publishing chapters for months, people had had plenty of time to read and comment on them, while Aya was in the same situation as me: she had only started a few days ago. No, wait, I haven't published anything yet!

My phone vibrated. Someone had sent me a message. I read it and saw that it was from Aya. I had been quite surprised when I found out that a cover was needed for the contest. So, I asked Aya for all the criteria that needed to be met for the story to have a better chance of winning. As soon as I read the criteria Aya had sent me, I was overcome with despair. 

There was a section specifically about comments:
1. The audience reacts positively to the story, so there are positive comments.
2. The author responds quickly to comments.

Gosh, without any comments, I can't even show that I respond quickly! Yet, an idea struck me. I created my story on the site, temporarily without a cover, and published the first and only chapter I had written so far. After that, I went to the comments section. The author also had the option to leave a comment. And that's how I wrote:
"Great story! You're truly a talented author! You'll definitely win the contest!"
Positive comments: done.
Now I just needed to respond as quickly as possible. If I responded in less than a minute, I would surely get the maximum points. I copied Rei's comment in response to that rude guy and pasted it as a reply to my comment:
"Thank you for the criticism. I'm aware that I'm still an inexperienced writer. I did many mistakes, thanks for pointing them out. I'll strive to provide more satisfying character development in the future. Thank you very much for commenting, and I hope you'll like the next chapters."

Perfect, I had managed to reply in less than a second. I hope the judges don't notice that I replied to myself. Maybe I could justify it by saying that I was distracted at the moment and didn't realize I was replying to my own comment. I decided to leave a positive comment on Aya's story. She tried to motivate me in every possible way, so now it's my turn to give her some motivation. I also read the story Aya had written so far. First of all, where on earth did she find the time to write all this stuff?! Moreover, the plot seems quite intricate. She probably already had a rough idea of the story she wanted to write long before she discovered the contest. Anyway, my instincts were right. I liked the character development and the fast-paced plot. At this point, I moved on to Rei's story. I was really curious. I started reading. Gosh, she was good. Each chapter made you want to read the next one. Rei's perspective on romantic stories was a middle ground between my pragmatic approach and Aya's destiny idea. It was definitely an interesting story. Reading both stories, I got a lot of inspiration, so I decided to write another chapter, including everything that came to my mind. I stayed up late writing. And I actually managed to write more than 10,000 words. I went to sleep, dead tired but satisfied.