This is What a "Hook" is

 “Is she always that eccentric?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Ever since I met her a year ago she’s been like that.”

“Your family doesn’t see that as an issue?”

She was referencing our senpai’s unannounced visits. “Apparently not.”

“If I were you, I’d be locking my windows with nine inch nails.”

“I asked my mom about doing that once, but she said that was, “against building code,” or something.”

I rotated my wrist to check the time on my watch.

“We spent too much time messing around with Fujioka-san… You should hurry up and shower, dinner’ll be soon.”

“Mm, alright.”

Now if you’re expecting some sort of light novel incident to occur with Akimoto and the shower—get your mind out of the gutter. I have some spacial-awareness.

Besides, I think what Fujioka did ticked that box already.

***

I took my shower after Akimoto and entered the kitchen after her as well. This time I took a cold shower, it was a nice little change—maybe the hot pizza will go nice with the coolness I’m feeling?

Am I the first person to ever think that…?

Anyway…

The first thing that greeted me in the kitchen was two big, white cardboard boxes with “Ropa's Chicago Style Pizza” written across the tops. On the rare occasions we order pizza, this is the go to place.

I open the lid on the box closest to me, and sure enough, it's our usual order: one with light cheese and double pepperoni. That means the other is light cheese, spinach, and pepperoni.

The other part of pizza-night involves sitting in the living room and watching a movie together. It’s not the classiest event, but it’s nice. Spending time with my mom and little sister, what better way to enjoy a Friday evening.

I look over and sure enough, the two of them are already there queuing up the movie. There’s something off about this scene though… and it happens to be in my spot.

Despite the burning desire to have my spot, I didn’t want to potentially ruin the mood by asking Akimoto to move. So I grabbed a plate along with two slices and joined everyone in the living room.

As I found my place on the floor, Akimoto said the worst thing she possibly could have.

“Kiyotaka-kun, you don’t have to sit on the floor.” She patted next to her. “There’s plenty of room.”

‘ “I-it’s alright. Our floor is nice…”

Akimoto gave me a suspicious look. It’s true there’s plenty of room on that seat as it was made for two. However… I simply cannot.

“Hmm~? Could it be you’re nervous about sitting next to me~?”

“N-no way! I just felt it would be impolite to invite myself to sit next to someone. Boy or girl.”

“Is that so… Then, come sit next to me.”

“Ah— I also just enjoy sitting on the floor.”

“No you don’t.” Sayuri interjected. “You love that spot.”

Hey! You! Aren’t you supposed to help me? You’re my little sister and I know you’re clever. You could’ve ascertained I was lying.

“What happened to “2D girls are better”? This shouldn’t be an issue for you, right?”

“O-of course not. I was only trying to mind your personal space.”

I stood up and in one swift motion wedged myself next to Akimoto. She must’ve not been expecting me to suddenly gain confidence, as she did a little jump and let out a small yelp.

Calm down, you’re the one who invited me.

Our hips near the back of the seat touched, and our arms would rub against each other. It’s fine though, this is what you wanted, right?

One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is Akimoto’s lack of shame. You’d imagine if you're invited into someone’s home for dinner you’d act modest and not take too much. So, on the topic of Akimoto’s eating, let me quickly go over a little tally of the slices on everyone’s plates.

Mom: Two slices

Sayuri: Three slices

Makoto: Three slices

All respectable portion sizes. Nothing crazy.

Akimoto: Seven slices

I understand breaking up with someone is probably difficult, but at this point she’s not even eating her sorrows away. She just flat out loves eating.

They made a huge tower on her plate—being stack opposite directions each time. Is she meta-gaming stacking pizza? Is she experienced!?

The rest of dinner and movie went on without a hitch. I’m surprised, I feel things like this are usually the perfect time for something shitty and unexpected to happen.

At least in light novels it's like that. Like the younger sister or mom embarrasses the MC, or accidentally reveals something that he didn’t want the FMC knowing. Could it be that’s just fiction? And the real world doesn’t work like that…?

Nah, there’s no way. I just got lucky this time.

I have a theory, actually. Akimoto was too focused on maximizing her pizza consumption that she missed all the potential flag-triggers. Thus, not allowing any cliché events to occur.

***

“Now. Let us begin the long-awaited first session of writing the novel that’ll make us famous!”

“Om— na— nom-nom-nom—”

“Akimoto-san, please finish chewing before you speak.”

She cleared her throat and attempted to wipe all the crumbs off her face. Keyword “attempted,” as there were still some left.

“Sorry~ he-he.”

“You shouldn’t try and play that off as “cute”. You just wolfed down another slice of pizza.”

“Wha!? It would be an inconvenience to your family if there were leftovers… I was just trying to help.”

“Have you ever considered some of us enjoy leftovers…?”

“Hah! Don’t be silly. That slice is much happier having been eaten by me.”

“Let’s get to writing. Here— take a look at my plot idea.”

We sat across from each other at the small table in my bedroom. I flipped my laptop towards her and crossed my arms with a triumphant smile.

It took only a few minutes of silence until she spoke up.

“Soo—- what’s the main idea of this story?”

“Hm? Didn’t you read my outline.”

“This isn’t an outline, it’s two character descriptions.”

“Ah—”

I reread it—she was right.

“I guess i kinda just filled in what would happen with generic high school light novel events.”

“I’m not saying that couldn’t work, but what’s the hook?”

“...The hook?”

“K-Kiyotaka-kun… Please tell me you’re making a joke.”

“A joke about what?”

“You seriously don’t know what having a “hook” means!?”

There’s no way to lie out of this, is there? I don’t know what I don’t know. It’s simple.

“How can you call yourself a writer if you don’t know something as simple as a hook?”

“I— I’m always distracted in class thinking about my stories.”

“That might be the first productive, counter-productive thing ever. I’ll just tell you, it’s really simple. A “hook” is the reason a reader gets interested in the story. It could be a nice illustration, an intense opening scene, or maybe an early bit of intrigue. The bottom line is, it has to capture reader's short attention and give them a reason to read your book.”

“Soo— how do I do that?”

"That’s what I’m saying—your character descriptions and generic events don’t give the story any reason to be read. All you have for the plot is this Suzuki-san was popular and then decided she no longer wanted to be. There’s no meat on these bones."

“But so much slop always get published! Why won’t mine!?”

“Because those people have connections in the industry. It’s the harsh reality of it, but writing isn’t usually about skill, it’s about who you know.”

“...”

“Unless you’re some crazy breakout miracle success, you won’t get published. It’s not like you have a god-tier illustrator or writer at your disposal to help you.”

Our conversation was interrupted by a loud sneeze from Fujioka next door. Cold season, I guess.

“So what you’re saying is…?”

“We’re starting from less than nothing.”

I hung my head. She’s right, this isn’t merely an uphill battle… it’s a— a— I can’t think of a more emphatic expression. Maybe something like a… steep war?

“Do you have a notepad I can use?”

“Yeah, here.”

“Here’s what we’ll do. We each write out a main plot point that we could use, from there we write sub-points by those main-points. “Sub-points” being events that can lead up, come after, be result of, or during that main-point.”

“...?”

“Whatever has the most “sub-points” is something you’re most likely inspired to write about. You wouldn’t want to start on an idea you can’t expand on.”

“Genius…” I said under my breath.

“Hm Hm~ What can I say? It comes naturally to me.”

“I take it back. I hate this idea.”

Akimoto leaned forward and flicked my forehead. Ow! Hey! You didn’t need to go that far!

“Just write.”