Hajimete Tanabiku

p2
>Hey.

>Have you read it yet?
>The latest chapter of "Beniko and Sora"?

p3
>Ah, that's right.
>The newest chapter was uploaded, wasn't it?

>Umikiri-sensei really is amazing.
>She stands head and shoulders above all the web novels I'm reading right now.

>Hmm.
>You like that stuff after all, Kasumi.

>I've been following its irregular serialization for two years now.
>You took a liking to it and followed it too, right, Saku?

>Not really.
>Well, it's well made for an amateur at least.

p4
>Beniko really did love Sora.
>Just like you said, Saku!
>Your reading is really pinpoint!

>But still, to think it would have that kind of development...

>Kasumi has been my best friend since middle school.
>I think that psychological description there...
>is obviously a reaction from Sora.
>She often comes over to my desk to talk about literature.

>She's a drama club member who dreams of becoming an actress.
>For that reason, she has strong opinions when it comes to literary works.

>The complete opposite of me.

p5
>"Beniko and Sora" is a romance novel that's popular with young people, and one that she's crazy about it.

>The plot is about two girls who cross the boundaries of friendship and become attracted to each other.

>Beniko is a plain-looking high school girl who is actually a genius playwright.
>Her classmate Sora is an innocent budding actress.
>Beniko awakens romantic feelings for Sora while hiding her true nature.

>In the newest chapter updated last night,
>Beniko realised her own feelings.

>Next comes Sora's feelings
>but I'm not sure it will go as well.

p6
>I'm home~

>The models for "Beniko and Sora" are drawn from real life.

>It is something I alone know.

>Umikiri, the author of "Beniko and Sora".
>That's me.

p7
>Sora is based on Kasumi
>while Beniko is based on myself.

>But it's not like I hold any special feelings towards Kazumi or anything.
>That part alone is fiction.

>I'm not as talented as Beniko.
>All I did was exaggerate the relationship between me and my friend,
>bask it in the scent of romance, and it just so happened to get popular. That's all.

>Hrmm. It's no good.
>I can't think of a good way to connect the story.

>I managed to just about come up with the protagonist's feelings,
>but her partner's feelings are of course someone else's feelings.

p8
>Sora's feelings.

>I just have no idea.

>Huh? What's wrong?
>You look pale.

>I just stayed up late.
>Couldn't sleep.

>Ah! You were reading the new work, weren't you!?
>Actually, I've been thinking about how that will develop too.

p9
>She's totally oblivious to other people's hardships.
>But then again,
>I really don't want her to know.

>If she found out that I'm the author...
>If she found out that the two leads are based on us...

>I wonder what she would think of me.
>Would I be able to continue thinking about her?

p10
>There's absolutely no way!!

>Hey...
>Not so loud, Kasumi.

>The story Beniko wrote titled "Heaven and Earth" is 100% about Sora!
>It's a symbol of Beniko's one-sided love towards Sora.

>Beniko is struggling to write because she's unaware of Sora's feelings.
>So she's trying to deceive her own feelings.

p11
>...
>It's painfully hot in here...

>If Beniko could feel Sora's love for her, there's no way she would've used "Heaven and Earth" as a title.
>That's right. She'd emulate "Beniko and Sora" and write something like "Dawn and Stars". [TN: The kanji for Beniko and Sora means "deep red girl" and "space" respectively.]

>I wanna say
>that I'm irritated.

>Right now, you are just like Sora, Kasumi.

>If you have so much confidence in your interpretation of that work,
>why don't you propose it for the drama club?

>No way. I'm a first year. I don't have that much pulling power.
>Besides...

p12
>If we did put on a play of that
>I definitely wouldn't want to end up playing Female Student A.

>...That might be so.
>If it were you, I'm sure the Sora role would suit you.

>I'd be Beniko.
>?

>If I were in a play, I'd be Beniko.
>I'm the one who understands that girl's feelings the most, after all.

p13
>Burning with love for someone from the bottom of your heart.
>Isn't that wonderful?

>Do you have someone
>like that?

>Fufu.
>That's a secret!

>Well, right now, me becoming the lead is just a dream withing a dream.
>...

p14
>I think Sora
>likes Beniko.

>Eh? Not a chance.
>Right now, Sora doesn't even give Beniko any consideration.

>If Beniko told her those feelings as they are,
>I'm sure Sora would refuse.

p15
>Wh-
>What's wrong...?

>I'm going to the bathroom.
>Eh? Ah, sure.

>!!

p16
>I need to rethink the plot...
>I have to get that girl to look her way.

>It needs to be a more mutual love.
>Not a one-sided love...

p17
>...

>What am I so flustered about?
>I'm getting so riled up over what she said.
>It's as if...

>as if
>I really am...

p18
>!!

>Have you read...
>the new chapter?

>Oh right, there was another update last night.
>They've been coming out at a quick pace, lately.

p19
>To be honest,
>I was disappointed.

>!?
>It was just a bunch of convenient words forcefully pasted together.
>It had none of the shine that the previous chapter had.

>It's like someone took a pair of scissors to it
>and turned it into garbage just like that.

>This bitch...

p20
>Then,
>will you stop reading it?

>No. I'll read it until the end.
>So I can be certain of what conclusion the author desires.

>Desires...?

>Yes.
>That was a desire.

>You wrote that, didn't you?
>Using me and yourself as models.

p21
>Don't make such weird accusations...
>Coward.

>You're a coward.
>You're reliant on turning your true feelings into a mere story, and yet you go and make light of that very story.

>You are so

>unfair!


>My
>true feelings...?

p22
>!!

>She found out.
>It's all over.

>I played around with her heart.
>Just like I did with my own feelings, she was using a play as a substitute to talk about her love.

p23
>That girl tried to face me with those feelings
>and I treated them like a mere story and forced by own selfish love on her.

>I ignored her feelings.
>She loved me so much that it twisted the story.

>Even though I wasn't trying to be in love with her myself...
>...I

>I have to go.
>I need to go after her...!

p24
>Wait!

p25
>I want you to listen.
>Hah...
>Hah...
>Not to some story,
>but to my own words.

>These true feelings of mine!
>Please, Sora!!

p26
>Alright.
>Please tell me.
>Beniko...

>Good morning, Saku!

p27
>Did you read it!?
>The new chapter of "Beniko and Sora"!

>Yeah... I guess.

>Man, what a crazy development!
>Especially that part when Sora found out she was a playwright!

>And then Beniko chased after her! It was a bit cliché, but totally worth it!
>It was so exciting, I've read it dozens of times over!

>That's right.
>Reality and fiction are two different things.

p28
>After writing that, I did some thinking.
>If it were Kasumi instead of Sora, and me instead of Beniko...

>Would I chase after her too?

>Reality shouldn't be like a story.
>Just like how I thought it would be interesting if Kasumi was in love with me,

>I simply thought about how interesting it would be if I really was in love with Kasumi.
>That's all.