The Sword Deity in Tokyo
Chapter 92: More Than Just Difficul

"..."

After listening to this wish, Kimura Kazuki did not say a word for a while. When he was on the way home, he already had a feeling that Yuriko Kawachi's obsessiveness would be related to her light novel. 

But… he never thought that it would be this difficult.

Exactly. To him, this was like hell. 

Publishing was not that hard, he could pay for that. For him, it was best if the obsessiveness could be achieved by money. He was not rich, but earning money was a lifetime job. Besides, money was earned to be spent, the spending would be worth it, as long as it was spent on the sword. 

But… turning it into manga and anime would be over-budgeting. Even selling himself would not get him that much money.

While publishing, turning it into manga and anime could be settled with money, getting acknowledged, and gaining popularity among the readers could not... The novel would only be acknowledged when the readers have the urge to continue to get updates and are desperate for more of the novel after reading it.

Based on being "acknowledged," obviously Yuriko Kawachi's obsessiveness was for her novel to become popular, then attract an animation company before turning it into manga and anime.

Her obsessiveness would not be achieved even after he paid to publish the novel and turn it into manga and anime unless it was being acknowledged by the readers. As for the acknowledgment from the readers, it was reflected in various aspects.

Kimura Kazuki rubbed his temple and looked toward Yuriko Kawachi. She was looking back at him nervously, he was stunned. He suddenly thought of her asking whether she could change her wish just now… He frowned, "Miss Kawachi, are you sure this is your obsessiveness? Are there no other wishes?"

He would not know if Yuriko Kawachi was lying. If he only achieved a fake obsessiveness in the end and her consciousness still exists, it would make a joke out of him. Having thought about this, he became stern. Since he was still inexperienced in this, he should be more careful and prevent this in the future.

"I'm sure about this…" Yuriko Kawachi was stunned. She looked at Kimura Kazuki and suddenly realized, "Don't you believe me?"

Kimura Kazuki nodded, "I'm sorry, we're still strangers. As an Onmyoji, helping a specter to ascend is my responsibility and obligation. However, if you as a specter lied, by the time your obsessiveness is achieved but you still cannot ascend, something horrible may happen to you." He paused, "Like… your soul will be broken into pieces, or you might go to hell."

Hearing that, Yuriko Kawachi had a terrified expression, she said immediately, "My last wish is really as what I've said, I'm not lying. The reason why I said I wanted to change my last wish just now was because of my parents." While saying so, Yuriko Kawachi's eyes dimmed, "I was an only child, and my parents live in the village. So, I've always wished that my novel will become popular so I can earn enough money for them to enjoy their lives. However, my last wish after I died is hoping that my novel can be popular instead of wishing that my parents can live happily, I'm such a hypocrite."

Kimura Kazuki heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this. Luckily, it wasn't that kind of obsessiveness. If it was, then I'd have to kill you. Having the thought, he smiled slightly, "I see, but you don't have to blame yourself. The formation of obsessiveness is related to your thoughts before you die. You died while you were writing your novel, and you were so focused on your novel back then, that's why you have this obsessiveness right now, this is normal."

Yuriko Kawachi nodded slightly but showed no sign of happiness. Even if her novel became popular, she was already dead. Her parents could only live in destitute and suffer for the rest of their lives.

However, Yuriko Kawachi was quite an optimistic person, she knew that there was no use crying over spilled milk. She could only accept the fact that she had become a specter. Luckily, Kimura Kazuki was there, without him, she would have gone insane.

"Regarding your obsessiveness, I have a few questions." Kimura Kazuki held a note and a pen, it was clear that he had some questions. Although Yuriko Kawachi's obsessiveness was clearly stated, there were still some details that needed to be clarified.

"Alright." Yuriko Kawachi was going to find a place to sit, but when she looked around, there was not even a chair… She was surprised, she did not know that Onmyojis nowadays were so poor.

"How was your novel's standard while you were still alive?"

"Uhm… it has to be published eventually. But my drafts were always sent back for amendments." Yuriko Kawachi scratched her head. She was the boss in the group only because she had been in the group for long. In the world of light novels, she was still a newbie.

Kimura Kazuki sighed softly. It seemed like his idea of asking Yuriko Kawachi to read aloud, and him writing it out could be excluded already. With her standard of only nearly being published, producing a popular novel would be very difficult.

Write it out by himself? Kimura Kazuki never even considered this. He seldom read novels before, and he had never written one. Yuriko Kawachi's standard would be so much better than his.

"As to what you've said just now… your obsessiveness is for your novel to become popular. Does 'your novel' mean publishing using your pseudonym?" Kimura Kazuki asked this question very seriously.

If the pseudonym of Yuriko Kawachi had to be used, he would rather kill himself. The uniqueness of the pseudonym "Chiyoko" had already been used to publish a light novel before this. That means that the pseudonym could not be used by others except Yuriko Kawachi.

But since she was already dead, it would be impossible for him to use this pseudonym.

"No need." Although Yuriko Kawachi shook her head, she was slightly embarrassed as well, "As long as my ideas are in the new novel, and it is published with my name, it's fine."

"With your name? What do you mean?" He understood the ideas, the involvement of Yuriko Kawachi in the new novel. Either in the setting of the conception of the world or the discussion of the plots.

"I mean, during the publication of the new novel, it must be stated that I am involved in the discussion of the novel."

Uhm...

This gave Kimura Kazuki headaches. However, this actually made sense. After all, her obsessiveness was related to getting acknowledged by the readers… which actually meant to make the readers agree with her thinking. If it was published using another's pseudonym and that was not clarified, the one who was getting acknowledgment would not be Yuriko Kawachi anymore.

Kimura Kazuki asked a few more questions after that, and Yuriko Kawachi answered all of them.

"I'm done asking." Kimura Kazuki closed his note. He already knew how to fulfill her wish. It was clear that he was stuck on the first step.

It was difficult for a novel to get published, acknowledged by the readers, and have it turned into manga and anime. Yuriko Kawachi still had another request to clarify to the readers that the light novel was published, with her involvement in the discussion of the novel.

This would be more than just difficult.

Kimura Kazuki took a deep breath. For a moment, he thought of giving up on achieving the obsessiveness.

However, when he thought of Akie Hanzawa's red reiki, he hesitated. He then grabbed his cellphone reluctantly and dialed a number.