[Is your best friend really worth less to you than a panda plush? Utaha, you've let me down. You're snapping at me over a guy. I'm... I'm so hurt.]
The chat went quiet. The message showed as read, but no reply came.
A scheming smile crept across Eriri's face. So she struck while the iron was hot. "Utaha, the second volume of Clannad is coming out soon. Has that special someone of yours let you read it early?"
The chat remained silent for a little while longer before Utaha's reply finally appeared. "Did you get your hands on a closed beta of Clannad? I heard they were only giving out a limited number of invites, and the odds of getting one were pretty slim. Congrats! Oh, and nice try. Those tears aren't for the panda plushie at all. You're crying over what happened to Tomoya and Ushio, aren't you? Almost fell for it."
"What? No way. What beta? I never got one. Utaha, just what are you talking about?" Eriri denied it frantically.
The next second, Utaha's video call came through, and Eriri hit decline on reflex.
[Utaha]: "Heh. Caught you, and now you're too scared to pick up?"
[Utaha]: (photo) "See this? It's the complete Clannad, and I'm NOT letting you read it!"
[Eriri]: "Fine, don't show me. Like I even care. So what if you've got a famous author for a boyfriend? Hmph! I'll find one too!"
Eriri pouted in a fury.
But after she'd vented enough, a helpless look settled over her face.
Saying it was easy. But a talented author like "Copycat"? Where was she supposed to find one of those?
And even if she did, it wouldn't get her the second half of Clannad right now.
"Ugh, this is so annoying!"
She took her fury out on the panda plush again.
Then suddenly, a clever idea popped into her little head.
If hinting around didn't work, what about going in from the inside?
She picked up her phone and dialed the staff member again. "Um, is Full-Drive Bunko still taking illustrators? I'll work for free!"
When the staff member heard that, he was stunned.
...
..
February arrived.
The countdown to Clannad's release had reached the finger-counting stage.
According to Chris Yamada, Full-Drive Bunko's promotion budget this time started at 30 million yen and could climb as high as 50 million. The first volume had gotten 20 million, and now the second volume was getting 50. Even Oikawa thought that was a bit over the top when he heard the number.
Was that really right?
Sure, the first volume had sold over 400,000 copies in its first month, but this was insane. Did they think money grew on trees?
And the most shocking part was that Chris still seemed to think it wasn't enough. Oikawa was convinced the world had gone mad.
He used to daydream that if he started his own publishing house, he'd try to poach Chris. Now he thought better of it.
Money really was the cure for everything. But this guy could spend it like water, and there was no way anyone could afford him.
Even so, on the evening of February 3rd, countless bloggers started promoting Clannad like they'd lost their minds. The trending lists on social media were wall-to-wall Clannad.
Some of them were just doing it for a paycheck. They posted book reviews, but it was all template language.
But plenty of others had genuinely read the trial edition and were pouring out their real feelings.
Most of the posts were full of resentment toward Oikawa. It never quite reached the level of passive-aggressive sarcasm, but the anger was there under the surface.
Oikawa read through them with a huge grin on his face. If he had one of those emotion-harvesting cheat systems, this wave would have sent his stats through the roof.
A bitter thought crossed his mind. They were all transmigrators, so why did everyone else get a system and he didn't?
So unfair!
Just then, a ding sounded in his ear.
[Ding! Download complete!]
He stared at the newly downloaded movie. What a letdown. He'd thought a system had finally shown up!
---
A 560,000-follower ACGN review blogger whose Twitter content mostly consists of light novel reviews. Twitter blogger— Taki-kun.
As a third-year middle schooler studying for entrance exams, Taki had no intention of getting caught up in the promotion for the first volume of Clannad. But in the end, he opened the trial edition Full-Drive Bunko had sent him anyway.
The middle school exam is the day after tomorrow, and I hesitated for a very, very long time. In the end, I couldn't resist the pull of Clannad, so I opened the trial edition the Full-Drive Bunko staff sent me.
After the sadness had washed over him, he composed this tweet.
Honestly, I regret this so much right now. If I bomb the middle school exam the day after tomorrow, it's 100% on Copycat-sensei and his Clannad. It is just that sad. I saw a video on TikTok that ranked levels of sadness. Level one is nobody talking to you at recess. Level nine is coming home to an empty house so quiet you can't even hear the wind. I think level ten is reading Clannad. Maybe that's a bit dramatic, but I want to give everyone a heads-up: this light novel is seriously, seriously sad.
You all know how I do these. I'll tell you what the story's about without spoiling anything. The trial edition is only half, and I didn't even finish it. But if I had to sum up Clannad in one word, I wouldn't say "healing." I'd say "redemption." Yes, redemption. It's not just Tomoya saving himself. It's everyone around him too. After the redemption comes learning how to grow.
To me, the saddest moment in the whole story is the scene in the rain, when Kyou Fujibayashi tells Tomoya, in tears: "I like you, so please stop being so nice to me. I'm an idiot, and I'll get the wrong idea." Come to think of it, the second volume almost feels like it's really the first volume. After certain things happen, Tomoya's way of coping is to replay all the paths he could have taken. But whichever route he goes down, it ends up hurting everyone in the end, because our souls are fragile.
Copycat-sensei's writing is honestly hard not to admire. I never thought a light novel author could become a literary giant like Dazai Osamu, because light novels are too simple. Now I think I was wrong. I might fail my exam, but I don't regret opening this book. I'm already looking forward to it. After the second volume officially comes out, I'll post another review. I can't wait for that day, just like I can't wait for the day Copycat-sensei is called Japan's great literary master of our time.
Taki was a veteran ACGN blogger, and to plenty of fans his name carried real weight.
He also rarely took sponsored work. He only did it when he'd found something truly excellent, like Clannad this time.
To a lot of anime fans, Taki-kun's opinion was more trustworthy than that of bloggers with hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of followers.
Plenty of his followers decided to pick up a copy of Clannad to see for themselves. What was it about the book that earned such high praise?
Chris Yamada was lurking among them. Reading the comments, he nodded in satisfaction and muttered, "From now on, we should definitely focus on bloggers like Taki, the ones their followers actually trust."
.
.
.
༺༻ If you're interested, you can read the chapters ahead on pat👉 patreon.com/_Coreal