Morning sunlight streamed through the window.
Sato slowly opened his eyes, scratching his head as he sat up in bed. He yawned and glanced out the window.
The sky was bright and clear, looked like it would be a nice day.
So he thought. But as he stared at the balcony, his expression grew increasingly conflicted.
Just what the heck happened last night?
He had a gut feeling, his life here was going to be anything but peaceful...
Ruffling his hair in frustration, he dressed, washed up, and headed out all in one smooth go.
He'd only brought a few changes of clothes from Akita. While the rented apartment came with basic furnishings, it was still missing key electronics.
He had his phone, but no computer or other devices. They were too heavy to bring from his family home in Akita.
The neighborhood around Aoyama Apartments didn't have many tall buildings. Most of the area was made up of detached single-family homes, with only a few small apartment buildings scattered here and there.
The place was called Usagiyama Town. The liveliest part was the nearby commercial street.
…
Usagiyama Mall.
While browsing the third floor's electronics section for a computer, Sato suddenly spotted a familiar flash of golden hair with that trademark cowlick. Instinctively, he raised a hand.
"Tenma-san!"
The petite figure ahead turned around with a confused look. When she saw it was Sato, her face lit up with surprise and delight.
"Nohara-kun!"
Sato walked over and, noticing her empty hands, asked curiously, "What are you here to buy?"
"A computer!"
The angel girl tilted her head slightly as she answered, her smile blooming like a flower, absolutely radiant.
Sato blinked in surprise. What are the odds?
Come to think of it, heaven must be pretty modern if they knew about computers…
"I'm getting one too. Want to shop together?"
He extended the invitation.
Gabriel's eyes widened slightly, she hadn't expected such a coincidence. But she quickly nodded with joy.
Although she had studied human-world tech in her celestial textbooks, there were no actual electronics in heaven. She didn't know much about them, just that they were essential items in the human realm.
So the two of them went shopping together. Sato wasn't exactly a tech expert, but he knew enough to help a newbie.
As they walked, he explained various computer specs, and Gabriel's eyes sparkled with fascination. She kept letting out little gasps of wonder.
"Sugoi! I didn't know there were so many things to consider!"
"What are you getting it for, Gabriel? Studying? Gaming? Something else?"
"Gaming?"
Her bright eyes blinked in confusion.
Uh… does Heaven not have games?
Sato couldn't tell. It was hard to imagine anyone not knowing what games were in this era, but her innocent confusion made it impossible for him to call her out.
"Well, if you want to play video games, you'll need a higher-end system."
He could only continue explaining the best he could.
Sigh… What a pain.
He sighed inwardly. How'd I bump into this angel girl again? More importantly, why'd I even say hi and drag myself into this?
"Oh! Then I'll get a higher-end one," Gabriel replied cheerfully.
She didn't understand much, but to avoid "blowing her cover," she pretended like she totally got it.
Sato breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright. I'll help you install some games later, then."
Aoyama Apartments already had a network line installed, he just needed to reactivate it, which wasn't hard.
Under Sato's guidance, the two compared specs and made their purchases. Since the mall wasn't far from the apartments, the delivery staff came along with them.
Gabriel bought a laptop. Sato bought both a desktop and a laptop.
"Thanks for your help."
"No problem."
After seeing off the delivery workers, Sato returned to his room, powered on his new computer, and typed in a familiar URL, opening a beautifully designed website.
The site had a three-layered color scheme: a starry deep blue sky with glowing constellations up top, transitioning into a dreamy mix of pink and orange clouds in the middle, and ending in a vast emerald-green meadow.
[Fantasyland (Gensokyo), Far from the Mortal World]
The elegant text faded as the homepage loaded.
This was a website Sato had created. It had started as his personal page but had gradually grown into a light novel platform leaning toward commercial use.
Currently, it focused solely on light novels, but Sato had ambitions to develop it into a comprehensive site centered on the ACGN (Anime, Comics, Games, Novels) community.
After over two years, it had just barely made it into the ranks of popular niche sites within the ACGN sphere.
But to Sato, that wasn't nearly enough.
A light novel platform alone couldn't represent the whole of the "2D."
Currently, the site earned revenue mainly from referral and commission fees. It wasn't much, just enough to sustain basic operations. He had never promoted the site actively.
If a novel on his site was picked up and signed by a publishing house, that publisher would pay a referral fee. The site also took 5% of the author's net earnings in the light novel industry, as outlined in their original publishing agreement.
In this world, copyright protection was extremely advanced. Electronic contracts held legal weight, so the signing process was easy. The revenue-sharing clause lasted for ten years.
In a way, it was similar to being a "light novel talent agent."
Still, the referral fees and the modest 5% cut weren't considered excessive, and most publishers and authors were happy to accept the terms.
However, recently, some publishers had started making moves, setting up their own light novel platforms and claiming they could boost authors' chances of debuting. Quite a few creators were jumping ship.
Even so, many chose to stay in Fantasyland, unwilling to tie themselves to a single publisher.
Sato checked the site and browsed the discussion forums.
The drop in forum activity was noticeable. The effects of these shifts were starting to show.
Should I start implementing a paid content model?
After all, there were still plenty of unknown, struggling writers out there with no hope of debuting. He had to give them something to reach for…