Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 123



Only Noblemtl

123.

‘About T: Homecoming’, which is scheduled to consist of a total of 15 episodes, begins in earnest from episode 2, when Alice becomes a ‘special preparation committee member’ for Homecoming Day together with Tony.

And God expanded the worldview in earnest by introducing a large number of new characters.

Hannah Anderson, a student council member at Hamilton Academy, where Alice and Tony attend.

She was popular and good at studying, but she had a very strict personality and ignored Alice from the moment they first met. She didn’t have any friends and thought that a girl who had been bullied until recently would be of any help.

When Tony insists that he won’t take on this job unless Alice is accepted, she is offended and warns him not to hold her back.

But Alice, although quiet on the outside, was a girl who had insight inside her, gained from reading many books and being exposed to art. Above all, she lived a life completely different from those of Tony and Hannah.

That’s why he starts contributing greatly to the preparation of the event in a completely different way from the other two people.

The high school the two attended was largely divided into indoor and outdoor activity clubs.

Among them, those who do club activities indoors tend not to socialize with many people and tend to quietly indulge in their hobbies in small groups. For them, people like Hanna, who has a strict personality, or Tony, whose appearance alone is scary, were, frankly, difficult to deal with.

And in that situation, when Hannah, who wanted to proceed with the event as quickly as possible, pushed them forward half-forcibly, everyone reluctantly accepted her instructions while crying.

Alice hesitates as she looks at the sight, thinking that something is strange.

Tony caught it.

“Where does it hurt? Do you want to go home together?”

“Ah, no, it’s not that I’m sick······.”

“Is there something you want to say? If you feel uncomfortable in front of people, you can just tell me privately.”

Alice’s face turned red for a moment at Tony’s kind words.

I know. Tony is always considerate of her. But what makes Alice’s heart beat faster every time is that this boy never acts like this in front of others. And while he doesn’t care about other people’s emotions, he is always able to sense Alice’s emotions like a ghost.

Alice began to lean on him more and more, even though she thought it shouldn’t be like this.

“Okay, is that okay? We’ll all display them in the gym, so if you have any complaints, let’s talk about them separately. Write down your entries and which club they’re from on the paper I gave you and send it in by tomorrow.”

Hannah went about her business without even knowing that.

Students who were participating in indoor club activities seemed to want to say something, but no one dared to speak up. In particular, students participating in comic book club activities were on the verge of tears.

Homecoming Day was an event where students could widely publicize the activities they had done on and off campus throughout the year. Therefore, each of them had their own thoughts and expectations of showing them. However, in front of Hannah, who said that no matter what they suggested, they could not help but feel small.

“for a moment.”

Just then, Tony, who had heard the story from Alice, stepped forward.

“Gathering opinions, right?”

Tony, who couldn’t remember the exact words, looked back slightly and Alice nodded silently. Hannah tilted her head at the sudden situation.

“Anyway, I think I might need that.”

“No. I have to finish it today.”

“An hour or so is okay? Is your boyfriend waiting for you after school?”

“Oh, no!”

“So what? Let’s leave this to Ellie, the special preparation committee member, and after I drink a can of cola, let’s go check out other places.”

Tony skillfully shook up the atmosphere and took Hannah out. Alice felt very complicated as she watched him wink as if he was leaving her to him.

I appreciate you leaving my seat, but going out with a pretty girl like Hannah······.

‘ah.’

Alice froze for a moment, unable to take in any more emotions, and then she turned around unconsciously as she felt a tingling sensation on the back of her head.

Standing in this place, students in similar situations as me filled my field of vision.

Those who worry about whether it is right to express their opinions properly or not.

‘iced coffee······.’

Although she clearly understood their feelings and asked Tony to mediate, Alice had never spoken in front of so many people before and was shaking like a wet capybara.

But it was the same for the club members in front of me.』

“Hahahaha-! A wet capybara!”

Alexa Flair bursts into laughter at the mention of that part.

And the students gathered around her also laughed along with her.

Before class even started, everyone gathered there was very excited and chatting about the contents of the novel.

“Tony and Alice have incredible chemistry, don’t you think?”

“It looks like those two have become really close!”

“No. This is love.”

“Scalp?!”

“Tony doesn’t care about other people and is a bit stupid, but he doesn’t act that way toward Alice. He carefully examines her feelings one step ahead of others, which is unusual for him. It’s proof that he cares about Alice excessively. It’s like the ‘LOVE’ in the name of proof. Frrrrr, how lovely.”

“Oh, I come to school just to listen to scalp analysis······!”

“Is he a god?”

“Haha, he’s still just a disloyal cowboy. He’s not even a god.”

The scalp pushed up the glasses.

It was true that the boys were also enthusiastic about Alice and Tony’s romance. However, due to the nature of girls at this age who ‘generally’ express their emotions without hesitation, the girls were the ones who took the lead in conversations related to romance, while the boys usually just listened and responded.

Meanwhile, there were also female students who were not ‘normal’.

It was none other than Kate Moore.

‘It’s so loud I could die!!’

While she was waiting for class to start and editing her personal statement for the college entrance exam, she couldn’t concentrate because the students around her kept talking about their impressions of ‘About T: Homecoming’ and she just crumpled up the poor piece of paper in her hands.

However, he was unable to say anything to other students because he was stuck in the mold of the good(?) image he had built up, and he was even less able to concentrate because of the interesting topics that he was excited about.

In that short time, the conversation quickly moved up a level, reflecting the children’s interests. It even went as far as talking about when Tony and Alice would start dating, or when they would kiss.

‘Hey, are you crazy?! What kind of kiss is that between high school students?!’

Kate Moore’s face turned bright red.

She turned her head to see what kind of dirty(?) guy had said something like that, and in doing so, she found Alexa Flair and Shin Han, whose faces were flushed red after hearing the same story as her.

‘What the heck? Why are they doing that?’

As someone who knew nothing, she couldn’t help but tilt her head.

***

Alice began to reveal her talents little by little with Tony’s help.

The talent wasn’t the capybara that got wet easily, but the ability to understand and listen to other people’s stories. That was one of her strengths that only Tony had noticed.

She has quickly become a mainstay of this year’s Homecoming Day event.

Many people, including Hannah, recognized Alice, and many people gathered around her.

Alice even becomes friends with May Jo, the leader of the school band Pandemonium, a band that plays music no one can understand, and the most popular Asian-American girl in the school.

But the words Alice gave to her when she first met her were nothing special. No, perhaps it was a special approach that she could make because she was so knowledgeable.

[Why did you name it Pandemonium? Isn’t what you do black metal?]

[I don’t know. It’s just so cool. But do you like it? You’re the first person to ask me that. You seem to know a lot about music, too.]

May Jo, who had been chewing gum, took out a new piece of gum from her pocket and held it out.

The sight was enough to make Hannah, who was watching nervously from the side, feel astonished. Given Hannah’s strict personality, the person who was most uncomfortable with her was May, who thought of rules as ‘that kind of thing’.

The story that made everyone laugh happily continued throughout the first half.

‘And here’s where the mystery begins to emerge.’

In the mystery part that drives the middle part of this novel and carries it through to the latter half, I took the opposite approach and adopted a structure in which Alice deduces a secret that Tony is hiding.

However, since the two people have different personalities, rather than using this part as a final twist like in the previous work, I wanted to use it as an element that gives Alice a realization in line with the theme of the story.

Tony, who always pretended to be cheerful in front of Alice.

But as Homecoming Day approached, he had one concern.

I wonder if I can show a good side of myself in front of my parents who are coming to see this event.

In fact, Tony had made a huge mistake during the match at the event last year, and the trauma from that was still deeply ingrained in his mind.

He had prepared thoroughly to make sure that this time it wouldn’t happen, but as Homecoming Day approaches, the tension he’s built up around him begins to slowly affect those around him in a negative way.

Alice also noticed something strange, but Tony did not show it so as not to worry her. However, eventually, the juniors of the American football club could not stand it anymore and came to see Alice, who was a special preparation committee member, and as she received advice from them, she realized that Tony had a problem.

Tony’s close friends try to hide his past from him, but Alice persists and eventually succeeds in getting information from them.

And just when we’re getting close to the truth, another incident happens.

Episode 10 of ‘About T: Homecoming’.

The cheerleaders came to Alice to give her a sort of ‘warning’, as she was jealous of her starting to gain recognition.

“Aren’t you being a bit too much these days?”

“If you keep doing that, you’ll end up with a big nose.”

“How long do you think we’ll just sit there and listen to Tony?”

Three cheerleaders stood before my eyes, cheering.

Alice faced the three people without avoiding their gaze.

It would be a lie to say that she wasn’t afraid at all. The insults and bullying she had received from them for years still tormented Alice’s heart. But no matter how scared she was, she didn’t want to show it to the people who had done it to her.

So I thought they weren’t scared, so I suppressed my emotions that were slowly rising and spoke honestly.

“I’m just doing the job I’m assigned to do. What does that have to do with you?”

“what?!”

“This is really getting cocky.”

The reaction was as expected. That was it. Strangely enough, they were no longer afraid.

Alice realized that the time she spent with Tony and the moments she did something for someone were making her a little stronger now.

My waist and legs felt strong. My small fists were clenched tightly.

It was nothing.

The past is just the past.

In the end, it was himself who couldn’t let it go.

Looking at the horrors that had become the past, Alice thought of Tony.

I wanted to convey this thought to Tony as well. He had to let go. Otherwise, the fear inside him would only grow into a bigger monster, as it wanted to be.

Just then, someone came into Alice’s sight.

“stop.”

Hannah Anderson.

“Hey, I told you I don’t like it.”

And May Joe.

“What, what are you guys?”

“I had a soul connection with this guy.”

May nodded to Alice. Hannah smirked and continued to say as if adding to May’s words.

“I’ll tell the teacher.”

“Ha, right. Did we bully you? Did we bully you~?!”

The scuffle continued for a while, and students who heard the noise began to gather around.

Those who had received help from Alice in preparing for Homecoming Day took Alice’s side first.

Among them were students who had treated Alice as if they were ignoring her. They acknowledged her for showing her strengths while handling the special preparation committee work and scolded the cheerleader.

There were also some who had been bullied by the cheerleading girls like Alice. They had been in the same situation in the past, but seeing Alice at the center of this uproar gave them the courage to speak out.

All of these changes were brought about by Alice herself.

Also, it was a change that came about because I met Tony.

The three cheerleaders, sensing that the situation is not good, grit their teeth and retreat, and Alice thanks those who gathered and immediately runs out to find Tony.

······This was Alexa Flair’s reaction after reading the novel.

“Huh······! This is such a good story······!”

I’m really crying.

‘How can people be like this?’

I was overcome with a sense of absurdity.

No matter what, a novel is just a novel. Of course, I know that the power of writing exists, and that it is sometimes very great. But this is the first time in my life that I have seen someone so moved that they cried while reading a novel.

“Wow, seriously, isn’t this······a really good story?”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, I love it. I really love it. It’s a great novel. God.”

She sniffles and laughs bashfully, intoxicated by the emotion.

I looked at that face and smiled without realizing it.

The only times I could really feel the popularity of this piece were when Alexa and her friends were talking in front of me, like now, or when I saw the reactions of other students who went to the same school.

However, according to Julia, the number of fan letters increased and the response to the work seemed to have improved significantly compared to the previous work.

‘I guess everyone, even if not to the extent of Alexa, feels similar emotions about this work.’

Through the previous work, readers have developed enough affection for the characters Tony and Alice.

With that foundation in place, the story that was created as the two encountered different situations made readers develop even greater affection for the series called ‘About T’.

In the previous work, Alice wanted to experience a wider world through her work with her sister, and this time, she wanted to help Tony, who was struggling.

That is exactly the ‘growth’ I wanted to talk about through this work.

As I continued to grow through Simon and Julia, meeting good friends, and embracing Kate Moore, so did Alice.

I grew up meeting Tony, I grew through the positive experience of being a special organizer for Homecoming Day, and I grew again by meeting the three cheerleaders and overcoming the negative experiences of the past.

And we will continue to move forward.

‘Just like I did.’

I smiled and focused on writing again.

‘About T: Homecoming’ was already finished and submitted to the Los Angeles Times, and now Alexa and I were meeting alone this weekend to write some papers for college admissions.

I compiled all the test scores, including my personal statement, into one file to be mailed to each university.

Usually, I would get help from teachers, but since I had worked as a teacher for quite some time in my previous life, it was easier and neater to organize things on my own. Working analogically by hand was also quite interesting because it was something I had never experienced in my previous life.

After I finished reading the 10th episode of ‘About T: Homecoming’ that was serialized today, Alexa sat down at the cafeteria table, resting her chin on it, and started staring at my face.

When I told him that it would be difficult to meet up this weekend because of the entrance exam preparations, Doopina Jiwoo said that they would meet up next time. However, for some reason, this guy said that he also had something to do and asked to meet up separately.

It didn’t seem like he didn’t know the reason······, but he just said he understood for now.

Because I didn’t hate it either.

“Hey, God.”

“After I finish reading the newspaper, let’s go ice skating for a bit.”

“No, you have to get ready. I just suddenly had a question.”

“What is it?”

“Is Jiwoo going to live in your house soon?”

“yes.”

It was already a week ago that Jiwoo’s father came to our house and asked if he could take care of his daughter.

My mother readily agreed without asking for my opinion, and Jiwoo was able to continue his life in Los Angeles, away from his parents.

“Graham, I will continue to live with you.”

“I don’t know. I haven’t decided where to go to college yet.”

“Are you going far?”

“I’m thinking about it. I’ll have to decide after seeing if I pass.”

“You said ‘About T’ would be a trilogy?”

“That’s right.”

“What’s the next subtitle? ‘Prom’?”

“······It’s like a ghost.”

I looked up in surprise at those words, and immediately made eye contact with Alexa.

She turned her head sharply, her large, blue eyes wide open like a rabbit’s.

End

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