I Can't Write a Romance Novel. / Lesson 1: "What is Love!?"

"Ayano!!"
The man rushed into the house next door, which had a nameplate reading "Shinozuka" instead of his own family home, and shouted the woman's name.
"Wh-what!? Yosuke!?"
The woman called Ayano approached the man at the entrance—Yosuke—half-angrily. Perhaps because he had run quite a distance, Yosuke's hair, which had likely been styled, was in a miserably messy state.
"Sorry, I thought I could only catch you on a Sunday, so I rushed..."
Yosuke hesitated at the entrance, then stared intensely at Ayano and made up his mind.
"I have a favor to ask!"
"You're being too sudden, I don't understand! Oh, by the way, congratulations on winning the Aoki Prize."
"Teach me about love!"
Even interrupting Ayano's congratulatory words, Yosuke shouted loudly and knelt down. He was so intense he looked like he might crumple the suit he was wearing so neatly.
"Huh!? What are you talking about!?"
"Please! You're the only one I can ask!"
"Can you stop kneeling at someone else's front door!?"
"I'm begging you!"
"This is so sudden and makes no sense! What's going on?"
"Oh my, Yosuke-chan! It's been a while!"
Hearing this exchange, the person who appeared from the back of the house was Ayano's mother, Kayano. She was a gentle woman who had looked after the Sugawara children since they were small.
"Oh, ma'am... it's been a while..."
Yosuke, having been seen in a kneeling position, tried to cover it up with a strained smile. As for Ayano, she couldn't hide her irritation at Yosuke's incomprehensible behavior and asked Kayano for help.
"Geez, Mom, do something about Yosuke!"
"I understand. I'll prepare some tea, so take Yosuke-chan up to your room."
"My room!?"
Needless to say, Ayano shouted, "Mom, you don't understand at all!"

◆

"So, why did it end up like this?"
Even after hearing Kayano's lecture about how herbal tea has a relaxing effect, Ayano didn't feel relaxed at all; instead, she took a sip while feeling irritated. Yosuke spoke in a low voice while looking down.
"Actually, my next work... has been decided to be a romance novel."
"Pfft."
Ayano accidentally spat out her drink.
"Don't laugh."
"So that's it... It's because you've spent 30 years having nothing to do with love."
"It's only been 29 years!"
Having said it himself, Yosuke felt discouraged, thinking that in reality, 30 and 29 years weren't that different. Taking advantage of that discouragement, Ayano stabbed Yosuke with several "knives of words" as if in retaliation for earlier.
"You went to an all-boys school in junior high and high school, and in college, you were in the literature department of a national university, staring at books or manuscripts every day. After you debuted with a newcomer award, you've been a shut-in, so you never had time for romance, right?"
"Shut up."
"It means you've been confronted with your weakest subject, and you're a man who hasn't even had his first love yet!"
"Ugh... you really know how to hit where it hurts."

It was just as Ayano pointed out. Yosuke had been a child who loved reading from a young age, and even when everyone else was playing outside, he was reading books. In elementary school, he went to the local school like Ayano, and because he was good at studying and due to his father's wishes, he took the entrance exam for a famous private junior high school and passed. He went on to the affiliated high school and entered the literature department of a national university right after graduation.
It wasn't that he didn't have luck with women because he looked bad. He was tall and had well-defined features. He was also reasonably good at sports. But he had no interest in romance. Ayano knew that all the girls who had confessed to Yosuke had said in unison, "I don't know what that person is thinking!" Yosuke probably didn't even understand what a confession was.
Yosuke's mind was always only on books. That was all. If books could be personified, his first love would probably be "Animal Encyclopedia."
He probably started vaguely wanting to be a novelist around junior high school. And in his second year of university, he challenged the "Novel Meteor," a gateway for new writers, and won the grand prize.
Since then, for nine years, up until this Aoki Prize win, he had consistently sent works out into the world and produced one bestseller after another. His current award-winning work had even broken the exceptional record of 3 million copies sold.

"But you know, if Yosuke were to date, matching apps seem like a high hurdle. Marriage hunting parties seem less likely to be a disaster."
"Marriage hunting... is that it? The thing that's popular lately, activities for the purpose of getting married?"
"Yes, exactly. There are surprisingly many of them. Look."
Ayano picked up an information magazine she had left on the carpet, flipped to the back pages, and showed it to Yosuke.
"These are all advertisements for marriage hunting parties."
"Marriage hunting parties?"
"What they used to call matchmaking."
Where is this an advertisement for matchmaking? First, Yosuke felt a sense of disgust toward the woman who appeared to be the image girl, thinking the heavy makeup must be terrifying. And the text was far too small and detailed. This was completely different from the high-status image of matchmaking! In the first place, Yosuke could only imagine matchmaking as a formal affair with a go-between, a man in a suit, and a woman in a kimono facing each other in a Japanese-style room... Seeing through this, Ayano continued her explanation.
"It's a place where men and women who don't have opportunities to meet gather. It's like a large-scale group date. Well, even for women who do have opportunities, it's a world where they try hard to get a good man."
"Is that how it is... Are you like that too?"
"Can you stop that? I'm not that desperate for men!"
Ayano's brow furrowed.
"I suppose so..."
When he received the magazine from Ayano, Yosuke seriously followed the text. And then he said one thing.
"Why is the participation fee higher for men?"
"Oh, you're so ignorant of the world! Income is number one at marriage hunting parties! It's a world where men are expected to pay this much! Men who are stingy with money are useless! Besides, if the fee for men is low, people who aren't serious might participate! But if women are looking for status, the fee is higher for women! It says 'Doctors only,' right!? Or 'Annual income of 10 million yen or more!'"
Yosuke, who was at his own pace, responded to Ayano, who was rattling off like a machine gun.
"Is that so... Oh, wait a minute. Let me take a note."
He wrote down "Women look for income in men" in the notebook he always carried. It was his so-called "idea notebook," and it gave the impression of being well-used.
"You're starting from there... This is hopeless."
Ayano held her head. She looked at Yosuke in front of her anxiously, wondering if he could really fall in love. And as for Yosuke, he was seriously looking at the information magazine, opened a certain page, and said one thing.

"What is this? 'Date Hotel Special Feature'?"
"Are you an idiot!?"

Ayano blushed, rolled up the magazine, and smacked Yosuke on the head.

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