CH 91

It was while riding the train to work that I learned of this.

“Applications are being temporarily suspended?”

I asked in surprise, and Yuika nodded in her usual tone.

“Yeah. Last night, the application process was suddenly suspended.”

The trouble was with the illustration contest that Yuika was about to enter.

When I immediately opened the site, it said, “Due to various circumstances, we are temporarily suspending the submission of applications.”

There was no specific reason given, and there was no mention of when it would resume.

Yuika continued her story in an indifferent manner.

“I’m sure they have their own reasons for this kind of thing, so it can’t be helped.”

Yuika looked somewhat depressed.

That’s right.

She had spent a lot of time working on it with the goal of submitting it to the contest.

If that work goes into storage without ever seeing the light of day, no one would feel good about it.

What in the world is going on?

◆◆◆◆◆

When I arrived at the office, the sales department was in an uproar.

It was only 8:20 am.

This was unusual, even though there was still time before working hours.

In the midst of the commotion, I approached my junior, Otomizu.

“Good morning, Otomizu. Did something happen?”

“Sasamiya-san! Just in time!”

Forgetting to greet, Otomizu asked me for help.

This seemed to be quite urgent.

“Actually, it’s the Halloween illustration contest, but due to a system failure, we can’t accept any more entries.”

“Is that so……”

“We should be able to recover by tomorrow…but Twitter is on flames….”

(T/N: When is Twitter not in flames?)

Twitter?

I immediately checked, too, and found that there was a tremendous amount of retweeting about the illustration contest’s sudden halt in accepting entries.

“The client said they would cancel the contest itself if we couldn’t get things under control. …”

“No way…”

No matter what the reason, once Twitter started flaring up, it was inevitable that the company’s image would be damaged.

To avoid further disruption, the client may have considered canceling the project.

But then what about the feelings of the participants who have worked so hard?

Above all, even though Yuika worked so hard, she would not be rewarded in any way… it is just too much.

“Sasamiya-san. What should I do in a situation like this?”

Otomizu asked me with an anxious expression, to which I calmly replied,

“Don’t worry. I have an idea.”

“!? Really!!!”

◆◆◆◆◆

The next morning.

As I was riding the train to work, Yuika called out to me in her usual tone.

“Good morning, Onii-san”

“Yo, Yuika”

Her expression was bright and clear.

Certainly, it’s because one source of worry is gone.

“The contest I mentioned yesterday is back open for submissions.”

“Hoo, is that so?”

“You know that they upgraded the contest. I’m glad that they increased the number of prizes, but I was really surprised.”

Yuika operated her phone to display the home page of the illustration contest.

The design was completely changed from two days ago, with a huge “Contest Upgraded!” was written in large letters.

The basic content of the contest had not changed, but a number of awards and prizes had been added, and it was also announced that a famous creator was joining the panel of judges.

And I was the one who set this up.

Incidentally, Kaedezaka also helped with the redesign of the home page of the illustration contest.

When I mentioned Yuika’s name, she worked furiously.

As a result, Twitter this morning was filled with amazed comments.

Some criticized for just covering up the failures, but overall the mood was welcoming.

Though there was no way I could tell Yuika that I was working behind the scenes.

At that moment, I received a line from Otomizu.

–Sasamiya-san. Thank you for yesterday. My client was overjoyed to see the reactions on Twitter!

–My bad I asked some unreasonable things.

–What are you talking about? Everyone is grateful to Sasamiya-san.

Yuika asked as she placed her phone back in her pocket.

“Line from your junior?”

“Yeah, for the record, it’s just business related.”

“Is that true?”

“There’s no reason to doubt it.”

Then Yuika stared into my eyes.

“Because today you have dark circles under your eyes, Onii-san.”

“Ah, I’m kind of slammed with work.”

“Naughty business?”

“No such business exists.”

Totally, she would be a really cute high school girl if it weren’t for these things.

But this kind of teasing by Yuika was not unpleasant to listen to.

I’ve been trained in a weird way.

Muni, muni.

Yuika squished my arm twice.

“Thank you, Onii-san.”

“…… why are you thanking me all of a sudden?”

“Because somehow I felt like you did your best for me.”

Yuika must not know that I worked behind the scenes.

But, well, …….

I was honestly glad to hear you say that.