VIP Notice – Lazy Big Brother, Ace Little Sister, Magic Academy?

…Yeah, so…

We’re about to go VIP, so I wanted to give everyone a heads-up, even though I’ve already mentioned it in earlier chapters.

Going VIP means this series, “Lazy Big Brother, Ace Little Sister, Magic Academy?”, will officially move into the paid section. It’s not paywalled forever, though—seems like chapters unlock after 36 hours? Honestly, even I’m not too sure. I should just bury my head and keep typing instead of worrying about that stuff. (｡・`ω´･)

I’m really happy it made it to VIP. Of course, some readers won’t be able to read the latest chapters right away because of the paywall and might complain, but there’s really no helping it. You can’t keep up this kind of word count on “passion only” mode forever. I have to treat this as a real job: no half‑assing it, no shutting myself away and writing into a void.

I’m a ’89 kid, which probably makes me a full-on uncle compared to a lot of SF readers and writers here, right? (hiding face)

Writing novels wasn’t some childhood dream of mine. To be honest, my dream’s super simple: just drifting through life, taking it easy every day. (←_← Way too passive, I know.)

And if your dream is to slack off, then the biggest enemy standing in front of that dream is… work. (Final boss of real life, basically!)

Dreams are hard to achieve, and work is something you can’t dodge anyway. (Yeah, yeah, I’m basically a shut‑in.)

So if you have to work, at least pick something you like doing, right? (Why does that line sound so familiar…)

That’s right. The job I want now is “light novel author.”

I love stories. For me, movies, TV dramas, novels, anime, manga and so on are all just different tools for telling stories. And for some reason, I especially like anime and novels. Maybe it’s that feeling of not being bound by anything. (Yeah, especially H‑doujins.)

I still remember ditching class in middle school, staying home bored out of my mind, then grabbing a pocket book from my older sister’s cabinet. I wasn’t expecting much, but I ended up liking it for no reason at all.

Back then I never even thought about writing anything. I just liked reading to kill time. On top of that, I had severe essay‑writing syndrome as a kid. (I remember using the same elementary school essay topic for several semesters…)

I didn’t know a lot of words or sentence patterns back then. I picked them up later bit by bit, reading webnovels and slogging through things like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Legend of the Swordsmen of the Shu Mountains. (I’ve filled several notebooks, and honestly, those classics are really not that fun to read. They eat time like crazy.)

Being able to type like this now was not easy at all. (I still remember going to an internet café in middle school to play Legend, and the only words I could type were “me,” “go,” “come.” I didn’t even know proper finger placement. Wubi input might as well have been alien tech. Typing one sentence felt like going into battle. Hiding my face, ＞﹏＜)

Since I have to work, I chose “novelist” as my job. (Fine, world, I surrender!) In reality, it’s just that manga or animation is way too hard for an amateur like me.

So is writing novels any easier?

I’m sorry!!!

“Novel,” I totally misjudged you. I thought you were something I could just sit at home and spew out. I’m so, so sorry. I throw myself to the ground in apology!

Yeah. After trying it for real, I found out that Novel‑chan is a super tsundere job. I haven’t been in society for a short time, and I’ve switched through lots of jobs, but the tsundere level of Novel‑chan is still sky‑high. She’s not easy to “clear,” especially the high‑level, beautiful Novel‑chan versions. The time cost to win them over is… not flattering at all. But that’s mainly my own ability problem. (Eyes are tired. I’ll go jog along the river and get some wind in my face first…)

Anyway, since I want to do it, I’ll just do it. Time never passes for nothing; it always piles up. So let’s work hard, young man. (…Right after I finish watching the Sakiyoshi OAD I just downloaded.)

After going VIP, I’ll be updating 6,000 characters a day. (…Can I really pull that off?)

Finally:

I started this series, “Lazy Big Brother, Ace Little Sister, Magic World?”, in April this year, and now it’s August. A full four months, over 500k characters. You could say every day has been a kind of torture. Especially recently—6,000 characters a day. (Slams keyboard! The world’s so big, I wanna go for a walk!) My brain feels like it’s burning. Maybe I’m still in the adjustment phase. Evolve, young man!

I’ve done my best with this novel, but there are still tons of places that didn’t come out the way I wanted. That just means I have to burn myself even harder. (Fine, slam the keyboard again! (｡・`ω´･))

So, thank you to everyone who likes this series. I hope to hear more feedback and get more encouragement. I’ll keep working hard from here on.

Support gives me motivation.

“The road ahead is long and far; I shall seek high and low.” (Or was that “hands all over the place”?)

Those involved are lost; onlookers see clear.

I hope my editor Brandy will keep an eye on this work from here on, give feedback, and point out its flaws.

Thanks to illustrator Haruhi‑kun for the new cover. I really bothered you with all my random requests. It looks awesome! (Though honestly, knowing you gentlemen, it’s hard to catch your eye without sticking a nude loli on the cover.)

And of course, there’s the essential full‑force support and promo from SF. Because of that, I have to work even harder. (The contract’s signed already, what more do you want?)

……

Elsewhere—

Since I’ve got the chance, I want to talk about how “Lazy Big Brother, Ace Little Sister, Magic Academy?” is positioned, because quite a few readers said they’re confused about what kind of story this actually is.

Simply put, it’s a story set in a near‑future society where some people can use magic, and a magic‑based world arises from that.

The twin brother‑and‑sister protagonists are the core figures of this magic world.

Because of my own preferences, even though the academy is the main setting, there’s quite a lot of social development content too.

Judging from the title, a lot of readers seem to think this is a heartwarming “brother and sister in love” story. They’re not wrong; that element is definitely there. But early on, you won’t see the sister throwing herself at her brother, crawling into his bed to “serve” him or anything like that. The story unfolds mainly on the level of the magic society. It’s similar to Mahouka in that sense, but not the same, because it’s built on my own take on human nature and society.

The brother, Yan Lingxuan, outwardly is warm, open, considerate, with a bit of humor. But deep down, he’s got a cruel streak. The only person he truly cares about is his twin sister. That side of him shows up in scattered bits later—like at the end of Volume 2, the Volume 2 extra, the Volume 3 extra, the end of Volume 4… I’ll keep adding fragments to fill in the male lead’s emotional world, and through his interactions with others, his inner world will start to shift.

The sister, Bai Lingyue, looks cold on the surface and isn’t good with people, but inside she has a strong sense of justice and likes helping others. As the heroine, she’s basically a walking BUG. After learning about her own special situation, she starts to feel wary about interacting with others. But thanks to her brother, that’ll slowly unlock. So I intentionally kept the focus off her emotional world for a while. You can get a small peek from the end of Volume 4, where during a battle the male lead has a brief memory of his sister. Lingyue isn’t good at expressing herself (or maybe she does it on purpose), but in reality she really wants to be close to her brother. You can see that from the Volume 2 extra and the end of Volume 4.

In the early parts, the twins have been separated for ten years and feel unfamiliar with each other, so there’s almost no flirting. As they spend more time together, childhood memories slowly surface, and their relationship gets better and better.

Of course, this magic society doesn’t revolve only around the twins. There are many other characters of all kinds. That’s also my preference. Because there are quite a lot of side characters woven into the story, some readers say they have no idea what the novel is even about.

But it’s actually simple: it’s the story of this magic society. Before starting this, I loved shows like A/Z, Mahouka, Black Hero, and 420‑Loss Streak Girl, so this is kind of a blend of those influences. And the American series Criminal Minds is basically a god‑tier show in my heart. (Though without subtitles I have no idea what they’re saying.)

At its core, every magic in this series has a scientific explanation. That’s my attempt to give the story more depth. (Or maybe I’m just failing at imitation?)

This story has society, science, human nature, academy life, picking up girls… and more, all mashed together.

Okay, honestly, everything above is kind of fluff.

The main thing I wanted is to give the male lead plenty of chances to show off.

That’s right. That’s what this is: a story where the male lead gets to act cool, and the “cool factor” has to be high. That’s just how I like it. I like the male lead way more than the heroine. (So the author’s gay?) (Go watch NatsuYasu and open the door to a new world, kid!) (Here I go preaching again—truly the perfect example of a seasoned driver!)