In the makeshift candlelight, the wish that Nengnian Lingna made was known only to herself.

Although there was something strange in her attitude, as if it was some kind of intuition, Toru Shimizu didn't choose to ask, but pressed her doubts and spent the rest of the birthday party with her.

At the moment of the final separation, across the road, Nengnian Reina turned her head and waved vigorously with her slightly flushed cheeks. Toru Shimizu also raised his hand, and saw her smile, waved it a few more times, and disappeared from the crowd holding her chest.

As she left, the strange feeling seemed to have lost its source, like water vapor that quietly evaporated after a rain, dissolved in the air, and it really existed, but there was no trace of it.

It's as if everything is an illusion of early summer.

It's the middle of July, and it's finally summer in Tokyo. The scorching sun in the sky brings soaring temperatures, and one can't help but feel nostalgic for the coolness of the rainy season in the past.

The height of summer comes with a long enough vacation. During this period of time at his own disposal, Toru Shimizu has to complete the creation of a new book in addition to finding a way to dissuade Nanami Nanami from becoming an idol.

For this reason, he decided on the outline of the novel, but in order to get enough "feeling" for writing, he did not quit his internship at Kodansha. This relieved Heiichi Irie, who had greatly increased his workload due to the revision of the dictionary, and decided to take him to see an indispensable part of the dictionary publishing: paper selection.

With his blazer over his shoulders, Toru Shimizu walked down the streets of Kodaira City, Tokyo, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and found Irie, who was waiting in the shadows.

"Irie-san, this is the iced coffee you wanted."

"Shimizu-kun, thank you."

"It's nothing," Toru Shimizu also took out a bottle of iced oolong tea from the bag in his hand and drank it, feeling the rare cold feeling, and asked casually, "By the way, have you been contacted by the people from the printing house?" ”

"I've already said it, I'll go over after drinking this."

"Okay."

When I came to the printing house, I was soon received by a middle-aged man who claimed to be the head of the product research and development department. The business card he handed over had the name Shunsuke Iwatachi printed on it.

Sitting down on the sofa in the reception room, the minister named Iwatachi went straight to the point.

"Irie-san, I know what you mean, you plan to choose the paper for printing for the revised "Japanese Dictionary", right?"

"Yes, I'm in trouble this time."

"It's not a hassle at work. So, you guys wait a minute, I'll get the existing paper sample. ”

Taking advantage of the gap between his departures, Toru Shimizu asked a question that he had been a little puzzled about.

"Irie-san, is there any difference in the paper used in the dictionary compared to ordinary paper?"

"When it comes to differences, the most important thing is thickness and weight."

"Oh?"

"For example," Irie said, taking a stack of introductory materials printed on A4 paper from the table, "it's sturdy, but it's too thick and too heavy." A dictionary may have thousands of pages, and if you use all this kind of paper, it may end up being tens of centimeters thick, which is too inconvenient to use. ”

Touching the A4 paper in his hand, and remembering the feeling when he touched the dictionary, Toru Shimizu probably understood a little, and listened to Irie continue to introduce.

"The second is to be resilient."

"Resilience? How? ”

"Commonly used paper, as long as a little force will leave creases, and after a long time of flipping, it will be curled. These problems are fine for ordinary books, but dictionaries are used to read frequently, and in order to ensure normal use for a long time, the paper cannot be easily deformed. ”

Toru Shimizu nodded, thinking of something else from the "long-term use" in the mouth of the river, "So, there are also high requirements for the firmness of the paper, right?" ”

"That's right. This is just to ensure that there are no problems during use, if you take into account the specific feelings of the reader, there are many things to say about the color, softness, and even feel of the paper. After a while, he brought the paper pattern, and you can see it clearly. ”

As he spoke, Iwali-san had already returned with a few boxes.

He took out the different colored papers in the box, placed them on the table one by one, and said, "These are the existing dictionary papers." This is what was used before the Great Japanese Dictionary, which was used in other dictionaries of your company, and which was developed for other publishers. Irie-san might as well feel it first. ”

"Okay, I'm in trouble."

Following Irie, Toru Shimizu also picked up the paper on the table and put it on his fingertips to feel it carefully, and found that there were indeed differences between different papers, but he couldn't answer what it was.

On the other side, Irie began to frown.

"This one is too thick... This kind of one is too rough... This kind of..."

He suddenly picked up the paper and looked at the light outside the window for a while, then finally put it down.

"This transparency is too high, and if you have words printed on both sides, you may be mistaken during the reading process."

Writing down his evaluation in his heart, Qing Shui Toru stroked the paper and gradually realized what he said.

Page by page, to the last piece of paper, Irie exhaled a long breath and shook his head regretfully.

"This... The edges are too sharp. ”

Minister Iwatachi on the opposite side immediately greeted him, his expression a little embarrassed: "Don't you have a paper that satisfies Irie-san?" ”

"I'm sorry."

"What kind of paper does Irie-san need?"

Irie touched the stubble on his chin and thought for a while, then reached out and picked out a stack of pale yellow paper from the table.

"It's not bad, but it's too sticky."

"Adhesion?" Toru Shimizu was a little puzzled by this word.

"That's right."

Irie flipped over the pages of the thin-looking paper, and shook it, and suddenly a piece of paper with no thickness slipped down, and it turned out to be two adjacent pieces of paper attached together.

"This is adhesion. If it is used in a dictionary, it is very likely to turn several pages at a time without noticing, leaving the reader unable to find the word they are looking for. ”

After explaining to Toru Shimizu, Irie turned to Minister Iwatachi on the other side.

"So can you please develop a new paper on the basis of this kind of paper, the surface..."

"The surface is smoother and the paper is softer, which solves the problem of adhesion, right?"

Iwatachi took over the topic, but there was a slight hesitation on his face.

"Technically, nothing is wrong. However, in terms of the development cost of new paper... There is always some cost to adjust the process, and if you don't have a certain number of prints, I'm afraid the company won't agree to develop a new paper. ”

As if he had been hit by the vital point, Toru Shimizu noticed that Irie's face darkened a little.

The guy at the printing shop over there was still talking.

"And the printing cost of each sheet may be a little higher than before, I don't know if you can accept it."

As soon as he finished speaking, the air quieted, except for the air conditioner humming in the corner.

As if he had finally noticed something, Iwatsu hurriedly added, "Of course, we will calculate the specific amount first, and you can consider it before making a decision." ”

Irie was uncharacteristically silent, and Toru Shimizu could only respond in his place.

"Then let's do it first, I'm sorry for you."