Falling for Nioh-kun

The next book, A Farming Girl Appears in the Tennis World, is a lighthearted slice-of-life story. If you're interested, feel free to add it to your library. The blurb is at the end.

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[Complete. May be revised from time to time, with bonus chapters released as a reader perk. Please read the content warnings before starting.]

Gan Xia is an utterly ordinary panda-girl high schooler. Not long after the school year begins, her parents take her to live in the old Sakura Kingdom.

To be on the safe side, they enroll her at Rikkai University Affiliated Junior High, where she repeats her third year.

On her very first day, she develops an inexplicable crush on a boy in her class. Her friends say it was love at first sight based on his looks, but she disagrees. She thinks she fell in love with him at first sight.

After that, she starts paying attention to the white-haired boy. She hears he's great at tennis and that he cosplays... Everything she hears makes him sound like a guy who could really set her heart aflutter. The more she learns about him, the more she likes him.

But he turns down girls he doesn't like. If he rejects her, then they won't even be able to stay friends, will they?

She can at least have a secret crush on him, right? But why does everyone around her know she likes him? Does he know, too?

Reading Guide:

*1. This isn't a traditional sweet romance. The plot has a touch of realism, which may make for an occasionally uncomfortable read. The pacing is unhurried, not fast-food fiction. The characters are all teenagers, and their behavior is typical of adolescence. There's no melodrama, but there is the bittersweet ache of youth. Romance isn't the only focus; there's also a little family drama.

2. Dual POV. The heroine is a work in progress, not a perfect character. She has a growth arc, a growth arc, a growth arc. She doesn't start out with a perfect identity. She's an ordinary girl from an ordinary family, and the setting is based on real life. Both the heroine and hero have flaws. Neither is perfect, neither is perfect, neither is perfect.

3. The story covers ages 16 and up, U-17, and high school. The high school matches are my own invention, expanded from and inspired by the settings and plot of the original work.

4. There will be OOC moments. My understanding of the characters comes from the anime, stage plays, official guidebooks, early official dating sims, and my own analysis. I approach my analysis from the perspective of their families, so it may not match the way most people understand the characters.

5. The story is set in 2014-2016. All policies and other details in the story are based on my own research. I originally chose this period because The New Prince of Tennis World Cup began serialization in 2015.

(See the author's note in Chapter One for details. No need to tell me if you're dropping the story.)

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Morii Lin spends every day running the farm her grandfather left her. In her spare time, she goes fishing or sneaks a few eggs from the chicken coop. Then one day, a dialogue box suddenly appears before her:

[Would you like to turn your life around and play tennis?]

She doesn't want to, but the option to say no isn't available, and she's forcibly sent to another world. As soon as she arrives, she earns the achievement [Millionaire in Debt].

System: Since you've just arrived in this world, start by making friendly conversation with the New Humans. Give them gifts they like, and raise their affection to learn their tennis skills!

Wow...

Morii Lin: You mean I have to learn tennis moves that are basically game skills?

System: That's the only way to make sure the story goes smoothly.

Morii Lin: What does farming have to do with a story?

System: There'll be hidden storylines.

To pay off her debts, Morii Lin sets out on a path that was never meant for her. She goes from a pixel farmer to a high school girl, and from a millionaire in debt to the manager of a tennis club...

Morii Lin: Isn't this all going a little off track? Isn't this supposed to be a world of tennis?

What is wrong with all these tennis players? Why do they all act like this once their affection meters are full??? This isn't the ending she wanted!

Theme: Life is long, so cherish the present.