Date a Live:This is not the date I wanted! Chapter 530 530: If Route: Intertwined Birds Flying Apart (P

——She was special.

After waking from that long sleep, Kaguya and Yuzuru clearly realized that the mont she first saw the other.

Soft orange hair, rcury eyes, and a face so familiar it felt like looking into a mirror.

From the other, she could always find pieces similar to herself. As if the one before her was not soone else, but the other half of herself.

Twins. If the knowledge left inside her was not wrong, then that was the relationship between them.

It was an incredible feeling. After waking, what greeted her was a completely unknown world. An unfamiliar environnt, unfamiliar people, and she did not even know who she herself was. But when facing the other, her heart could feel their connection with absolute certainty, without needing any reason.

Perhaps, precisely because they had lost all their mories, this blood bond let Yamai feel so clearly that she was not alone.

——I want to stay by her side forever.

——I want us to always be together.

Kaguya and Yuzuru believed that as long as the other stayed by her side, she would not feel unease or fear.

But if the two wings that moved forward together beca chains binding the other, and only one side could be sacrificed for them to continue onward—

——I want her to be happy.

Kaguya and Yuzuru would not hesitate to break her own wing.

...

"Save eeee!!! Yuemon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"...What happened, Nia?"

Yumi closed her eyes and thought for a short while before slowly speaking.

Nia looked away. While awkwardly fiddling with her fingers, she explained guiltily,

"Um... about Yuzurun and Kaguyan's contest, there was a bit of an accident. As the judge, if I handle this even slightly wrong, I may fall into a bottomless abyss. So..."

In response, Yumi seed to have already understood. She sighed and asked with a bitter smile,

"Did... the two of them threaten you... saying that if you do not let the other win, they will make you suffer?"

Nia froze.

"Yumi obaa-chan, how did you know?"

"Well... I watched them grow up. I can guess what they are thinking... to so extent."

"If that's the case, you should have told earlier."

"I tried to say it at the ti... but you interrupted ..."

Yumi explained helplessly.

"I——"

Nia was montarily speechless. Then, like a deflated balloon, she collapsed onto the table and mumbled with a bitter face,

"Ah... Yumi obaa-chan. What should I do?"

"Are you troubled over how to judge the winner?"

"Well... being threatened by them isn't really the issue——uh, no, that issue is pretty big too. The main thing is, now that I know what they really think, I'm no longer confident that I can persuade them."

Nia scratched her head and explained with distress.

"I originally wanted to say that they shouldn't ruin soone else's future because of their own selfish desires, and that they should learn to respect the other person. But right now, they're actually respecting each other too much."

A choice that harms others for one's own benefit should be criticized. But an act of sacrificing oneself for another is usually praised by the world.

If it were the forr, she could still put on the attitude of an elder and lecture them a little. But if it was the latter, she could not. She could not, in place of either Yuzuru or Kaguya, decide on her own that the other was wrong. Even if, logically speaking, it could not be called correct, it was still not sothing an outsider like her had the right to criticize.

"Ah... this is so much pressure."

Nia could not help groaning. The thought that her decision tomorrow would affect the future of a pair of beautiful twin girls made her stomach ache.

And both sides did not even want to win. What kind of situation was this?

"Yumi obaa-chan, those two clearly care so much about each other, so why can't they just be honest? Ah, right."

As she spoke, inspiration suddenly flashed through Nia's mind, and she clapped her hands.

"What if I tell them both that the other wants them to win? Wouldn't they shake hands, make peace, and everything would be solved?"

"I advise you... not to do that..."

With a bitter smile, Yumi lightly shook her head.

"Those two children... have very strong pride. If they knew the other wanted to let them win... they would definitely argue even more fiercely, maybe even fight... until they broke off relations."

Hearing Yumi's words, the corner of Nia's eye twitched slightly.

"...Serious?"

"Serious."

Yumi nodded.

"...Then forget it."

If you do not listen to the words of the elderly, you will suffer right before your eyes. After actually experiencing the truth of that saying, Nia decisively gave up on that careless idea.

"Ah... what am I supposed to do as tomorrow's judge?"

Unable to think of a good solution for the mont, Nia could only continue lying on the table and let out useless groans.

"Just follow your original idea... and judge fairly. Since it is the result of a proper contest, they should not complain."

"But..."

Hearing Yumi's words, Nia seed sowhat hesitant.

"Have you already read both of their works?"

"I have read them, at least..."

Nia nodded lightly and took two opened envelopes out of her bag. Inside were Yuzuru and Kaguya's works.

"They each drew a short story of around twenty pages. Kaguyan's work is a shounen manga. Yuzurun's leans more toward school romance shoujo manga. As for the plot... I can only say it's subtle. It feels like they forcefully stitched together tropes they had seen before. There aren't really any logical bugs, but it reads strangely awkward, lacking traits and individuality. The art style is pretty good, but it's unstable. The paneling on each page also lacks continuity. And here on this page, as well as here on the next page, you can clearly see traces where they made mistakes with black fills and screen tones, then forcefully patched them up."

While flipping through the two works, Nia very seriously comnted on every detail, then finally summarized.

"Well, for beginner works rushed out in only a week, they're already quite impressive. But it's hard to say which one is better. If I had to choose... I'd probably choose Kaguyan as the winner. After all, I myself am also a shounen manga author, so her topic suits my taste more."

(Well, it's definitely not because I'm afraid of Yuzurun's threat that I'm choosing this... probably.)

Nia silently added in her heart.

"But that includes a lot of my personal bias. If I were a shoujo manga artist, maybe I would choose Yuzuru as the winner. Looking purely at their level, they should be considered evenly matched."

"Hehe... I see."

After silently listening to Nia, Yumi smiled softly.

"W-what is it, Yumi obaa-chan? Why are you suddenly smiling so kindly? Did I say sothing stupid?"

"No... I just thought Nia is very admirable. Even though you complained a lot, you never once thought of running away or giving up... You even read both of their manga seriously. As expected of a professional manga artist."

Being suddenly praised instead made Nia feel uneasy. She awkwardly scratched her hair.

"It's nothing much. I'm an adult, after all. If I go back on my word, it won't be good for Yuzurun and the others's education. Besides, if I run away just because I'm scared, I'll definitely regret it so much I won't even sleep properly."

"That alone is already very impressive. Good girl, good girl~"

Gently stroking Nia's hair, Yumi spoke softly.

"Uu... Don't do that, obaa-chan. I'm not a child."

Lightly shaking her head, Nia mumbled with a slightly red face.

Perhaps being treated like a child made her embarrassed. The usually careless Nia was rarely this shy.

"Also, obaa-chan. Rather than praising right now, I need you to give so constructive advice. Otherwise, maybe my manga will go on hiatus next issue."

"Mm... That is true."

Yumi thought for a mont, then said,

"In that case... although I feel sorry for Yuzuru and Kaguya... for this contest, let us be a little crafty."

...

"What do you an by that, Azure Dream Painter? Are you treating as a fool?"

"Objection. Yuzuru cannot accept such an evaluation."

And so, the next day arrived. Faced with the judgnt Nia gave, both Yuzuru and Kaguya showed clear dissatisfaction.

"The two of you both fail. There is no winner, and no loser."

Honjou Nia denied their efforts with those simple words.

"Looking down on you? That's what I want to say. Are you underestimating ?"

Putting on a cold expression, Nia answered without backing down.

"Look at what kind of works you handed in. Chaotic panel logic, unclear story thes, confusing character writing, and so many beginner-level mistakes. I'm amazed you could confidently hand these manuscripts to yesterday."

As she spoke, Nia listed the various problems in their manuscripts one by one. Unlike yesterday, today she did not ntion any strengths, only picking out their flaws.

Listening to Nia's detailed analysis, the Yamai sisters, who had originally been quite dissatisfied, seed to gradually feel they were in the wrong.

"T-that cannot be helped. I am rely a beginner. Naturally, I cannot take every aspect into account."

"R-refutation. With only one week, reaching such a level of completion is impossible."

"That is not an excuse."

Nia placed both hands on her waist and refuted them confidently.

"If you thought one week was not enough, you could have extended the deadline and tried to make your works as good as possible, instead of handing such half-ass works. In our industry, there is only one person in history who is allowed to do that!!"

"But you never said..."

"Weren't you having a contest? Then naturally, you should do your best, give it everything you have, rack your brains, and use every thod you can to obtain victory. I thought you were confident that you could produce your most satisfying work within one week, so I did not point it out. Or what? Did you never want to win in the first place?"

Hearing this, Kaguya widened her eyes and looked at Nia. She looked as if sothing was stuck in her throat. She wanted to say sothing, but could not.

"Response. Yuzuru can understand Nia's argunt. However, that is not a reason for the contest to have no winner or loser. Even if Nia thinks Yuzuru's manga is not qualified, it should not be difficult to decide which is better between it and Kaguya's."

Yuzuru looked at Nia and spoke calmly.

Seeing that Yuzuru had not been led off-topic by her words, Nia did not look surprised. She said without panic,

"You're right. I could indeed do that. But I do not recomnd it."

"...Question. May Yuzuru ask the reason?"

"If I rember correctly, you planned to use the result of this duel to decide your future path, right?"

The Yamai sisters nodded. After receiving their confirmation, Nia continued,

"In a manga editorial departnt, editors often receive submissions from beginners who want to beco manga artists in order to discover promising newcors. When there are many, they may have to read dozens, even hundreds of submissions a day. However, only a very small number are truly recognized as authors with potential. Those who can actually get serialized are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. As for those who are not chosen, there may indeed be differences between them, but do you think anyone cares about that?"

"..."

"..."

Faced with Nia's question, Kaguya and Yuzuru fell silent.

Nia continued in a sincere, elder-like tone.

"If this were only an ordinary contest, I could lower the standard. But your future paths will not be a competition between only the two of you. There may be competitors more talented than you, or who work harder than you, who eliminate you. Since you asked to judge from the position of a professional manga artist, I must be strict and responsible about it. Otherwise, in the future, when you have a job or career you want to pursue, if you face professionals with the sa attitude, you will definitely suffer."

After saying this long speech, Nia secretly swallowed and observed the two's reactions.

Rather than a lecture, what she had just said was closer to sophistry. In Nia's opinion, using the standard of comrcially publishable manga to reject two beginners who had studied for less than a week was as shaless as demanding a baby who had just learned to walk compete in an Olympic sprint.

"Uu... I did not expect the Dream Painter to have considered so much. I must view you in a new light."

"Agreent. Let this contest end as a draw."

However, although they still looked sowhat unconvinced, the Yamai sisters did not continue to protest and honestly accepted Nia's conclusion.

Letting out a long breath, Nia closed her eyes and could not help feeling in her heart that ginger really does get spicier with age.