Evening in the small town arrived with the sun sinking behind the mountains, and faint cooking smoke rose from every household.
"I'm back…"
"Pardon the intrusion!"
Following Natsumi into Yumi's house, Honjou Nia called out with familiar ease.
Hearing voices from the entrance, Yumi, wearing an apron, slowly walked over from the direction of the kitchen.
"Welco ho… Natsumi."
After warmly greeting Natsumi, Yumi turned her gaze to Nia and asked,
"And Nia too. Are you planning to stay over tonight?"
"Mm. I'd just be idle at ho alone anyway."
Nia shrugged. Then she took a deep breath, slling the aroma drifting from the kitchen, and could not help asking with an intoxicated expression,
"It slls amazing. Just slling it makes drool… Obaa-chan, tonight's dinner is seafood, right?"
"Mm, that is right."
Yumi nodded lightly and said,
"Dinner still needs a little ti. You two can rest in the living room first."
"Okay! Let's go, Nattsun!"
After receiving Yumi's permission, Nia cheered, carrying a large plastic bag full of beer as she walked briskly toward the living room.
Natsumi's face filled with dark lines.
Seeing Nia's natural attitude, if one did not know better, they might not know who the guest actually was.
Watching this scene, Yumi smiled wryly and shook her head, then returned to the kitchen.
At that mont in the kitchen, Yoshino, who had taken off her rabbit puppet, was watching the heat on the pressure cooker while washing and preparing the side ingredients.
"Obaa-chan… the rice is almost ready."
After wiping the sweat from her face, Yoshino spoke with full enthusiasm.
"Thank you for your hard work. Leave the rest to ."
Yumi nodded and said,
"Nia is here today too. Could you get another set of bowls and chopsticks from the cupboard?"
Yoshino nodded in understanding and turned toward the cupboard.
"Okay… I understand."
Looking at that back, which had gradually grown more mature, Yumi could not help showing a relieved smile.
…
"Congratulations for Nia's Silver Bullet is getting an ani!"
"Cheers!"
After Tohka gave a simple congratulation, Nia raised her beer and clinked it against everyone else's juice cups one by one.
"Glug, glug— Ah~ Seafood and rice with beer really has its own special charm."
After tasting a mouthful of rich, flavored fish and rice, then drinking a mouthful of refreshing beer, Nia could not help letting out a satisfied burp.
"Honestly… Do not drink so much that you black out again."
Yumi helplessly warned her.
In response, Nia confidently gave a thumbs-up.
"Don't worry, obaa-chan. I know my limits!"
"Moved. To think we heard the news of Souji-sensei's manga getting an ani adaptation with our own ears."
"Hm. In short, an ani adaptation is an amazing thing, yes?"
Yuzuru sighed with slight excitent.
Tohka, on the other hand, nodded in a way that suggested she only half understood.
"Alas… While the Azure Dream Painter has taken yet another step toward hope, my own's painstaking work still struggles at the starting line."
"Mm? What's wrong, Kaguya-chan? Did you run into so trouble? If you don't mind, why not pour it out to your onee-san here?"
Looking at the sowhat dejected Kaguya, Nia patted her flat chest and said, feeling quite good about herself.
Kaguya looked at Nia with so suspicion. After hesitating for a mont, she said,
"It is not a major matter… rely that, regarding the ideas for a ga's story, this one has fallen into conflict with the other contractors. Clearly, this one's epicness is so magnificent, yet it was rejected for reasons such as 'these performances can't be realized technically', 'from a cost perspective, it isn't worth it', and 'changing the story frawork ans rewriting from the beginning.'"
After saying that, Kaguya began complaining in frustration.
"Ah… I understand. That happens a lot in ga companies. Having your passion dampened like that really feels awful."
Nia nodded with deep sympathy.
She rembered that not long after she debuted, an editor had once invited her to co up with a script for a collaboration between a certain ga and Silver Bullet. She had also been troubled terribly by similar issues.
"Ah… If I had known earlier, I should have gone with Natsumi to draw manga. Perhaps I would have debuted as a mangaka by now."
Kaguya looked at Natsumi with a hint of envy.
"Eh?"
Natsumi could not help freezing. She clearly had not expected the topic to co to her.
"All right, while I won't deny that possibility, I have to emphasize that Nattsun is a very rare exception."
Looking at Natsumi, who did not know what to do, Nia chuckled, took a sip of beer, and spoke earnestly.
"Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Manga and gas may look like things from the sa circle to outsiders, but the skills they require are often worlds apart. If Nattsun and I switched places with you and tried to do your job, we'd probably get fired in less than two days."
As she spoke, Nia unconsciously recalled her conversation with her editor that afternoon.
(…Besides, becoming a popular mangaka doesn't an everything is smooth sailing.)
Nia could not help thinking self-mockingly.
"Indeed… Sorry.I said sothing rather unlike myself."
Seeming to agree with Nia's words, Kaguya took a deep breath and recovered quite a bit.
"That's the spirit! Co on! Cheers, cheers! Let's drink until we forget all the unpleasant things!"
With that, Nia opened another can of beer in her hand and tilted her head back to drink.
"—Haha—hic—"
And so, Nia happily enjoyed dinner with everyone.
Perhaps because she had drunk too much, Nia felt a wave of heat rush up her cheeks. The scenery before her eyes gradually blurred.
In her haze, the clothes and appearances of Tohka and the others began to undergo slight changes, as if ti had moved backward. Everyone from their student days was gathered around the sa dining table, happily enjoying dinner together.
Unfamiliar, nostalgic, and sad.
For so reason, a strange feeling surged into her heart.
—Nia… wake… Ah… as expected…
…Yumi obaa-chan?
Hearing that familiar yet broken voice, Nia instinctively turned her head.
However, Yumi's appearance seed to have been sared over with an oil-based marker, so blurry she could not make it out.
…
"Haha…"
Nia rolled over on the bed and sat up with a long yawn. After putting on her glasses, she dazedly looked around.
"This isn't my apartnt… Right. I followed Nattsun to Yumi obaa-chan's place for dinner, and ended up drinking so much I lost so mories."
Feeling a faint throbbing pain from her forehead, Nia's consciousness gradually cleared.
Although she did not rember what happened afterward, she had probably done sothing improper that damaged her dignity as a senior again.
"Forget it… It's not like I had any senior dignity to begin with."
After glancing at the bright moon outside the window, Nia sighed at herself, then checked the ti.
"One o'clock… Everyone should be asleep by now. Ugh—"
Just as Nia was thinking about whether to go back to sleep, a powerful urge suddenly ca from her lower abdon.
"Not good! Bathroom—"
————————
"Hoo… Next ti, I'm absolutely not drinking that much."
Walking out of the bathroom, Nia sighed with lingering fear.
Of course, whether she could actually do that was another matter.
After taking the hangover dicine she carried with her, Nia's complexion gradually improved.
Just as she was about to return to her room, a faint light deep in the hallway caught her attention.
"Still awake at this hour… Is it Nattsun?"
With so curiosity, Nia tiptoed toward the light source.
However, she quickly discovered that the light was not coming from Natsumi's room.
"…Obaa-chan's room?"
Looking at the faint light coming from the room, Nia frowned in slight confusion.
Peeking into the room through the crack of the door, Nia saw Yumi sitting hunched at her desk under a weak desk lamp, seemingly writing sothing.
Before Nia could start thinking, Yumi seed to notice sothing. She put down her pen and stood up from the chair.
"…Is that you, Nia?"
Realizing her flawless stealth had been seen through, Nia felt awkward and walked into the room with a forced laugh.
"Haha— Good evening, obaa-chan."
"Have you sobered up… Honestly, I told you not to drink so much, but you would not listen… Drinking so carelessly… How will you find a husband in the future?"
Yumi shook her head helplessly.
Seeing that she seed about to launch into a long lecture, Nia hurriedly interrupted her.
"Stop, stop. Are you my mom? Why did you suddenly bring that up— Ow!"
Yumi lightly flicked Nia's forehead and said helplessly,
"If you really do not want to be lectured by an old lady like , then work hard to learn how to take care of yourself. You have been like this since before…"
Hearing that, Nia awkwardly touched her forehead.
After the global great spacequake, although Nia had not been directly affected by a spacequake, Shounen BLAST's suspension and collapse had caused her to lose her job as a mangaka, turning her into a shut-in who stayed at ho and lived off her savings.
Without exaggeration, Nia's living conditions at that ti were even worse than Natsumi's when she stopped attending school.
Fortunately, heaven did not abandon her completely.
After the global great spacequake ended, Shounen BLAST was rebuilt and reissued through financing. Her editor at the ti sohow managed to contact Nia and invited her to continue serializing Silver Bullet.
After wavering again and again, Nia finally agreed to return, picked up her pen, and worked desperately.
But as the price, staying up late, an irregular routine, malnutrition, and other problems instantly overwheld her body, causing her to faint from hunger on the way to hand in her manuscript.
If Yumi had not happened to pass by at the ti, perhaps the pen na Honjou Souji would have beco a legend and been carved forever onto the pillar of sha in the manga industry.
"…I know. I'll be careful and take care of myself. Don't worry, obaa-chan."
Nodding in response to Yumi's reminder, Nia looked away and sowhat guiltily changed the subject.
"Right, obaa-chan. Why aren't you sleeping this late? What are you doing?"
Hearing Nia's question, Yumi was silent for a rare mont. Then she sighed and answered.
"…Writing a letter."
"A letter?"
Hearing that, Nia instinctively looked toward the desk.
Just as Yumi had said, an unsealed envelope was lying quietly on the desk.
Nia originally wanted to ask who the letter was for, but Yumi clearly had no intention of answering. She only silently placed the envelope into the drawer.
"Right… Nia… this is for you."
Just as Nia was troubled over what to say next, Yumi seed to rember sothing and took out a thick stack of docunts for Nia.
Looking at the thick folder, Nia felt it seed sowhat familiar.
"What's this?"
"Your manga manuscript…" Yumi calmly said.
Nia widened her eyes in surprise.
"My manuscript? Why is it with you, obaa-chan?"
"It was in the inner layer of your bag… During dinner, you vomited into your own bag. I took it out before washing the bag."
"…I am truly very sorry for troubling you."
Nia bowed extrely humbly in apology.
"Be careful next ti… You worked so hard to draw this manuscript. If it were ruined, would that not be troubleso?"
Hearing Yumi's words, Nia could not help showing a bitter smile.
"…You don't need to worry about that. This chapter's manuscript has to be redrawn anyway."
"Redrawn… Did sothing happen?"
Hearing that, Yumi asked with slight surprise.
"Well… I guess you could call it a bottleneck. After my editor pointed it out, I also feel that there really is a problem with this chapter's plot arrangent."
Nia scratched her head awkwardly, originally intending to gloss over the embarrassing matter.
But after all, age brought wisdom. Recalling the advice Yumi had given her during the Yamai sisters's issue, another thought surfaced in Nia's heart.
"Speaking of which, obaa-chan, do you usually read manga?"
"Not much… But your manga and Natsumi's… I do make ti to read them."
"That's enough!"
Joy flashed in Nia's eyes. She clasped her hands together and pleaded,
"Please, obaa-chan! Could you read my manuscript and give so advice?"
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