That morning, Tsushima Kagami slept until he woke naturally — a rare treat, since Yukinoshita Shizuku hadn't called him awake today.
He stretched luxuriously, then shuffled out of his room and into the living room.
"Morning, Shizuku."
"Morning."
Yukinoshita Shizuku was sitting on the sofa, Yukino tucked in her arms, reading through a copy of Gunzo.
On the table beside her, breakfast had already been laid out — tid, as always, with that uncanny precision of hers, prepared a few minutes before she calculated he'd wake up.
Tsushima Kagami smiled, washed up, then sat down at the table and started eating.
He ate while watching her. Yukinoshita Shizuku, still flipping through Gunzo, noticed his gaze and set the magazine down, looking over at him.
"Sothing wrong?"
Tsushima Kagami shook his head with a smile.
"It's been almost a month since you bought that thing." He pointed at the copy of Gunzo in her hands — the one Fujiwara-san and Tanaka-san had specially reserved for her at the Fujiwara Bookstore in Bunkyo Ward. "You're not bored of it yet?"
These past few days, Yukinoshita Shizuku had been idly flipping back to his story, "Hear the Wind Sing," whenever she had a free mont, and coming up with all sorts of strange questions about it.
"Is it so wrong to flip through sothing to pass the ti?"
"Not at all. Whatever makes you happy."
With that, Tsushima Kagami returned to his breakfast.
Now it was Yukinoshita Shizuku's turn to stare at him.
He felt her gaze and looked back. She had drawn both legs up onto the sofa, arms wrapped around her knees, holding Gunzo up to cover the lower half of her face — only her eyes visible, watching him.
"What is it this ti?"
Tsushima Kagami had long since learned to read this pose. Whenever she sat like that, a question was definitely on its way.
For example —
"Did they really, truly, honestly not do anything that night?"
For so reason he'd never been able to figure out, every ti Yukinoshita Shizuku asked a question like this, she hid the lower half of her face behind the book.
Tsushima Kagami shook his head with a resigned sigh.
"How many tis have I told you."
"They have a perfectly pure relationship."
"But they're actually together, though. They even saw each other completely bare. And they still didn't do anything — isn't that a bit strange?"
Tsushima Kagami let out a little laugh.
"What do you know. That's called Platonic love. Feelings may arise, but propriety holds them in check. Yukinoshita, Yukinoshita" — he shook his head in mock despair — "you always co across as so cool and aloof, and yet your mind goes straight to the gutter. How disappointing!"
Yukinoshita Shizuku paid his teasing no mind. She blinked once, twice, then her eyes slid sideways with a scheming glint, and she tilted her head.
"So this is what you ant before by sleeping together without doing anything?"
Tsushima Kagami, who had been drinking his hot cocoa, imdiately spat it straight out.
Yukinoshita Shizuku simply pressed the book tighter against the lower half of her face, leaving only her eyes visible — curved up into happy little crescents.
Tsushima Kagami grabbed so tissues and mopped up the cocoa from the table, then wiped himself down, and finally looked over at Yukinoshita Shizuku, who was quietly giggling behind her book.
"Yukinoshita, when did you start thinking like this?! You've been corrupted!" he declared. "I'm calling your mother to co stay with us for a few days and straighten you out!"
Yukinoshita Shizuku tilted her head with the sa serene smile.
"Have I? I'm sure it's all thanks to Tsushima-sensei's excellent influence. And I hear Mother just took on a big new project — she won't have ti to co stay with us for a while~"
Tsushima Kagami was about to fire back when his phone rang from inside his room.
He abandoned the argunt and went to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Watanabe-san?"
"Sure, I'm free."
"I'll head over in a bit."
"Goodbye."
He hung up and imdiately started changing his clothes.
When he ca back out to the living room, Yukinoshita Shizuku looked up.
"What's going on?"
"It's Watanabe-san from WANI Publishing. He wants to et up at a café nearby."
"Do you want to co?"
Yukinoshita Shizuku stroked Yukino, still nestled in her arms, and shook her head with a smile.
"I've got a shift today — the lunch one." "I'll pass. I'll eat sothing a bit later and then head to work."
"Alright, I'm heading out then."
"Mm. Be careful on the way."
Yukinoshita Shizuku set Yukino down and stood up to see him off.
...
When Tsushima Kagami arrived at the café he and Watanabe had agreed on, he found the editor dressed in casual clothes for once — a rare sight — and seated next to him was a man who looked vaguely familiar, decked out in full otaku fashion.
They both spotted him and waved him over. As Tsushima Kagami approached, he recognized the man: it was Editor Saito from Akane Shinsha, whom he'd t at the CM Sumr Doujin Expo.
"Kagami, sit here."
Watanabe quickly gestured for Tsushima Kagami to take the seat beside him.
Across the table, Editor Saito jumped to his feet and bowed.
"Good to see you again, Genjiyoku-sensei."
"Hello, Saito-san."
After exchanging greetings, Tsushima Kagami turned to Watanabe.
"Is there sothing going on today?"
Watanabe picked up his coffee, took a sip, and then smiled.
"Nothing major, really."
"I'm just here keeping Saito-san company while he catches up with you. What's the matter — do you have a date with Sonoko and Sayuri and Akane today? Or so other girl?"
"Co on, don't tease like that, Sato-oji."
The Manga Research Club had been to WANI Publishing so many tis that they'd all gotten very familiar with Watanabe. Sayuri, Tsushima Kagami, and Kosaka Akane had naturally followed Machida Sonoko's lead and started calling him "Watanabe-oji" too.
"I only just woke up and you've already dragged all the way out here."
"I'm sorry, Tsushima-sensei — actually, it was who asked Watanabe-san to set this up."
Editor Saito quickly cut in to explain.
"Ah — is it about the Towa Musu launch we talked about last ti?"
Tsushima Kagami recalled their previous conversation about the Towa Musu project.
"That's right, that's right!"
Editor Saito continued excitedly.
"The launch plan for Towa Musu has been approved. We've already reached out to all the other artists — we're just waiting for you, sensei, to tell us when you can start drawing. Once your manuscript is ready, the Towa Musu series will be officially unveiled."
"Is that so."
"Let think — the school culture festival is coming up and things have been pretty busy." "So it might take a little longer than usual, but I do have a concept in mind already." "I'm sorry to make you wait, Saito-san."
"No problem at all — culture festivals are part of youth, after all."
"Once you graduate and start the corporate grind, that kind of privilege disappears forever."
"Please, Tsushima Kagami-sensei — make sure you enjoy every mont of it."
Editor Saito gave him a knowing look and smiled.
"Oh, and — these are for you."
At that point, Watanabe reached into his bag and pulled out a small stack of envelopes.
Tsushima Kagami took them and started opening them one by one.
Fan letters. All sent to WANI Publishing by readers.
The contents were all variations of the sa the: after reading the latest issue of Kairakuten, they were eagerly hoping Tsushima Kagami would write more pure-love stories soon.
One letter even ca from a fan who had bought a copy of the Inorganic Girl doujin — apparently he'd shared it with a girl he knew, and the two of them had ended up starting to date.
Utterly ridiculous. Are people really out here imagining things that aren't there?
"I have to say, the response to your 『O千円でおっぱい見せて』 - (Show your boobs for 1,000 yen.) was surprisingly positive this ti." "I thought it was going to get dragged online again like so of the previous ones."
Watanabe smiled and continued.
"Oh, and I read your doujin, Inorganic Girl, too." "Kagami, the way you handle emotional distance and portrayal really is in a class of its own." "No wonder you're the man who wrote 'Hear the Wind Sing'!"
"Wait — you an 'Hear the Wind Sing' by Dassai-ya-sensei?!"
Watanabe imdiately realized he'd let it slip, and looked at Tsushima Kagami with an apologetic wince.
Editor Saito, reading both their expressions, already knew perfectly well that it was.
He quickly said, "Don't worry — I'll keep it confidential." "Tsushima-sensei, you can trust that we professional editors have all signed comprehensive non-disclosure agreents."
"Our lips are sealed."
Editor Saito mid zipping his mouth shut.
Tsushima Kagami turned a skeptical eye toward Watanabe, who had just slipped up so professionally.
Watanabe laughed with an awkward scratch of his head.
"Well, it's fine, it's fine." "Saito here is practically one of us anyway." "Not that we work for the sa publisher, but" — "he was a dependable junior of mine back in university."
Editor Saito sat up even straighter than before and bowed again.
"Tsushima Kagami-sensei, next ti, do you think you could sign a copy of Gunzo for ?"
"And if a tankobon or bunkobon edition ever cos out, please sign one of those too."
It turned out Editor Saito was a fan of both his manga and his novels. Tsushima Kagami could only smile.
"That's easy enough — just bring it next ti and I'll sign it for you, Saito-san."
"Thank you, thank you so much, Tsushima Kagami-sensei!"
Editor Saito thanked him profusely, then suddenly circled back to an earlier topic.
"Oh, right — the copy of Inorganic Girl I managed to get at the CM Sumr Doujin Expo." "On the secondhand market, it's apparently gone from a thousand yen up to a hundred thousand yen." "And even at that price, there are no sellers to be found."
"Apparently people have even started quietly printing bootleg copies to pass around among close friends and fellow fans."
"I've heard about that too. Good thing Sonoko secretly set one aside for ."
Watanabe raised an eyebrow and smiled.
"Oh, and so of your fans have been writing to the editorial departnt asking whether you have any plans for a comrcial release of Inorganic Girl." "What are you thinking, Kagami? We at WANI would jump at the chance."
Tsushima Kagami thought it over. Doujin expos really were limited in how wide you could cast the net — and it had always been more about experiencing the club atmosphere together with the Manga Research Club anyway.
At his current level of recognition, whether for accumulating pure-love points or just for the money, a full comrcial publication would obviously be more worthwhile.
"Let go back and think about it."
"Of course, take your ti."
"Tsushima-sensei, one more thing —"
Editor Saito seed to rember sothing and quickly added,
"For Towa Musu as well — we're hoping you'll draw it as a pure-love story."
____
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