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Chiaki smiled rather seductively as she looked at Seiji with a gentle expression. “In that case, what type of female lead’s expression do you think suits me?”
“Of course, the expression of a female lead from a show where she leads a blessed and happy life.”
“Is there even such a television show?”
“Of course. Comedies, funny shows, slice-of-life shows, encouraging shows… at any rate, any show where the characters are having fun and smiling is such a show. They’re much more common than tragedy shows.”
“When you say it like that, it sounds true.”
The two of them began casually chatting. As they conversed, the girl moved closer to the boy and lightly leaned against his side.
“What’s the matter?”
“I’m a little cold.”
“Let’s go back inside, then.”
“I don’t want to go back inside yet.”
Seiji was rendered speechless.
“Could you warm me up with your body?” Chiaki smiled as she opened up the cloth blanket she was covering herself with.
Her current expression had an alluring seductiveness to it. In combination with her words, it caused Seiji to feel rather itchy inside.
He silently accepted the blanket and covered himself in it together with Chiaki.
Chiaki was holding on to his left arm with her right hand, sticking very close to him.
“I’m no longer cold now.”
Her body was warm, and her heart was warm. She immersed herself in this reassuring feeling.
“Seiji… can I always rely on you?”
“Hmm?”
“You said just earlier that you’ll cooperate with and accompany me in anything that’s not unreasonable… will this continue on forever?”
“Of course!”
“Really? I can be quite annoying.”
“I said something else earlier as well. If I think you’re being unreasonable, I’ll comment upon it and use my iron fists of justice upon you.”
“Then it’s a deal! I’m going to always rely on you, and you can’t even think about getting rid of me.”
“Yep, of course not. You’re my important good friend.”
‘Am I only a good friend ? ‘ Chiaki’s mouth arced upwards as something flashed in her eyes. ‘I want more than that, idiot Seiji.’
The next morning, Chiaki left and said goodbye after eating breakfast together.
When she left, she had a joyous expression on her face… Seiji felt that he didn’t need to worry about her any more.
Mika asked about Chiaki’s situation, and Seiji explained it to her. She had a sad expression after hearing it.
“Why does… Chiaki’s father treat her that way?”
Seiji remained silent at this.
Just judging from the one-sided actions, her father indeed seemed to be neglecting his fatherly duties.
Should he act for Chiaki’s sake and try finding a way to contact and talk to her father?
He was unsure if he should do so.
Chiaki didn’t seem to intend on asking him to involve himself. If he forced himself to intervene, it would be difficult to guess at what the outcome would be, and perhaps he would even make things worse.
He decided to learn more about Mr. Wakaba first. Only by understanding more would he know what he should do.
“Mika, what do you know about Chiaki’s father?”
“His name is Shinkou Wakaba, and he’s a famous artist…” Mika said some basics about him. All she knew was some very basic information that she had searched for on the internet before when she first learned that Chiaki’s father was a famous artist.
Seiji silently listened to the little that she knew.
“Seiji, are you intending to do something?”
“Not for the time being…”
He explained what he was thinking, and Mika nodded in understanding without saying anything more about it.
Meanwhile, Reo happily started playing her new video game.
After watching her for a while, Seiji recalled that there was something he had to do, so he took out his cell phone and called someone.
The call was accepted.
“Good morning, Editor Yoshizawa.”
“Good morning, Harano.”
“Did you have a nice Winter Snow Festival?” Seiji asked casually.
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.
“…Just like normal,” the female editor responded in a light tone.
There seemed to be something buried beneath that light tone of hers.
‘Did something happen to Editor Yoshizawa yesterday?’ Seiji was curious about it.
He wanted to ask, but his experience told him that it would be best not to ask, as he may step on a landmine.
“Er… That’s nice, to be the same as always.”
“Yeah, working just like always, overtime just like always, going home by myself on the bus just like always, eating a frozen meal from the convenience store for dinner and watching TV by myself just like always… it’s pretty nice.”
Seiji was rendered speechless.
He felt as if he could see darkness emanating from those calm seeming words of hers, so he didn’t know how to respond for a moment.
There was a temporary silence between them.
“Is there anything you wanted, Harano?” Saki got right to the main point.
“Er… it’s like this…”
Seiji explained the situation that he wanted to personally draw the insert art for his story “Brother Monogatari.”
Saki fell silent for a moment.
“Is this request of mine unreasonable?” Seiji tried asking.
“It’s a bit troublesome, because we already hired an artist who’s working on the artwork already. It’ll be quite rude to say that we don’t want his work anymore,” Saki explained. “Normally, this type of request would be unacceptable, but you’re not requesting an artist change, and want to personally do the artwork yourself…
“This, I think it’s probably worthy of consideration. Nobody understands the story better than the author. If the author personally wants to draw artwork for his own story, that would be an even better way to express the story’s charisma.
“Of course, the prerequisite is that the artwork is at a high enough level. I need to personally check out your artwork, and if I think that your art is good enough, I shall take you to meet the artist that we’ve already hired for a discussion. If I think that your art isn’t good enough, then…”
“Then we can just pretend this never happened,” Seiji agreed.
“Yes… will that be fine?”
“Yes, I accept. Thank you for even considering my request, Editor Yoshizawa.”
“No need to be polite. Are you free now?”
“I am.”
“Then take your drawing to the editing department that I work at, and show it to me.”
“Alright, I’ll be over there as soon as I can.”
They ended their phone call there.
Seiji told Mika about it and then went to go knock on Shika’s door.
He borrowed the drawing he had just given to his adopted younger sister, then prepared to leave.
Seiji took a taxi to the building that Thunderbolt Literature was located in.
He went to the main hall and talked to the receptionist about what he was there for. He filled in a simple visitors’ card and was arranged to wait in waiting room #3.
The waiting room was on the left of the main hall. It was a small room with non-see-through glass.
Seiji felt that this was quite a similar scene to what he had seen in the anime Bakuman before, and couldn’t help but recall the scene where the two main characters first showed their manga’s draft to an editor… He recalled that the two main characters had been arranged to wait in waiting room #3!
What a nice coincidence it was.
Seiji could faintly hear the sound of voices coming from waiting rooms #1 and #2 when he passed by them.
It sounded like there were editors within that were strictly criticizing the content of drafts.
He recalled that the two main characters had seemed like criminals about to receive judgment the first time that they showed their original draft to an editor, with how nervous they were.
‘ It passes as long as there’s tea to drink … There was a line like that, right?’ Seiji did his best to recall as he walked into waiting room #3.
His story was already confirmed for publication. Compared to the two main characters of Bakuman, as well as the two authors in the other two waiting rooms, he was far calmer.
“Good luck, you two.” Seiji cheered on the two authors in the next rooms.
After a while, Editor Yoshizawa arrived.
“I just contacted Sharp Demon Soldier, the artist that we hired. I had him send over the artwork that he’s finished already, and printed it out.”
The female editor immediately placed a drawing on the table when she entered the waiting room.