A cold beer clinked loudly against another glass, and white foam spilled over the rim of the beer mug.
Akasaka Akane sat with her legs crossed and drained the beer in her hand.
The woman opposite her was about thirty years old, with short hair and blue eyes.
Her figure was one of the only two that Akasaka Akane envied.
Speaking of the first, of course, it was that crazy girl.
"Cough, I say, haven't you been a bit too busy lately?" Machida Sonoko refilled their beers. In the private room, the two women, who were former college classmates, were venting to each other about the idiots they encountered in their daily lives.
In their industry, if you don't find a few emotional outlets, it's really hard to keep going.
"It's all because of Tsukihime! I've advised her many times, an autograph session! An autograph session!"
Akasaka Akane slammed the table repeatedly, while on the other side, Machida Sonoko was quite interested.
"Tell me, what is she like? It couldn't be a handsome young guy who's taken a liking to Miss Kosaka, right?"
Machida Sonoko glanced teasingly at the other's long legs. Even a major editor with a wide network like her was curious about the legendary 'Tsukihime'.
The name Tsukihime had often been mentioned by colleagues lately.
"It's a girl." Akasaka Akane pursed her lips. "If she took a liking to me, I'd say 'please, please'. At most, I'd just moan a bit and then have her obediently go hold the autograph session..."
Machida Sonoko squinted: "...I'll just ignore your 'moaning' for now, but... it's really a girl? Impressive, Dragon Ball is the hottest manga right now!"
Gulp, gulp.
She drained it in one go.
Akasaka Akane put down her glass with a bitter face: "A very troublesome girl, she's the kind of person who is very pure..."
"She doesn't draw for money, but for fun?"
"More troublesome than that." Akasaka Akane covered her face: "She started drawing to 'record the Worlds she has seen'..."
Machida Sonoko:..."Going through a Chuunibyou phase?"
Thinking of Sen Getsusa's appearance, she didn't look like someone in a Chuunibyou phase no matter how you looked at it.
Akasaka Akane shook her head.
"Simply eccentric." She concluded. "Though she is indeed a very powerful oil painter and mangaka."
"Sigh..."
Machida Sonoko put some sushi on her small plate, feeling a bit envious of her classmate.
"You're very lucky, it's better than my side."
The short-haired woman spoke with slightly flushed cheeks, gesturing the shape of a book. "That one, I showed it to you, right?"
Akasaka Akane had forgotten: "What metronome?"
"Love Metronome! Remember other people's works properly!"
"I'm so busy, how would I have time to look at such a failed work?" Akasaka Akane said nonchalantly.
"How can you say it's a failure?" After finishing the sushi, Machida Sonoko began to repeatedly reach for the tempura with her chopsticks: "(Chew)... that girl, I have high (chew chew), high hopes for her. It's a pity what she writes... (chew)."
"It's missing something." Akasaka Akane hit the nail on the head. "It always feels like you can't fully immerse yourself in it, yet you don't know what went wrong."
"Right?"
Swallowing her food, Machida Sonoko put her chopsticks down, pressed her hands together, and looked expectantly at the woman opposite her: "So, help me out!"
"Eh? Me?"
"Tsukihime! Tsukihime..." Machida Sonoko blinked. "My author really likes Tsukihime's oil paintings—ah, you know... an author of romantic youth slice-of-life like her wouldn't really like Dragon Ball..."
Seeing Akasaka Akane's face gradually darkening, Machida Sonoko began to steer the topic back: "Anyway, she really likes Tsukihime's oil paintings, so I was thinking..."
"Let Tsukihime have a chat with her?"
Mm-hmm, exactly.
Machida Sonoko had a 'please, please' expression.
"It's a wish; after all, I was asked."
Utaha-chan, for the sake of your request, I've come to beg my old classmate.
Just as she was thinking this, Akasaka Akane on the opposite side nodded readily: "Anyway, she's usually slacking off; it's impossible to get her to submit her manuscript even an hour early."
"I might as well give her something to do. Don't worry, I'll notify her on that end. Here—"
After tapping on the screen a few times, Akasaka Akane handed the phone to Machida Enoko.
"Sen Getsusa...?"
"That's right. Honestly, it's rare for you to treat me to a meal; so it turns out you had a favor to ask..."
Machida Enoko quickly copied the contact information, saved it, forwarded it, and then looked up with a sheepish grin.
"The fog has been very thick lately..."
Akasaka Akane smiled: "That's right. So, it's rare for you to treat me to a meal; it turns out you had a favor to ask..."
Machida Enoko's gaze drifted: "Speaking of which, your 'rouge en rouge' has a lot of momentum. I've seen other works on the charts, and they're all quite good."
Akasaka Akane wiped her mouth slowly: "Because life is so hard now, I have to work desperately hard. Everything else is unreliable..."
"For example, a college classmate of many years only treats me to a meal when she has something to ask of me."
Machida Enoko:...You, who drive a Porsche, have no right to say such a thing!
However, the fog really was very thick.
Sen Getsusa walked through the alleys carrying a convenience store bag, her other hand holding her phone. The location marker beeped and jumped on the screen, pointing toward the sanatorium building not far away.
"Garden... garden?" After registering at the front desk, the girl wandered around and asked a few Nurses who were heading to lunch before finally finding the path to the garden.
After passing through the main building and climbing the stairs, the automatic doors slid open to the left and right. Hiratsuka Shizuka was sitting on a chair on the first floor, an unlit cigarette held between her fingers.
"Miss Hiratsuka?"
To be honest, Sen Getsusa was a bit surprised when she received the message from Hiratsuka Shizuka.
Her impression of this teacher was neither good nor bad. Because of Yukinoshita Haruno, the girl had originally intended to keep her at a respectful distance.
But this message... [Shizuka: Are you free?]
[Sen Getsusa: Ms. Hiratsuka?]
[Shizuka: Although it's a bit rude to ask... but, could you stay with me for a little while?]
In the garden, Hiratsuka Shizuka took the fruit Sen Getsusa had bought and walked side by side with her, an apologetic tone in her voice: "I'm sorry, little Yuesha. I just..."
Sen Getsusa didn't speak and stopped in her tracks.
Not far away, a figure sat in a wheelchair with her back to them, her short hair graying. Her palms were wide open, and like a young Child, she was clumsily grasping at something.
Above her head, two black-and-blue butterflies were circling around her.
The sun was just right, making people's faces feel warm and flushed.
"My grandmother." Hiratsuka Shizuka lit a cigarette at some point, and after a long breath, the smoke dissipated into the garden.
The old woman had a look of innocent wonder, using both hands and muttering to herself.
"Little butterfly, little butterfly..."
The caregiver had seen Hiratsuka Shizuka early on. Standing under the shade of a tree, she quietly greeted her and put a finger to her lips, gesturing'shh'.
Sen Getsusa asked softly, "Alzheimer's disease?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka nodded. "She remembers things from her childhood very clearly."
"Back then, the Boy next door would always show off the fireflies his father caught, so I pestered her to take me to catch a bagful too."
"As a result, the next day, she brought back three butterflies for me."
"I was incredibly happy."
"She still remembers it now."
Then, the woman smiled: "But, she doesn't remember me."
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