The sun slanted through the half-drawn blinds of Kaoru Kagami's cluttered studio, casting elongated shadows that danced like ethereal spirits across the scattered pages of half-finished storyboards. The faint specks of pencil shavings and ink splatters hung suspended in the golden beams, as if time itself had paused to admire the chaos of creation. In the background, the ancient air conditioner waged its eternal war against the oppressive summer heat, humming a low, rhythmic dirge that blended seamlessly with the thunderous riffs of D00M's heavy metal soundtrack blaring from the TV. The room was a microcosm of controlled madness a sanctuary where dreams were sketched in graphite and battles were fought in pixels.
On the worn tatami mat near the TV, Kaede and Emi sat cross-legged, their controllers gripped like sacred artifacts in a ritual of digital slaughter. Kaede's eyes blazed with the fury of a thousand shounen protagonists, her fingers slamming buttons with reckless abandon.
"RIP AND TEAR!!!" she bellowed, her voice echoing off the walls like a war cry from some forgotten anime apocalypse.
Emi, ever the stoic counterpart, didn't even glance her way. Her movements were precise, almost mechanical, as she lined up a perfect headshot on a hulking demon. "…You're going the wrong way." she murmured nonchalantly, her tone as flat as a discarded manga panel.
Kaede froze mid-button-mash, squinting at the screen with the intensity of someone deciphering ancient runes. "…Oh." She scratched her head, her wild ponytail bobbing like a flag of surrender.
Leaning against the rickety table piled high with reference books and energy drink cans, Takeshi watched the duo with a grin that hovered between amusement and reluctant admiration. He wouldn't admit it aloud pride and all but Emi's effortless dominance reminded him of those overpowered side characters in isekai tales, the ones who steal the spotlight without trying. Meanwhile, in the far corner of the room, Kaoru hunched over his cluttered desk like a hermit scribe, his pen scratching furiously against the storyboard paper. Beside him sat Aya, perched on a stool with the unyielding poise of an editor deity, her laptop open like a grimoire of judgments. Her expression was a mask of calm composure, a stark contrast to Kaoru's weary yet fiercely determined face, etched with the lines of countless all-nighters.
Takeshi yawned dramatically, stretching his arms until his joints popped like gunfire in the quiet lulls of the soundtrack. He glanced over at Kaoru, curiosity sparking in his eyes. "Hey… how are you even gonna complete all those mangas if your goal is to crank out a hundred? That's not just ambitious; that's straight-up masochistic."
Kaoru paused mid-stroke, the tip of his pen hovering like a sword about to strike. Then, with the sudden energy of a protagonist recalling his unbreakable vow, he straightened up, spinning his chair to face the room. A dramatic grin split his face as he pointed his pen toward the heavens, as if invoking some divine manga muse. "Well… simple, Takeshi!" The words hung in the air like a cliffhanger panel.
A tiny, inexplicable gust of wind rustled the papers on his desk though no window was open, and the AC was too feeble for such theatrics.
"It's… one-shot mangas! Hehe…" He chuckled with the smug satisfaction of a villain revealing his master plan.
Aya didn't even look up from her screen, her fingers dancing across the keyboard like a pianist composing fate. "Yeah, it is. He's too tired to commit to full series nowadays. The deadlines are devouring his soul bit by bit."
Kaoru coughed theatrically, clutching his chest like a wounded soldier in a war drama. "Betrayed by my editor in glorious 4K resolution…"
"I'm just stating facts." she replied smoothly, her voice as unflappable as ever, clicking her mouse to refine a dialogue bubble that read a tad too melodramatic.
Takeshi chuckled, shaking his head. "I guess so… Makes sense. Full mangas are like marathons; one-shots are sprints. Less burnout, more glory."
"Hey!" Kaoru shot back, feigning deep offense as he slapped a hand over his heart. "I've got like five completed mangas already! Each with around 90–100+ chapters! Give me a break, man! I'm not some slacker I'm a veteran in the trenches of panel warfare!"
Kaede, without tearing her eyes from the TV, murmured under her breath: "Skill issue."
"Shut it, you gremlin." Kaoru grumbled, tossing a crumpled eraser her way. It bounced harmlessly off her shoulder, eliciting a cackle.
He dramatically leaned back in his chair, sighing with the exaggerated flair of an anime protagonist enduring a mid-season slump arc. the kind where the hero questions his path amid rain and brooding close-ups. "Besides… even if it's one-shot mangas I'm doing now, it's better than not achieving my goal. Every stroke counts toward the legend."
Aya raised a single, perfectly arched brow, her gaze flicking to him like a subtle plot twist. "Your still aiming for that goal?"
"Yeah." Kaoru smirked, his eyes gleaming with that unquenchable fire of ambition. "One hundred mangas. That's the dream, the mission, the prophecy etched in the stars or at least in my sketchbook."
"Oh right.. he will always try to achieve his goals, no matter what obstacle he's facing." Aya whispered to herself quietly yet so softly.
Meanwhile, Kaede and Emi pressed on with their relentless D00M campaign, the screen a whirlwind of gore and glory. Emi chewed her gum methodically, treating it like the final boss itself pop, chew, repeat while Kaede let out a bloodcurdling scream as another demon latched onto her in-game avatar.
"EMI, HELP MEEEE!" Kaede wailed, flailing her controller as if it could summon reinforcements.
"…No." Emi replied, her voice a monotone void, casually blasting the demon into oblivion without breaking a sweat.
"PLEASEEEEEE!" Kaede begged, her face contorting into a meme-worthy expression of despair.
Takeshi watched their chaos unfold, a fond smirk playing on his lips, before his brow suddenly furrowed in thought. "Hey… Say, where's Naoki? The group feels incomplete without his awkward vibes balancing out the energy."
Kaoru's pen paused once more, hovering like a question mark. "Oh yeah. Where is that guy? He's usually here by now, reading my mangas or something."
Takeshi shrugged with casual nonchalance, as if dropping a casual bomb. "Oh, he's with his girl, friend. Hangout night or whatever."
The room plunged into dead silence for precisely 1.2 seconds a comedic beat straight out of a gag manga. The AC's hum seemed louder, the D00M soundtrack more ominous.
"…I'm not gonna ask again." Kaoru muttered, spinning back to his storyboard with exaggerated haste. "I'll just ignore that plot hole in our daily script."
Aya tilted her head slightly, a ghost of a smirk tugging at her lips. "Good choice. Some mysteries are better left unsolved."
"Betrayed again," Kaoru mumbled under his breath, his voice laced with mock betrayal. "By the universe this time."
"Maybe he'll actually get married before you." Kaede chimed in between loading screens, her tone dripping with mischief.
Kaoru squinted at her, his eyes narrowing like a detective spotting a clue. "Maybe I'll throw your precious figurine collection into the ocean. Watch them sink like Atlantis."
Aya glanced at Kaoru's storyboard, her eyes tracing the fluid lines of his sketches with a quiet intensity. She hesitated, her fingers pausing on the keyboard, before finally voicing the question that had been simmering in her mind. "…Kaoru. How old were you when you became a mangaka? Officially, I mean. When the ink first hit the publishers."
Kaoru didn't even look up, his pen continuing its dance. "Eighteen. Of course. Fresh out of high school, armed with nothing but dreams and a stack of rejection letters."
The entire room froze, as if hit by a time-stop spell from some forbidden grimoire. Even Emi stopped chewing her gum, her jaw halting mid-motion like a paused animation frame.
"Eighteen?!?" Takeshi's voice cracked like brittle glass, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"Are you fo rel deaduzz?" Kaede blurted out in the most absurd, mangled tone imaginable, her controller slipping from her hands. (Oh right, I knew that…)
Narrator: (Truth be told… she didn't.)
Kaoru turned his chair around slowly, genuine confusion etching his features. "Yeah? I started young. Why are you guys acting like I just dropped a lore bomb from the abyss? It's not that wild plenty of mangakas debut early."
Aya leaned back against the table, tapping her chin thoughtfully, her mind weaving through the threads of his timeline like a detective unraveling a mystery. "And… how old are you now? Precisely."
"Twenty-two." He paused, scratching his cheek absentmindedly. "No, wait. maybe it's twenty-three. I forgot. It's somewhere between twenty-two and twenty-three. Deadlines blur the calendar, you know?"
The group's reaction was like a comedic anime still shot: wide eyes bulging in exaggerated surprise, dark shading overlaying their faces, and an awkward zoom-in on their collective shock. The air thickened with unspoken questions, hinting at deeper enigmas how had time slipped through his fingers so unnoticed?
Aya's expression twitched ever so slightly, a rare crack in her composed facade. "…So I'm older than you?"
"Apparently, yeah." Kaoru admitted with a shrug, as casual as discussing the weather.
She crossed her arms, a faint flush creeping up her neck flustered, yet masking it with her usual poise. "I'm turning twenty-five next month.."
Kaede threw her hands up dramatically, her voice pitching into overdrive. "You're twenty-five?! DAMN, AUNTIE! You're ancient!"
Aya's vein popped so visibly it might as well have been an SFX panel throb, throbbing like a harbinger of doom. She forced a smile laced with all the restrained rage of a final boss awakening. "Kaede."
"Y-yuh?" Kaede stammered, clutching her controller like a shield, her bravado evaporating.
"Want to die today? I can arrange it. Swiftly.."
Kaede spun back to the TV, her face pale. "Nuh… I'm good. Demons are safer."
Kaoru scratched the back of his neck, letting out an awkward laugh that diffused the tension like a well-timed comic relief scene. "Well anyway… age doesn't really matter, right? As long as you can draw, write, and survive the eternal suffering of deadlines. It's like those immortality curses in fantasy mangas eternal youth through endless toil."
Aya exhaled through her nose, half-amused, half-exasperated. "That's such a mangaka thing to say. Philosophical yet utterly impractical."
"I mean, I am one." Kaoru replied with a wink, his tone light but carrying an undercurrent of resolve, like a hidden sequence in a tarot deck.
Takeshi leaned over Kaoru's shoulder, peering at the sketches with genuine interest. "Honestly, you're like those old shounen MCs that start training arcs at sixteen and fight god at eighteen. Precocious prodigy vibes."
"Don't compare me to shounen MCs." Kaoru protested, though his grin betrayed his flattery. He dramatically stood up, pointing at the ceiling with theatrical flair. "I'm more like… a tragic anti-hero with a dream to leave behind his legacy of 100 mangas. A wanderer in the fog of creation, chasing shadows of inspiration."
Kaede tilted her head, smirking. "Big bro… you just sound like a chuuni."
Kaoru gasped, clutching his chest. "Because I am! How dare you expose my inner edgelord? The abyss stares back, and it's judging your gaming skills!"
Meanwhile, Emi just sat silently, an island of calm amid the storm, watching the chaos unfold while dismantling monsters in D00M like it was mere paperwork. Her presence was indifferent yet somehow essential, like the silent observer in a web of fates, her gum-chewing a rhythmic anchor to reality.
"Anyway." Takeshi clapped his hands suddenly, snapping the group out of their reverie, "you're still planning to make ninety-five more of these bad boys? That's a saga unto itself."
"Yup." Kaoru affirmed, settling back into his chair with renewed vigor.
Aya tilted her head, her eyes narrowing like a sleuth spotting inconsistencies. "But do you even have that many ideas? Or is this another improvisation ritual?"
"Not yet." Kaoru admitted without shame, his voice carrying a hint of mystery as if the ideas were whispers from some unseen muse.
"…Then how—" Aya began, her curiosity piqued.
"Easy. One word: 'Improv." He leaned forward, his eyes sparkling with the thrill of the unknown. "Like weaving threads from the ether, pulling stories from the void. Each one-shot a fragment of a greater tapestry."
Aya blinked slowly, her expression a mix of exasperation and reluctant admiration. "…I hate you. But in a professional way."
Half an hour later, the room had settled into a comfortable rhythm. Kaoru and Aya were back at work, their focus a quiet symphony of scratches and clicks. Emi, Kaede, and Takeshi had escalated to a three-way gaming death match, the TV a battlefield of shouts and explosions. Kaede screamed, "STOP CAMPING, YOU COWARD!" while Takeshi laughed with villainous glee, his strategy as cunning as a scheming antagonist.
Kaoru leaned back, stretching his arms until his spine cracked like breaking seals on ancient scrolls. "…Hey, Takahashi."
"Yeah? It's been awhile since you've called me that.." she responded, not looking up but attuned to his tone.
"Ever regret this?" His voice dipped into introspection, echoing the philosophical depths of forgotten mysteries.
"This?" She glanced at him, her gaze probing.
"Working with me. The chaos, the deadlines, the endless cycle of creation and critique. Like being trapped in a loop of fate's design."
She stared at him quietly, her mind drifting through memories like pages in a cryptic novel. Then, she looked back at her screen, her voice steady yet laced with warmth. "…You're a pain. An enigma wrapped in procrastination. But no. Regret isn't in my vocabulary."
Kaoru blinked, caught off guard. For a second, the world seemed… lighter, as if a veil had lifted, revealing hidden truths. Aya's calm voice softened the edges of the day, like a quiet OST playing during a moment of unspoken trust bonds forged in the fires of shared ambition.
Suddenly, Kaede screamed triumphantly. "HEADSHOT! FUH YAHH!!!"
Aya sighed, the moment shattered. "And character development ruined. Back to square one."
Kaoru facepalmed, chuckling despite himself. "Every time."
Takeshi flopped onto the couch dramatically, sprawling like a defeated hero. "Man, I kinda miss Naoki. Feels weird without him being the awkward sidekick, stumbling through our scenes."
"He's not a sidekick." Kaoru muttered, though his tone held affection.
"Sure, protagonist." Takeshi teased. "You're the center of this web, after all."
"Stop calling me that." Kaoru groaned, though a smile tugged at his lips.
"Nahh. It fits. You've got that aura like you're unraveling some grand mystery with every manga."
The sun outside dipped into shades of orange and crimson, painting the studio in hues of impending dusk, as if the day itself was a fading illusion. The studio lights flickered softly, casting long shadows that whispered of hidden depths. Aya started shutting down her laptop, her movements precise and ritualistic.
Kaoru rubbed his wrist, the ache from drawing all day a reminder of the toll of his path like the subtle curses in tales of old, where power came at a price. Kaede and Emi were deep into their seventh match, their rivalry a microcosm of eternal conflict. Takeshi scrolled on his phone, mumbling about viral memes that spread like arcane knowledge.
Kaoru suddenly spoke up, his voice cutting through the hum. "You know… it's weird."
"What is?" Aya asked, slinging her bag over her shoulder.
"This." he gestured around the room, encompassing the laughter, the screens, the scattered dreams. "A few years ago, I was just some nobody drawing in a cramped apartment, chasing shadows of inspiration alone. Now I've got friends yelling about D00M, an editor who bullies me with brutal honesty, and a stupid dream of finishing 100 mangas. It's like… fate wove us together, threads in a larger mystery I can't quite grasp."
Aya smiled faintly, a rare glimpse of vulnerability in her eyes. "…Sounds like you've grown up. Or at least, evolved. From lone wanderer to the hub of this chaotic coven."
Kaoru chuckled, but his gaze turned inward, pondering the enigmas of his own life. "Maybe. Or maybe I'm just tired. Chasing legacies can feel like peering into the abyss wondering if it'll consume you first."
Takeshi suddenly sat up, his expression shifting to curiosity. "Yo, Kaoru."
"What."
"When you finish all hundred mangas… what then? The end of the arc? Retirement arc incoming?"
The room quieted for a moment, the question hanging like a suspended plot thread. Kaoru leaned back, his eyes fixed on the ceiling, where cracks formed patterns like constellations of fate.
"…I don't know." he admitted softly, his voice carrying the weight of unspoken possibilities. "Maybe I'll finally take a real break. Travel the world, disappear into the void like every mysterious sensei character in anime. Seek out the hidden truths behind the stories I've told. Or perhaps… uncover something deeper. Like in those tales where the creator becomes part of the myth."
Kaede smirked, her eyes glinting like a mischievous spirit. "So you're gonna Jira1yah yourself? With them poles backshotting on you??"
Kaoru sputtered. "Please don't word it like that! It's disrespectful."
Aya let out a small laugh she didn't mean to light, genuine, warming the room like a fleeting revelation. It wasn't loud, just… warm, cutting through the veil of everyday banter.
Emi didn't say anything, but the corner of her mouth twitched upward. Even she, the silent guardian, found that funny a rare crack in her indifferent armor.
Kaoru exhaled softly, shaking his head. "…I've still got a long way to go. Ninety-five more threads to weave, mysteries to unravel in ink and imagination."
Aya crossed her arms, leaning against the wall with a nod of solidarity. "Yeah. But you're not alone in this labyrinth. We're all tangled in it now."
Their eyes met briefly just enough for something unspoken to hang in the air, a bond forged in the fires of creation, hinting at futures yet unwritten.
Kaede broke the moment, her voice always a scream of energy. "Hey, Kaoru! Pass the controller! Rematch time!"
Kaoru's voice came softly yet tired, laced with affection. "…There it is. Back to the chaos."
Aya grabbed her bag fully, heading for the door. "I'll review the new draft tomorrow. Don't stay up too late chasing shadows."
"Yeah." Kaoru nodded, watching her go.
Takeshi waved lazily from the couch. "Later, boss."
Emi popped her bubblegum in silent farewell, a subtle acknowledgment.
Kaede yelled, "REMATCH!! LET'S GOOO!"
She lost after that.
---
End of chapter thirty-nine.