Chapter 24: A gentle and kind person.
Nozaki Umetarou has been paying attention to two people lately.
One was from another class, named Mikoshiba Mikoto, a red-haired boy who looked frivolous. The other was his classmate, Morofushi Sora'aki, who sat in front of him.
I initially noticed Mikoshiba Mikoto solely because of his frivolous appearance—creating a comic out of thin air is a difficult task, and Nozaki Umetarou often draws inspiration from the things and people around him—and Mikoshiba Mikoto seems to be very good at communicating with girls. This kind of personality might be very suitable for a second male protagonist who likes the female protagonist in a comic.
After paying a little attention, Nozaki Umetarou discovered that Mikoshiba Mikoto was actually a person whose outward appearance and inner self were completely opposite, and who was extremely shy.
...This is...gap moe?! Nozaki Umetarou was a little surprised.
Mikoshiba Mikoto is a classmate from another class, so it's usually more difficult to get along with him. But getting along with Morofushi Sora'aki is much easier. Morofushi Sora'aki sits right in front of him, and even during class, Nozaki Umetarou would unintentionally glance at him.
Even unconsciously, Nozaki Umetarou noticed that Morofushi Sora'aki almost never looked at the blackboard seriously during class. He was either resting his face on his hand, lost in thought, or staring out the window.
In the first few days of school, the teachers weren't too harsh, and there was also Nozaki Umetarou who was even more outrageous (he just went to sleep), so the teachers didn't say anything.
However, after the initial period of the semester, the teachers began to take things more seriously and would specifically call on students who were clearly not paying attention in class to answer questions on the blackboard.
And every time the teacher pointed to Morofushi Sora'aki... in short, the teacher would seem very tired.
"I can't tell what Morofushi's inner personality is like at all," Nozaki Umetarou sighed inwardly, though he had clearly observed Morofushi's outward behavior.
Cold, expressionless, and somewhat arrogant; dislikes chatting with people, but surprisingly polite in response. And, academically excellent.
...Hmm? Why do I always feel like that trait is also suitable for a male protagonist? But this time, could we continue with the contrast between appearance and inner self? He looks cold but is actually socially awkward or something? And then he is gradually guided by the gentle female protagonist to be able to interact with people... The reverse seems pretty good too?
"Ah, they all look pretty good." Nozaki Umetarou looked at his notebook, which was already full of drafts, and suddenly realized that having too many inspirations wasn't a good thing, as it was easy to stray from the main point.
Putting aside his jot-down inspirations for the time being, Nozaki Umetarou knew very well that his most important task at the moment was to deliver the first chapter of his comic to his editor before the deadline.
And now, there's still... a week left until the deadline!!
After the deadline passed, Nozaki Umetarou once again appeared in class with plasters on his body. His classmates had rather complicated expressions: So, he really is a delinquent after all?
Unlike at the beginning of the school year, the classmates around him had become closer, so Kawauchi Yuuki asked, "Nozaki, what happened to your injuries?"
"Drawing." Nozaki Umetarou answered honestly.
"Huh? Drawing?" Kawauchi Yuuki looked at him in surprise: "What kind of drawing would leave you covered in injuries!"
"A romance comic." Nozaki Umetarou remained quite honest.
However, nobody believed him. Kawauchi Yuuki immediately burst out laughing, and the atmosphere in the class returned to normal: "Hahaha, I didn't expect Nozaki to joke like that! What a surprise!"
Nozaki Umetarou: "I'm not joking."
"Okay, okay, you're not kidding." Kawauchi Yuuki patted Nozaki Umetarou on the shoulder: "Anyway, take good care of your injury, and remember to go to the infirmary if you feel unwell."
Nozaki Umetarou nodded, not too upset that no one believed him.
But at that moment, he noticed the student in front of him who had been lost in thought and glanced at him.
Unlike others who instinctively judge people by their appearance, Morofushi Sora'aki realized that Nozaki Umetarou wasn't lying; he really was injured from drawing romance comic. Nozaki Umetarou seized the opportunity and asked, "What's wrong, Morofushi?"
"..." Morofushi Sora'aki was silent for a moment before saying, "...Drawing comic is dangerous?"
"Huh? It's not dangerous." Nozaki Umetarou was taken aback. For some reason, he inexplicably connected with Morofushi Sora'aki's thought process and suddenly realized, "Ah, you mean these injuries on my body? Actually, it's because I've been bending over and looking down for a long time, and my wrists have been drawing at high intensity, that's why they turned out like this."
"The comic itself is not dangerous, so don't worry," Nozaki Umetarou replied.
Morofushi Sora'aki nodded, then turned away without saying anything more.
"...Huh?" Nozaki Umetarou belatedly realized something—Morofushi, surprisingly...is easy to talk to!
Nozaki Umetarou's eyes lit up, and during the second break, he once again took the initiative to chat with Morofushi Sora'aki: "Speaking of which, is Morofushi interested in comic?"
"I will see," replied Morifuku Sora.
"Yes, I do read them. What kind of comic do you like? Shounen comic? Are you interested in romance comic?" Nozaki Umetarou asked.
"Anything is fine."
"Oh! In that case, I have a newly published monthly magazine here, may I lend it to you?"
And so, Morofushi Sora'aki went home with a monthly magazine in his arms.
The next day, Nozaki Umetarou asked curiously, "Where did you see?"
"half."
How are you feeling?
"I don't quite understand."
"Hmm?" Nozaki Umetarou pressed, "What part don't you understand? Ah, right, this is a monthly magazine with many comic series. If you want to understand it, you need to read all the previous series first."
Nozaki Umetarou then suggested, "I have a copy of every month's new issue. Are you interested? Which story are you more interested in? I'll see if there are any collected volumes available."
So the next day, Morofushi Sora'aki brought home several thick comic volumes. Even Morofushi Sora'aki himself didn't seem to realize that he hadn't given an answer as to which story he was more interested in.
Standing at the top of the stairs, Mother Morofushi touched her face with one hand and said worriedly to Father Morofushi, who was sitting on the sofa, "Has Sora'aki been... quieter lately?"
"But he doesn't seem too happy," Father Morofushi reassured her. "Anyway, the boy won't hide it from you."
"I'd prefer Sora'aki to tell me himself," said Mother Morofushi, giving Father Morofushi a glare before speaking in a slightly coquettish tone.
"Haha, that kid is a high school student now, let's try to let go a little."
"Of course I know." Mother Morofushi thought for a moment, then suppressed the worry in her eyes: "Alright, I'll listen to you this time."
After all, her youngest son didn't seem to have any negative emotions.
After finishing his meal as usual, Morofushi Sora'aki returned to his room. He sat on his bed against the wall, with a book on his lap, and continued reading the story in the comic.
Monthly magazines seem to have a kind of magic; even if you don't know the plot beforehand, just by looking at this clip, you will be unconsciously drawn in and become curious about the previous events.
"So, Morofushi, which author do you like the most... um, or rather, which author do you care about the most?"
Morofushi Sora'aki turned to the middle page and pointed to the tanuki on it: "This one."
Nozaki Umetarou: "..."
Nozaki Umetarou: "...tanuki?"
"…It is indeed something to be concerned about." Nozaki Umetarou stroked his chin: "Miyako-sensei's plot and art style are very interesting, but for some reason, no matter what they serializes, the tanuki appear very frequently."
"The tanuki has transcended time and space." said Morofushi Sora'aki in a serious tone.
"Yes, it's not just ordinary school romance, but also fantasy worlds and historical comics. They're all very prominent. They've completely become Miyako-sensei's personal characteristics." Nozaki Umetarou understood: "No wonder you're so concerned about it, Morofushi… If I have the chance to meet Miyako-sensei, I'll ask them for you."
Morofushi Sora'aki wasn't concerned about the appearance of the tanuki; he simply felt that the tanuki's uniform appearance made it difficult for him to remember them.
The topic of tanuki will be put aside for now. As a romance comic artist, Nozaki Umetarou has a lot of comics at home, and Morofushi Sora'aki has never refused. So Nozaki Umetarou has also gotten into the habit of bringing Morofushi Sora'aki a new comic every two days.
Morofushi Sora'aki never turned away anyone who came to him. Nozaki gave him the opportunity and he was ready to see what would happen. But this routine suddenly stopped one day after two months.
Nozaki Umetarou scratched his hair: "Sorry, I forgot to bring it."
Morofushi Sora'aki, unusually concerned, asked, "What happened?"
When someone spoke up, Nozaki Umetarou seemed to have found an outlet for his frustration, his expression turning gloomy: "Do you remember the tanuki we discussed before?"
"A tanuki that transcends time and space." Sora'aki nods.
"...Now I finally understand why Miyako-sensei likes tanuki so much... No, it's not liking them at all!!" Nozaki Umetarou scratched his head hard, then slammed his head on the desk in anguish. "Ken-san has been busy these past two months and has temporarily handed me over to another editor... This editor is also Miyako-sensei's editor—"
This editor, named Maeno, is a rather self-centered person. Although he may not have meant any harm, he likes to cite examples that everyone can think of and then attribute them to himself. Apart from that, he is quite careless.
"For example, the chapter I was serializing should have been called 'The Trembling Heartbeat', but it ended up being 'Shaking Kondo'! What kind of bastard is Kondo?!" Nozaki Umetarou looked like he wanted to punch someone, his fists clenched: "I can tolerate these typos for now—but this bastard almost lost my manuscript!"
"You also think this is excessive, right, Morofushi!"
Morofushi Sora'aki tilted his head: "It has nothing to do with me."
Kawauchi Yuuki, who had just arrived in the classroom, did not hear the first part of the conversation, but only the last two sentences.
The cheerful and seemingly normal Kawauchi Yuuki paused in his act of putting down his schoolbag, almost instinctively thinking: "Even though I don't know what happened, shouldn't I be comforting Nozaki at a time like this?! Morofushi!!"
However, Nozaki's response exceeded Kawauchi's expectations. Nozaki Umetarou not only didn't seem to find anything wrong, but also took a deep breath: "Yes, it really has nothing to do with you—but even so, you replied to me so seriously and listened to my complaints. You are indeed very kind, Morofushi!"
Kawauchi Yuuki: ...Huh? Wait a minute? Nozaki, are you serious?!
"Then tomorrow…" Morofushi Sora'aki began.
"No problem, I'll bring it to you tomorrow!" Nozaki Umetarou felt much more relaxed after complaining, and he recalled where Morofushi Sora'aki had read and which book he should bring tomorrow.
Morofushi Sora'aki turned around with satisfaction.
Kawauchi Yuuki: Hmm? Bring what? Never mind, that's not the point, but Morofushi, your attitude of treating Nozaki like a tool is way too obvious! At least try to cover it up a little!!
Nozaki Umetarou: "You're reminding me to treat him with my usual attitude, right? I'll remember that! Thank you, Morofushi, you really are a good person!"
Kawauchi Yuuki: Nozaki—!!!????