After the meal, just as she promised, Ms. Kishimoto showed me her studio.
There were anatomical reference materials, various collections of East Asian paintings, a wide variety of manga, a drawing tablet, and more.
Seeing the kind of studio I'd only ever seen in pictures with my own eyes was a whole different experience.
"I usually just work on the storyboards at home. When it's time to actually draw the manga, I go to my art studio in the next town over. I'm the type who finds it hard to concentrate at home, you see."
Ms. Kishimoto said with a laugh, folding her arms.
But I was more than satisfied just getting to see my favorite manga artist's studio, so I didn't ask for anything more.
"Oh, Ms. Kishimoto. Could I please get your autograph?"
"Of course, that's no problem at all."
Hearing that, I took out the entire collection of *Golden Samurai* that I had brought in my bag.
The 28 volumes were quite worn from being read so many times.
Ms. Kishimoto signed the inside cover of each and every book.
After getting all 28 volumes signed, and finally one on a signature board as well, I bowed my head with an immense sense of fulfillment.
"Thank you so much, Ms. Kishimoto! I'll treasure these forever!"
Ms. Kishimoto smiled graciously and waved her hand.
"Haha, what's an autograph from someone like me? Just please continue to be good friends with my daughter."
"Yes!"
After the studio tour was over, Rika led me by the hand up to the second floor.
"Ta-da! This is my room!"
Should I say it was a bit unexpected?
Her room was decorated in an overall calm tone.
While there were some cute trinkets here and there, it had such a modern feel that it was hard to believe it was the room of a 17-year-old girl.
*Is this her mother's taste?*
I thought as I stepped into the room, only to be startled by the sight of one entire wall packed with manga.
"Hehe, is it a little disillusioning? My friends had the same reaction as you, Ryuji, the first time they came over."
I always thought Rika liked shonen manga a little bit.
But now I saw it wasn't 'a little bit,' but 'a lot.'
The sight of all the famous shonen manga you could name organized by genre and lined up on the shelves was truly a spectacle.
Anyone would mistake this for a library, not a bedroom.
"Here, sit here and wait. I'll go get some tea and snacks."
As Rika suggested, I sat on a cushion placed before a low table.
It was my first time ever visiting a girl's room, but it felt surprisingly comfortable.
Was it because of all the shonen manga? It felt like I was just hanging out at a friend's house.
Rika, who was about to leave for the kitchen, seemed to remember something and glanced back over her shoulder.
"Don't touch anything while I'm gone, okay? If I catch you, I'll be really mad."
"Got it."
She must be at that age where privacy is a big deal; she seemed worried about leaving me alone in her room.
Only after I nodded and said I understood did Rika say she'd be right back and leave the room.
"Hmm…"
It was only after being left alone in the room that reality started to sink in a little.
Visiting a friend of the opposite sex on a weekend... this was the life of a social butterfly I could never have imagined in the past.
I'd never dared to have those kinds of feelings for Rika, but being left alone in a girl's room felt... strange.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but I thought I could smell a sweet fragrance in the room.
My room, on the other hand, mostly smells like sweat.
To clear my head of stray thoughts, I decided to kill time with a game until Rika came back.
Just as I thought that and launched a game on my phone...
"Hello~"
Rika's mother suddenly entered the room.
"Ah, ma'am?"
As I scrambled to my feet in surprise, Rika's mother told me to stay seated and gently closed the door.
"Calling me 'ma'am' makes me sound so old. Just call me Maria."
...Can I really call my friend's mom that?
I hesitated for a moment, but after her continued insistence, I had no choice but to call her Maria.
"So, uh, Maria, what brings you here all of a sudden?"
I naturally assumed she was downstairs.
Since Rika had gone down to the first floor to prepare snacks.
Hearing my question, Maria flashed a wicked grin and said playfully.
"Why, to show you my daughter's embarrassing past, of course~"
"Her embarrassing past?"
I couldn't quite imagine it, and as I blinked, Maria grinned slyly and revealed what she had been hiding behind her back.
"Ta-da! This is a photo album with Rika's entire life story. As her friend, aren't you curious, Yu-seong?"
The 'looking at a friend's photo album at their house' event... It's a huge cliché, but as an avid reader of Jump, it was a situation I'd always wanted to experience at least once.
In the end, I gave in to temptation and shyly nodded. Maria sat down across from me and opened her prized photo album.
The album documenting Rika's growth started, as one would expect, from her infancy.
"This is Rika at one, this is her at two, and this one is Rika at three. This was taken when we went to England together."
As if reminiscing about faded memories, Maria pointed to each photo one by one, sharing the stories behind them.
"Ah, this is Rika at a school talent show. She drew lots and got the part of a tree. She came home with such a pouty face, complaining about it. It was so cute."
Maria said with a soft chuckle, then slowly turned the page.
"Ah, this brings back memories. This is a picture from the first time Rika and I went to Comiket together."
Huh?
Hearing something so completely unexpected, I couldn't help but cock my head.
In the photo, a blonde mother and daughter with twin tails were posing in black cosplay outfits, holding modern-looking staffs.
They were dressed as the rival character from a magical girl series that was popular about ten years ago.
I had never seen it myself, but the information existed in Kim Yu-seong's memories.
As I stared at Maria with a bewildered expression, she smiled proudly and said.
"I was actually a first-generation cosplayer, you know. It was always my dream to cosplay with my daughter if I ever had one."
Maria, having revealed her past profession so casually, continued to explain the next photos.
"Ah, this one was taken at C73. And this one was taken by my husband at C78."
In the photos, Maria took full advantage of being a blonde foreigner, cosplaying as all sorts of non-Japanese characters.
And as a bonus, her daughter Rika was always right there with her.
"Fufu, my daughter is so cute, isn't she? She took after me and had a real talent for cosplay."
To be honest, hearing that she gave her daughter an early education in, of all things, cosplay was a culture shock in more ways than one.
*Is this what she meant by Rika's embarrassing past?*
Just as I was somehow coming to terms with it and nodding...
"Ah, I finally found it. My daughter's most embarrassing moment."
"Huh? There's more?"
I was shocked that something even more embarrassing than this existed.
At this point, I was honestly dying to know what kind of photo it could be.
Maria, seemingly pleased with my reaction, nodded and showed me the photo in the album.
In the photo, a middle school-aged Rika with an eyepatch over her right eye, wearing a black Gothic Lolita outfit and red contact lenses, was striking what she must have thought was a cool pose...
"Mama!"
Hearing the sharp voice from behind me, I hastily closed the album.
"Oh my, are you back already?"
Maria greeted Rika with a perfectly calm expression.
Rika, her face bright red, stomped over, slammed the tray in her hands onto the table with a *thud*, and demanded of her mother.
"You didn't show him, did you?"
Maria just smiled benevolently and nodded.
"I did."
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Rika exploded with shame.
This wasn't her usual bright and playful self; she was genuinely mortified.
Well, it was understandable. A classmate had just seen a photo of her in the throes of her chuunibyou phase.
If I were in her shoes, the first thing I'd do is look for a hole to crawl into.
While I was hesitating, unsure of how to console her, Rika spoke, her expression on the verge of tears.
"I don't do stuff like cosplay anymore, you know?! I swear! That was just... a mistake from my rebellious phase!"
"Uh, yeah. I believe you."
As I said that and nodded, Rika, for some reason, seemed to be in even more pain.
*So this is the cry of someone whose embarrassing past has been exposed.*
Maria, who had been enjoying the sight of her daughter's suffering, tucked the album under her arm, gave a little wave, and said.
"Well then, Mama's going to go now. You two have fun~"
Rika shot up from the bed and yelled at her mother's retreating back.
"Don't ever come in my room again!"
But Maria left without a word, gently closing the door behind her.
Still fuming, Rika, with tears welling in her eyes, turned to me and asked.
"You'll keep this a secret, right?"
I gave a wry smile and nodded.
"It's not like I have anyone to tell."