Tsushima Kagami sat at home, watching TV out of sheer boredom.
Every now and then he teased Yukino with the cat wand he'd just bought.
His schoolmates had already gotten past their initial excitement, and the reporters were gradually thinning out.
The school had also notified him that he could return next week.
Though by the time he went back, it would be just about time for final exams.
He had no idea whether that Sayuri had been slacking off.
Whether she'd seriously worked through the exercises he'd had Rei deliver to her while he'd been away from school.
If he'd known, he should have made her come straight to his place after school every day so he could drill her hard.
Just as Tsushima Kagami was letting his mind wander, his phone rang.
He pulled it out and looked—it was Kobayashi Tomoaki.
He answered right away.
"Kagami-kun, are you free today?"
"I'd like to swing by your place in a bit—there's something I want to talk to you about."
"What's it about?"
"Don't worry, it's good news."
Tsushima Kagami could hear the irrepressible laughter in Kobayashi Tomoaki's voice over the phone.
It made him a little curious too, so he just said:
"I happen to be free—I might as well come over to Shinchōsha instead."
"Sure."
"I've got some free time right now anyway."
"Oh, right—watch out for reporters."
"There are still a few of them quietly staking out the entrance to Shinchōsha."
"Got it, understood."
After hanging up, Tsushima Kagami glanced out the window.
The sky was a dull gray, as if it were about to rain.
He threw on a coat, grabbed an umbrella, and headed out.
By the time he arrived, Kobayashi Tomoaki was already waiting in the editorial department's lobby.
"That was fast."
Kobayashi Tomoaki smiled and ushered him toward his office.
The central heating in the office blew warm and cozy, so Tsushima Kagami took off his coat and draped it over the back of a chair.
Kobayashi Tomoaki took a document out of a drawer and slid it across to him.
"Take a look at this."
Tsushima Kagami lowered his head to read.
A royalty contract amendment agreement.
Tsushima Kagami flipped through it casually.
He saw that the royalty rate had been raised from the previous 11% to 13%.
"Starting from the publication of your next book, royalties will be calculated at 13%."
"That said, the royalties for No Longer Human will still follow the old rate."
"Also, your submission fee has been bumped up by another 3,000 yen."
"Of course, you probably don't care much about a fee like that anymore."
Kobayashi Tomoaki took a sip of the jasmine tea from his thermos, then said with a leisurely, smiling drawl.
Tsushima Kagami looked over the specific terms again—no problems.
It seemed that with him riding high lately, they wanted to win him over and had hurried to take the initiative to improve his terms.
"And here I thought I'd have to win some kind of award before my terms got bumped up."
Seeing no issues with the contract, Tsushima Kagami took out the personal seal he carried with him and stamped his mark onto it.
"Haha, isn't that only natural?"
Kobayashi Tomoaki leaned back in his chair, sipping his jasmine tea, and laughed.
"Your books sell well, so of course we have to offer you better terms."
"We at Shinchōsha aren't so shortsighted as all that."
Kobayashi Tomoaki smiled as he took back the contract—three identical copies—and filed away Shinchōsha's copy.
Only then did he set down his thermos and look at Tsushima Kagami.
"Kagami-kun, do you have any new work lately?"
Tsushima Kagami thought about it.
"Not for the moment."
"When will you?"
"Maybe tomorrow."
"Or maybe I'll take a break for a while and wait until after the New Year."
Kobayashi Tomoaki nodded with a smile.
Now that's more like it.
No one can put out a book every single month with an endless stream of inspiration.
Every so often you're out of the zone and can't squeeze out a new book.
And then you find all sorts of excuses to delay your manuscript—that's the normal state of a writer, after all.
Sometimes Kobayashi Tomoaki wished things worked like in the manga world.
Where an artist who's blowing past the deadline gets hauled off to a little dark room by their editor and isn't let out until the work is finished.
Of course, literary editors aren't as disregarding of human rights as manga editors.
They tend to lure their writers off to some small island or village that's hard to reach by transport, but has mountains, water, hot springs, and geisha.
Grandly billed as a "location-scouting retreat for healing."
Sorry, you can't even get a phone call through out here.
And there's only one commuter bus a day.
Don't even think about going back to Tokyo until you've finished writing.
Too bad Kagami-kun was just too self-disciplined.
He'd never been able to find an opening.
Tsushima Kagami noticed Kobayashi Tomoaki sizing him up the whole time, his gaze like that of someone eyeing prey.
It felt deeply uncomfortable.
So he quickly got to his feet and said he had something to attend to and wanted to head off first.
By the time he left Shinchōsha, the sky had already grown dark.
Tsushima Kagami figured he'd go pick up Yukinoshita Shizuku, who still had her part-time shift at the convenience store today.
When he reached the convenience store, Yukinoshita Shizuku was tidying the shelves behind the register.
She was wearing that green apron, her hair tied into a low ponytail, a few stray strands hanging down by her ears.
Tsushima Kagami didn't disturb Yukinoshita Shizuku at her work; he walked straight over to the magazine section and casually picked up a copy of Shukan Bunshun to flip through.
Lately he'd had to do high-intensity self-searches every day, snooping through magazines, the internet, and newspapers to see what kind of nonsense they'd been reporting about him.
Thankfully, Shukan Bunshun didn't run any overly outrageous tabloid gossip.
If anything, its society section and literary criticism section gave proper, serious analyses of the innovation and influence of each of his works.
As he passed the time reading like this, it was nearly the end of Yukinoshita Shizuku's shift.
So Tsushima Kagami stuffed the magazine back onto the shelf.
He was about to go wait for her by the register.
"Kagami-nii-chan!"
A familiar voice came from the doorway.
He turned around and saw Ijichi Nijika come charging in like a little cannonball, slamming straight into his arms.
"Nijika!"
He crouched down and patted her head.
"You've gotten taller again."
"Really?!"
Nijika tilted her face up, her eyes shining bright like two stars.
She was wearing a fluffy red coat, with a hat ringed in white fuzz on her head.
"Really."
Tsushima Kagami held up his fingers to measure.
"By at least this much."
He held up his hand to indicate a very tiny distance.
Nijika pursed her lips, unsatisfied.
"Just that little bit?"
"That's plenty—any more and you'd be taller than your big sister."
"Being taller than Sis would be great!"
She glanced back at Ijichi Seika, who had followed her in, and made a face.
Seika's outfit today was very plain—jeans paired with a black hoodie, her hair carelessly tied up.
She was like a completely different person from the rocker girl she was at the Livehouse.
She gave Tsushima Kagami a nod, then walked up to the register and said something to Yukinoshita Shizuku.
Mrs. Ijichi was the last to come in.
She was wearing a beige coat, and her complexion had clearly recovered to how it used to be.
"Hello, ma'am." Tsushima Kagami stood up.
"Kagami-kun, it's been a while."
Mrs. Ijichi gave a gentle smile.
"It's rare to see your whole family out together today."
"Is there some good occasion?"
Tsushima Kagami said with a smile, looking at the three of them.
"Today is Nijika's birthday."
Ijichi Seika walked over from the register, and hearing Tsushima Kagami's question, answered directly.
"We just took Nijika out to play."
"Where did Little Nijika go to play? What did you do?"
Tsushima Kagami looked down at Nijika.
"The zoo! I saw the pandas, and I rode the carousel!"
Nijika counted on her fingers.
"And I ate ice cream! It's winter, but Mom said I could have it once for my birthday!"
"So did you make a wish?"
"Not yet! Mom said I'd do it when we cut the cake at home."
Mrs. Ijichi glanced at the clock on the wall, then looked at Tsushima Kagami.
"Kagami-kun, why don't you come along too?"
"The cake we bought is a little big—the three of us can't finish it."
"And it won't taste good if it sits overnight."
At that moment Nijika hugged Tsushima Kagami's leg, lifting her head with an eager, longing look in her eyes.
Tsushima Kagami thought about how Mrs. Ijichi had invited him to visit their home several times before, and even though he'd agreed each time, he'd never actually gone.
And since this time it was also Nijika's birthday.
He might as well go celebrate Nijika's birthday for her.
Then he glanced at Yukinoshita Shizuku.
"Do you want to go celebrate Little Nijika's birthday?"
Yukinoshita Shizuku nodded.
"Then I'll be intruding."
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