One of the reasons he decided to debut as a duo with Rin was so that when his current works were adapted into anime, he could replicate the classic soundtracks from his previous life as well.
As his collaborator, Rin's singing ability and emotional delivery were impeccable. Barring any surprises, he naturally didn't plan on going through the effort of finding anyone else to work with.
"Of course I'm willing!"
To this, Rin responded without the slightest hesitation, "Even though I can't help Mochizuki-kun with much, I will definitely do my best when it comes to singing!"
"Thank you."
Akira smiled and said, "Actually, you've already helped me a lot."
"?"
This time, seeing Rin's confused expression, he only smiled without saying a word.
He wasn't someone who enjoyed or excelled at socializing, but he wasn't someone who could enjoy solitude either.
He needed to communicate with others, even if it was just chatting on the internet;
He needed friends, even if they were just netizens he had never met in person.
So, when he had first arrived, being able to meet someone like Rin—someone he could talk to and who shared the same interests—was a very lucky thing for him.
It's just that now, the friendship seemed to have changed flavor slightly.
But regardless, tonight was indeed a pleasant and meaningful night.
Akira had originally subconsciously pulled out his phone to take a commemorative photo, but unfortunately, phones of this era didn't have camera functions yet.
Hmm, it looks like it's time to buy a camera.
Additionally, it was a good thing he still had his exceptional drawing skills.
So, after finishing the meal, cleaning up the mess, and seeing Rin off, he sat down at his workstation. Recalling the scene of their dinner tonight, he began to compose and draw.
Gradually, the scene became clear on the paper from a third-person perspective: he and Rin sat across from each other at a coffee table laden with food, eating while discussing the television program, their expressions relaxed and happy, filling the air with a pleasant atmosphere.
The drawing itself had no inherent meaning; what was meaningful was the content within it.
After an unknown amount of time, looking at the finished draft before him, Akira showed a satisfied smile.
It's really great to know how to draw, folks!
However, a new problem seemed to have arisen: where should he put this drawing?
Ultimately, Akira framed the drawing and placed it in his bedroom.
Mainly, putting it in the living room was too conspicuous, and the three assistants would surely pry and gossip, so it was better to keep it in the bedroom.
But even so, he was still careless.
"—Mochizuki-sensei, what is this, please?"
Hayato showed him the item in his hand with a serious face—an exceptionally long strand of hair.
He had accidentally discovered it on the sofa.
And obviously, this definitely didn't belong to any of the four grown men.
At this moment, Daisuke and Shota's gazes also couldn't help but drift over, their eyes full of curiosity.
"Uh."
Akira froze slightly at the sight, then let out a helpless sigh.
Who could possibly guard against something like this?
However, considering that Rin had been coming to his house frequently during this period, the fact that it was only exposed now might already be the absolute limit.
Seeing his reaction, Hayato immediately said in a pained voice, "As I thought—!"
"Mochizuki-sensei already has a girlfriend, doesn't he?! Even though he's a few years younger than me—!"
"Just when did this happen—?!"
"Hey, I say,"
Seeing the other's exaggerated performance, he said between laughter and tears, "Even if I really did find a girlfriend, there's no need for such an exaggerated reaction, right? Is it really that strange for me to find a girlfriend?"
"Uh—"
Hayato was suddenly speechless.
To be honest, even without mentioning Mochizuki-sensei's talent, just based on his young and handsome face, finding a girlfriend wouldn't be difficult at all.
If you also considered his talent, if he were a woman, he might have launched a full-scale offensive on Mochizuki-sensei on the spot.
—Cough cough!
In short, given Mochizuki-sensei's conditions, one should rather say it would be abnormal if he couldn't find a girlfriend.
It's just—
Damn it, he was still unwilling to accept it!
Meanwhile, Shota, who was on the side, keenly caught the main point: "'Even if I really did find a girlfriend,' does that mean you haven't found one yet?"
"?!"
Hayato also reacted instantly.
If Mochizuki-sensei hadn't found a girlfriend yet, then whose hair was that strand he found?!
"You can't really put it that way—"
Looking at the three pairs of eyes full of a desire for gossip, Akira felt a mountain of pressure and could only helplessly reveal a bit of information: "Well, I do have someone I like right now."
"Ehhh—" x3
The three of them immediately drawled out their words, the scent of gossip almost overflowing from the screen.
But then, Akira made a serious "stop" gesture.
"Alright, stop right there."
"In any case, I don't really want to go into the details of this matter yet, so please let it end here for now."
As he had mentioned long ago, no matter what he did, he was the type who didn't like to announce things everywhere before they were successful.
Although from his time spent with Rin recently, it seemed she liked him too.
But before they both confessed and successfully established a relationship, he didn't want to reveal too much of the situation to others.
Seeing his serious expression, the three of them also felt his earnest attitude, so they slowly withdrew the gossip from their eyes and expressed their understanding.
"We understand."
Hayato said apologetically, "Sorry Mochizuki-sensei, I didn't know—"
"There's no need to apologize for this."
He waved his hand, somewhat between laughter and tears.
A strand of Rin's hair fell on the sofa and was discovered by someone else, leading to the realization of a problem—how could he blame the other person for that?
If anyone was to blame, it was that Rin actually shed hair like a normal human being.
Rin:?
Anyway, after such a small interlude, next was the weekly shōsei ranking time.
Unsurprisingly, the ranking for this chapter had dropped slightly, coming in at 4th place, but this result was actually already very good.
The top three this week were One Piece, hikaru no go, and hunter x hunter.
hunter x hunter had resumed serialization from issue 42 and surprisingly hadn't gone on hiatus yet, showing unexpected resilience.
Even Hisashi couldn't help but marvel, "Could it be that the diligent Togashi-sensei from back then is finally coming back?"
"Well—"
Akira smiled without saying anything.
At least from the perspective of the future, for that Old Scoundrel Togashi, hiatus was likely the norm, and serialization was just an accident.
Besides the shōsei results, another matter this week was Weathering with You.
During the time Weathering with You was being serialized, there had been a lot of positive feedback from readers.
So, unsurprisingly, now that the four-chapter serialization of Weathering with You was complete, the production and release of the manga tankobon were also put on the schedule.
The work on his end naturally had to keep up.
However, while the color pages for Weathering with You were easy to handle, he really didn't know what to do for the bonus content for a moment.
After thinking about it, he decided to draw some of the discarded drafts from the process of conceiving the manga Storyboarding and include them in the tankobon as bonus content.
Anyway, he knew that many works' setting collections were done this way, and fans seemed to love seeing them, so it could be considered a win-win situation.
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