Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/822139844261747978/episodes/822139845444846142
“Huh?”
I stood there dumbfounded for a moment after Tomoka’s surprising action and dash away.
Then Yukina returned. She was holding drinks for all four of us, but…
“Ah, Yukina-san. Where’s Mitsuki-san?”
“Well… She said, ‘I saw Tomo, onee chan, go back to Yui-kun’s place,’ and headed that way…”
…I see. She was worried about Tomoka.
Not that anything bad had happened to her, so there was no need for concern.
That aside… what was that?
Mitsuki’s series of actions. From them—I felt like I sensed some kind of message, as if she wanted to say, ‘This time, talk to my sister.’
Either way, I had been meaning to talk to Yukina about this very thing.
I conveyed that, then sat down next to her after she set down her drink.
“How was today?”
Starting with a standard question.
Yukina looked slightly surprised but softened her expression gently.
“…Yeah, it was fun. I got to do lots of… couple-like things with you too.”
“Th-thank you for that!”
“Also, I’m glad Tomoka and Mitsuki came. They helped out a lot… though honestly, I did think they were being overly considerate of me and maybe getting a little too excited.”
A hint of exasperation in her words.
But beneath it lay genuine affection. And as Yukina, he understood that feeling too, so he voiced it.
“Well… wasn’t it simply because they wanted Yukina-san to cheer up?”
“…Huh?”
“I haven’t known everyone that long yet. But I can tell all three of you care deeply about each other”
“…”
“And I heard about it from Tomoka and Mitsuki. That Yukina-san is still feeling pretty down compared to usual.”
Yukina’s eyes widened.
“…Well, of course she is. Her serialized work just got canceled the other day.”
“Right. …This might sound arrogant, but I really want to help. …Is there anything I can do?”
This was probably something Yukina herself needed to resolve internally.
“If you want to move forward quickly, feel free to use me however you like. …Well, honestly, the chances are higher that I won’t be able to do anything…”
It might be arrogant, but if there was something he could do for that reason, he wanted to do it.
That said, he couldn’t be pushy. He kept it restrained, leaving it entirely up to her initiative as he asked.
Yukina stared at Yui like that for a moment…
“…Yeah. I guess that counts as ‘something lovers do’ too.”
A faint, bud-like smile bloomed on her face, utterly endearing.
“Then… would you mind listening to me for a bit?”
“Absolutely.”
And so, she began to speak.
About her journey so far, striving as an artist.
“I started drawing pretty young. I just liked it, plain and simple. I fell in love with manga too, and it didn’t take long before I wanted to create something wonderful like that.”
“…Yes.”
“So, I kept working hard… and in ninth grade, I won an award. Everyone praised me, saying it was amazing to win at such a young age. Then, luckily, I got picked up for a web serialization.”
It was the ideal path to becoming a professional in one’s craft, the kind anyone would envy.
Indeed, things had gone smoothly up to that point.
“My dream—to draw manga in a way that many people could see it—had come true.”
“……”
“Of course, I poured everything into it. I poured everything I’d built up until then into the manuscript, creating what I felt was my absolute masterpiece, the best I could possibly make, and sent it out thinking, ‘This is it!’”
But.
It wasn’t that simple after all.
“—And it failed. It got canceled. It only managed to stay afloat just short of the fastest pace.”
As if confirming that fact anew.
Yukina’s face quietly contorts.
“…Ah, I see. I hadn’t faced it yet.”
“…Yukina-san.”
“It… didn’t work out, did it… I wonder why.”
The words “I hadn’t faced it yet” pierced Yukina’s heart.
Surely, just as she said, that was what she lacked.
Alongside the urgency to draw the next one as quickly as possible—perhaps there was also an element of escape.
Past failures, setbacks. They were too big to accept immediately, so she tried to look away by forcing herself to face forward.
But of course, she couldn’t stay like that. To move forward properly, she had to face it. Look at the wound, understand clearly why it hurt.
Not just forcefully sealing it shut. She had to carefully remove the bad parts, then gently heal it. To mend it stronger.
That process brought far more pain than just sealing it—yet it was absolutely necessary for significant growth. Yukina was about to take that step now.
So Yui watches quietly.
“I truly believed it could work. Sure, there were plenty of flaws, but I poured in more than enough ‘love’ to make up for them. I sent it out thinking anyone watching would fall for it too…!”
“!”
“But it didn’t get through. Because my strength wasn’t enough, I ended characters that could have flown so much higher…!”
A single tear spilled.
It didn’t stop there, soon becoming an unstoppable flood.
Huge regret, huge failure. It was surely too heavy for a sixteen-year-old girl to bear, yet she was accepting it, swallowing it down, trying to move forward.
“It hurts… it’s so frustrating… I’m sorry…”
How beautiful, I thought.
How truly amazing, I thought.
She’ll be okay now, for sure.
After crying her heart out here, she’ll finally make peace with the overwhelming regret of the past.
From there… she’ll be able to start running again.
“!”
A light touch, a soft brush.
Yukina tilted her head slightly to the side. She rested her head on Yui’s shoulder, sitting next to her.
“…Can I borrow your shoulder?”
“Just shoulder?”
“That’s fine.”
It was probably a sign of her resolve not to become completely dependent.
Why?
During today’s date, there had been so much more physical closeness than this… well, much of it was unavoidable circumstances.
But the distance between their hearts—it felt like it had closed the most right now.
They stayed like that for a while.
Yukina shed tears, Yui offered her shoulder… A calm, somehow gentle time passed.
◆
(Finally showing an opening—!)
But the one unaware of it was Himekami Ryota.
Following the incident with Tomoka, he was watching Yui from the shadows.
Seeing Yui being embraced by Tomoka, he felt jealousy and hatred boiling in his brain and blood… yet he waited for that villain to slip up decisively.
He was certain it had been worth the wait.
Ryota saw the scene before him clearly.
An undeniable, unmistakable fact. Yes—
(—You made Yukina cry!)
Seeing that, only that.
Yui was certain. That bastard really was evil.
(You made Yukina cry! You made a girl cry! No matter what excuse you have, a guy like that is the absolute worst! That bastard really was the worst! Then!!)
I have to save them.
I have to save Tomoka, Mitsuki, and Yukina—the ones he’s trying to deceive.
Driven by that rage, that sense of justice, that sense of duty.
Himekami Ryota burst out of the bushes—and took his first step toward ruin.
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