Full-time comic artist

"You...you should take a look at this issue first." The boy closed his eyes and pushed Jump next to her.

"Thank you." Mafuyu looked up, her eyes crinkling with laughter.

"Well!"

He went home feeling dizzy, and his friends complained:

"Kiki, you little rascal, we haven't even read Weekly Shonen Jump yet!"

"Damn it, you were definitely trying to sneak away."

"I'm sorry," he said in a startled voice, apologizing softly.

Then, turning around, she realized that Mafuyu wasn't paying attention to what they were talking about. She breathed a sigh of relief, but then felt disappointed again.

Mafuyu lay on the table, listlessly flipping through Jump.

She didn't even notice when "Slam Dunk" disappeared from her fingertips.

until……

"Wow! So beautiful!" Mafuyu exclaimed in amazement.

She sat up abruptly and looked at the cover.

Under a dazzling starry sky, the wind rustled through the grass as a young boy and girl sat together, watching the rising sun in the distance.

The sky was dotted with stars, and the clouds were spread out together. It was like a huge palette, with each element blending together perfectly without overshadowing the others, giving Mafuyu a great sense of awe.

The girl sat beside the boy, and against the backdrop of the vast sky, the two figures seemed to evoke a sense of loneliness and desolation in Mafuyu.

Only the artist's name is prominently displayed, disrupting the overall atmosphere.

"Artwork by Akemi Akimiya?"

"Whose teacher is this?" she wondered. It was a waste that a picture that could be used as wallpaper was just appearing in Jump.

"And also, the original author... Tori Akino Mirai!" she shouted.

Chisui Mafuyu was startled, and the students in the classroom immediately turned to look at her.

Mafuyu covered her mouth and shook her head violently.

She only breathed a sigh of relief after her classmates turned around.

Noticing that Muqi was still looking at her nervously, she patted her chest to indicate that there was no problem.

After no one paid attention to her, Mafuyu's smile grew increasingly arrogant.

"It's a manga by Tori Akino-sensei!"

Just by looking at the cover, she knew it must be a romance comic.

She read on expectantly, and gradually understood through the prose-like narration.

The manga, titled "Cosmonaut," features a female protagonist named Sumida Kanae, who is in love with a male protagonist named Tono Takaki.

Every day, Hua Miao meticulously planned her chance encounters with him, all so that she could have a conversation with him.

When Takaki greeted Hanae, he had a gentle smile on his lips, but his eyes held a hint of sadness.

High school seniors have to fill out a career path survey. Sasaki, who is in the same grade, is going to university in Tokyo, and some of his friends are going to junior college in Kumamoto, but Hanae can't fill it out for a long time.

After school, Hua Miao refused her sister's offer to drive her home and waited for her in the bike shed.

When Takaki Tono appeared, her face showed anticipation and a blush.

The two went home together.

"If I had a tail like a dog, I wouldn't be able to hide this joy, and my tail would wag non-stop," Hana thought.

She fell in love with Takaki in the second grade, and afterwards they always went home together.

During the brief moments they spent going home together, Takaki would always be on his phone making text messages.

"I wish that text message had been sent to me."

This humble, unrequited love scene, especially the part where Hanae describes her joy and how she wants to wag her tail, captivated Mafuyu.

"Can't we just tell him directly?" Mafuyu whispered.

"Hey!" Someone behind her panicked.

"Kisaki-kun," Mafuyu turned around, recognizing the owner of this Jump magazine, "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing..." Kizaki panicked even more, pointing at Jump, "Isn't that the protagonist of 'Cherry Blossom Manga,' Tono Takaki!"

Takaki Tono had a forlorn look in his eyes. Although he was a high school student now, he still retained some of his former appearance.

"Is he with Akari?" Kisaki asked.

This indeed diverted Mafuyu's attention. "Akari? Who is that?"

After a sigh of relief, Kiki replied, "Takaki's girlfriend."

“I understand,” Mafuyu said thoughtfully.

She looked at the flower seedling in the comic and felt a pang of pity for her.

So that's how it is. In the end, it was just wishful thinking.

She refused to let Kisaki spoil the plot and planned to catch up on "Cherry Blossom" slowly after school.

Let's continue watching seriously for now.

……

“Every time I am near Tono, my heart aches.”

At night, watching Takaki sitting on the grass earnestly texting, Hanae felt a great distance between them.

Takaki Tono is very gentle, which makes Hanae feel like crying.

"Unrequited love is so tragic," Mafuyu remarked.

But as Mafuyu reads the manga, she gradually realizes that Takaki is becoming increasingly lonely.

As he encountered a carrier rocket on his return journey, his thoughts soared into space along with it.

Walking alone in the darkness, in the end...

"Walking on the grasslands of an alien planet with that familiar girl, as usual I couldn't see her face clearly, and there was a sense of nostalgia in the atmosphere..."

On the phone's text message screen, Takaki typed a message but didn't write a recipient, and eventually deleted it.

Mafuyu felt a wave of suffocation. So that's how it is.

Takaki never contacted Akari again, and he didn't even know what she looked like when she grew up.

Using a rocket as a metaphor for himself, he wanders aimlessly in the starry sky, not knowing when he will meet again.

Upon closer reflection, he was far more desperate than Hua Miao.

Six months later, Hanamiya was ready to confess her feelings to Takaki.

But Takaki always treated her gently, and this didn't change at all during their long time together.

This gentleness only makes one feel more distant.

Thinking that her confession would not be successful, Hanae couldn't help but cry.

Just then, a rocket was launched behind them.

Under the setting sun, the rocket soared into the sky, its exhaust flames dividing the heavens into two distinct worlds: one bright, the other dark.

Watching the rocket disappear into the distance, Hanae understood that in Takaki Tono's eyes, she didn't exist.

He kept his gaze fixed on the distance.

"All my expectations of Tono-kun are bound to be unfulfilled."

"Even so, whether it's tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or in the future, I will still be unable to help but like Tono-kun."

The seedlings huddled together, tears welling in their eyes as they drifted off to sleep.

The comic has ended.

After reading it, Mafuyu felt incredibly depressed. The manga was filled with vast skies, but it couldn't soothe her heart.

Akino Toriyama's "Cosmonaut" tells two stories.

Hanae's one-sided love for Tono Takaki

There's also Tono Takaki's longing for Akari.

Regardless of the story, they all seem to have ended badly.

Takaki would never like Hanae, even if they were far apart; in his life, Akari would always be the one.

And what about Takaki's longing?

At the end of the manga, in the imagery of the grassland, Akari stands up and smiles at Takaki.

Just like this rocket that has flown away, their love may also come to an end without a trace.

Takaki hasn't texted Akari in a long time. He always types in the text message interface, sharing his life, and then deletes it...

“What a sad story…” Mafuyu murmured to herself.

She silently shed tears.

……

The second episode of "5 Centimeters Per Second" has been released.

Sasaki was surprised to find that the reader survey had received a whopping 602 votes.

Although it is still not as good as "Confessions", it is already a very high achievement.

Is this the kind of achievement a shoujo romance manga can reach?

There is no suggestive content, such as the female lead accidentally revealing her underwear, or her stunning figure being outlined in the misty bathroom, with half of her breasts exposed.

Without SeSe, shoujo romance manga could easily outperform a host of long-running serials.

This is amazing.

“47% of the votes were from female readers…” Sasaki was taken aback. “Where did these readers come from?”