Full-time comic artist

"Huh?" Akemi Akemi asked, puzzled.

“I’m finally graduating,” Hibiki Higashino ran across to Musashino, about ten meters away, and waved to Akemi Akimiya.

"We are from two different worlds now."

Akemi Akemi was puzzled, but seeing Hibiki Higashino's silly expression, she suddenly burst out laughing.

With everyone moving out, the melancholy of facing the empty dormitory lessened somewhat.

The faculty dormitory for Hibiki Higashino, which Musashino University of the Arts provides as a special accommodation, is about 100 square meters.

Two bedrooms and one living room.

One room is used for sleeping, another for storage, and the living room serves as a studio, big enough to fit four work desks.

Higashino Hibiki arranged it this way.

"At least I don't have to draw at the dining table anymore," Eiichiro Oda breathed a sigh of relief.

Yoshii Yamahisa patted Oda on the shoulder and silently congratulated him.

He lives in the student dormitory, which takes about 10 minutes to get here, making it much more inconvenient than before.

However, it's much better than Oda's situation, which requires him to travel by car.

Higashino waved them over.

"Yoshii-kun, manga artists are required to pay their assistants' transportation expenses. We used to share a dorm room, so I never mentioned this to you."

“Right now,” Higashino Hibiki took out a 100-yen coin and stuffed it into Yoshii Yamahisa’s hand, “100 yen can buy two steamed buns to make up for the expenses.”

“Higashino…” Yoshii Yamahisa was speechless.

Looking at the composed Higashino Hibiki, he really wanted to throw a coin at his face, but 100 yen was still money, so he put it in his pocket.

"Where's Oda-san?" Hibiki Higashino reached into his pocket.

This action gave Oda a real fright.

Unlike Yoshii Yamahisa, he was actually going to take the train and subway.

Can't I work a job and then have to pay for it myself?

"Here's 5 yen." Higashino Hibiki handed him five Fukuzawa Yukichi bills. "This is for a month's transportation expenses. I'm too lazy to calculate the exact amount."

Oda breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Toriakino-sensei."

Chapter 79 No Rain

Kofu City in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, is known as the "Crystal Capital" and has many gem and jewelry shops.

A 28-year-old woman with tousled hair, wearing a white down jacket, walked out of her family's jewelry store and sat on a table and chair outside, enjoying the midday sun in March.

She put mint and spices in a teacup, brewed it with boiling water, and finally added milk for a satisfying taste.

This is one of her favorite drinks, but unfortunately, she's too busy with work and rarely has time to relax and enjoy a cup of afternoon tea like she did today.

He put on sunglasses, glanced at the sun, and took out a comic book magazine from his bag.

The cover of this magazine features recent photos of well-known women, which look rather indecent.

"Hey, Princess Naoko, long time no see." An uncle rode by on his bicycle.

"Hmm...long time no see." She covered the comic book cover shyly, worried that she would be seen as reading something inappropriate.

Fortunately, the uncle didn't seem to mind; he just chatted with him casually.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

Naoko glanced at Weekly Young Jump and pursed her lips.

She loves reading comics, especially shoujo manga. She used to pretend to be sick when she was a child just so she could read shoujo manga.

He welcomes all kinds of shonen manga.

Leiji Matsumoto's works are among her favorites.

only……

"Why resort to such borderline content when there are so many good works available?"

She covered her face in distress.

However, she was also attracted by the cover that skirted the edges of the story.

I was very curious about what was inside, so I secretly bought a copy. I didn't expect it to be a legitimate comic book. I felt like I had been cheated.

Thanks to this sudden inspiration, she came across a very interesting romance novel.

Unlike fairy tales about princesses, this is very realistic, like a comic about a real romance.

The characters in the story all have their own troubles, and these troubles cannot be solved by simply talking about love.

It has something in common with "Tokyo Love Story," which she really likes.

Naoko has always longed for a fairytale-like love story between a princess and a prince, but she also really likes this kind of work.

"The Garden of Words..." Her red lips parted slightly, "The author is Mirai Toriaki... a genius manga artist who started serializing at the age of 18."

That's really amazing. Even someone as successful as Naoko, who has a smooth career in manga, only had a short manga published in a magazine when she was eighteen.

By the time the story was serialized, it was already 1989, some time after I had graduated from university and started working.

"Hikaru no Go is very interesting, but I prefer The Garden of Words."

She took another sip of her drink, glanced around cautiously, and seeing that no one was paying attention to her, she began to reflect on what had happened earlier.

This comic has already reached its third chapter.

The relationship between the male and female protagonists progresses from initial awkwardness to mutual understanding and familiarity.

Naoko especially liked the scene where the male and female protagonists were looking forward to the rain.

When it rains, there's a reason to meet.

It's the kind of anticipation and energy that makes you jump and hop to avoid puddles.

When they met again, Takao and Yukino were even closer.

Takao was still drawing shoes, and Yukino would half-drag her high heels, exposing her bare feet, which was exceptionally alluring and made Naoko, a girl, swoon.

"It's really well drawn, as expected of a male manga artist." That's what Naoko thought at the time. She looked at her feet and wondered how they could be drawn so alluringly.

Afterwards, Takao would secretly watch as he drew delicate feet with the tip of his pen.

This innocent scene brought a smile to Naoko's face, like that of an aunt.

The two of them began to communicate and exchange ideas.

Yukino shared her beer and chocolate, a strange combination that Takao found distasteful. Later, when they met again, she would bring her own dishes.

In the manga, time speeds up as the rainy season begins, and Takao always uses the rain as an excuse to skip school and come here to meet his mysterious, beloved person.

Their relationship grew closer, and Takao could tell her about his dreams.

That morning, Yukino hesitated about whether to take the train and leave, but in the end she came to the Garden of Words.

She brought her own lunchbox, which had a very unique flavor, so it's not convenient to comment on whether it tasted good or not.

That concludes the first two episodes.

Now we can finally see the third episode.

The comic begins with a troublesome story.

Why does Yukino keep drinking beer and eating chocolate?

It turned out that she was ill and had a numb sense of taste, so she could only taste strong flavors when she ate strong-flavored foods.

However, recently, she has been able to taste the flavors in Takao's bento boxes.

"It seems to be a psychological reason."

As a pharmacist, Naoko had some experience, and she began to wonder what caused Yukino's taste buds to become numb.

The following content seems to reveal something.

Yukino faced some rumors and gossip, but her ex-boyfriend did not choose to believe her.

Therefore, she chose to resign and escape.

The immense psychological pressure caused Yukino to curl up in agony. She only cheered up when it started raining again.

During their meeting in July, Takao was going to make a pair of shoes for Yukino, which made Naoko's heart flutter.

Even though it was just Takao touching Yukino's foot, Naoko thought it was a rather lewd scene.

Many kisses and cuddles in shoujo manga are not as tender as this careful touch.

The two grew closer, yet a barrier remained. Yukino ultimately didn't reveal her own situation.

"I knew almost nothing about her—her profession, age, worries, even her name. Nevertheless, I was deeply attracted to her and couldn't resist her."

The rainy season is over.

Yukino still goes to the Garden of Words, but the Garden of Words on a sunny day feels so unfamiliar.

She would break down and cry if her foundation accidentally shattered.

Xiaoxiong stopped going; he was busy working every day.

He saved up for tuition fees to buy shoemaking tools and leather.

He didn't want to be treated like a child and hoped that Yukino could look at him as an equal, so he acted exceptionally mature.

Meanwhile, in Yukino, they started drinking beer and eating chocolate again.

Compared to Takao, she was more like a child. She remained rooted to the spot, hidden by the high pavilion roof.

The comic has ended.

"There will be more, right? There will be more serializations, right?!" Naoko was getting a little frantic.

The comic ended there, and she was really worried that it would end badly.

"A faint rumble of thunder, a gloomy sky, but I long for the wind and rain to come, so that you may stay here."