After sitting in silence for a few seconds, something reignited in Kotone's chest.
She straightened her posture and shook off the gloom.
This was why she'd wanted to become an assistant in the first place—to learn, to grow, to see firsthand what other artists were doing right. There was no point getting emotional over it now.
---
*Time passed by, day by day, week by week.*
The students of Osaka No. 5 High School didn't notice any change in their routine. The students in the third grade, third class, were oblivious to the fact that their class monitor, Kotone, would often glance at a manga during breaks, only to look back at someone in the back row.
Likewise, the students in Senior Class 3-5 didn't notice that their class monitor, Kotone , had been lost in thought during lessons lately. She would smile and nod whenever she passed someone in the hallways.
Today was the day the Garden of Words ended.
As soon as the afternoon class was over, Kotone stopped by and bought the latest issue of Inkbolt on her way home.
"What's this... what is this ending?" After pacing back and forth, Kotone looked confused after reading the final chapter of The Garden of Words.
After the emotional build-up of the previous six episodes, Takao Akizuki had confessed to Yukari Yukino, using their teacher-student relationship as an excuse. After Yukari left, heartbroken, Takao finally decided to pursue her. Following Yukari's emotional breakdown in the school stairwell, Takao also lost control and embraced Yukari.
"Every morning..."
"All dressed up, ready to go to school..."
"But I'm always crushed by fear."
"There, it was you..."
"You gave me the strength to move forward."
Takao hugged Yukari and whispered these words through her tears.
The scene cut abruptly.
The view zoomed out to a wider perspective, showing only the pouring rain and a beautiful sun as the backdrop to their embrace.
It became the last page of the manga.
After finishing the final panel, Kotone thought she had misunderstood!
"Is this the ending?" Kotone blinked.
Whether the two characters ended up together or not, Kotone could accept either outcome.
But this ambiguous ending... she really couldn't accept it.
It left too much room for the reader's imagination.
"This is unfinished!"
While Kotone felt confused, many professionals saw the ending as regrettable but reasonable.
Leaving an open ending might be the best choice for two characters with such a significant age and identity gap.
Otherwise, if they ended up together, it would be too melodramatic, and it would contradict the character setup for Yukari in the previous episodes. If the manga had gone that route, Yukari's character would have fallen apart!
Of course, many fans accepted this ending, but many others did not.
On the voting page of Inkbolt, a large group of fans who disliked the ending turned into critics, voting for it as the worst-quality work and swearing off Mizushiro-sensei's future manga.
But there were also fans who supported the ending. They eagerly voted in favor of the manga after the final episode aired.
In an instant, the votes for The Garden of Words skyrocketed to nearly 3,000, while the manga previously doomed for cancellation due to low ratings surged to second place with almost 1,500 votes. The two works now held the top two spots on the voting list.
Suddenly, the editorial staff of Inkbolt began to see Mizushiro-sensei in a new light.
Meanwhile, the previous second-place author, whose work was now at the bottom of the list, felt threatened by the surprising rise of The Garden of Words.
In just two months of serialization, Haruki had transformed from an unknown artist to a rising star in Osaka's manga scene.
Osaka was abuzz with fans of his work, and many were becoming loyal supporters.
...
At 1:00 AM on Thursday, Haruki finally set down his brush after seven hours of continuous work.
His brush had paused on a dramatic moment—Kenshin, sword drawn, stood in the rain, his enemy fallen before him. Blood sprayed across the delicate paper umbrella of the woman behind him, staining her clothes and face.
A dark, narrow alley.
The corpse of the slain enemy lay motionless.
Kneeling, Kenshin gripped his sword. The old wound on his cheek—left by a man he had once killed—had begun to bleed again, as if echoing the pain within.
He raised his head.
Standing before him was a woman in a white kimono, her eyes filled with quiet sorrow.
"You really..."
"Can call..."
"A storm," she said.
The next page was a full-page spread—a sweeping, cinematic view of the woman beneath the umbrella. Her expression, her garments, the moody backdrop, and the blood spattered on the umbrella were all rendered in vivid, masterful detail by Haruki's hand.
Kotone had been watching him draw the entire time, eyes fixed on every stroke.
Haruki hadn't asked for her assistance with this piece. He had poured six straight hours into capturing this moment—a tribute to Tomoe Yukishiro, umbrella in hand, standing quietly amidst the aftermath.
"It's... beautiful," Kotone whispered without realizing it.
Despite the blood, despite the violence, the composition exuded a fragile, haunting beauty—so characteristic of Haruki's growing style.
After a week of working together, Kotone had become accustomed to Haruki's unconventional approach to his art.
How could she explain it?
To use an idiom, Haruki's artwork radiated confidence.
He only used the manga's title as a reference for Kotone when needed. Haruki never seemed to make adjustments to his work unless there were mistakes in the drawing. The composition, framing, and entire manga were drawn with little to no modification.
And this panoramic scene of Tomoe had truly showcased Haruki's skills. Kotone even felt that his art had reached a new level after completing that page.
"Yes!" Haruki muttered, admiring the page. This was undoubtedly the best page he'd drawn so far.
With this, the first three chapters of the Remembrance arc were complete.
"Hey, Sora , wake up!" Haruki called.
It was early in the morning, and Sora, who had been waiting for the manga to be finished, had fallen asleep on the couch in Haruki's apartment.
"What's wrong?" Sora mumbled groggily.
"Is it dawn?"
"..." Haruki.
"..." Kotone.
...
After handing over the finished manga to Sora, Haruki sent them on their way and then cleaned up before heading to bed.
Although he had wanted to offer them a place to rest, the awkwardness of men and women staying together held him back from saying it.
The past week had been exhausting for all three of them. Fortunately, Kotone's help had made it possible for Haruki to refine the previous manga drafts as he worked on the three latest chapters.
Now that his work was done, it was time to wait for the serial meeting on Friday!
Compared to the small hurdles in The Garden of Words, Haruki was determined not to stay as just another aspiring manga artist in Osaka. He had bigger dreams, aiming to make his mark in the competitive manga world, working his way up from the local scene to the more prominent publishing houses that shaped the industry's future.
But the road to success wasn't easy. If he couldn't make a name for himself in places like Osaka and Tokyo, Haruki knew his submissions would likely be overlooked in the larger markets, where established artists dominated the scene.
After all, the big manga companies of the world rarely published newcomers' works. Only established artists were given the opportunity to contribute.
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