Although Kiyota was carrying quite a bit of resentment toward Oikawa, she was exceptionally meticulous when it came to her work.
Even though these were only rough draft sketches, she refused to overlook the smallest detail. She had gone over everything with Oikawa again and again, right down to the exact shape of Ushio's eyebrows.
And when Kiyota drew, she poured all of her sorrow into the illustrations. Even in the rough drafts, Ushio had an almost unbearably pitiful air about her.
A truly excellent illustration could help readers better visualize the scenes in a novel.
With such a responsible illustrator, Oikawa should have been delighted.
Except... He was honestly a little afraid Kiyota might suddenly stab him. The resentment in her eyes was getting a bit too intense.
"Phew. What do you think?"
Kiyota put down her brush and let out a long, slightly trembling breath. Then she turned the drawing board toward Oikawa.
On it were illustrations of Tomoya Okazaki, Nagisa Furukawa, and Ushio Okazaki.
Oikawa carefully studied the illustrations and nodded in satisfaction. "Yes. These are exactly the characters I had in mind. Especially Ushio."
When he saw Ushio on the drawing board, with that sorrowful expression on her face, even Oikawa felt his heart skip a beat.
"You..." Kiyota looked at Oikawa hesitantly, her eyes filled with conflict.
In the end, she couldn't hold it in any longer. "Couldn't you give Ushio a better ending? Couldn't you give Tomoya Okazaki and Nagisa Furukawa a happy ending?"
"I know that, as an illustrator, I shouldn't say things like this. I shouldn't interfere with an author's creative decisions. But... as a mother, after seeing what happens to Ushio, I just can't stop myself from feeling sad."
"I just..."
Her voice was already breaking. Tears glimmered in her eyes.
"Ushio had already suffered so much. She grew up without a father, and just when she finally saw a glimmer of hope... you took it all away."
"All she wanted was to live happily with her father and mother. What did she ever do wrong? Why are you heartless? She... she deserves a good ending."
With that, tears rolled down Kiyota's cheeks. She turned and ran out of the meeting room.
As an illustrator, saying all of this had clearly crossed a professional boundary.
But as a reader, and especially as a mother, she genuinely wanted to do something for Ushio. Even if she could sway Oikawa by the tiniest amount, that would have been enough.
Watching Kiyota leave, Oikawa remained seated in the meeting room, staring blankly ahead as though he had just been struck by lightning.
"Did I make a mistake?" Oikawa muttered to himself.
Kiyota's reaction had genuinely shaken him.
He looked at the drawing board. Ushio's face wore that heartbreaking, sorrowful smile, and Oikawa felt as though someone had reached into his chest and squeezed his heart.
It hurt. He could barely breathe.
"Oikawa-sensei, where's Illustrator Kiyota?" Chris Yamada walked in carrying drinks and snacks. Seeing that Kiyota was nowhere to be found, he looked around in confusion.
"Editor Yamada, did I make Clannad too sad? Did I really go... too far?"
Oikawa's question left Chris Yamada standing there for a long time.
He opened his mouth several times, weighing his words carefully before finally answering. "As a work of popular fiction, and speaking as an editor, I think it's a very good ending. But this is a light novel..."
The implication behind Chris's words was obvious.
He himself had been debating whether he should talk to Oikawa about the ending.
The other editors in the department had discussed the matter at length as well. They had even put quite a bit of pressure on Chris.
But in the end, he had never brought it up with Oikawa.
Not because he couldn't. Because he didn't want to.
Chris knew that once the second volume of Clannad went on sale, it would probably receive a great deal of backlash.
But he had chosen to respect Oikawa's wishes.
"Yeah... this is a light novel." Oikawa frowned and thought for a long while before giving a bitter smile.
It was as if a massive weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders.
He realized that he'd gotten himself trapped in a strange loop.
Why turn a perfectly good light novel into some pretentious literary tragedy?
It was fine to make readers cry, but there was no need to force the misery.
"Editor Yamada, can I borrow your computer for a moment?"
"My computer?" Chris froze for a second.
Then he immediately understood what Oikawa intended and nodded repeatedly. "Sure. Of course."
Oikawa followed Chris into the editorial department.
The office, which had been bustling with conversation moments earlier, instantly fell silent.
You could have heard a pin drop.
Under the countless eyes watching him, Oikawa walked over to Chris's desk, sat down, and opened the Clannad manuscript that had previously been sent over.
His eyes fell on the final few lines.
Tomoya Okazaki returned to the day he first met Nagisa Furukawa...
Oikawa closed his eyes and thought for a few seconds.
Then he placed his fingers on the keyboard.
The sound of typing immediately echoed throughout the entire editorial department.
15 minutes later, Oikawa stood up and turned to Chris. "Editor Yamada, I'll be heading out first."
The moment Oikawa left, every editor in the room rushed over to Chris's desk.
They crowded around his computer.
...
..
On Wednesday, Oikawa returned to Chiba and went straight back to school.
The morning sun was already blazing brightly overhead. It was shaping up to be a beautiful, cloudless day.
After sitting through three painfully boring classes, Oikawa was summoned to the faculty office by Shizuka Hiratsuka before P.E.
"You're planning to choose the humanities track?" Shizuka picked up the career survey from her desk and gave him an unusually serious look.
"Yeah. I'll probably apply for a literature program." Oikawa nodded.
"You haven't considered any other fields?" Shizuka lit a cigarette and took a drag. "With your grades in the sciences, you have plenty of options."
"My advice is not to rush into anything. Sometimes, when something remains a hobby, it can inspire an incredible amount of passion."
"But once your hobby becomes your job, you can end up feeling numb to it. Take me, for example. I became a teacher because I loved it. I still genuinely enjoy teaching, but even I inevitably get sick of it sometimes."
She was speaking from experience.
Shizuka didn't want Oikawa to box himself into a single path just because it happened to be literature.
He was still so young. He had lost his parents, and, most importantly, he already had plenty of money.
That was exactly what worried her.
Living a good life was difficult.
Falling into an abyss, on the other hand, could happen in an instant.
"For now, I think literature is a very good fit for me. Besides, I'm still corresponding with a professor from the University of Tokyo's literature department. I haven't become as numb to it as you're suggesting, Sensei. There's still a lot about literature that I want to learn." Oikawa answered casually, a complete contrast to Shizuka's serious demeanor.
"As long as you've thought it through." Shizuka rolled her eyes at him, slightly annoyed. She suddenly felt like the one person in the world worrying about something that didn't concern her.
"Shizuka-Sensei." Oikawa
"Hm?" Shizuka looked up from her desk.
Oikawa studied her for a moment. "I just noticed you're wearing makeup today. Don't tell me you've got another blind date after school?"
He casually reached over and picked up a piece of chewing gum from her desk, looking entirely too pleased with himself.
While he was at it, he glanced through the survey with Hayato Hayama's name on it.
Huh. Hayama had chosen the humanities track too.
What an unexpected choice. Oikawa had assumed he would go into the sciences.
"You really don't have the slightest respect for your sensei!" Shizuka's eyelid twitched with anger.
She punched Oikawa in the stomach without hesitation.
Seeing him double over on the floor, however, she looked slightly surprised. "That's strange. Oikawa, have you been working out? I thought one punch from me would have knocked you flat..."
Before she could finish, Oikawa collapsed onto the floor with a pained expression. "Sensei, I think you seriously damaged me. I might not be able to make it to P.E. next period." He paused, then added with a mischievous grin, "And don't bother going to that blind date. The guy will definitely find out you're a violent woman sooner or later."
"Oikawa," Shizuka glared at him through gritted teeth. "Would you like to find out what it really feels like to be 'damaged'?"
She genuinely couldn't understand how this shameless idiot was the same person who enjoyed such a stellar reputation online as "Copycat-sensei."
Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.
As expected, you really couldn't trust people you met online. You had to take your time getting to know them.
"Probably not." Oikawa clutched his stomach and slowly got back to his feet.
Then he looked pitifully at Shizuka. "Sensei, could I get permission to skip P.E. next period? I really don't feel well."
Shizuka paused before sighing, "...You can."
Oikawa's face lit up.
But Shizuka's next words immediately crushed his hopes. "Take three more punches from me, and you can skip P.E."
"Thank you, Sensei. Goodbye, Sensei." Oikawa respectfully bowed his way out of the faculty office and even closed the door behind him.
Shizuka watched his departing back and rubbed her temples with a headache.
...
..
11:00 AM—
Blazing sunlight beat down across the entire Sobu High School track, and the heavy air felt almost like the middle of summer.
Oikawa raised a hand to shield his eyes and tilted his head toward the sky.
This P.E. class had combined students from four different classes. According to the P.E. teacher's plan, they were preparing for a marathon that would take place sometime soon, so everyone had to run laps for a full thirty minutes.
That was exactly why Oikawa had been dreading this class.
In weather like this, running around until you were drenched in sweat without being able to take a shower afterward was miserable. Once the temperature dropped in the afternoon, he'd probably be freezing and uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, his plan to manipulate his "lovely sensei" had failed.
The bell rang.
The four classes lined up across the track, two rows per class, with the boys and girls separated.
Because of his height, Oikawa was standing at the very front of his group.
Hayama was right behind him.
The P.E. teacher gave the students a long, obligatory speech full of nonsense. Oikawa let it go in one ear and out the other. After a quick warm-up, the thirty-minute endurance run officially began.
If he couldn't refuse, then all he could do was smile and accept his fate.
It didn't take long for Hayama to overtake him from the left.
Not long after that, one of the girls dropped out.
Then another. And another.
It was basically a domino effect, with the girls gradually peeling away from the pack one after another.
The boys, however, were still waiting for some brave soul to make the first move.
Oikawa was waiting too.
Once someone finally admitted defeat, he'd have a perfectly legitimate excuse to "collapse" as well.
Unfortunately... More than ten minutes passed, and nobody showed any signs of giving up.
Oikawa was starting to get a headache.
He caught up with the wobbling figure of Zaimokuza ahead of him and lowered his voice. "You're already exhausted. Why are you still forcing yourself to keep going?"
"I... huff... I'm not... tired." Zaimokuza somehow managed to answer him, though he looked like he was about to drop dead.
Oikawa sighed.
If one door closes, open another.
He deliberately stumbled. Then flopped onto the grass beside the track.
Two seconds later, Zaimokuza joined him.
Then Hachiman.
One after another, the boys all silently decided to give up.
Oikawa felt they'd made the right choice. Why spend thirty minutes running until you were exhausted and then collapse onto the grass like a dead dog?
It was much better to start slacking off right away.
It was like becoming a security guard at twenty. You could save yourself forty years of unnecessary detours in life.
From the windows of the school building in the distance, Shizuka watched the scene while smoking a cigarette.
Her fists were itching to teach someone a lesson.
The bell rang right on schedule.
Oikawa and the rest of the slacker squad were the last ones to leave the track.
They didn't really have a choice.
The rule for P.E. was simple: anyone who completed the run was allowed to leave early and start lunch break. Those who gave up had to wait until the end-of-class bell.
"Oikawa, Hachiman. Let's go buy some water and bread."
Zaimokuza hauled his slightly pudgy body to his feet and invited Oikawa and Hachiman to the school store.
The sight made Oikawa feel strangely nostalgic.
"Yeah. Let's go together." Hachiman dusted himself off and stood up.
Just as Oikawa was about to agree, a slightly playful voice came from behind him. "Wow, what a coincidence, Oikawa-senpai. I didn't expect to run into you here."
It was Iroha Isshiki.
She had a piece of bread in one hand and a bottle of mineral water in the other. She crouched down beside Oikawa.
Zaimokuza had been about to help Oikawa up, but the moment Hachiman noticed the look in Isshiki's eyes, he very sensibly dragged Zaimokuza away.
Oikawa lazily lifted his head.
He glanced at the bread and water in Isshiki's hands before looking back at her. "Poisoned?"
"What are you talking about, Senpai?" Isshiki giggled without getting offended. "You haven't eaten yet, have you? Here, have some bread."
"Why? Do you need something from me again?" Oikawa sat up and eyed Isshiki suspiciously.
"What? Does Senpai really think I'm that kind of mean-spirited kohai? I just happened to see you lying here looking exhausted, so I thought I'd share my lunch with you." Isshiki crouched there under the blazing sun, wearing an absolutely radiant smile.
Under Oikawa's scrutinizing gaze, she simply kept smiling. Then she opened the bread, tore it in half, and held one piece out to him.
Oikawa studied the sincerity on Isshiki's face.
He hesitated for a moment, then accepted the bread.
.
.
.