This Was Another Unproductive Day... But I Don't Mind

“I’mmm home~!” My apparently new blonde sibling cheerfully announced as she trotted into my family’s apartment. “Where’s Sayuri-chan?”

“Hey, this isn’t your home, don’t try and sneak that in.”

“Boo~” Akimoto quickly dismissed my complaint and moved towards my room.

As the polite son I am, instead of joining her right away, I stopped to greet my mother. She was home oddly early today but there’s no complaint for me—another person to reel in Akimoto, right? “Evening mom, how was work?”

She was sat with her legs curled on the sofa in the depths of a dubbed version of How I First Greeted Your Mom. “It was good, thank you. The whole office went home early as a reward because the boss’s ex-wife took him back.”

“That’s… great…?”

“More time to watch my T.V shows so I’m not complaining.” My mother sounded genuinely overjoyed. Good for her.

It took me only a few quick steps to reach my room—I expected to see Akimoto booting up my console or buried under my cover, however, something a lot… better? Had unfolded. She was being suspended in the air by the back of her collar—the hand of judgement held an iron grip on her.

“Makoto-kun, I caught this rodent attempting to scurry into your room. Should I get rid of it? Maybe toss it out the window?” Fujioka stood in the middle of my room still clad in her uniform. Hand on her hip, the other grasping Akimoto.

“Put me down!”

“I don’t negotiate with extremists.”

“F-Fujioka-san!?” My glasses almost fell off my face. “We can ask you the same thing! What’re you doing in my room!?”

“I believe we’re ignoring the real issue… You let this girl into your room too casually. I worry for her safety. You are a boy at the height of his degeneracy.” Fujioka released her grip on the collar. “What is she wearing anyway?”

“It’s a story not worth the effort.” I sighed. This answer seemed to satisfy her as she hummed and nodded in agreement. “As long as you’re here, I guess we should go over our progress.”

“For once you have a good idea. I agree.” She moved to seat herself next to my usual spot at the small table. Akimoto and I gave each other a quick glance and took our spots. We spent a bit filling in Fujioka on our idea for volume two. I assumed she’d constantly be making comments and jabs at my sound plot points, however, she quietly nodded and just asked for confirmation a few times.

“So… It’s good, right?” I asked.

“You continue to shock me, Kiyotaka Makoto. I expected rotten and spoiled meat, but you delivered at least McDonalds.”

“Really!? I-I mean, that’s not enough praise!” I really showed her my whole hand by reacting to her half-insult like that… Get a grip!

“Yes. Almost good work… May I ask though, how much did Kaoru-chan contribute to this?”

“Hmhmhm~” Akimoto folded her arms. “I was the one who cooked up the plot! While Makoto may have done the writing, it would’ve meant nothing without me!” I noticed that Fujioka still flinched whenever her counterpart referred to me by my given-name.

“If that’s the case, you two might not be as bad of a team as I suspected.”

“Hm, of course not. So? How about you, Fujioka-senpai?”

“How about me, what?”

“Your progress. Surely you’ve started some sketches or somethin’.”

Uh-oh… She just made a massive blunder. At this point even I know not to ask Fujioka about the progress of her work. If there’s one thing she’s better at than drawing, it’s dealing with agents and her manager. Asking her if she’s made progress is like stepping across the event horizon of a black-hole. She will rattle off endless excuses until you’ve died of old age.

The master procrastinator smirked and flaunted a hand in front of herself. “For starters, any and all progress is impeded because of you. You’re the one that I’m supposed to use as a reference without using you as a reference. So asking me for progress is like asking a man why he can’t walk after breaking his legs. Second, that question just shows how little knowledge of the creative-process you poses—”

“Okay-okay! She gets it! Progress is coming along fine.”

Fujioka side-eyed me and reluctantly moved on. “Yes. There has been progress. I will not comment on the status of it at this moment due to previous agreements.”

“So you haven’t started at all.” Akimoto really felt the need to get the last word in this time. Ah, nice, you really did it now…

One long and tedious argument later that my mother had to break up, the three of us finally settled into an uneasy peace. It lasted for almost fifteen minutes before Fujioka finally broke—she stood up and performed a quick stretch. “Haa— I suppose Kaoru-chan will continue to refuse to work and pout as long as I’m here… So I’ll take my leave. I trust you two to get some good work done.”

“Yeah-yeah, we will. Good seeing you as always, senpai.” Akimoto rapid-fired her goodbye without even glancing at its recipient.

“Oh. And one more thing, I figured out what to do for my lack of a reference. Expect big things tomorrow.” With a swift, fluid movement, Fujioka slipped back through her window and latched it shut. I didn’t even say bye…

“Expect big things?” Akimoto repeated. “Why does she have to speak in riddles all the time?” She stood up and plopped herself down next to me.

“She’s either messing with us, or tomorrow is the rapture. No inbetween.”

“Huh…”

At this point in the day, even though I could write for a few more hours, Akimoto seemed checked out. Today, I don’t blame her though. That Geisha thing was weird to say the least. I guess I can give her a break this once. “Wanna play a game?”