A Chance Encounter

June 8, 2019

A large exhibition was being held in the heart of Akihabara for Uncontrollable Battle, with the occasion being the release of the series’ first video game adaptation. The game had been hyped up for months, and the reviews for it were overwhelmingly positive ahead of its release today, a resounding success for Michi Anzai and Shimizu as a whole.

Shizuka, being a big fan of the series, of course had to be there. She donned a ponytail and a hat to disguise herself a bit, and as she stood outside the exhibition, she stared at the many posters adorning the walls featuring characters from Uncontrollable Battle. “Wow… I remember when that happened in the story. I still couldn’t believe Anzai-sensei killed off Angel like that.” She was referring to the death of a major character who bore angelic wings and white robes indeed named Angel, which had occurred about halfway through the story up to that point.

As she walked in, a young woman at the front desk said to her with a bow, “Welcome to the Uncontrollable Battle Exhibition. Will you only be entering, or do you want a gift bag with an art book and the new video game to go along with your visit as well?”

Shizuka thought to herself, “I know Obuchi-san told me I could get in for free if I just flash my ID, but I want to support Anzai-sensei’s work.” She then pulled out her wallet and set down some money on the counter. “I’ll get the gift bag with the art book and the new game in addition to my entry ticket.”

“Thank you,” replied the woman at the front counter. “That will be ¥6500.” She then made change for Shizuka before handing a few coins over to her, followed by a plastic gift bag with a few items inside, including a paperback art book and a copy of the new game. “Enjoy your visit.”

“Thank you,” Shizuka bowed to the woman before heading in through a set of double doors. When she walked through the entrance, she was met with a large statue of the main character of Uncontrollable Battle, a man in a battered and dented suit of armor wielding a sword and carrying a helmet in his other hand. “Wow… It’s life-sized. This must have taken forever to build.” Beside him were several large art pieces that Michi had made, as well as signs explaining them all.

Shizuka was amazed as she went through the exhibit, admiring the work put into it. Among her favorite parts of it included a screening room showing a short ten-minute documentary on the production of the anime for the series that played on a loop as well as another section that showed off early drafts of Uncontrollable Battle. It was at this section that she was reading through a small booklet detailing each of the art pieces when she felt someone bump into her.

She turned and saw a high school girl with short dark blue hair fall to the floor, along with a sketchbook she had been carrying, which had opened to a page filled with art she presumably had drawn. The girl, who was in fact Akari, was deeply embarrassed. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Shizuka replied to her as she helped her get up, noticing a boy with her too. “Are you two also fans of Uncontrollable Battle?”

“Yeah,” replied the boy, who had light brown hair and was dressed in a uniform from the same high school Akari went to. “We both came down here after school to see it.”

“After school?” Shizuka was a bit suspicious of the two. “You know this exhibit is for people above the age of fifteen, right?”

“Don’t worry,” Akari assured her. “We’re both high schoolers. I’m a first-year, and Hori-kun is a third-year.”

Shizuka laughed, indicating her suspicions were sarcastic. “I don’t give a fuck. I know plenty of people who began reading it early anyway.”

“I know,” replied Kazu Hori. “I began reading it when I was about thirteen. Kunugi-san, how old were you when you began reading it?”

“Uh, I, uh…” Akari was clearly embarrassed to say what age she was when she began reading such a dark and mature manga series. “I was… I was eleven.”

Shizuka’s jaw dropped to the floor. “Holy shit, you were eleven?!” She then looked over at Akari’s dropped sketchbook, thinking to herself as she mentally reviewed the limited contents she could see, “Wow, this girl’s really good at drawing, actually. In fact… It looks like one of those characters on the page is actually Ichigo from my own manga. I can tell she’s had a lot of prac-“

Akari then also noticed her sketchbook on the ground and swiped it up before Shizuka could look at it any more, blushing intensely at the fact a stranger had seen her work. “So, uh, yeah… Sorry for bumping into you. We weren’t paying attention.” She bowed in an apology to her.

“It’s fine. Accidents happen.” She then commented, “I see you’re a fan of Break The Ice, too.”

“Ah, uh, wh- what gave you th- that impression?”

Kazu then interjected. “She’s a bit shy. Don’t worry about her.”

“I can tell,” Shizuka chuckled. “Actually…” She then reached into her pocketbook and pulled out two business cards, handing them to Akari and Kazu. “Shhh… Don’t tell anyone out loud about this.”

Akari read the business card she was given and gasped as soon as she read who it was from. “Hold the fuck up,” she thought to herself. “I’ve been talking to Hiratai-sensei this entire God damn time?!” She was about to say something, but then remembered what Shizuka had said and kept her mouth shut.

Feeling kind, Shizuka then asked Akari, “My apologies. What was your name again?”

“Kunugi,” Akari replied, now even more nervous. “Kunugi Akari.”

Shizuka then pulled out a small pen. “Give me your sketchbook.”

“Wait, why?”

Kazu realized immediately what was going to happen and also pulled out his own notebook, which he had labeled, ‘Original Writing.’ This intrigued Shizuka, who asked him, “Are you a writer?”

“Uh, yeah,” he replied, also nervous.

“I can sign both of yours,” she told them. Upon hearing this, Akari quickly pulled out her sketchbook and showed it to Shizuka, who opened up the cover and signed on the inside portion with her name and signature. She then did the same for Kazu’s notebook. When she was done, she told them, “Perhaps we were fated to bump into each other like this.”

“Ma- Maybe,” Akari replied, still in shock she had met a real life mangaka. She and Kazu then bowed to her, with the former telling her before they left, “Have a good day.”

“Bye-bye,” Shizuka waved as they walked away to continue on in the exhibit. As they did, she sighed and thought to herself, “I don’t think they’re dating, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens one day. I just hope she has better luck with a novelist than I did back in the day. Speaking of her… Her art was amazing. She’s sixteen at most, but her skills could pass for someone a few years older and more experienced.”

…

Later that night, Shizuka, Wakana, Michi, and Taiki had all met up for drinks together at Shizuka’s current apartment, which was slightly larger than the one she had in 2014 and 2015 and allowed her to make space for her two assistants she had up until then. “So they’re both shaking,” she said as she recalled bumping into Akari and Kazu at the exhibit. “I could tell this was their first time meeting a celebrity of some kind, not that I’d really call myself a celebrity, but still.”

“It reminds me of when you first met me,” Michi commented as he finished a can of beer. “You were so fucking nervous, Shizuka-san. Hell, even after that, you were really formal and polite around me. How long did it take you to stop calling me Anzai-sensei again?”

“Too long,” Wakana commented.

“Oh shut up,” Shizuka jokingly rebuffed her. “I was just in awe and being respectful of such a legendary mangaka.”

“Speaking of legends,” Michi then asked Taiki. “How does it feel now that The Tale of Yuga’s wrapped up? Are you happy to finally be free of the weekly manga grind after two hundred and twenty-two chapters?”

“I miss it some days,” Taiki admitted as he opened a can of beer. “But then I remember all the times I fell asleep at my desk and I realize that I could never do a weekly manga again, at least not as the sole author. I still don’t know how you’ve managed to keep going, Michi-senpai. With how detailed your art is, even bi-monthly manga must be insanely tough for you.”

“Maybe I’m just built different,” Michi shrugged. “That, and I got three assistants by my side that make things a lot fucking easier.”

“Speaking of assistants,” Shizuka then added. “And not to derail the conversation too much, but I’ll need a new assistant soon. Both of mine put their two weeks’ notice in to go work on a manga series of their own. It sucks because I’ve known one of them since 2015 and the other since 2016, but life goes on. I’m glad they both found their footing doing their own story, though.”

Wakana joked with her, “Hey, maybe you could hire that high schooler you were talking about. She sounds like she’d be perfect for the job.

“No way. They wouldn’t let someone as young as her work with us.”

“You’d be surprised,” Michi then pointed out, getting a bit serious about Wakana’s joke. “Shimizu has picked up a few in the past for part-time assistant work, and some submissions both for and outside of the yearly contest have been from high schoolers. Granted, they tend to be those in their last year of high school, so it’s not like they’re in school for long after we start working with them. If you actually want to hire that Kunugi girl as an assistant on a part-time basis, it would be a long shot, but if you make a strong case for it and get her parents on board, it could work.”

Taiki, surprised, asked, “Really? That young?”

“Young people work in the entertainment industry all the time,” Michi further explained. “For better and, unfortunately, for worse. Hell, the voice actress for Angel from my own series started voicing her right before she turned seventeen. She’s been doing on-screen acting since she was ten, but she’s pivoted mostly to voice acting since then. There was just something about voicing Angel that sparked that passion to do voice acting work, or at least that’s what she said to me and the director of the first two seasons of the anime.”

“I can relate to the ‘worse’ part,” Wakana admitted. “Before I became a mangaka, I was doing acting. It was tough, and when I was a teenager, I could overhear some of the guys on set making comments about me.”

Shizuka asked her, “What kind of comments?”

“Stuff like how I could be a good model one day, or maybe even do gravure work. Keep in mind that I was about fifteen or sixteen, and these guys were at least ten years older than me. I’m not saying I oppose gravure photos, but it felt wrong hearing older men basically call me a hot piece of ass.”

Feeling bad for her, Michi patted her on the shoulder and told her, “I’m sorry that happened to you. Did it scare you away from any more acting?”

“Not necessarily. Writing and art got in the way more than anything. Sometimes, I still do bit parts in TV shows and films, but I don’t really have time to do more given my own manga series.” She then held hands with Taiki, with her left hand having a ring on it. “And the obvious, of course.”

Shizuka, remembering that the two were now engaged, asked them, “Oh yeah, that reminds me. When is your wedding?”

“It’ll be in September,” Taiki replied. “I’ll send out invitations to you two soon enough.”

“Is, uh… Is Furihata-san getting one, too?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “Even though he works in the news division of Shimizu now, we still keep in touch a lot. Have you talked to him at all since the breakup? I forgot.”

“No,” she shook her head. “I’m still holding strong. I’m too busy with the manga, art commissions, and making art work for a few light novels Shimizu publishes to focus on dating. Hell, I haven’t even had sex since 2016. Everything down there’s like a desert with how long it’s been since I’ve had some fun.”

Wakana, who was sipping on beer, spat some of it out upon hearing her remark, while Taiki and Michi both erupted in laughter. The former said to her, “You always come up with the best jokes about dating between all of us, Shizuka-san. I’ll give you that.”

…

June 10, 2019

“Are you sure we should try getting a girl that young involved with Shimizu?”

“Trust me,” Shizuka said to Daichi as they talked via videoconference. “You won’t regret it. I found her PictoView account and I sent you some art from it.”

“It’s good art,” Daichi acknowledged. “Don’t get me wrong. I have no problems with her from an artistic perspective. My only issue is that she is pretty young. She would only be able to work part-time, and that’s assuming both her parents and the company sign off on it. Don’t you think you need a full-time assistant, too?”

“I’m looking for one, too,” Shizuka assured him. “Kunugi-san would not be my only assistant. Besides, I need a full-time assistant given that we’re starting talks to get Break The Ice adapted into a drama.”

“True,” Daichi nodded. “By the way, speaking of the potential drama adaptation, you have a meeting with Sakura TV in regards to it on Thursday at noon.”

“I know. I wrote it down already. Is it gonna be at Shimizu’s corporate offices or at Sakura TV’s offices?”

“Our offices, at least for the first meeting. I have no idea where the subsequent meetings will be.”

“Excellent. I don’t have anything planned for that day, so I don’t have to push anything back.”

“Alright. Sounds good. I’ll let you go back to drawing the storyboards, Shizuka-san. Have a good day.”

“You too.” Shizuka then hung up on Daichi and turned back to her art, which was a storyboard for another chapter of Break The Ice. Next to it was a rough draft of a light novel volume that she was also doing the cover art for that Shimizu was going to publish soon. With her manga being widely successful and her art used in multiple other projects, Shizuka was living a good, albeit busy, life by this point in her career.

…

Late at night, Shizuka was scrolling through PictoView and enjoying some of the art the site had to offer when she noticed she got a private message from the same account that she had traced back to Akari. She opened up the message and began reading it.

AKARI: I know it’s you, Hiratai-san. I can recognize the art style anywhere.

Shizuka said to herself before typing a reply, “She’s certainly very perceptive.”

SHIZUKA: Yes, it’s me. I actually wanted to ask you something about your art.

AKARI: Wait, really?

SHIZUKA: Have you thought about making manga as a career?

Akari began typing something rather long, prompting Shizuka to get up and grab a glass of water from her kitchen. When she came back, she began to read Akari’s reply.

AKARI: Absolutely! I actually have an idea of my own I’ve thought of turning into a manga, but I want more experience in art before I commit to it. I feel like my current skills are not good enough for the story I want to portray, since it’s an action drama story, and there would be a lot of swordfights and gunfights in it. It’s about oni trying to survive the attempted destruction of their entire race by the Tokugawa Shogunate.

“Hmmm… That sounds like it could be a good concept.” Shizuka, curious, typed up a reply.

SHIZUKA: I like that idea. Are you free to call me by video? I know it’s pretty late and you got school tomorrow.

AKARI: Sure.

Shizuka then clicked on an icon on the screen to call Akari. Within just a few seconds, she answered her call, greeting her with, “Hello, Hiratai-sensei.”

“Good evening.” Shizuka then looked at her computer’s clock, noting that it was almost eleven at night. “It’s pretty late for you to still be up, you know.”

“It’s fine,” Akari insisted. “I normally stay up this late. I usually head to bed within another half-hour.”

“Oh, then I won’t keep you long.” Shizuka then took a deep breath, preparing herself to tell Akari what she had planned for her. “So, um… I looked at your art, and I really like it. The thing is, both of my assistants are leaving soon. They both put their two-weeks’ notice so they can make their own manga series together, and while I’m looking at someone else for a full-time assistant, I was wondering if you would be available as a part-time assistant.”

Akari was shocked. “You… You want me as an assistant?”

“Well, maybe,” Shizuka explained. “I’d have to get permission, and I’d need to submit your art to our higher-ups. For that, I need your permission, as well as permission from your parents. I was wondering if maybe I could speak to them at some point.”

A stunned Akari went silent, trying to formulate a response. “Oh my God,” she thought to herself. “She wants me to help her. She wants me to help her. SHE WANTS ME TO HELP HER!”

“Kunugi-san?”

Snapping out of it, Akari cleared her throat and gave Shizuka an answer. “I’ll talk to my mother and stepfather about it. I’m certain they will want a word with you. Expect a response either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”

“I’ll be here in my apartment working all day both days, so I can respond to them immediately.”

…

June 11, 2019

Shizuka was working on a storyboard for another chapter of Break The Ice after her current assistants had gone home for the day when she got a private message on PictoView from Akari. She opened it up and began to read it, nodding along as she did so.

AKARI: My parents would like to meet with you before anything else. They just want to verify that you’re who you say you are and not a scammer or a pedophile. They can meet up for dinner this weekend if you want.

SHIZUKA: Of course. I’m free to meet up Saturday evening. Just send me details and where to meet all of you.

AKARI: Perfect. I’ll send them to you as soon as I get them.

Shizuka then sighed, saying to herself, “Well, that was a lot easier than I expected. I thought for sure her parents would shoot the idea down.”

On her end, Akari was watching the computer screen with her mother in the same room, who told her, “Well, I guess she really is legitimate.”

“I told you,” Akari told her mom. “This was the real deal.”

…

June 17, 2019

At an upscale restaurant in the heart of Ebisu, Shizuka met Akari’s mother and stepfather for the first time. “I’m glad you’ve taken interest in our daughter’s abilities,” Akari’s mother, who did not look much like her, said to her. “She hasn’t always been sociable or made friends, so having you and Hori-san get close to her is a blessing for us.”

“Mom,” Akari muttered in embarrassment. “You don’t have to go into that much detail.”

“It’s fine,” Shizuka assured her. “I want to get to know you better, Kunugi-san. It’ll tell me how you work.”

Her stepfather, who was a few years younger than her mother, then chimed in. “I’ve always supported her art habit ever since me and her mother began our relationship, especially after we got married. Initially, when she told us, we were concerned about it being a scammer and all, of course. You never know who is lurking on the Internet.”

“Understandable,” Shizuka acknowledged. “I would be suspicious too.”

“Once we verified you were who you said you were,” her stepfather continued. “We were floored. While we haven’t really read that much manga since your younger years, we both know what Shimizu is, and we couldn’t believe someone from a company of your size would approach us like this.”

“I hear you're her stepfather,” Shizuka then asked him. “If I may, does her father know about this too? If it’s too personal of a question, you don’t have to answer.”

“It’s fine,” Akari’s mother replied. “We divorced when Akari was nine. She still speaks to him, but I really haven’t.”

“He knows about my art,” Akari further added. “But he doesn’t know about this.”

“It’s fine,” Shizuka nodded. “I must say, Kunugi-san is lucky to have parents who wholeheartedly support her work. My parents never truly understood it, and a few of my colleagues have had families that were totally unsupportive. It definitely makes it a bit harder, but they all manage.”

“It makes her happy,” her stepfather explained with a smile. “And that makes us happy.”

…

June 19, 2019

“So her parents are okay with it?”

“Correct,” Shizuka said to Daichi while at a meeting at Shimizu headquarters with him and several executives. “I met with her mother and stepfather on Saturday and they were supportive of it. I trust that you’ve all seen my email with her work in it?”

“I have,” Daichi nodded. “It’s very impressive. Still, at the end of the day, it’s up to Hagino-san.”

“I’ve thought about it,” Kyosuke nodded as he looked over several art pieces Akari had made that he printed out for review. “And I’m on board as long as she only works part-time hours for the time being. She can’t work any more since she’s a minor, but once she graduates high school and assuming she’s still your assistant, we can move her to full-time status.”

Surprised, Daichi replied to him, “Wait, you’re on board with it?”

Shizuka stood up and bowed to Kyosuke. “Thank you, Hagino-san. I assure you that you will not be disappointed in her work.”

Daichi sighed and thought to himself, “I was expecting him to say no. Truth be told, I do kind of wish he did. Having some girl with no real professional experience as an assistant isn’t a good look in my opinion, especially one so young.”

“As for your full-time assistant,” Kyosuke then said to her. “We have selected someone who I think will be a good fit for your work.” He then turned to another room attached to the conference room and asked, “Iwaya-san, come on out.”

A shy young woman in her early twenties with long black hair then walked out and nervously waved to Shizuka. “He-Hello…”

“Hello,” she said to her. “What is your full name?”

“Iwaya Chieko,” she replied as she passed Shizuka a portfolio of her work. “I look forward to working with you.”

Shizuka then opened up her portfolio and began looking over her art. “Hmmm… Pretty good. I see you can replicate the styles of artists pretty well, which is definitely a plus when you’re an assistant.”

“I, uh, I can work as many hours as you need me,” Chieko stuttered a bit. “My schedule is free, since I work solely as an artist.”

“I see,” Shizuka replied before noticing her signature on her art and recognizing it. “Say, this art looks familiar. Are you on PictoView? I feel like I’ve seen this art at Comiket in the past.”

Worried about something, Chieko stammered out, “I- I- I don’t know what youre t- ta- talking about.”

“It’s fine,” she assured the timid woman. “I got my start doing commissions online. I don’t judge based on the content of your art.”

“She has extensive work as an artist online,” Kyosuke explained on her behalf. “We actually found her selling doujinshi at Summer and Winter Comiket last year, including a parody comic of Break The Ice.”

“Wait a minute,” Shizuka then realized. “That’s where I remember your art from. You made two parodies of Break The Ice, actually.”

Chieko by now was blushing intensely, fearing that her work would cause Shizuka to refuse to work with her. “I, um, you see…”

“Don’t be so nervous,” Shizuka assured her with a pat on the shoulder. “I don’t mind. In fact, I encourage it. It gets the word out about Break The Ice to more people.”

“She’s got a point,” Daichi admitted. “We’ve had some series take off after a bunch of doujin circles begin making art and parodies of them, Uncontrollable Battle being one of them. Fanbases die when the people stop making art, and that of course means less money for us.”

“I’d be glad to have you as an assistant,” Shizuka told Chieko as she offered a hand to her, to which she nervously shook it with her own hand. “Effective today, you and Kunugi-san will be my assistants. I’m counting on you, but I know you two will do great things.”