This is a Sudden Ultimatum??

I flipped through a few of the massive notebook pages. It was by no means bad, good for a promotional pop-up shop. Suzuki-san was cute, a few sketches with playing guitar, and a few of the other heroines. But the issue. They were illustrations I would flip past without second thought!

“You are passing incredible harsh judgement in your head. Are you not?”

“W-what—? Why’d you say that?” I rubbed the back of my head.

“You’ve been silent for nearly three minutes.”

“Mm… yeah…” I truly am no one to comment on a PAID professional like Fujioka when I myself haven’t made my own debut yet—which will happen! Until then however, she remains in a league beyond me. Isn't any criticism I make just like, as a fan? In the end she knows best?

I flipped my eyes between my senior and her canvas.

No way! I’m the creative lead! The director! The president! I am the hand of judgment! My comments weren’t criticisms, they’re pushes in the direction of my vision! “Fujioka… Your illustrations… T-they— they’re…” I couldn’t break away from her disinterested stare. “T-they’re… Wonderful. Naturally. I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

“Don’t lie to me Makoto-kun.”

“A-ah— you uhm… Well… You know when—”

“I do not want to hear an excuse. I am a professional, I work for the creator. So be direct.”

This is one of those traps. I can sense it. Like when your mom says: “You can tell me sweetie, I won’t be mad.” Then they get really mad. I focused my attention on the canvas. “It’s… It’s just a bit cookie-cutter. W-when I look at the art, I feel like I’ve seen it all before.”

“Cookie-cutter art for a basic, uninspired series. It only makes sense.”

“Ah! There it is! There it is! I knew this was a trap!”

“There is no trap, Makoto-kun, only the truth.” So cold! She’s had this response cooked up from the beginning! “Let me ask you this,” She continued. “How much will judges care about a big name or art being attached to an entry? If it was good content, it’d win, and be assigned an illustrator. The only use this art would serve is if we got a booth at Summer Comiket, or sold the novel on the internet.”

“Y-y-y-you mean…”

“Yes. I do mean this serves little purpose.”

“Then why’d you agree to work with me!?” I threw my arms up.

“Were you not the one who set up a whole scheme to inspire me? Duping Kaoru-chan and using her failed relationship as a means to further your own interests?”

“Woah-woah-woah, who’d do something crazy like that? That sounds terrible.” Fujioka shook her head at my comment—what’d I say? “A-anyway… that still doesn’t answer, why’d you say yes?”

“B-because uhm, there is a possibility of doing something with this novel. Comiket, an online shop, or whatever it may be.” Fujioka stood from her stool and paced to the clubroom’s shut blinds. “As a professional it’s important to put feelers out there. Something you wouldn’t understand.” She threw them open in one motion.

“Oh… I see.” Makes sense to me.

Sunlight did not flood in, instead, a grey veil of clouds and rain covered Kagoshima.

“...”

“...”
“Fujioka?”

“Hm?” She responded without turning from the window.

“Something… something feels off about the story.” Her eyes remained glued to the window. “D-did you hear me? I said something feels wrong with the story.” No response—maybe she’s hard of hearing? “Like something feels inherently wrong with the plot. Like it will take a long time and lots of effort to fix it.” Fujioka shifted her weight to her right foot. “I’m having lots of doubts about this project.”

“Hm.”

Did she get that? Maybe one more time— “I said I’m very doubtful about the current state of the story.”

“Makoto-kun, do you mind if I ask a question?”

“O-of course not.”

She turned to face me with a stoically-neutral face. “Has your mother ever taken you to the hospital for an autism test? I can’t help but notice when you speak, you constantly show signs of it. Naturally I’m referring to near vegetable-state autism, the kind you’re required to have a personal caretaker. Do you think you have this?”

“Why would I have that?” I pushed up my glasses. “But about the story—”

“Yes… The story that’s due in thirteen days.” She wandered back to her stool—crossing her legs after she sat down. “What about it, Makoto-kun? Don’t tell me, are you possibly having doubts about its current state?”

“Y-yes! How’d you know?” She really does have good intuition.

“Lucky guess.” She smiled. “Now. Talk to me.”

I pulled a nearby stool under me and sat face-to-face with my illustrator. “It was yesterday? A few days ago—I forgot… Anyway, I was havin’ a hard time with what Suzuki-san would say in a certain scene—no, more why she’d say something, so I went back and reread a few pages. When I did a few more things didn’t add up so I just reread the whole story.”

Fujioka nodded along.

“I just kept finding more and more of these inconsistencies! Finally it struck me—it’s because this book is almost being written by three people! Right!? I-it could be a cool idea but who wants to read something so inconsistent! What if they love my writing of course but hate yours? I-it’s a massive issue, no?”

She cleared her throat, clearly taking a moment to mull over the issue I presented. “Haa~ While I’d love nothing more than to call you incompetent and an idiot… you’re not wrong. This is an issue.”

I know the expression I made towards Fujioka after her assessment was incredibly gross because of her reaction. She furrowed her brow and her body physically recoiled.

“S-s-so what do I do!?”

“You’re the project lead. The great “president” of the writing club. You find the solution.”

“Whaaaa!? Come on! I know you have all the answers! Some secret solution! You always do!”

I had inadvertently gotten extremely close to Fujioka—she used her pointer-finger to push my face away from her’s. “Even if I may. What do I owe you? Hm? I’ve already put my career on pause for this. I’m simply here to illustrate. You lead. Or will you admit it’s too much for you to handle?”

“N-no! No…”

With one of the most reluctant and drawn out sighs I’ve ever heard a human produce, she shook her head. “I’ll tell you one thing, Makoto-kun. You’ve come this far with the novel because of the collaboration, but now you’re viewing it as a hindrance. You can continue with the inconsistencies, attempting to minimize them in the future, while staying on track. Or, you can experience reduced progress rates with less inconsistency. But because of the team you have, Kaoru-chan, you cannot realistically attain both efficiency and consistency.”

“...”

“You either hit this deadline, or skip it and continue to refine the novel, finding another time to attempt a debut.”

“Fujioka…”

“Just know! If you do the pussy— immature route of not accepting what you’ve created, you will forsake my help entirely.”

“H-h-hold on! You’d leave the project!?” I nearly fell out of my seat.

“Yes. I made that fairly clear, no?”