Chapter 10

After eating ice cream, we walked around for a bit. After that, no one else recognized Carol, and by the time we returned, Nadia and Prez were nowhere to be seen.

“Oh, them? Kesya took Nadia away,” said one of Prez's friends.

“... What happened?” Carol asked. We were both surprised at this sudden turn of events.

“Well… the line ended up going for too long. It’s complicated.” The girl chuckled.

“She’s really popular,” Carol murmured.

“Well, yeah…”

I found it impressive that she could spend hours taking pictures with fans. I understood it when she did it in a job context, as part of an official meet-and-greet, but this? I doubt she will get anything from this meeting.

“I can’t imagine myself going that far…” Carol whispered.

“Yeah, me neither.”

She glanced at me. “If you worked with her, you might experience more of that.”

“... I doubt it.”

In the end, the story writer would be Nadia. Nadia would be the face of the project. Any positivity would be directed to her.

“... Will you talk to her about it today?”

“Now that you mentioned it…”

I already decided that I would be helping Nadia with her manga, but that’s about it. I hadn’t talked to her. Perhaps I’m delaying it on purpose because I'm scared. Whenever I think about it, that event flashes in the back of my mind.

“... Some people are far harsher, far more evil than you’ll ever imagine.”

Her words last night pretty much confirmed my fears. People often said that you should ignore what other people thought about you. You should only focus on what you’re doing. As long as what you’re doing isn’t wrong, then it’s fine.

“... Despite that, some people are far kinder, far more forgiving than you’ll ever imagine.”

Which group is Nadia in?

She’s similar to Carol. She had a lot of fans, but many haters as well. Stepping into the spotlight means that everyone sees you. Yet, you wouldn’t be able to recognize all the faces that surrounded you. Some of them may be hidden in the dark.

What are their expressions? How do they look? What are they feeling?

Questions that I may never truly answer.

“... I have an idea.” Carol walked to one of Prez’s friends.

She whispered something to her. The girl listened carefully, then her face lit up. She called the others to gather. They had a little discussion.

“Leave it to us!”

“... Huh?” I watched from the sidelines as they dispersed, all running in different directions.

“... What’s going on?”

•••

“Kehehehe! I heard- mmph!” Prez had returned with Nadia. Carol was covering Prez’s mouth for some reason, while Nadia had changed back into her regular clothes.

Prez's group, meanwhile, lined up with a box in front of them. One of them stepped forward and put the box down in front of Prez. Carol let go. Prez stepped forward and opened the box. She inspected its contents. After she was satisfied, she closed the lid and nodded in satisfaction.

“This should be easy enough for him to wear.”

“... Him?”

I looked around. I was the only boy in this entire group.

I have a bad feeling about this.

My first course of action would be to escape, but before I could move, Carol grabbed my sleeve. With a smile, she held me down.

“Umm… Carol?”

“The men can change over there.” Prez pointed to the changing area.

“Umm…”

“Wow, you're going to cosplay too?” Nadia asked in excitement.

I couldn't run, could I? Reluctantly, I took the box to the changing room. I waited for an open space and went inside.

… What is this?

It looked familiar. I definitely know about this anime. After thinking about it a bit more, I realized it came from an anime about firefighting. Well, not traditional firefighting. In that world, fires were monsters, and the firefighters were actually mages who could use water magic.

As Prez said, wearing it wasn't difficult. It was too large for my body, but not comically so. I could still move comfortably in it.

Why did they give me this, though?

Did they think I envied them cosplaying? I didn’t think I showed any expression even remotely similar to that. Besides, where did they get this outfit from? I for sure didn’t see any box like this in their stack before.

I finished changing and went back out.

“You look great!” Prez said, and the other members nodded in agreement.

“... Really?”

One of the members motioned me to a mirror they brought. I tidied up the clothes. I look… regular, I guess? I wouldn't say I looked particularly good or anything. I certainly didn't have the main-character vibe that the original wearer of these clothes had.

“Now off you go!” Prez said.

“... We've already gone around?”

“Ah, right! I completely forgot about what I came here for!” Nadia said. Since she wears regular clothes now, I hope she won't be bothered by fans as much.

“Come with me!”

“Wearing this?” I asked.

“I also haven't changed,” Carol pointed out. I guess she's right.

“I wish I could still wear mine.” Nadia chuckled. If she did, we wouldn't be able to move.

“Have fun!” Prez saw us off.

•••

“Phew… thanks for accompanying me,” Nadia said. We sat in a fast-food restaurant, looking to grab lunch. Nadia had all her purchases next to her. There were three bags in total.

I always buy the discount items when I visit malls. The department store had a lot of those. Since I didn't care much about what I wore, I tend to go with the cheapest options. I couldn't think of a time when the items on sale didn't have the things I needed.

Seeing Nadia buy up regularly-priced items was a surprise. She passed the sale section without stopping. When Carol and I hung out, we never went to the department store, so this was a new thing to me. I guess she is a celebrity, so that shouldn't be too shocking.

“No problem,” I answered.

“Did you have fun?”

“Yeah.”

We were just shopping with Nadia, and neither me nor Carol have any interest in clothes, but Nadia made it fun. She kept engaging us in conversation, telling us about various things. Sometimes we talked about their jobs in the entertainment industry, other times about the outfit she was looking for.

“I’m glad if that’s the case.”

Carol came closer and elbowed me.

I know. I gave her a reassuring smile. This was my chance, before the food we ordered came.

“So… Nadia, I…”

“...?” Nadia waited patiently for my words.

“I want to do your manga.” I pushed the words out.

The implications of what I had just said scared me. I might need to face what I faced all that time ago. I might hate drawing again, but I wanted to at least try. Maybe not for myself, maybe not for Nadia. I didn’t know why, but I wanted to see this story take a more concrete form. I wanted to give this story the art it deserved.

Nadia’s eyes lit up. “That’s awesome! I’ll send you the complete proposal.” She grinned like a little child.

Now that she mentioned it, I realized she hadn’t shared the proposed payment. A file appeared on my phone. I checked through the file while we waited for our food.

“...” I stared at the promised sum, wondering if I was seeing right.

The sum was enormous. Far more than what I expected. Doing a couple of pages would allow me to buy all sorts of stuff that I wanted. She even promised a bonus if the manga did well.

But the reward wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye.

“... Editor… Carol?” I turned to Carol. Carol nodded.

“I asked Carol about it, and she doesn't mind being our editor.”

“I want to think I have enough experience to comment about that,” Carol said. Carol is the only one that worked with Japanese media before, even if it was just a minor role.

“What do you think?”

“I’ll do my best.”