098 – Welcome Back to Japan, Yuki Amagami-sensei

Right. Yuuga Ayame/Yuki Amagami and Minase Okuni are going to Japan.

May 7.

Early in the morning, Yuuga crossed the boundary of Sector T1 and 392 by foot to knock on the Okuni household where Owen, the father; Kiko, the mother; Hori, the only son and the eldest; and Nina, the eldest daughter live. And on that thought, only Minase has a three-syllable name in their family.

"Good morning, Yuu," the mother of the house greeted while letting the lad inside, in which Yuuga greeted back and immediately walked inside the living room and politely greeted the head of the household.

"Good morning, Uncle Owen. Thanks for having me."

"Hi there. Take a seat for a bit. Breakfast is ready soon.

I guess it's still too early for Minase?"

"Probably… I was knocking on her door but she's still mostly likely asleep."

"Are you getting sleep, anyway?"

"If I don't take enough rest, she'll nag on me. But I'm glad that she's there to check up on my health when I can't. Haha…"

"Don't get all spacey, man. It's still early in the morning," a man suddenly wrapped his arm on Yuuga's shoulder and spoke just before his ear.

"You didn't surprise me, Yuka Hori."

"Aww, shucks. Anyway, need any help on packing?"

"Are you going to help?"

"That's why I'm asking."

"Well, thanks."

Hori Okuni, the eldest child of the household, has an almost indistinguishable bias. He acts neutral, with no favor or opposition towards the relationship between Yuuga and her sister. Just like Minase, Yuuga had known him ever since childhood in an almost brotherly connection, but despite that, he has never told his own honest opinion towards the couple.

On the other hand, he just got through college in March and is now enjoying the time of summer before looking for a job on the coming fall.

~ ~ ~

"Ohh. This flavor seems familiar. So this is where she got this taste, Auntie."

"I taught her many techniques when she was just starting. That girl was very hopeless at first but she seemed determined so I endured her slowness. Although the reason why she wanted to cook is probably for you to have them."

"Ahahaha. I find that hard to believe."

"In the first month of her move, you didn't have any idea of it until you collected her rent, right?"

"I was so surprised when she came out of the door."

"Your apartment really is closer to her school, but I think she actually knew that you were also living there. With what you said awhile back, you knew that she had liked you for a long time, right?

Don't you think that it's just natural for a woman to make something good for a man?"

"I'd rather not comment about that…

But her family seems very accepting about our relationship. I'm a little worried about that, honestly. It feels like you're putting so much trust on me in this regard."

"Well, Minase is always like an open book, and we've known you ever since you were a kid, you know," Nina responded.

"Is that so…

Then, can I ask you something, Uncle Owen?"

"Hmm?"

"Are fathers really people who would kill their daughter's suitor?"

"…

What kind of old-fashioned thinking is that?"

"W-Well… two of my friends are also in their own relationships. The father of the girl was a former delinquent, you see, and he has really scary eyes. And they always utter scary things like them being threatened by the fathers of their girlfriend…"

"Hahahaha, well now that is a scary dude."

"How about you then, Uncle? Were you chased by a bolo back in the day?"

"Thankfully, not. Kiko's dad never failed to secretly follow us on our dates, though."

"'Thankfully…'"

"What, want me to do the same thing?"

"I might just be relieved if you really did, Uncle."

"Well, too bad I won't be in Japan with you two. You and my daughter are on your own for a month, and I won't have my eyes every time on both of you so you better not do anything."

"Otherwise I'll get a punch that can break my cheekbone or get strangled?"

"Oh, wait. A literally broken cheekbone can be a material for Taiyou when the time comes."

“I don't know about the second one, but I'm also not a good puncher."

"I'll try my best not to worry you while we're on the North, Uncle. And also, I don't think I have good enough reflexes so you'll definitely hit me square on my face. I won't let that happen, though!"

"Hahh… you crazy idiot. Don't you dare learn judo or kendo while you're there."

"I won't, sir!"

"You really love my daughter, huh?"

"Yes, sir. I love her!"

"Are you going to marry her, then?"

"I promise that-

…

I promise that I will not get her hurt, sir!"

Brief announcement from the broadcast: To anyone who has seen Yuuga Ayame's backbone, please return it to the lost and found department.

~ ~ ~

‹Yuuga›

"Ahhhh… That's about all the stuff I need. Thanks, Yuka."

"Eh, sure. I'll go check up on my sister then."

"Yeah. Also, please tell your dad that I'll try to call everyday, and a video call at that so he can be assured."

"Hahahaha, you really don't want to lose our trust to you, huh?"

"Of course. Even if I realized so late, I truly love your sister, Yuka, and I have to do so much better so that our relationship won't go downhill. Needless to say, I'm serious about Mina."

"I see, I see," still, he let out a neutral reply and just made a fist bump. "She probably thinks that you are a cool guy, and now she might think that you are cooler after hearing all that you said."

"…"

Typical cliche, of course… Mina was standing just by the entrance of my house.

And that girl is a blush bomb. Imagine hearing the line she had read in shoujo manga now heard from the voice of the one she likes. Well, even I would be extremely flustered if she pulled an "ouji-sama" skit like Ringo did while helping a teacher (Ch. 42). Yes, she indeed got super flustered and moved that the corner of her eyes teared up.

"Just so you know, Yuuga, I've never seen this side of her. I guess your feelings are mu-tu-al.

See ya next month then~"

And Yuka Hori's gone just like that.

That aside, Mina is still squatting near my doorway while very shyly covering her flushed face. I bent my knees to also a squat and span her ponytail.

"Minase-san, I'm serious on trying to win over your family."

"Waaaaaaaahhhhhh…! Stop already…!"

▪ ▪ ▪

Typical Capital, and so we arrived on the airport after two hours of anxiety in the middle of traffic, thinking that we'll be late in our 1:30pm flight. Of course, we are dying on the heat.

But apart from the air conditioning inside the airport, we were soothed with the sight of Gin and Ringo in front of us, which we did not expect at all.

I was really convinced that no one is going to see us off of the country, as our trip is basically a vacation for us. Still, I am rather glad that at least my assistants are here to greet us.

Well, it was rather short but a sweet farewell. Now, we'll have their screen time lessened starting now.

After waiting a somewhat tedious line, we had our bags checked and inspected, and most importantly our health since it has become a great priority in airlines when the pandemic was still beyond our control.

But eventually, we finally got to climb the plane without any problem.

"Is this actually your first time boarding a plane, Mina?"

"Yeah. How about you? How many times?"

"This is just my second time you know. I was so nervous on going in a plane when I was just a second year in junior high school to meet my first editor."

"So Kuni-san wasn't your editor since then?"

"He became my editor when I presented the draft of Flower of the Unknown. He was so excited when he first met me. Just like anyone, he thought that I was a girl."

"I can imagine his surprised face…"

Then the captain of the plane gave his greetings promptly and the plane eventually took flight. In all honesty, I don't remember my first flight, so I was just a tad surprised that amenities are quite plenty for an economy class. And the little things—they have decaf.

As if it's not obvious enough that Japan and Orio are metaphorically siblings, their entertainment system are half-and-half with local shows, which I actually don't watch, and Northern shows. Hey, this is almost a domestic flight!

With that, we decided to watch an anime movie that was on our backlog for a long time. But after shy of an hour, Mina stopped the playback and suddenly pulled my head towards her shoulder.

"Seriously, are you a flustered girl or a smooth one?"

Whether she responded or not, I wasn't able to catch on it as I immediately fell asleep on the remaining duration of the flight. I asked her right after we stepped on Japanese land, but she also apparently fell asleep.

"Anyway, kinda excited that you're now in Japan, Mina?"

Eh, she was so excited that she can't speak.

Nevertheless, we came out of the airport with Kuni-san greeting us the first thing.

"**Welcome back, sensei."

"**Thanks for fetching us, Kuni-san."

"**I'm pleased to see you again, Okuni-san."

"Mhm…"

"Hey, you're not this introverted, are you?"

"**Are we going immediately to Jion-sensei's place?"

"**Yes. It's already afternoon and we'll have an hour of travel. Their family will definitely love to have you for dinner."

"**Was it always like that when you were his editor?"

"**Honestly, yes. It's hard to decline when his wife offers me to join them for a meal."

Indeed, the aforementioned Jion-sensei is the author Kuni-san was handling before me. That person is an utterly great writer, making his name famous from his melodramatic executions and unexpected twists of events. One instance in our difference is that I had a total of more than 4000 voters in my character popularity poll, while he had an estimate of 12000 participants. And to top it all off, his third published work was adapted to an anime.

But blimey, now he had invited me on their place to work alongside him and enjoy ourselves at the same time.

~ ~ ~

Now I'm feeling apologetic as an author myself as the author of this story is unable to write a smooth transition. But really, I can't blame the talentless author since I write mine on storyboards and present the transitions visually. I guess writing word for word can be really hard at times but it's great that there are at least 150 chapters done ever since NoFutsuu.

And how in the world was I able to make a paragraph from thinking of transitions…?

Anyway, Kuni-san stopped the car on a two-story house that is rather big. But if I were to comment on the looks of it, the residence looks like a mixture of Japanese classicism and a western counterpart.

But as if the stopping car in front of the house was heard, the gate opened revealing a middle-aged man. Not long after that, I came to a realization.

"Ah, so this is Jion-sensei."

Regarding how I reacted inwardly, that is from the fact that this is my first time meeting him in person as we always have just exchanged mails ever since we met through our pen names.

Even though he just started in manga eight years ago, he really does look like a veteran with the pen as his weapon.

"**It has been a while, Toraiwa-sensei," Kuni-san bowed, and greeted the fellow author with a different name.

"**Still doing good, Kuni?"

"**Yes. I'm blessed to have another great author with me.

**And speaking of that, I am here with Amagami-sensei."

"**Ohh…! We are expecting them!" he then whispered, "**You said that he will be with his lover, right?"

"**That is right. It seems that she also reads your work. But with that being said, here they are."

A flinch ran on my back when Kuni-san gestured to point at us. But even I was a little surprised that I was not that abashed in front of him.

"**I'm pleased to finally meet you, Jion-sensei. I am Yuki, or Ayame Yuuga in person, and this is Okuni Minase with me. Thanks for also letting her stay with us."

"**Sheesh, you really are a high school student just like the news says."

"**Well, almost a college student but it is close enough."

"**I see. How old are you again?"

"**We're both 18."

"**Haha. Kids these days have some artistic talent. You'll definitely get along with my son."

He let the three of us in to have our bags settled in one place and afterwards meet the family of three, but the son is apparently on the way home from school, so we initially met sensei's wife.

"**Actually, sorry about my late introduction; my real name is actually Saonji Teo, and my wife, Kamiya."

"**So you are the mangaka that Teo was talking about."

"**It's nice to meet you, Kamiya-san."

"**Well then, please make yourself at home. Souhei is about to come home."

I tried to ignore the manuscript that was lying on a far table from the living room, but Teo-san himself took them and presented it to us.

"**So you draw completely traditional, sensei."

"**Well… that's not wrong but this isn't actually my drawing. I actually stopped drawing for a few years now, you see?"

"**Oh, is it because your hand got injured in an accident?" Mina asked, as both of us, and every one of his readers have already known long ago.

"**Yes. But my son voluntarily helped me to draw the manuscripts. Incidentally, we have similar styles."

"**Now it makes sense!" I suddenly exclaimed. "**My friend noticed a rather hidden name that is part of your volumes that aren't getting translated. So Jion Nekogaki was your son and your artist?"

"**Oh wow. As far as I know that's the first time that was noticed! Tell your friend a good job for finding it!"

And then we heard a tadaima and okaeri.

The son of the house has arrived home and a barrage of stomps was heard towards the room as the son of sensei has appeared.

"**Wahh…! It's Yuki-sensei in person…! I'm Saonji Souhei, nice to meet you!" he enthusiastically greeted and bowed just the same.

"**Likewise. Thank you for having us," I then offered my hand for a handshake. "**The outbreak is already regulated so it should be fine, right?"

"**Yes, gladly. Ohh, you're a tall one, sensei!

**Ah, I'll just get changed and I'll be back. I have so many things to talk about with you and your manga!"

Okay, this will sound utterly stupid, but I have watched so many anime and read manga to see that every single high school student doesn't get changed immediately after they get home. Heck, even Nozaki doesn't; but I guess that is just a minute trope and I didn't do that when I was drawing "Hana."

But my sight locked on his school uniform as that was the first time I saw a seifuku—I'll just call it that to indicate a difference—and my photographic memory kicked in immediately while my brain considered it as reference.

On a different note, we later learned that Souhei is currently a second-year high school student (Note: This is Japan), and has been helping out his dad for a few years in drawing.

Not so long, he went down and had a few art talks including an argument on who does better screentone gradation. Then before dinner, he led us on a tour of the entire house to familiarize ourselves on the place we will be staying for the rest of the month.

"**And finally, this is your room."

"…"

Can someone count how many times I have said "of course" in this chapter…?

Of course Mina and I are sharing a room, for crying out loud! We've been had!

"I-I guess we'll have to practice social distancing here instead of complaining, Mina…"

"What's with these trite situations…"

I just hope that Souhei realized that we were talking with our mother tongue.

"**Futon… that's nostalgic…"

"**Oh, so you also have futon in Orio, Yuki-sensei?"

"**Not really. And please just call me Yuuga or something."

"**Yes, Yuuga-senpai."

"**Well, that works…

**My friends actually used to play turtle on our futon and crawl around the room like idiots."

And that is one embarrassing story from Chikami Inn that ought not to be told.

"**Thanks for bringing us here, Souhei. We'll come down for dinner."

"**Actually, Saonji-kun?" Mina called out. "**Does your house have a room divider?"

We stayed silent after hearing Mina's question and Souhei just turned around to leave the room without saying a word. In a few, he brought a quite tall one that folds.

"**Thank you very much."

"Souhei," I whispered to him, "**once you get yourself a girlfriend, you'll understand that you'll absolutely have to gain her family's trust if you don't want to get beheaded. That's just figurative, by the way."

"**I-I understand, senpai…"

▪ ▪ ▪

Isetsu High School, a few days after.

"**Excuse me, Matsunaga-sensei~ are you here?" Souhei knocked and opened the door as he looked for the teacher.

"**Over here, Saonji-kun," the teacher waved at him.

"**Thanks for accepting this favor. I'll be sure to repay you."

"**If you insist, then. Here, take a look," the teacher took out a paper bag in which Souhei immediately expected and received. In return, he gave a wide smile and a thumbs up.

"**Thanks a lot, sensei! I'll be going home, then!"

~ ~ ~

"**I'm home."

"**Welcome back. Were you able to get them ready?"

"**Yeah, I have them, Dad."

"**Oh, you're back, Souhei. I finished all the inking you asked for."

"**Really? That was a big help, senpai! I managed to score quite well on a pop quiz because of you!"

"**Ehh… What's on those bags anyway?"

"**Ah, this. I brought home my gym clothes so I can get them washed. I really don't have a lot of PE classes so they are just gathering dust on my locker."

"**Is that so. Ah, Teo-san, do you mind if Mina and I help Kamiya-san for dinner?"

"**That would also be a really big help. You see, we father and son don't know how to cook so we're always doomed when she is out…"

"**I get how that feels. Making manga is so stressful, but I started living alone and I can at least hold a knife with my eyes half-open."

"**I hate to admit that Yuu is actually a better cook than me."

"**Ahahahaha! You found a good husband, Minase-san!" Teo-san joked, or probably not.

Okay, wait. What's with the cute reaction?! I swear she would be squirming in embarrassment at this point once she hears a remark like that but how come I saw an absolutely adorable giggle just now?! Not that I'm complaining though!

Wait, actually, I should be the one getting embarrassed here for being called her husband.

"Should I mention that later in the call or not…?"

~ ~ ~

"**Hmm? I'm surprised that you're still not yet drawing the manuscripts at this time of the day."

I found Souhei in front of his desk inside his and his father's office. He at first look seems to be doing some drawing after dinner but I then saw the typical desk of a high school student.

"**I see… studying, huh. Oh, English. I can definitely help you with that."

"**Thanks… I really need to get this done so I can draw again."

"Ehhh. What a diligent kid you are."

Nihongo and our mother language is actually quite contrasting on articulation and structure, but our language is more inclined on using English alphabet along with a similar sentence structure to English per se, as language is probably the only thing that we didn't get much from this country. But because of that, we were more used to speaking, better yet, writing as I admit I'm bad at speaking the language. It just so happened that I found it easier to speak the Japanese language than write it, which is a little strange considering the background I just mentioned.

"**Actually, Yuuga-senpai. I've been wanting to ask you about your high school. You just graduated, right?"

"**Yeah. Our senior high school is actually just two years you see. If you studied there, you would be a first year since middle school is four years.

**But our high school is kinda unique, I guess. By the way, Mina and I didn't come from the same high school. But my high school was almost like college because of very specific courses. It's more like a compulsory two years of prep school."

"**That's amazing, senpai."

"**What's amazing is our school is the only one with that kind of system in the entire country. The school is so peaceful even without a student council, actually."

"**Ehhh?!"

"Since I graduated from an art-exclusive course, I can actually work already, but I'll still take a two-year course in college. You see, it's actually uncommon for high school graduates to be employed in Orio. But because of our system, some of my friends are already working some fine jobs."

"**You sound like you're going to stop being a mangaka in the future."

"**Because I will, honestly," I leaned forward to whisper, "**Since this chapter is so manga themed, I won't even be surprised if Mina is secretly listening from the door. But she already knows what I'm telling you anyway.

**We're next-door neighbors and she found out that I was a mangaka even before we started going out. She gets extremely worried because of my job since I used to get so little sleep. For her sake, I'll retire in the future and look for another job where I can use what I have learned from school and being an artist."

"**I'm envious, senpai. So this is how a boyfriend is like, huh."

"**Well… not everyone. Actually…! I was a hopeless writer when I was drawing my shoujo manga. I didn't have any romantic experience when I was writing it."

"**Whaaat?! Ah, no, you do seem like someone without much experience."

"**Somehow, I was kinda glad to hear that.

**By the way, you come home quite early everyday, right? Don't you have club?"

"**W-Well… I'm the only member of the Go-Home Club in our school."

"**Yo, that's one amazing feat."

▪ ▪ ▪

Even if it looks like Mina and I are just staying home for the most part, we actually haven't forgotten the real purpose why we agreed on the Saonji family's invitation to come here in Japan. In our free time while I am not drawing my own work, we try to go out to experience how it really is to live or I guess walk around the streets of Tokyo; well, that's just a pretext to score a date.

One thing that stuck out to me is that the people are very disciplined, which was accurately depicted on Japan's modern media and literature. There are even instances where we had to leave some things out in the open for reasons, but we came back at least after half an hour and our stuff is still there, surprisingly. For all the things that we found significant, Mina does the gathering of data, in which she is surprisingly good at.

I had a good deal of anxiety, but I realized again that this is not Orio. Truthfully, our country is not a very safe one. Even I was walking so seldom at night with trembling knees just knowing that Teardrop was lurking around in the dark.

But I felt the same sensation as when I am in Blue Ink—I feel safe, for the most part.

On the other hand, it has only been a week on our stay, but I learned so much under Teo-san, or Jion Toraiwa-sensei. I found out that he does all of the writing on the story while Souhei gives his father's work its life. But with the cohesion of narrative and art, I learned about the chemistry of this father and son on writing their manga. They understand each other's work so much just through the words and composition. It is one thing that I should really apply when communicating with my assistants.

But apart from that, nothing has really happened that is worth noting.

…

I just realized that I triggered a flag…

It happened when Mina and I were tutoring Souhei on our second weekend in the country.

"**Senpai, thank you very much for always teaching me, really."

"**You don't have to be so grateful, you know. This is the least I can do for the help you've given me on my own work."

"**Oh, if I remember correctly, senpai, you went here so that you can understand more of our culture, right?"

"**More or less."

"**Hmm… Then, if you're not yet tired of studying just after graduating…

**Why don't you try being a high school student here?"

"…

Uhhh…?"

"**Since your current serialization is revolving on high school again, why don't you try it for a while with Minase-senpai?"

"**YES, WE'D GLADLY TRY IT…!"

(｡ﾉω＼｡)

And that is how our extreme otaku interests got the better of our insightful decisions—hence, not thinking through the potential implications of that.

"How exactly should we act like in a high school here…?”

Chapter Message:

日本行きたい

Thank you for reading!

Next

099: This chapter features a Japanese high school rooftop.