Volume 10
Epilogue
“Naoki!? Hey, how long are you going to sleep-!?”
“Woah!?”
She vigorously took the cover off of me as I open my eyes.
In front of my eyes was my little sister… Akari standing imposingly.
“What’re you doing!?”
“Just how long do you plan to sleep!? It’s the first day of Golden Week. It’s already almost evening!? Weren’t you supposed to meet your friends today!?”
“Eh… Aaah!”
I look at the clock. It was 3:30 in the afternoon. Oh no, I overslept way too much because it’s a day off.
“Really~ You’ve become a working member of society, yet you’re still doing stuff like this?”
“I can’t help it, I’ve been sleep-deprived lately… I came home on the last train of the day again yesterday…”
“Doing this to a newly hired employee, is your company uncaring of labor standards?”
“No, I hear quite a few other companies do such as well… Fua~”
“Hmm… Is that how the publishing industry is? Putting aside its treatment of workers, your company is the largest in the industry, right, so do you get to meet with famous authors and mangaka?! Hey, if you ever meet a mangaka I like, I’d want you to get an autograph for me-”
“Eh, don’t say such crazy stuff… My work is with ordinary literature, so I don’t really have an opportunity to meet mangaka and stuff…”
“Eh~. Really, how useless~”
My little sister who just started her second year at college puffs out her cheeks and pouts at me. She’s so immature it is difficult to believe that she will soon be an adult. Just from the outside, she’s grown and wears makeup and stuff like an adult.
No matter how you look at her she seems like a lovely woman in college, but… On the inside, she’s still very childlike that I don’t think she’s matured very much since she was in middle school.
It seems only her level of being an otaku has grown, and it seems that lately she’s drawn her own doujinshi and has joined a circle at an event. Though she is 19, I have not heard anything about her having ever getting a boyfriend and while she’s my sister, she makes me worry about her a lot.
“Oh no! There’s no time to waste on a leisurely chatting.”
I, in an extreme rush, get ready to go. We haven’t met in a long time… I can’t look too bad when I get to meet them. I enter into the bathroom, choose and wear my clothes, and style my hair. Like this, I rush out of the house.
In the train, I notice I received a message. The sender was Hasegawa Midori. We were in the same grade in highschool and… I used to like her. Not frequently, but from time to time we get in touch, and with Yamamoto-senpai, her big brother, we get drinks together, the three of us. To me, she’s one of my few female friends with whom I have a good relationship.
The contents of the message was about how she wanted to go to the class reunion of our high school first year class that we were talking about. That she wanted very much to participate in it.
A class reunion, eh… I do want to meet my high school first year classmates after so long, and I would be glad to participate. I haven’t been able to meet with the one I was closest with in that class, Kiritani, lately, too.
I quickly respond to Hasegawa. Now, Hasegawa is a high school teacher. I think that is her calling. If the teacher is so beautiful, the boys in class will surely be happy… Though I joke in saying such, I think her seriously kind heart and dislike of what is unfair is well-suited to being a teacher.
Eventually I arrive at Ikebukuro station, and head toward the appointed spot, which was a bar.
Yes, today is a promise I made with friends I haven’t seen in months.
“Ah… Kashiwada-kun! It’s been a while~!”
“Kashiwada-san, it’s been a while ♪”
“Sorry for being late! I slept into the evening…”
I see faces I haven’t seen in while, girls from high school, Sakurai Azuki-chan, Murasaki-san, and Sagawa Yukari-san.
“Eh~ into the evening!? Sure enough, being an editor [1] is pretty difficult, huh…
“I’m still not at all used to it yet and I’m exhausted every day…”
“You’ve worked pretty hard, Kashiwada-san. What do you want to drink?”
“Ah, I guess some draft! Murasaki-san, haven’t you already drunk pretty well yourself?”
“Oh no! It’s not like when I was young, I have to look forward to everyday to refrain from so much alcohol…”
“No, you’re pretty young even now!”
These words were not just a compliment, Murasaki-san’s appearance hasn’t’ changed much since we’ve first met. It’s been a while since we’ve met, but I’m realized that she hasn’t changed at all.
“But, Azuki-chan also has got it rough, no? You hear that the gaming industry is pretty difficult…”
“Yeah, the designers and such sleep at their workplace and that seems pretty rough, but I’m a planner, so aside from right before a deadline, I don’t have it so bad.”
Azuki-chan is employed at a company making an Otome game. It’s a famous company that even I know, so I think it’s pretty amazing that she got hired there.
“Ah, oh yeah, Murasaki-san’s manga is finally officially getting an anime! Congratulations!”
“Oh my, you sure are an editor. You got that info pretty quickly ♪”
Murasaki-san got her official debut as a mangaka when I was still studying in college, and she currently works hard at being a n illustrator and working as a mangaka.
She’s been in the world of doujinshi since she was in college, but she is now in a serialized commercial magazine and has experienced quite some popularity and success.
And I… Am employed at a publishing company and struggle as the editor for general literature. It’s been a month since I joined the company, and I’ve been returning home late every night. I’m still not used to it, so I have times where I get mad or feel bitter but it’s work that I enjoy, so I work hard at it… Or rather, I have to work hard at it! That’s what I’m thinking at where I am now.
“And, Kashiwada-kun, you proofread Momo-chan’s work back in high school, right? You’ve seemed to have a knack for it ever since then!”
“Eh? Ah… You remember it well!”
Yes, what made me aspire to be an editor was… When during high school, I proofread Koigasaki’s rough draft and she told me I seemed to “fit this type of work”; that was my impetus.
After deciding on what I wanted to do, I worked hard and desperately studied, got into a somewhat good college, and got hired onto a good company.
“Speaking of Momo-san… That drama based on her original work is finally starting during the summer, right? I loved that story, so I really look forward to it ♪”
“…! Ah, yes… That’s what it looks like. I believe it was during September…”
“That’s really incredible~! During high school, the stories Momo-chan would write were really interesting, but to think that she would really become a writer!”
Yes. Though it may come as a surprise… The same Koigasaki whose first doujinshi story I looked over and criticized in high school has become a writer.
She mainly writes romance stories, but her support is full of female readers who say things such as “This is a good depictions of a woman’s heart” and “It sent my heart aflutter” and such such, and now she sells really well. As Murasaki-san said, one of her novels is getting an original TV drama starting this summer.
“With this magazine calling her a “too-beautiful writer” and publishing her photos and such, it feels like she’s growing farther and farther away, eh~…”
“Indeed, this started when she started being an amateur model for a regional fashion magazine, right?”
“Ah, sure seems like it. She’s pretty famous over there too…”
I also couldn’t have imagined that Koigasaki would become a writer. Or that I, who gave her advice for her work, while we were still kids, would now be an editor.
“When is she going to next come to Tokyo… I wanna see Momo-chan…”
“How about we go visit her ♪ Everyone’s gotten used to their jobs and things have calmed down… How about during the Obon festival?”
“Hey, that’s a good idea! That’ll be about the time I get my first bonus, too!”
Azuki-chan and I both smile in agreement at Murasaki-san’s suggestion.
“Ah, oh yeah, Kashiwada-kun’s friend is also making his major debut, right?”
“Ah, yes!”
What Azuki-chan is talking about is my friend… My best friend during high school, Suzuki Souta. Since then, Suzuki has continued with his band. During college he won the grand prize in a band contest and has preparations to debut with a record label and seems to have made his major debut just a little earlier.
I didn’t think any of my friends would become a performer like that, so when he told me about it, I was pretty surprised.
Suzuki himself now has social interactions, but, same as always, he’s a serious otaku, and even as his fans grow and he comes more popular, rather than get a girlfriend, he runs to the world of 2D. Coming this far, he has my respect. Looking at it like this, those around me are all truly incredible people.
Be that as it may… I look at the girls’ faces and think. That we became friends during high school, and can have fun meeting and talking like this now that we are adults… Is truly a great thing.
Especially Azuki-chan, though there was a time when she wouldn’t talk to me at all, now we were able to return to being mutual friends, and I think that makes me glad from the bottom of my heart.
Thinking back… Really, a lot happened with Azuki-cahn.
I say that, but really oh so much mainly just happened during the first year of high school. Then, she stopped talking to me completely, but since the second year of high school, we were able to go back to being normal mutual friends.
I learned a lot of important things from Azuki-chan. We had a lot of fun times together. The beautiful memories of my youth lies deep in my heart. Now, it’s embarrassing, so I don’t bring it up at all.
Then we continue to talk a great deal. Updates about our lives. About otaku things. Sure enough, talking with trusted otaku friends is fun. I strongly feel that I want to always.. Stay in good relations as close friends with these two. Having such fun time had passed quickly.
“Phew~ I drank quite a bit~”
We leave the shop and walk on the path to the station.
“Kashiwada-san, aren’t your steps a bit staggered? When you were in high school, you made fun of me when I was drunk, but it looks like you don’t have the right to do that anymore~”
“No, no, today it is you who drank the most~ I can never match you in drinking~”
“Murasaki-san is strong with alcohol, so she is fine, however Kashiwada-kun is weak to alcohol, so he drank too much! Are you alright like this, Kashiwada-kun?”
“Eh?
“After all, Kashiwada-kun, tomorrow is an incredibly important day, right?”
“…!”
“That’s right, Kashiwada-san… Please do try your best!”
Azuki-chan and Murasaki-san both look at my face with encouraging expressions. Yes, tomorrow is… As Azuki-chan said, an incredibly important day to me.
To Azuki-chan and Murasaki-san’s words, I…
“Yes!”
I gave a vigorous reply.
The next day.
I get out of my airplane after an hour and half long flight at New Chitose Airport. To make up for my usual lack of sleep, I intended to sleep during the trip, but I was too nervous and couldn’t get into the right state to go to sleep, so I couldn’t even nap.
Yes, today, I— came all the way to Hokkaido by myself. I get my luggage, step out of the airport, and a breeze so cold you wouldn’t think it was still May grazed my cheeks. I lament that it would have been a good idea to wear a trench-coat.
—Today, since morning, my heart has been beating fast with no stopping it. I put on the best suit I have, but annoying thoughts like what to do if she doesn’t like it run through my mind.
Anyhow, I didn’t tell that the one I’m meeting was going to meet her. With only the address on a New Year’s card to go off of, I get the directions from my smartphone as I ride in the train from the nearest train station to get closer to my location.
Yeah… If I mess anything up, wouldn’t it make me just some stalker? Ah, with how worried I am, maybe I really should have at least told her something about this…
I get closer to the location, I eventually spot a particularly magnificent house. I confirm the nameplate. Sure enough, there’s no mistake. I resolve myself and press the intercom.
“Yes?”
My heart skips a beat at hearing that cute voice I was used to hearing. Could this be herself?
“… Th-this is Kashiwada! Is Momo-san in right now!?”
“…! Ah, eh… Please wait for a moment.”
The beating of my heart grows increasingly violent. A door opens up from a large entrance way, and a lone girl walked out.
“Kashiwada~ It’s been so long!”
“…!?”
I look at the person as a feeling of shock come to me. Somehow, it seemed the girl in front of my eyes was a little bit younger than she had been during high school. But, her appearance and voice were the same in high school as it is now. Just… What is this!?
“E-eh…?”
Koigasaki (?) looks over my face and hugs me with all her might.
“I’ve wanted to see you~~~! You’ve become more attractive than you ever were in high school! Though you’re my boyfriend, I haven’t been able to meet you and was so lonely, but finally you’ve come to visit me!?”
“E-e-eh…”
“Waaaaiiiit up!”
“…!?”
The front door was vigorously opened as a different girl came rushing out. For some reason, she yelled in a loud voice while flustered. Indignant, she came to where we were.
“What are you doing, baka Yuzu! What’re you doing to ano-another’s… Boyfriend!?”
“…Koigasaki…?”
My girlfriend whom I am meeting after a year… Is even prettier than the last time I met her.
“He’s also Yuzu’s boyfriend!~!”
“He… Heeeey!? This is Yuzu-chan!?”
I was astonished at learning the identity of the girl hugging me.
“Who else did you think it was…!? Ah, Yuzu, let go of him already!”
This is Koigasaki’s little sister Yuzu-chan…!? The last time I saw Yuzu-chan, I was in high school, so it’s been about seven years. Now, though she appears a little smaller, she’s about he same height as Koigasaki.
After being told to by Koigasaki, Yuzu-chan obediently broke away from me.
“And wait a minute, why… Did you suddenly come here…!? I-I-I can’t believe it…. You didn’t tell me or anything… Actually, what’s with that outfit…!?”
Looking at me… My girlfriend Koigasaki Momo’s face goes totally red and she is incredibly flustered.
“A-ah… To-today…I have something important to talk with you about…”
I was nervous and my voice was shaking.
“Something important to talk about…?!”
“…Yuzu, please go back inside the house~”
From my disposition, she could tell something was happening and Yuzu returned to the entrance. Though she may be a kid still, she has grown enough to be able to read the mood.
“…Wha-what… Is this important thin-”
Koigasaki looks at me like she might be angry.
“A-ah… Well…”
“… Actually, what’s with you! You said you’d come visit me next time… Just how long do you think it’s been since the last time we met!?”
“…Y-yes, I’m sorry…”
I look at Koigasaki, and her eyes begin to tear up a little. I start feeling guilty.
“And I don’t get your responses very quickly here… I thought that maybe you had come to like an-another… Girl…
Koigasaki’s voice grew lower and lower. It may be her holding back tears. She was thinking that… Unbeknownst to me, I’ve been making Koigasaki worry like this…
“I truly am sorry… Even though I told you to wait… I had decided that it would be better if we didn’t meet often until I found a job and really became a full-fledged adult. You debuted as a writer, and quickly became such an amazing person, so I wanted to quickly catch up. I thought that if I don’t try hard myself, I won’t be qualified to be called your boyfriend…”
“… You thought that…?”
Koigasaki looked at me with a surprised face.
I resolve myself, breathe, and start talking.
“I was finally able to become a full-fledged adult. I was able to become someone who could meet you with his head held high.”
“Ka-Kashiwada…”
“I’ve made you wait quite a long time…”
I pull out of a paper bag and offer to Koigasaki a bouquet of roses I bought on the way to her house.
Even I thought it was an excessive production.
It is her, she might complain that it’s cold or that I am overdoing it or such like back in high school.
“Eh…?! Wait, what is… Th…is!?”
But Koigasaki’s reaction was different than I had imagined… She was terribly surprised and flustered, and seemed to be like she was caught up in confusion.
“Koigasaki Momo-san.”
I call her name and Koigasaki stands up straight in surprise.
With a serious expression, I look her in the eye.
“Will you… Marry me?”
At my proposal, Koigasaki put her hand to her mouth in great surprise and tears started coming from her eyes…
“…Yes.” [2]
Presently, she smiled and nodded.
(THE END)
The Afterword, a few words from the author.
———————————————————————————————————————
But! Before that, Editor Notes:
[1]
(Arocks: Tsk! I refuse to accept that spineless coward as one of us…)
(Yuki: nods I agree! Senpai!)
[2]
(Arocks: RIAAJUUUU SHINEEEEEE~! ……… And live to the fullest.)
(Yuki: I guess the MC got a happy ending, eh, senpai?)
(Arocks: Unfortunately, Yuki, he indeed did.)