Kaoru was hunched over his storyboard again, red pen in hand, muttering curses at himself. Panels filled half the page with ominous hooded figures, overly dramatic speech bubbles bursting with phrases like "By the flames of oblivion, I shall cleanse the world!" and "Witness my abyssal wrath!"
Aya leaned over his shoulder, raised an eyebrow, and tapped the page. "Seriously? Another 'villain reveals tragic backstory' flashback? You've got it in every single draft."
Kaoru blinked. "But it's a classic trope! People love a good revenge arc."
Aya held up a finger. "Yes, but this is literally chapter five, page eight same page number as your last three draft versions." She sighed. "Let me break it down:
1. Flashback with morose music.
2. Hero's internal monologue about destiny.
3. Tearful reveal of deceased mentor."
Kaoru winced. "What's wrong with that?"
"They call it deus ex machina of the tears," Aya said, crossing her arms. "It's overdone. Even I'm bored of it."
He groaned. "I'm a fraud."
"Stop it," Aya replied, snapping the storyboard shut. "You're not. But you need to poke fun at your own tropes. Meta-level gags. Self-aware humor."
Kaoru frowned. "Like what?"
"Have the villain say something like, 'Oh, I see you, brave hero, have taken the exact same monologue as the hero from chapter one!' Then cut to a panel of the hero blinking."
Kaoru's eyes lit up. "That's.. brilliant."
Aya shook her head, smiling. "Just try not to rip off G**tama too hard."
Over in the corner, Takeshi and Naoki were sitting at a low table, game controllers in hand, furiously button-mashing through a DMC-style combos on the TV screen. Emi and Kaede lounged on the couch behind them, watching the action.
"Dude, you missed the dodge window," Kaede teased, pointing at the screen where Naoki's character was knocked down.
Naoki hissed. "Focus, Kaede!!"
Emi leaned forward slightly, chewing gum. "That's so… pixelated."
Takeshi laughed. "Just wait until you see my S-rank style. I'll've smoked s*xy style'd your ass."
Emi smirked. "You mean 'Smokin' S*xy Style,'" she corrected.
Takeshi shot her a playful glare. "Since when do you know these games?"
Emi shrugged. "Netflix documentaries."
Kaede poked her brother's shoulder. "Hey, Kaoru!"
Kaoru looked up from his desk, startled. "Yes?"
Kaede grinned. "You almost forgot, didn't you? Your fans meeting is tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Kaoru repeated, eyes widening.
Kaede laughed. "Tomorrow is today, genius."
He swallowed, panic creeping into his voice. "Crap. The fan meeting. As Erebus Kyrielight my pen name!"
Aya raised an eyebrow. "You did tell me about this."
Kaoru rubbed his temples. "Barely. Between storyboards and trope dissections, I completely spaced."
Aya sighed. "You need to prepare. You promised the fans a sneak peek of chapter one's first pages."
Kaoru's eyes darted around the mess of sketches on his desk. "But they're all… rough."
Emi watched him coolly. "They don't need polished pages. They just want to see your face or your mask, I guess."
Takeshi paused his game. "Better get ready, man. They'll be expecting jokes, maybe a Q&A."
Naoki grinned. "And don't forget the cosplay. You said you'd wear your Chuunibyooutfit."
Kaoru shuddered. "Oh my god.."
Kaede laughed. "Trust me, they love it."
Kaoru spent the rest of the afternoon clearing a small corner of the room, setting up a folding table with a single chair, a stack of printed panels, and a name placard reading "Erebus Kyrielight." Aya hovered nearby, organizing the sketches into neat piles.
He adjusted his hooded cloak an over-the-top red and black garment with angular shoulders and practiced his greeting in the mirror.
"Behold… I am Erebus Kyrielight… purveyor of darkness and weaver of destinies…"
Aya pinched the bridge of her nose. "Less drama, more approachability."
Kaoru rolled his eyes but toned it down. "Greetings, my loyal subjects."
"If you say 'subjects,' I'm walking out," Aya warned.
Takeshi and Naoki returned from their gaming session, each holding a can of soda. The two collapsed into chairs behind the audience area. Emi sat next to them, arms folded, expression unreadable. Kaede perched on the armrest.
Kaoru took a deep breath. He hadn't done a fan appearance in months. His last live Q&A had ended when he tripped over the microphone cable and fell face-first into his coffee.
He slid behind the table, trying to look confident. Aya took her place discreetly behind the table, serving as his backup.
A small lineup of fans, wearing T-shirts with a heart emoji that read "I LOVE Erebus-Sensei!!"and holding plushies of his protagonists, waited patiently.
Kaoru closed his eyes. "You can do this."
He opened them. "Okay…"
The first fan approached. A teenage girl with dyed pink hair and cat-ear headphones.
"Erebus-sensei!" she squealed. "Thank you for writing Petals Beneath the Moonlight! It saved me during finals!"
Kaoru bowed deeply. "I am honored. May your heart blossom like petals under the moonlight."
The girl beamed and ran off to the next in line.
Kaoru exhaled. Aya slipped him a small note.
"Smile less creepily."
He nodded.
The next fan raised her hand. "When will season two of Azure Nightfall Chronicles premiere?"
Kaoru tapped his chin. "Ah, the question of eternity! Soon… yet never soon enough."
Aya winced. She handed him an index card with bullet points:
Production in progress
Expected next year
Thank you for your patience
Kaoru read them, and simplified: "Production is ongoing. Expect it next year thank you for waiting!"
Between fans, Takeshi and Naoki heckled lightly from the back. "Show him the chapter titles!"
Kaede teased, "You forgot to sign!"
Emi sighed. "This is painful."
Kaoru shot them a glare, but with a small smile.
Finally, the last fan in line a small boy clutching a worn copy of Blades of Eternity.
"Erebus Kyrielight, you're my hero! Someday, I want to draw like you!"
The boy's eyes sparkled.
Kaoru's heart clenched. He knelt to the boy's level.
"You will," he said softly. "Just keep drawing. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
The boy nodded, glowing with hope.
With that, the fan meeting ended. Aya collected the sketches, Takeshi turned the chairs back upright, and Naoki powered down his handheld console.
Kaoru removed his cloak, sweat on his brow but relief in his chest.
"That… went well?" he asked weakly.
Aya nodded. "You didn't trip once."
Kaoru cracked a grin. "A miracle."
Kaede bounded over, wrapping him in a hug. "You did great!"
Naoki gave a thumbs-up. "Your 'subjects' love you."
Takeshi ruffled his hair. "Not bad, legend."
Emi folded her arms. "Don't let it go to your head."
Kaoru laughed. "Too late."
Aya gently guided the fans' prints into a portfolio. She turned to Kaoru.
"You okay?"
He ran a hand through his still-hooded hair. "More than okay."
She smiled.
The clock struck evening. The room fell quiet again, as it always did after a day of chaos.
Kaoru glanced at Aya, who collapsed onto a nearby chair, tired but satisfied.
He walked over, sat across from her, and offered his hand.
"Thanks," he said simply.
Aya took it, squeezing briefly. "Don't mention it."
They sat in comfortable silence two creators who had just survived another day.
Tomorrow would bring more pages, more tropes to subvert, more "abyssal flamethrower" jokes.
But for now…
They just existed.
And that, Kaoru realized with a smile, was more than enough.
But.. The fan meeting wasn't over. Not yet.
Kaoru barely had time to pull off his cloak and collapse into the nearest bean bag when a knock came at the studio's side door.
and removed his hood when a tall man with a clipboard approached, wearing a lanyard and a forced smile. It was Shibata manager of the event venue and a long-time contact of Kaoru's agency.
"Erebus-san," he said with a bow. "The turnout is better than expected. Can I trouble you to extend the Q&A session a bit longer? Maybe… twenty minutes?"
Kaoru blinked. "But it was supposed to end five minutes ago."
Shibata chuckled, gesturing subtly to the massive crowd still lingering outside the meet-and-greet area. "Some of them traveled from other cities and countries.. Just a few more questions, for the fans. Please."
Aya gave him a sideways glance. She'd already started packing up.
Kaoru sighed, pulled the hood back up, and walked to the table again.
"Fine," he muttered. "But only twenty minutes."
Shibata beamed and disappeared.
The extended Q&A began with a bang.
A girl in full cosplay of Kaoru's gothic heroine character, Miria the Ravenblade, stepped up, eyes wild with admiration.
"Erebus-sama! Please sign my sword prop!" she squealed, thrusting a long black foam blade toward him.
Kaoru awkwardly took the sword. "Sure… so.. uhh..Where do I…?"
Aya passed him a silver marker.
The girl practically melted as he scribbled his name. "I knew it! You're just like how I imagined Erebus dark, mysterious, and a tortured soul!"
He smiled stiffly. "Yeah, I uh… cry in the shower sometimes."
Aya choked back a laugh from behind the desk.
The next fan was a boy no older than twelve, but he held up a sketchbook filled with surprisingly well-drawn panels. "Can you look at my manga idea? I even named the main character Erebyru."
Kaoru flipped through the pages. The story followed a moody protagonist who fought monsters with the power of poetry.
"It's got something," Kaoru said genuinely. "The shadows are good, and I like the concept. Keep going."
The boy beamed.
Aya peeked over and whispered, "Is this kid better at panel pacing than you were at twelve?"
"Don't remind me," Kaoru mumbled.A new fan stepped up, bouncing with excitement. She wore a homemade cosplay of the protagonist from Azure Nightfall Chronicles complete with a hand-painted foam sword and glowing blue contacts.
"Erebus-sensei!" she squealed. "Will Azrael and The Second Princess Faye finally confess in Chapter 50?!"
Kaoru glanced at Aya. "...Wouldn't you like to know?"
Aya rolled her eyes but smirked.
The girl leaned in, whispering theatrically. "Also… not to be weird, but… are you two dating?"
Kaoru's eyes went wide. "..What?"
Aya visibly froze.
The girl continued with terrifying confidence. "There's, like, sooo much fanart online. Like so much."
Kaoru blinked but smirked. "Fanart? Hmm.."
The fan pulled out her phone and spun it around. "Look!"
Kaoru nearly choked. The image depicted a chibi version of himself, cloaked and blushing, being tugged into a kiss by a no-nonsense chibi-Aya with sharp eyes and pink-tinted cheeks. Above it, in pink cursive, read the caption: "Editor x Author: Bound by Deadlines… and Destiny!"
Aya couldn't breathe. Kaoru was silent.
Then, with perfect composure, she nodded politely. "Thank you for your enthusiasm."
The fan skipped off happily.
Kaoru risked a glance sideways. Aya had turned to flip through the storyboards, hiding half her face.
He saw it. The tiniest bit of pink brushing her ears.
Kaede, standing nearby with a camera for documentation, leaned toward her brother and whispered, "She's flustered."
"Shutup," Kaoru hissed.
Then another Fan came approaching
A girl mid-20s, glasses, soft-spoken stepped up with a phone in her hand, already displaying a fan drawing.
"This is for you," she said shyly. "I drew fanart of you and Aya-san. Together."
Aya froze. (again)
Kaoru leaned in, and his eyes widened. The image was… intimate. A fantasy-style painting of him kneeling before a goddess version of Aya, her hair flowing dramatically, their fingers touching under moonlight.
The crowd behind them giggled.
"..Wh-What—" Aya stammered, face heating up.
Kaoru squinted at the screen. "Huh. They gave me wings.."
The girl held out a print version of the art. "I call it 'Fated Bonds: The Light Who Edits the Darkness.'"
Aya wanted to die.
Kaoru Excitingly took the print and studied it. "Nice shading! Composition's solid. Though Takahashi would never wear a toga."
The girl bowed and shuffled away, clearly thrilled.
Kaoru turned to Aya, eyes wide. "You're not weirded out?"
She looks away. "I work in manga. I've seen worse. One time someone drew me as a catgirl with eight tails."
Kaoru buried his face in his gloved hands. Holding his laughter, imagining Aya as a catgirl with eight tails..
"...Don't think too hard about it," Aya said, nudging him. "Besides, we do bicker like a romantic comedy."
"Please stop."
More fans asked questions. Some wanted character backstories. Others requested spoilers, which Kaoru politely dodged. Several insisted on knowing what "Erebus" meant he gave a cryptic answer each time.
But eventually, the twenty minutes ran out, and Shibata returned to cut things off. The fans were still hungry for more, but Kaoru bowed one final time.
"Thank you all for coming. Really," he said. "Your support keeps me going."
As the last of them filed out, Aya handed him water. "You okay?"
"I will be," he said, voice hoarse. "Just… exhausted."
Kaoru glanced at his friends, who had been hanging back this whole time Naoki still scrolling through fan tweets, Takeshi half-asleep, Kaede with earbuds in, and Emi giving a quiet thumbs-up.
He stood, pulled off the cloak, and walked over to them.
"I've decided something," he said suddenly.
They all looked up.
"I want to make 100 manga series before I turn fifty or much early," Kaoru said, chest rising. "Complete ones. Not all big hits, just… stories I love."
Naoki blinked. "You sure you're not hallucinating from fan contact?"
"I'm serious." Kaoru nodded. "Sixth one is almost done. The storyboard's finished. I'll finalize the draft after this. I've already got the plot set."
Takeshi grinned. "So what's the seventh?"
Kaoru paused.
"…That's the thing. I don't have one yet."
He turned to them.
"So I want you guys to help me make it."
Kaede leaned forward. "Like… all of us?"
"You've seen enough anime," Kaoru said. "You've watched me make these. I want your chaos."
Naoki raised an eyebrow. "What genre?"
"Anything. Mix it up. Fantasy, school life, detective, surreal… surprise me."
Emi tapped her chin. "A story about time loops, a cursed train, and a senpai who keeps forgetting the end of the world?"
Kaoru nodded. "Good start."
Takeshi chimed in. "But they lose control. The characters turn against them."
Kaede laughed. "And the side character becomes the protagonist."
Aya, arms crossed, smirked. "Meta-horror with romantic overtones and a time loop."
Kaoru looked at her. "You're serious?"
"Why not?"
He was scribbling notes already. "Okay, this could actually work. I'll call it… 'The Cursed train to the neverending time loop.'"
Naoki leaned in. "And the MC's Shovel is his only weapon."
Kaoru grinned, adrenaline rushing back into his system. "Yes. That's it. That's the hook!"
Suddenly, from outside the now-closed meeting room, a shriek pierced the air.
"HE'S STARTING HIS SEVENTH MANGA!" someone screamed.
There was another fan near the window with their phone out, recording everything.
"OH MY GOD, IT'S CONFIRMED!"
"HE'S WRITING IT RIGHT NOW!!"
Within seconds, the hallway erupted in screams, gasps, and the sound of frenzied typing on phones.
Kaoru blinked, stunned. "I didn't even announce it yet.."
Aya patted him on the shoulder. "Too late. You just did."
Kaoru groaned and dropped his head onto the table again.
"...Maybe 100 manga was a bad idea."
His friends just laughed.
---
End of Chapter thirty-two.