The morning sun filtered lazily through the blinds, drawing gentle lines across Aya's still-sleepy face.
She had woken up feeling... off. Not sick. Not tired. Just... weird.
The kind of weird you feel after a dream you definitely weren't supposed to enjoy.
She rubbed her eyes and sighed, the memory already swirling at the surface again like unwanted sugar in tea.
Forehead kisses? Really? What am I, a shoujo heroine from 2006?
Her phone buzzed beside her.
A new message.
Kaoru:
"Morning. Can't stop thinking about that juice I forgot."
Aya stared at it for a second before typing back.
Aya:
"It's 8 a.m. and you're haunted by grape juice?"
Kaoru:
"The guilt is real. Kaede looked at me like I'd committed tax fraud."
Aya chuckled under her breath, shaking her head.
Despite the dream—and her ever-complicated feelings—Kaoru remained completely and utterly himself.
Oblivious. Annoyingly sincere. A dense chuunibyo wrapped in a hoodie.
And she… well, she wasn't doing much better.
She stood up, stretched, and walked to the window.
The morning was peaceful. Cool wind, clear sky.
It almost made her forget that everything was about to go straight into chaos.
Kaoru's studio was unusually quiet.
No Kaede barging in with dramatic complaints. No Takeshi being chased by Emi. No Naoki flopping into the beanbag.
Just him, Aya, and the soft scratching of a pen.
Kaoru leaned back in his chair, staring at his panel draft for Petals Beneath the Moonlight. He looked like he hadn't slept well.
Aya sipped her iced coffee, not saying a word.
Until Kaoru, very slowly, turned his head toward her.
"Hey... Aya."
"Yeah?"
"Can I ask you something serious?"
She blinked. "Sure."
"…Do you think forehead kisses are lame?"
Aya choked on her drink.
"WHAT?!"
Kaoru flinched. "I-it's not for me! I'm drawing a scene for the new chapter. One of the side characters is comforting their love interest after a breakdown and I thought—"
Aya threw her hand up. "Stop. No further explanation needed. It's fine. Totally. F-fine."
She looked away. Her ears betrayed her with their blush.
Kaoru tilted his head.
"…You okay?"
"I'm peachy."
Suspicious silence.
Then—buzz.
Kaoru checked his phone.
His face fell immediately.
Aya noticed.
"What is it?"
Kaoru didn't answer right away. He kept staring at the screen like it had personally betrayed him.
"…Oh no."
Aya raised an eyebrow. "What?"
He turned the screen toward her.
It was from the editorial board.
[Shonen Scope Weekly - Editorial Department]
"Erebus Kyrielight-sensei, following the overwhelming success of your published works, we are officially assigning all serialized titles to WEEKLY release schedules. Your first new deadlines begin this Monday."
Aya blinked. Then blinked again.
"…All of them?"
Kaoru dropped the phone face-down on the desk.
"All. Of. Them."
Aya read it again, squinting to make sure it wasn't a prank. Then she sighed, calmly, and crossed her arms.
"I told you this might happen."
Kaoru looked like he had aged ten years in five seconds.
"No, no, no. This is how legends die. This is how creative burnout starts. I just wanted to draw a few cool fight scenes and some heartfelt romance! I didn't sign up to be Sisyphus with a tablet!"
Aya rubbed her temple. "You're Erebus Kyrielight, Kaoru. Your last four mangas are top five on MangaRank. This is what happens."
He stood up, clutching his sketchpad to his chest. "I'm going to fake my own death."
"Try using a pseudonym that doesn't sound like a Final Fantasy boss next time."
"I'll disappear to the mountains. Live among wolves. Start a ramen shop."
Aya deadpanned, "You can't even boil noodles without burning the kitchen."
"I'll LEARN."
She sighed again and picked up his phone.
"Okay, drama queen, listen. It's not every series. It's just the current active ones. You can finish the side series within a few months and scale down."
Kaoru slumped into his chair, defeated. "...So you're saying there's a light at the end of the tunnel?"
Aya shrugged. "More like a flickering LED, but yeah."
A moment passed. Then Kaoru slowly, dramatically, put on his fingerless gloves—yes, the fingerless gloves he insisted gave him "Drawing Energy."
Aya blinked. "...What are you doing?"
He stood up straight, puffing out his chest.
"I accept my destiny. If the world wants Erebus Kyrielight at his peak... then so be it."
She rolled her eyes. "You'll last three days before collapsing."
Kaoru pointed to the sky (or rather, the ceiling light). "Mark my words, Aya! My weekly arcs will redefine pacing, my page spreads will challenge the gods themselves—"
His stomach growled.
"…Right after lunch."
Aya stared.
Kaoru looked away, embarrassed.
"…Ramen?"
Aya stood up. "Fine. But you're paying."
On their walk to the usual noodle shop, Aya stole a few glances at him.
Even now—after all the chaos, the pressure, the absurd expectations—he still smiled.
Still cracked jokes. Still marched forward like a fool with a dream.
How does he stay like this?
She didn't ask. She just walked beside him.
After all, Kaoru wouldn't realize the answer even if it kissed him on the forehead.
Again.
Which it wouldn't.
Definitely not.
"Hey," Kaoru said, breaking the silence.
"Hm?"
He looked over at her, a strange seriousness in his tone.
"Thanks… for always helping me. I mean it."
Aya blinked.
Then quickly looked ahead, stuffing her hands in her coat pockets.
"…You're welcome, dumbass."
The warm scent of ramen still lingered in the air as Kaoru and Aya stepped out of the small noodle shop, steam curling from their bowls' memory. Their shoes crunched softly over the pavement, a rare, peaceful walk through the cool night streets of the city.
Aya glanced sideways at Kaoru.
"You got some soup on your sleeve," she muttered.
Kaoru blinked, looked down, then dramatically wiped it off like it was demonic blood.
"Hah. Another battle scar in the war of flavor."
Aya snorted. "You're such an idiot."
"An idiot with a full stomach."
"...Fair."
They continued walking, their steps syncing like a silent rhythm they weren't aware of. The city lights glimmered around them — distant, unbothered by the passage of two young manga creators slowly becoming something they both didn't want to define.
"…You ever think about slowing down?" Kaoru asked suddenly, hands in his hoodie pocket.
Aya raised an eyebrow. "Slowing down?"
"Yeah. Just… stopping everything. The deadlines. The pressure. The weekly grind."
Aya paused before replying. "You'd get bored in three hours."
"…True."
They shared a small laugh, that comfortable kind that hung around long after it passed.
Ahead, the pedestrian light blinked green. They stepped forward in unison, crossing the quiet intersection.
But then—
BEEP
A long horn cut through the air like a blade.
"Huh?" Kaoru blinked, still mid-step.
The light had changed—far too quickly. Red blared above them now. A truck barreled from the curve ahead, bright beams searing through the dim road.
A split second of silence.
And then chaos.
"TRUCK-KUN?!"
Kaoru's instincts kicked in before his brain did. He grabbed Aya's wrist, yanked her toward him, twisted his body—and tackled her to the asphalt just off the crossing.
They landed in a clumsy heap — Kaoru on top, arms shielding her head, heart thundering.
For a heartbeat, there was nothing but the roar of wind.
Then—
SCREEEEEECH—!
The truck came to a dead stop just before the crossing. The driver slammed the door open and shouted, "AYE YOU LADS OKAY?!"
Kaoru peeked over his shoulder, dazed. "W-we're alive?"
Aya didn't answer.
She was still under him.
Face flushed.
Arms pinned.
Chest rising and falling.
"…Get OFF." she growled, voice dangerously soft.
"OH WA-WAIT—"
She kicked him in the crotch.
Hard.
Kaoru let out a wheeze that could be heard three blocks away.
As he crumpled dramatically to the side, a familiar shutter sound clicked nearby.
"Got it~!" came a singsong voice.
Standing just a few meters away, under the streetlight like a villainous high schooler in a rom-com, was none other than Kaede Kagami.
Holding up her phone.
With proof.
"Kaede—WHEN DID YOU EVEN—?!" Kaoru gasped mid-recovery, still hunched over.
Kaede smirked with pure evil. "I was just coming back from the bookstore when I happened to see you two reenacting the 'accidental fall over the love interest' cliché. And then bon! bon! Aya kicked you like a true tsundere."
Aya, red as a tomato, stood up and dusted her coat without looking anyone in the eye.
"I wasn't acting like a tsundere."
Kaede grinned. "Oh? So you admit you liked it?"
"…Shut up."
Kaoru wheezed from the sidewalk. "Why is this how I go viral…"
Later, after confirming the truck was only making a sudden delivery and the driver apologized profusely, the three sat on a bench nearby—Kaoru still recovering, legs crossed protectively.
Aya stared ahead, arms crossed, her blush long since faded into quiet frustration.
Kaoru rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, okay. I admit. I didn't mean to tackle you like that. It was instinct."
"You tackled me and then pinned me down."
"For safety!"
"You landed on me."
"FOR SAFETY!"
Kaede, scrolling through her phone, chuckled. "I think I'm gonna make this my new lock screen."
"DELETE IT."
"No."
"Delete it—!"
"Make me~."
Kaoru groaned. "Can't believe Truck-kun almost isekai'd me into the worst anime trope of all time."
Aya muttered, "I'd rather get hit by Truck-kun than deal with you again."
"Cruel," Kaoru said, fake-sniffling.
The three sat in that odd quiet—the kind that comes after a storm of stupidity.
And yet, somewhere in the middle of it all… it felt nice.
Weirdly, genuinely nice.
Like something between them was shifting.
Aya glanced over at Kaoru again, this time without saying anything. She didn't smile. But her usual irritation softened, if only by a fraction.
Kaede noticed.
She always noticed.
Back home, hours later, Kaoru opened his group chat with the gang.
Kaoru:
"We survived Truck-kun. Barely. Kinda. Still in pain.
P.S. Kaede has blackmail now."
Takeshi:
"HAHAHAHA classic. Anyways straight to business.. Send pics. Now."
Kaede:
"Already done. Check your DMs."
Takeshi:
"HELL YEAHH!!"
Naoki:
"Wait, Truck-kun like the one from every isekai anime?!"
Emi:
"Don't be dumb."
Kaoru:
Too late.
Aya stared at the chat from her end.
She didn't type anything.
Just stared at Kaoru's messages.
Then, after a long moment, she softly whispered to herself:
"…You idiot."
And yet, somehow… she didn't sound that upset.
---
(Narrator)
And thus, dear readers, Kaoru narrowly avoids death, faces a surprise tackle, a powerful kick, and once again fails to grasp that romantic tension is literally strangling the air between them. Truly… he is alone the Honoured one. (Lucky bastard..)
Also, Kaede definitely uploaded that photo to Kaoru & Aya Community shipper. (Which kaede founded alongside takeshi and emi as co founders.)
You're welcome.
---
End of Chapter Thirty-five.