High school life was ordinary and mundane, and Kasuga no Tōru had always believed so.
He just had to do his own thing.
For him, the most important thing now was to draw the illustrations for Love Meter, although the second volume of the novel was still nowhere in sight, and he hadn’t even seen the outline. But this didn’t stop him from starting his work.
As a best-selling light novel, it was clear that Sayo-ka alone couldn’t hold the fort. Not only did it require a lot of scenes to be used as descriptive padding, but character design wasn’t something that could be done haphazardly.
Unfortunately, when Kashiwazaki Shizuka wrote the first volume, he didn’t know this arrogant girl. Naturally, the girl wouldn’t bring Kasuga no Tōru along when she was scouting for locations.
So, for the past few days after school, Kasuga no Tōru had been going to the locations on the list Kashiwazaki Shizuka had given him, one by one. He used his own brushes and the new smartphone his sister had bought him to record all these scenes, and then he would study them slowly at home.
It was quite a challenge, let’s say, to measure a city with your own two legs.
Although there were trains, stations weren’t everywhere, and the last kilometer still had to be covered on foot.
He thought this job would be a lot easier than his work at the izakaya, but now it seemed he had been too naive.
If you really wanted to do a good job, you could never say it was easy. Maybe later on, it would become more effortless with increased proficiency, but in the early stages, you had to put in more effort and hard work than usual.
Fortunately, compared to those who had put in effort without getting any results, Kasuga no Tōru’s harvest was still not small.
Sayo-ka’s illustrations were completed with his efforts.
This time, unlike when they were at the family restaurant, he had chosen a cherry blossom-filled path as the background, with the girl standing shyly at the end of the slope, her expression full of anticipation and longing for the one she loved.
But to Kasuga no Tōru, this painting seemed strangely familiar.
He felt like he had seen it somewhere before.
He cast aside all the messy thoughts in his mind and started the coloring work on the illustrations with the help of the digital tablet.
It was true that technology changed lives. Although he was used to paper and pens, and was familiar with every step of mixing colors, the boy had to admit that with the help of technology, the originally tedious work became incredibly simple. He didn’t have to worry about putting too much or too little of any paint. Just a light tap with his stylus, and he could select the corresponding color.
Even if the color was wrong, it didn’t matter. Just readjust it, instead of having to redo the whole painting like before if you made a mistake.
With the help of technology, Kasuga no Tōru’s work efficiency was greatly improved, and he completed the painting in just four days.
He imported the finished illustration into his computer, then sent it to his phone. Kasuga no Tōru sent it to Kashiwazaki Shizuka via LINE.
“Senpai, since I can’t start working on the second volume yet, I tried to revisit the scenes from the first volume. There should be some differences compared to the previous illustrator. If Senpai thinks this style goes well with your novel, I’ll continue in this direction for future work.” After attaching this message, Kasuga no Tōru satisfiedly turned off his phone screen.
Although this painting wasn’t his best work, it was one of the few in recent times that had made him feel satisfied.
They say that a man without a woman in his heart will become a god when he draws his sword, but for Kasuga no Tōru, without the pressure of life’s burdens, he could also dedicate himself wholeheartedly to things he loved.
Something drawn without distractions would definitely feel more comfortable than something drawn with a mind full of worries.
After all, the scene he drew would often be the most direct reflection of his mood at that time.
Having no money was miserable; making money was happy. This should be everyone’s shared thought, right?
Soon, he received a reply from Kashiwazaki Shizuka.
“No problem, Kasuga-kun. This is the best Sayo-ka I’ve ever seen. You understand my novel better than your predecessor.”
The girl’s reply was concise and efficient, but in just a few words, she completely demolished that predecessor who had gone who-knows-where.
Don’t think that this sentence didn’t have much power.
Think about that sentence, “You don’t understand my heart.” How long did it make the Stay-Night King resentful?
But no matter what, Kashiwazaki Shizuka was satisfied with this illustration, and she was even more excited about their future collaboration.
“Senpai is exaggerating. It’s mainly because your novel is well-written.”
“Okay, let’s stop this pointless mutual praise.” Kashiwazaki Shizuka was clearly not someone who liked to talk nonsense. “Kasuga-kun, are you free tomorrow? If you are, we can start working on the light novel. For some reasons, I don’t have much time to spare, so I can only trouble you to work a bit harder.”
Kasuga no Tōru scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and replied, “This… Senpai, can we change it to Sunday? I actually have something to do tomorrow.”
The boy was also a little helpless. When they made the agreement in the library, because of Eriri, the two of them didn’t set a specific time. They only said they would do it on the weekend.
But the problem was that the work only took one day, but the weekend had two days.
Two days ago, Eriri had impatiently made a date with him. This Saturday, the boy was going to take her around Tokyo.
So now, facing Kashiwazaki Shizuka’s invitation, he could only say sorry.
It was just that this week was too busy. Otherwise, Kasuga no Tōru would have to seriously ask himself why, in just one day, he had become entangled with two girls who could be considered major figures?
This was really too difficult…
However, Kashiwazaki Shizuka didn’t mind. It was because they hadn’t set a specific time that she was flexible. She wasn’t the kind of person who would make unreasonable demands.
Although she was prone to being venomous to others when she was in a bad mood, after seeing the Sayo-ka that Kasuga no Tōru had drawn, the girl’s current mood was clearly unrelated to a bad mood.
“Alright, then Sunday it is. I’ll send you my home address tomorrow night. I hope Kasuga-kun can arrive early.”
“Go to Senpai’s house?” Kasuga no Tōru was a little surprised. This was moving too fast. Even if they were working partners, normal people wouldn’t go to someone else’s house for work, right?
If it really didn’t work, couldn’t they find a family restaurant like that day?
“Yeah, Kasuga-kun, don’t worry. I’ve already moved out of my house. I’m renting an apartment by myself.”
“？？？” Kasuga no Tōru felt that this was even more worrisome, okay?
Who knew what this female thug would do?