(TL:- if you want even more content, check out p-atreon.com/Alioth23 for 50+ advanced chapters)
On the way home from school, Haruki's thoughts—momentarily stirred by Kanna—gradually settled back to normal.
After all, if his goal was to truly become a professional manga artist, then hiding his identity forever wasn't realistic. Eventually, someone was bound to figure it out. For now, it was just one classmate. As long as she didn't bother him, it wasn't a big deal.
He picked up some takeout on the way and made it home just before dusk.
After a short rest, Haruki sat down at his drawing desk.
Stacks of manga manuscripts covered the surface—his work over the past week. Compared to when he'd first received the system and felt completely out of his depth, he'd adapted. Maybe even started to enjoy it a little.
Even though the story ideas didn't originate from him, it was still his hand bringing them to life—each panel crafted with care. Just that afternoon, someone had even asked for his autograph through Kanna.
To be honest, it gave him a real sense of accomplishment.
He slipped into his usual rhythm. His hand moved steadily, precisely recreating the scenes in his head with practiced ease.
Two hours passed in silence—until it was broken by a loud knock on the door.
Just from the sound of it, Haruki immediately knew who it was.
He stood up with a frown and opened the door with clear annoyance on his face.
"Sora, didn't I tell you? I need to—"
But his voice cut off the moment he saw who was standing there.
Two girls stood outside.
On the left was Sora Aizawa, her hair tied up and a playful smile in her eyes, wearing a crisp white dress.
"Surprise~" she chimed.
But Haruki's gaze had already shifted to the girl standing next to her.
She looked about sixteen or seventeen, dressed in a black skirt that came down to her knees. Her long, dark hair flowed down like silk, and her eyes, clear and steady, blinked as if in recognition.
Haruki froze. So did she.
"Haruki?" she said softly.
"Kotone?" he blurted out.
They spoke at the same time.
Sora stood blinking between them.
"…Wait, you two know each other?"
Inside Haruki's modest apartment, the three sat in the living room. Haruki and Kotone faced each other, while Sora sat on the side, now caught up on the situation.
"So you two went to the same school?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's unexpected."
Haruki nodded, glancing at Kotone, then back at Sora.
It wasn't surprising that he knew who Kotone was—after all, she was the top student in their year. Nearly everyone in school had at least heard of her. What was surprising was that she recognized him.
According to Kotone, it was from the time she collapsed from low blood sugar and Haruki had carried her to the infirmary. That left a strong enough impression that she never forgot his face.
Do girls really have memories that sharp? Haruki wondered. First Kanna, now Kotone…
In truth, he'd almost forgotten both the incident and the time Kanna found the manuscripts in his desk. But clearly, they hadn't.
"I really didn't expect the mysterious new artist behind The Garden of Words to be… you," Kotone said.
"What?" Haruki tilted his head, a little amused. "That I was some tired old man?"
Kotone hesitated. She didn't want to admit she'd assumed the author was a woman.
With the delicate emotional beats in The Garden of Words—the quiet melancholy, the subtle introspection—it felt like something only a woman could have written. She remembered teasing Sora about it too. No wonder her editor reacted so strongly when she suggested Shuishin-sensei might be an older woman.
But now, the truth was in front of her.
It was surprising… but also satisfying. She finally knew who had been behind the story she'd admired for so long.
Still, Kotone hadn't forgotten why she was here.
"So, uh… Sora—Miss Aizawa," Haruki corrected himself mid-sentence under her glare, "you said yesterday you'd help me find an assistant… is it her?"
He glanced at Kotone, slightly overwhelmed.
"Yup! Didn't I say I'd find you a cute girl to help out?" Sora grinned triumphantly. "See? I wasn't lying!"
Kotone's cheeks turned slightly red as she shot Sora a look.
Cute girl…? Seriously, what is she saying…
Haruki stared at them, feeling more and more confused.
This doesn't make sense.
Kotone was the top student at their school—what was someone like her doing becoming a manga assistant?
Shouldn't she be at home prepping for university exams?
"This is… kind of unexpected," Haruki said honestly, scratching his cheek. "But, Kotone-san, isn't this a critical time for you? Wouldn't working as an assistant interfere with your studies?"
"Interfere?" Kotone tilted her head slightly. "Not really."
"I've already learned everything I need from school. For the past year, I've been using my evenings to work on my own manga and help out as an assistant."
She gave a calm, matter-of-fact shrug.
"Studying all day every day gets boring. I've already got a good chance of getting into the university I want."
Haruki blinked. He was more confused than before.
"So… what you're saying is… even if you skip night classes and don't cram, it won't affect your grades?"
"Night classes?" Kotone looked genuinely puzzled. "Cramming?"
"I've… never really done any of that," she said simply. "Last year, the school tried to make summer classes mandatory, and I even filed a complaint to the Education Board for overloading students…"
"…Okay! That's enough!"
Haruki slumped back into the sofa, defeated.
He'd always known he wasn't a top student—he could never really grasp things just by sitting in class, and he didn't have the energy to keep up. So he just coasted along.
But now this—this wasn't just a top student. This was a different species.
She was effortlessly first in their top-tier school in Minato City—possibly even across all of Tokyo—and still had time to draw manga and help others with theirs.
That saying was true after all… The gap between people is sometimes bigger than the gap between a person and a pig…
And the craziest part? This genius girl who was probably heading for Todai or Kyoto University… was voluntarily becoming his assistant because she liked The Garden of Words.
"What are you two even going on about?" Sora said, exasperated. "I brought her here to be your assistant, not for some weird academic interview."
She pulled a bundle of manuscripts from her bag and handed them to Haruki.
"Here—these are some of Kotone's previous works."
"You can see for yourself. She's more than qualified."
"If she hadn't liked The Garden of Words so much and gotten curious about the author, I doubt she'd have agreed to this in the first place."