I just want to quietly draw manga Chapter 338

[Note: When I started writing the chapter, it felt short. After incorporating another idea, it became longer. It took time to find the balance, but in the end, I couldn’t lengthen or shorten it without damaging the flow. So here’s the 1.5 chapter.]

Kotone had arrived at the restaurant a little early. She had chosen an izakaya-style place and booked a private room. As she scrolled through her phone while waiting, the quiet hum of chatter from outside filled the air.

A few minutes later, Haruki walked in. “You didn’t have to wait long, right?” he said, taking a seat across from her.

Kotone put her phone down and smiled faintly. “No, I just got here.”

“Congratulations on your serialized manga,” Haruki said, handing her a small gift, a Daruma doll. When Kotone had called him earlier to celebrate her first serialization, he’d left the studio early to find a gift. After looking through several things at a nearby shop, he’d settled on the Daruma, thinking it fit best.

Kotone tilted her head slightly. “Should I open it?” she asked, taking the wrapped box into her hands.

“Go ahead,” Haruki said.

As Kotone unwrapped the present, she gave a small smile. It was a Daruma doll, a symbol of perseverance, luck, and goal achievement. The doll had two blank eyes, one to be filled in when setting a goal, the other when achieving it.

Kotone looked at it and smiled faintly. “This is quite an improvement from the one you gave me back when I was your assistant.”

Haruki scratched his head, looking off to the side. “Yeah, that one was my first time giving a gift to someone.”

Realizing what she said, Kotone tried to change the tone. “No, that wasn’t that bad. I used it when I made Violet Evergarden.”

Haruki asked, “So what goal are you going to set for the doll?”

Kotone looked down at the doll, thinking for a moment. “I don’t know… maybe when Clannad reaches the top five in Echo Shroud.”

They chatted casually while waiting. Before long, the food arrived one dish after another, steam rising from the hot pot and skewers.

Haruki poured sake into their cups and raised his glass. “To Kotone, for getting her first manga serialized in Japan,” he said.

They both toasted and took a sip before digging in.

“So,” Haruki said between bites of yakitori, “have you prepared chapters in advance? It’ll be harder to maintain the art the way you do every week.”

Kotone nodded. “I’ll draw chapters in advance to avoid deadline pressure. But I still want the manga to keep a certain level of quality throughout the story.”

“Fair,” Haruki said. “But if you find a talented assistant, it’ll definitely reduce your workload. You know, I told you about my assistant Hayato. He draws most of JoJo now. He’s really skilled.”

“I know,” Kotone said. “I’ll consider it if I find someone that talented. But people like that usually want to work on bigger series. It’s too early for me to attract them. Maybe once I have a more reputable manga under my name, someone might want to join.”

Haruki nodded quietly. The conversation drifted between small talk and work.

After finishing dinner, she paid the bill, and they left the restaurant.

As Haruki walked home, the cool air brushing against his face, he felt something settle inside him, a quiet sense of normalcy. His life had finally fallen back into place. He had his manga, his old friend, and his usual routine.

---

The first Friday of August arrived, the day Kotone’s Clannad started serializing in Echo Shroud across the world.

Hina had seen the advertisement announcing that Kotone, the creator of Violet Evergarden, was starting a new manga in Echo Shroud. She had discovered Kotone through the Violet Evergarden anime, which had won this year’s Liora Award.

She had always been a fan of Maya Productions. Every anime they made looked more beautiful than the last. After seeing Violet Evergarden, she checked out the original source to see how it compared. Maya Studio often adapted artists with unique, artistic, or distinct styles, so she was excited to see how the original manga looked.

To say the least, she wasn’t disappointed. In fact, it really held up to the animation. Of course, a single panel isn’t the same as a moving image, but with Maya Productions, they always picked the best material and somehow managed to outdo even the source. Only a handful of originals could match the quality of a Maya adaptation.

That’s why Hina had started following Kotone. Talent like that on a first major work didn’t appear without something special behind it. She was interested in whatever Kotone did next.

So when she heard Kotone would release her next work in Japan in manga format, she got curious again. Many people online who were her U.S. fans and had discovered her through Violet Evergarden were somewhat disappointed that it wouldn’t be released in color, since full-color manga usually came near the end of a series to boost sales, but there was a good side to it too. The manga would now have double the content compared to her previous monthly release, since this one would be weekly.

When Hina saw the promotional poster, a boy walking up a hill toward school, cherry blossoms drifting around him, and a girl standing a few steps behind holding her bag, she could tell immediately that Kotone’s art had improved again. She bought the poster that same day. Now, after returning home from her university classes, since Fridays were half days, she freshened up and picked up the latest issue of Echo Shroud.

She opened it immediately. The new series was placed right after JoJo, which she’d heard good things about but had never tried reading. Maybe now that she was buying Echo Shroud for Clannad, she’d start reading JoJo too.

As she turned to the first page of Clannad, the chapter opened on a quiet morning, cherry blossoms drifting over the school path. Tomoya walked alone, his bag hanging loosely off his shoulder. His expression was blank, carrying the look of someone who’d been drifting for a long time, detached from his surroundings.

Hina had worried that Kotone’s art might not look as good without color, but seeing this first panel, she realized there wasn’t much difference. She had pulled it off.

As she continued reading, Tomoya slowed down at the foot of the hill leading to school. That’s when he heard a quiet voice beside him.

“Do you like this school?”

He turned and saw a girl standing a few steps ahead, looking at the long slope in front of them. She seemed nervous, talking more to herself than to him.

“I do,” she continued softly. “But… it’s not really fun anymore. Not since everyone moved on.”

Tomoya watched her for a moment, unsure how to respond. “Then just find something new,” he said plainly, starting to walk again.

After a pause, the girl called after him, “Can we walk together?”

He shrugged lightly. “Do what you want.”

They walked to school together. On the way, Nagisa mentioned the drama club that used to be active years ago. She said she was thinking of restarting it. Tomoya only shrugged. When they reached the gates, they went their separate ways.

At school, Tomoya met his friend Sunohara in their usual classroom. The mood shifted immediately, teasing, jokes, a bit of rough energy. It didn’t have the same quiet feeling as before. When he’d been walking alone, it felt like he was disconnected from everything. Sunohara complained about getting in trouble again, and Tomoya just laughed it off, telling him to stop acting like an idiot.

Later in the day, he ran into the same girl again during lunch. She was sitting alone under a tree, eating bread. They talked a little. She mentioned she had been sick last year and had to repeat the grade. She worried she wouldn’t fit in anymore.

Tomoya told her not to overthink it. “You just have to keep moving forward,” he said, half-joking, but it made her smile.

“As they parted, they finally introduced themselves.
‘I’m Okazaki Tomoya from Class D.’
‘I’m Furukawa Nagisa from Class B.’”

After classes, as Tomoya was leaving the classroom, he saw her standing in front of an empty room. They chatted for a bit.

“But since they’re only closed, once conditions are met, it can start up again,” Tomoya said, glancing inside.

She hesitated before speaking. “Do you think so?”

Tomoya looked at her. “Why not give it another try? I’ll help you too.”

They talked a little longer, and she smiled faintly before heading off. “My house is the bakery a little further ahead, in front of the park.”

That evening, Tomoya wandered around until night. As he passed by, he came across the bakery Nagisa mentioned. Remembering her invitation, he decided to step inside.

He met her mother and father, who immediately invited him to stay for dinner. The atmosphere felt warm and welcoming. For a while, it felt like the kind of family warmth he hadn’t felt in a long time.

After eating dinner, he thanked them and left, heading toward his home.

When he arrived, the lights were off. He turned them on and saw his father asleep, drunk, with an empty bottle beside him.

Tomoya sighed and stepped past him without saying anything, heading to his room. As he fell onto his bed, he muttered under his breath, “Nothing ever changes.”

As Hina finished the chapter, she muttered, “It’s finished already?” The first half of the story felt like the familiar route of a boy helping a girl as they both grew. Yet by the end of the chapter, she sensed an undercurrent of something more. she couldn’t quite place it, but it was there.