I just want to quietly draw manga Chapter 336

“It completely surprised me with the tone of the story compared to how it was going in part one. It goes from high school drama to part two, which is about adulthood, loss, grief, family, and acceptance,” Morishita said, looking at Kotone.

“Thank you,” Kotone said quietly.

“And that epilogue... just reading it made me feel so much emotion. I think I might take a week off to spend time with my wife. It’s such a powerful story,” Morishita said, still praising the work.

After calming down a little , he asked, “So, have you experimented with other endings or directions for this story? This version is perfect, I just wanted to ask.”

Kotone nodded. “Yes, I did write it in another direction. It was good, but my friend Haruki said this version would work better. I had actually written a more hopeful and good ending before.”

Hearing that, Morishita froze for a second. So Mizushiro had given her this direction. No wonder it felt familiar, that same pain he could barely handle reading. “Can you tell me about your version before this one?” he asked, his tone curious but careful.

Kotone smiled faintly and told him about it. Sure enough, it was a warm and hopeful story that turned tragic with just a few simple changes. Listening, Morishita couldn’t deny how good it was, and at the same time, he admired her flexibility, the kind of openness that allowed her to embrace adjustments, even if they weren’t part of her original idea, to make the story even stronger.

After that, he asked, “How many chapters will it take?” It was standard procedure to estimate the serialization length. Judging from the draft, it seemed around a hundred chapters, which was within the range for Echo Shroud’s main magazine, Shroud Line.

“It will be around ninety,” Kotone said.

He nodded slowly. “I can’t give you a guarantee,” he said after a pause, “but I can say there’s a strong possibility this will be published.”

“Thank you for taking your time,” Kotone said politely.

Morishita gave a small smile. “In Friday’s meeting, I’ll make sure it gets published.”

After that, Kotone decided to delay her appointments with the other two publishers to the next week. Since she’d gotten a positive review here, she thought it was better to wait for Echo Shroud’s final answer first.

That Friday, in the meeting room.

Editor-in-chief Amane entered and took her seat. “I hope you all have found the kind of work we’re looking for.”

Amane had been in a good mood lately since the magazine had reached the number three ranking. Otherwise, she would’ve been putting heavy pressure on them to bring in strong drafts. For now, though, she was relaxed, and everyone hoped it would stay that way.

The editors began going through drafts one by one.

When they reached Clannad, submitted by Morishita , they started reading. They only had time to go through the first four chapters before moving on to the next. Most of them had mixed feelings.

“The art is beautiful,” one editor said. “Have we seen this mangaka before? The art style feels familiar... is it someone famous?”

“The story’s good,” another added, “but it’s quite cliché. This kind of trope has been done so many times.”

“Yes, but even if it’s cliché, it’s still a good story,” someone else said. “And the art elevates it.”

“The story’s fine,” one of them sighed, “but I don’t think it can fill the gap we’re searching for. It’ll probably stay in the bottom ten.”

Morishita listened, nodding. Their points were valid, but they hadn’t seen the full picture yet.

“Just read the summary and the last two chapters,” he said calmly.

“We don’t have that much time,” one editor said. “We agreed to give each work only a four-chapter chance.”

Haruka, flipping through the pages, suddenly paused. The name of the mangaka caught her attention. It felt familiar. After a second, her eyes widened.

“Wait,” she said, “is this Kotone, Mizushiro’s former assistant?”

Morishita nodded. “Yes. And before you judge too quickly, I think you should all read the summary and the last few chapters.”

After hearing she’d been Mizushiro’s assistant, the editors exchanged looks. Curiosity got the better of them. Maybe she would surprise them the same way he always did.

They began reading. The summary explained Tomoya’s life, how he’d grown up, married Nagisa, and started a family. How Nagisa died during childbirth, leaving him alone with their daughter, Ushio. How he distanced himself and later rebuilt their bond. Then, Ushio fell ill with the same sickness as her mother.

By the time they reached the end, the room had gone quiet.

Someone cleared their throat, trying to look away, but their eyes were already wet.

Many of the editors wondered why the epilogue was included. They usually didn’t check those when deciding serializations, but they still read it. The epilogue described an alternate world, where Tomoya dreamed of the same family that had been lost, existing in a place untouched by tragedy.

As they finished, the air in the room felt heavy. No one spoke. Even the ones who’d dismissed it earlier had a faint lump in their throat.

Now they understood why the epilogue existed.

“She’s definitely Mizushiro’s assistant,” one of them said quietly. “I didn’t expect this... reading the first four chapters to the last four feels like two completely different stories.”

“She might be even better than Mizushiro,” another added, half-joking. “At least she gives closure. Mizushiro just leaves you wrecked.”

Morishita exhaled lightly. “About that, in her original draft, Kotone had written a hopeful story. But after a few small suggestions from Haruki, the tone shifted, it became tragic instead. She didn’t want to write it that way at first, but once Haruki suggested it, she envisioned the story fully and realized it felt right.”

“What’s wrong with Mizushiro now?” one of them said. “He can’t write new manga, so now he’s influencing everyone around him to write tragedies like him?”

Haruka chuckled under her breath. “Actually, Mizushiro’s helping one of his current assistants realize his idea... so you never know.”

Everyone turned toward her in surprise. Haruka making a joke was rare. She immediately looked down. Why did I even say that... she thought.

Amane, noticing the shift in mood, decided to redirect. “I think this work has potential to reach the top of Echo Shroud. The first arc may be cliché, but it’s a good story, and the artwork is excellent. It will definitely captivate readers. Part two is strong — there’s nothing to criticize there. So, this work will start publication next month.”

As they moved to the next draft, most of their minds were still on Clannad. Seeing that, Amane sighed lightly and said, “Let’s take an hour break.”

Everyone agreed almost immediately.