As the water boiled inside the pot, Fuji washed over the small cups with boiled water, as she put the tea leaves in, and just poured the water there, and it was over.
"....." Nifuji and the tanuki.
"What's wrong? Why are you two looking at me like that?" Fuji looked at them with a strange expression, but inwardly, she felt her heart fluster as she had to say that being watched by Nifuji's eyes made her heart beat so fast.
Eyes.
It was the window of the person themselves, and many people often say that love starts from the eyes.
When two eyes meet, love often blooms.
While Fuji had read many love stories, she hadn't fallen in love, and she also never thought that she would feel it, as this was how she was, yet somehow... she felt this growing feeling that made her quite uncomfortable, as it wasn't within her comfort zone, but strangely enough, she also didn't hate it, and wished... to learn more about it.
"No..." Nifuji sighed inwardly, but after a moment of hesitation, he decided to tell about his disappointment. "I thought that I would have a proper Taiwan tea experience..." He had seen in the video how the Taiwan tea was made playfully with several ceramic cups, tapped like they were dancing, controlled by the maker of the tea.
The tanuki, while it didn't say anything, nodded as it stood at the table, following Nufuji's disappointment.
"...do you think I am a professional tea maker, enthusiast, or something?"
As Fuji showed her speechless expression due to their high expectation, Nifuji was speechless and explained further his reasoning as to why he felt disappointed by her simple tea preparation, "I mean... isn't it weird for a non-professional, or an enthusiast, to possess a Taiwan tea along with its tools?"
"Hmm...." Fuji was in deep thought before she nodded. "You are right."
"....."
Was she a little slow?
No, her mind was just often thinking of a lot of things, and within her mind, she thought of many things, but it was also due to that; it was a little late for her to express those words from her lips.
While there weren't any problems when she talked with the professionals, and for her job, since many people within her industry were weird, it gave her a little chance to create a close relationship with others, and even worse, her job made it even harder for her to create a new acquaintance, or have a wonderful encounter, so even though she was already 30 years old, she hadn't married yet.
However, she didn't think that it was a problem, as marriage didn't equal happiness, and many of her friends also hadn't married yet.
Also, her parents never urged her to marry someone; she also wasn't in a hurry, as her little brother had married, so the problem of the grandchildren had already been solved.
Still, her life had hardly changed until she picked up a pet, which led her into many encounters that she had never thought she would experience in her life, including her meeting with the naked, glasses-wearing neighbor, Nifuji Hirotaka.
"I have never asked you this, but where do you work?" Nifuji asked as he made a toast with several foods such as sausages, eggs, and salad. Frankly, he had been eating bread from morning till now, but it was fine since in many countries, breads were their daily foods.
"I am a writer."
"Writer?!" Nifuji was surprised, but he asked, "Have you published your works?"
Fuji blushed, feeling a bit embarrassed, but she nodded. "There are some you can check out at the bookstore."
"I will." Nifuji nodded. "I will definitely buy them."
"...if you want, you can borrow them from me, you know?" Fuji felt shy, but she was happy. Still—
"Well... my books might not be to your liking, and my works have always been told that it was created based on the requests of the publisher."
How can she live a comfortable life even if many writers have struggled to live?
It was because she just did what the publishers told, writing something that was asked for and popular on the market, so that way, while she hadn't created a great hit that would be marked in the millennia, or even become something that was remembered in history, she could get a steady profit and make quite a sum of income.
Instead of a pure writer, who sought to create the only one, she thought of reality more, as she knew that money was important, especially when her parents weren't young anymore, and she needed to be an adult who could rely on herself.
Yet, even if she might lower herself, the fact that she could make a living and have a comfortable life by writing was an amazing fact on its own, as many people still struggled even if they had a proper job.
"No, no. Let me buy them."
"But..."
"Those stories are your hard work, right? So, let me buy it."
"...okay."
In the end, when Fuji met Nifuji's eyes, she could only relent, yet her expression also softened, but—
"You might not like my book, so... you might borrow it first."
While she had her own success, she was still unconfident and felt like part of her work wasn't worthy of someone else's hard work money. Even if she had published many books, and people envied her, inwardly, she had many complexes as she had to think about many things, especially about her life, as she wondered whether she could continue to work like this, and whether she could keep writing a good book, and with her overthinking nature, her expression kept changing, from up to down, and in the end, she wasn't sure about anything anymore.
"....."
Nifuji was silent for a moment before he asked, "Have your books been bought by someone?"
"Yes, of course?"
While confused, Fuji answered that question.
"A lot?"
"Well... not really, but I can live comfortably."
"Is your apartment rented?"
"No, I bought it when I made a lot of money."
"....." Nifuji.
He took a deep breath as he had a strange emotion brewing within him. After all, if he didn't have a system, would he be capable of buying an apartment in this area?
He would, but he could only pay it off fully in 10 to 15 years.
Still, he understood that, unlike him, who was paid monthly by the company, Fuji was a writer, so her income was linked to the sales of her book.
If the sales of her book weren't good, then—
"Then, do you think your work isn't worthy to be bought by someone?"
"...." Fuji.
"All of those books were your hard work. While people might not see it, you must have been in tears, bleeding, and everything to write all of it till the end."
His company was also a publisher, and although it was in the education section, which was stable, instead of in pure fiction like Fuji's area of expertise, he had also seen the haggard faces of those writers who continued to write despite their lack of sleep or even unhealthy conditions.
When he thought about all of that, how could he just agree to borrow her book?
"So, let me buy them later, okay? Also, let's eat. I am starving."
Nifuji was too hungry to talk about this problem further, but—
Yup, yup!
Tanuki, who had been silent, took out its paper and wrote such a sentence.
"..." Nifuji.
Yet, while Nifuji was speechless by the ability of Fuji's pet to write a sentence, Fuji smiled softly and nodded. "Okay."