After chatting for a few moments, seeing the considerable pile of manuscripts on Bai Qing's desk, Fang Qiu didn't want to disturb her any further, so she said her goodbyes, turned, and left.
No sooner had Fang Qiu gone than several of the female editors set down the manuscripts in their hands and gathered around.
"A new book from Fang Qiu? That's awfully diligent—the Lantern Rite just ended, and here she is already turning in a manuscript."
"How nice. If only the authors I manage were this hardworking..."
"Ugh, one of my authors just gave me a real headache. If only mine took submitting manuscripts as seriously as Fang Qiu does."
"Ah Qing, hurry and take a look—what's Fang Qiu's new book called?"
As the editors spoke, they cast expectant glances her way.
"Mm."
Bai Qing nodded and drew Fang Qiu's manuscript out of the paper bag.
On the very first line of the first page, written in delicate, graceful handwriting, was a four-character title:
Weathering With You.
Weathering With You?
A child of the weather?
The editors were all momentarily taken aback.
The title of Fang Qiu's book was as strange as ever.
They'd all long since grown used to it...
So, after a brief pause, their gazes drifted downward.
They looked to the sentence meant for the title page, right beside a smear of pastry filling-cream that had been smudged onto the manuscript.
[From now on, the skies will clear.]
"Do you all want to read it together?"
Bai Qing asked.
"Ah Qing, you can do it."
The editors didn't answer; instead, they patted Bai Qing earnestly on the shoulder as they spoke.
With that, they said nothing more, turned, and left.
Feeling the pitying looks of her senior colleagues, Bai Qing let out a helpless sigh. She picked up her teacup and took a sip, then patted her cheeks and exhaled a long breath.
She looked at the manuscript in her hands, her gaze resolute.
This time, she would surely be able to hold off Fang Qiu's assault!
And so, she turned to the first page.
The story began aboard a ship in Inazuma.
At the crew's urging, the passengers who had finally come up on deck to bask in the sun now that the weather had cleared reluctantly returned belowdecks.
Hodaka Morishima—a boy with a bruise on his face who had run away from home after suffering domestic abuse—seized the moment when the crew wasn't watching and excitedly dashed out onto the deck.
"Domestic abuse? A bruise?"
Bai Qing was slightly startled. Could it be that Fang Qiu was writing a story about family?
Just a few days ago, she'd heard that Fang Qiu had collaborated with Master Yun on a play about family.
Could the new book also be about family?
Mm...
No—regarding Hodaka Morishima's past, Fang Qiu had only mentioned it in passing, with no intention whatsoever of digging any deeper.
The book's theme probably wasn't family.
She read on.
Boundless dark clouds swiftly closed in from all directions. A single drop of rain fell on Hodaka Morishima's face, and at once a torrential downpour came pouring down across the whole sky. Soaked in an instant, Hodaka Morishima's face lit up with excitement as he began running across the rain-drenched deck.
The rain came down hard. Just as Hodaka Morishima was thrilled to be arriving in Inazuma City, it was as though the cry of a sea beast rang out from the sky. Rain like ocean waves suddenly came crashing down, and even the entire hull of the ship began to rock violently.
Hodaka Morishima lost his footing, his whole body sliding toward the edge of the ship.
If he fell into the ocean, in a downpour like this, hardly anyone would ever notice him.
Just as the situation turned perilous, a middle-aged man grabbed hold of him.
He was saved.
At the same time, the skies cleared as well.
Bathed in the clearing sunlight, Hodaka Morishima was "extorted" by his rescuer into buying the most expensive meal on the ship, plus a very pricey drink.
Inazuma City is terrifying.
Or so Hodaka Morishima said.
Reading this far, Bai Qing couldn't help but smile.
That was Fang Qiu, all right.
In no time at all, she'd established the image of a middle-aged man who seemed reliable yet not quite so reliable.
This middle-aged fellow could step forward to rescue a stranger at the critical moment, and then, right after saving him, turn around and have a boy treat him to the most expensive meal and a very pricey drink.
What an interesting character concept.
At the same time, she also found something odd.
This rain—wasn't it a bit too heavy?
Still, since this book was called Weathering With You, the heavy rain in the opening was probably tied to the theme.
And so, she read on.
At last, the ship arrived at Inazuma City.
As they disembarked, in the course of chatting with the middle-aged man, the man asked Hodaka Morishima what he'd come to Inazuma to do.
Hodaka Morishima told the man that he'd come to visit relatives, and that his school's break had started fairly early.
The man glanced at Hodaka Morishima and said nothing more, but instead handed him a business card, telling him that if he ran into any difficulties, he could come find him.
From the card, Hodaka Morishima learned the man's name.
Keisuke Suga.
However, Hodaka Morishima had not come to visit relatives.
He had run away from home.
Having arrived in Inazuma, Hodaka Morishima wanted to find work, but he was turned away everywhere on account of his age.
By nightfall, Hodaka Morishima was walking alone down the streets.
Heavy rain fell from the sky.
Seeing him walking alone down the street, two soldiers of the Tenryou Commission approached to question him about his situation.
To avoid being sent back home, Hodaka Morishima hurriedly fled, and in the end crouched in the doorway of a tavern to shelter from the rain.
"Inazuma City is terrifying, but I don't want to go back. I absolutely refuse to go back."
Hodaka Morishima shared the last of his food with a stray kitten, then curled up beside a heap of garbage and fell asleep.
But before long, he was woken by a commotion.
It was two women and a man.
Hodaka Morishima hurriedly apologized, but as he made to leave, the man deliberately stuck out a foot and tripped him.
As Hodaka Morishima fell, he knocked over the trash can beside him.
Garbage spilled all across the ground, and among it he spotted a sealed paper bag.
Taking the paper bag with him, he made his way to a restaurant.
Sitting in a corner, he opened the paper bag, and out tumbled a finely crafted, compact gun.
"A gun?"
Bai Qing was slightly startled.
Guns she did know about—there were quite a few of them over in Snezhnaya.
There were not only meter-long guns, but also small ones like the kind Fang Qiu wrote of, which could be held in a single hand.
This weapon called a gun had a terrifying capacity for attack. It was said that a single shot could shatter a door panel, and taking a life was no trouble at all.
She never would have expected Fang Qiu's new book to involve such a thing.
In the book, Hodaka Morishima hastily hid the gun away. He glanced at the people around him, and only after seeing that no one had noticed him did he breathe a sigh of relief.
"It's probably just a toy."
Hodaka Morishima tucked the gun back into the paper bag and started drinking his water.
Just then, a young girl appeared before him and handed him something to eat.
The girl was an employee of the shop.
She told him that, having watched him treat that cup of free water as his dinner for several days running, she was giving him a meal on the house.
Reading of the radiantly smiling girl beneath Fang Qiu's pen, Bai Qing couldn't help but smile knowingly.
A few days earlier, she'd gone with her senior colleagues to see Your Name, and had gained a basic understanding of this thing called animation.
Reading Fang Qiu's description, it was as though she could see the girl in the animation smiling radiantly at the boy.
For some reason she couldn't quite explain, Bai Qing found herself recalling the earlier scene of Hodaka Morishima feeding the cat.
They really were rather alike.
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