"When do you leave?" Tsushima Kagami asked.
Professor Kosaka leaned back in his chair.
"October, next semester."
"So there's plenty of time. The visa and paperwork can all be handled at a leisurely pace."
"Good."
Tsushima Kagami nodded and picked the documents back up.
Professor Kosaka looked visibly pleased as well.
After all, it was Yale.
Professor Kosaka pulled a pen from the penholder again and bent his head to keep grading the papers on his desk.
"Nothing else for now, then."
Tsushima Kagami stood, gave a small bow, turned, and walked toward the door.
He pulled it open and stepped out.
He left the building housing the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology and walked along the ginkgo-lined path toward the Faculty of Letters building.
The midday sun was noticeably harsher than the morning's, stinging a little where it hit his face.
When he reached the entrance of the Faculty of Letters building, he happened to run into two classmates coming out.
"Tsushima, you eaten yet?"
"Want to grab something with us?"
One of the guys, carrying a bento bag, tilted his chin at him.
"Sorry, already ate."
Tsushima Kagami smiled and held up his now-empty bento box for them to see.
"Aw, too bad."
One of them scratched his head, looking disappointed.
"Next time, then."
The two guys nodded and headed off toward the cafeteria, chatting as they went.
Tsushima Kagami walked into the building and down the corridor.
He climbed to the third floor and turned into one of the large tiered lecture halls.
The room was nearly empty—just one girl sitting by the window.
She had her head down, drawing in a sketchbook.
It was Sayuri.
Her bag sat on the chair beside her, and the bento Yukinoshita Shizuku had packed that morning sat empty at the corner of the desk, already finished.
She was slumped over the table, the pen in her hand moving quickly across the page, producing a faint scratching sound.
Tsushima Kagami softened his footsteps and walked over.
Sayuri was drawing with such focus that she didn't notice anyone approaching.
She bit her lower lip, brow slightly furrowed, pencil sketching and revising across the paper.
Every so often she'd pause and stare at the page for a few seconds before continuing.
Tsushima Kagami stopped half a step behind her, tilting his head slightly to look at what she was drawing.
At first he assumed it was another doujinshi.
But on closer inspection, it was actually a picture book.
A whole page showed a little bear in overalls, standing in a meadow full of blooming flowers.
It held a butterfly net, its expression earnest and clumsy.
The linework was softer than manga linework, and though the colors hadn't been added yet,
the pencil shading and strokes suggested the finished piece would carry a warm, faintly nostalgic tone.
The style was distinctive.
Unlike most children's picture books on the market, which tended to be either overly saccharine or overly simplified, this had a maturity that went beyond what you'd expect from a children's book.
And yet, buried within that mature brushwork was a very genuine, childlike playfulness.
The bear's crooked overall strap, the tiny patch on the butterfly net,
the few flowers in the grass bent sideways by the wind—
these details weren't drawn for children to notice, but children would understand them all the same.
And the things that would catch an adult's eye at a glance were hidden precisely in those seemingly casual details.
Tsushima Kagami quickly ran through his limited experience with bookstores.
Back when he used to accompany Little Nijika to buy books, he'd rarely seen decent children's literature or picture books.
Most of what filled the shelves were imported Western children's picture books,
or Japanese-style fairy tales with near-identical art styles and formulaic content.
When it came to picture books, Kagami felt this world's Japan had a serious problem with homogenized style.
Maybe everyone just assumed that since it was for children, no one needed to take it too seriously.
Occasionally a book would catch his eye, and when he flipped it over, the author was usually some elderly veteran.
Among the younger generation of artists, very few could produce a distinctive style.
After all, in the art field in Japan, most people either chased their dreams in the animation industry or set their sights on becoming manga artists.
Those who went into picture-book illustration were mostly people who'd washed out of those two fields and had nowhere else to go.
So the picture book industry was an odd one—competition was fierce, but the styles never really evolved.
Unlike manga and anime, where art styles shifted and developed with the times every year.
As Tsushima Kagami was thinking this, Sayuri suddenly stopped drawing.
She lifted her head and glanced to the side.
Probably reaching for her water cup, she turned and her gaze landed right on Tsushima Kagami standing behind her.
"Waaah!"
Sayuri jerked back, the chair screeching sharply against the floor, the pencil nearly flying out of her hand.
"Y-you—when did you get behind me?!"
She clutched her chest, staring at Tsushima Kagami with wide eyes.
"You scared me to death! Why don't your footsteps make any sound at all?!"
Tsushima Kagami watched her still-shaken state, the corner of his mouth curling slightly.
"Just got here."
"You were so focused on your drawing you didn't notice me."
Sayuri was still clutching her chest, her heartbeat clearly not settled yet.
"Honestly, Kagami, you always do this to scare me!"
"Sneaking up behind people without a sound every single time is genuinely terrifying, you know."
"I'll be more careful next time."
Tsushima Kagami said with a smile, his tone showing not the slightest hint of remorse.
He honestly found it entertaining to startle Sayuri.
Especially the strange yelp she let out...
Sayuri eyed him suspiciously, clearly not buying it, but she didn't press further.
She looked down at the little bear on her page, checking that the sudden jump hadn't left any stray marks on the paper, then let out a breath of relief.
She turned the sketchbook toward Tsushima Kagami, her tone carrying a mix of anticipation and shyness.
"So, how is it?"
Tsushima Kagami didn't rush to comment. He bent down and studied the page carefully.
The bear's nose was drawn round, with a small highlight in its eyes that made it look a bit dim-witted.
The grass strokes were light and dense, all bending in the same direction as the wind blew through.
Even the straps of the bear's overalls fluttered slightly along with it.
"This is really good."
Tsushima Kagami said.
"Really?"
"Yeah. The style is distinctive—you don't see this kind of thing in children's picture books on the market."
Tsushima Kagami said, settling into the chair beside her.
"At least I couldn't draw in this style myself, but I really like it, Sayuri."
Hearing that Tsushima Kagami hadn't just praised her but also admitted he couldn't draw like this himself, Sayuri gave an embarrassed little laugh.
"Ahaha, it's not that great."
"So why the sudden switch to picture books? I thought you were working on a new doujinshi again."
Tsushima Kagami went on.
Sayuri picked her pencil back up and added a few shading lines to the wrinkles in the bear's overalls as she spoke.
"It's a part-time job."
"Part-time job?"
"Yeah."
Sayuri nodded, her pen never stopping.
"The money I saved selling doujinshi at conventions back in high school has all gone toward tuition and enrollment fees."
"I don't want to keep relying on my family either, so I've been thinking about getting a part-time job."
At that, her pen paused, and a troubled look crossed her face.
"I tried one of those convenience store shifts where you stand all day. By the end my legs didn't feel like mine anymore—it was more exhausting than drawing manga all night."
"I guess I really can't handle that kind of grind."
Tsushima Kagami pictured Sayuri behind a convenience store counter, forcing out a standard customer-service smile, and decided that image really didn't fit.
"So."
Sayuri set down her pencil and flipped the page over, revealing a fresh blank sheet.
"I kept thinking about whether there was some part-time job suited to me."
"A while back in class, the professor talked about the state of the children's literature publishing industry."
"He said a lot of publishers were looking to reform their picture book styles."
"They need younger illustrators with a style that fits the new era, something recognizable."
She looked up at Tsushima Kagami, her eyes bright.
"My chosen track was children's literature to begin with, so I thought, isn't this perfect?"
"I can't write stories, but I can draw."
"So I put together a collection of the picture-book-style drawings I'd done before, picked a few of the more polished ones, and sent them to a few publishers."
"And then?"
"And then someone actually replied."
There was an unmistakable note of excitement in Sayuri's voice as she said it.
"A small publisher said they were looking for an illustrator for children's literature, and they liked my style, so they had me do a trial piece."
"They were happy with it, so they signed me to a short-term contract."
"That's amazing—Sayuri's really grown up."
Tsushima Kagami said, patting Sayuri's head.
Hearing that, Sayuri's mouth curved into a smile, and she touched the hand resting on her head, laughing sheepishly.
"Heheh, it's not that amazing."
"Might just be good luck. Next time I might not land any work at all."
"But the moment I got the contract, I really was happy."
She leaned back against her chair and let out a long breath.
"It made me feel like I'm not completely useless outside of drawing doujinshi."
"Sayuri was personally trained by me—how could you possibly be useless?"
"Whether it's manga or picture books, being appreciated is only natural."
"Give yourself a little more confidence."
"...Is that really true?"
"Do you really think I'm that good, Kagami?"
Sayuri looked at him in surprise, wondering why Tsushima Kagami was being so generous with his praise today.
Tsushima Kagami looked at her but didn't answer right away.
Instead, he reached out, took the picture book manuscript, and began flipping through it page by page.
The little bear's story continued.
On the second page, the bear chased a butterfly into a stretch of forest. On the third, it sat on a tree stump, lost and dazed. On the fourth, a little rabbit poked its head out of a burrow to look at it.
The plot was fairly conventional—the kind of moral fable meant to teach children not to panic when facing difficulties, to think calmly, and that it's fine to ask others for help.
But the way it was expressed visually was anything but conventional.
"Your picture book style really is one of a kind, Sayuri."
Tsushima Kagami said, sounding impressed.
Sayuri tilted her head.
"What do you mean? Good or bad?"
"Good, obviously."
"Most children's picture books tend to use bright, vivid colors, simple lines, content that's clear at a glance."
"And that's part of what makes picture books suitable for school-age kids, of course."
"But yours..."
Tsushima Kagami studied Sayuri's picture book, noting how it differed from the watercolor style common on the market.
Not only were the colors softer, but she'd also folded in the printmaking style he'd once taught the three of them.
He felt this style suited fantastical fairy tales especially well.
Seeing that Tsushima Kagami had gone quiet for a long stretch without finishing his thought,
Sayuri grew a little anxious.
"So... does that mean it's not suitable for kids, Kagami?"
Tsushima Kagami blinked, caught slightly off guard.
"It's less about whether it's suitable for kids, and more about whether it catches the eye when a parent brings their child to buy it."
"There's a good chance it'll grab attention at a glance, Sayuri's style."
"Huh, but aren't picture books meant for kids to look at?"
"Exactly."
"But kids don't have money."
"The decision-making power is entirely in the parents' hands."
"Parents are a kind of creature with absolute, unreasonable authority."
"Whatever the parents decide is suitable for their kid, that's what the kid ends up looking at."
"They think the kid's too young to understand anything anyway."
"So it's even easier for them to just decide unilaterally."
Sayuri thought it over carefully.
"I guess that's true."
"That's actually kind of sad."
"No wonder everyone wants to grow up fast."
Tsushima Kagami went on.
"So for children's literature picture books, the first hurdle isn't the kids—it's the parents."
"A parent flips through a book in the store. The first thing that grabs them is the cover art, the second is the story, and only once they're satisfied with both do they actually pay for it to take home for their kid."
"So Sayuri's style might end up unexpectedly well-suited to the market."
"Still, since this is your first attempt at children's book illustration, you'll want to keep building up experience."
There was something subtle in Sayuri's picture book style.
Mature, but not jaded. Childlike, but not naive.
Parents would probably be willing to pay for a book like this.
And willing to read it to their kids over and over again.
Tsushima Kagami thought back to the times he'd gone book shopping with Little Nijika.
Nijika had particular taste when picking out books, but every time they made a round through the children's picture book section, what she ended up buying was usually one of the imported foreign titles.
It wasn't that the kid had some bias toward foreign things—it was that Japan's homegrown children's picture books genuinely weren't up to par.
Either the art styles were so similar they looked stamped from the same template, or the stories were the same handful of traditional fairy tales recycled over and over.
This world's Japan, it seemed, was also missing a lot of interesting children's literature.
Tsushima Kagami's gaze settled on the unfinished page of Sayuri's manuscript, and something started turning over in his mind.
"What's wrong?"
Sayuri's voice pulled him back from his thoughts.
She was tilting her head at him, a hint of confusion in her eyes.
"Nothing."
"Just thinking about something."
"Thinking about what?"
Tsushima Kagami glanced at her but didn't answer right away, changing the subject instead.
"Oh, right, I've never actually asked."
"Why did you choose children's literature as your track, Sayuri?"
____
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