Encounters and Reunions

One day in early December, Haruto visited Gift Publishing to discuss work stuff with his editor and ran into veteran writer Makina Kaizu in front of the elevator.

“Hello, Fuwa,” Kaizu said, sounding as gloomy as usual. “Another edit meeting?”

Haruto nodded at him. “Yeah. You too?”

“Me too. I just wrapped up, so I’m heading home.”

“Ah, I see. Hope you’re not too busy.”

Haruto was just about to nod and leave when Kaizu stopped him. “Oh, actually, Fuwa…”

“Yes?”

“I heard Hashima and Kani started dating. It’s nice to be young, isn’t it…?”

Kaizu’s editor, by the way, was GF Bunko editor in chief Satoshi Godo, an eyewitness to the hospital scene.

“Ha-ha… I guess so.”

Haruto gave him a vague smile as he wondered just how far the story had spread. Kaizu, meanwhile, flashed a glum, leering smile.

“But how about you, Fuwa?”

“How about me what?”

“You know, that new writer with big tits.”

“…Honestly, I don’t know what to do with her,” he said with a pained grin.

This new writer was Ui Aioi, who won the grand prize at the recent 15th GF Bunko New Writers Contest. She had been attending a school for aspiring novelists that Haruto held a guest lecture at once, and the two of them wound up in a mid-class argument that apparently changed her entire approach to writing—and ever since, she’d been smitten with him. And while he certainly didn’t mind her respect as a writer, or even as a teacher, Ui was clearly trying to build a bridge between that and a not-so-platonic relationship.

“She’s invited me out to eat a few times since…and I’m still finding a way to dodge it every time.”

“Ooh, I don’t like the sound of that. If you aren’t interested, you should just say so. Then I can swoop in and whisk this wounded, busty beauty off her feet.”

“You are so sleazy,” Haruto countered. “But, like, I know just coming out and saying so is probably what I oughtta do…and yet whenever we’re together, I start thinking twice about it.”

“…Yeah, well, those tits and all…”

“Exactly,” he gravely nodded. “If we ever met alone and she came up to me with those, then I might just fall for her whether I’ve got another girl in mind or not.”

Haruto didn’t exactly have high hopes for his ability to resist temptation. That was doubly true now that his friend Itsuki Hashima had recently gotten a girlfriend. He hadn’t heard it from the horse’s mouth or anything, but he assumed Natsuki swiped Itsuki’s V-card the night of her welcome-home party. Itsuki was his friend, his rival, and something of a little-brother figure to him, and honestly, the lead he appeared to have in the imaginary race between them was a cause of concern.

Miyako had clearly said no to Haruto. There was no need to be all chaste—he knew this was all for his own sake.

He was attracted to Ui’s chest, and the rest of her looks, too, and his words driving her all the way to her professional debut painted her in a very positive light to him. If she pushed any harder in the current state of things, there was every chance she’d push him right into the kind of relationship she wanted.

“Ahh, yes, I completely understand,” Kaizu said, earnestly agreeing. “That’s the way men are. But you can’t run from her forever, can ya? As a man and as a writer she looks up to.”

“No,” Haruto said, meekly shaking his head.

“Well, why don’t you take her out for drinks sometime? Not just you and her, but as kind of a social gathering between writers. I could join in, y’know, and I won’t hesitate to talk to her and her big tits, too.”

…It was funny how he framed this as a way of helping Haruto out, of all things.

“So, like, kind of a writing industry mixer?”

Kaizu’s eyes stared into blank space. “Christmas is coming up, y’know…and I hate to be alone…”

Haruto sighed. “Well…having multiple people there would be helpful. I’ll try going with that…”

“Perfect. Hee-hee-hee… My first drinking party in ages… I’m gonna rock this!”

Between Kaizu’s gloomy face and suppressed giggling, Haruto couldn’t help but laugh.

Once he wrapped up his own editorial meeting, Haruto texted Ui about holding a meetup with Kaizu and several other writers. He didn’t have to wait long for a reply.

I’d love to join! Aoba Kasamatsu, one of the runners-up, lives in Tokyo, too. I’ll ask her to come along.

She wasn’t insisting on being alone with him. That came as a relief.

Great. Thank you! And I’ll invite Itsuki Hashima and Nayuta Kani.

Haruto followed this up with a quick invite text to Itsuki. Again, it didn’t take long to hear back.

Kanikou doesn’t want to, so I can’t.

…Apparently, they were together right that moment. It would be kind of weird to have a preestablished couple at a mixer like this, so no worries.

Still, he wanted to keep it even between the sexes. Bringing Miyako and Ui together sounded like a bomb just waiting to go off, so Haruto struck one more person from the list. Who else could he invite…?

He thought about this as he walked out of his publisher’s building, only to find a familiar face.

“Hello there, Fuwa,” Chihiro Hashima said, jogging up to him.

“Hey, Chihiro. Heading over to Itsuki’s place?”

“No, he’s out today, so I’m just making dinner and going home.”

“Ah, I see.”

Haruto thought for a moment. Here was a guy, second year in high school; gets along easily with people; cares for them; a handsome kid, almost in an androgynous kind of way. And since he had a writer as a brother, he could keep up with conversations about nerd stuff and the publishing business. His presence as an underage participant would keep Ui from doing anything too forward, and it’d also turn it into a nice, decent dinner out without dragging on for too long.

“Fuwa?” Chihiro quizzically asked.

“…Chihiro,” Haruto half begged, “are you free this Sunday?”

It was evening the following Sunday. Haruto was at an Italian-style bar; the place was decorated smartly without being too high-end and boasted decent-priced food and drink. It was apparently popular for girls’ nights out and the like, but it had only just opened for the day, so things weren’t very busy yet.

Counting him, there were six people at their table—three men and three women, facing one another from their respective sides. The men’s side featured Haruto Fuwa, Makina Kaizu, and Chihiro Hashima; the women’s side had Ui Aioi, Aoba Kasamatsu, and…Ashley Ono.

Chihiro mentioned to her that he was going out with Haruto and a few others, and she insisted on joining in. Haruto was extremely resistant to having someone like Ashley at this mixer, but he couldn’t think of any other women who would fit in, and having a tax accountant to talk things over with the new writers would help them out going forward, so he had no reason to turn her down. Of course, if he had been around to hear Ashley whisper “Haruto Fuwa, handsome anime-adapted novelist… Now that could work…” when she reached out to him, he probably wouldn’t have been so optimistic.

From the far end, they were lined up with Chihiro facing Ashley, Kaizu facing Aoba, and Haruto facing Ui. As far as clothing, Chihiro was in a standard pair of jeans and a hoodie, Haruto in a casual jacket. Ashley had her usual red dress. Kaizu was sporting a well-pressed, attractive dress jacket, much nicer than the wrinkly mess he brought to the awards party. Aoba had a checkered skirt and a turtleneck sweater on. And, while Ui’s knit dress wasn’t open around the chest like her outfit from the party, it still followed her natural curves closely and made her ooze erotic energy.

“Um, well, how about we order some drinks?” Haruto suggested after they all introduced themselves.

“Oolong tea,” Kaizu immediately decided.

“Um, I’ll have oolong tea, too,” Chihiro said.

“Hmm,” Ashley mused as she studied the drink menu, “I’ll get one of their special sangrias, red, please.”

Ui looked at her menu, then up at Haruto. “What will you get, Fuwa?”

“I’ll go with a beer for now.”

He’d been considering wine, what with this being an Italian place, but he didn’t know much about it, so he figured beer was safer to start with.

“I’ll do the same thing, then,” Ui said with a smile. “What about you, Kasamatsu?”

“…Cranberry juice,” Aoba replied, not bothering to hide her poor mood. She’d been nervous and excited when she first came in, but she’d been acting like this ever since the moment she saw Nayuta Kani wasn’t in the crowd.

They called over a waiter to order the drinks, along with some marinated olives, prosciutto, and other light bites.

“…What’s got you down, Kasamatsu?” Haruto ventured with a chuckle.

“…I came because I heard Kani would be here. I guess that was a lie.”

Aoba stared straight at Ui. She was a huge fan of Nayuta Kani, and anyone who read her prizewinning work, Memories of the Sky, could tell it was heavily influenced by Nayuta’s novels.

“I just said I heard Fuwa was going to invite Kani. I didn’t guarantee she would show up,” Ui said awkwardly.

“I did invite her,” Haruto said, “but she said she had a date with her boyfriend.”

Although she was still peeved, Aoba flicked her eyebrows upward a few times with interest. “Her—her boyfriend? I should have known Kani had a fulfilling private life, too.”

“Yeah. And actually, the guy is the older brother of Chihiro over there.”

“What?!” Aoba shot a look at Chihiro, sizing up his face. “…If he’s your brother, he must be incredibly handsome. I have to hand it to Kani…”

Haruto reflexively laughed at Chihiro’s distress.

“In fact, I think you’ve met him before. Itsuki mentioned you exchanged a few words with him at the awards show.”

Aoba gave him a look. “Huh?”

“He debuted alongside me, actually. His name’s Itsuki Hashima. You know, the guy who won the robo-vac in the raffle?”

“Ahh!”

That finally rang a bell with her. When Itsuki had stepped up onstage to accept his prize, he gave a little speech about how he was “gonna build a whole new era.” Aoba then confronted him after the party ended, seeking him out just so she could say “I’m going to build that new era” to his face and storm off.

“And he’s with Kani…?” she asked, looking a bit lost.

“He wasn’t at the time,” Haruto added as he watched Aoba grow visibly paler. “But now, yeah.”

“I can’t…believe I said that to Kani’s boyfriend…”

“I really don’t think he minded at all,” Chihiro interjected.

“R-really?” Aoba replied, clinging to hope.

“Oh, for sure. If anything, he thought it was fun to see. Of course, I bet Nayu would be pretty pissed if she heard you dissed him. He’s pretty special to her, and so is his work.” Haruto gave her a smile that wasn’t entirely kind.

“I-is he? I had no idea he was the kind of writer someone like Kani would have praise for… I better start reading…”

Haruto couldn’t help but snicker to himself. The mere fact Nayuta praised his work had completely changed Aoba’s mind about Itsuki.

The drinks arrived, and the party began to order their main courses.

“Okay, cheers, guys!”

They all clinked their glasses. Ashley drank at her own pace, pecking at the olives now and then; Chihiro sipped at his oolong tea, keeping a nervous eye out for the people around him; Aoba pouted to herself while nibbling on the fried pasta sticks provided to the table; and Ui just longingly gazed at Haruto’s face.

There was no conversation.

When he’d heard Ui was coming to this mixer, Kaizu was raring to go, all “Don’t you worry, Fuwa, I’m gonna use this chance to wrap li’l Aioi around my finger!” and so on, but ever since he walked in here, he had barely spoken a word.

Haruto eyed Kaizu as he silently drank his tea. He knew the type. When it came to mixers like this, he was all bark and no bite. Even in college, people like him would join these things whenever a friend asked them to help even out the numbers. Before the meetup, they’d brag to all their male friends about how they were totally gonna take home a girl afterward—but the moment they were actually faced with the opposite sex, they’d turn into timid little puppies.

It wouldn’t bother Haruto that much if they just sat there eating, nothing exciting happened, and they went home. It’d actually be good for him, in fact. But he’d always had a hard time leaving well enough alone when he felt the situation could be improved. This was a social party, and he wanted it to be something everyone could have fun with.

“So how’s the revision process going with you guys?” he said to Ui and Aoba, trying to sound jovial.

At this point, new writers would be working with their editors to revise their submitted work for publication.

“We’ve finished revising Volume 1,” Ui said, “and I’m writing Volume 2 now. It’s set to release in January.”

The way novels that won new-writer contests got published varied from company to company. Some labels put them all out at once, making a yearly “Rookie Extravaganza”-type event out of it, while others just stuck them in the regular schedule whenever they were ready. GF Bunko was in the latter camp, so books that placed in the same contest commonly saw the light of day months, even upward of a year apart. Haruto’s first volume was published a good three months ahead of Itsuki’s, for example.

“January, huh? Sounds like pretty smooth sailing. Of course, winning the grand prize and all, it must’ve been pretty complete to start with.”

Ui bashfully nodded. “Thank you very much. Just thinking I’m on the same stage as you, Fuwa, it’s making me nervous all over again.”

“Ah, that’s how everyone is before they debut. Isn’t that right, Kaizu?”

“Yes, yes… About a month before my first publication, I was so nervous, I thought I was gonna have an ulcer. At one point, I seriously considered asking them to cancel the whole thing.” Kaizu paused for a moment, reminiscing to himself, then grinned. “But another person I debuted with, you know, she acted like it was nothing at all. Like she couldn’t wait to get her book into readers’ hands.”

As one of the winners of the 1st New Writers Contest, Makina Kaizu got to go up on stage with three other people. Now, over a decade later, he was the only one left in the industry.

“You were all the same way?” Ui asked, reassured.

“Well,” Haruto said, “I still get kinda nervous when one of my new volumes comes out.”

“Me too,” Kaizu added. “At this rate, I suppose I’ll never get used to it.”

“My…” Ui didn’t look so reassured anymore.

“…Is that because you’re not confident in your own work?” Every word from Aoba was dripping with spite.

“Guess that’s not a problem with you?” Haruto said with a chuckle.

“Of course not.”

“When is your book coming out?” Ui asked, evoking a wince from Aoba.

“…We’re aiming for March, more or less.”

“‘Aiming for,’ huh? Not done revising yet?”

Aoba blushed a bit at Haruto. “Well, unlike your typical template otherworld fantasy, mine is harder to handle. Plus, my editor keeps giving me all this irrelevant feedback…”

“Which editor was that?” Haruto asked.

“Yamagata,” she replied, peeved.

“Oh, that’s the same lady as Nayu… Oh hey, did you know? Nayuta Kani’s first work, The Silvery Landscape—apart from typos and stuff, what got published was pretty much exactly what she submitted to the contest. The printed book was wrapped up before the award ceremony, even.”

It sounded like a casual aside, but Haruto made sure there were some fangs to it. Aoba, sensitively picking up on that, wrinkled her nose.

“…What are you trying to say?”

“Oh, nothing,” Haruto replied, playing dumb as she glared at him. “I just mean, like, it’s great to be confident in your work, but there’s no need to pick on other people’s novels and say they’re all from a ‘template,’ you know? That’s all.”

“……”

Aoba fell silent, pouting, and started crunching her pasta sticks again. A vaguely awkward silence descended, one that continued even after the entrees were served. It was Ui who finally tried to break the tension.

“Um, by the way, what do you all like to do when you’re not working?”

“When I’m alone, I’m usually reading or gaming or watching anime,” Haruto offered. “I go to Itsuki’s place to play board games with him and Chihiro and the gang, too.”

Ui gave him an odd look. “Board games…? Like, Monopoly or Life or…?”

Haruto snickered. “Yeah, I guess those are board games everyone in Japan would know about…but a lot of the games we play come from Germany.”

“Germany?”

“Yeah. Board games are super popular in Germany, and like a million of them come out there every year. Some are just these little quick things with simple rules, but others might take four hours to finish a whole game. They can be themed after war, or farming, or auctioning, or building towns—all kinds of things. A lot of them look fancy, too, or come with tons of neat little extras.”

“That sounds kind of interesting. Would I be able to join you next time?”

“Oh, that’d be great,” Haruto immediately replied with a smile. Then his face tensed up. He had just created another excuse for them to meet again. “Wh-what do you like to do, Kaizu?” he asked, craving a change of subject.

“Hmm… Well, apart from work, I like to jog or go swimming at the gym, I suppose…”

“You like to stay fit, huh?” an impressed Ui said.

Kaizu smiled at her with his singularly unhealthy-looking face. “A writer’s body is his greatest asset, after all… You should all be careful, too… No matter how talented you are, if your body breaks down, you can’t write a thing after that.”

He was speaking straight to Ui and Aoba in the gravest of tones. “I’ll keep that in mind,” Ui replied with a nod.

“Uh,” Aoba grunted, before nodding herself.

“But what about you, little brother?” Kaizu said, turning the conversation to Chihiro.

“Oh, uh, me? Well… I like to cook, and clean around the house, and study.”

“Huh…?”

Kaizu sounded a tad surprised by this. Ui and Aoba looked similarly impressed.

“Yes,” Ashley proudly interjected, “Chihiro here is a wizard with a mop, and in the kitchen. He’s the perfect person!”

“Why are you so proud of that?” Kaizu said, glaring at her.

“Do you ever hang out with friends?”

“Oh, I join in my brother’s game nights,” Chihiro said to Ui, “and I go out with my school friends sometimes.”

“Do you have any other hobbies?” asked Kaizu.

“…Well… Building plastic models.”

“Like Gundam and stuff?”

“Yeah, Gundam.”

“Really? You like that stuff, Chihiro?”

Haruto latched on to the topic. The two had hung out with each other many times by now, but this was news to him.

“Y-yeah… I got into it once I started building the models my brother left at home.”

“Wow. I like building those a lot, too, actually.”

“Really?!” The bashfulness on Chihiro’s face melted into joy.

“Yeah. They’re nice, you know? The work gets me out of my head. Do you paint them and everything?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Whoa, that’s pretty hardcore.”

“Do you go that far, too, Fuwa?”

“Of course. A lot of the newer kits go into excruciating detail on part coloration, so you don’t have to paint them, but when you do, it’s like a Gundam model of your very own, you know? It feels so different.”

“I know what you mean!” Chihiro nodded at Haruto, eyes gleaming. “It’s fun to go away from the official design and come up with your own color scheme, too.”

Kaizu intervened with a nervous laugh. “Heh-heh-heh… If we’re talking about plastic models, I hope you’ll allow a twenty-year veteran to join in. When I was first learning how to paint, I’d take the models I assembled and paint them all in pink. I’d do stuff like make a Char Aznable–model Qubeley and a Char Aznable–model Wing Gundam.”

“Ha-ha-ha! Right?” Chihiro said. “Oh hey, is it true you used to need glue to assemble Gundam models?”

“Mm? Oh, that’s undeniably true, yes…but if you’re asking me that, you’re assuming I was building models back then, aren’t you…? Because I wasn’t. They did away with the glue requirement well over twenty years ago.”

“Oh! Um, I’m sorry!”

Chihiro felt the need to apologize when Kaizu looked so glum, but Kaizu laughed it off.

“…Ah, it’s all right. I’m sure someone in his late thirties might as well be a fossil from your perspective. What have you been making lately, by the way?”

“Well, I put together a Neo Zeong a little while ago.”

“Pfft!”

Haruto burst out laughing, while Kaizu seemed fairly surprised himself. “…I’ve never met anyone who made that before,” he said.

“…Me neither. I did see a Dendro at my friend’s house once, but…”

The Neo Zeong is one of the largest in the line of 1:144 scale models on the market, close to three feet high when complete. That, plus the lack of space in most Japanese households, makes it out of reach for most people in the nation.

“Yeah, Itsuki got it for my birthday.”

“Giving a Neo Zeong as a birthday present is crazy enough, but… Oh, do you have any photos?” Haruto was getting a little excited now.

“Sure.”

“Can I see them?”

“All right.” Chihiro nodded, taking out his phone and searching through his photo roll. “Here we go,” he said as he handed it to Haruto, while Kaizu peered in for a look.

“Whoa…!”

“Hmm…?!”

The picture on the screen took their breath away. They had both seen completed examples of the Neo Zeong on the Net, but this…

“This… It’s sparkly.”

“Yeah. All that decoration…”

The one in Chihiro’s photo was decorated top to bottom with rhinestones, making it literally shine in the indoor lighting. “If you just build it like normal,” he explained to his dumbfounded audience, “there’s a lot of empty space on the panels, and it looks kind of desolate. So I jazzed it up with some rhinestones this guy at school gave me. It was actually pretty fun to assemble, but between that and applying the paint and decorating bit by bit, it took over a month to complete.”

If there was a way to look both bashful and fiercely proud at the same time, Chihiro had just pulled it off.

“Huh… GunPla sure have changed over the years,” Kaizu murmured, overwhelmed. Haruto was no less shocked.

“…I mean, Build Fighters did always say that when it comes to GunPla, there are no limits except your own imagination.”

“I’ve never seen such a… I don’t know. ‘Girl Power’ Neo Zeong?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen people decorate models like this, but never a Neo Zeong before. Between the size and the price, you can’t really buy another one if you mess it up… Even if you have the motivation, it must’ve been hard to commit to it.”

“Oh, did you apply weathering to it, too?”

“Whoa, he did…!”

“I’m not sure if you’re trying for realism or fairy-tale fanciness here!”

Chihiro grinned at Kaizu, clearly in his element. “Well, I’m trying to express the uncertainty of the world by taking something beautiful and deliberately damaging it a bit. See? Here, and here; these are two areas I focused on. I actually took apart a few of the rhinestones before applying the separate pieces. It looks all shiny at first glance, but look closer, and you can tell it’s been through a lot—that’s the theme of this piece. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but the Sinanju inside it is in even worse shape—I mostly painted it gray.”

“Wow, talk about a deep cut,” Kaizu said, grimly nodding.

“Do you have photos of your other models?”

“I do!”

Nodding at Haruto, Chihiro began swiping through his phone again. And thus, the party finally heated up—at least among the three men (ages seventeen, twenty-three, and thirty-seven) as they talked endlessly about Gundam models. Meanwhile, Ui smiled awkwardly, Aoba stared coldly at them, and Ashley enjoyed her drink without much regard for anything else.