The Final Installment

In the wee hours of a late-September night, Itsuki and Nayuta were together watching Episode 11 of All About My Little Sister on TV, the final installment.

The main plotline was over, culminating in the anime-original ending. Part C of the episode was a scene between Kazuma and Ichika that foreshadowed new beginnings for them. The credits rolled, followed by an ending card with the voice cast saying in unison, “Thanks for watching All About My Little Sister!” and that was the end of the anime broadcast.

“Haaaaahhhhhhhhhh…” Itsuki breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief.

“Great job,” Nayuta said, pouring some more Gouden Carolus Cuvée van de Keizer Red into his empty beer glass before topping off her own.

“Well, here’s to reaching the end!”

She had her glass pointed at him, so Itsuki picked his up and lightly clinked it before taking a sip.

“Nya-ha… That was a good anime. As a fan of the novels, I’m really happy.” She smiled as she spoke, despite the rather impressive amount she had already drunk.

Itsuki smiled back and meekly nodded. “Yeah… I think it was a good show.”

The All About anime was lucky enough not to have any canceled installments or art-direction disasters during its TV broadcast run. The visuals weren’t exactly breathtaking quality-wise, but they were stable throughout the run, start to finish. That, no doubt, was thanks to the tireless efforts of director Munenori Tarui and the rest of the staff, efforts the original novelist couldn’t even imagine. He wished he could meet every member of the staff and thank them personally.

As Itsuki basked in the glow of a job well done:

“Hey, Itsukiiii?” Suddenly, Nayuta put down her glass and draped her body over Itsuki’s shoulder.

“What?”

“You knowww,” she said in a cloying tone, “don’t you think it’s time we start talking about it?”

“About what?”

“Like, marriage and stuff!”

“Th-that came out of nowhere…” Itsuki turned his eyes away a bit.

“Aw, come onnn! The anime got good reviews, and the novels are sellin’ a lot, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Over the three months since Episode 1’s broadcast, the All About novels had been reprinted several times—the number of copies were triple what they had been before the anime. The series wasn’t a gigantic seller before that point, but that was still tremendous growth.

“So don’t you think it’s about tiiiime…? Don’t you think we’re more balanced nowww?”

“……Did I say I wanted you to wait until we were…?”

Itsuki reflected a moment.

…I’m not really anything yet, but when I’m a protagonist on an even level with Kanikou…then I’m gonna tell her that I love her. And I know it’s not fair to her, but I need her to wait until then.

Nayuta sounded like she was referencing something he once told Haruto.

“Nya-ha-ha… Ahh, don’t worry about it. It’s nothing big.”

It certainly was something big, but Itsuki decided not to pursue it.

“Well, maybe it’s selling, but it’s still far below the Landscape series. Your movie got amazing reviews, you know.”

The film version of The Silvery Landscape had premiered in July. It was an unusually big hit by Japan-made-movie standards, well-reviewed and still making money at the box office. You couldn’t directly compare a live-action film with an animated TV series, but in terms of reputation, The Silvery Landscape was clearly the front-runner.

“Yeah, but I heard All About was doing crazy numbers in China, wasn’t it?”

“…Yeah… That’s true.”

As much as All About hit it off with viewers, its popularity in Japan was merely “ahead of the pack,” and preorders for the Blu-rays were nothing too special. Meanwhile, it had become the number-two series of the season on China’s largest streaming site—an incredible feat that belied just how big its fanbase was. Even odder, it was happening despite All About putting up just average numbers in America, Europe, and the rest of Asia. Only in China was it racking up a huge audience, and given the differences in population, that audience was more massive than the rest of the world combined.

As Oshima the producer put it, thanks to the legacy of China’s one-child policy, the anime viewing audience over there included a lot of only children. This, apparently, meant that series with strong little-sister characters had an easier time hitting it big. But not even Oshima thought there’d be this big a difference from other countries; it had shattered his expectations, and he couldn’t be happier. The idea of a now-abandoned national policy affecting the fortunes of an anime was pretty funny to think about.

“Because my books only do just okay out of Japan, you knowww. From a worldwide standpoint, couldn’t you say that you’re more popular, Itsuki?”

“Hmm…”

Maybe she had a point. With Nayuta’s books, the big attraction was her literary expressiveness with the Japanese language. Still, while her series didn’t hit it quite so big overseas as it did in Japan, it was still popular, definitely. Wen and Hong, the Taiwan editors, both attested to that.

However, if you narrowed it down strictly to current worldwide brand recognition, Nayuta was right. Itsuki had an anime streaming across planet Earth, and maybe that gave him the edge. That edge would no doubt vanish instantly once the Landscape film and anime made their international debuts…but at this exact moment, Itsuki Hashima could, perhaps, be described as “equal” with Nayuta Kani.

If he didn’t seize this opportunity right now, it could be a long time before he could stand shoulder to shoulder with her again. In fact, maybe it’d never happen again the rest of his life. So right now, right here, when Itsuki Hashima the artist was at the pinnacle of his career…

…maybe this was the best shot he’d ever have at popping the question.

But…

“…No, not yet.”

After thinking for a bit, Itsuki sheepishly smiled and curtly denied it.

“Nyaaaa…” Nayuta let out a disappointed purr followed by a jaw-shattering yawn. “Well…I’ll keep on waitin’…”

Leaning up against Itsuki, she closed her eyes and fell asleep. Watching his lover’s dopey-looking face as she snored, Itsuki grimaced painfully, close to breaking down in tears.