Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kou meandered along the edge of the orderly crowd, both hands full of two large coffee mugs, a bag of pastries tucked under his arm. It was shortly after noon and the Comiket was, as always, well attended. It was sweltering outside and the air conditioning inside was pushed to its limits, sweat pouring down his narrow face as he made his way to a small artist's booth at the other end of the hall. He wore light blue low-rise Chucks, black shorts, and a white T-shirt with swimming goggles and water drops printed on the front. Kou had it from a Free! event held four years earlier and liked to wear it to conventions. It contrasted with his light brown skin, which he owed to his African American grandfather. He wore his straight, ebony hair, which fell to below his shoulder blades, tied into a loose knot at the back of his head, with a few loose hairs clinging to the nape of his neck and forehead.

Arriving at the booth, he waited a small moment until the woman in the short-sleeved, dark blue Lolita dress, with matching accessories in her deep brown, wavy hair, had served a group of customers, then he pushed his way between two tables to join her.

"There was only melonpan, no more anpan, Aya-chan," he said in a soft voice. "Coffee, black as your soul." He put coffee and pastries into her hands.

"Too bad, I haven't had anpan in ages," Ayane said contritely, then took a big sip of coffee. "I'm almost afraid we had too few printed this time; they're selling like hotcakes, Kou-chan."

Kou looked at the table, where the stacks of his manga had already dramatically shrunk. The covers were pastel colored, the stories were about strong, independent girls who had all kinds of adventures. In the current issue, he dealt with the Isekai theme that had been popular for years, appealing mainly to male teenagers, but his version had a distinguished female target audience. However, since it was rather unusual to draw shoujo manga as a man, he published his works under the pseudonym "Satou Hana." His sister-in-law Ayane accompanied him to various comic book fairs to sell the booklets and answer questions since they studied art together.

"I guess you hit a nerve this time," Ayane continued to speak as she took a bite of her melon roll and looked at him from below. She barely reached his shoulder, making up for her short height with sheer unlimited energy.

"I can try to reorder new ones by tomorrow, but express costs extra, especially today," Kou replied, squinting his amber eyes and frowning as he typed numbers into his phone. With the index finger of his other hand, he adjusted the silver oval glasses on his nose so he could see the writing on the display. His budget was more than tight. He worked as a freelance illustrator, always hoping for a permanent job or a breakthrough with his manga, but lately neither had been particularly successful.

"Don't worry about it, I'll take part of it," she said, "Pay me back later if you can. Just don't tell Kaoru, or he'll scold us again." She grinned at him conspiratorially.

Ayane had been married for five years to Kaoru, Kou's four years older brother. They had met at a birthday party of a fellow student and fell in love at first sight; they married a year before she graduated. Kaoru had studied law and now worked as a legal advisor in a publishing house, Ayane worked there in the graphics department, but from home, because she also looked after her three-year-old daughter Saki when she was not in kindergarten. This weekend, however, Kaoru took over so she could help out Kou.

"Thank you, Aya-chan. You'll get it back as soon as possible." Kou gave her a quick hug and then took care of ordering the new copies.

It turned out to be the right decision, as by the end of the next day they had sold all but a few copies of older issues.

"We've never sold this many before," Kou noted in astonishment, neatly placing the remaining booklets in a box.

"Why are you surprised about that? No Princess in Wonderland is the best thing you've made so far, Kou-chan, word gets around," Ayane said encouragingly. "Oh, before I forget, a colleague from our manga department came by earlier and left her card. I guess she bought some issues yesterday while I was out."

"From Yayoi? You know how many times I've auditioned there, it's never been good enough." Kou was skeptical; he'd been rejected by editors enough times in the past few years.

" You should try again," she encouraged him. "She rarely gives out her card, and she's in charge of ShouCa, where No Princess in Wonderland would fit in really well."

"All right, if you insist," he sighed. "I'll give her a call next week before I go off on an unnecessary trip."

They dismantled the booth and packed everything neatly into a suitcase before leaving the hall to head home. Ayane had a small car that she used to take Kou home, who lived in Adachi, outside central Tokyo in a small two-room apartment.

"Call me when you get to the city, okay?" she said before getting back into the car.

Ayane was always trying to get Kou out of his shell a bit, where he liked to retreat. She loved him like a brother, even before her marriage to Kaoru. Studying together and various club activities had bonded them together, as had the days and nights they had spent talking about everything. Since Ayane started dating Kaoru, they met less often, but she texted him daily, even if it was just a few lines or photos.

"All right. Don't keep Saki-chan and Kaoru waiting, I'm sure they miss you already."

Kou waved after her as she pulled out of the parking lot and then went into his apartment, which was currently in chaos. With deadlines looming, he worked through days and nights, completely neglecting the household. Dishes, dirty laundry, and wrappers were strewn everywhere. He hated messes, but during work, priorities were different, so he spent the rest of the evening cleaning everything up, doing laundry and dishes before cleaning the whole apartment. It was dawn by the time he fell into bed, exhausted, and slept through the evening.

Over the next few days, he worked on some design jobs that had fallen through; he didn't remember the business card of Ayane's colleague until a week later. He summoned up all his courage and called her immediately, but he only reached the secretary of the department, who made an appointment with him for the coming Tuesday.

On Tuesday morning, a more than nervous Kou headed downtown an hour earlier than necessary. He wasn't expecting much; his manga had been well received online and at Comiket for some time, but publishers had always turned him down. A receptionist brought him to his appointment on time in an open-plan office, where he took a seat in front of a desk separated by partitions. The walls were papered with various covers of ShouCa magazine. He waited a few minutes until a woman in her mid-thirties slammed a stack of envelopes on the table. She wore mint-green sneakers with her black skirt and a short-sleeved, black-and-white striped blouse, her dark purple hair tied loosely.

"Sorry I'm late, I'm Hamasaki Miho," she introduced herself. "You are Satou-sensei?" She looked at Kou in confusion.

"Yukimura Kousuke. Satou Hana is my alias," he replied, enlightening her. "I apologize for the confusion, it's easier for me as a male to draw shoujo manga under a female alias."

"I understand, we have some mangaka who work under a pseudonym." Miho adjusted her glasses. "That's why Yukimura-chan accompanies you to conventions?"

"That too. We've been friends since university," he replied.

"Let's make this short," she said. "I've looked at your work and also talked about it with my colleagues. We're planning a new selection method for our newcomer series, and I think that's where No Princess in Wonderland would be a good fit."

"Are you serious?" echoed Kou.

"Absolutely. Here's how it works: We publish individual chapters of new series by newcomers in special supplements over the next few months and let readers vote on which ones we'll include in the program. Second and third place get a permanent spot in subsequent ShouCa issues, first place skips that and goes into series immediately, provided there are enough chapters for a volume," Miho elaborated, "in parallel, current chapters would appear in the current issue of the magazine, so every two weeks."

"Wow... a book publication for the first place?" Kou gulped, that would make all his dreams come true.

"Yes, but don't get fixated on it. Think of the contest as part of an opportunity, three chapters will be published either way by the end of the competition. Plus, one small, illustrated info page per author and one color page as a collectible postcard. I've written down the exact terms for you here," she said, sliding a list and a contract across the table.

"Can... I think about it for a minute?" asked Kou, a little overwhelmed by her pace.

"Of course. Do you want to have a consultant look over the contract as well?" She smiled kindly at him.

"N... no, that shouldn't be necessary." He studied the contract for several minutes, most likely written by his brother Kaoru. And he was the only lawyer he knew.

"For now, the contract is only for the period of the competition. Everything else will follow afterwards," she explained.

Kou nodded and signed without wasting any more time. It would be more than foolish not to accept. Miho accepted a copy and put it on a pile.

"Good, everything else can be found in the list. Since you work primarily digitally, required formats are also listed. Further down are my number and e-mail address, where you can reach me at any time if you have any questions. Without the detour via the secretary."

"Thank you for the opportunity, Hamasaki-san," Kou thanked her, before saying goodbye and taking the train home. In his excitement, he had forgotten to let Ayane know.