Track 7
One Fine Morning
GYAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
HAMA House – Horse Room
*Akuta and Nanaki run into the room*
Did you see a bug?
I-Isotake… Nanamegi…
No, Uu-chan was going through the final checks for his doujinshi…
I-I-I-I miscounted the number of pages I had… They only accept orders in 4-page multiples… but I wrote 22 pages worth of content…
So what you’re saying is…?
I have to either delete 2 pages worth of stuff, or add in 2 blank pages!!!
I was gonna say to just add in 2 pages… but then the deadline’s today…
And having blanks kinda takes away from the overall vibe.
But… deleting 2 pages… feels painful.
And randomly adding more to the story might lead to inconsistencies in the material.
It’s not like I can just remove the disclaimers for sensitive readers and publication details either…!
Ueerrrrrrghfffjgghgg…
Huh? Where’s that scary noise coming from?
Oh no, Kurama’s… broken!
Maybe a good hit will bring him back to normal?
At times like these, we just gotta keep racking our brains for an answer…! Think back to all the plot twists you’ve ever encountered…!
To increase, or not to increase… to be, or not to be…
Gnngnghhgnhngnnhnh…
Ah, now he’s… foaming…
H-His eyes are going blank! Ushio, snap out of it!
Blank… To blank… or not to blank…
It is still too early to give up, Uu-chan. There must be something we can do.
To blank, or not to blank…?
Ding ding ding.
Hey Master Artist, lend me your ear for a sec.
…?
HAMA House – 2F Hallway
Kiroku, don’t we have a crazy amount of PatiBattle sketches in our room? Like, you made a crazy ton of rough sketches, right?
Ah… yeah. They were just, for practice, though…
Couldn’t we use those?
Huh?
Like, what if we used your illustrations to fill in the missing pages?
But, that’s…
Oh, if you aren’t down for the idea, that’s totally fine.
I just suggested it ‘cause I like your art and I lowkey wanna see it used not just for the cover, but inside the book too. And—
Wouldn’t it be super dope if you showed up like art Jesus to help a friend in need?
…!
HAMA House – Horse Room
Huuuh!? I’m not sure if I heard you correctly just now, but “Just make the font size as big as possible to fill up those remaining 2 pages”…!?
And increase the line spacing by 1 cm too.
Wouldn't that make the novel look like a picture book with the font so big and all. Is that really okay?
(It’s only been a while since I stepped away… but things have already gotten out of hand…)
*clap clap*
Ahem! May I have your attention please!! Our resident Master Artist has an announcement to make!
…
Kinugawa? What is it?
Um…
I was, wondering… if any of these… sketches look good enough, to fill in… the empty pages… as illustrations…
Huh…?
If they don’t… then I could draw, some new ones… But it’ll take, a day…
That is brilliant. Uu-chan, what do you think?
…
Helloooo? Earth to Ushio~?
Go-
A ghost?
God, is that you?????
Time skip
I confirmed with the publishing company, but exceeding the deadline by a day will only cost the same as the premium plan.
Then let’s use all the extra time we have to spruce up this bad boy to the max!
Seriously, the amount of sketches that Kiroku made is amazing…
I only asked you for Reito, but you drew so many other characters…
(Golem really tried to understand PatiBattle in his own wa—)
*chokes*!?!?
What happened?
N-N-N-N-Nothing!?
(This sketch of Reito and Ouji together came straight out of left field…!! I’ll have to take a closer inspection later…)
Are there… any sketches, we can use?
Y-Yeah. This one works for 1 of the pages, but for the other…
…
Sorry to add to your workload, but could you make another drawing of something that… fits the novel…?
I can, try… b-but…
Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll explain what I want. It wouldn’t be fair for me to gatekeep the novel if you’re going as far as to draw extra illustrations for me…
Kurama…
Wait, are you telling me you had Kiroku draw the illustrations without explaining anything at all!?
I gave him the gist of it and thought that was enough!! It’s embarrassing, okay!! Unlike you, my skin is very thin, thank you for asking!
Are you saying I'm thick-skinned? If anything, you're the one who's—
Besides!!
…Besides, unlike staring at a picture, reading a novel takes time, so…
I… I can read it.
Huh?
It might take, a while… But if you’re willing, to let me… read your novel, then…
I also want, to know more… about the thoughts, you want to share…
…
Thanks.
But right now, we’re short on time, so I’ll give you a summary of the whole thing and then go into more detail on the parts I want drawn, is that good with you?
Y-Yeah…!
The night passes
HAMA House – Horse Room
Now all that’s left is…
…*gulp*
[ Yes ]
— Submission Complete…
…!
We…
…did it.
YOU DID ITTTTTTT!! WHOO!!
Great job, guys.
It was a long and tedious journey for the both of you.
And that’s… a wrap I guess.
My first ever doujinshi…!
Originally, Nanaki asks if something popped up in the room, and in response Akuta replies タケノコ、ツチノコ、チュパカブラ which translates to "bamboo shoots, tsuchinoko, Chupacabra." Bamboo shoots are known to pop up randomly in large numbers while in season, and tsuchinoko sounds very similar to its Japanese name, takenoko. The two words are often mixed up. Tsuchinoko is a Japanese snake yokai and Akuta concluded with Chupacabra because they are both mythical beings. The translation was localized to make more sense in a western sense and to make the pun work.