Chapter 1: Ch 1 - Dreams Are Useless
The pen scratched across the cheap manuscript paper in messy, hurried strokes. Ink bled from the nib like blood from an open wound.
"Yuki... I love you," the character whispered on the final page, his eyes glistening as sakura petals fell across the panel. It was a confession scene—a beautiful one. Tender. Hopeful.
Keita Sumeragi stared at it, heart thudding in his chest. He'd poured everything into this moment. Weeks of sleepless nights, ramen dinners, and scribbled revisions on convenience store receipts. He believed in this story. He had to. It was all he had left.
He snapped the binder closed and slipped it into his bag, fingers trembling not with excitement, but with exhaustion.
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The next day, he sat in the cold, sterile office of his editor.
Tanaka, mid-30s, dressed like a startup CEO with trendy glasses and a perpetual smirk, flipped through the manuscript half-heartedly. He didn't even bother reading the dialogue. Just scanned the pages like a bored AI.
"Hm."
Keita's heart was already sinking.
Tanaka closed the binder and pushed it back across the table like it was radioactive.
"Another romance? Seriously, Keita?"