Chapter 2: Ch 2 - Write What They Want
Rain splattered the office windows like someone spitting on glass.
Keita sat stiffly across from his editor, the same crumpled sketch pages from his romance manga resting in a clear binder between them—unopened, untouched.
Tanaka tapped a pen against the table. He wasn't smiling. Not this time.
"You want a lifeline?"
Keita blinked.
"You're drowning. Your rent's three months overdue. Your kid's what? Five? Six?" Tanaka's eyes narrowed. "You're not twenty anymore, Keita. You don't get to starve for art. You've got mouths to feed. Be a damn adult."
Keita's jaw tensed.
Tanaka tossed a manila folder across the desk. It slid and stopped just short of Keita's fingers.
"Take a look."
He opened it slowly. The storyboards were clean, the thumbnails provocative. A young wife being seduced by her husband's best friend. Guilt. Tears. Moaning. Her husband quietly weeping as he listened behind a door.
"This..." Keita's voice cracked. "This is disgusting."