Last night, Shouko secretly looked up some information online. She found out that a new illustrator only made around 20,000 yen, but even if Akira didn't pay her, she was still more than willing to help him draw.

However, if she really wasn't paid… there would only be one condition: he would just have to marry her in the future.

"Too little?"

Slap. Shouko lightly tapped his arm. "It's too much, okay!"

"Go, go, go, go upstairs and do your homework. You're interrupting my drama."

Miyamura Shizuka, who was watching a drama in the living room, impatiently waved her hand at the "flirting" pair.

Seeing this, Akira and Shouko could only obediently head upstairs. When Shizuka-chan spoke, neither dared to resist.

"Shouko, you do your homework first. I'll work on these black-and-white illustrations."

"Okay." Shouko nodded without hesitation when Akira divided the work.

Compared to elementary school assignments, the homework in junior high wasn't much more. She finished everything the teachers had given that day in about thirty minutes. That included Akira's homework as well.

"Shouko, you can design the poses based on these pictures of the main characters when they were young. Just ask me later when it's time to color them."

Akira uploaded the first version of the drawing from his tablet to the computer, letting Shouko observe it as he refined the details from memory.

"Okay."

For the rest of the time, the only sounds in the room were Shouko's occasional questions and Akira's quiet answers. Most of them were about hair color, clothing, or other appearance details of the characters.

"Akira, I'm heading back now. Good night."

At 22:56, Shouko stood up, packed her tablet, and prepared to leave—clearly intending to keep working hard at home.

Akira saw through her thoughts and warned, "Go home and sleep early. Don't stay up late drawing. Be careful, if you keep this up, you'll turn into a panda-eyed old lady before your time. Besides, there's no rush—we can always push back the printing if needed."

"Got it." Shouko stuck her tongue out playfully, then quickly headed downstairs after closing the door behind her.

Akira only returned to work after hearing her voice saying goodbye to Shizuka downstairs.

The night passed quietly. At some point, a stray thought crossed his mind: They say people see a life review before dying. If you're saved during that, would you remember it afterward? But he dismissed it almost immediately.

By midnight, he saved his work, backed up the files, and finally prepared for sleep. As he slid under the covers, he wondered, I wonder if Shouko's asleep…

He thought of calling her, but quickly shook the idea away. Instead, he closed his eyes, deciding to simply trust her.

The next morning, Tokyo awoke to pale winter light. The sound of trams rattled through the mist, students pedaled past convenience stores, and office workers hurried along, clutching coffee.

"Honestly, what time did you sleep last night?! Your dark circles are even worse than yesterday."

Fresh from the bathroom, Akira froze when he saw Shouko's panda-like eyes. He had resolved to trust her more—yet here was proof that she had betrayed his expectations.

"It… it wasn't that late." Shouko looked guilty. "I went to bed around eleven."

"Hmm?"

"…Past twelve…"

Akira sighed.

Finally, she mumbled the truth. "Three… past three."

"You stayed up until after three and still woke up at 6:30 to make bentos?" Akira rubbed her head roughly, frustrated but helpless.

"I… I just thought, since you gave me so much pay, I wanted to finish the task earlier."

Shouko blinked at him with guilty, panda-ringed eyes.

Akira sighed again and pinched her soft cheeks. "Go back to sleep for a bit. We'll walk faster later—you can still nap for thirty minutes."

This time, she didn't resist, obedient under his scolding.

"I'll help you blow-dry your hair first. Then you can rest."

"No, I can do it myself."

"Nope, I'll do it."

Shouko puffed her cheeks in defiance. "Fine, fine, you do it then."

Once finished, Akira quickly sent her upstairs to nap. Hugging his pillow, she fell asleep within minutes, the scent of him surrounding her.

Downstairs, Shizuka gave Akira a questioning look over breakfast, but he only answered with a helpless sigh. When his alarm rang, he went upstairs to wake Shouko again.

"I'm leaving."

"I'm leaving too~~"

"Are you sure Shouko's okay? Maybe she should take the day off?" Shizuka called from the dining room, worried about the dark circles under the girl's eyes.

"I'm fine, Auntie. I'll go to school," Shouko insisted, taking Akira's hand.

Akira looked at the sky full of doves, then at the sleepy girl beside him, and sighed again.

"Akira, will we be able to send the illustrations to Ms. Jun today?"

"Yeah, after school this afternoon." He nodded, watching the traffic light ahead.

A smile crept onto Shouko's lips. "I hope they get approved so we can enjoy the graduation ceremony tomorrow."

"Don't worry. As long as the scale isn't too big or too sloppy, they'll definitely be approved. And we're fine on both counts."

As the light turned green, Akira held her hand and stepped forward. With his dependable Shouko beside him, he felt that even if there were issues, they'd only ever be minor ones.

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