Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Happy Endings, And Other Lies ❯ Happy Endings: 13 ( Chapter 13 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter Thirteen

 

The wedding a month later, just this side of scandalous, was described as “after long engagement”. I suffered seiza in a heavy white robe in summer heat. Did the purification chants beside Yukino, also suffering in silence, and we were finally wedded. Our wedding bands were titanium blue, also made by the same jewelry artist I’d found at Onaka industrial arts track. You meet the most interesting people wandering around the less well travelled parts of a place. I’d followed heavy trucks, smelled burning steel and bright UV flashes and met the artist working with their arms inside a plastic box, welding in an argon gas box with an actual airlock box. The whole thing made sense once they explained it. Oxygen turns Titanium into white powder at 600’C, just absorbs it like a sponge, and you weld at a temperature above that so when you weld it, you’re fine, but as it cools down it turns into white powder and falls apart. The exchange there had let to a new business contract to make the ring and a name for the industrial chemistry lab, where I got the stone made. It was a whole thing and had turned out better than I hoped. And Haruno had finally stopped teasing me with lingerie shots to my phone. Saki wasn’t speaking me to me anymore though. I think she was upset. I can’t exactly apologize. You don’t get to say “You were my third choice.” It doesn’t go over well.

Maybe I’d write her in as the girl Hachiman eventually marries in an epilogue? She’s probably accept that as an apology. I’ll run it by Yukino. She had taken to editing my books while I was at school.

She’d come with me South, opting for the low end moving experience a ordered a futon to lay beside mine on the floor of my room. It wasn’t big enough for a dedicated bed, and the close quarters were a new experience for her. Meeting our roommates, who were loud as ever, only with Nana actually singing sometimes to drown out the squeaking from the upper floors.

“Have they been doing that this whole time?” she asked me the first night we were together as husband and wife in my dorm.

“Since that first morning, right before school started, yes,” I said. “I had to remind them to shower before our first class.”

“I never thought college was supposed to be like this,” she admitted. The lovers climaxed loudly overhead, slowing their pace.

“Did this get you all randy?” she teased me. Being with me had loosened her own knots a bit. She was still cold to others, but to me she was getting to be more like Haruno pretended.

“It required me to stay awake, so I put the sexual tension into the novels. There’s all sorts of references in the dialogue and descriptions.”

“The really funny thing about them is he’s very practical at production management, and she’s an exceptional illustrator. I considered asking her to draw character designs for my anime production, but I don’t think the company could keep up. Maybe the second season, if they go to Kyoto Anime company.”

“You really vamped my sister in your books. And all the girls are so fanservicey. Ecchi, I mean.”

“The audience wants that, and I kept it clean. They opted to add a panty shot reference that isn’t actually shown for Saki-san. She’s a bit heart broken over us, you know.” I explained my epilogue idea.

“Not sure you should do that romantic angle, with Saki-san. If you want to send him off to college and write novels and anime based on this place, which seems like it would be smart for your career, you can’t have him shacking up with Saki in Chiba, or Tokyo. It wouldn’t fit his arc,” she warned. She was right. I sighed. I knew that too, but you sometimes need a second opinion from someone you trust.

The lovers upstairs started to get loud again. Yukino pulled me atop her, and we made our own music, very quietly.

 

The following morning we bathed until we were decent company and found Nana humming over the rice cooker, trying to make miso soup. It didn’t have my usual extras, but you have to start somewhere.

“Nanako-san, this is my wife Yukino,” I introduced them. Yukino was wearing appropriate summer clothes and slightly guarded expression. I’d explained about her circumstances and the love triangle. She in turn was examining my wife with interest.

“So this is the girl from the books?” Nana finally said.

“More or less. I am colder, more poisonous, and better read,” responded Yukino. Then she smiled very slightly.

“Ah. I can see why he likes you,” she said at last. “Eat up.” She scooped out rice into bowls, and plated scrambled eggs. We sipped our somewhat plain miso soup without comment. I don’t want to discourage the girl. The upstairs bath noises indicated the couple upstairs was preparing for our school day. The tromped down a few minutes later, flush and relaxed, smelling of soap and still damp.

“Eh, the newlyweds! Hachiman and Yumiko was it?”

“Yukino,” she corrected. “Yumiko would probably throw a fit.” Somewhere in a Tokyo office tower, a blonde with drill hair sneezed in Business Law class.

The bright flush face of Shinoaki ate her foot across from us, studying us with her artist’s eye. I could see her doing it. She got a special expression when she was memorizing something for later use. She eventually got out her phone and carefully took a picture of us laughing at the table together. I think we’re going to be famous, someday. She was really that good. Fine arts, really.

“Hey Aki-san. You ever talk to the Fine Arts club seriously about showcasing your work?” I asked her. She chewed her food and swallowed, thinking about it.

“Not much. I mean, I guess I could. Does my work really qualify?” she asked.

“Its too good for movie posters. I was going to ask you to consider doing character designs for the second season of my anime. They’re using the original designs slightly improved from the original illustrations, but you can see they look very little like we do. The anime is a lot closer to real, but I want actual art next season. A lot of important things happen in season two. Are you interested? I only want your best work. No shortcuts, no compromises. A long heads up to get started should provide enough time to work around your schoolwork.” Kyouya looked startled, looking at the calendar of all things, counting and then back to his girl. Shinoaki pondered, sipping more miso and scooping rice, then the last of the egg.

“Can I answer later?” she asked me eventually.

“Sure. We’re here all semester, minus visits back to Tokyo and Chiba.”

“I want to follow you to the campus and see it myself,” Yukino said, picking up a purse and a parasol and sunglasses. She was always pale, as her name implied. The rings were obvious.

We walked together.

“So how did sales go at Summer Komiket?” I asked Kyouya. He’d finished the game with help from others while I was busy with my own business and marriage.

“We broke even. I was hoping for better, but there’s a lot of competition,” he eventually said. The school grew closer. “I guess things were pretty busy for you too, with the anime and your marriage. I didn’t expect you to marry Yukinoshita.”

“The books aren’t really exactly true memoirs. They’re close, but more dramatized. I am sorry I can’t help with games projects. My time is pretty well accounted for. I barely got much time for myself with all the visits and business meetings.”

“Platinum generation,” muttered Kyouya. I was having the side character vibe again. I don’t like that feeling. Everybody wants to be the star of their own story. It’s a universal truth.

“You know what talent is, Kyouya?” I asked.

“What is talent?” he asked somewhat disheartened.

“It is what lazy people call those who work extremely hard to get better than lazy people,” I answered. “I have noticed you are really good at solving problems at short notice. This is a good skill to have, but you also tend to cut off your best artists at the knees, and they aren’t here because they want to be mediocre. They could be mediocre at home. They are here to spread their wings and find out what they can do. To discover if they can fly. Don’t clip their wings. You’ve helped Nanako. Have you done as much for Shinoaki? Have you told her how good she is?”

He deflated from the building rant I’d seen from the moment I invited her to draw for me, professionally.

“There’s an anime you should really watch. It’s called Honey and Clover. It’s two seasons. Promise me you will watch the whole thing. They have multiple copies in the school media library. It is very important you do this,” I insisted. Kyouya cut off his denials and relented, nodding.

Class was good. More tips I didn’t realize I needed to know, and there would be a lecture about talent contracting, including motivation and compensation. I found my wife chatting with my jewelry designer, Kajima Matsuri. They’d found each other in the cafeteria when the ring caught her eye. She’d made it so it stuck out.

I joined them with a Max Coffee and iced tea for Yukino. The fresh iced tea they make here is quite good. It isn’t to my taste but Yukino will probably like it. She pushed aside her barely touched low-quality coffee and drank the iced tea through its straw. I stared at her. So many moments where she’s cute. I snapped her picture.

“Ah, newlyweds. I can remember what that’s like,” chuckled Matsuri-san.

“I didn’t realize you were married,” I remarked.

“Four years now. Right out of high school. You don’t wear jewelry when you work with welding equipment, especially stuff that goes around or through your skin. It’s dangerous. The voltage isn’t high, but the current literally melts metal under the torch point. Magnetic fields can create eddy currents and weld a ring to the skin, burning off a finger or an earlobe.”

“Can I get you a tea?” I asked her. She lifted some kind of barley tea still full and sweating in the morning heat.

“Can’t do caffeine. Makes my hands shake and that ruins my work. Cost of the art.”

“I can’t drink alcohol for similar reasons,” I agreed. “My brain is busy and needs to keep juggling a lot of people to write them.”

“So is the novel a foregone conclusion for its end?” she asked.

“You’ll have to wait and see. Just remember it’s a tragedy.”

“Even with this glowing woman in front of me, you say that?” she taunts.

“How is my hero going to get a happy ending and still go off to college and continue his adventures in solo misanthropy? The broken heart is mandatory,” I replied. Yukino giggled.

“So dramatic,” Yukino mocked.

“Right. Suffering for your art with a cute wife to warm your bed. Right,” snorted Matsuri-san.

“Well, hope you like the anime when it comes out. April next year is when they’re telling me.”

“It’s encouraging to work with people who are already finding success,” Matsuri said.  

“You should start a web page for your work. There’s going to be official interest in the design. Starting with Mother,” suggested Yukino. “Think of anniversary rings, pendants, earrings. Work with the gem production lab people. Exact color looks like an important selling point.”

Matsuri became interested in discussing details with Yukino and I tuned them out, pondering details in my current novel of the series. Someday I would write other stories, but this was making money and quality demanded full attention at least part of every day.

A bit later I found my wife had just agreed to become a business partner with our jeweler, for a percentage of the profits and startup cost fronting.

“You know web design for e-commerce,” I asked her.

“Of course not. But she doesn’t need much starting capital and some assistance setting up things will give me something to do while I’m waiting for you. The people here are interesting, aren’t they?” she said, changing the subject from business.

“There’s a lot of hope and dreams concentrated here. Most of them are uncompromising because they had to work hard to get into this school. The lazy don’t come here. It’s sort of like Soubu, only for arts, with a bored researcher endlessly pushing the fast forward.

“Neuromancer again? That’s a lot more obscure quote than most use.”

“I re-read it a few months ago. I still love literature. It is inspiring to realize just how much has already been imagined, decades before I was even born. We’re halfway up a tower and don’t even realize just how high we are, all those shoulders of giants,” I commented.

“Newton, now. Are you going to try and turn lead into gold?” she teased.

“And drink urine? No thank you.” That was unfortunately something Newton did. He got into alchemy in a big way after discovering the laws of Motion and inventing a competing form of Calculus as the same time as Liebniz. Newton got credit by the wags, but mathematicians used Liebniz notation. Newton was just another genius who broke under pressure.

“I have afternoon classes for the next couple hours. Shall I find you afterwards?” I asked her, finishing my coffee and the onigiri I’d prepared at breakfast.

“Yes. Text me when you’re out and we’ll meet up.”

Classes were good. I got a few messages from my studio producer about author reviews of the storyboards and first cuts of the audio drama, which would get edited and the character mouths matched to the recordings. Quality anime is a lot of steps and people involved. I am curious what the episode directors will do because they’re being done almost simultaneously by various different studios, some of them overseas in Korea and Vietnam, some of them here in Japan. They’d be matched by the series director who made sure they all looked the same style and the voice actors matched the fine details. It was a huge things. Well beyond my expertise, though it was important I kept up with it so I could catch any big mistakes before they got expensive and could still be fixed. The character designs were good, and the voices whiny enough, even the squeak Yui makes sometimes. I miss her, but I made my choice. I still hope I didn’t break her heart. She is a nice girl, no matter what my essay said.

The fans of the books speculate that my hero will end up with Yui as the romantic choice. Others like Saki for her plucky maternal side, and the symmetry of Komachi, calling it the double marriage. Still others think there is something with Miura after the business with the tennis court, something which never happened with me because I was dribbling on a surgical recovery bed at the time. I checked the calendar. That is literally true.

So much is different but plausible. I never expected this after a year as a cripple with a cane and chronic pain management problems. I’d paid the Chiba City transit system a donation to install new handicapped Only stickers for the seats on busses I kept finding losers blocking. They were considering a fine, as well, to pay for new stickers and a bonus to bus drivers so they’d care. Profit motive for the win.

The majority of fans buy into the Yukino track, with some perverts going for the teacher or Haruno, despite being the antagonists of the story. The school festival arc was exhausting to write and I’m still editing that. It would finish the first season, though they asked for a sports festival OVA, so I guess I’m doing that too. Soldier on!

I found Yukino singing a duet with Nana in one of the studio practice rooms, which was like Karaoke with stricter grading for pitch and timing on the computer. It taught you to sing on key and timing, as you would probably be expected working for a company at the top level. Those who wanted more artistic control, and taking more risk on sales, could change the settings and the system would adapt.

They were singing a Depeche Mode song from three decades ago. A good test. Yukino had a nice voice, not nearly as powerful as Nana who could project heartily as she’d proven during the festival months ago. They switched to an anime tune with a duet and continued, so I opted not to interrupt, just watching and listening.

I have to wonder about countries which compare women to candy, and insist that women be kept wrapped and away from leering eyes of the world. Women are lanterns. They shine brightest with their light onto the world, out of darkness they provide light and warmth. Being married proves this, and I resolved to continue to discover the brightness in my wife.