It was already eleven at night when Kai and Nozaki walked out of the bar.
"Want me to walk you home?" Nozaki asked out of concern.
The night breeze was cool and refreshing, and Kai, who'd only had two beers, politely waved him off.
"My place isn't far from here. I can just walk."
"Alright then." Nozaki nodded.
"What about you, Nozaki-senpai?" Kai asked.
Nozaki glanced down at his watch. "I've got another thing to get to. It's right nearby."
Kai was quietly impressed by how much the man enjoyed his nights out. "Then I'll head off first."
"Take care."
Nozaki watched Kai leave, then turned around and disappeared back into the nightlife.
...
Walking home, Kai felt lighter than he had in a long time.
Cars passed by on the road every so often, their headlights growing from small dots in the distance before sweeping past and fading away behind him.
Even something that simple was enough to make him happy.
"I'll take the night off. After all, I'm about to become a manga artist."
He let the thought sit for a moment and smiled.
Up ahead were two women, tall and slender, and the stretch of bare skin between their shorts and long boots was hard not to notice.
Kai caught himself grinning, imagining the looks on their faces if they found out he was a manga artist.
But it was just a passing thought. He wasn't that full of himself yet.
More than half an hour later, Kai made it home.
The apartment that usually felt suffocating actually brought him a strange sense of comfort tonight.
He crouched down in the corner of the room and muttered to himself. "I finally scrubbed all the mold off this wall last year, and it's already coming back. Stubborn little thing."
"But it doesn't matter anymore."
Kai stood up, walked to his bed, and flopped down with his arms and legs spread wide.
"Ahh... that's nice."
Normally, even after a full day of exhausting work, he would force himself to sit down and draw the moment he got home. Day after day, month after month, never allowing himself to slack off.
Tonight, he could finally just rest.
"I talked a lot with Nozaki-san today." He licked his lips, savoring the lingering pleasure of a real, long conversation.
But Nozaki was a coworker at the end of the day. There were plenty of things Kai couldn't share with him.
Keeping it all inside felt suffocating.
If his old self had achieved something like this, he would have called his family the second it happened to share the news.
Now, he didn't know who to talk to about what was in his heart.
Kai found his thoughts drifting to the original Kai's family. A kind mother and a stubborn father, just like the ones he'd had before.
Over the past year, Kai's mother had called many times, and through those brief exchanges, he'd gotten somewhat familiar with her.
For the first time, he felt the urge to call the Fujin couple.
He was the one living in their son's body. He couldn't just pretend they were strangers.
With that thought, Kai sat up, walked over to the landline by the door, and dialed the number.
As the seconds ticked by and the initial impulse faded, nervousness crept in to take its place.
What was he supposed to say?
He had things he wanted to tell them, and yet it felt like there was nothing to talk about.
"Right, it's almost midnight. They're probably asleep. I shouldn't bother them."
Just as he was about to hang up, the line connected.
"Kai?" A gentle voice came through the receiver.
"It's me," Kai replied, his voice dry.
"Calling at this hour..." His mother sounded worried, and she asked carefully, "Is something... wrong?"
...
Kai's father walked out of the bedroom.
He looked down the hallway toward his wife, who was standing by the entrance with a coat draped over her shoulders, and called out. "Who's calling in the middle of the night?"
"Shh." His mother pressed a finger to her lips, signaling him to keep quiet.
She covered the mouthpiece and whispered, "It's Kai. I think he might be having some kind of trouble."
His father's brow furrowed.
He walked over to the phone and leaned in close, listening intently without saying a word.
Kai was still trying to organize his thoughts and hadn't spoken for a while.
His mother broke the silence first. "If things really aren't working out, just come home. I don't need you to be successful, Kai."
Tokyo was so far away, and her son barely called. She spent more nights than she'd admit lying awake, worrying.
His father's lips twitched, but he stayed quiet.
Kai tightened his grip on the receiver. He could feel it, a mother's concern, raw and real and unconditional.
After a deep breath, he smiled and answered. "Having a hard time? No way. The pay is great and the work is easy. People in Tokyo are really friendly. I've got a bunch of friends, and I can even go see the pandas. M... Mom, I'm living a great life, so don't worry about me."
"That's good to hear." Even as she said it, the worry in her voice didn't fade.
His father still wore a stern expression.
Reporting only the good news and burying the bad was his own rule of life. He figured his son was doing the exact same thing.
"This manga artist business... it's too unrealistic," he said in a low, gruff voice.
Instead of coming home to properly inherit the family business and work the land, the boy was off chasing nonsense.
"He's miles behind the Kawata kid next door."
His mother shot him a glare, and only then did he back down.
"M... Mom, I called because I wanted to tell you that my manga won an award."
The moment the words left his mouth, Kai felt something loosen inside him.
"So don't worry about me," he said again, and then continued. "I'm heading in the right direction. I'm going to become a manga artist for real."
He twirled the phone cord around his finger and, without even realizing it, started pouring everything out.
He treated the people on the other end of the line as his real parents and described, one thing at a time, everything he'd been through since arriving in this life.
The cramped apartment. The grueling work. The low pay that came with having no education. The dead-end feeling of knowing there was no room to climb.
His mother was worried, but she didn't interrupt. She listened quietly as he spoke.
It was past midnight. Under the dim hallway light, she stood perfectly still for a long time. It wasn't until his father nudged her and gestured toward the speakerphone button that she snapped out of it and pressed it.
Kai's voice filled the Fujin household through the speaker.
"I've pushed through so much already."
"The editor thinks really highly of me. He says I'll definitely land a serialization."
"Kai is truly impressive." His mother nodded with warmth. "I think so too."
As she spoke, she jabbed his father with her elbow.
His father's face went red.
"Take care of yourself."
The words came through the phone, and Kai went still for a moment. Then he smiled, understanding perfectly. "I will."
He was exactly like Kai's previous father.
The older generation buried their worry for their children deep down inside and left it to the kids to figure out on their own.
They talked for a while longer until Kai suddenly realized it was already one in the morning, and he hurried to wrap up the call.
He set the receiver down and looked around the empty, quiet room. Something warm and full had settled in his chest.
"Actually, forget resting. While I still have the energy, I'll use tonight to finish the storyboards for the first three chapters of Death Note."
"Then I can bring them to Heishi-san tomorrow and get his feedback."
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