[2] Kurokawa Kazuya
Riiiiing, riiiiing...
Kazuya reached out and turned off the alarm clock beside him with a click.
"My head hurts a bit..."
Rubbing his head, Kazuya slowly sat up in bed. He wanted to create his own manga, but he always found himself constrained. Every time he tried to come up with ideas, he realized that the novels and anime he had seen in his previous life on Earth contained elements similar to what he was thinking.
"Is it impossible to completely break free from the past? After all, human imagination is based on their own experiences. For instance, can God create a stone so heavy that even He can't lift it? That's an unanswerable question for humans, but what about beings beyond humanity, like the real God..."
Kazuya wanted to try adapting a game he had played in the past into a manga. The game was about a hundred people stranded on an island, with only one survivor in the end. However, it was just a dream; he couldn't involve others or bring elements from his dreams into reality. But knowledge from his dreams could be retained.
"Time for breakfast, I guess." Kazuya wasn't particularly skilled at cooking, but it was just him and his little sister at home. He didn't trust her to eat outside when she went to school in the mornings. So, over the past year, he had been learning to cook and had some experience from his previous life.
Now his sister no longer complained about the food being bad.
After preparing breakfast and warming up two cups of milk, Kazuya headed to his sister's room and knocked on the door. "Kazumi, it's time for school. Breakfast is ready; please get up."
There was no response from inside the room. Kazuya let out a sigh and pushed the door open. He saw his little sister, Kurokawa Kazumi, still sound asleep.
"Time to wake up, Kazumi. You'll be late for school."
"Ugh..." Kazumi slowly opened her eyes, squinting against the bright sunlight streaming into the room. Kazuya drew back the curtains.
"Good morning, Kazumi."
"O-Onii-chan..." Kazumi, still half-asleep, rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"
"It's 7:30. If you don't want to be late, you have about thirty-five minutes left," Kazuya said, glancing at the clock.
"Hmm..." Kazumi pouted and went back to lie down. "Let me sleep for fifteen more minutes..."
"Kazumi—Kazumi—" These shouts came from outside.
"It looks like you can't sleep anymore," Kazuya said to his younger sister. "Your classmates are here to see you. Hurry up and get up, don't make your friends wait too long."
"Yeah... I know," Kazumi reluctantly sighed and sat up.
"Well then, I'll go and see your friends first. Get up quickly."
"Okay..."
With that, Kazuya left the room and opened the door.
"Onii-san~"
"Hello."
"Yeah," Kazuya nodded at the two girls in front of him, who were about the same age as his sister. "Kazumi just woke up, and there's still some time before school, so come on in."
"Thank you, Onii-san."
"T-Thank you."
Kazuya smiled and didn't say much. The cheerful girl was named Chitanda Yoko, while the slightly nervous one was named Kawamoto Hanako. Both were his sister's classmates.
As for Kazumi, she was now a first-year junior high school student, 13 years old this year.
"I won't have breakfast, I'll just go—"
"No, you can't."
Kazuya stopped Kazumi, who had rushed downstairs, and said, "You must have breakfast."
"Ugh..." Kazumi pouted and reluctantly agreed, "Okay, okay, I know."
"And you must finish all your milk."
"Okay~."
After a somewhat hurried breakfast, Kazumi greeted her brother and walked to school with her classmates. It took about ten minutes to walk from here to her school.
And then... she didn't notice that her brother, Kazuya, had quietly followed them. He continued to watch until he was certain that his sister had entered the school grounds, and then he turned back.
He didn't need to follow too closely; he had a special sense that allowed him to gauge his sister's approximate location. However, it seemed his sister couldn't sense him.
"Time to start work..." Kazuya tidied up his room and then entered his workspace.
Last night, he had entered that dream world as usual to observe people's expressions. He felt that he should be able to finish the first chapter of his manga today.
Kazuya took out the new manga manuscript, which he had already prepared, and set it aside. Initially, he had to create rough drafts, but now he didn't need to. He could begin working directly on the original manuscript.
With no room for error, he worked at an incredibly fast pace!
In his manga, there was a scene where, despite his incredible speed, he had taken several days to draw it. It depicted the various expressions of people on an airplane after they learned what was about to happen.
Based on his dream, he could remember two faces a day. Now, after completing the final face...
The image before him didn't look like a manga; it looked like a photograph. It was a photo capturing the faces of all the people he had documented!
Riiiiing, riiiiing...
"The phone? Probably from the editorial department..." Kazuya glanced at the phone. He knew that only people from the editorial department called on this phone. He used a different phone for other purposes.
"Hello, is this Kurokawa?"
"Yes, it's me. Is that Iwamoto-san?"
"Yes, your manuscript for the current chapter is already complete. Is the next one ready?"
Kazuya's editor, Yu Iwamoto, sounded somewhat puzzled. It was unusual for someone who insisted on not having an assistant to finish a manga chapter by themselves. He found it strange.
"Oh, it's all ready. I can send it to you if you want."
"No need for that; I'll come over. I also want to discuss the content of the manga with you. Is that alright?"
"Sure." Kazuya nodded. "I'll be waiting at home."
After hanging up the phone, Kazuya took out the manuscript for the second half of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood," which he had already prepared, and set it aside. He then resumed work on his new original manga.
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