Chapter 6: Meeting with the super popular illustrator
“Why did it become like this…?”
I am in a certain cafe right now.
The reason is due to a phone call from Amano-san.
[Amatsu Atsume-sensei says she wants to meet you.]
“Eeh!?”
[She wants to ask about details regarding the designs for the characters.]
“If it’s about that then can’t she just ask me through mail??”
[She said it would be faster to ask directly…]
“I understand, can I hear about the meeting place?”
[There’s a fashionable cafe near the publishing company, how about there? It seems Amatsu-sensei also goes there quite a bit.]
“Understood, I’ll be heading there right now.”
[Thank you, I will inform Amatsu-sensei from my side.]
It was like that.
“Uuh… I’m suddenly nervous now…”
The meeting was set to be at 11am at the aforementioned cafe.
Are my clothes okay…?
It’s my usual parka and jeans.
But today it was a white parka.
I chose it because it would give an impression of cleanliness.
I sent a direct message to Amatsu Atsume-sensei on twitter.
We were talking a little bit while I was on the train.
“I’ve arrived at the cafe.”
Sent.
[Thank you for coming, I am in a seat in the back.]
Is the message that arrived from sensei.
Uwa… I’m getting really nervous now…
I braced myself and entered the cafe.
The inside of the cafe was air conditioned and it was very cool.
Um.. she said it was in the back…
??
In the seat was a girl with silver hair who looked to be around middle school age.
Did she make a mistake with her seat?
Is what I thought, but the seat she was in was the furthest from the entrance.
“Are you by chance, Amatsu Atsume-sensei?”
I called out to her.
Her shoulders shook and she looked towards me.
“Yesh! T,T,T,That’s right!”
It seems she was Amatsu Atsume-sensei.
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
“I’ll be taking the seat in front then.”
“P,P,P,Please do so.”
“You seem very nervous, huh?”
“Umyu-...”
She nodded her head while blushing.
“Um…”
We were in silence for a while.
In that gap, I once again took a look at sensei’s appearance.
She had silver hair, and clear white skin.
And mysterious blue eyes.
“It’s a beautiful silver color isn’t it?”
“Hii-!”
What should I do? It feels like sensei’s eyes look like they’re looking at a criminal.
“Umm… both my parents are finnish. But I was born and raised in japan.”
Aah, so she’s finnish.
It’s Santa Claus’ country isn’t it?
“Is that so, that’s incredible.”
“Um… You don’t need to be formal with me…”
“... Got it, is this fine?”
She nodded her head.
But the conversation isn’t going anywhere, what should I do?
While I was thinking about that, I got a notification for a message.
[I really love sensei’s work! Thank you for meeting with me today!]
“Thank you, I was also very surprised when you volunteered to be an illustrator for my work.”
[I’ve been a fan since 3 years ago! I wanted to be in charge of the illustrations one day!!!]
Since she said 3 years ago, that would be when I was still serialising [Mission].
I’ve been posting since I entered middle school, she’s been a fan for a long time.
[For a while there was a theory about you being dead, so I am glad to see you alive and healthy.]
I knew the death theory would come up.
“I have been alive and well.”
[I was really happy to find out you were alive after seeing the post 3 days ago!! Ever since “Mission” was finished 2 years ago it has been so tough I couldn’t even eat properly.]
So exaggerated...
“By the way, how old is sensei?”
[Asking a girl for her age is a breach of manners, you know?]
Sensei made an embarrassed smile.
Cute.
“Sorry.”
[I was just joking. I’m 15 this year! In my 3rd year of Middle school.]
3rd year middle school!?
She had a very small build so I thought she was in her 1st year.
“An illustrator and Vtuber in 3rd year middle school… that’s amazing.”
“Minua kiitettiin”
Ou… it’s finnish.
“Opettaja on myös hämmästyttävä! Näytät lukion oppilaalta, mutta voit tehdä hienoa työtä!”
(TL note: The text in [] are the translation to the finnish words.)
[Sensei is also amazing! Even though you’re in highschool, to think you'd released such a godly work!!]
Amatsu-sensei continued speaking in finnish.
“Kiitos.”
[Thank you.]
When I replied like that, her eyes widened.
And then she started typing really fast on her phone.
She’s fast-!
[Sensei, you can understand finnish??]
“Um, if it’s daily conversation, then I can. I guess saying that I learned it due to my dad’s job, would be correct?”
My dad works as a translator.
He goes to different countries, and during the few times he’s back home, he can somehow only speak the language of the country he visited.
Ah, it reminds me of the past.
Like the time he came back from Thailand, or the time he came back from China.
When he spoke a foreign language he would then translate it to japanese.
He brought back books from overseas as souvenirs, so I read them to study.
“I don’t understand some of the harder words, but I know quite a few words, so I can guess based on context, all I can understand is that you were praising me a while ago…”
[That’s too amazing!! You wrote a godly work and can even speak multiple languages, too cool!]
She started speaking in finnish again.
This time, she was speaking so fast that I couldn’t understand anything she said.
“Amatsu Atsume-sensei is… “Lumi” wha-?”
“Please call me Lumi… It’s… my name.”
“Can I call you Lumi-chan… then?”
“Ha-!”
Lumi-chan held her chest while she became red in the face.
If I remember correctly, Lumi means “snow” in finnish.
It’s a good name.
She’s flapping her leg.
The cafe staff is looking over here...
It can’t be helped, so I'll order something.
“Excuse me, can I please order something?”
Now that I think about it, we never actually ordered anything.
“I’ll have an espresso con panna please, what would you like Lumi-chan?”
“U,Um,,, I’ll also have the same.”
“Understood, please give us a moment.”
[Is it fine?]
“Of course, being treated by someone who’s younger than me would be embarrassing as a man after all.”
[Your heart is also cool!!]
It seems she’s happy about it, that’s a relief.
Tenrai-kun’s advice really helped me out here.
[Lesson number 1: Don’t let a girl treat you. Do you want to die??]
I never thought I’d have a chance to use that advice, but I’m glad I remembered it.
“Thank you for waiting.”
I drank the coffee that was brought over in one breath.
Espresso con panna is an espresso with whip cream on it, it’s a sweet coffee.
“Delicious…”
That’s good, it seems Lumi-chan liked it.
ーーーーーーーー
After finishing off the coffee, we left the cafe.
We thought it would be bad if we stayed too long.
The place where we headed to was a park in the shade.
We sat facing each other on a bench with a roof over it.
“This is… the main character [Haruki].”
Ooh!! This is exactly how I imagined [Haruki] to be.
“This is amazing, Lumi-chan!”
“Ehehe.”
“This is exactly how I imagined [Haruki] to be!!”
[I’ve been drawing him for a long time after all, since 2 years ago.]
She sent it to me through a direct message on twitter.
Sorry, I kind of feel bad for Lumi-chan…
It might’ve been better to have had it sent through an official mail from management.
“This is… I can expect something from this. Thank you.”
[Yes! I will risk my soul and finish it even if I have to die!]
“You don’t have to put that level of effort in!!”
If it’s this girl, I can safely leave the illustrations to her.
That’s a relief.
First Waifu
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chapter
ReplyDeleteCaught me off guard when she started talking in Finnish...
ReplyDeleteBy the way, her name should be Lumi instead of Rumi :)
thanks for the correction! I'll edit the past chapters once I have the time to go through them.
Delete“Minua kiitettin” its missing one i letter as it should be "Minua kiitettiin" :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for informing me! I'll be putting it on the list of edits I'm gonna do.
Delete