I am Yuuta Sasaki, a renowned mangaka in the industry with over 3 masterpieces short seasonal hit mangas so far. I haven’t created a complete series which goes on for a long time, as having seasonal mangas is stressful enough for me. I haven’t publicly revealed my identity as I believe there is no need for a public reveal. I believe that as long as you can enjoy someone’s work and appreciate it, there’s no need for a face. Not all faces tell a story, unlike one.

As per how Hiro told me, I got into an accident 10 years ago, which cleansed my mind and my memories of my loved ones had vanished. One day, when I woke up, Hiro was beside me. His eyes were swollen from days without sleep, his hands trembling—not from weakness, but from holding on too tightly.

My family, as Hiro claimed to be, was happy that I was alive but also shocked that I couldn’t recognise anyone. I can’t understand the sheer pain they must have felt when I didn’t recognise them. At that moment, every second felt anew. I didn’t remember any faces that confronted me. I didn’t remember any names, nor any places I have been to. A couple months went by and while I was on my way home from the hospital, Hiro showed me around the village trying to get my memory running, but to no avail.

As the sun set, I reached a half rundown house to enter into a celebration held for my arrival. It was like a festival now that I was back. I believe the entire village was there to welcome me. But even in that crowd that I didn’t recognise one bit, I felt that there was this one face that was missing.

The celebration went on till late night. I had to stay around them to not make them feel bad for them to spend the entire day decorating only for me to ignore their feelings and isolate myself. Yes, it was overwhelming for me at some point, and Hiro knew it right away. He took me out with him a couple times for a breather which made me trust him more the way he read me like an open book.

“You sure must know me quite well.” I said to Hiro as we walked out of the crowd. Hiro looked at me and gave me a warm yet a guilty looking smile. “I sure do.” Said Hiro. I couldn’t understand the way he smiled at me.

After the celebration was over, Hiro asked me if I wanted to go to my room. I agreed and decided to follow him. As we walked upstairs to a single room, I froze in front of the entrance. Hiro looked at me and held my hand as he helped me muster up courage to face my past that I didn’t hold any memories of anymore. I opened up the door to a room full of mess. Papers lying around with a small table, having an ink bottle and a paper, which drew a girl with a sketchbook under a tree. There were a lot of mangas on the bookshelf that shouted out loud that I definitely read a lot before. I immediately started seeking for answers that popped up in my mind as I explored the mess around the room and Hiro didn’t hesitate once before he answered my questions.

The room was apparently the way it was since the day I got into the accident and hasn’t been touched yet. I liked manga and wanted to become a mangaka myself. A dream I never thought I would have had. But something in the sketch of the girl resonated with me. I felt a strange connection with it and when I asked Hiro about it, he hesitated a little, for the first time, and gave me a vague answer saying it’s a girl character from my small manga that I dreamed to have released. I took the answer to the face value and didn’t think of it much.

Well, 10 years later, I’m in a rich apartment, living the dream my old self once saw and fulfilling it. I drew, became better at the things I was good at, and made myself capable to be one of the rising mangakas the industry has today.

I still currently live with Hiro and another girl, Sena. Sena joined us 3 years ago as my assistant. I never had good relations with my assistants as I loved working in solitude and they just kept getting into my way of working and were very rigid in blending with my work style. Most of them didn’t even complete a week with me, but I am surprised that Sena has been living with me for the last 3 years. She is different. She’s caring and useful but doesn’t get in the way, flexible and matches with my work style, manages my work flow better than me and handles the editorial and other trivial work with ease, while also managing a household consisting of a shut-in artist (me) and full time office employee (Hiro). 

She has been the best addition to our house so far. We don’t even pay her, she does it out of straight respect and love, as per what she lives by. That’s quite strange. But I like her for how she is and sometimes I do feel sorry for what she has to face due to me lacking in my work. Attending to my deadlines, apologising on my behalf, while also giving me enough time and space to complete the deadlines and make me a valuable asset to the industry. I sure do admire her in that way. Now, she’s not just an assistant, but a whole family to us.

Now that Sena has worked for us for 3 whole years non-stop, I thought of hiring a new assistant so that Sena can work for her job. I don’t want to hold her up because of me while she can become a much better asset to someone who can value her more than I do in my current line of work. And so, I decided to put forth an interview round to get an assistant for me. Hiro took the interviews and now we have another assistant with us. Shiho Ogawa, bold, confident and quick with her work, has been around for a week now. I haven’t found a place for complaint so far, but I actually do admire her work style a lot. She isn’t the type of shiny work person, but someone who does her work neat and quick, leaving almost no room for complaints. And I do respect that with her. She has been helping me with my manga too, but she’s been a little shy around me. I don’t really know why she isn’t comfortable around me, but I hope she does. Sometimes I catch her glancing at me, like she’s waiting for me to say something I forgot to say. But I don’t know what it is. Maybe I will never know. In the end, the life right now is much better than the life I imagined.

But even if everything is going great so far, I get dizzy at times. Sudden déjà vu from certain drawings, and sudden tearing up. I don’t like whatever is happening to me. But I just can’t seem to help it. If I ever miss a dose of medication, I start bleeding from my nose and seem to lose my balance. Guess there are still some lingering effects of the accident. But, even amongst all this mess of my life, there’s a person I want to meet. A person I don’t remember the name of, but feels close. A ghost that lingers in my memories, giving me sudden nostalgic moments. It’s the same person that was missing from the crowd at my welcome party. It’s been 10 whole years, but I still don’t seem to remember who that person is. Slowly and steadily, as time passes, the ghost figure seems to be fading away every moment. Well, whatever it is, I just hope I meet them before anything happens to me.

“I’m home!” A voice came from a distance near the main door. 

‘Guess Sena’s home.’ I think to myself.

Footsteps are heard running across the house to my room. “Yuuta! I am back!” Exclaims Sena as she drops herself on my bed exhausting all her negative energy from working all day into the bed.

“Welcome back. Hope you had a good day.” I say.

“Seriously! I tell you Yuuta…” and she continues to chat about her day at her new job she recently joined.

’She really is a kid.’ I think to myself as I hear another exhausted voice coming from the living room. “I’m home.”

”Guess Hiro’s home.” Sena rises from my bed and heads to the living room and I hear chatter from the living room.

‘And that ends the day huh…’ I think to myself. But some part of me knows — it never really ends, not for me.

— end chapter 3