Femme Fatale & Akutagawa ch1: A View Just for Two
p1
To write the ultimate novel, you need a femme fatale.
At the same time,
femme fatales have an obligation to destroy masterpieces.
p2-3
I could hear the warning bells ringing.
They were pushing me towards hell...
But for me, it's the only option I have.
Writers who are satisfied with words containing nothing but deja vu.
Literarily impotent editors who do nothing but collect manuscripts.
Readers who've discarded their sensitivity and just consume literature to kill time.
Right now, the literary world is simply disgusting.
What say we destroy it together?
Together with this femme fatale (crazy woman who seeks to destroy the world of literature), I'll get the Akutagawa Prize for sure.
p4
Reading this story... ticked me off~
The protagonist Yuu in particular was terrible.
Can't we go with a different protag?
How should I put it~ She just has no character.
You get that yourself, right?
Th-
That's,
um, impossible.
p5
I-I'm writing this novel for Yuu-chan...
my o-one and only friend.
Ah~
Oh yeah.
Can't you just write something like Bella Donna?
Bella Donna.
My first and only book release.
N-
No way.
p6
It's the reason I haven't gotten any feedback from Yuu-chan...
I-I just scribbled that out back when my head was in a weird place.
It's a piece of trash...
Hah~
Why'd I get put in charge of you? What a waste of time...
How unlucky can you get?
Well, I'll write up a proposal and send it in,
but can you afford to keep rejecting things like this, Fuwa-san?
p7
I-
I work at a company, so...
How many years do you think you've been working here!?
Just quit! Resign already!
I'm sorry.
A company is supposed to support each other, but with you, it's nothing but misses!
You're nothing but dead weight!
p8
Tadokoro! You're supposed to be guiding her, aren't you!?
I did explain it to her,
but it was verbally, so...
I'm sorry.
I need to apologise to Tadokoro-san...
It's all Fuwa-san's fault!
Fuwa-san, huh... He might've gone a bit too far,
but it was all true~
Hmm...
Waah
It'd be so peaceful without her!
I wish Fuwa-san really would quit!
p9
Writing.
Working.
Social interaction.
Nothing goes right.
My whole existence has no value.
p10-11
But...
Books
p12
Yuu-chan's feedback alone gives me a reason to exist...!
Thank you as always. I love you.
Yuu-chan is a girl I met
in the library back in my student days.
p13
The library was where
I don't wanna go home...
I would hang out once I was old enough to make my own decisions.
It wasn't that I loved books.
It was that the library was the only place I could think of
where a child like me could kill some time.
My 6th year of grade school.
I've read this book too.
Ah.
p14
If I write my own book, I could kill even more time.
Write.
Throw away.
Write.
Throw away.
That's how I killed time.
My time only existed to be killed.
p15
In my third year of high school,
I better throw this away soon.
I met Yuu-chan.
She's reading it on her own.
I'm going home...
Saves me the hassle of throwing them away.
p16
Then one day,
she wrote me some feedback.
[Japanese] Novel
from Yuu
Fuwa MeikoHah...
I threw that one out.
A letter?
I wasn't opposed to reading the letter.
It was another way to kill time.from Yuu
p18
Wha-
Wh-Wha-
Ngfrom Yuu
What the?
p19
Euphoria.
I-I had no idea...
What is this sensation?
Fuwa Meiko
p20
I was writing novels for the purpose
of getting feedback from Yuu-chan...!
I see.
I
get it now.
p21
I didn't know her face or voice.
She just read my novels and gave me feedback.
That was all our relationship was
and it was more than enough.To Mei-chan
from Yuu
I hope this relationship continues forever...
My world became filled with color.
p22
But then one day, Yuu-chan didn't come to the library.
p23
From that day on, I started submitting my novels.
Betting everything on a miracle
that Yuu-chan would read it wherever she was.Fuwa Meiko
I'm begging you.
p24
Next is~
I got assigned an editor and started writing short stories for a magazine.
Here's some fan letters for your short story the other day.
from Yuu
p25
I'll keep writing novels.
Of course!
It was, after all, the one way I could stay connected to Yuu-chan.
p26
I've got it.
I'll write about how me and Yuu-chan parted ways.
If I do that,
we're sure to grow even closer.
I was so happy back then...
p27
The novel I wrote back then, Bella Donna,
is something I wish could be erased from this Earth.
Bella Donna received a literature prize
and got compiled into a book.
But
I haven't received even the slightest bit of feedback from Yuu-chan since.
p28
When was the last feedback I got from her again?
Ah.
The new issue comes out today...
For now, the one thing I can do
is keep searching for the happiness Yuu-chan once gave me
and do nothing but write novels.
p29
Man, in this rain?
Looks like it was cigarette hitting a gas stove that did the trick.
I'd better call the insurance company.
Erm, what's the procedure for this again?
It's so hot~
I should've brought my umbrella.
This sucks.
p30
But it looks like there was nobody inside.
We can at least be thankful for that.
Eh? What?
Hey!
You trying to go in there!? Did you leave something important in there?
A pet!? Money!?
Fe-
p31
What could be more important than your life!?
Fe-
Feedback!
The papers with feedback written on them!
p32
Feedback?
Paper?
Anything that's paper is already burning up.
Give it a rest!
Hah Hah Hah
B-
Burning...
p33
It's burning.
Burnt up.
Th-
There's
nothing left.
Everything I had up until now is gone.
p34
Does my existence have any value?
No. It never had any to begin with.
p35
Bunkei Fuyuharu - Mori
Fuwa Meiko-sama,
This is Mori from Bunkei Fuyuharu. Thank you for looking after me.
I'm resigning from my post. It's a bit sudden, but I thought you should know. Yakushimaru will be your new editor.
It's blank. My mind is a complete blank.
p36-37
It's because of Yuu-chan's feedback that I was allowed to exist.
The one thing I understood
is being teared
and smashed.
And now that it's gone, my only option is to die.
p38
Hey? You!
Die.
Die.
Don't get any closer!
Somebody stop that woman!
Die.
Die.
A fire, huh? What a tragedy.
Die.
The novel project I inherited from Mori went through.
It's gonna be published.
Mei-chan, Bella Donna was really interesting.
p39
I loved how you showed that the main character was seeking the definition of motherhood by not showing her mother.
You really are a genius, Mei-chan.
You were able to clearly and precisely write what she was missing.
I was so relieved that I cried.
p40
Oh?
The rain's cleared up.
Yuu-chan?
p41
As expected!
You knew this was Yuu-chan's feedback right away, didn't you?
I'm your new editor, Yakushimaru Moeko.
Nice to meet you.
I'm the editor who understands your works the best, Fuwa-sensei!
p42
Your project went through and it's being published.
Mori's proposal was terrible, so I rewrote it and it passed at the meeting.
That's only to be expected since you're such a genius, Fuwa-sensei.
But you're not interested in that, are you, Sensei?
Your brain only functions on feedback from Yuu-chan, after all...
p43
Y-
Yuu-chan...
read Bella Donna?
She said she loved it.
p44
A-Aaah.
I can live...!
Uuh...
Ghu...
p45
D-
Do you know Yuu-chan?
And what would you do with that information?
Eh~?
Eh? Then
if you do know her,
I-I'd like to meet...
Why do you want to meet her?
p46
W-Well,
I love her feedback, so...
That doesn't count as a reason.
Ahaha.
Can't you even put it into words?
You're kidding, right?
p47
What's with this editor?
Wh-
Why?
She's weird.
I hate it.
Eh?
But...
That your thoughts are in disarray, Sensei.
You can't put your own feelings into words?
Even thought this is the perfect chance to pour your feelings into a masterwork?
You're a writer, aren't you?
p48
I'll help you put your thoughts in order, Sensei.
Just leave it to your editor.
What're you-
Hah
Huh!?
I can't get loose.
Eh?
Seriously, what's with this editor?
p49
Don't talk. Don't move.
Don't let your thoughts scatter.
Just get that brain in gear.
Gather up your thoughts
and put them into words.
I...
p50
I wanted her to give sympathy and good will to me alone.
But
I can just get that from feedback. I don't need to meet her for that.
In which case, why do I want to meet her?
Why...?
I-
p51
I want to hear...
Yuu-chan's v-voice.
p52
Eh?
That's why? Huh?
You've never heard it?
Huh?
Hmm~
Alright then!
p53
If you can get the Akutagawa Prize, I'll let you see Yuu-chan!
Y'see,
as it is now, the literary world
is sooooo goddamn boring to me.
p54
Eh?
A "genius" appears
and then everything after that is just stories imitating that genius.
p55
There's too many novels written out of admiration.
They're so neat and tidy that they're no fun at all.
All those other writers were no good.
So I figured, how about Fuwa-sensei?
To write the ultimate novel, you need a femme fatale.
p56
Writers who are satisfied with words containing nothing but deja vu.
Literarily impotent editors who do nothing but collect manuscripts.
Readers who've discarded their sensitivity and just consume literature to kill time.
Right now, the literary world is simply disgusting.
With her obsession with Yuu-chan,
she can do anything.
"This" is obedience.
What say we destroy it together?
p57
Let me read it.
Show me
the ultimate novel!
If you can write a masterpiece,
you'll get the ultimate feedback from Yuu-chan.
p58-59
I'll get the Akutagawa Prize. [Reason to survive]
p60
Is that
the novel that passed the proposal phase?
That isn't the u-ultimate novel...
p61
Please throw it away.
That's just something I scribbled in two weeks.
She did this in two weeks?
Fuwa Meiko-sama
It looked to be about 150 pages with 400 characters each.
I thought something was odd about the numbers in the proposal Mori submitted...
p62
She can do something like this in 2 weeks with no typos?
Her expressions are unique, too.
It's courteous, yet also charming and fresh...
Her writing speed is on another level.
If given even more time...
she really could get the Akutagawa Prize.
Mei-chan. Let me have that happiness again.
p63
U-Um.
I don't... really care about the literary world.
You can do what you want with it.
I just want to see Yuu-chan...!
I'll use you to make that happen.
p64
Please, use the hell out of me.
The place I'm aiming for is probably somewhere I'll be showered in boos and jeers.
Haha.
Not that different to where I am now, I guess.
The one difference...
p65
is that my heart is ringing like it used to back then.
By teaming up with Yakushimaru and doing whatever it takes, I'll get that Akutagawa Prize
and see Yuu-chan once again...
Is the hand she's taking that of an angel? A devil? Or could it be...