𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍. ʜᴀɴᴀꜱʜɪʀᴏ

0 2 : 彼女の決意

Her Resolve

—

"It's okay, Miss Yashiro. I'm sure you'll get to publish a story soon," Yokoo says as he smiles at her cheerfully, trying to lighten her up after getting out from the back with Tsuchigomori. "When that happens, I'll surely read it."

"Thanks," she says as she pats his back lightly, smiling. The younger man was such a great guy; he was always the one who cheers her up whenever her drafts get rejected. "Be sure to do that, m'kay? You gotta wait because that day will come soon."

"Count me in, Miss Yashiro!" Satou laughs a bit as he pokes his head out from the corner shelf, a small smile on his lips. "You're always working so hard."

"I have to if I want to achieve my dream," Nene says with determination as she slaps Yokoo's back rather hard, making him yelp in surprise and pain for a bit. Sometimes, she can really act like an old man, though. "Mister Tsuchigomori, you gotta buy a copy of my book soon, okay?!"

"Dang loud, kid," he mumbles as he sighs. "Before you say all those things, be sure to actually improve your writing and story plot first. They're like a work of an 8-year-old's."

"Yes, sir!" She salutes at him and asks before grabbing the doorknob. "Any recommendations that can help me improve my thinking and style before I leave? I have the afternoon all to me."

Tsuchigomori narrows his eyes and looks up at the ceiling as he thinks. He looks back at her and says, "Why don't you look around town? Observe everything around you. While you're at it, try narrating what they do with the vocabulary you got. Don't stare too much, though. You'll make them uncomfortable, kid."

"Aye, aye," she giggles as she exits the shop with a smile. Although he was really grumpy at times, he can be kind, too. "Must make this time worth it!"

The cream-haired skips across the busy people around the town, planning to follow the advice that the older man had told her before: observe and narrate in your mind.

"Hello, would you like to buy some?" A little girl appears in front of her and asks as she carries a basket full of fresh bread. Immediately remembering that she hasn't really eaten breakfast yet, she succumbs into the aroma that the bread gives off. "It just costs a couple of silver coins."

"Those look nice," she compliments them, offering her a smile as she takes out some silver coins from her pocket and gives it to her. "I'll buy some."

"Thank you," she gives the bread and smiles. "Have a good day!"

The cream-haired munches onto her food as she finds a bench to sit on. As she enjoys her small meal, she notices a beautiful florist near where she sits and decides to use her as practice.

Nene hums a song as she takes out her small notebook and pen from her pocket, getting ready to write. To be honest, what the old curator told her was right; she was a novice when it comes to writing novels. A mediocre.

Totally different from what she dreams off to be.

She started writing down notes as she glances at the florist every now and then, not overlooking the fact that her sunflowers and roses looked the best, mentally making her description about the said flowers into poetic ones. She included the happiness that were etched warmly on the faces of the customers passing by, praising her hard work. Remembering one of those times when he told her about "seeing the bigger picture," she added the other scenarios that were also happening around the said shop.

Nene thinks that this is a part of a training that she must do in order to get to the top. Although she always boasts and tells the head publisher that she will definitely pass him a "jaw-dropping" story soon, she doubts if she can ever even finish it before passing it.

The nobility believes that people who become writers are only the commoners who are too delusional, they can't take it that they just relieve themselves with publishing it.

Nene was a former commoner, together with her aunt. They struggled before Yako got with Misaki because they are in completely two different worlds—he was a Baron while she was only a commoner. But even so, in the end, they managed to wed and be together, although the price that the beige-haired woman had to pay was heavier than expected.

Her mother died before her aunt Yako was married, so she had no choice but to come to the Baron's House. As a new part of that faction, she knows that what she's doing is a taboo, that will certainly be a gossip among circles.

But the cream-haired can't stop herself; she loved writing and it felt like this was her only oxygen when it comes to her everyday suffocating new noble life. Considering how it's really bothersome to become a well-respected and mannered lady, she had to attend a couple of etiquette classes and learn greetings like curtsys and bows. It was frustrating.

It frustrates her, but whenever her hands comes in contact with a pen to a clean and crisp paper, she calms down as she writes the massive thoughts stuck in her mind.

Nene loved the way how words can be so big and small and so profound. That whenever she encounters a word that is unfamiliar to her, she adds it to her notes so that she can use it the next time around. Give and take.

Writing stories makes her mind think beautifully and openly and it makes her feel something. Gathering words together, making phrases and constructing sentences are what is life to her.

That's why she won't ever give up, even if the world will go against it.

"I'm going to do my best here," she mumbles to herself as she spent the whole afternoon, observing and writing. "I'll show them."