Distant Star

With a pen in her hand, she sketched all the way on the hard but smooth paper. The table lamp beside her illuminated her calm face while she drew. With cold sweat trickling down on the back of her neck, she completely ignored it since she was already finishing her last stroke. She examined the refined portrait she outlined. Finally putting the pen down on the table, her lips formed a gentle smile. Then, her eyes slowly closed as she drifted into a peaceful and dreamily sleep that night.

Her cellular phone had rung twice, and sure, this time, it woke her up. She twitched a little bit as she rubbed her eyelids. She slowly opened her eyes as she held up her hand to shield her sight from the blinding flash of light coming from the window. She turned to her side and gazed sleepily at her alarm clock, which failed to wake her up for the nth time. Stretching her arms and legs, she pulled away the blankets off as she reached for her cellular phone on the floor. "It must’ve fallen while I was asleep", she thought as she picked up the receiver, yawning. A voice spoke, and she immediately knew who it was. The company’s manager, Kimika-san, reminded her one last time about her deadline that afternoon, and then hung up with some words of encouragement. Putting aside her cellular phone, she calmly smiled as she made herself a cup of coffee at the other side of her small but neat apartment.

Of course, it was Saturday morning, so she had to go and do some grocery shopping at the nearby convenience store. As she bid goodbye to the nice landlady of her apartment, she rode her bicycle, gathering some new ideas for her hopefully-next manga, 'Sakura'. Making her way through the busy streets of Tokyo, she skidded to a halt when she finally arrived at her destination. She parked her bicycle near the store as soon as she got off. After buying some canned goods and fresh fruits, she made her way to a small Shinto shrine before passing her work to the vexed manager. At the shrine, she greeted the kind old Shinto priest as she made some offerings and prayed. She also saw those two junior high school girls again, making their requests to God to be able to pass their entrance exam at Tokyo University.

It was one-thirty in the afternoon when she dropped by a fast food to order some sushi and katsudon. Sitting at a park and admiring the gardens filled with pretty flowers and trees, she humbly ate her lunch while scanning her work once more for corrections. She still felt a little bit uneasy; she placed back the papers in the envelope as her shoulders dropped. She doesn’t think that her debut piece will sell even just a single copy. Putting her trash in the garbage can, depressed, she finally made her way to the manager’s office.

Panting for breath, she almost made it in time. But when she slowly stepped into the office, immediately handing the envelope out, the manager wretchedly told her that she isn’t sure if their company will still be able to publish hers, because they had already chosen one. Holding back her tears, she swallowed hard as she raised her face, and then smiled at the manager. The manager was completely surprised, expecting to see the hopeless look on the young girl’s face. She then told the manager that although she knew that her effort had a single percent to be chosen among others, she still had to try her best. She then asked for them to at least try to review her work, because she did it with all her heart, then bowed her head and left the building.

After a couple of months, she was walking on her way home when she happened to pass by a bookstore. There, she saw a large banner hanging in front which really stunned her. In it was an advertisement of her debut manga, 'Kami no Ryouko', which had sold a billion copies internationally. With tears in her eyes, she gratefully smiled as she finally reached her dream, her only dream, which happened to be an unreachable star once.

Three years had passed, and now, Megumi has become one of Japan’s famous mangaka, and her name is well-known internationally as well. Two months after her first exposure to the anime and manga industry, she met Hiroyuki Minekura, a man five years older than her, who is also a renowned mangaka, and they fell in love. After a year or two, the two got married and everybody took place in the celebration of their love. She still lives in the same, old apartment we knew, but leads a very happy and blithe life together with her husband and two-year-old daughter, Mitsuki. Nothing had changed much, but her perspective in life is one step ahead over everyone else’s.

Note: This is just how I wish my future life would be. This is entirely fictional, except for my love for drawing manga, which is really my dream ever since.



Translations:
'Kami no Ryouko'- roughly translates into 'Journey of a God'
Sakura- cherry blossoms
manga- Japanese comics; usually turned into anime
mangaka- Japanese comic artist
anime/animeshon- animation; manga being animated and being aired in the television