Kapitel 15: Failure as a Stepping Stone

After a month of waiting and helping out Kozue's family maid restaurant, we got a call from SAESHA, shokunen jade's main company.

"Hello, is this the mangaka club from Inari Okami Highschool? I'm Kiichi Naru your assigned editor for your manga. To whom am I speaking?"

An editor from SHOKUNEN JADE!

"H-Hi, This Kenji Yoshikawa, the club president, n-nice to meet you."

I'm a bit puzzled and excited to finally have a call from an editor.

"Oh, nice to meet you! I'm here to tell you about your entry. I'll go straightforward if you want to."

Kiichi-san in a serious tone gives chills to the back of my neck.

"Y-Yeah, please do."

I feel my sweat dripping in my face and the whole room went silent to me.

"I'm sorry but you didn't make it through the finalist, I know-"

Before he could finish talking I placed down my phone onto my desk and looked down in disbelief.

"H-Hello? Kenji-kun? Are you still there? I know this is devastating for your first try but if you want me to guide you please do call me on this number. Don't feel down, this is one big step for your dream of becoming a mangaka."

I feel so stupid by the thought of us winning, I was overly confident it would at least be part of the Top 3 finalist.

"Y-Yeah, I'll call you back."

I dropped the call and left the room without telling anyone the reason. As if I could tell them that we didn't make it.

"Hey, Fumi have you seen Kenji around? I didn't saw him in the classroom all day. But we came to school together."

Yasuyuki feels concerned about not having a clue where I have gone.

"I just saw him left the clubroom, I was calling him but he didn't bother to look back, he seemed down."

Fumi as far as I know she'll always be the first one to notice something wrong in all of us.

"I see, I'll go look for him, try calling his phone. Kozue seems down too they didn't even talk to each other and she skipped school today too.��

Yasuyuki thought it is connected to Kozue's confession the last couple of weeks but it really isn't

Hanako, Nagi, and Nami entered our clubroom just as Yasu left running to look for me.

"Fumi, what's going on? Is there something wrong why did Yasu burst out running?"

Nagi is curious and concerned about what's happening around them.

"Yeah, it's because Kenji left without notice, skipped class, looking down, like he has a big problem. Kozue skipped school today. They weren't talking to each other as well."

Fumi with a frown and clenched her hand to her chest like a scared child.

I sent a group email telling them that I went home to pick up my little sister at school but it was an obvious lie that only Yasu could understand.

'Liar, I'll meet you at your park. t(-.-t)'

That was on Yasu's reply.

And so we meet

"Oy, Kenji what's wrong? Is this something to do about Kozue's confession?"

I was surprised he knows about it.

"H-How do you know about that?"

I answered in shock.

"I just happened to come out at the back to throw the trash and I saw both of you stand facing each other like in every anime confession scene."

He put it that way to joke around as he knows I'm a little down.

"So you acted like one of the side characters who happened to pass by and had misunderstood the situation. But it's not about it."

I smiled at him while we are sitting on a seesaw rocking it back and forth.

"Then what is the problem?"

Yasu takes his turn to push me up in the seesaw.

"SAESHA called me, and it was bad news."

Yasu was surprised and stopped for a minute.

"What is it about?"

I feel cold and couldn't speak nor I wanted to tell him then,

"We didn't win, did we? I knew it, there was no chance of that winning."

I was surprised by his conclusion.

"Then why did you write it?"

I asked him for a directive question.

"I wanted to hear the comments of the professionals, so I can learn more on where to improve, it's not like I didn't want to win, I was hoping too as well, however, I feel like if we won then we would be slacking and overconfident about our skills, also having Hanako with us made us feel that way I have noticed that."

Yasu looked the other way with an anxious tone in his voice.

"Why didn't you tell me that earlier, so I could assess the situation?"

I answered in a frustrated manner and looking at him in disappointment.

"You're seriously going to ask me that, okay, how could I just ruin the happiness that you felt with them around, with knowing that our rival has the same goal as you and joined your team. Knowing that you finally have found the answer to your father's reasons and the mangaka club."

I see, so he was just looking after me the entire time. It was all about my happiness.

then Yasu continues,

"I've known you for so long, not to forget that when you are so happy with one thing and I ruined it, that will all fall apart."

As he said that, I remembered we almost abandoned our friendship because I was so stubborn after he ruined my date with someone then later on knowing it was all a prank to play with me and make fun of me.

"I'm sorry, I am so stubborn during that day. But now, I trust you more than anyone. Feel free to ruin my day, warn me, or whatever. I'll listen."

I said the truth, I was stubborn it's like my ego and pride was stepped on.

"Remember the Japanese proverb, 'failures leads to success'. So let's just keep pushing forward failures after failures."

Yeah, he is right failure is a stepping stone. Keep pushing forward.