Yuki Rurikawa/A Page from Someone’s Life

How to Make a Picture Book, Rurikawa-Style

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2Part 3

Izumi	What should we do for dinner tonight?
Kumon	I’ll help if you’re going out shopping!
Kazunari	Samesies!
Misumi	We gotta buy lots of onigiri ingredients too~!
Muku	That sounds great!
Yuki	…
Tenma	Yuki. What’re you doing smirking by yourself while staring at your phone over there?
Yuki	I’m not smirking or anything.
Kazunari	Ooh, is that kid Yukki’s little nephew!?
	He’s so totally cute!
Yuki	Well, yeah.
	…But I don’t approve of you taking a peek at my phone screen without permission.
Kazunari	My bad, my bad!
	I just happened to see it~.
Muku	Your nephew, huh?
	If my older sister also got married, then…
Kazunari	Marriage!?
	I can’t. It’s still too early for Futaba!
Kumon	Yeah, I’ll never accept nii-chan getting married in the future!
Misumi	I can’t imagine Madoka getting married either~!
Tenma	…It seems rough having siblings, huh?
Izumi	It sure does.
Muku	You’ve been going home a lot these days to see your nephew, right, Yuki-kun?
Yuki	Yeah. I actually plan on going home to see him again this week.
Misumi	You look really happy, Yuki~!
Tenma	You make a great uncle.
Yuki	Don’t call me that.
Izumi	Ahaha…
Yuki’s nephew	Kyaa, kyaa.
Yuki	Oh, he’s wearing the hat I made for him.
Yume	He gets fidgety when I try to take it off since we’re indoors. So I usually just leave it on.
Yuki	Heh.
	Well, I’m glad if he likes it.
	Hey, what do you want me to make next?
	I’ll take your request if you have one.
	Just kidding. I guess you still don’t understand—.
Yuki’s nephew	Ahh!
	Dah!
Yuki	Hm? What’s up with that picture book?
Yume	Ah, apparently he’s taken a liking to that book recently.
Yuki	A picture book? He can’t read yet though, right?
Yume	You see, this is a wordless picture book.
	He likes the pictures that are drawn inside.
	So when you show him the pictures like this—.
Yuki’s nephew	Ah, ah!
	Ugu!
Yume	Yep. This is a puppy dog, and this here is a kitty cat~.
Yuki	I see… a wordless picture book, huh?

Yuki	Mmm…
	*door opens*
Tenma	Hm? Your sketchbook is open—are you troubled over something?
Yuki	Not really. Don’t look.
Tenma	Are you drawing something you don’t want others to see?
Yuki	What the heck?
	I thought I’d give my nephew a picture book as a present, so I was just thinking about the design.
Tenma	Oh, a picture book?
	If you’re not sure, then how about I give you a hand?
Yuki	I didn’t ask for your help.
	Or rather, it’d be impossible for you to make a picture book with your artistic taste.
Tenma	W-what’d you say!
	If I actually try, then I could…!
Yuki	Sure, sure.
Kazunari	Huh? Are you goin’ out somewhere, Yukki?
Yuki	I just need a little change of pace. I was working in my room, but it’s noisy when Tenma’s there. I can’t concentrate.
Kazunari	By work, do you mean you’re making that picture book you mentioned?
Yuki	Yeah.
Kazunari	I see! You can chat with me anytime if there’s any part you’re unsure about.
Yuki	Thanks.
	I’ll ask you right now then—.
	Do you know any shops that have a lot of picture books?
	It’d be helpful to have a look inside some.
	I looked up designs on my phone and I was using those as reference. But I feel like I’d get a better grasp on it if I saw some actual books.
Kazunari	Ah. In that case, I know just the shop!
	The place has a café attached and it’s super convenient drawing or getting some work done there!
Yuki	Oh, that sounds nice.
Kazunari	They had loads of picture books and I’m sure you could look inside them as much as you wanted!
	I’ll send you the location deets over LIME.
Yuki	Thanks. I’ll head there now.
	(The bookstore that Kazunari told me about… is probably around here.)
Izumi	Huh, Yuki-kun?
Yuki	What the? Director?
	Were you out somewhere?
Izumi	Yeah, I had a meeting.
	How about you?
Yuki	I’m on my way to a bookstore.
	Kazunari told me about it.
	He said I could get some work done there since there’s an open café space attached to it.
Izumi	Oh, a bookstore you can work in, huh?
	I’ll try going there too, next time.
Yuki	You too? Why?
Izumi	It’d be convenient to have a place I could do some work in between my meetings.
Yuki	I see.
	Why don’t we go there together then?
Izumi	Eh? Are you sure?
Yuki	I mean, as long as you’re not noisy like the hack.
Izumi	Ahaha, of course!
	I’ll be careful not to distract you.

Izumi	There’s such a calm atmosphere.
	I bet you could make good progress on your work here.
Yuki	Yeah, it’s nice.
Izumi	You’re making a picture book for your nephew, right?
	Have you decided what kind?
Yuki	I got some kind of design down.
	It’s still rough though.
Izumi	A bunny, bird, bear… there’s an animal motif, huh?
Yuki	The picture book that my nephew is into right now has dogs and cats drawn in it, so my ideas stemmed from there.
Izumi	I’m sure it’ll become an adorable picture book that suits your style, Yuki-kun.
	I like that you’re using pink all over it!
Yuki	Yeah. My nephew likes pink, after all.
	But I’m running blanks after this part.
Izumi	I see…
	Ah. Why don’t you make a cute little girl appear then?
Yuki	A cute little girl?
Izumi	Look, books like “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Little Mermaid” are being displayed over there.
	For a picture book, you can’t go wrong with a fairy tale.
	Plus, I think that would suit your design and the story would expand from there, wouldn’t it?
Yuki	…I see what you mean.
	Alright then, I’ll use you as a motif.
Izumi	Eh, me?
Yuki	Yeah. You’ll be my model for a “cute girl character”.
Izumi	It’s an honour to be asked model for you. But it’s kind of embarrassing…
Yuki	Oh, but if I’m going out of my way to draw this, then I guess I’ll make some adjustments.
	Can I add some bangs?
Izumi	Ah, that might feel fresh.
CHOICE 1: Please go ahead [+] Izumi Okay, please go right on ahead! Yuki Got it, got it. Anyways, you can go about your own business as usual. Izumi Ah, really? I was sure I shouldn’t move… Yuki It’s not like I’m drawing your portrait. You’re simply a model. You’ll see. I’ll make the design cartoony and draw you cutely. Izumi Thanks! I can’t wait~.
CHOICE 2: I can’t wait [+] Izumi I can’t wait to see how the picture turns out~. Yuki Is just adding bangs enough? If you have any other requests, I’ll accommodate them as much as possible. Izumi Umm, I’m happy simply with the fact you’re drawing me—. But if you’re asking, then I guess I’d like to be dressed in clothes with your cute design, Yuki-kun. Yuki No problem. I’ll come up with something exceptionally cute, so look forward to it.
	By the way, do you not have anything to do?
	I’m going to be working on this for a while.
Izumi	I was thinking of putting the documents from my earlier meeting together. But—.
Yuki	But?
Izumi	I took a look at the menu. The cakes here sounds really tasty.
	If you don’t mind, why don’t we eat some together?
Yuki	That’s fine by me… but what did we come here for again?
Izumi	If we’re gonna work with our heads, then we gotta have sugar!
Yuki	…I won’t argue with that. I’ll go along with you.

Anna