Tsumugi Tsukioka/Embracing the Weight of Human Knowledge

A Handmade Picture Book to Give for My Dearest You

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2Part 3

Tsumugi	Hmm… Maybe it was under this cardboard box…
	Huh? What was this book again… “Zabi’s Adventure”...?
	Ah, this was the picture book I made back in grade school! This sure takes me back….
Tasuku	All done, Tsumugi?
Zabi	Woof woof!
Tsumugi	Oh, Tasuku. You took Zabi out for a walk, huh.
Tasuku	Granny asked me to, yeah. So? Did you find the textbook you were looking for?
Tsumugi	Ah, sorry… I got distracted after going all nostalgic over something I found.
Tasuku	You’re the one who said you needed the car because you wanted to grab your high school textbook from home. Geez.
Tsumugi	I did ask for it, but weren’t you the one who said you wanted to meet Zabi?
Tasuku	……..Anyways. What did you find?
Tsumugi	Look at this!
Tasuku	A book? And what’s that ugly-looking thing?
Tsumugi	What do mean, it’s obviously Zabi!
Tasuku	Zabi…? This thing?
Tsumugi	Yes it is! Zabi, you can see yourself, right?
Zabi	……..
Tasuku	See, even Zabi himself seems to be questioning it.
Tsumugi	Eeehh… No way…
Tsumugi	This book is for Kumon, and I’ll bring this for the tutoring job next week…
Izumi	Hey there, Tsumugi-san.
Tsumugi	Director and Banri-kun. If you’re going through here, does that mean your practices for today are all done?
Izumi	Yep, just wrapped up the Autumn Troupe’s rehearsals.
Banri	What about you, Tsumugi-san? You’ve got a buncha high schooler textbooks here.
Izumi	Ohh, I haven’t seen this book in so long. This English textbook is the same edition that I used back then.
Tsumugi	Is that so?
Banri	But damn, this book sure has seen better days.
Tsumugi	Hey now, I know it’s old, but you don’t have to say it out loud…
Izumi	So what’s with all these? It doesn’t seem to be all for Kumon and the rest…
Tsumugi	The student that I’m currently tutoring is having some trouble with math, so I’ve been trying to find if there are any good textbooks for them…
	That’s when my textbook from high school came to mind. I remember that it was easy for me to get through, so I was thinking of bringing it along the next time I go back to that student’s house.
	While looking around though, I found a lot more books and dictionaries that I could use to help out Kumon and the others, so…
Banri	So you ended up bringing all of these too. That’s just like you, Tsumugi-san.
Tsumugi	You think so?
	I had a lot more books in my room, but I figured I’d sort them back here instead. They might’ve gotten mixed up with the pile otherwise.
Izumi	So that’s how it is.
	Huh? What’s this book—?

Banri	“Zabi’s Adventure”...?
Tsumugi	Ah…. I didn’t notice I brought this one along too.
	It’s a picture book that I made back when I was in elementary school. I made Zabi the protagonist.
Izumi	(So this drawing… is supposed to be Zabi…)
Tsumugi	Tasuku couldn’t see it as Zabi, though. He even said it was ‘an ugly-looking thing’.
Banri	I mean, I wouldn’t immediately think it’s a dog either if I saw it without knowing.
Tsumugi	I-Is it really that bad…
Izumi	Still, making your own picture book sounds amazing. Was it something you had to do for school?
Tsumugi	To be honest, I don’t exactly remember why I made this. But I do remember that I was particularly into picture books back then.
Izumi	Picture books may seem like just short stories, but they can get a lot deeper than you’d initially think!
Banri	Picture books huh… Don’t think I read those as much as I did with manga back then.
Tsumugi	Banri-kun with picture books… I guess it’s kinda hard to see that image.
Izumi	Ahaha, kind of, yeah.
Tsumugi	What sort of picture books did you read, Director? I remember for me, there was—...
Banri	…... Picture books, huh.
Tsumugi	Aaaand there we go… I think this area’s all good now.
Banri	There you are. Knew I’d find you here.
Tsumugi	Ah, Banri-kun.
	Don’t you think the warm sun and cool breeze feel really nice today? I figured I’d let these little guys get some sunshine for a while.
Banri	That’s our Garden Boss for ya.
Tsumugi	Fufu, I’ve taken quite a liking to that nickname now, you know.
	Actually, I’ve been thinking of adding a few more decorative plants out here. Like yuccas or monsteras…
Banri	If we let you be, our garden might turn into a forest someday.
Tsumugi	Oh come on, I wouldn’t go that far.
	Anyway, did you need me for something, Banri-kun?
Banri	Ah yeah… I found this pretty interesting shop. Care to join me if you’re free?
Tsumugi	An interesting shop…?
Tsumugi	Now that I think about it, I haven’t gone down this route in a while.
Banri	Me neither. But this place seems like they’ve got some pretty good stores, actually.
Tsumugi	That so… Guess we better make the most of them.
Banri	Sounds like a plan.
	The shop I was talking about should be around this area…
	Oh, there it is.
Tsumugi	Is that… Director?
Izumi	Tsumugi-san! Banri-kun!
Banri	Huh, did you plan to go to this picture book café today too, Director-chan?
Izumi	Yep? Did you two have the same idea as well?
Banri	You could say that.
Tsumugi	A picture book café…?

Tsumugi	Woah, look at all the picture books lined up here…
Izumi	Talking about picture books the other day suddenly made me want to read some again. That’s when I found out about this café.
Banri	I wasn’t particularly looking to read some picture books, but I did remember this place after seeing a review on Inste about how good their coffee is.
Tsumugi	Speaking of which, it seems to be pretty crowded. Is the place that popular?
Clerk	Thank you very much for waiting! Table for three?
Izumi	Yes, please. Your shop seems to be pretty busy today.
Clerk	Actually, we opened up our irregularly scheduled workshop of hands-on picture book-making today. It turned out to be quite a hit.
	We still have some slots open, so please feel free to try it out if you’re interested. Of course, you can enjoy it while having coffee and snacks as well.
Izumi	I planned to just read some picture books at first, but it seems like a lot of fun to make your own books, too!
Tsumugi	Shall we take part in it then?
Banri	Well, they did say we can enjoy coffee while doing it. Sure, why not.
Clerk	Please feel free to use any and all art supplies we have provided for you! You have the freedom to use any number of sheets and go with any kind of subject as you’d like.
Banri	Hard to think of something when you’ve got this much free reign. What sort of picture book are you making, Director-chan?
Izumi	A story about curry, of course!
Tsumugi	Hahaha, nothing else defines our Director like curry, after all.
Izumi	Have you decided on yours, Tsumugi-san?
Tsumugi	I did. I’m thinking I should make another book about Zabi again.
Izumi	Fufu, that’s just like you!
Banri	… And done.
Tsumugi	Eh, already!?
Izumi	How!? When!? You just said you had a hard time thinking about it!
Banri	It’s too tedious to think about the story and dialogue, so I just settled with making a pop-up picture book.
Tsumugi	Amazing. When you open up the pages like this, three-dimensional trees pop out!!
Izumi	At the starting page, you get one tree, but as you keep going the trees also keep adding up… Woah, and then it all becomes a forest on the last page!
Banri	I had this image of planting trees one by one, so this is what I ended up with.
Izumi	Somehow it kinda feels pretty stylish considering you made it, Banri-kun…
Banri	What do you even mean by that?
Tsumugi	Do you have a title for this picture book?
Banri	A title, huh… Lemme think.
	…"The future of the dorm’s garden?"
Tsumugi	I’m telling you I won’t turn it into a forest!
Banri	Haha. Well, since I’m all done with my picture book, I’ll take my time enjoying the coffee I was looking forward to.
Tsumugi	Unbelievable… I haven’t even decided on the kind of book I want to make for Zabi, you know.
CHOICE 1: Let’s take our time thinking about it. [+] Izumi Let’s take our time thinking about it, then. Tsumugi Alright then. First, let’s try to decide on each other’s themes. Ah, I’ve got an idea. Why not make a book about a personified curry, Director? Perhaps something like them going on a journey to another country in search of their final ingredient and spices…! Izumi That does sound really fun! But, Tsumugi-san, weren’t you supposed to be thinking of the theme for your own book instead of mine…? Tsumugi Ah, you’re right. I was just thinking that since you haven’t decided on your theme that I ended up thinking of something about curry for you. Izumi (Tsumugi-san, your kindness knows no bounds…)
CHOICE 2: Let’s try a fresh and novel idea. [+] Izumi Once we come up with a novel idea, we should be able to start planning soon enough! Tsumugi An original idea, you say… I’ve read my fair share of picture books, but… I don’t think any of them pop out in particular. Or rather, I may have read a few but I’ve forgotten all about them. … Perhaps picture books are just like plays— They’re actually more memorable the less exaggerated they are. Izumi I see… So rather than trying to go with a novel idea, it might be better to draw out a straightforward story that would show off your love for Zabi! Tsumugi Yeah, I think I want to go with that kind of feeling in mind. Izumi (Tsumugi-san really does adore Zabi. It’ll surely turn out to be a good picture book, no matter what the drawing skill would be.)
Tsumugi	I know. I might try doing a pop-up book like what Banri-kun did.
	Starting off with Zabi’s face… Let’s see… How about cutting the brown paper like this—
Izumi	(The… The sides have become all asymmetrical and distorted… I almost forgot that Tsumugi-san’s actually surprisingly clumsy.)
Kid	Mister, your cutting looks really bad…
Tsumugi	Uu………….
Banri	Tsumugi-san, I’ll teach you how to properly do it, so how about you put down the scissors for now?
Tsumugi	……Okay. Please do.
Tsumugi	Tasuku, are you going out?
Tasuku	Just going to drop by the family home real quick.
Tsumugi	I’ll come with.
Tasuku	What’s up, gonna look for something again?
Tsumugi	Not really. There’s something I want to show to Zabi.
Tsumugi	Zabi, look at this! Now that I’m all grown up, I tried making you a picture book again… What do you think?
Zabi	….
Tsumugi	Eeeh…
Tasuku	Same results as last time.
	…But hey, compared to your old work, this one’s a lot less worse, don’t you think?
Tsumugi	Just a lot ‘less worse’, huh… Maybe I’ll attend that picture book workshop again...

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