Time passed gently like the turning pages of an old manga.
Kokoro found himself steadily immersed in the process alongside Sayuri, both of them completely focused on refining her manga project. The warm glow of the clubroom lights, mixed with the ambient hum of electronic tablets and the soft breeze wafting in through the open window, created an atmosphere so comforting it was easy to forget the passage of time.
Sayuri sat beside him, shoulders relaxed but her eyes sharp, full of passion. She tapped on her stylus with a kind of fervent energy, occasionally glancing toward Kokoro's sketches to sync her corrections with his linework. Every once in a while, she'd murmur something like, "Maybe the panel should break here" or "This scene feels a bit rushed" and Kokoro would nod, adjusting their shared vision into smoother frames.
Across the room, however, not everyone was still running on full steam.
