It's Easy to Take Care of a Live-in Hero!

Ch1.1 - Lost One (Day 1)

Ah, let’s visit my grandma today.

I went through my room like a whirlwind until I finally came across a package sent from the countryside. After entering the sender’s address into my phone’s GPS system, all I had to do was follow its directions as I drove.

My car sped through the highway at full speed. For this trip, I spent the nights in my car, parked near a rest area. Watching the sun rise cleared my head.

Then my thoughts wandered into different, darker territory. 

“Ashiya, I’m sorry…”

After many years of my contract, my editor had finally broke the bad news to me. My serialization had been axed. Back then, I fell into a hopeless spiral.

I was Ashiya Minoru, twenty-five years old. A manga artist that couldn’t sell.

I had my debut at eighteen, spending seven years persistently holding on to my job. Or perhaps desperately clinging was a more appropriate term. 

When it rained, it poured. Just six months ago, my cat passed away. Tears had blurred my vision as I scrubbed my toilet, after vomiting my heart out from grief. And then, the official notice of my serialization’s discontinuation arrived at my door.

My heart broke.

For this reason, after handing over my last manuscript, I told my editor I would be taking a long break. Maybe it would have sounded better if I had called it a research trip, but I had been too drained to throw a fancier title over it. I just wanted a breath of fresh air. It was too difficult at the time to hold a pen and brainstorm a new manga plot.

But I also didn’t want to be alone. I wanted to talk to someone. 

My parents’ house was out of the question. After all, they had opposed the act of me stepping into this career path. I didn’t want to face them, since doing so would be admitting I had been wrong.

“Maybe I just want someone to scold me…”

Or rather, I wanted someone to encourage my pathetic self. I could probably help her with the field and stay there for some time. Regarding money, well… I still had enough savings to last for a while.

In the gas station’s restroom, I washed my face in the sink and groomed myself as best as I could given the circumstances. It’s only now that I felt glad I didn’t grow facial hair easily. My hair was naturally curly too, so I could rock the “just rolled out of bed” look.

After purchasing a can of coffee from a vending machine, I hopped onto my car again. Stepped on the gas pedal. During this time of year, the temperature dropped dramatically at night, with the chill lingering until the morning, contrary to how warm it was later in the day. As such, it might have been a bad idea to put on a gray hoodie and thin jeans. 

The sun still low on the horizon, I continued the trip in my beat-up car.

“Was this road really that narrow before?”

Before me stretched a long, thin road, complete with a narrow stream at its side. Although asphalt paved the road, there was a lack of guardrail or space to make an illegal U-turn. If a car happened to drive in the opposite direction of mine, we would both be done for.