Tokyo: The Manga Begins with the Funeral of Frilian

She drew the city wall.

She painted the clock tower.

She also drew the market stalls and goods.

But when it came to describing the crowd and the campfire, the pen stopped.

The people she paints are always standing very straight, and their facial expressions are quite stiff.

They resembled demon soldiers dressed in human bodies.

The campfire she painted had a very even light.

It didn't have the leaping motion of fire; it looked more like a fluorescent light.

Why do humans gather around a fire?

Hoshino Rin stared at her discarded draft, her brows furrowed above her mask.

"From a thermodynamic point of view, the heat radiation range of a campfire is only two meters. Standing two meters away is essentially no different from standing next to a radiator. Why bother to build a fire and then have a group of people huddle together?"

She crumpled the thirteenth sheet of paper, which had already been discarded, into a ball.

Then he threw the clump of stuff into the wastebasket.

"And then there are the colored lights. Why hang a string of glowing balls under the eaves? From a visual signal transmission perspective, the wavelength changes of colored lights don't convey any information; it's pure light pollution. Why would humans do something so meaningless?"

Shiori Shirakawa slowly walked over, holding a cup of hot cocoa in her hands.

She then placed the cup of hot cocoa on her own table.

She lowered her head and glanced at the number of crumpled pieces of paper in the wastepaper basket.

Then she reached out and snatched the dip pen from Hoshino Rin's hand.

"senior?"

  

Hoshino Rin looked up.

"Go change your clothes."

"What clothes?"

Shiori Shirakawa carried a stack of clothes out of her bedroom.

She then placed the clothes on her table.

A thick beige down jacket and a red wool scarf.

A knitted hat with pom-poms and a pair of fluffy gloves.

"It's three degrees below zero outside. Put this on."

Rin Hoshino was still struggling as she was being dressed in a down jacket.

She had a scarf wrapped around her neck, about three times.

The pom-pom hat was pulled down, completely covering the ears.

The gloves were a little too big, with a small gap at the fingertips.

"Senior, my bone structure isn't suited to wearing so many layers. If my body temperature exceeds 36.5 degrees Celsius, the fine motor skills in my hands will be affected..."

"No fine motor skills are needed today."

Shiori Shirakawa turned her around and looked her up and down.

"I'm going out today to find inspiration."

"But I still have seven pages of backgrounds to draw—"

"The city won't run away. Nor will the Winter Solstice Festival."

Shiori Shirakawa pushed her shoulders and led her towards the entrance.

"But the Christmas tree is only available today. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve."

Yuma Kamiya was already waiting in the entrance hall.

He was wearing a dark gray down jacket.

The scarf around her neck was knitted by Shiori Shirakawa last year.

"Shiori, where are my gloves?"

"In the left pocket."

Shiori Shirakawa put on her beige coat and took a pair of brown woolen gloves from the shoe cabinet, handing them to him.

"After you finished drawing those two double-page spreads last time, you just casually put them under the coffee table. I washed them."

Rin Hoshino was pushed out the door.

The cold wind rushed towards her face, and she felt as if a pause button had been pressed.

They just stood there, stiff and motionless, in the corridor.

The cold air seeped in through the gaps in the scarf.

Then, the tip of my nose immediately turned red from the cold.

Her hands unconsciously clenched her sleeves.

Many ginkgo trees in Banqiao Street have already lost all their leaves.

The bare branches stretched towards the leaden sky.

A convenience store on the roadside had a poster with Christmas promotions displayed at its entrance.

However, the number of customers going to the store was not very large.

After the bursting of the economic bubble, most of the brightly colored neon signs on the streets stopped shining.

"There are hardly any streetlights left."

Shiori Shirakawa walked beside Yuuma Kamiya, her breath wafting in front of her.

"At this time last year, every shop had colorful lights hanging in front of it, and the whole street was as bright as day."

"Let's save on electricity bills."

Kamiya Yuma pulled his scarf up a bit. "With the economy so bad, who would want to hang up fairy lights?"

Hoshino Rin followed behind the two people.

They were about half a step apart. She could see the white breath she was exhaling.

At the same time, his gaze was fixed on the backs of the two people.

Two people were walking slowly forward together.

Their steps were unhurried and leisurely.

As they walked, their shoulders would occasionally bump into each other.

What did Shiori Shirakawa talk about?

Yuma Kamiya turned his head to listen.

Then the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, forming a tiny curve.

There weren't many people in the Christmas sale area of ​​the mall.

Rows of Christmas trees on the shelves were on sale.

Next to the Christmas tree are baubles and lights that are on sale.

A little further over there are supplies for getting through the winter.

Shiori Shirakawa walked towards the Christmas tree and then picked up a small cedar tree figurine.

Then he held it up in front of Yuma Kamiya.

"Is this enough?"

"Too small."

"And this one?"

She replaced it with a medium-sized one.

"Hoshino."

Kamiya Yuma turned around.

Which one do you think is suitable?

Hoshino Rin walked toward the shelf, her eyes fixed on the row of Christmas trees.

For a long time, I couldn't take my eyes off it.

Then she extended her hand.

Then he pointed to the medium-sized tree in the middle with his finger.

"This one. Its crown is a perfect cone shape, with evenly dense needles, making it ideal for hanging decorations. Its projected area is just right to cover a corner of the studio without obstructing the flow of movement."

"Then this one."

Shiori Shirakawa puts the Christmas tree into her shopping cart.

Then they took a few boxes of colorful balls and lights that were on sale.

How do I choose the colors for the colored balls?

Hoshino Rin asked.

What color would you like to choose?

"Gold and silver. These two colors have the highest reflectivity, maximizing light utilization under indoor lighting conditions."

"Then gold and silver. And add a box of red ones, since red is the color of the Winter Solstice Festival."

"The color of the Winter Solstice Festival is red. From which document does this information come?"

"Based on common sense."

Shiori Shirakawa put the red pom-poms into the shopping cart, then picked up a box of gold star-shaped ornaments. "Do you want these?"

"The geometric structure of a five-pointed star is rare in nature, so why would humans use this shape as a top ornament?"

"Because stars represent wishes."

Why hang wishes on a tree?

"Because when you hang your wishes on a tree, you're closer to the sky."