My brain is just hijacked by the author's artwork as usual, but I'm just so worried that something's up with Sensei, health-wise. It felt like she was gonna finally say something in the onsen about what's really going on, having only brought her manuscripts, and being "unable to keep [her] life together", but. Can't give the plot away this early in.
But holy hell the emotions and humanness just leap right off the page. Even the little detail of Toori's smile reflected in the onsen water was...just such a visual moment. The cropped shots of eyes, of the bits of expression in the mouth. The fast-paced interactions but the pauses on Tooru's face each time, all culminating in their face-to-face phone call. It hurts to look at, with how authentic and lovely it all is.
I sincerely hope this isn't a story of an artist waiting to die and only finding "life" at the end of it all through someone who cared enough to push through the walls. If it is, it'll be beautiful, no doubt, and worth reading, but.
Yeah. Happy endings, please.