Chapter 1 IKEDA DAIKI tugged his fox hat down on his head. Shutting the window, he hoped to block out the noise of Tokyo waking up. He stared at the sketch pad. The first character he ever drew—his nameless love—smiled back at him in a way that still turned him inside out. Daiki had been drawing him since he was twelve years old. No one else had ever laid eyes on him. He was Daiki’s precious secret. Daiki had a treasure trove of pages and pads filled with sketches, all for himself. The bookcases that lined one wall of the main space of his apartment were filled with the creations he shared with the world—mangas, from his one-offs to his series to his weekly serials—all neat and tidy on the shelves. He had turned his living room and dining room into a working manga studio that fit him and his four assistants. Daiki was living his artist fantasy. All the things he’d ever wanted had come to pass. Gently, he traced his finger over the lines that depicted the character’s sexy half smile, the one that haunted his dreams… well, haunted almost everything. If only he could chase away the loneliness with someone a little more three-dimensional, but deadlines gave him little time or opportunity to meet anyone. His cell phone buzzed, reminding him his assistants would be here in another two hours. Daiki needed to put away his special one, but doing so was always hard. Easing himself past the loss, he flipped through one of the sketchbooks. He hesitated on the picture of him holding his beloved tight. The background of the sketch was a simple black sky with a huge moon. They hugged on the roof while looking at the stars. He caressed the dark hair made by his pencils as he imagined they were talking about the future and what plans they wanted to make. All the big things, like where they would live or what vacations they would take, and the small things too, like what to have for dinner. To share his life with someone…. He flipped through the pages, drawing after drawing, and he needed to stop. “I’m Pygmalion,” he mused, tracing a finger once more over the full lips he’d drawn. He must be crazy to have fallen in love with a picture based on someone who didn’t exist. It probably wasn’t healthy, but like many twentysomethings, he hadn’t found his special someone… outside of two dimensions. To get to where he was in his career, he’d needed to stay laser-focused, so dating wasn’t drawn into his storyboard. Though even the people he did meet, no one could compare—maybe he didn’t want them to. Letting his finger follow the gentle wave of the image’s hair, he imagined this man would be smart, kind, and eager to change the world. Help Daiki explore things he’d only drawn, things like— Work! He gathered his drawing supplies and put them all away, then slipped the sketch pad back into the locked fireproof drawer of his desk on top of over thirty would-be mangas. Switching to digital mode, he turned on his computer and morphed from fantasy to real life—make that as real as a mangaka could get. The first of his four assistants walked in. Kobayashi Hikari was always early. She bowed and greeted him, “Good morning, Sensei,” then disappeared into the second bedroom. He had designed the room for his assistants. There were bunk beds for napping or late nights, privacy to change clothing, and a closet to store their things. She reappeared in a ninja costume. “Morning.” Since Daiki wore his fox hat to work, he could hardly criticize anyone else’s method for sinking into their artistic zone. “Who are you working on?” she asked. “Hironori.” “Oh, I love him. I’m partial to the enemies-to-lovers trope anyway. Tie that in with a big boss falling in love with the head of a rival company… I’m all in.” Her soft tone suggested she was smitten completely. His character certainly lived up to his name, which meant “benevolent ruler.” Daiki had leaned into that in last month’s manga.