"I just can't do it!"

That phrase had practically become a mantra to Kaos as she struggled to work on her new storyboard. She desperately needed to come up with an idea: something funny, something amazing, and something to follow up on her successful guest manga.

What she had instead was a big pile of nothing.

She had lost track of how much time she had spent in this position over the past week: sitting on her bed in her dorm room and staring blankly at her tablet. No matter what she tried, the results were the same. Hazy ideas half-formed in her mind, but she just couldn't put them down.

She leaned back against the wall and sighed. It had been hard enough to create something publishable the first time. Doing that again was proving to be even harder, and she was back to where she started. Was she trying to catch lightning in a bottle twice?

Kaos looked over at her roommate, Koyume, who was busily scribbling away at her desk and humming to herself quietly. Koyume must have been deeply engrossed in her work; she hadn't noticed Kaos's outburst at all. Or maybe she was so used to them that she had begun to ignore them.

"I just can't do it," Kaos mouthed silently to her empty tablet screen. She felt herself tear up. Some manga artist she was. Resisting the urge to simply throw her tablet across the room, she set it down next to her and lowered her head.

She was already behind her friends who had serializations. New first-year manga artists would be moving into the dorm soon. Would she find herself behind them as well?

"Nobody's going to look up to someone who can't even get serialized," she said, slumping her shoulders.

"I'm sorry Kaos, did you say something?"

Kaos looked back up. Koyume had turned around and was regarding her with a friendly look.

"Ah, it's nothing, Koyume," Kaos said, wiping at her eyes and putting on a smile.

"What's wrong? Is your storyboard not going well?"

"It's…" Kaos began. She couldn't lie to Koyume. "It's not going anywhere at all."

Koyume got up and plopped down on the bed next to her. "Can I see what you've done so far? Maybe I can offer some advice."

"Sure." Kaos picked her tablet back up and showed it to her.

"This is blank," Koyume said, tilting her head.

"Exactly."

"Hmmm. Maybe you could just sketch some characters. Or some backgrounds. It's always good to practice those."

Kaos shook her head and set her tablet back down. She had tried a little sketching in hopes of getting things kick-started, but that hadn't worked either.

"I see," Koyume said. She got up and ran quickly to her desk and back. Thrusting a chocolate donut at Kaos, she said "Here, have a donut. Have two. Something sweet will cheer you up and get your mind moving again!"

The Koyume method might have been fine for her, but it didn't really work for Kaos. She nonetheless accepted Koyume's offering and nibbled aimlessly on the donut. Sitting next to her, Koyume wolfed the one she was eating and sighed happily. Nothing ever got Koyume down. Kaos wished she could be more like her.

"Feel better?" Koyume asked, smiling brightly at her. She had a speck of chocolate near her mouth, which made her look even more endearing and cute.

"A little," Kaos said, though her lifted mood was more due to talking to Koyume and a pause from agonizing over her lack of productivity. "But I still don't have anything to turn in."

"You created a great guest manga before," Koyume said. "That didn't just happen by accident. I'm sure you'll do it again."

"I hope so too. But things just aren't…"

"Say, why don't we go out?" Koyume suggested.

"I-I don't know," Kaos said in a shaky voice. "It's getting pretty late, and it's already dark…" For the most part, Kaos had never liked going out in the dark. Even with her friends, she'd still be nervous.

"Don't worry about that, Kaos! I'll protect you from anyone that might try to steal you away."

"Nobody would try to steal me away," she muttered.

"Sure they would!" Koyume said. She threw her arms around Kaos and squeezed her tightly. "Because you're so tiny and easy to snatch up!"

Caught between annoyance at her small size being brought up yet again and the pleasure of Koyume hugging her, Kaos smiled weakly and patted Koyume's hand. "Thank you. But I should really try and get something done."

"You've been at it all day though," Koyume said. "Come on, you need a break. It'll clear your head and help you work better."

"Eh…" Koyume was full of suggestions on how to work. Unfortunately, they were suggestions that worked for her, not Kaos.

"We can invite Ruki and Tsubasa to go with us," Koyume said, her eyes twinkling as she mentioned Tsubasa's name. "We only have so much time before the term starts. What better way to spend it than all four of us being together?"

The four of them were usually together, Kaos mused, regardless of whether school was in session or not. Still, maybe going out would be better than moping in her dorm room.

"Okay. Let's go, Koyume," Kaos said. Sure, she let herself be easily talked into things, but she had a hard time saying no to her friends. And maybe a distraction was just what she needed.

"Hooray!" Koyume leaped up and practically skipped out of their room, presumably to go invite Ruki and Tsubasa.

Kaos sighed again and picked up her tablet. She opened the file for her previous manga and skimmed through her one good work. She had thought to build on that, but couldn't think of a good way to do so. Maybe if she read back through it later (as well as the glowing reviews she'd gotten), she'd be inspired once again. Maybe then a story would come.

I still want to do a slice-of-life story about high school girls. Do I need to live more of my high school life before I can come up with something good again?

That didn't make any sense. Ruki, Tsubasa, and Koyume had no trouble constantly coming up with new ideas. Plus, only Koyume's was anything like her real life, and she seemed to have all the inspiration she'd ever need in Tsubasa.

As if summoned by Kaos's thought, Koyume poked her head back in the room. "C'mon, Kaos! Tsubasa and Ruki are waiting! You don't want to get left behind!"

I've already been left behind, Kaos wanted to say, but there was no reason to snap at Koyume. She grabbed her red cap as she headed out the door.

She admired the new dorm a little as she made her way through the hallway. Though it still seemed to shine, the new dorm didn't yet quite have the hominess of the old one. Kaos figured that she'd feel differently as she spent more time in it. It was definitely more spacious. Most importantly, it was someplace where she could keep drawing manga and creating new memories with her friends.

When Kaos met them in the hallway, she found Ruki wearing a warm smile and Tsubasa looking as stoic as ever.

"Hi, Kaos!" Ruki greeted her. "Koyume said you needed a walk to clear your head."

"Ah…yes," Kaos said, smiling at Ruki. The problem was that her head was too empty, but it probably wouldn't hurt to empty out the mess that accumulated in it due to her frustration.

"You should come and train with me," Tsubasa said. "That will really help clear your head."

"I'm not sure that would work for me," Kaos said, smiling at her. Tsubasa's workouts were intense. None of the girls could keep up with her.

"Well, let's not stand around here chatting," Koyume said. "We should go for our walk before it's time for bed."

The four of them set off. They had just reached the stairway when an amused voice behind them asked: "Hello, girls. Going somewhere on this dark, foreboding evening?"

They turned around. Suzu Fuura stood in the middle of the hall holding a sketchbook in one hand and a pen in the other. She must have snuck up without any of them noticing. Fuura raised her pen at them in a threatening manner, and Kaos saw that her hand was stained red. Was that blood? There were more red splotches on her dress and even a few on her face. She grinned evilly at them.

All four girls screamed and took off running down the stairs with Fuura laughing manically as they fled. They ran away from her as fast as they could until they spilled out of the dormitory front door and into the clear, cool night. Pausing to catch her breath, it occurred to Kaos that the red splotches all over Fuura had probably been ink, not blood. Unlike Kaos, Fuura had clearly been making progress with her manga.

"We really…need to ask her to stop doing that," Ruki said, gasping for breath. "It's…annoying…among other things…"

"You can't say she isn't passionate about her work," Tsubasa said. Their frantic dash away from Fuura hadn't tired her at all.

Ruki frowned. "Maybe, but there other are ways for her to express it without frightening the rest of us."

"But it shows her true love of her medium," Tsubasa said. "Spooky as she might be, I can't help but admire that a little. And she says that screams inspire her and help her draw her horror manga."

"Sometimes I wonder if that's true or if she just enjoys scaring people," Ruki said.

Kaos thought both Ruki and Tsubasa had good points. Fuura was scary, but she was also good at what she did, and she basically lived for horror. With regards to getting into the spirit of what they drew, she and Tsubasa were actually sort of alike.

Of course, in addition to being experienced, talented, and passionate (in her own way), Fuura was also really pretty. Putting aside the horror manga and the scares and the screams, her beauty was what Kaos thought was one of the most interesting things about her. Kaos pictured Fuura in her mind, her bangs pushed aside and a warm smile on her face.

Her hair is actually really nice. And, oh, those eyes! Why does she hide them all the time? They're so gorgeous and expressive! Plus, she does feel cold, but it's a soothing sort of cold, and when she's pressed up against you can feel how soft she is, kind of like Koyume. Oh, and like Koyume she also has those big-

"Kaos? What's so funny?"

Ruki's voice pulled Kaos out of her fantasy.

"Eh, funny?" Kaos asked.

"You have a giddy look on your face," Ruki said. "And you were practically giggling just now."

"Oh, um, it's nothing!" Kaos said, waving her hands in front of her. She must have gotten carried away with her fantasies again. That was a little embarrassing, but thankfully, her friends had never seemed to catch on. "I was just…thinking about…uh…Fuura." She immediately regretted saying that. It probably sounded a little absurd.

"I see," Ruki said, raising an eyebrow.

"Forget about Fuura. Let's just go and enjoy our walk," Tsubasa said.

"Right," Kaos said. It was dark, but she figured there couldn't be anything as scary as Fuura outside. Probably, anyway.

It turned out to be a good night for a walk. It was cool, but not cold. The sky was clear, and Kaos could see a splash of stars across it. The background noise of the city was present, but it was soft and quiet. All in all, it was a peaceful spring evening. The calm atmosphere, combined with the presence of her friends, was enough to ease Kaos's nerves some.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Ruki asked.

"Let's head for the park!" Koyume said.

Koyume's suggestion was a good one. They headed off in that direction. As they strolled down an empty street, Koyume chatted away with Tsubasa, and Kaos found herself walking next to Ruki and chatting with her.

"Kaos," Ruki said. "About what Koyume said back at the dorm…is something wrong?"

"I-I've been working on a new storyboard," Kaos said. Maybe it would help her to be completely open with her friends. They had stood by her through thick and thin over the past year, after all. And she had admired Ruki right from the very start. "And I've been having a lot of trouble. I can't come with anything good or even anything at all, it feels like."

"That happens to the best of us, sometimes," Ruki said. "Don't worry. I'm sure it will pass."

Kaos sighed. "I just can't-"

"Wrong!" Tsubasa said sharply, cutting her off. She must have picked up on their conversation. Her voice was full of authority, the same tone she used when pretending to be one of her characters. "That is the incorrect attitude, Kaos! A true hero strives on through trials and tribulations and realizes that even failures are opportunities to grow. In fact, how can you grow unless you fail sometimes?"

Tsubasa's intense speech was too much for her. Flushed, she immediately stopped and bowed deeply several times. "Ah, you're right, of course, Tsubasa! Please forgive me! I will try to make the most of my failures, numerous as they are!"

"That's Tsubasa for you!" Koyume said, beaming.

"Now, then," Tsubasa said, her voice calm once again. "Creativity can be fleeting and fickle. Sometimes, the harder you try to grasp it, the more difficult it is to do so."

"Tsubasa's right," Ruki said. "Sometimes…sometimes you just have to sit down and force yourself to draw something. And then another thing. Once you manage to get into the flow of working, it'll be hard to stop, but you first have to get yourself into it."

"I think I can do that," Kaos said. "But, you know, my goal of getting a serialized manga…well…"

"It's not a bad thing to have goals," Tsubasa said. "But if you focus solely on them, then you'll make the road to them harder for yourself than it needs to be."

Tsubasa went on and on as their walk continued. Kaos nodded along at her words. She was right, of course. But at the same, Kaos wasn't sure if the Tsubasa method would work for her any better than the Koyume method did.

When they reached the park, Kaos, Koyume, and Ruki had wanted to sit down, but Tsubasa insisted they keep walking, proclaiming it to be good for them and that, furthermore, they actually should have been powerwalking. Ruki pointed out, however, that they had come out to relax, and they continued on at a leisurely pace.

Still, Kaos wondered if something more intense would be better to take her mind off of her troubles. Her mind started to wander some. As it did, her pessimism bubbled up again, and worries ran rampant through her head. Just what would happen if she never came up with something? Her thoughts must have shown all over her face because her friends spoke up again.

"Don't worry, Kaos," Ruki said. "We all know what you're capable of. You'll find that spark again. I'm sure you will."

"Keep at it," Tsubasa added. "Just as you have been."

"And we'll be right here with you!" Koyume finished.

Kaos's first instinct was to deny her friends' confidence in her and apologize for troubling them. She stopped herself though. They didn't need to hear that anymore, and, more importantly, she needed to stop thinking like that, as difficult as it was. Even if she didn't have a serialized series, she was still a published manga author. She was just having a bit of a dry spell. That was all.

A dry spell, sure. Or rather, a long streak of them. I…wait, no! I can't keep thinking like this, I'll just bring myself back down.

Koyume spoke up, breaking into her thoughts.

"Look!" Koyume exclaimed, pointing up to the sky.

Kaos looked up. Streaking brightly across the night sky was a shooting star, a long trail behind it. Kaos found herself briefly enthralled by how beautiful it was. For a moment, she forgot all her troubles. She didn't have to worry about creating a storyboard or falling behind everyone. She could just enjoy this wondrous sight with her friends. Taking her gaze off it briefly, she looked over at them, and affection swelled up inside her.

"It's so pretty," Koyume sighed. Kaos nodded in agreement.

"A shooting star can herald the start of a new trial for the hero," Tsubasa said. "It's a sign of things to come!"

"That's only in your manga, Tsu-chan," Ruki said, chuckling. "In real life, you're supposed to just make a wish on it."

"I know what I'm wishing for!" Koyume declared, a bright smile crossing her face.

As they kept walking, Kaos looked up at the shooting star again, a brilliant bright streak set among the other shining stars. She knew what she would wish for too.

Please, she wished, help me create a new manga that's creative and funny, one that many people can read and enjoy and-

Kaos had been so absorbed in looking up and making her wish that she had missed a step and lost her balance. Her feet twisted around each other, and, unable to stop herself, she went tumbling to the ground. She cried out loudly, but that was cut off when her head hit the ground with a dull thud and she was knocked out cold.