AE STUDIO SPACE Manga

Original manga · Autumn

Two Cups

Their first breakfast date leads to the harbour, a private sketch and a promise to meet again. Back at the workroom, an old photograph raises a question.

Yokohama, autumn 2026 · University life in Japan

Story & art by AE STUDIO SPACE

Episode: 03 / 03
Pages: 9
Genre: BL · Mystery · Campus life

Read upper balloons first, then right to left.

Ren arrives at the café window table just before eight. Ritsu is already there with two menus, not painting tools. At the table, Ren points to egg toast and uses a rehearsed simple Japanese request to the server. He checks the pictured iced coffee, hesitates, then finishes the order himself. Ritsu remembers his preference but keeps his mouth closed and waits. The edition localizes the request; this does not imply advanced fluency. Ritsu’s hot coffee and their separate plates follow. Ren: I thought I’d be here first. Ritsu: I got here early too. Didn’t want you waiting. Ren: This one, please. And an iced coffee.

Ritsu moves the sugar aside when Ren reaches for the salt. Their plates are separate. Ritsu rests his chin near his own hand. Ren’s delivery makes him laugh; Ren has forgotten the menu. Ritsu tears off a piece of his own toast and sets it on Ren’s plate. Ren takes it with a glance at him; their plates remain separate. Ritsu: So you’re a savoury breakfast person. Ren: You make that sound like a personality. Ritsu: It’s a start.

Ren unfolds his course timetable, then looks toward a neighbouring table of classmates who arrived together. The folded campus map is beside his plate. His answer admits a particular discomfort in starting university life abroad; he does not hand Ritsu a problem to solve. Ritsu moves his bag off the adjacent empty chair while keeping Ren’s gaze. Ren folds the timetable and lets the small invitation be personal rather than an obligation to help. His reply is quieter than the breakfast jokes. Ritsu: How’s your first week going? Ren: Everyone already seems to know who to sit with. Ritsu: You can sit with me. Doesn’t have to be breakfast. Ren: I’m going to take you up on that.

Ritsu looks through the café window toward the bus stop. Ren looks toward the bus stop, then back at Ritsu. He asks lightly but waits for the answer. Ritsu: We don’t start work until one. Want to see the bench? Ren: Is this your usual date route? Ritsu: I haven’t taken anyone there before.

One chosen travel image: Ren and Ritsu sit side by side on the local bus after paying at the café. The café and familiar stop are receding through the window. They have takeaway coffees and the breakfast bag; do not depict departure and harbour arrival simultaneously in one shot. At the harbour stop, the bus has just pulled away behind them. They step onto the established railing path toward the bench, carrying the same takeaway cups and breakfast bag. Arrival is the moment of this panel. Ritsu sits at one end and moves his bag off the other place. Ren sits beside him. Ritsu: This is it. Ren: I can see why you like it.

Two cups sit on the bench ledge. Ritsu opens his sketchbook. The folded button sketch is tucked inside it, its laughing portrait still concealed. Ritsu laughs and sketches the two cups. A breeze lifts the folded scrap from the book. Ren steadies it with one fingertip and sees his own laughing face. Ritsu leaves the book where it is rather than snatching it away. Ritsu: Hold still a second. Ren: Me or the coffee? Ren: When did you draw this? Ritsu: Monday. You looked different when you forgot to be polite.

Ren looks from the sketch to Ritsu. The bus reminder vibrates; neither reaches for it at once. Ren’s earlier certainty about another date becomes a shy request to be looked at again. Ritsu closes the sketchbook with the folded portrait safely inside. Ren takes his own cup and waits beside him; they stand and walk to the visible bus stop together. Ren: Would you draw me again? Ritsu: Sure. On our next date. Ren: Saturday, after the exhibition prep? Ritsu: Saturday. I’m looking forward to it too.

The pair enter the workroom for the agreed one o’clock shift. Aya opens a 2024 archive box beside a separate unsigned LANDSCAPE board: a deserted ferry landing at dusk, dark mooring post on the left, a distant last boat on the right, and a distinctive pale diagonal spill-shaped passage across the painted water. It has no bench or cups. Ritsu’s current PORTRAIT bench board stays on its own easel elsewhere. Ren lays the original sleeved group print beside its brochure page. Six people stand in the print; five in the brochure. Haru’s delivery slip lies beside the old board. Aya: Can you help me sort these? We’ll ask before putting anything up. Ren: Hang on. These photos are different.

Ritsu notices the missing far-left student. The separate photographer reflection at the right is visible but not explained yet. Ren leaves the two versions side by side instead of publishing either. They look toward Aya, who checks the box’s contact list on her phone. Ritsu: Why would they leave him out? Aya: That’s Haru. Nao knows him. I’ll ask.