The first panel of the story is a shot of someone's mouth biting his nails. Zoom out until a body shot of the main character Mitsuo is shown, wearing hoodie and sweatpants. A bigger panel reveals that he's in his living room alone, sitting on an armchair, with a wide sofa in front of him. While Mitsuo is still biting his nail, he stares at the empty sofa, and then at the door at the end of the room. He looks very anxious and nervous.

Before he continues biting from his left hand, he realizes that his entire hand has already been cut (zoom in on all his nails with bite marks). He looks a little displeased, so he checks his right hand, and realizes that only one of his fingernails hasn't been bitten yet, and quickly starts biting it. As the sound of munching his nails fills the silent room, the entrance door opens, and Mitsuo's father appears with a grumpy face. Mitsuo gets scared and instantly hides his hands in his pockets. Father is a little shorter and wider than him, wearing formal clothing, and carrying a suitcase.

_Mitsuo: W-Welcome home, father.

_Father: Hello.

Father sits on the sofa, leaving the suitcase aside. He then pulls and checks his phone with a very serious face, making Mitsuo even more nervous and uncomfortable. The dreadful silence continues, Mitsuo shakes his toes and looks over the window. Father finally puts away his phone.

SO, MITSUO, WHAT THE HECK HAS BEEN WRONG WITH YOU LATELY?

_Mitsuo: Uh? Uh... but... father, I don't know, I don't know what I've done wrong this time.

_Father: Oh really, do you mean it?

_Mitsuo: Y-yes, I mean it... I... I always do my best, father, I always put effort into always doing the right thing, I mean it!

_Father: (Suspicious face) Well, Mitsuo, if what you said was true, then I would never need to make you sit and wait for me to have a conversation, don't you think?

These last words clearly have an impact on Mitsuo and make him feel bad.

_Mitsuo: Yes... father... what you said is correct.

_Father: Then if you agree, why do you make me repeat the same thing over and over again, Mitsuo? Why?

Silence, Mitsuo is too shy to answer, and this annoys his father.

_Father: Mitsuo, you're 20 ALREADY, are you going to wait to finally be my age to try to be a man?! Say something!

Silence, Mitsuo can't answer.

_Father: Sigh... My son, please listen to me, don't expect your father to always be alive and remind you of what you have to do, OK? One day you'll be the head of your own family, you'll even aid and advice your cousins when they have problems too, so...you can't have this luxury of waiting for papa to arrive and scold you all the time.

_Mitsuo: Yes, father...

_Father: ...

_Mitsuo: ...

(Next Scene)

_Father: Well then, you're a smart kid, Mitsuo, so I guess you have an idea of what I'll talk to you about today.

_Mitsuo: Yes, father, I'll listen...

_Father: (Glares at Mitsuo) Ok then... Listen Mitsuo, it's always good to have hobbies, you know? Hobbies are fun, they entertain you when you have free time, after finishing all your duties. But the problem, however, is when those hobbies interrupt you from finishing your duties!

Mitsuo frowns.

_Father: In your case, Mitsuo, your hobby is drawing those... "anime", "manga", however you call them. And I'm actually very happy about that, I like that my son has some interest in arts and doesn't just think about science and numbers. But, you know, I don't even know why I have to say something so obvious but... Mitsuo...

YOU'RE AN ENGINEER, NOT AN ARTIST

Mitsuo's body shakes, as if a heavy weight fell over his body.

_Father: These past weeks I noticed you've been waking up too late, when you've never done it before, not even to finish your university projects. You've also been skipping the breakfast I left for you in the microwave, as if you completely forgot it was there. And you know, at the beginning, I thought perhaps it was because classes at university suddenly got harder, and you were struggling to keep up. But then just yesterday, after I saw you leaving in a hurry, I decided to do something I usually don't do...I unlocked your door and entered your room, to check for just a moment its state. And then I saw it...

A bunch of papers filled with drawings spread throughout all your room, it was an absolute mess!

In this flashback, Father is seen approaching Mitsuo's desk, and sees a lot of storyboards and some manga pages completely inked. He then grabs and looks at them dramatically.

_Father: "All this time, all these weeks you've been overnight in your room, you were drawing?", that's what I fought. And then, I remembered something... I remembered that last month, during dinner, you told me of a Manga Contest that was announced at your university, and you planned to participate. In other words, Mitsuo, you've been sacrificing sleeping hours just to finish your submission for the contest, is that correct?

_Mitsuo: ...Yes, dad. But, uh...before you continue, could I please say something?

_Father: (grumpy stare) ...Sure, go ahead.

_Mitsuo: These past weeks I've been doing my best to study and finish my homework the fastest and best way I can, so that I have more time to work on my manga for the contest.

_Father: But Mitsuo, how many hours have you been sleeping lately?

_Mitsuo: Me? Uh...well...I...I... I always sleep on the train for about 1 hour, but here at home I've been sleeping for uh... 3...4... 5 hours maybe?

_Father: (Poker face) Son, you seriously don't realize the problem, do you?

_Mitsuo: But uh, I already told you, I'm making sure I finish studying before I draw...

_FATHER: GOD DAMMIT, MITSUO, CAN'T YOU SEE YOU RISK LOWERING YOUR GRADES BECAUSE OF THAT STUPID CONTEST?!

(Next Scene)

_Mitsuo: (super nervous) D-dad, please, don't scream, the neighbors could...

_Father: (STANDS UP) TO HELL with the neighbors, RIGHT NOW my son is overworking himself for no reason at all! THAT'S UNACEPTABLE!

_Mitsuo: B-but father...

_Father: (calms down a bit) Mitsuo, you're not sleeping well, you forget to eat breakfast, you forget to take a shower, and now... I also imagine you're attending classes exhausted and barely paying attention right now, or am I wrong?

Mitsuo frowns and looks to his left. He then remembers moments where he fell asleep during class, proving that Father is right.

_Father: Besides, this disorder, all these bad habits you have right now, Mitsuo... they only started when you entered the manga contest, and they're harming you very deeply, can't you see that?

As he says this, Mitsuo lowers his head and stares at the floor.

_Father: Look, I never had an objection with you entering the contest, because I thought you wouldn't have trouble adding it to your routine. But... it seems that is not true. And because of that, to prevent things from getting any worse, like arriving late at a test, or even failing a course altogether... I prohibit you from participating in the contest.

(Silence, Mitsuo's eyes still look at the ground)

_Father: My son, it's not that I don't respect your hobby, but you have duties you need to respect right now. And your duty right now is not that contest, it's your engineer career.

BUT I DON'T WANT TO BE AN ENGINEER

Suddenly, this sentence appears in a speech ballon and a black background, without showing Mitsuo saying it. Father's eyes open in a very dramatic way, showing his shock and confusion by what he just heard.

(Next Scene)

The silence continues, Father is still shocked. Mitsuo finally raises his head and faces forward. He looks guilty for what he just said. They both stare at each other, now Mitsuo looks depressed and with tears in his eyes, and Father sits back on the sofa.

_Father: M-Mitsuo? What did I... what did I just hear?

_Mitsuo: Forgive me father, please, I really mean it, forgive me.

_Father: Forgive... "forgive"? I don't want an apology, Mitsuo! Explain yourself!

_Mitsuo: It's something... I always hid from you, from everyone. I-I actually never wanted to become an engineer, father. Before I... before I entered university, I already knew I wanted to make a living by drawing manga. You know...those japanese comics that recently have become very popular around the world.

_Father: Yes, Mitsuo, I know what manga is, you don't need to explain. But that's not the point right now. Mitsuo... you're already 20 years old, you're an adult, so I won't hold back my words, so answer me, answer me like a man:

WHY THE **** AM I PAYING YOU TO STUDY A CAREER YOU NEVER WANTED?

Father no longer looks grumpy, he's not even angry, he just looks very serious.

_Mitsuo: It's not that I don't like studying engineering, father. Actually, so far I've had a lot of fun learning new cool things at university, and I feel very grateful for you and mom's effort to help me study but... I just don't picture myself living from a career like this one. I-if anything, in the future I'll have a degree that can help me find a job, in case my artist career doesn't end up going well, don't you think?

_Father: ...

_Mitsuo: Why would I study at an art school that won't teach me to draw manga, father? There're no Manga Colleges in this country, unlike in Japan. Besides, all I care about is manga, father. If you sent me to an Arts School, I would really hate it, because I'd spend all the time making conventional art, and that's not what I like!

_Father: ...

_Mitsuo: I even though of studying manga abroad, but it turns out that doing such a thing would be even more expensive, so I realized I would never be able to convince you and mother of such a dumb idea. So...it was...really hard, but I had to make a decision...

If life would never give me the chance to study manga, I should study a career that can give me stability, and try to learn manga on my own in my free time.

(Next Scene)

Father stares at Mitsuo, as he processes everything said by him.

_Father: ...(silence) ...Then why not study at an easier university?

_Mitsuo: Uh?

_Father: ... Mitsuo, the university where you're studying right now, is not cheap. And not just that, it was YOUR IDEA! You wanted to study there, at one of the most renowned universities in this country. IT WAS YOU, NO ONE ELSE. Your mother wanted you to go to the same university where she studied, because she would get a discount for being a graduate, but you opposed! If you really only cared about getting a degree to use it as a backup plan, you could've done that, don't you think?

_Mitsuo: ...Uhm...yeah but, about that...

_Father: (gets a little angry) Three years, Mitsuo, three years! For the last three years, I've been paying for that university, do you realize how much money we could've saved if you studied where mom graduated?

_Mitsuo: I-I understand but, it was really necessary that I studied at a prestigious university father, I really need it for my curriculum!

_Father: What curriculum?! You said you wanted to dedicate yourself to manga, why put so much effort on that then? No one will ever care that you studied engineering, they'll only care about how skilled you are at drawing manga!

_Mitsuo: (raises his tone of voice a bit) That's not true, father! If I want a lot of options for scholarships to Japan, I need to study at a university as prestigious as mine!

_FATHER: WHAT?! JAPAN?!