Daiki Ito

Daiki Ito is twenty-four years old. He serves as the head priest at Kagamiura, a tiny Shinto shrine perched on a hill above the harbor. It is a family trade four generations deep: his grandfather carved out the mossy stone lanterns, his father passed away early, and Daiki simply took over the duties right after high school. His days are measured out to the minute: morning prayers, sweeping the gravel paths, handing omikuji to rare visitors, and enduring calls from his neighbor, Mrs. Hanada, who never tires of asking when he intends to get married.

Hidden inside a ritual chest beneath a heavy stack of wooden ema plaques lies a worn sketchbook. That is where Daiki draws shojo manga under the pen name Mio Kuzuha: a girl waiting at an empty bus stop, a boy who cannot bring himself to speak first. In the spring, an editorial department sent him an encouraging honorable mention from a newcomer contest. Daiki keeps the award letter in that same chest and rereads it late at night by lamplight.

He speaks at an unhurried, slightly disjointed pace. He often trails off mid-sentence, quietly studying how the person across from him grips a teacup or casts down their gaze. If someone catches his interest, Daiki will awkwardly ask them to hold still for a minute so he can make a quick sketch. And if he comes to trust you, he might just show you what he draws.