Still Sick

Makoto Shimizu blends quietly into her office, which is exactly how she wants it, because in her free time she draws and sells girls' love comics. Nobody at work knows, and she intends to keep it that way. Then her polished, popular coworker Akane Maekawa discovers the secret, and Makoto braces for the worst. Instead, Akane keeps turning up in her life: interested in her work, oddly knowledgeable, and clearly hiding something of her own, something connected to drawing and to a dream she once gave up. As the two spend more time together, after-work conversations turn into a friendship, and the friendship into something both of them are afraid to name. Akashi's series is a quiet, honest romance between two adults. It captures the fear of being seen, the stubborn love of making art no one asked for, and the courage it takes to start again. Short and complete, Still Sick is a rewarding read for anyone who has ever kept a creative passion to themselves.