Drawings 20

It's been a while.

The world has been going through a lot lately in more ways than one. I hope everyone reading this is safe and doing well.

As always, this post has been translated by AI. If you happen to spot any spectacular mistranslations, my apologies in advance.

It's been quite a long time since I stopped updating the illustrations for the main story... The biggest problem is that I just can't draw a minotaur. I've already managed to draw the zombie tank—my zombies are easy to draw. But cows? They're hard. I've never had to draw a monster based on a cow before, so I'm completely out of my depth.

Anyway, let's get to the illustrations!

There are also several comics that take place after the ending of the main story.

お久しぶりです。
世界がいろんな意味で大変なことになっていますが皆様いかがお過ごしでしょうか。
この文章を読む人が安全な場所にいることを祈っています。

また、例によって例のごとくこの文章はAIによって訳しております。物凄い誤訳が発生していたらすみません。

私が小説本編の挿絵の更新を止めてしまってから、ずいぶんの日数が経ってしまいました……。なにしろミノタウロスが描けないのです。ゾンビ戦車はもう描けました。私の描くゾンビは簡単なので……でも、牛は難しいですね。牛の化け物なんて描いたことがないので全然無理です。

それでは以下、イラストを載せていきます。

あと本編終了後設定の漫画もいくつかあります。

☆☆☆

I drew this because I wanted to make a single illustration that shows the entire character relationship chart.

Japan News Comic #1　

時事ネタ漫画１

① Tokyo's Real Estate Agent!!

都市部の不動産屋！！

②The kind of people who spend all day power-walking for work... and then spend their days off walking even MORE "to check out properties." True outdoor professionals!!

……と、いえば、仕事でバリバリ歩き回り、休日も物件調査の名のもとにお外を死ぬほど歩き回るアウトドアエリート！！

③"I always thought real estate agents were the type to spend every weekend outdoors, but you actually stay home pretty often, Mitamura."

……って印象があったんだけど三田村さんってワリとインドア派よね。

④"Well, yeah~. My job means visiting all kinds of landowners."

"I have to happily drink whatever sketchy homemade juice they offer me, become friends with them, and convince them to sell their land."

"So every now and then, that juice wrecks my stomach... and I end up trapped in the bathroom all day~~."

そだよ～。諸事情あっていろんなご家庭のお茶とか手作りジュースとかもおいしそうに飲まなきゃいけないから一定確率でお腹壊すんだよ～。

⑤"I get stomachaches so often that I've memorized where just about every public restroom in Tokyo is."

しょっちゅうお腹壊すから東京じゅうのトイレのある場所に詳しくなったよ。

⑥"Wow... being a real estate agent is rough."

大変ねえ

⑦"Find anything interesting?"

なんかあった？

⑧"No."

んーん

⑨"I'm just scrolling through online news..."

ネットニュース見てるだけ……

⑩"...Apparently, in Ikebukuro, someone's been leaving human poop in places where you'd never expect to find it. It's happened five days in a row."

池袋で５日連続脱糞事件が起きてるんですって。

⑪"Oh... maybe somebody had a really upset stomach. There aren't many public restrooms in Ikebukuro..."

あーわかる。池袋はトイレ少ないからねえ

⑫"For the record, it wasn't me."

……あっ、俺じゃないからね！？

⑬"I know. Don't be ridiculous."

分かってるわよ。バカ。

Japan News Comic #2

⓪ A thought experiment is nothing more than a fantasy.

思考実験に妄想以上の意味はない。

Makita and Sasanohara are relaxing at home.

Sasanohara is scrolling through his phone while Makita is making coffee.

①"They say the bear population just keeps growing and growing."

クマがふえてふえて仕方ないんですって。

②"I wonder if there's some way we could dump humanity's declining birthrate problem onto bears too..."

なんとかして人間の少子化をクマにもなすりつけられませんかね…

③"...There's a theory that the worldwide decline in human birthrates is being caused by smartphones."

…一説によると、世界規模で起きているヒトの少子化はスマホが原因らしい

④"Huh?"

へ？

⑤"...So if we invented smartphones for bears... BearPhones... bears would start having fewer cubs too?"

…つまり、クマのスマホ、クマホを作ればクマにも少子化が起きる…？

⑥ Behind them is a fictional smartphone advertisement.

"The Next-Generation BearPhone!"
"Tough enough to survive a bear's TWO-TON punch!"

⑦"Exactly. (?) And if we made bear-exclusive mobile games and social media..."

⑧"...Then...!"

Behind Sasanohara, who has just had a brilliant idea, is an imaginary scene.

A group of bears are completely absorbed in their BearPhones, playing games and scrolling social media.

Bear:
"Who has time to wander into human towns and attack people?!"

The bears are playing:

⑩ Golden Bearda (a parody of Kiniro no Corda)
⑨ Bearbeat Memorial (a parody of Tokimeki Memorial)
⑪ BearX (a parody of X/Twitter)

Maybe a car could take her anywhere—but she's so exhausted from work that she doesn't have the energy to go anywhere at all.

A childhood game room. (But whose room is it?)

……。

Fifteen years ago, you could find quite a few people dressed like her around Shinjuku, but these days they're much rarer. Asakura personally loves this kind of style, and ever since college she's worn these bold, aggressive outfits partly because she thought they might intimidate suspicious people and keep them away. Apparently, they don't work. (She does wear much plainer clothes when she goes to work at the daycare, though, so the parents won't complain.)

Mitamura tells Asakura that dressing aggressively won't keep suspicious people away. "I'm not saying you shouldn't wear the clothes you like. I'm just saying they won't protect you from creeps."

A parking area in Kawasaki.

Thank you so much for reading this far! I'd be thrilled if you came to visit again!

ここまで読んでくれてありがとうございました！　また見に来てもらえると嬉しいです！

Hopefully the AI translated everything well...

翻訳がいい具合にできていることを祈ります……。

Drawings 19

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening!
It's been quite a while since my last blog update. 68 days ago, huh~.

Over these 68 days, I've drawn a lot of pictures and uploaded them all over the place—like Pixiv, Shousetsuka ni Narou, and Twitter—so I'm gathering them all up and posting them here!

Also, just the usual announcement, but as always, I am relying on the power of AI to translate this text. There is a chance some ridiculous mistranslations might occur, so I kindly ask for your understanding and patience. (Listen to this! On Twitter, a Japanese person posted about having a BBQ, and an English speaker replied with advice saying something like "close the vents and grill it hard." But the English got translated into Japanese as "shut your mouth and die"! I saw it with my own eyes! Grok makes some crazy mistranslations!!!! AI still has a long way to go!!!!!!)

おはようございますこんにちはこんばんは！ 前回のブログ更新からずいぶん期間が開いてしまいました。６８日前か～。
この６８日間は色々な絵を描いてそしてpixiv小説家になろうTwitterなどバラバラなところにUPしていたので、それらをまとめてここにUPします。
また、いつものアナウンスですが、例によって例のごとくこの文章はAIの力に頼って翻訳しております。とんでもない誤訳が発生している可能性がありますが、なにとぞご理解ご了承のほどをお願い申し上げます。（SNSのTwitterでさあ！バーベキューやってる日本人の日本語ポストに、英語圏の人が英語で「吸気口を閉じて思いっきり焼くといいよ」ってリプライでアドバイスしたら、その英文が「口を閉じて死ね」って意味の日本語に翻訳されちゃってたのを私は見たんですよ！Grokはとんでもない誤訳をするなあ！！！！AIはまだまだ課題が多いですね！！！！！！）

Various Crowbar Nurse Illustrations

・Crowbar Nurse挿絵色々

I drew a bunch of stuff to use as illustrations for the novel pages... There are just so many pictures in this blog post, so I'm going to heavily skip the captions for each one.

小説ページの挿絵用として色々書きました……今回のブログ記事はとにかく絵の量が多いので、絵ごとのキャプションを省略しまくります。

    "Good Morning / Welcome Home"
    A picture of Yu, who just got back from a night shift at the ward and is about to go to sleep, and Makita, who just took a shower and is about to head to work.

『おはよう・おかえり』
病棟の夜勤の仕事から帰ってきてこれから寝るYuと、シャワーを浴びてこれから出勤するMakitaの絵。

    "Promo Poster for a Fictional Game"
    My bilingual (English/Japanese) husband told me, "A game title like Deadman's Conflict sounds lame to English speakers..." But even if you tell me that, the novel is already finished, so I can't change it now! What kind of title wouldn't be lame anyway?! I'm a Japanese speaker, I don't have English naming sense, so I have no idea!!!

『架空のゲームの販促ポスター』
英語と日本語のバイリンガルの夫に「デッドマンズコンフリクトなんてゲームのタイトル、英語圏の人から見たらダサいよ……」って言われたんですが、そんなこと言われたってもう小説は完結しちゃったんだし今更変えられないんですよ！大体どんなタイトルにすればダサくないっていうんですか、日本語話者に英語のセンスなんてないからわかりませんッッッ

    "Even if There Are No Stars in the Sky"
    In the novel's extra short story collection, Makita and Yu promised to go on a night pool date, so I drew this.

『空に星がなくても』
小説番外短編集でMakitaとYuがナイトプールのデートに行く約束をしていたので、この絵を描きました。

    "The Picture That Suddenly Got 10k Likes on Twitter"

       Why??????????????

『Twitterでいきなり１万いいねを獲得した絵』

いったいなぜ？？？？？？？？？？？

    "Yu Lost in Thought in Her Room"

『自室で物思いにふける夕』

    "The Eye of Shinjuku"

『新宿の目』

    "Subnade"

『サブナード』

    "Above Ground at Shinjuku West Exit"

『新宿西口地上』

    "A Nurse Clocking Out"

『看護師の退勤』

    "Relax"

『リラックス』

She is a perfectly ordinary rookie nurse. Her hobbies include zombie games and otome games. Her favorite character is not Soichiro Kiryu (Please refer to the main story of the Crowbar Nurse novel for context!)

①"Wait, what?! Kiryu Souichirou isn't your favorite?!

②"That’s right."

③"But he's literally the most popular character in the game!"

④"He might be number one, but he’s just not my type."

 "Hold on... let me think. Who else was a love interest in that otome game? ...Hmm... ..."

"Oh! I’ve got it! Is it this guy?! The serious, socially awkward one with glasses who looks exactly like your boyfriend, Makita-san!
Ooh~ lucky you! You actually landed a guy who’s like a dream otome game character... Hey! Don't run away just because you're blushing!!"

⑤: Loves talking about romance.
⑥: Finds talking about romance awkward and embarrassing.

A completely run-of-the-mill, cookie-cutter preschool teacher. The hidden protagonist. She loves other people's love stories more than anything else in the world, and will happily consume it all—manga, novels, otome games, fanfiction, you name it. Basically, she is a hardcore connoisseur of other people's romances!

Thank you so much for reading this far! I'd be thrilled if you came to visit again!

ここまで読んでくれてありがとうございました！　また見に来てもらえると嬉しいです！

Drawings 18

あけましておめでとうございます。もう二月ですね……。一月はなんか、わが子の風邪があらゆる家族にうつりまくって大変なことになっていました。皆様もどうぞ風邪にお気をつけて、お体大切になさってくださいませ。

また、このブログの文章は例によって例のごとく、一切の翻訳をAIに頼りきりでございます。
トンチンカンな英文になってしまっている可能性があることをご承知おきください……。

Happy New Year! ...Wait, I know, it’s already February. January was a bit of a whirlwind. My kid caught a cold, and before I knew it, it had made its way through the entire family. It was tough! I hope you are all staying healthy and taking good care of yourselves.

A quick heads-up: As always, I’m relying 100% on AI for these translations. Please bear with me if some of the English sounds a bit "clunky" or doesn't make total sense!

またチャプター１の絵を描いたのか！！何回チャプター１の絵を描いたら気が済むんだ！！！！　……って自分でも思うんですが、なんか思いついてしまったので、描きました……。

    "Wait, did I draw Chapter 1 art again?!" I keep asking myself how many times I’m going to draw scenes from Chapter 1... but I had a new idea, so I just had to put it on paper (or screen)!

さっきの絵に上手く重ねたかったんだけれども上手くいかなかったのでボツにしたやつです。

    The "Scrapped" Version I tried to overlay this on the previous drawing, but it didn't quite work out, so I ended up cutting it.

これもなんか、いつどこで使えばいいのか分からないのになんか描いちゃったやつです。

    The "Just Because" Piece One of those drawings where I’m not sure when or where I’ll use it, but I felt like drawing it anyway.

さっきの絵をポスターにしてみました。

    Poster Version I turned the previous illustration into a poster format.

 
新宿のドコモタワーと朝倉。

  Erika Asakura & Shinjuku Docomo Tower.

恋愛相談。
バールナース本編終了後世界の番外短編集の一話をもとにしています。この一話は削除しようか悩んでるやつなのでリンク切れになっていたら「ああ、やっぱり掲載をやめたんだな」って思って下さい……。

  Relationship Advice. This is based on one of the side stories from the "post-main story" world of Crowbar Nurse. I’m actually debating whether to delete this particular chapter... so if you find a broken link, just assume I finally decided to take it down!

kakuyomu.jp

 高速道路のサービスエリア。

  Highway Service Area.

 お正月にも働いている笹野原。

  Yu Sasanohara, working hard even through the New Year.

    The Burger Struggle. A short comic from when I didn't know the "proper" way to eat a gourmet burger with a skewer. Apparently, Makita’s method—squashing it down boldly—is actually the correct way to do it!

    Highway Service Area 2.

デート前の服選び。 

  Choosing an outfit for a date.

ここまで読んで下さってありがとうございました！　また見てね！

Thank you so much for reading this far!
Thank you for reading to the end! Please come visit again!

Drawings 17

こんにちは！１２月、年の瀬ですね！

例によって例のごとくAI翻訳で私の日本語を英文にしているので、文章が変な感じになっちゃっていたらごめんなさい。

久しぶりにイラスト群を更新します。

本当は小説本編挿絵に関係ある絵をもうちょっと描きたかったんですが、絵って雷に打たれたような衝撃に従って描くものなのでなかなか描きたいものを描きたい時にスパーンと描くのって難しいんです。恋と同じですね（私は一体何の話を？）

ということでバールナース番外編のほうの絵です。

Hello! It’s December—the year’s end already!

As usual, I’m having AI translate my Japanese into English, so apologies if anything reads a bit off.

I’m updating the illustration set for the first time in a while.
I actually wanted to draw a few more pieces connected to the main novel’s illustrations, but art tends to follow that lightning-strike feeling, so it’s hard to just snap and make exactly what I want exactly when I want. Kind of like love, right? (…What am I even talking about?)

So these are illustrations for the Crowbar Nurse side stories.

Family Planning Is Hard When You’re a Corporate Drone

kakuyomu.jp

Family Planning Is Hard When You’re a Corporate Drone 2

“It’s the little souvenir shop by the register at the family restaurant. I never got to buy things like this when I was a kid.”

Someone Who Kept Living

Time to Call It a Night…

Thanks for sticking with me to the end!

Drawings 16

Hello! I’m updating my illustration blog. As usual, I had AI handle the translation, so apologies in advance if any of the English feels off.

I got bitten on the leg by a black fly three days ago, and it’s still sore and itchy......

The coffee shop that appeared in this episode has since closed and no longer exists.

このエピソードに出てきた喫茶店はもう閉店しておりこの世には存在していません。

While scrolling on their phone and seeing an energy drink ad, Yu went, “Huh, an energy drink ad—maybe I should grab one,” and Makita shot back, “You don’t have even a sliver of tomorrow’s energy left to borrow.”

エナドリの宣伝が出てきたなあ～エナドリを飲もうかな～つってたら「前借りできるだけの元気なんてひとかけらも残ってないだろ」って言われた人の顔

I have a running detail in my novel that Makita’s hands are very warm. That carries on even after the main story ends, so if you read the epilogues, keep an eye out for it. The window glass in this illustration is an old frosted type called Ginga 銀河—it’s discontinued now, but you still see it quite often in older Japanese homes. This glass doesn’t actually appear in the novel itself.

蒔田の手はとても温かいという設定があります。この設定は小説本編終了後にも続く話なので、本編終了後の後日談を読む人はぜひ注意してみてください。そしてこの絵の背景にある窓ガラスはGingaという名前の古いすりガラスで、今は廃盤になっていますが日本の古い家ではまだまだよく見かけます。この窓ガラスの話は特に小説には出てきません。

Asakura, looking like that calibration screen you see in modern horror games—“Adjust the brightness until this symbol is barely visible.”

最近のホラゲによくある「この図が見えるギリギリの暗さに画面の明度を調節してください」っていわれるアレっぽい朝倉

Drawings 15

Hello! I’m updating my illustration blog. As usual, I had AI handle the translation, so apologies in advance if any of the English feels off.

親知らず手術痛すぎワロタ

With Kyogo Mitamura, I—the author—kept piling on flashy, over-the-top traits, thinking, “There’s no way someone like this exists in real life!” But during the serial run I got a flood of comments like “He’s too real” and “I know someone just like him.” So apparently they do exist… realtors like Kyogo Mitamura.

三田村京伍、作者の私は「こんな人間が現実にいるわけないな！」って思いながら派手な設定をてんこ盛りにして書いていたんですが、連載時に読者の方々から「リアルすぎる」「知り合いにいる」という感想が続出したので、いるらしいです……三田村京伍みたいな不動産屋……。

Yu grabs a quick rest on the bus bound for the Shinjuku West Exit.

新宿西口行きのバスの中でひとやすみしている

The Seibu Shinjuku Line is known as one of the most crowded in Japan, but if you ride in the opposite direction of the rush, it can be so empty that some cars have literally no one in them.

西武新宿線は日本でもトップクラスに電車が混んでいることで有名ですが、混んでいる方向と逆方向の電車に乗ると誰も乗っていない車両があるくらいガラガラです。

There’s a legend that ultra-wealthy homes have sushi bars. Maybe it’s one in a hundred mansions, but they really do exist. Check the case studies on luxury home–builder sites and you’ll see them—yes, really.

日本の超富裕層の家の中には寿司バーがあるという伝説があります。豪邸１００件あったら１件あるかないかくらいですが、本当にあります。豪邸建築サイトの事例を見ると本当にあるんですよ……。

Drawings 14

A Person Peeking into the Fridge

からっぽの冷蔵庫

Once again, I am using AI to translate my Japanese text into English. Please note that there may be parts that are unclear or awkward. Thank you for your understanding.

Two People Strolling through Yochomachi, Shinjuku

余丁町を歩く

Enjoying Summer

日本の夏はクソ

Tokyo Is Hot

Tokyo is extremely hot, and Makita’s home is a concrete building with poor insulation, which means it is sweltering in summer and freezing in winter. For ordinary people trying to live in Shinjuku, Tokyo, the only housing available often comes with such harsh conditions...

日本の夏はクソⅡ（ツー）

In Front of an Electronics Store at Shinjuku West Exit

ドバ　配達承り　マルチメディア館

A Rookie Nurse on a Night Shift Break

A Rookie Nurse Playing Video Games

I added a lot of Japanese text into the illustration, but to summarize: this woman is worn out from family troubles and overwork. Even so, she is able to meet others, find mutual support, and she truly believes she is happy with her life. That is what I wanted to convey.

The protagonist of this story, Yu, is a quiet person who struggles with self-assertion and rarely makes selfish demands. However, in Chapter 114 of the novel, she suddenly voiced an unreasonable demand—it was because she was exhausted. Makita responded to her in a fairly appropriate way. This may have been because his parents had a good marriage, and he already understood what healthy communication looked like. Although Makita grew up in an underprivileged living environment, having a family with strong bonds was one of the few blessings in his life.

Chatting at a Shopping Complex near Shinjuku Station

“You know how among young people these days, there’s this trend of putting ‘time performance’ above everything else? I really don’t think that’s a good thing. Because if you’re too obsessed with avoiding losses or too scared of making mistakes, you’ll never be able to take on any challenges. And then, when the time comes that you actually want to get married or fall in love, you won’t be able to make any decisions and you’ll end up suffering for it. That’s when people end up in relationships with reckless types who take control and make all the decisions for them.”

“...Are you talking about yourself?”

“Of course not!!”

While the two main characters were gentle, quiet, and more like background figures who didn’t drive the story forward, the ones who actually moved the plot were Mitamura and Erika! Even when faced with fights or workplace harassment, they were completely unfazed—and sometimes even the ones to initiate it themselves! In Japan, it’s not uncommon for such aggressive personalities to end up overcommitting to their companies and becoming classic “corporate slaves.”

Mitamura was born into a wealthy landlord family in Shinjuku that has been affluent for generations, while Erika grew up in a poor and dysfunctional household. They differ greatly in their values—especially when it comes to money. When two people’s values are too far apart, it becomes difficult to build a marriage based on mutual respect. Often, one side ends up making constant sacrifices, which can eventually lead to collapse. Erika understands this, and believes it would be difficult for them to marry. However, Mitamura is an optimist, convinced that as long as there is love, they can overcome any hardship.

Yu got a driver’s license for the future and sometimes practices driving with a rental car. It’s a wonderful thing to feel positive about the future and to take on new challenges.

Chapter 0