Master of the Machete Style Manga

Chapter 22 What's wrong with a writer being a bit of a womanizer?
"Jian, let's tidy up the bookshelf together."

After the dinner rush ended, Kenjiro Sakamoto officially started his night shift.

Mio Natsume is organizing the magazines on the bookshelf that she needs to return to the publisher tomorrow.

With the rise of e-reading, fewer people are buying physical magazines, resulting in more and more unsold magazines piling up in stores.

Mondays are the busiest days for weekly magazine sales, and every Sunday, a lot of books waiting to be returned have to be cleared out.

Natsume Mio was already carrying a large stack of books in her arms. It's really inconvenient for girls to carry books, especially for someone with a large chest like her. She can only hold them up to her chest at most, otherwise they will be pushed up and easily fall forward.

Ken Sakamoto skillfully gathered the magazines together, while Mio Natsume moved a stack of books aside and opened a copy of JUMP.

"Ken, when will your comic be published here?" Natsume Mio asked.

"It'll be soon, probably within the next two months," Ken Sakamoto said.

"Huh? Has the editor been confirmed?" Natsume Mio asked.

Ken Sakamoto shook his head and said, "It's only been two chapters. I'm not a well-known veteran writer. The editor won't make a decision so soon."

"So Ah-Jian is just particularly confident in his work?"

“Of course,” Ken Sakamoto said. “A writer should have 500 percent confidence in the work he creates.”

“But I also looked at the manga that was released on the same day as Ken’s, and it seems… the editorial department provided a lot more resources… even though the quality is completely inferior to Ken’s.” Natsume Mio said with a hint of indignation.

“…Huh?” Natsume Mio noticed that Sakamoto Ken was staring straight at her, and felt a chill run down her spine for no apparent reason. “Ken, why are you looking at me like that…”

"Which one are you talking about?" Ken Sakamoto asked.

"It's that... young lady, sniper rifle, pantyhose and stuff..." Natsume Mio said, flipping through the JUMP magazine to the page with the JUMP+ promotion.

"Look, even though it hasn't been serialized yet, JUMP+ ads are already using her cover."

“Yeah, I’ve seen it too.” Sakamoto Ken glanced at the JUMP she had opened and said, “There’s no need to pay attention to other people’s work. If you’re confident, then you don’t need to care who your opponent is.”

Ken Sakamoto could probably guess some of the reasons why Haruna copied his manga and was still given such attention by Shueisha.

Her family owns a large business association, and her mother was a writer when she was young and published works. Perhaps she has some connections to the higher-ups at Shueisha.

Last week, she didn't draw any comics herself, and she didn't care about the small amount of royalties, so she didn't use any connections in that regard.

Now that Haruna has copied his manga, her family should be able to offer some assistance if she wants to publish it.

I just don't know to what extent this help will be available...

At least for now, it's just that she got to participate in a live broadcast, and not many people watched that show.

What worries Ken Sakamoto isn't that his serialization schedule will be pushed back, since that would only be a matter of being delayed by a month or two.

What worried him was that this time, Mio had already established some kind of connection with Haruna beforehand...

Sakamoto Ken's gaze swept over Natsume Mio again, lingering briefly on her chest, before naturally shifting away to continue tidying the bookshelf.

Although they haven't met in person yet, Natsume Mio's interest in Mikazuki Haruna's manga means they've already established some connection online...

That's much earlier than expected.

Last week, it wasn't until after school started that Mikazuki Haruna found his homepage by searching for the book title and pen name on Twitter.

After a period of online chatting, there will be reader gatherings and offline meetings.

After meeting several times, they gradually developed a closer relationship.

This time, our relationship changed drastically.

Last week's story was about the relationship between the author and the fans, which basically meant that Ken Sakamoto was a fan of a female fan.

Now, Haruna and I have become competitors in the same period.

Ken Sakamoto originally thought that if he was having sex with fans, so be it; he wasn't an entertainment star.

This kind of thing would probably be considered a scandal for an entertainment star, but it's different for a writer.

Isn't it normal for Japanese writers to be a bit of a womanizer?
There's no need to say more about Junichi Watanabe.

There's also Akiyuki Nosaka, who wrote Grave of the Fireflies.

Everyone knows this animated film adapted by Studio Ghibli, and everyone knows the director Isao Takahata. But few people know that the original author, Mr. Nosaka, wrote his debut work, "The Eroticians," based on his personal experiences.

Mr. Nosaka also worked as a rakugo performer, using the stage name Tachikawa Tenko, making them the only group in history to have such a bold stage name.

Although he was exonerated for the crime of disrespect, he has still been targeted by right-wing groups.

In addition to writing and rakugo, he also composed songs, such as "Virgin Blues (バージンブルース)" and "Marilyn Monroe Never Look Back (Marilyn Monroe Never Look Back)"...

Every year, he would gather his female friends for a hot spring stay.

Of course, he claimed to the public that everyone was just drinking and taking a bath.

As for light novel authors, there are even more.

After all, harem novels are one of the most popular genres in light novels.

Could it be that those authors who create elaborate harems in their books are actually just theoretical writers with pure imaginations?

No way?
Anyway, Ken Sakamoto isn't.

Ken Sakamoto organized the entire magazine shelf, and the books awaiting recycling were piled in special boxes.

The actual work of recycling and transporting had to be handed over to Shota Miyamoto, who worked the night shift in the latter half of the night.

It was soon 8 p.m., the time for Natsume Mio to get off work.

As soon as it was time, she hurriedly went to the changing room inside.

She didn't come out until a full twenty minutes later.

I was wearing a dark blue FamilyMart uniform just now, and it felt quite ordinary.

She changed into a pure white shirt, paired with black trousers, and even wore a tie.

Natsume Mio walked to the cashier, stood there gracefully, tilted her head slightly to look at Sakamoto Ken, and even took a deep breath to make her chest bulge even more.

The few buttons that had been holding up the inner pressure were now precariously in place as she deliberately puffed out her chest.

"How about it?"

Natsume Mio stood with her hands behind her back, smiling as she looked at Sakamoto Ken.

Ken Sakamoto was a little lost in thought; she had obviously touched up her makeup during their long time in the dressing room.

Her already fair and delicate cheeks were flushed even more, her bright eyes seemed to sparkle like stars, and her moist lips shone with an alluring light.

"Is it good? She's your heroine~" Natsume Mio leaned forward slightly and said with a gentle smile.

Although Natsume Mio lacks the spoiled charm of the real Makima, it must be said that her figure is actually better than the Makima in the original design.

"It looks great, exactly as I imagined," Ken Sakamoto said honestly.

"Hehe, that's good~" Natsume Mio tossed her braid behind her head, picked up her bag, and walked towards the convenience store door. "I'm going back now, Ken, bye-bye~"

Natsume Mio had planned this all along. She wore this outfit and even put on makeup today, just to impress Sakamoto Ken for one minute.

Only such a fleeting glimpse could leave a vague impression in Ah Jian's mind.

If you stay too long and leave too clear an impression on him, it will actually reduce the strength of his subsequent mental conjecture.

When people fill in the blanks in their minds, they tend to mold those vague images into their ideal, most beautiful version.

In this way, flaws are overlooked.

And then, they sank deeper and deeper.

The principle behind "love at first sight" is exactly this.

Natsume Mio, who was waiting for the bus at the bus stop, looked through the glass door of the convenience store and saw Sakamoto Ken looking in her direction.

The girl smiled and thought to herself.

What a genius I am!

(End of this chapter)