manga artist Kirito

"Uh, we... classmates?" Kiritani paused as he took the cake, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at the clerk. Soubu High...?

Hmm, she does look somewhat familiar, but I don't remember her very well... She shouldn't be a classmate, is she Shiina Mashiro's classmate?

"I... should be your senior, Kawasaki Saki, a second-year student." The girl didn't seem very used to this kind of self-introduction... or rather, she wasn't very used to talking to others at all, but she still made sure to be polite.

For example, now.

"Kiritani Kazuto, your junior, senpai."

Kiritani-san remembered the name.

She is a classmate of Hachiman Hikigaya. The Service Club had a request related to her before. She is a brother-complex, has many brothers and sisters in her family, and cherishes her brothers and sisters very much - a typical Chiba person - she goes out to work in order not to be a burden on her family. She is a typical cold-faced but warm-hearted person. It is said that she is very thin-skinned and has a rather arrogant aura. She will blush with embarrassment from the slightest praise.

...I might know a bit too much detail, but these are all things that Komachi said when she visited Kiritani-san's house, and Komachi identified her as a girl that her brother might have a chance with.

"You know Mashiro, senpai... I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."

"It's nothing, I just wanted to say you need to be more careful." With that movement, her high blue ponytail swayed gently—very cool!

On the surface, Shaxishaxi might seem a bit like a delinquent girl, and with that indifferent expression... she's really super cool!

It seems that there is no one who can compare to her except Jing Ke'ai, right?

Yes, in terms of handsomeness!

And that was the end of it...

Kiritani-san had no intention of disturbing other people's work. Besides, for this part-time worker, work hours were not for chatting. What if the store manager found out and deducted his wages? This job, which only required him to work two days a week and was relatively easy, was not something that could be found easily.

Actually, many novels feature this type of working-class soldier...

Of course, there aren't many people as clean-cut and handsome as shaxishaxi.

On the way to the park, Kiritani-san held an ice cream, enjoying the only beauty of summer, while Shiina Mashiro followed beside him, quietly munching on a Baumkuchen.

"Oh my, isn't this Sister Goldfish? What a wonderful encounter!"

It wasn't exactly a familiar voice, but Kiritani-san could still recognize whose clear, childlike voice it was.

But I have absolutely no desire to respond.

Kirigaya-san moved forward quietly, and even when he noticed the strange look Shiina Mashiro was giving him, he did not stop.

...Maybe it's not the best way to put it, but there are really a lot of blind people these days. If you don't get confirmation...won't they really believe it?

Even though it started at the CM exhibition two years ago, it has become very popular here for girls with big breasts—without seeing their lower body, no one knows whether they are male or female, but even so, Kiritani-san has no intention of showing them.

"Hey! Kazuko-neechan!"

The voice still lingered in my ears, but the way I addressed it had changed.

However, Kiritani-san had no intention of stopping until she called out the correct address.

Incidentally, Kiritani-san pointed to a small shop next to the park and asked, "Mashiro, do you want to take some photos in the photo booth later?"

"A photo booth?... Hmm." With a hint of doubt, Shiina Mashiro clearly didn't know what a photo booth was.

"Let's take a walk in the park first, then go take some photo booth pictures. You probably haven't done that before. If you want to do anything else afterwards, just let me know. I have time... Of course, whether we'll come back again is hard to say."

Shiina Mashiro tilted her head. "So, you want to play to your heart's content?"

Kiritani-san nodded with a smile, "That's one way to understand it."

However, the little girl who had been following behind for a while started to get upset. Not only did she stop responding, but she also started chatting with the people next to her—that was too much!

"Kazuto Onii-chan!"

"Oh my, isn't this... uh, Keiko?" Kiritani-san turned around with a smile, looking at the sulking little girl.

You think I can't handle you?

"Oh, Asada-san is here too, what a surprise!"

Not only Ayano Keiko, but Asada Shino was also following behind, though her smile was a little strange.

"Hmm... what a serendipitous encounter."

P.S.: I've been catching up on Monogatari these past few days... and I've fallen for Kanbaru, that pervert. Yeah, I really want to write about him...

Please feed them!

236

[NO.233 Asuna's Home Ground]

Tokyo

At the entrance of Shueisha's Shonen Jump company, looking at the super popular manga posters pasted on both sides, Eriri's eyes ignited a little bit of passion—will my manga ever be pasted in front of the Jump entrance one day?

...Now, can we look forward to it a little?

With a faint smile on her lips, Asuna walked ahead of the two. "Let's go."

The two girls, who were lost in some kind of fantasy, snapped out of their reverie and quickly caught up with Asuna.

At the front desk, Asuna spoke with the receptionist and told her the name of the editor she had contacted. After confirming that there was indeed an appointment, the receptionist led everyone to a small conference room inside the company. As soon as they entered, they saw a rather capable woman. Judging from the feeling alone, this woman's temperament was quite similar to that of Shizuka Hiratsuka.

When she saw Asuna and the other two, the woman paused for a moment, but quickly regained her composure and pointed to the chair opposite her, saying, "Ah, please sit down."

Asuna remained polite and said, "Thank you."

"Uh, the three of you... are all the creators of Dark Souls?" With a curious and slightly cryptic look in her eyes, she seemed a little incredulous. Then, as if remembering something, she quickly added, "I'm Amano Touko, an editor at JUMP. You can just call me Touko... That manga was written by the three of you, right?"

“…You could say that for now.” Eriri glanced around, looking somewhat reserved, as if she wasn’t quite used to this kind of occasion.

"So... how do you divide the work?" Amano Touko rubbed her forehead. She'd seen many collaborative manga before, but this team... didn't seem so simple.

Although Amano Touko is more familiar with the manga industry, it doesn't mean she's unaware of several popular creators who are currently generating a lot of buzz online, such as the two super-popular light novel authors in front of her, Kamishirasawa Hibiki and Kasumi Utako—their collaboration, but the script... why is it so strange?

Ah, could it be a problem with the transformation?

Both of them are skilled at writing youth romance dramas, so it's not hard to understand why they would want to switch to mainstream action dramas and end up with this kind of distorted result.

Incidentally, regarding the previous question, although Amano Touko asked about the division of labor, she still figured it out. Kamishirasawa-sensei and Kasumi-shiko-sensei were undoubtedly the original authors of the manga, while this... well, the unknown blonde with twin tails should be the main artist of the manga.

Asuna seemed to see through Amano Touko's thoughts and smiled slightly, "As you think, Ms. Kasumi Shiko and I are indeed in charge of the script, but not all members of our team are here. The two lead writers are unable to spare the time due to certain issues... and Ms. Kashiwagi Eri's position is assistant."

"Kashiwa... Kashiwagi Eri?" Amano Touko's eyes widened slightly. "Popular R-18 illustrator Kashiwagi Eri... turns out to be a cute twin-tailed loli! It's really... hard to imagine."

"So, will the main artist of the manga... be Fujiwara Echizen-sensei?"

With undisguised anticipation, Amano Touko looked at Asuna, waiting for her return.

The name Fujiwara Echizen, whose fame had been gradually declining over the past two years, has recently become extremely popular. The genius artist from Rouge en rouge released a new non-R-18 manga the other day, which is being serialized in Rouge en rouge magazine. It has received rave reviews. The quality of the artwork goes without saying. In addition, his status as a veteran of Rouge en rouge and his talent in various positions in the industry have made many large circles very envious.

Of course, Shueisha wouldn't envy a mere top-tier publishing group, after all, Shueisha is an industry giant.

Amano Touko's expectations stemmed from the fact that she was also a fan of Fujiwara Echizen... Well, the "Sword Art Online" manga does have a strong sense of passion and its theme is quite novel. There aren't many good works that can reach this level at this stage.

“Yes, the main writers are Fujiwara Echizen and Fujiwara Kotori…” Asuna looked at Amano Touko, who was quite excited, and felt a little strange, but she still gave the pen names of Kiritani-san and Shiina-san.

"Uh, Fujiwara Kotori is...?" Amano Touko blinked, she had never heard of this pen name before... Also, are you all Touhou fans?

Aside from Kasumi-sensei and Kashiwagi-sensei, all of your pen names are related to the Bamboo Grove Group—oh right, the pen name for this manga is also Princess Houraisan…

"...You could say she's a new artist, but her drawing skills are recognized by everyone." Asuna didn't intend to reveal Shiina Mashiro's real name or recount her past achievements; she simply gave a brief introduction.

"I imagine, Orange Editor, you should be able to tell the quality of this comic's artwork."

"Wow... quite a luxurious lineup." Amano Touko cracked her knuckles, still curious about which big shot was using Fujiwara Kotori as an alias.

Seriously, otherwise, it would be absolutely impossible to get into a team that's full of popular creators without some fame!

"Alright, let's get down to business!" Amano Touko straightened up slightly, her gaze lingering on Yuuki Asuna and Kasumigaoka Utaha. "To be honest, the concept and plot of your manga... I think they're pretty good. The various bizarre plots and enemies are quite original to me, but..."

"The main plot is a bit too vague, or rather, many plot points seem to be part of the main plot... It's so chaotic that it's a little hard to understand." Amano Touko smoothed her long hair, shook her head, and smiled. "With the writing skills of two popular authors, it certainly shouldn't be this chaotic. I think... this is a shortcoming that only occurs when the two of them are in charge of the script, right?"

“…Yes.” Kasumigaoka Utaha smiled wryly, having to admit that Amano Touko’s analysis was spot on.

However, rather than a conflict between the two creators, it's more accurate to say that the initial script was too melodramatic, and the subsequent major revisions had to maintain the original tone, which was very difficult... It's already quite impressive that they managed to do this much.

"Shuko Kasumi-sensei, you don't need to make that face." Touko Amano waved her hand, then gave a mysterious smile. "With the protagonist's shameless, even bottomless, personality, there are actually many ways to draw him... Well, I won't interfere too much with you guys."

"The results of this grand prize should be decided directly after the CM exhibition ends. Of course, I have already planned to help you get a serialization, but since you are a team... whether or not to have a serialization is not something one person can decide, after all, everyone is indispensable."

Amano Touko glanced at the three people present and asked with great seriousness, "So, will it be serialized?"

"If it's a serialized story, your workload will have to be added to your original jobs. If you can't submit your manuscripts on time, I won't let you off easily!"

"Kashiwagi-sensei, what's your opinion?" Asuna didn't answer, but instead turned her gaze to Eriri.

"...Huh? Me, you're asking me? Me, how could I... Ah! Really..." After stammering and hesitating for a while, Eriri seemed to have given up on something, and looked at Amano Touko to give her answer, "Serialization confirmed. Workload isn't a problem. Anyway, there are two main writers. I only need to be responsible for post-production—of course, I will guarantee the quality of the work!"

Honestly, I was thinking of waiting until I beat that guy before making a decision.

Now that's great, even if we win, the only option left is to use two accounts... So troublesome!

“Very good!” Amano Touko smiled, then her expression became a little serious. “...Really, it’s very annoying. As for guiding you on the plot, I might not be able to come up with a better idea than you. As for the visuals, the high quality of the images is beyond my ability to comment. And the dialogue is even worse… By the way, I saw Gintama’s shadow in it.”

"Well, that's the only way to better fit JUMP's art style." Asuna and Kiritani had already considered the direction this work should take: it should be exciting yet funny, serious when it needs to be, and absolutely hilarious when it needs to be.

"only……"

"We know that originality is key! Simply imitating others won't work."

Before Amano Touko could finish speaking, Asuna-san said what she wanted to say.

Amano Touko rolled her eyes. "...Should I say that having creators like you is so reassuring?"

Asuna smiled faintly, "Thank you for the compliment!"

...Watching Asuna and Amano Touko's conversation, Kasumigaoka Utaha and Eriri, who had barely spoken, exchanged a glance, both thinking the same thing—Yuuki-san, you're amazing...

"Next, we just need to wait for the reaction from the awards ceremony. The results shouldn't be too bad, but we can't guess the specifics yet. Let's talk about the rest..."

…………

As Asuna walked out of Shueisha, she glanced back at the anime posters in front of the door, a slight smile playing on her lips. If it were someone else, putting up a manga poster here shouldn't be too difficult, it would just take a little more time…

However, this is not good...

Looking back, Asuna realized that although she used to think it was a waste of time to play games with others, she now has much less free time than before, and with so many plans ahead, she has even less leisure time...

It's true, this casually made decision has led people to this extent. I really don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing.

Asuna glanced at Kasumigaoka Utaha and Eriri, and finally shook her head.

It's true that you can't be too idle, otherwise you'll easily overthink things.

"Hey, wanna take a walk around Tokyo?"

"I want to go to Rouge en rouge magazine."

"Perfect timing, I'd like to go too."

"Then let's go."

237

【NO.234 Let me hug you】

公园

Under the blazing sun, beneath the bustling green leaves, sparse light filters through.

The boy looked at the girl with glasses and gave her a warm smile. "...Long time no see?"

It should... have a certain artistic conception, right?

“We just met a few days ago, Kiritani-san.” Sinon looked calmly at the still adorable Kiritani-san today and casually adjusted her glasses. “It’s quite a coincidence, isn’t it? We didn’t really see each other for the entire semester at school, but we’ve run into each other twice in just two days of summer vacation.”

"Perhaps, this is fate."

Generally speaking, it should be followed by the phrase "seeing beauty and then lusting after it..." Ah, I mean love at first sight, well, actually they all mean the same thing.

Of course, such a melodramatic plot is unlikely to appear here, after all, what Kiritani-san believes in is the beginning and the longest companionship - yes, simply put, childhood friends have a better chance of winning with Kiritani-san.

"Hi, Shiina-san." Shino-san, who didn't have any friends in the class, greeted Shiina-san, whom she had never even spoken to in class.

“…Hmm, hello.” After a brief silence, Shiina Mashiro, adhering to the principle that politeness is paramount, responded to Sinon-san with basic courtesy, even though she hadn’t remembered her name.

"Hey! Kazuko-neechan, why didn't you answer when I called you?" With a displeased expression, the little girl reverted to her mischievous self.

"Although I don't think it's a good idea, do you want to come along?" Kiritani-san ignored the little girl's call and mechanically extended an invitation to Shino-san.

"...Sure, anyway, I was just planning to take Keiko out for a walk." Shino calmly watched the little girl raise her foot to kick Kirigaya-san. Even though this was only their second meeting, Keiko seemed to know Kirigaya-san very well.

...Is it because she's cute?