38 Hunger

On the way home, All I can think about is tomorrow's work. But my body is already exhausted and drifting to sleep.

Tomorrow, I'll be sure to pull off an all-nighter or I should start-off really early. No, maybe I should just go back now. Dammit, I don't know what to do, my body is falling asleep.

The next morning, I woke up at 7:00 A.M.

Dammit, it is already that late...I'm so screwed, Anyway I've got to finish everything today, I'll do an all-nighter there is no doubt about it.

I send a group email to every,

"I'm sorry I woke up late, I'm on my way now. We need to finish it today, please start working without me."

I run as fast as I could, missing my breakfast, and just wearing ragged clothes.

A reply from Yasuyuki, "What are you talking about start now, we've been starting since 5:00 AM LOL!"

5:00 AM, So you mean they only have slept for a little time?

"Hurry up, we're finishing it without you…" Kozue's reply is as demanding as she is in person.

I got on the train, everyone has my attention, well, of course, I'm wearing ragged clothes, flipflops, and my uncombed hair.

I replied, "Yasuyuki, while I'm on my way start thinking of names already for the next chapters, you must not cool your head off with thinking...remember our visit to the Philippines, our food battle, it is a nice idea. We don't have enough time for the next two weeks deadline."

Yasuyuki replied, "By the way, Mr. Kiichi is coming over to check on our work, and while you are out there buy us food and drinks as a consequence for being late. LMAO."

Seriously, I'm going to be an errand boy since when did we have an agreement on that kind of punishment.

I emailed back, "I'm buying the usual, no complaints."

And I arrived at the studio,

"Protagonist-kun finally arrived." Yasuyuki greeted me with his arms spread wide and shaking his head.

"Jeez, I can't believe you dared to include your personal stuff when asking me to buy our food and drinks," I replied with a sigh.

"What personal stuff?" Kozue is curious.

"You know, sexy magazine," I replied with a smug.

Hanako stopped her work to comment, "Seriously, onii-sama?! I'm going to oba-sama, and tell her everything you did back on the beach too."

"Wh-What, no, please don't…" Yasu went back to his workstation.

"Anyway, I just want to say thank you for turning up early... I'll make it up to you guys with a treat." I prepared my work station and had a few stretches.

After several hours of working, Mr. Kiichi finally arrived.

"How are you guys?" Mr. Kiichi started off with a greeting.

"We're doing great, how about you Mr. Kiichi?" I replied.

"Feeling better, I'm glad to get back at work and I'm excited to see what you came up with."

"Would you like some coffee?" Kozue headed to the kitchen.

"Yes, please thank you."

"Here you go." Kozue placed the coffee on the table.

"Thank you, again. If I may, can I see your progress?"

"Ah, Nami the first chapter is on the top shelf above you, please hand it over to Mr. Kiichi"

"Okay, wait a second."

[Mr. Kiichi's POV]

I scanned through each panel one by one, I'm amazed to see how much they've grown...it feels like they are hungry to achieve their goal it is as if their life depends on it.

This hunger might become dangerous near future, but we will see how would they handle it as a group.

"This is a wonderful piece of work! I can sense the love and the passion in each panel, amazing!"

"Thank you so much, we put all our blood and sweat into it."

This boy Kenji is their leader.

Whenever he talks I can sense a strong charisma that is driving everyone in this room to become monsters that are feeding and nurturing through his positive energy.

"This is good, can I take this?"

"Uh, sure...also I wanted to ask about the manga competition for Valentine's day."

Kenji's partner in crime or shall I say sidekick, Yasuyuki Okamura, his storytelling is brilliant almost like of a genius, if they were musicians I can say they're near Mozart and Salieri...

"About that, are you guys going to join? It would be a one-shot series, the theme, of course, is romance and the prize money is around five million yen. Many authors are eager to win it."

"F-five million yen!"

Obviously, they will be surprised by the prize money.

"Yeah, by the way, do you guys have bank accounts?"

"I don't have one..." Fumi replied,

"Me, neither," Nagi added.

"I think most of you haven't got one yet, it is understandable. But your page rate will be paid through a bank transfer so if you have time open a bank account right away before the end of the month."

"Yes, will do."

"If I may ask, how much are we getting paid?"

"You will be paid twelve thousand yen per page, or at any rate for the rookies it is twelve thousand, I can ask for the details if you'd like."

"Ah, that would be fine...Thanks, twelve thousand."

I bet Yasuyuki is calculating it in his mind right now, well I'll give it to him.

"You're going to split it with the group right since you are working together that will be the best option here. Also, I suggest getting a tax accountant just in case."

"Indeed, it will reduce the amount of tax that will get deducted from the total fee that we'll get." Kozue with her family restaurant knows about this stuff for sure.

On the way back to the office, I was thinking of their manga...it was so beautiful and the story is well written, I believe this manga is going to be a hit.

"Kiichi, did you bring the manga of the mangaka club."

Mr. Miura's first words as I arrived in the office.

"Yes, I do...do you want to see it?"

"Of course."

"Oh, here it is."

Mr. Miura's eyes widened as if he saw something really beautiful.

"This one, this is superbly amazing! This story by the mangaka club is much better than their past works. It's really good."

"Th-Thank you."

"This is great, I mean, this is surprisingly amazing. This is definitely going to be a hit."

The other guy who gave his critic is Mr. Senjougahara the assistant editor-in-chief,

Even Mr. Senjougahara whose known for his harsh and direct critics surprisingly liked it too. They may have really surpassed their limits now.

This will be fine, they can reach the top one in no time, no, they actually already have made it. This is great...