28 Understanding

Since Mr. Kiichi is still on leave for his daily check-ups and rehabilitation. All our appointments will be looked after by our substitute editor, Mr. Nozumi.

Our work had been serialized in JADE for new year's release, and Mr. Nozumi wanted to meet us to talk about our storyboards again before we make the final draft.

Mr. Nozumi treated us to an unlimited barbecue and explained the details.

"Perhaps, I should let you know that this is some tradition made by the editors with their rookies. Going out somewhere and treating them with a meal because it is like your last meal."

We all stopped and looked at Mr. Nozumi in shock, then he let out a loud laugh.

"HAHAHAHA! Just kidding, it is to congratulate them of course!"

I commented with a sigh, "You really got some humor there Mr. Nozumi, I really felt cold from the head down to my toes."

Yasuyuki added, "After hearing that, I got flashbacks of my childhood."

Hanako, Nagi, and Nami stayed silent.

Kanna doesn't seem to care, she continued eating. As expected of my little sister, so innocent.

Kozue replied, "At least our last meal wasn't a different dish made with fish." She meant to joke about how our town is located in the countryside and near the harbor next to the fish market.

Fumi commented on Kozue's thoughts, "Hey! Our town isn't that bad at all. We got our own specialty and a seasonal dish you know!"

We all nodded in agreement with Fumi's words.

Mr. Nozumi continued, "However, we don't have that much time to celebrate. The first week of work is heavy and crucial, so we are going back to the editorial department to have a discussion about your storyboard."

I just remembered vividly that the manga we are talking about here is supposed to be an entry for the AKATSUKA, but why are we serialized and not informed about the AKATSUKA, so I asked,

"Mr. Nozumi, our manga is supposed to be an entry for AKATSUKA right? How come that we got serialized and not informed about AKATSUKA?"

Mr. Nozumi scratched his head, "Oh, we're sorry about having failed to inform you ahead, originally your manga is supposed to be an entry, but the editor-in-chief got a little excited and suggested that you head directly to the serialization." Mr. Nozumi then put his palms together and added, "This is why we in the editorial department have high expectations for your group because of that."

I feel the pressure getting heavier than usual as I am not prepared for what he exactly means about the expectations of the whole editorial department.

Then like he said, we went back to the office.

"Hey, Kanna, do you remember going here right?"

"Yes, it was fun...I want to see the editors and the editor-in-chief again."

"But make sure not to disturb them at their work, okay?"

"Will do."

As we arrived in the editorial department,

Mr. Miura greeted us with a smile, "Oh, the mangaka club is here, welcome."

We all replied, "Thank you for having us."

Mr. Miura then turned his attention to Kanna, "Hey, Kanna-chan, come sit here on the best seat in the office, while I'll have a meeting with the president. Don't do anything silly okay."

"Waaah, thank you." Kanna sat on the chair then she loudly spoke, "I'll be the chief today! Hey, mangaka club good luck and do your best." Kanna mimicked Mr. Miura's voice.

Everyone in the editorial department laughed out loud at that unexpected surprise.

Mr. Miura then jokingly asked everyone, "Do I really sound like that when ordering you around?"

"100%!" replied an editor.

Moving forward we started our meeting, the tension between each of us is rising little by little, you can sense the nervousness inside this tiny cubicle with us surrounding a small circular table.

Then Mr. Nozumi spoke, "Here is the table of contents for the magazine, there will be around eleven manga, one for each category, starting with gag/comedy, sports manga, so on and so forth, apart from yours, everything else will be the typical battle manga series and the old ones."

"So the old ones got the last and the new ones are given much more leeway for the public," I concluded without a thought.

Mr. Nozumi looked at me, "You're right, however people skip some of those pages then proceed with the previous series new chapter."

"So you're suggesting?" Kozue asked.

"That is where the real battle comes in, how will you catch the reader's attention on the first page of your first chapter."

He's right, we must strategically think about how we will put on our first chapter.

Mr. Miura handed over a copy of our manuscript then he pointed out a suggestion, "Look at here, this chapter has thirty-five pages, so I have a suggestion for you, how about we start with a narration but try to get the word count as short as possible, think you can do it?"

"I can handle that, but of course if I need help I won't hesitate to ask you guys," Yasuyuki implored positively.

Hanako patted Yasu's back and said, "Of course, that hardcore training I did with you onii-sama will be now put to good use."

"Killing my brain isn't training!" Yasuyuki glanced at me wanting to change seats.

I whispered, "Die, pervert-san."

Mr. Nozumi continued his share of opinions, "For the illustrations since you're kind of referring to later timeline but your designs are quite a modernistic approach so it doesn't really convey your message across the reader's mind. So do some more research on that, the more accurate the illustrations are the better."

"Got it, everyone with the later task could help me out on the research." I looked at Nagi and Nami and see a positive look on their faces,

Kozue breaks her silence, "Are we going to talk about all thirty-five pages of this?"

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"No, that's great, I want to know more about where we can make it look better."

"That's good, shall we continue? Alright, next page."

I see Kozue is taking notes and is making sure that we don't skip any.

I voiced out my thought, "All we have to do is catch the reader's attention and hope to get number one in the rankings, then we can rest easy on thinking about making the next chapters great right?"

Mr. Nozumi paused then replied, "I think you haven't got to the real pressure of being a professional mangaka yet, but you will get into it soon, once your first chapter is released. So I'm telling you now, you can never rest easy and additionally, it might affect your studies. So we were quite unsure about what is going through the editor-in-chief's mind."

It wasn't intentional, though I felt bad that I sounded arrogant and showed everyone that kind of behavior.

"I'm sorry Mr. Nozumi, please proceed."

"I understand, and I've been meaning to know even though I've heard so many times, why are you guys being in a hurry to be a professional mangaka? Personally, I think you guys are too young for making a debut but the editor-in-chief thinks otherwise so I guess I'll just have to see you prove everyone in this room wrong."

We were left speechless, then Mr. Nozumi added to his words.

"Here, let's aim for one whole month, if you manage to remain in the top five in the ranking, I'm not saying top one but if you do that would even be more effective to prove yourselves."

"Okay!" We all agreed to the challenge.

Our meeting continued and lasted for three hours, Mr. Nozumi had a lot to say about our manga as well as his own thoughts about our serialization. After a pretty awesome meal, a lengthy discussion, meeting, and shared opinions, going home late at night, suddenly it felt like we weren't kids anymore. Everyone was tired and asleep in the car yet the sleepiness hadn't got into me yet, for in my mind is doubts and a question to myself;

"Are we really ready to become professionals, do we really got the interest of Mr. Miura, or is this some sort of a challenge for us, by fate itself?"

With Kanna asleep on my back, we got home and the television was still on. I saw my mother asleep on the couch, I laid Kanna on her bed, fetched a blanket and placed it on my mother, and whispered,

"What are you doing, Papa will get mad if you catch a cold. Well, good night."

I got a text from Fumi,

"Let's do our best, okay?"

I replied, "Yeah, I believe in everyone."

Then my body voluntarily fell into my bed as if it was longing for its hug.