Great Mangaka

Shiori kept her word and gave Takumi a medium-sized bottle of mineral water.

She also bought one for herself, and they sat on a street bench. Shiori didn't seem to want to continue talking. She drank the water as if it were wine, and her small face looked mysterious under the dim streetlights.

"Okay, I'm going back!"

Shiori stood up. She threw the empty bottle and accurately tossed it into the trash can, ten meters away.

Takumi wanted to applaud her. 'How good that person is!'

Shiori put on her hat, picked up the single volume of Detective Conan, waved her hand, and turned to leave.

Takumi watched her, hesitated for a moment, and shouted, "Hey, if you miss home, you can tell me, and I'll buy you all the mineral water bottles you want."

"Hey, hey, don't expose others' thoughts so lightly!" Shiori paused, turned around, and smiled: "I don't like boys who are too smart, but I'll remember your words and don't let me go easily when I find you in the future."

"I can go even if I'm not busy with work."

Takumi smiled slightly.

He watched Shiori climb the wall and return to school, and then he turned around and left when he saw no movement.

Over the next few days, Takumi studied new skills while paying attention to the subsequent developments of the volume. The volume of Detective Conan gradually sold nationwide, and sales continued to increase. Readers from all over the country rushed to buy it.

"The most popular original manga," "a manga masterpiece with sales comparable to best-selling novels," "the first detective manga in history," "the most collectible youth manga"... Detective Conan has too many titles, and the most important one is that it surpassed The Detective Sherlock.

The media finally found such a topic, so, naturally, they did their best to hype it up. The result of this stir was that everyone knew about the manga Detective Conan, which attracted public attention by stepping on the corpse of The Detective Sherlock.

Hinotori Publishing seized the opportunity to add insult to injury. Originally, The Detective Sherlock had many more sales points in Japan than Detective Conan, but now Detective Conan appears wherever it appears.

When readers saw these two manga, the bookseller would tell them that Detective Conan was more popular than The Detective Sherlock, and they would compare the cover with the image. Most readers chose Detective Conan, and the difference between the two grew larger and larger.

Five days later, total sales of Detective Conan in Japan exceeded 800,000 copies, surpassing experts' predictions, while total sales of The Detective Sherlock in the same period were only 500,000 copies.

The difference between the two can no longer be compensated for.

To be honest, Detective Conan is more interesting than the novel adaptation, not only because we cannot predict its content, but, above all, because of some of Mirai-sensei's manga skills. His storyboards, characters, and environmental details are very well done, and the pacing is very suitable for manga, which are the skills most lacking in manga focused on adapting novel content.

It is surprising that this type of work appears in original manga. Novel adaptations cannot be compared, and those mystery authors always write boring things. Mach and the Mystery Association have lost. Detective Conan is, without a doubt, recommendable.

It is good to use a youthful mindset to draw detective stories. The illustrations are excellent. Reading Mirai-sensei's manga is like contemplating the landscape, and he continues to progress. He believes that one day he will represent the story with the beauty of a film.

There are also many comments from older people online. These comments show that Detective Conan has reached the upper class.

It has gradually invaded all walks of life, and its influence is growing. Hinotori Publishing has received copyright requests from numerous writers, film companies, animation companies, and even video game companies. Of course, the final decision on these copyrights is still in Takumi's hands.

Detective Conan was recently released. Even if the copyrights were sold, there wasn't enough content for various adaptations and evolutions. Those companies and individuals just wanted to get a head start. But Takumi wasn't short on money, so he refused.

While refusing, he worried about how to explain the sales problem to Aika. Takumi explained that the sales volume was 100,000 copies, but that it had now multiplied by eight. His post-tax royalties still exceeded 2,000,000 yen, and even 4,000,000 yen in a short time.

'How to explain so much money?'

However, just as Takumi was hesitating, Aika inadvertently saw the news, and seeing it, the sales volume had exceeded 850,000 copies. Aika vaguely remembered Takumi saying that 100,000 copies could be worth more than 2,000,000 yen, so 'wouldn't 850,000 copies be more than 17,000,000 yen?'

She couldn't bear the stimulation and fainted.

Takumi was studying high school knowledge with Alice in the studio. When he came out, he saw Aika faint, and both were stunned. They quickly helped her into the room, put a towel on her face, and gave her medicine. It took a long time to wake her up.

The first thing his mother said upon waking was: "Takumi, even if you become president of the country in the future, I will not faint again."

Aika accepted her fate. 'She should not treat her son with common sense. No matter how big the problem was in the future, she would not be surprised.'

After Alice and Takumi asked her why she had fainted, they both smiled bitterly. However, this incident immediately brought more serious problems. Aika wanted to know what Takumi planned to do with the money.

Takumi told her that he had no plans for the time being and that it would take him several months to get the money.

However, at that moment, Alice said something surprising:

"How about we use that money to buy shares in Hinotori Publishing?" The blonde editor smiled and said: "Although 2,000,000 yen is not much, the company will be happy to sell them to you."

Her words were not unfounded. In fact, that was the instruction of Hinotori Publishing's president. Detective Conan would soon pay Takumi 40,000,000 yen in royalties, but the biggest beneficiary of this manga was not him, but Hinotori Publishing.

Hinotori Publishing had achieved the same revenue as the previous year in the past few days. The company's senior management was enthusiastic, but they also feared that Takumi would resign.

The priority contract signed by Kurosawa and Takumi no longer reassured them. After discussing it, Hinotori Publishing adopted a more effective countermeasure: making Takumi a shareholder in the company and binding him completely.

Without a doubt, it was a very tempting condition.

Takumi thought about it for a few days and finally realized that the money he earned was not difficult to get. Regardless of his plan to draw other manga, Detective Conan alone still has a long life, and publishing dozens of individual volumes is not a problem.

In this case, why miss this opportunity?

He decided to invest in Hinotori Publishing.