Great Mangaka

Ever since Aika came home, Takumi felt she had become very strange.

"Mom, why do you always look at me like that?!" he couldn't help but ask during the meal.

"Oh, oh, nothing..." Aika quickly looked away and lowered her head to eat, but after a while, she looked up again and cautiously asked, "Takumi, have you been out lately?"

"No, what's wrong?" Takumi didn't understand: "I'm very busy and don't plan to go out for now."

"Better not to go out, better not to go out..."

Aika nodded. 'It seemed that this child didn't know what was happening outside. It was better to let him go out once the fever passed.' Last night, Aika had a dream: Takumi was kidnapped when he went out and forced to sign autographs and sell them. She was extremely frightened.

"From now on, stay quietly at home. Tell Mom if you want anything, and I'll buy it for you." Aika, still uneasy, insisted: "I'm telling you, lately there's a group of people outside who randomly prick people with needles. I've heard that pricking causes AIDS. Don't go wandering around."

Takumi was a little confused. 'Can acupuncture cause AIDS? Impossible,' he nodded, unknowingly. He had to focus on preparing new manga and had no desire to go out.

On Sunday evening, Alice visited with a pile of manuscripts. Upon entering, she asked, "Where's Takumi?"

"He's drawing." Aika replied, while helping her carry some manuscripts to distribute the weight: "What are those?"

"They're works by other artists; I brought them for Takumi to review." Alice replied, looking curiously at the studio. 'The serialized manuscripts of Detective Conan and Inuyasha had already been sent, so why was Takumi still drawing?'

She was about to go in and take a look, but Takumi, hearing the conversation, turned off the lights and came out.

"What are you drawing?"

Alice asked.

"Nothing, just practice." Takumi smiled, looked at the thick manuscripts, and surprise flashed in his eyes: "Submissions so soon?"

"Yes, everyone's very busy!"

Alice was a little excited. Takumi had launched two new themes, and other artists were rushing to finish their manuscripts like mad, many not sleeping. Everyone believed in the prospects of these two themes. Whoever launched the serialization first could affect the future development of that artist.

"First, separate the themes, and I'll review them one by one."

Takumi sat down and began reviewing the manuscripts with Alice.

Aika served them both tea and stood aside, observing with a smile. 'Her son was already grown up and could review adult manuscripts.'

She thought of Sakura and Tomoko. After some time living together, Aika gained some understanding of manga artists. Professional manga artists enjoyed high social status. In Japan, those involved in culture were often more respected than others.

And they earned a lot of money. For example, Sakura earned thousands of yen in royalties per month and sold three to six volumes a year. Although sales weren't great, her annual income also amounted to several million yen.

These incomes were shocking. The head of the packaging factory where Aika worked in Saitama Prefecture earned roughly the same as Sakura. If it were the old Aika, she wouldn't dare to imagine what it would be like to earn so much money. At that time, her biggest dream was to become a production line leader and increase her salary by a few hundred yen.

But in the blink of an eye, the man who should have been a complete leader to her, an artist with an annual income of several million yen, was working as her son's assistant...

Her little one had worked for less than half a year, and he was earning almost ten times more than Sakura!

Normally, Sakura was very respectful towards Aika, and Aika knew that these treatments were due to her son's ability. She was a little confused about how much money Takumi earned, and all his royalties were invested in shares, so Aika could maintain a normal life.

But if he deposited hundreds of millions of yen into her card, Aika would feel dizzy. 'How would she use so much money? She couldn't spend it all in her lifetime!'

"It's not good for a child to be too good,"

Aika thought. She had worked hard most of her life, and her greatest potential was Takumi. Now that she had money, she really didn't know what she could do in the future. After thinking about it, she should wait for Takumi to get married and have grandchildren...

But the child was only sixteen...

She frowned, 'too young, and Aika didn't want him to fall in love too soon, so when would she have to wait to have grandchildren?'

Aika was daydreaming, but Takumi didn't notice. He was reviewing the manuscripts very seriously.

There were 16 Gundam series and 14 Magical Girl series submitted this time. The total number of artists at Hinotori Publishing, including long and short series, was 46. There were 30 submissions here, and more than half of them submitted their manuscripts.

Sakura and Tomoko, whom he had expected most, did not submit their manuscripts. They were assistants and serialized manga, and were generally very busy. 'Perhaps we can see the finished product next week.'

Among these submissions, there were three or four articles that bypassed the rules and did not draw according to the requirements. They were cautious, but they couldn't escape Takumi's eyes. He wanted to expand the Gundam and Magical Girl markets. Bypassing the rules was useless, and he didn't want any of them.

Finally, he fell in love with two artists he had never heard of.

"This Yuki's story is normal, but the Gundam is very well drawn."

As soon as he read the pseudonym, Takumi smiled slightly. 'Artists have all sorts of pseudonyms. It's normal. Just now he saw a pseudonym called "I'm a Beast" and almost burst out laughing.'

"Mr. Yuki, huh? He's good at drawing science fiction, and this Gundam goes with his style." Alice took a pen, wrote down the name, and asked: "Mr. Yuki's work is titled Gundam: The First Century, which is for boys. What about the manga for girls?"

"Manga for girls..."

Takumi took two manuscripts from the table, a little hesitant. The female artist's style was obviously more elegant than the male artist's, and both were acceptable. One was quite mediocre, with nothing remarkable. The other was quite good, with the theme of a high school girl who gained the power of transformation and then used magic to fight monsters, with many humorous and interesting elements...

The characters in this manuscript were beautiful, and the clothing setting was also very good, but the author's words and some details...

"Ichiro..."

Takumi frowned slightly: "Is he an artist?"

'By the name, it seems so, and there are occasional panty shots in the manga. The content is a traditional girls' manga, but it reveals a touch of vulgarity.'

That's why Takumi hesitated.

'Perhaps I'm overthinking it...'

Takumi saw him as an artist, and he would worry about the details. But readers wouldn't be too demanding, and his quality was, in fact, better than the other's, and he was more likely to pass the questionnaire ranking.

"Well, this is the one."

He made a decision. 'Anyway, they were all short manga, and it would be clear whether it was a mule or a horse after taking it for a ride.'

- - - -

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