"Wake up, quickly wake up, it's already noon, Ni-san…"
In a daze, Izumi Chihiro heard such a voice and felt himself being pushed, slowly opening his eyes.
What appeared before him was his cute younger sister, currently pouting and looking at him with an displeased expression.
After adjusting to the light, he finally reacted and said, "Is it already noon? Have I slept for so long?"
Izumi Chihiro was about to get up but found one side of his shoulder being pressed down. He turned his head and realized Mashiro was leaning on his shoulder.
Due to their movements, Mashiro was also affected. Her serene phoenix-like eyes slowly opened, then she sat up straight, rubbed her eyes, and said, "What year is it now?"
"It's still the 21st century, Mashiro Ni-san. You don't have to worry about waking up hundreds of years later."
Sagiri pouted.
"Is that so?"
Mashiro nodded quite seriously.
"…"
Sagiri suddenly felt as if she had been teased.
Izumi Chihiro pushed himself up with both hands, then stretched his somewhat uncomfortable joints.
Sleeping in such a posture was very uncomfortable.
"Did Ni-san and Mashiro Ni-san stay up all night just to read light novels?"
Sagiri asked, her gaze wandering.
"And manga."
Mashiro interjected inexplicably.
"Because Mashiro wants to become a manga artist sooner, and it's the weekend today, so I accompanied her for a training session."
Izumi Chihiro tilted his head and glanced at her, then explained.
"Hmph, just because of that, we missed our breakfast?"
Sagiri snorted, expressing her dissatisfaction.
Of course, she wasn't dissatisfied about breakfast; it was just an excuse to vent.
"Grrr…"
Mashiro looked down, pressed one hand to her stomach, then looked up and said, "I'm hungry."
"Me too. Sagiri, you haven't eaten yet, have you? I'll go make lunch first. We can talk about anything else later."
Izumi Chihiro used this excuse to quickly leave the room.
The two remaining were staring at each other.
"If you're hungry, you can eat Baumkuchen."
Mashiro seemed to remember something and clapped her hands.
"…"
Sagiri's mouth twitched.
Can't you think of anything but food!
"Are Mashiro Ni-san looking at Ni-san's works?"
She changed the subject.
"Chihiro's? I don't know."
Mashiro shook her head.
Although she knew Chihiro was a light novelist because of the previous illustrations, she didn't know much about the specifics.
However, he must be a great light novelist!
"I want to know."
Then, Mashiro continued.
"Hmm…"
Sagiri pondered for a moment, went to the nearby bookshelf, and took out three books, saying, "These are all Ni-san's works, but I don't think Mashiro Ni-san needs to understand them yet, after all, Ni-san's style is still very… very unique."
She used a euphemistic expression.
"When Ni-san thinks Mashiro Ni-san can read them, then it will naturally be fine."
"Okay, I understand."
Mashiro wrote down the titles and author's name, but at this moment, she also respected Chihiro and Sagiri's wishes and was not rash.
She instinctively believed that there was indeed a reason for it.
After lunch began, the three of them couldn't wait to start devouring the delicious food on the table.
"Ni-san, do you know? Eriri has already submitted her work for the Newcomer Award!"
It wasn't until her stomach was slightly full that Sagiri started the conversation.
"I really didn't know that; she never told me."
He shook his head.
"Hehe, I only found out when I was chatting with Eriri, and she mentioned it to me by accident."
Sagiri said, narrowing her eyes with a smile.
Of course, it wasn't truly accidental; she just wanted to leak it to a certain someone through her communication channel.
Saying it directly would be too obvious and would imply asking a certain someone for support, and Eriri didn't think she needed anyone's help to succeed.
"It hasn't been long since she mentioned this, has it? It seems Eriri started preparing a long time ago."
Izumi Chihiro said thoughtfully.
"I want to sign up too."
Mashiro suddenly put down her bowl and chopsticks and stated.
"Are you going to compete head-on?!"
Sagiri's eyes showed surprise.
"If I miss it, I'll have to wait until next time, right? The Newcomer Award."
Mashiro immediately added.
This was her main focus.
Sagiri was greatly disappointed.
There was clearly a chance to watch a good show!
However, given the current situation, even if it wasn't a 'competition,' the comparison would still become an objective fact.
"Mashiro can certainly try. Although the chances of success are not high, she can gather more opinions from manga readers and experience what it's like to be a serialized manga artist, which is an important experience."
Izumi Chihiro had a positive attitude towards Mashiro's idea, although he didn't think that the current Mashiro could succeed in one go.
Even after his strenuous tutoring, progress would still be very slow.
"However, once Mashiro decides to submit for the Newcomer Award, you can't arbitrarily change your original artwork, and you need to draw your own story. While you can't plagiarize character designs, you can certainly draw some inspiration..."
Immediately, he imparted some of his experience as a creator to Mashiro.
Mashiro memorized what he said. As for whether she could understand it and to what extent, that would depend on fate.
...
After dealing with matters here, Izumi Chihiro didn't show favoritism and also inquired about Eriri's progress.
Submitting for the Newcomer Award doesn't require a long serialization; only twenty to thirty pages are needed.
Although not long, the requirements are not low. First, one can immediately see the author's skill; good drawing will definitely result in a good basic score.
Secondly, the ability to arrange the story is also the most important point, because 'manga must be interesting.' Only interesting manga can become best-selling manga.
Therefore, whether one can draw an 'interesting' story within a limited number of pages is the biggest test.
"Eriri, I heard you've already submitted for the Newcomer Award? So fast?"
"Of course! I've been preparing for almost a year! This time, I'm determined to win!"
"You seem very confident."
"It's just a debut! For me, that's an easy task! Don't underestimate me!"
"Heh, if it were that simple, you wouldn't have thought about it for so long before taking this path."
"..."
"Alright, tell me which publisher you submitted to. I'll take a look and see how far your self-proclaimed skill has reached."
After making a phone call, teasing his childhood friend, he then found the manga Eriri used to submit for the Newcomer Award.
"It seems Eriri was indeed well-prepared this time; her words were not empty!"
After reading it, Izumi Chihiro looked surprised.
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💯 PS = 2 bonus chapter