Inside the Manga Research Club after school.
As soon as Tsushima Kagami entered the door, he saw that Sawamura Sayuri and the other two were already there.
Seeing Tsushima Kagami's arrival, the three of them turned their gazes toward him in unison.
"How is it? Have you decided what to draw, Kagami-kun?" Sawamura Sayuri asked Tsushima Kagami impatiently.
When the three of them suggested Tsushima Kagami draw for a commercial magazine last time, they had agreed then and there: Tsushima Kagami would be responsible for drawing the main characters, Sawamura Sayuri and Kosaka Akane would handle the background art, and Machida Sonoko would take charge of the final application of screentones, inking, and fixing the details.
Tsushima Kagami walked to the conference table, placed his briefcase on it, opened it, and took out several sheets of drawing paper from inside.
"These are the storyboards I've drawn up. I expect it to be about 20 pages. I'll develop the story using the girl character design I drew that day as the heroine."
"These are the first two pages of the original drafts that are already done, as well as the detailed character settings."
As he spoke, Tsushima Kagami handed the previously printed storyboard drafts and other drawings to Sawamura Sayuri and the others respectively.
The three of them hurriedly took the drawings handed over by Tsushima Kagami. They first picked up the two completed drafts. The first one was already more than half finished; based on the original settings provided by Tsushima Kagami, the style of the first original drawing served as an excellent reference.
The second sheet only had the main characters drawn; the background was obviously left for the three of them to complete.
Looking at the original drawings, all three marveled. With such draftsmanship and technique, along with this unique art style, it was hard to imagine this was a work from this era.
Subsequently, the three picked up the storyboards. Unlike what they imagined—where most storyboards just need to be understandable, so many are quite scribbly or even just stick figures—Tsushima Kagami's storyboards were simple but not crude. They felt no different from complete line art. This also benefited from Tsushima Kagami's own foundation in Gongbi painting.
"Good heavens, Kagami-kun, you even used a super wide-angle fish-eye perspective," Sawamura Sayuri exclaimed upon seeing one of the shots.
"The sense of virtual and real depth in this perspective really makes one feel immersed in the scene," Kosaka Akane also couldn't help but praise.
The current doujin world wasn't yet this fiercely competitive. Generally, one would only see some top-tier artists in mainstream manga showing off perspective drawings with fish-eye lenses.
And Tsushima Kagami's strength, derived from years of childhood training plus his academic background, naturally went without saying.
Tsushima Kagami also sat down in his own seat at this moment, then looked at the three of them: "From now on, every time I finish two pages, I'll hand them over to Sayuri and Akane-senpai respectively for background drawing. I'll trouble Sonoko-senpai with the subsequent screentone work."
"There's no need to be polite, Kagami-kouhai. That's what we decided from the start, isn't it?" Machida Sonoko said with a smile.
"Ah! That's right." After saying this, Machida Sonoko continued.
"Akane and I showed your drawings from that day to an editor acquaintance of ours earlier. After seeing them, he was full of praise, asserting that if it could be published in Comic Kairakuten, sales would definitely skyrocket. He also hopes you can submit the manuscript before the 28th of this month."
Comic Kairakuten generally released the issue for the month after next on the 28th of the current month. That is to say, the June issue would be released on April 28th.
After listening, Tsushima Kagami nodded. If he had the help of Little Sayuri and the Senpais, time shouldn't be an issue.
"By the way, as for the manuscript fee, the editor said he is willing to give you at least 12,000 yen per page. If the finished manuscript is even better than he expects, he can raise it a bit further."
Generally, manuscript fees for adult commercial magazines were about the same as mainstream manga, roughly 6,000 to 8,000 yen per page. Many veteran artists who had been drawing for years also stayed around 8,000.
Only a company like Shueisha could offer manuscript fees of over 10,000, and Shueisha's artists had to sign a contract similar to a buyout; the artist couldn't serialize in other magazines before the contract expired.
During this period, they would also pay you a monthly salary to ensure your normal life wasn't affected so you could focus on manga creation. Even if the serialization was axed, they would still pay this money. Therefore, submitting to Shueisha was extremely difficult.
The fact that the editor of Kairakuten could offer 12,000 per page showed that he indeed valued the commercial value therein heavily. After all, giving an extra 4,000 yen per page didn't amount to much money—at most, a few dozen pages a month. But if it became a hit, the magazines sold could number in the extra hundreds of thousands or even more in sales volume.
"Then I'll thank the two Senpais first. When I have the ability, I will definitely repay this kindness."
"What are you saying? Didn't we say we should be the ones thanking Kagami-kun? You can't say things like that anymore, okay?" Sawamura Sayuri pointed her finger towards Tsushima Kagami.
"That's right. Being able to receive Kagami-kouhai's guidance, I'm sure my own drawing skills will also advance by leaps and bounds."
"I feel like I'm one step closer to my dream."
"Dream?" Tsushima Kagami looked at Kosaka Akane, whose face was full of intoxication, with confusion.
Machida Sonoko also smiled at this moment and said, "Akane has always hoped to make her debut in Weekly Shonen Jump."
Tsushima Kagami nodded. "I really couldn't tell that Akane-senpai has the heart for hot-blooded manga."
There were quite a few famous female artists at Shueisha, but in this era where gods were rising, Kosaka Akane's path to a debut in Weekly Shonen Jump would likely be very difficult.
Conversely, Weekly Shonen Magazine from Kodansha, which had a broader range of genres, would relatively speaking have more hope.
But there was no helping it; everyone wanted the orthodox path of Shueisha.
"No, it's the Isekai Fantasy genre," Kosaka Akane corrected seriously at this moment.
Tsushima Kagami froze. Wouldn't it be more suitable to write a light novel for that?
Machida Sonoko also looked at Tsushima Kagami with a smile and said, "Akane and I agreed back then to create an Isekai Fantasy manga together. I would be responsible for the original story, and she would be the artist."
A gender-bent version of Bakuman?
"It's all because the stories Sonoko writes are too terrible. None of them have been able to satisfy me."
Speaking of this, Kosaka Akane complained.
"Aren't you the same, Akane? Drawing like that ghost of a mess and still wanting to debut in Weekly Shonen Jump? I see it as wishful thinking!"
"How is that possible?! I am the representative 'Akane Kosaka' of [Rouge en Rouge], who can sell over a thousand copies at a time at doujin conventions! No matter how you think about it, it can't be my problem!"
Kosaka Akane immediately stood up with a whoosh, supporting herself with both hands on the table as she glared at Machida Sonoko sitting opposite her.
"Oh my, it's just a doujin circle. You just got lucky and leeched off some doujin popularity to take off, that's all. It doesn't prove anything."
"I see plenty of artists at doujin conventions who sell well but don't draw all that great~"
"You!"
Seeing that the two plastic sisters were about to start pulling hair, Tsushima Kagami originally wanted to stand up and stop them.
As a result, Sawamura Sayuri leaned over and said, "Oh my, don't worry about them. They'll be fine in a while. This is a common occurrence."
"Then does Little Sayuri have any dreams?" Tsushima Kagami asked, suddenly curious.
"I haven't thought about it, eh."
"Then fantasize a little."
Sawamura Sayuri tapped her chin lightly with her index finger, shaking her twin tails as she sank into contemplation.
"A dream? I hope I can continue drawing doujinshi forever in the future."
"Ah, if I get married, my husband can't interfere with my hobbies either."
"Ideally, my husband would be a doujin artist just like me."
"Right, the husband had best be a bit handsome!"
"This way, we can run a booth together in the future."
"Especially in the women-oriented section; running a booth together with my own husband would make other female artists die of jealousy, right~"
"Ah, if we have children, we have to bring the children along too~"
I let you fantasize a little, not fantasize that much.
Looking at Little Sayuri, who was already immersed in a world of illusion, and Kosaka Akane and Machida Sonoko who were grappling together, Tsushima Kagami picked up his paintbrush and began to continue drawing the subsequent manuscripts.
____
New Story: Starting from Their Seventeen Years Old
🔥We're handing out that '30% bonus' that makes your wallet smile. 😄
✅ Get immediate access to 40 early chapters for all stories.
✅ Enjoy exclusive material and special announcements!
Help us unlock these community rewards:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters across ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnutchan