"Onishi-san, please have some tea first."
Oda placed the freshly brewed barley tea in front of Editor Onishi.
Then, he knelt down on the opposite side, mirroring Editor Onishi's posture.
"Oda-sensei, the deadline has already passed."
"I... I know."
"So, where is the manuscript for the latest chapter?"
Oda hemmed and hawed for a long time before finally bowing his head deeply. "I am truly, very sorry."
Editor Onishi didn't say anything. He simply picked up the drawing pen lying to the side and handed it back into Oda's hand.
"Well then, Oda-san, please hurry up and start creating now. Please do not make your readers cry."
Oda took the dip pen, looking a bit hesitant. "Sorry, I really can't think of how to continue drawing at the moment."
"Then you are welcome to come to our editorial department. I am sure the other editors and I will all help you by pooling our collective wisdom."
Editor Onishi glanced at the half-packed suitcase nearby. "Anyway, your luggage is pretty much ready."
"Our editorial department will certainly entertain you well. You just need to focus earnestly on creating and drawing a story that satisfies the readers. We will take care of all other trivial matters."
Entertain? Pool collective wisdom? He seemed to already see that exclusive manuscript-chasing room in the editorial department known as the "Dark Room."
Oda wiped away the cold sweat that had trickled down his forehead unnoticed.
There was no day or night there, only endless drawing and the deadline countdown pasted on the wall.
What kind of joke is this! That's no guest house; it's clearly a prison specifically for locking up authors who delay their manuscripts! No, it's even scarier than prison; it's a creative hell that wrings the soul out of artists!
"I... I'll draw right now!"
Oda grabbed the drawing paper he had set aside earlier and resumed his deep contemplation.
Editor Onishi nodded, then took out the copy of Kairakuten he had bought at the convenience store earlier from his briefcase.
He planned to read Kairakuten to kill time while supervising Oda-sensei's rush to meet the deadline.
"Eh? Is that the latest issue of Kairakuten?"
Oda looked at Editor Onishi with curiosity.
"Oda-sensei, it would be best if you concerned yourself with your manuscript first."
"Oh my, it's hopeless anyway. Why don't we read it together? Maybe if I relax my mind, inspiration will strike, you know?"
Saying this, Oda tossed his pen aside and scooted over to Editor Onishi's side.
Editor Onishi checked his watch and shook his head helplessly. "Only ten minutes. Once the time is up, I stop reading too!"
"Then let's look at the King Award winner's piece first?"
"I've been curious about how this King Award turned out as well."
Editor Onishi nodded and, as requested, flipped to the award-winning manga titled Hiiragi-senpai Sniff Sniff Sniff Nonstop.
When the first page came into view, both men held their breath almost simultaneously. It wasn't the common commercial art style they were used to, but a realistic style that was extremely solid and full of power and beauty. The composition, filled with a sense of space, and the delicate light, shadow, and texture shaped by the extensive use of hatching, instantly grabbed their eyes.
"Such a novel art style!" Oda couldn't help but cry out in a low voice, his eyes widening.
"Such solid artistic skill... he simply doesn't look like a newcomer!"
Editor Onishi nodded in agreement.
Urged on by Oda, he continued to flip through the pages. The two, who were supposed to be discussing erotica, were now completely captivated by the visuals themselves, analyzing the application of novel drawing techniques bit by bit.
When they flipped to the "Demon Back" combat scene that spanned across two pages, Oda's breathing suddenly became heavy. The muscle lines in the image, filled with an explosive sense of power, the skin texture so realistic it felt like one could touch its grain and temperature, and the dynamic tension that seemed ready to burst through the paper—it all shocked him immensely.
It wasn't until Editor Onishi flipped to another equally shocking double-page spread—"The Dunk"—that the impact truly hit home. The image was frozen at the instant the basketball was slammed viciously into the hoop. That overwhelming, unstoppable oppression descending from above lunged at their faces through the incredibly high-impact perspective.
Swish! Oda stood up abruptly. He stared dead at the image on that page, his chest heaving violently.
Even my 'weapon' has risen uncontrollably! This is going to be a climax battle, yea!
He felt many unprecedented ideas and scenes he wanted to realize with his pen emerging in his mind.
"Oda-sensei, are you alright?"
Onishi was also startled by Oda's reaction.
Seeing that Oda didn't answer, but instead returned to his previous spot, sat down, picked up a pencil, and began furiously sketching lines—swish swish swish.
"You're not watching anymore, Oda-sensei?"
Editor Onishi asked again.
"Not watching. I already have an endless stream of inspiration; I need to draw it down quickly right now!"
Editor Onishi smiled with satisfaction and stopped disturbing him.
Later, after night had fallen, seeing Oda still creating with passion, Editor Onishi quietly left the room, closed the door, left the residence, and returned to the Shueisha editorial department.
"Editor Onishi, you're back?"
"How is it going with Oda-sensei?"
Editor Onishi tossed his briefcase onto the desk, and the copy of Kairakuten inside slid out with it.
"There shouldn't be any problems for the time being."
The editor who had asked earlier walked over, saw the Kairakuten sliding out of the bag, and casually picked it up to flip through it.
"Why did you bring a copy of Kairakuten back?"
"I saw it on the way and just bought it."
"I heard the Newcomer King Award finally has a winner this time?" Another editor leaned in as well.
"Have you read it? How is it?"
Editor Onishi leaned back against his chair, closed his eyes, and said with a hint of fatigue, "See for yourself. It's quite... special."
Hearing that someone had brought back the latest Kairakuten, several other editors who had stayed behind to work overtime processing manuscripts gathered around curiously. Under everyone's urging and curious gazes, the editor holding the magazine flipped to the page publishing the winning work.
Then, bursts of amazement rang out in the editorial department.
"This... this art skill?!" The editor who saw it first widened his eyes, pointing at the image. "This storyboarding, this anatomy, these dynamics... it's too much of a pity!"
"Yeah, with such solid fundamentals and expressive power, he should come to our Shueisha to draw hot-blooded shonen manga!"
"What is he doing drawing adult commercial magazines? It's simply a reckless waste of god-given talent!"
Another senior editor pushed up his glasses, his tone full of regret.
The other editors nodded in agreement one after another. Having seen countless excellent manuscripts, they were keenly able to detect the astonishing potential contained within this work.
"Indeed, it is a pity."
A steady and familiar voice came from behind the crowd. The editors all turned their heads to see that the Chief Editor had been standing behind them at some point, looking at the magazine being passed around.
"Chief Editor!" Everyone hurriedly bowed slightly.
The Chief Editor simply nodded, stepped forward, took the Kairakuten from the editor's hand, flipped to the award-winning work, and examined it carefully. After a moment, he closed the magazine.
"If only he had submitted it to our Weekly Shonen Jump."
His voice carried undisguised regret. "It really is a pity. This talent deserves a bigger stage."
"Maybe because his storytelling ability is relatively weak, or due to issues with choosing a subject, he chose to draw adult commercial magazines?" one editor guessed.
"But even so," another editor chimed in, "relying on this level of art skill and style, if we just paired him with an original author who is good at stories for a collaboration debut, he should be able to quickly accumulate popularity and gain the love of many readers, right?"
Everyone deeply agreed.
For a while, the editorial department was filled with regret and discussion regarding this newcomer author named Xuanyayi.
*
Night. In his room, Tsushima Kagami stroked the cat while finishing up the final part of The Setting Sun.
After multiple discussions with Editor Kobayashi over these past few days, and after modifying several places that didn't affect the structure and theme of the article but were no longer quite suitable for the current era's background, the manuscript was finally about to be completed.
He just needed to wait until he finished writing it, then hand it to Yukinoshita Shizuku to help him transcribe it once. After that, it could pretty much be handed to Editor-in-Chief Kobayashi for publication in early May.
When Tsushima Kagami wrote the last character, he stretched his waist. Then, suddenly remembering that the manga seemed to be selling well today—sold out everywhere—he entered the panel to see how many Pure Love Points he had gained today.
[Pure Love Concentration: LV.1]
[Pure Love Points: 32,154]
Part of it came from the subsequent conversion of Cheesecake, and part of it came from the conversion of the new issue of Kairakuten hitting the shelves today.
Looking at the Pure Love Points before him, and recalling the painful lesson from the last lottery draw, he didn't dare spend a single point. He was determined to be a hoarder.
Just then, a voice suddenly rang out in his mind again: "Detected that conditions for Pure Love Concentration upgrade are met. Do you wish to consume 10,000 Pure Love Points to upgrade to LV.2?"
Tsushima Kagami was startled by the sudden prompt. He hadn't expected to be able to upgrade again. The last upgrade gave him the Lottery Shop; what function would it give this time?
Filled with a bit of anticipation, Tsushima Kagami chose in his mind: "Yes."
Pure Power, Stage Two!
Open for me!
"You have consumed 10,000 Pure Love Points. Pure Love Concentration has been upgraded."
[Pure Love Concentration: LV.1] —— [Pure Love Concentration: LV.2]
____
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