Full-time cartoonist.

Chapter 326: Is your name a joke?

Hibiki Higashi has rested for too long. After such a long time, a "Death Note" should be finished.

Sasaki had wanted to urge him for a long time, but considering that Hibiki Hibiki started drawing comics in high school and had been working diligently for eight years without letting up, he endured it for a long time.

03 is coming to the end of the year, and he really can't bear it anymore.

"It's a new work," Dongye clicked his cheek, "I probably have some ideas."

"Oh!" Sasaki smiled and said in surprise, "Please tell me about it."

……

In a restaurant near Shueisha, Sasaki asked Hibiki Higashino for his opinion, arranged the food, and then asked directly: "What is the content of the new work?"

He knew Hibiki Higashikata and said he had some ideas, but in fact they were pretty much the same.

"Don't worry yet," Higashino Hibiki hurriedly took a sip of tea. His mouth was dry from the meeting just now.

"Ah, I'm sorry." Sasaki reacted and sat down cross-legged.

Facing Tori Akino's new work, he overreacted and lost control.

Higashikata drank three cups of tea in one breath before he recovered.

Under Sasaki's direct gaze, he said, "How about a magical girl type?"

"Eh?" Sasaki was stunned.

……

The premier magical girl manga is Sailor Moon, which is also a shojo manga.

But this is still far from the top shounen manga.

Not many teenagers like to watch magical girls.

Tori Akino was a little confused when he chose this subject.

"Why a magical girl?" he asked.

"Because it's very interesting." Hibiki replied, "Sailor Moon, Magic Knight, Doremi, Cardcaptor Sakura, Shirayuki Princess, Mermaid's Melody, etc. etc. Interesting magical girl-themed works continue to appear, giving girls a dream-like experience. I also want to draw such works."

"What a headache." Sasaki held his forehead, "You are really messing around."

Magical girls, magical girls, are naturally shoujo comics, and they are very different from the style of "Weekly Shonen Jump".

But he was extremely reluctant to let Higashino Hibiki serialize it in Shueisha's girls' manga magazine "Cookie".

How can there be any reason to give one's capable person to a colleague?
Even if he agrees, his immediate boss Torishima Kazuhiko will not agree.

"Of course my works are different from ordinary magical girls," Hibiki Higashino said with a smile, "It must be a comic that teenagers also like to read, and it brings a different feeling to boys and children, haha."

They may never forget it for the rest of their lives.

"Oh?" Sasaki was a little surprised. He picked up the tea and took a sip. "Let's take out the storyboard first. By the way, how long do you expect it to take?"

"Emmm," Hibiki Higashi thought for a while, "Probably more than half a year, that is, about 25 chapters."

"Pfft," Sasaki choked, "How much?"

"Half a year."

"Only half a year?" Sasaki suddenly realized, "It turns out it's just a novella."

Then it doesn't matter.

He realized that this magical girl type work might be a playful work by Hibiki Higashino, or an experimental work.

"Only painting for half a year," he began to ponder.

The waiter knocked on the door, and Dongye responded. They walked in with their heads lowered, put down the dishes of Japanese food, bowed and left.

These dishes were all delicious and delicious. Dongye twitched his index finger and said, "Chief Editor."

Sasaki waved his hand, indicating that he could just eat first.

"I'm starting," Dong Yexiang picked up the chopsticks and a bowl of pork juice, tasting it carefully.

"Oh, this tastes really good." His eyes lit up.

He was already hungry after lunch.

This tonkotsu sauce is made by first cutting the pork into bite-sized pieces and frying it in lard, then adding white radish, carrots, green onions, konjac, and burdock, stir-frying it, adding bonito essence granules and water to cook, and then adding miso for 8 minutes and stirring It's ready to go.

The production process is quite simple and retains the original flavor of the ingredients.

In addition to the tonkotsu sauce, there is also miso butter corn ramen as the main dish.

There are also some desserts, which are quite exquisitely arranged.

Hibiki Higashi ate every bite, but because the portion was too small, he was still only half full.

"Mr. Sasaki? The rice is getting cold."

"You eat first." Sasaki was absent-minded. He was still thinking about Hibiki Hibiki's proposal of a magical girl-themed work.

Every comic written by Hibiki Higashino will bring huge benefits to Shueisha.

Not to mention "Slam Dunk" for now, "Death Note", which has only been serialized for one year, has a huge value of several billion yen so far.

Not counting the upcoming movie and the subsequent benefits of this work.

It is estimated that the value of a "Death Note" is more than [-] billion yen.

As for the benefits brought to Jump readers such as recognition, it cannot be calculated in a general way.

Tori Akino's achievements in the next year are terrifying.

Is it worth it for him to waste half a year on a magical girl?
"I really missed it." He suddenly whispered to himself.

When not drawing magical girls, Hibiki Higashino takes a break.

By dismissing his idea this time, he may be even more incapacitated.

After Sasaki figured it out, he decided on the matter.

Let Hibiki Higashino come up with the storyboard first, and if it's interesting, let him serialize it.

If it cannot pass, there is nothing you can do, just follow the procedure to reject it.

He sat in the meeting for a long time and was very hungry.After raising my chopsticks, I was about to taste the ramen, but found that there was nothing in front of me.

"Eh?" He looked at Dongye Xiang.

"What's wrong?" Hibiki Higashi asked with his cheeks bulging while his mouth was shiny. He was eating ramen.

"No...it's fine."

Sasaki glanced at the two piles of bowls and chopsticks stacked in front of Higashino Hibiki, his eyebrows jumped, and he suppressed his anger and said.

……

"I'm full, I'm full."

After leaving the restaurant, Hibiki touched his stomach and said happily.

"Mr. Sasaki, what about you?"

"Me?" Sasaki's stomach was dry, "Don't you know whether I've eaten or not?"

"It's not good to be picky about food." Dong Yexiang shook his head.

"You go first," Sasaki sighed, turned around and walked into the restaurant again.

Higashikata looked at his back and couldn't help laughing.

He walked over and said to Sasaki, "I'll treat you this time."

……

"Dad, hug."

Tono opened his arms in the future and said vaguely to Tono Hibiki.

After taking care of the child for a long time, Dongye Xiangying’s baby language was already at level [-].He leaned over and picked up Higashino Mirai, dragging his buttocks and letting him lean on his shoulders.

Akimiya Akemi pushed the stroller and smiled happily when she saw this scene.

Today is the first day of the New Year, and they are going to a nearby temple to pray for blessings.

Halfway through, Higashino met Yuko Asahina. "Long time no see." The other party was still the same, still deserted during the Chinese New Year.

"Long time no see." Hibiki Higashikata held the child and looked at her and said, "Why is Asahina-kun here?"

Higashino Hibiki is in Meguro District, and Asahina Yuko is usually in Nerima District. Although they are both in Tokyo, the distance is still quite far.

"I haven't shown up for a long time," Asahina walked beside Hibiki Higashino and said calmly, "President Higashino doesn't care about the production progress of "Your Name". I thought I should report something, but I happened to meet him on the way. arrive."

Her tone was the same as usual, but Higashikata could hear a sense of resentment.

It's really bad that the president hasn't shown up for a long time.

Hearing Asahina Yuko talking about work, Akimiya Akemi took Higashino Mirai away so that they would not be disturbed.

The three of them walked out of the alley and came to the main street. Many people would visit during the New Year and the streets were full of people.

"Ha...ha," Higashikata felt guilty, "How...what happened? "Your Name"."

"Eh? Me?" The female high school student on the side pointed at herself, "How's it going? I'm fine. Uncle, are you trying to strike up a conversation?"

She looked at Higashino Hibiki, nodded with satisfaction, and said to herself: "You look very rich, uncle, and you look pretty good. You only need 20 yen."

Dongye Xiang's face turned dark.

Akimiya Akemi watched with suppressed laughter.

Yuko Asahina didn't know why, she and Hibiki Higashino were chatting well, why did a female high school student suddenly appear?

"This is a misunderstanding," Hibiki Higashino explained, "We are an animation production company and we are discussing another project."

"Tch." The female high school student curled her lips, "I thought she was a customer."

After she finished speaking carelessly, she gave Hibiki a roll of her eyes before leaving.

"Is this something you can say on the street?" Akimiya Akemi said in surprise, "Japan is really strange now."

"Yes." Asahina Yuko nodded.

"A good person like me has been tempted too much." Higashiya sighed, "Fortunately, I am devoted to Akemi."

"I don't believe it." Akimiya Akemi lowered her head shyly, "You just said something nice. If I weren't here, you would definitely have agreed."

Higashikata Higashikata was as tender as water and affectionate, "How could I agree? No one else is as good as you. I have been satisfied with Akemi all my life."

"ring."

"Akemi."

"????" Asahina Yuko stood between the two of them, feeling that she was redundant.

Also, was this what we were discussing just now?

……

"Oh, how are you... "Your Name"?" Under Yuko Asahina's direct gaze, Hibiki finally remembered the topic just now. He asked, and then remembered the conversation with the female high school student. Unexpectedly, the voice couldn't help but lower.

It has been more than a year and a half since the project of "Your Name" was established. According to the progress of the animated film, it is still some time before it is released.

It’s not an animated theatrical version.

Yuko Asahina breathed a sigh of relief, finally able to talk about animation.

"Now only the first 20 minutes of content have been produced, which will be used to experiment with personnel coordination in the early stage, and will be reset later."

"The music produced by Mr. Kamii is a bit inappropriate. We need to contact other bands. I don't know much about this. Takagi-senpai will be in charge."

"The current camera configuration is insufficient and cannot show the effect I want. I hope the camera pixels can be improved in a few years."

"My personal ability as a supervisor needs to be improved, and excellent works cannot be wasted."

"The style of the original artist Kitamura-kun is very suitable for painting "Your Name". The production team led by him has exceeded my expectations, which is really good."

……

"Higashino-kun, are you listening?"

Asahina Yuko, who is usually very taciturn, can continue to speak a lot when faced with work.

She might have been thinking about what to say to Higashino Hibiki, so now she said it in one breath.

These words were not tempered, more like looking for someone to talk to.

"Director Asahina," Hibiki Higashino replied, "I'm listening."

Although Mr. Kamii and Tatsumi Kitamura didn't know each other, and he couldn't comment on what Asahina Yuko said, Higashino Hibiki still nodded, indicating that he was listening.

Twenty minutes passed, and when they arrived in front of the temple, Asahina Yuko finally finished speaking.

She wiped her mouth and felt refreshed.

"You did a good job," Hibiki Higashino praised, "please keep up the good work."

"Yes." Asahina Yuko bowed, said goodbye, and turned around to leave.

"Yuko, won't she pay a New Year's visit?" Akimiya Akemi asked curiously.

Higashino Hibiki said, "Maybe she doesn't want to waste her time here, or maybe she doesn't want to disturb us."

Akimiya Akemi sighed, "What a pity."

……

On January [-]th, Hibiki Higashino came to attend the Shueisha New Year Party.

After Akimotoji saw him, he lightly hammered Hibiki Hibiki's chest, "Have you rested long enough? When will you paint a new work?"

Facing other people, Higashino Hibiki can speak out about his efforts, but when it comes to Akimotoji, he has no temper at all.

"I have some ideas." Hibiki Higashino said, "If it can be serialized, it won't be long."

"I'm looking forward to it." Qiu Benji nodded with his arms crossed.

Higashino Hibiki began to look forward to it, his expression after seeing "Puella Magi Madoka Magica".

Can the elderly accept works from the new era?Ha ha.

"Tori Akino-kun, I have always been very optimistic about you," Akimoto said with emotion. "I strive for excellence in creation. Every work has something to watch. I don't mess around at ordinary times. I am concentrating on creation."

"No, no, you're flattered." Higashikata grinned.

"I'm telling the truth." Qiu Benji said seriously.

……

Hibiki Higashino and Akimoto Haru were chatting. A cute girl who looked to be in her early 20s and had short hair kept moving through the crowd, looking for someone.

She held the envelope in her hand, and the thick envelope was wrinkled because of too much force.

"Tori Akino-sensei...Tori Akino-sensei...ah! Found it!"

……

Higashino Hibiki prepared a few polite words.

A girl suddenly rushed in front of him and bowed fiercely.

Dongye Xiang was startled by this sudden move, "What...what happened?"

Akimoto Haru also looked at this scene and said, "This lady must be your fan."

He has encountered this kind of thing a lot, so it's not surprising.

The girl was of course Katsura Hoshino. She raised the envelope and pointed it towards Hibiki Higashino.

"Do you want a signature?" Higashikata asked, looking at the envelope.

"I'll give you money!" Hoshino Katsura said loudly with a red face.

"Eh?" Higashikata paused in taking the pen.

"What's going on?" Akimotoji, who is well-informed, said that he had never seen this matter before.

So he kept his eyes open and watched the excitement at leisure.

"Why?" Dong Yexiang asked in shock.

He has never met a fan who wants to give him money as soon as he meets him.

(End of this chapter)