Master of the Machete Style Manga

Chapter 150 1v3 Chat

Ken Sakamoto completed the character designs for the male protagonist and the five female protagonists of "The Quintessential Quintuplets".

One sheet features a group portrait of the five female protagonists, while the other six sheets each depict one character.

He laid the six drawings side by side on his workbench.

Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba, Gogetsu.

Five identical faces are distinguished by their hairstyles, hair accessories, and micro-expressions, revealing their individual personalities.

The Chainsaw Man has a wilder style and rougher lines, while The Quintessential Quintuplets takes a completely different approach.

The art style must be exquisite and delicate; it is a typical harem romance manga that uses beautiful girls as its selling point.

The studio's three current assistants, Yukito Ryu, Tomoharu Kaku, and Tatsuya Endo, are busy with their work on "Chainsaw Man." It would be too much to ask them to switch to a slice-of-life romance style while drawing "Chainsaw Man."

Ken Sakamoto plans to recruit an assistant who specializes in drawing beautiful girls, especially female body curves and expressions, for this manga.

However, before that, he had to personally draw at least the first few chapters of the comic to set the overall style and tone of the work.

He stretched and checked the time; it was already nine o'clock in the evening.

His work for the day was finally over. He leaned back in his ergonomic chair and rested for a moment before his phone screen lit up with a new LINE message.

Ai Hoshihara: "Alone?"

Ken Sakamoto raised an eyebrow and tapped the screen lightly with his finger.

Ken Sakamoto: "Alone, at home."

Ai Hoshihara: "[Image]"

It's a photo she took.

Ai Hoshino is lounging on a deckchair in her apartment, the main subject of the photo being her shapely and long legs.

Her ivory-white skin gleamed alluringly under the soft, warm indoor lighting. Her legs were crossed, her toes pointed upwards, and on her thighs lay several printed A4 sheets of paper.

The paper was full of data charts and graphs, but the most important thing was that the paper was placed under the back of the legs, blocking out everything that shouldn't be hidden.

Ken Sakamoto: "Would you like to take the paper away and let me see it?"

Ai Hoshihara: "I showed you the data, and all you saw was legs?"

Ken Sakamoto: "I can only see the legs."

Ai Hoshihara: "Then take a good look."

Ai Hoshihara: "[Image]"

Ken Sakamoto: "Thank you for the treat."

"Ai Hoshino retracted a message."

Ken Sakamoto: "I haven't saved it yet!"

Ai Hoshino: "Stop thinking about legs. This is the data from noon. It's all sorted out. You really are special. If I hadn't experienced it myself, I would never have believed that the phenomenon of rebirth really exists."

Ken Sakamoto: "Oh, so we're talking about serious matters. I thought it was because you were lonely and missed me."

Ai Hoshihara: "What, you're back to normal after resting for half a day?"

Ken Sakamoto: "That's not what I meant. We've done enough for today."

Ai Hoshihara: "I thought you wanted it again."

Ken Sakamoto: "To be honest, my body is feeling that way right now, but my mind isn't really thinking about it."

Ai Hoshihara: "You should think carefully about which head you're using to talk to me."

Ken Sakamoto changed the subject.

Ken Sakamoto: "Can we meet now? I mean, in a dream."

Ai Hoshino: "No, that connection has a time limit. If we could connect anytime, we would have met long ago, since we all go to sleep at the same time every night."

Ken Sakamoto: "So, the online playtime is indeed limited to during afternoon naps?"

Ai Hoshino: "That's right. According to my guess, the earliest connection time was the moment we stabbed you in the back, and the latest time was the moment you were completely dead."

Ken Sakamoto: "Isn't there a specific time?"

Ai Hoshihara: "It started around 1 a.m., but I don't know the exact minute or second when I stabbed you."

Ken Sakamoto: "Then what was the exact time I died?"

Ai Hoshino: "I don't know either. You didn't die on the spot; you died despite all efforts to save you."

Ai Hoshino: "Don't you even know if you're dead or not?"

Ken Sakamoto: "I had already lost too much blood and fainted before I died, so how come I didn't die instantly after being stabbed three times?"

Ai Hoshihara: "What, three stabs aren't enough?"

Ken Sakamoto: "...That's not what I meant."

Ai Hoshihara: "If you want, we can meet tomorrow afternoon."

Just then, another message notification popped up at the top of the phone screen.

It's Natsume Mio.

Natsume Mio: "Ken, what do you want to eat for lunch tomorrow? I'll make you a bento!"

This is what I saw in the message preview; I haven't clicked on it yet.

Ken Sakamoto suddenly felt as if he were standing on a familiar tightrope again...

He typed very quickly and replied to Ai Hoshihara first.

Ken Sakamoto: "Let's talk about meeting up another time, I've been busy lately."

Ai Hoshihara: "You don't even have time to sleep?"

Ken Sakamoto: "Time in dreams is 1:1 with reality, so you can't do anything if you just take a nap."

Ai Hoshihara: "Just give me five minutes."

Ken Sakamoto: "I can make you beg for mercy in five minutes, but you can't." Ai Hoshihara: "Want to try?"

Ken Sakamoto: "Next time for sure, even in real life."

Ai Hoshino: "Competitions must be fair. In reality, I can't be sure if you cheated."

Ken Sakamoto: "How do I cheat?"

Ai Hoshino: "Take your medicine in advance."

Ken Sakamoto: "We don't need that kind of thing."

Ken Sakamoto switched chat windows and opened Mio Natsume's chat window.

Ken Sakamoto: "Making bento boxes so early in the morning is too tiring, don't bother."

Mio Natsume: "I've been learning to cook lately. Since I'm going to have to cook anyway, I might as well cook for Ken."

Ken Sakamoto: "Even if I don't reply to your messages, will you still bring me a bento box?"

Natsume Mio: "Hehe~"

Ken Sakamoto: "It's too much trouble for you to make bento boxes. I'll pay for them."

Mio Natsume: "No need, it's free to make bento boxes for Ken."

Ken Sakamoto: "I can include the expenses in the studio's operating costs, which will be tax-deductible."

Natsume Mio: "Okay then, Ken, you decide what to give~"

Ken Sakamoto nodded in satisfaction.

This changed the situation from "the girlfriend's loving care" to "the studio's catering service".

Although the essence remains the same, the definition of the relationship is completely different.

He had deeply experienced the meaning of the saying "He who takes another's money is bound to him" from Haruna in his previous playthrough.

He switched back to Ai Hoshino's chat interface.

Ken Sakamoto: "Ai, shouldn't the results of that submission contest where you were a judge be announced by now?"

Ai Hoshino: "I told you yesterday that 'Looking Back' has been confirmed as the Gold Award winner, but I don't know when they will make an announcement."

Ai Hoshihara: "How are you going to thank me?"

Ken Sakamoto: "It's because my manga is of high quality."

Ai Hoshino: "I'll go talk to their manager again and tell them that another work has more adaptation value than 'Looking Back'."

Ken Sakamoto: "No, Ai."

Ai Hoshihara: "How are you going to thank me?"

Ken Sakamoto: "Whatever you want next time."

Ai Hoshihara: "I'll remember that. You just wait."

Ken Sakamoto went back and reviewed his conversation with the two people. He needed to review it carefully to avoid missing any information or misremembering anyone, which could cause unnecessary misunderstandings.

He made the same silly mistake last week, misattributing what happened during his date with Haruna to Mio and even bringing it up in front of her. He almost messed up on the spot, but luckily he managed to get away with it.

Just as he was thinking, his phone vibrated again.

This time it's Mikazuki Haruna.

Mikazuki Haruna: "[Screenshot]"

Haruna Mikazuki: "You won an award?!"

Ken Sakamoto clicked on the screenshot, which was a post just released by the official JUMP Twitter account, announcing the final judging results of the "Future Film Stars" writing contest.

[Realistic Category - Gold Award]

[Work: Looking Back Suddenly]

[Author: Ken Sakamoto]

Although Ai Hoshihara had already given him a heads-up, Sakamoto Ken still clenched his fist and slammed it hard on the table when he saw the announcement.

Become!

The gold prize is 15 yuan, the copyright prepayment is 20 yuan, plus the campus star award of 5 yuan.

Total of 40 US dollars!

News of Mikazuki Haruna came again.

Haruna Mikazuki: "I was just forwarding this to remind you, I wasn't being sarcastic!"

Ken Sakamoto couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Ken Sakamoto: "Are you searching for me intensively?"

Haruna Mikazuki: "No, I didn't!"

Haruna Mikazuki: "I just happened to be looking at the official JUMP Twitter account. I'm also serialized in JUMP. What's wrong with looking at the official account?"

Mikazuki Haruna: "So, do you want to celebrate tomorrow? Have a big meal or something?"

Ken Sakamoto: "Mio is going to bring me a bento box."

Haruna Mikazuki: "I meant a grand meal!"

Ken Sakamoto: "I've already spoken to her about it."

Once the message was sent, the dialog box immediately displayed "read".

But the other party remained silent.

Sakamoto Ken waited for a full minute, but Mikazuki Haruna did not reply.

It's obvious that this guy is probably off chatting with Natsume Mio right now.

Ken Sakamoto put down his phone, feeling that the short chat he'd just had had been more mentally taxing than drawing manga all afternoon…

(End of this chapter)