Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist.

On the other hand, Eri Aragaki was completely unaware of this.

Because she will be immersed in writing this week, and after finishing this week's writing, she will also have to do various preparations for the single volume.

Although she hasn't received any revision notice from Masaya Sakurai yet, she needs to prepare the cover and color pages for the collected volumes, which are not things that can be done by simply drawing something.

The cover is the first thing readers see in a bookstore, and the color pages are the first surprise after opening a single volume. Whether these two things are drawn well or not directly affects whether readers will reach out to buy them.

So she'll have to... use some special abilities to draw it better!

She stopped surfing the internet during this period.

Until... the deadline, Friday.

Masaya Sakurai visited Eri Aragaki's apartment again that day.

This was also what he had arranged with Eri Aragaki yesterday. When he came to collect the manuscript, he would give Eri Aragaki a written interview Q&A form to promote the collected volume.

A week before the official release of the collected volumes, he would visit again to collect the manuscript, as well as the Q&A form for the written interview and the photos of Eri Aragaki herself to be published in the magazine for pre-release marketing.

This timeline is very tight and cannot be delayed, because the printing schedule for the single volume has already been set, and the pre-release interviews need to be published in the magazine two weeks before the release; otherwise, they will not have the desired pre-release effect.

Masaya Sakurai rang the doorbell, and after a moment, the door opened.

Only Eri Aragaki and Akane Natsume are in the apartment today.

After all, it's Friday, and Erina still has to go to class. She's already intensifying her studies for next year's university entrance exams, and she goes to cram school every day after school, not returning home until evening.

Meanwhile, Ayane Takeda, who had helped Eri Aragaki finish her manuscript, had her own things to do. She had a group meeting for a programming project at school today, which was said to be the most important topic of the semester, so she couldn't miss it.

Only Natsume Akane... She came to Aragaki Eri's house and stayed with Aragaki Eri because "I don't have anything to do today anyway".

Eri Aragaki, of course, didn't mind Natsume Akane, one of her few good friends, coming to her apartment.

The two of them had each other's company. On this day when they had no work, they laughed and joked around, reading comics, playing games, or surfing the internet, always having someone to keep them company.

At this time, Eri Aragaki became bolder and often openly took advantage of Akane Natsume under the guise of friendship.

But Natsume Akane also took advantage of her, which resulted in Akane feeling like she was being taken advantage of.

After all, the two sides are of different sizes.

During this period, they compared their sizes with each other, and from small to large, they were roughly like Natsume Akane, Aragaki Eri, and Takeda Ayane.

In the afternoon, Eri Aragaki heard the doorbell ring. When she opened it, she saw Masaya Sakurai.

"Hello... Ms. Pear, excuse me."

Masaya Sakurai still looked like a middle-aged office worker, nodding politely in greeting.

"Mr. Sakurai."

Eri Aragaki quickly invited him in.

She arranged the slippers and led Masaya Sakurai to sit down on the sofa in the living room.

"Mr. Sakurai, your tea."

After Eri Aragaki poured him a cup of tea, Masaya Sakurai took the cup, thanked her, and then took a brown paper envelope from his briefcase and placed it on the coffee table.

"Thank you, Ms. Pear. Here is your written interview transcript. You can fill in your answers here, and I will come back to collect it later."

He said it calmly.

The envelope was unsealed, and inside was a printed form with about a dozen questions listed.

Eri Aragaki glanced at the screen and saw a few standard questions, such as "What was your original intention in creating this work?", "Who is your favorite character?", and "What would you like to say to the readers?"

There are also some more relaxed ones, such as "What do you usually like to eat?" and "What are your hobbies in your spare time?"

These questions don't seem difficult to answer; she can just spend half an hour filling them out one evening.

Eri Aragaki nodded and said, "Okay, I'll be ready. I'll go get this week's manuscript now."

Then she turned and went into the studio, took out the brown paper file bag that she had prepared earlier, and handed it to Masaya Sakurai.

Masaya Sakurai picked up the file bag, opened it, pulled out a few pages, flipped through them, and confirmed that the page numbers and the condition of the artwork were correct before putting the file bag back into his briefcase.

He had finished his tea and placed the cup on the coffee table.

Then he stood up and said, "Then I won't bother you any longer, teacher."

He took two steps toward the entrance and then stopped.

"Oh, right."

Masaya Sakurai turned around, looked at Eri Aragaki, and said, "I think you might really need to get used to it, since you're quite good-looking and it'll be a good way to promote yourself. So you'll have to get used to being on camera."

His words didn't sound like a polite compliment; they sounded more like advice on career planning.

With Eri Aragaki's looks and appearance, Masaya Sakurai even felt that she was no less beautiful than the models who walked the runway in Tokyo, except... she was a little too tall.

At 1.72 meters tall, she is indeed quite tall for a Japanese woman, which might not fit the mainstream Japanese ideal of a petite and delicate girl.

But Eri Aragaki is still an undeniably beautiful girl; her natural features are her greatest asset.

In addition, she is really slim. Although she is an otaku who draws comics, she consumes too much energy when drawing, which makes it impossible for her to gain weight.

Eri Aragaki's face was quite stiff.

She stood beside the coffee table, her lips twitching several times before she managed a smile that didn't look too awkward, and said, "Okay, I'll try to adapt."

"Goodbye, teacher."

Masaya Sakurai nodded, changed his shoes, and went out the door.

The door closed, and the sound of leather shoes clicking on the floor echoed in the hallway, fading into the distance.

Eri Aragaki stood by the entrance hall, hands on her hips, and let out a long sigh.

She returned to the living room, collapsed onto the sofa, and sank her head into the cushions.

At this moment, Natsume Akane looked at Aragaki Eri, frowned, and said, "Eri, if you really don't want to, you can refuse, right?"

Eri Aragaki shook her head, burying her face in the cushion, and said in a muffled voice, "No, Shueisha's contract also stipulates this, and we need to cooperate."

She was also very puzzled.

After all, judging from her past life...

Manga artists like Crocodile Teacher and Gege Akutagami never need to show their faces. They've been serializing for years, and you can't even find their full-face photos online. When they do appear in photos, they're always wearing masks or using manga self-portraits instead.

Why does she have to appear on camera herself?!

But there is a reason for this.

First of all, Shueisha has certain unwritten rules in this regard.

That is, if a cartoonist becomes famous, it's fine. Once they become famous, they have more say, and they are no longer required to appear in the picture. If they don't want to show their face, they don't have to.

However, during the early stages of their careers, Shueisha encouraged new manga artists to gain exposure.

The purpose of this is to help readers remember new comic artists, establish their recognition within the industry, and give readers a concrete image of the author when they mention the work.

If that's the purpose, then it's understandable if the new comic artist has an average face.

There's nothing memorable about it that readers will remember, so it's not really relevant and editors won't push it.

Characters like Crocodile Teacher and Akuta Gege are probably examples of this.

They probably have very ordinary faces and nothing memorable about them, plus they have a strong desire to stay out of the public eye.

The editor in charge naturally decided to just let it go, since pushing it wouldn't make much of a splash anyway.

Eri Aragaki suffered a loss in this respect.

She is an undisputed beauty, even though Japanese men often feel inferior because of her height.

However, her appearance is still impeccable; she is an absolute beauty.

Her pale skin tone, paired with her slightly sharp eyebrows and eyes that look a bit sleepy, makes her look stunning even without makeup. With a little styling, she could easily shoot a magazine cover.

So, Masaya Sakurai and the other editors who were also responsible for nurturing Eri Aragaki, all felt that this was an opportunity—an opportunity to market a popular shoujo manga artist.

The manga itself is of high quality, and the author's good looks add to the appeal; this combination is rare even in the history of newcomers at JUMP.

Naturally, that's what they would ask for.

Eri Aragaki could only sigh at this point, turning her face to look at Akane Natsume, and said, "Never mind, it's not a big deal anyway. It's just a photo, not like I'm going to be on TV for a live interview."