Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist.

"Riko-sensei, excuse me, this is Sakurai."

Masaya Sakurai, however, did not find it strange at all. Not only was he not surprised by Eri Aragaki's behavior, but he was not surprised by the habits of the manga artist community as a whole.

During his years as an editor, it was all too common for him to call someone in broad daylight and find them asleep on the other end.

After all, as the manga artist put it... it's a "monster association" that existed in Japan before the advent of the internet age.

In particular, this industry has always been very tolerant of the mental state and lifestyle of its practitioners.

Eri Aragaki, a manga artist who sleeps during the day, is not an isolated case. It can be said that most manga artists are like this, with their days and nights reversed and their schedules irregular.

If you're not disturbed at night and feel like drawing, you can draw until dawn, only remembering it's time to sleep when the sunlight comes in. This is practically a common problem in the industry.

Besides, many cartoonists can be described as the Eight Eccentrics of Jiangnan—each with their own eccentricities.

For example, Hirohiko Araki is narcissistic and has a chuunibyou (delusional) personality. He once said in public with a straight face, "I might be the ultimate life form," which left the reporter speechless.

For example, Hideaki Sorachi, the animator of "Gintama," is very abstract in his own right. He used to pick his nose with his tongue when he was in elementary school, a fact he openly admitted in a reader Q&A. He was nicknamed "Booger Prince," a title he seems quite pleased with.

And then there's Eri Aragaki's past life... Fujimoto Itsuki, nicknamed "the mental patient," who is a dragon-level monster among manga artists.

She claims on social media that she can fly, and that she's actually a primary school girl...

All of his works are depictions of his elementary school girl persona, leaving fans still unsure whether he's joking or serious...

There are definitely some things to say about the comic artist industry, especially those famous comic artists. They all seem to be a combination of genius and eccentricity, with some being "geniuses to the left and madmen to the right".

The more creative a person is, the more unconventional their personality tends to be; this may be a kind of conservation of energy.

Eri Aragaki is nothing special among these manga artists; she's even considered quite beautiful. Her personality isn't perfect, but she's easy to get along with, and she's generally punctual in submitting her work.

When Eri Aragaki heard Masaya Sakurai's voice, she became a little more alert.

She propped herself up from under the covers, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and asked, "Mr. Sakurai... is there something you need?"

"First of all, congratulations to Ms. Riko! The Giants are ranked tenth this week."

Masaya Sakurai then added, "Next up is the painting 'Wu Song' that the teacher drew before. It's surprisingly popular this time, ranking seventh."

After all, Masaya Sakurai was already used to the fact that the Giants were tenth in the rankings, and he believed that Eri Aragaki felt the same way.

Actually, apart from the first two rankings and the first time he broke into the top ten in popularity, Sakurai Miyabi told Aragaki Eri the results as soon as they came out. Otherwise, he didn't tell her the rankings every week.

The rankings can be announced about once a month, just so that the cartoonists have a general idea of ​​what to expect.

I won't get anxious about minor fluctuations in a week, nor will I lose my sense of direction regarding the popularity of my work if I don't receive feedback for too long.

Unless there is a risk of cancellation, the editor will follow up and report weekly, clearly telling the cartoonist, "Your current position is dangerous, and you must speed up the plot in the next three weeks."

Attack on Titan, on the other hand, is not at risk of being canceled. Its stable position in the top ten indicates that its readership is already very solid. Even if it occasionally drops to eleventh or twelfth place for a week, it will not be a problem.

Eri Aragaki was a little confused at first. She rubbed her eyes, wrapped herself in a blanket, and sat up in bed.

According to previous practice, Sakurai Miyabi wouldn't call her specifically to tell her about the rankings this week, would she? It's not like the Giants are ranked around tenth every week, so there's nothing special to mention.

But as she listened further, she suddenly understood. It turned out that there was also a play called "Wu Song" ranked seventh, which was the main news he had called about.

The Giants, ranked tenth, isn't worth a special mention, but Wu Song, ranked seventh, is.

However, she was still underthinking things. If it were just that the short comic "Wu Song" was doing well in the rankings this week, then Masaya Sakurai still wouldn't have made this special phone call.

While both matters are worth mentioning, there's no rush. He can simply bring them up in person when he comes to collect the manuscript next week.

His main reason for calling was, of course,...

"In addition, the preparations for the publication of the standalone book are almost complete."

Masaya Sakurai's voice came through the receiver, sounding more formal: "A month ago, I told you, teacher, that once everything is almost done, we will start promoting the Attack on Titan manga."

"Have you finished preparing the written interview form, the book cover, the color frontispiece, the author's afterword, and your personal photo that I sent you before?"

Eri Aragaki immediately understood, and all her doubts about "why she suddenly called" were resolved.

These three reasons combined are enough to warrant a phone call: ranking, Wu Song, and the standalone book, with the standalone book being the most important of the three.

"Okay, all set..."

She leaned against the headboard, holding her phone, and calmly said, "The written interview form is filled out and in the folder. The cover and color pages are also drawn, and the epilogue is just a short paragraph, which is also included."

The reason she was so calm was because she had prepared herself mentally over this period of time, after all, a month had passed.

She came to terms with it; it was just a photo, not like she was being asked to record a video or give a speech on stage.

And it really wasn't something that was difficult to accomplish, so she came to terms with it.

So what if the photos are exposed? What if, as Masaya Sakurai said, this really does increase the sales of the collected volumes?

She'll be able to make a fortune then.

Keep in mind that she hasn't finished paying off her debts yet.

She had already paid off a significant portion of the previous debt of ten million yen in installments using the income she earned during the early stages of Attack on Titan's serialization.

I've made some more payments in installments recently, and there's still about eight million yen left to pay.

Eight million yen will soon be a small sum for her, but given her current income rate, the release of the single volume will quickly fill a large portion of it.

After all, she currently only earns income from manuscript fees, drawing one chapter per week and receiving payment for each chapter. She doesn't receive royalties from collected volumes or income from adaptation rights and popularity after the anime adaptation.

Her income was only so-so, barely reaching five million yen every six months, not to mention daily expenses...