Tokyo: The Manga Begins with the Funeral of Frilian

Did you just say something?

"I mean there won't be such a large amount of background information in the future."

"No, it was said even earlier than that."

Which sentence are you referring to?

Shiori Shirakawa stared intently at the miso soup cup in her hand.

The tips of her ears started to turn red again.

"It's nothing, let's finish eating and then get back to drawing. The manuscript is due on Thursday."

After finishing the last bite of his rice ball, Kamiya Yuma stood up and walked towards the drawing table. Halfway there, he turned back and said something.

"The mesh you scraped last night was excellent. Use that same force when chopping scallions from now on."

Shiori Shirakawa placed the empty cup in her hand on the table.

"Stop talking."

On Thursday morning, Ryota Onodera received the original manuscript sent by express mail.

He opened the file folder and his fingers stopped when he turned to the two double-page spreads.

In the painting, white flowers of unknown name bloom on a hillside after the rain, and sunlight filters through the gaps in the clouds.

Sunlight shines on the petals, each petal having a faint gradient along its edge, like dew that hasn't completely dried.

He has already read through the new manuscript for this issue.

Then he picked up the internal phone on the table and called the printing factory.

"I'm Onodera. The position of the color pages in the fourth chapter doesn't need to be changed. Those two double-page spreads don't need to be printed in color; you can print them directly in black and white. Yes, but the paper weight needs to be increased by one grade. Why? Because the halftone dots here are very fine. If the printing press doesn't register the colors accurately, then this craftsmanship will be wasted."

He hung up the phone. Onodera scratched his head.

"When did this child start having an assistant?"

He put the original manuscript back into the folder.

And write a sentence in the remarks section on the cover.

"Who is the background assistant? Tell me their name next time you come to the editorial department. You need to register your personal information to get paid."

.........

On Friday afternoon, Ryota Onodera rang the doorbell of his Itabashi Honmachi apartment.

  

He was holding a brown paper bag containing a sample copy of Jump magazine.

When Yuma Kamiya opened the door.

He stuffed the paper bag into Yuuma Kamiya's hand.

Then he went straight to the low table in the living room and sat down.

Place a folder on the table.

"Fill out the form."

Kamiya Yuuma was very quick; he finished reading the form.

It is an assistant labor registration form.

It has the seal of Shueisha on it.

The table has four columns below: name, address, bank account number, and job description.

"As I mentioned last time, once the background assistant's information is registered, the editorial department can directly send the labor subsidy without deducting it from your original manuscript fee."

Yuma Kamiya took a pen out of the pen holder.

Please fill in "Shiori Shirakawa" in the name field.

The address is the apartment address in Itabashi Honmachi.

He stopped writing down the bank account number and called out towards the kitchen.

"Shiori, what's your current bank account number?"

Shiori Shirakawa came out of the kitchen carrying a tea tray.

There are three cups of freshly brewed green tea on the tea tray.

She placed the tea tray on the low table and froze when she saw that Kamiya Yuuma was holding a form in his hand.

"What account?"

"This is your assistant's service allowance from Shueisha; it will be deposited directly into your bank account."

"When did I become an assistant?"

"When you helped me scrape the network spots last time, Onodera-senpai asked me to give you my assistant's name."

Shiori Shirakawa glanced at the form and saw that her name was already filled in.

Ryota Onodera almost choked on his tea and then started coughing.

After putting the cup down, he looked at the form on the table again, which read "Shiori Shirakawa".

"Wait a mininute."

He raised his hands and said.

"That assistant is you."

Shiori Shirakawa put down the tea tray she was holding.

"I only scraped two pages of mesh for him."

She said.

"Two pages? The halftone dots on these two double-page spreads have very smooth edge transitions. The printing factory even asked me if I had switched to a new plate-making process."

Ryota Onodera turned his gaze to Yuma Kamiya.

"She volunteered to help."

Yuma Kamiya said.

"I know she did it voluntarily."

Ryota Onodera sat back in his chair.

His gaze swept up and down the two people's faces.

"Living together, sharing the same bank account to receive salaries, Kamiya, do you call this 'roommates'?"

Shiori Shirakawa's ear tips immediately turned red.

She placed the last cup of tea in front of Ryota Onodera.

"Please have some tea, Onodera-senpai."

"Don't change the subject."

"I don't mean to change the subject."

Shiori Shirakawa held the tea tray upright in her arms.

"I'm willing to help myself; it has nothing to do with Kamiya-kun."

Ryota Onodera picked up the cup and took a sip.

"Okay, if you're willing to help, I have no objection. The labor subsidy is provided by the editorial department, not deducted from your manuscript fee. You just need to fill in the account number, and the bank will automatically transfer the money to your account every month."

Kamiya Yuma handed the pen to Shirakawa Shiori.

Just as Shiori Shirakawa finished writing it.

A screen of light appeared.

[Branch 1: Male chauvinism strikes, refusing Shirakawa Shiori's help and keeping the subsidy for himself. Reward: The stubbornness of a single dog (temporary +20% hand speed).]

[Branch Two: Accept it calmly and "internalize" it, and suggest she use the money to buy herself a souvenir: an advanced life skill, "perfect color sense" (able to mix colors that best match her mood)]

Yuma Kamiya almost burst out laughing when he saw the two options.

The speed increased by 20%.

He might think twice about offering such a reward before submitting his manuscript for the Newcomer's Award.

But now, even a fool could tell which one to choose.

There's a very important point in the opening color page of the next issue of Frillie's magazine.

What color does the sea of ​​Crested Moonflowers look like during a full moon?

He thought about it for three days, but he still felt that blue was not a good color.

If the blue tones are too cold, the image will appear desolate.

If you set it too high, it won't be restrained enough.

The reward of perfect color perception is achieved.

Of course, option two is better.

A refreshing stream of information quickly entered my mind.

He divided the colors in his mind into precise proportions.

After Kamiya Yuuma withdrew his gaze.

The form was pushed in front of Ryota Onodera.

"Fill in".

After checking, Ryota Onodera put the briefcase back.

"Starting next month, I will receive the money on the second Friday of each month. The hourly wage is 1200 yen, which is the standard hourly wage for an assistant at Shueisha. Although it is not much, it can buy a few kilograms of beef."

Shiori Shirakawa did some mental calculations.

"I only helped for one night, which was only four or five hours."