Tokyo: The Manga Begins with the Funeral of Frilian

Hoshino Rin straightened up.

Shiori Shirakawa was standing at the door of the master bedroom, holding two cups of tea at just the right temperature.

Shiori Shirakawa looked at Rin Hoshino standing next to the painting table and thought to herself that although the girl's speech was a bit incoherent.

But in fact, her eyes lit up immediately when she saw the painting table.

They looked as if they had seen some extremely precious treasure.

Hoshino Rin turned around and looked at Shirakawa Shiori.

"Shirakawa-senpai, when did you start working as an assistant?"

"It started about a month ago."

"What did you do before becoming an assistant?"

"I used to be a civil servant, doing paperwork and similar tasks."

  

Hoshino Rin remained silent for two seconds.

"So, you're not a professional cartoonist; you just help with tasks like shaving off halftone dots and inking."

"Yes."

Shiori Shirakawa handed the tea in her hand to Rin Hoshino.

Rin Hoshino picked up the porcelain cup.

I looked down and watched the tender tea buds slowly unfurl inside the cup.

"If that's the case, then you probably won't be of much help in the next chapter."

Shiori Shirakawa stopped her raised hand in mid-air, her expression freezing instantly.

Why is that?

"It's the part about 'Aura the Guillotine'."

Yuma Kamiya flipped to the latest page of the script sketch on the desktop.

Then he handed the sketch to Hoshino Rin.

"This is the final battle chapter between Frilian and Aura."

Hoshino Rin leaned closer to take a look.

His eyes scanned the drawing quickly.

The lips beneath the mask moved slightly a few times.

"This is……"

"She is one of the Seven Demons of Collapse, also known as Aura of the Guillotine. She is a demon who has lived for five hundred years, is particularly skilled in the use of magic, and also possesses a large undead army."

Yuzhen held a dip pen in her hand and touched a certain square in the drawing with the tip of the pen.

"Her battle with Frilian was not just a large-scale clash between legions; it also involved extremely complex magical effects. The battle was not set in an ordinary town or hillside, but in a scorched wasteland with magic circles in the sky and countless undead soldiers on the ground."

He put down the pen in his hand.

"If I were to draw the backgrounds by myself, I simply couldn't keep up with the pace of the weekly magazine."

Hoshino Rin held the drawing and looked at it over and over again.

I looked at it three times in total.

Immediately afterwards, she stood up from her seat and bowed very respectfully to Kamiya Yuma.

"Please let me draw the Undead Legion."

She straightened her body.

Above the mask, his eyes shone with an almost obsessive, burning light.

"I have drawn anatomical diagrams of seven types of demons. I have studied their skeletal structure, muscle direction, and the direction of keratin growth. If the undead soldiers are based on human skeletons and combined with the regenerative tissue of demons, the effect will be very realistic. I can keep drawing until you are satisfied. If you are not satisfied, I will redraw it. It doesn't matter if I draw a hundred copies."

Kamiya Yuma looked into her eyes, which seemed to be burning with flames.

I glanced again at the fanfiction on the table.

"Then draw a page for me to see first. Draw the fifth page of chapter seven, a full-view double-page spread of Aura standing in front of the demon army."

He rummaged through the tall stack of drawings, found the storyboard sketches, and handed them over.

"The background is the Undead Legion. The requirement is that the armor and skeleton of each soldier must be unique. You can hand it over to me by tomorrow morning."

Hoshino Rin reached out and took the stack of manuscript papers.

She applied very little pressure with her fingertips.

It was as if they were holding some extremely precious item.

"I will definitely finish it before tomorrow morning."

She straightened up.

"Kamiya-sensei."

"Um."

"I've never seen the perspective angles in your storyboards in any textbook. How did you create this sense of space in your mind? Did you use some kind of projection method? Or do you possess visual abilities in different dimensions?"

"You'll get the hang of it naturally the more you draw."

Hoshino Rin remained silent for two seconds.

"I understand. This is probably the answer of a genius. True geniuses never explain their skills because for them, those skills are as natural as breathing. I will catch up with the efforts of an ordinary person."

She grabbed the manuscript paper, walked to the unused narrow table in the corner, and sat down.

He took out a ballpoint pen from the canvas bag.

After putting the finger cot on my finger, I gently exhaled.

The moment the pen touched the paper, the eyes above the mask immediately became focused.

His face was full of focused expression.

Just as Hoshino Rin finished drawing the last stroke.

The light in the sky slowly faded, and darkness gradually enveloped the area outside the window.

She held the sketch in front of her eyes, and as far as her gaze could see, the deceased formed an endless line, which seemed incredibly long.

This team is so long that you can't even see where it will eventually extend.

"It's finally finished."

She said softly.

She stood up from her seat.

Then, she gently placed the stack of drawings in front of Kamiya Yuuma.

Shiori Shirakawa's gaze swept quickly across the sketch.

"Your drawing is incredibly detailed."

She couldn't help but speak up.

"For me, this is just the most basic skill."

There was a hint of smugness in Hoshino Rin's tone.

"In the painting, I referenced the third edition of 'Atlas of Human Anatomy' for the skeletal structure, and the rusted textures on the armor were based on a medieval European armor collection catalog. I also spent four months studying the physiological structure of the undead, so I think I am no less knowledgeable than any professional assistant in this area."

Yuma Kamiya stared at the drawing for about three seconds.

"No," he said, giving a direct conclusion.

Upon hearing those two words, Hoshino Rin's shoulders stiffened instantly, and she remained motionless.

"What exactly is wrong with it?"

She asked somewhat anxiously.

"Not anywhere will work," Kamiya Yuma replied.

As he spoke, he spread the original manuscript out on the table.

"If you look closely, each soldier in the painting is wearing different armor, and the orientation of their bones is also different. If you look at each soldier individually, each one is indeed painted in great detail. But in fact, when you put them all together, the whole picture feels like a pile of loose sand, without any sense of unity."