Tokyo: The Manga Begins with the Funeral of Frilian

"This was lent to me."

Kamiya Yuma took the three banknotes, carefully folded them, and put them into his wallet.

The wallet originally contained only 2,500 yen, but it was bulging with these three 10,000 yen bills.

I will return the prize to him if I win it.

"I did not mean that......"

The receptionist looked somewhat embarrassed.

"That's good."

Kamiya Yuma nodded to her and turned to walk towards the door.

As I walked out of the Shueisha building, the night wind brushed against my face.

When I reached Akihabara, I suddenly stopped.

There was a Matsuya restaurant by the roadside with a sign that read "Gyudon Namise 290 yen".

Kamiya Yuma stood still for ten seconds.

"Never mind."

He pushed open the door and went inside.

"One beef bowl, a great deal!"

......

Monday morning.

Yuma Kamiya was standing in the restroom.

My hair has been washed, and there are no ink stains on my face.

The white shirt I pulled out of the closet was a bit wrinkled, but at least it was clean.

  

He patted his cheeks.

"Set off."

This time he rode a tram.

Three hundred and eighty yen.

My heart still ached a little when I took out the money.

The tram was much faster than walking, and we arrived at the station in no time. Kamiya Yuma was a little disappointed that he didn't see the legendary tram pervert.

We arrived at the entrance of the building.

Kamiya Yuma looked up.

The Shueisha building looks much more impressive during the day than at night.

The glass curtain wall reflects the sunlight.

The people coming and going at the entrance are all office workers in suits and ties.

Kamiya Yuuma saw the receptionist on the first floor. He nodded to her. "You're here? Still on time!" "Onodera-senpai is a bit intimidating, so it's better to come early."

The two exchanged a few pleasantries.

After registering the visitor information, Yuma Kamiya took the elevator to the sixth floor.

The sign for the Weekly Shonen Jump editorial office is at the end of the corridor.

Pushing open the glass door, a noisy scene unfolded inside.

The phone rang incessantly, and editors moved between seats carrying manuscripts.

Various voices urging him to finish his manuscript rang out. "Where's your manuscript?" "What? No inspiration? Baka! Are you trying to stop updating, you bastard?" ...... Kamiya Yuma took a deep breath.

That's it!

"Excuse me......"

Just as he was about to ask someone for directions, someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

"You're here."

Ryota Onodera stood behind him and looked him up and down.

"It's alright, not too bad. Come on, the meeting room is over there."

Yuma Kamiya followed Ryota Onodera through the editorial department's corridor.

"Onodera, is this the newcomer you mentioned last Friday?"

An editor wearing glasses peeked out from his workstation.

"You look very young. Have you graduated from university yet?"

"I've graduated. I just graduated this year."

"Kamiya Yuma replied."

"Oh? Which university did you graduate from?"

"Aoyama Gakuin University."

"Not bad, a prestigious university."

The bespectacled editor chuckled.

"But your family doesn't object to you graduating from a prestigious university and coming here to draw comics?"

"They don't really care about me."

The editor asked if there was anything else.

Ryota Onodera waved his hand impatiently.

"Alright, alright, we have other things to do. Let's hurry up and get your manuscript done."

He led Yuma Kamiya into a corridor.

Push open the glass door.

The meeting room was small, with a long table in the middle.

Several folding chairs were placed around it.

The blinds were half-drawn.

"You wait here."

Ryota Onodera arranged for him to sit here.

He took the stack of manuscripts out of his briefcase.

I quickly flipped through it.

The number of pages has been confirmed to be correct.

He said this to Yuuma Kamiya.

"I have a review meeting. It might take an hour, or it might take three hours. Can you handle that?"

"Don't worry, I can sit still." Kamiya Yuma patted his chest, looking completely fine.

"That's good. Go to the tea room to refill your water after you're done. Just turn right after you go out and walk to the end of the street. There are also some snacks there if you get hungry."

Ryota Onodera walked to the door.

"Kamiya."

"Um?"

"No matter what the outcome is later, when you get back today, put together the remaining storyboard outlines. I need to see them."

"Understood."

Ryota Onodera pushed open the door and went out.

The moment the door closed, the noise was shut out.

The meeting room fell silent.

Yuma Kamiya sat by the window.

My stomach is making a rumbling sound.

"I'm so hungry!"

He hadn't had time to eat breakfast yet.

The Tokyo sky outside the window was a hazy gray.

Yuma Kamiya leaned back in his chair, trying to forget the feeling of hunger.

The image of Frilian standing in front of Simmel's tomb involuntarily came to mind.

I want to know you a little more.

He silently recited the line in his mind.

We started thinking about the subsequent storyboard arrangements.

One question after another popped into my head.

He wanted to find a piece of paper to write it down.

But the conference room was completely empty except for a conference table and chairs.

"never mind."

Yuma Kamiya muttered to himself.

"Let's fill our stomachs first!"

He walked toward the tea room.

the other side.

At the other end of the sixth floor, the atmosphere of the editor-in-chief's meeting room was completely different from that of the third meeting room.

The long table was filled with people on both sides.

Tanaka Shiki, the editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Jump, sat in the center, his elbows resting on the table.

He is fifty-three years old this year, his hair is already gray, but his eyes are as sharp as an eagle's.

Under his guidance, Jump's sales climbed from 2.8 million copies to a peak of 4 million copies.

He is the person in this industry who knows the most about what "commercial comics" are.

Four deputy editors were seated on the left side of the long table.

On the right are five senior editors.

Ryota Onodera sat on the right-hand side, towards the back, with a stack of manuscripts spread out in front of him.

An editor's serialization application has just been rejected.

The air in the meeting room was somewhat oppressive.

"The next one."

Tanaka Shigeo opened the agenda in front of him and glanced at it.

"Newcomer Award submission, author: Yuuma Kamiya, recommended by: Onodera. Onodera, let's begin."

Ryota Onodera stood up.

Push the original manuscript to the center of the table.

"The title is 'The Burial of Frilian.' It's a fantasy adventure, strictly speaking, an epilogue after the hero defeats the Demon King. The protagonist is Frilian, an elf magician in the hero's party, and the story begins a hundred years after the Demon King's defeat."

"To be continued later?"

Deputy Editor-in-Chief Takahashi looked over from above his glasses.

His eyebrows were slightly raised.

"Does that mean the hero's battle against the Demon King was skipped entirely?"

"right."

Ryota Onodera nodded.

"The timeline on the first page already takes place after the Demon King was defeated."

Takahashi's brows furrowed even deeper.

"What's this all about? The main attraction is the hero's adventure! You've skipped over that, what are the readers supposed to read?"

"Let's look at the original manuscript first."

Tanaka Shigeo reached out his hand.

Ryota Onodera handed over the original manuscript.

Tanaka took it and turned to the first page.

The meeting room fell silent, with only the sound of papers turning.

His expression remained unchanged.

His fingers paused for a moment when he turned to page 20.

A double-page spread without dialogue.

Tanaka stared at that page for a few seconds.

When you turn to the last page.

He closed the manuscript and placed it on the table.

"Pass it on."