Cartoonists and their assistants

Cartoonists and their assistants

Author: Chi Meng Yu Ren

Summary:

It's like this for cartoonists. Eriri and Mashiro only need to draw, but he, who is responsible for the original work, has to consider a lot more.

"Hey, can you draw comics with me for the rest of your life?"

"No! You can only be my original work!"

"Teacher, is it really true that I can't become a cartoonist without talent?"

"You are just borrowing his light. There are so many painters like you in this world."

"Please teach me, teacher! I can do anything!"

Team up with me and become a comic artist!

What should life be like?

What are everyone's dreams?

In the classroom, a boy with somewhat immature appearance, black hair, and black eyes rested his chin on his hand, listening to the teacher's question and lost in thought.

"lawyer."

"Become a civil servant!"

"I want to be respected like a teacher."

The students all gave their own answers.

Compared to the casual, genuine thoughts of others, Mizuki Machi, who has been reborn a second time, has a much deeper understanding.

The typical path for an ordinary person would be to work hard to get into a good high school, get into university, and then go to work in a company as a wage earner.

This is the norm in the world.

"That's so boring."

Having experienced it firsthand, he offered his assessment.

In fact, most people share this view after experiencing it.

However, even if one can understand, it is difficult to escape the vortex of worldly concerns; parents' expectations and the opinions of others all influence judgment.

Unless you possess extraordinary talent or come from a wealthy family, you cannot afford to squander money.

Originally, in this life, being born into an ordinary family, he might have been destined for this fate as well.

Everything changed one day when he met a girl he recognized from his past life.

"Um, I'm Eriri Sawamura Spencer, and my likes are..."

When he first started elementary school, during the self-introduction segment, he was initially bored, but upon hearing this name, he immediately perked up. Looking up, the image of the petite loli with golden twin tails instantly overlapped with the image in his mind.

At that moment, he instantly realized that the world was not the boring world he had imagined, and at the same time, he had a great plan in his mind.

That is, after adulthood—

Marry a beautiful, wealthy, and successful woman and reach the pinnacle of life!

In that case, I could just relax and do nothing all day, reading comics and novels, playing games, and traveling with beautiful girls.

Just thinking about it makes me feel so good.

A life-changing opportunity is right in front of him, and he must consider whether this might be his only chance in this lifetime!

Therefore, he approached Eriri with a hidden agenda from the very beginning.

After all, you have to start teaching people about love from a young age.

Although he didn't live long in the first half of his life and had little life experience, and was quickly rejected when he first entered society, he could still easily amuse a child.

In less than a week, he became familiar with Eriri.

Things went so smoothly because Eriri was feeling very down and needed comforting.

To this end, he tried to find out the reason in various ways. It turned out that when he was learning to paint, he encountered a monster, which made him lose interest in painting. He even dropped out of the studio halfway and fled back to Tokyo from England like a defeated dog.

He happened to know the monster's name as well.

However, these are all things of the past and are not important.

What matters is the present and what will happen in the future.

........

"Thump...wait...thump...wait...."

The Westminster chimes began.

"Wuhu~ School's finally over!"

"Let's go, let's go play soccer! Exams are over, we should have some fun."

"Nanako, want to go home together?"

After school in the afternoon, the students in the class had different reactions.

Since Mizuki Machi did not participate in any clubs, after the bell rang, she put her textbook and notebook into her schoolbag, then slung the bag over one shoulder and placed the other hand on the bag to maintain her balance before leaving the classroom.

"Zhenzhi, wait a minute! Why are you walking so fast?!"

As he walked some distance from the campus and was about to turn a corner, he heard anxious shouts from behind.

Stopping and turning around, one immediately catches sight of the girl's dazzling blonde hair styled in pigtails, her well-proportioned features, fair and rosy skin, and bright blue eyes that gleam with a mysterious light.

She has a petite and delicate figure, wearing a black plaid school uniform skirt that reveals her smooth and fair legs, paired with a white short-sleeved shirt, giving her a fresh and lovely look.

This appearance is almost identical to how I remember her from my previous life.

In other words, there's no way for him to grow any further... What a pity.

"Yinglili."

He waited there for a while, and then the girl came running over.

"You're not thinking something offensive, are you?"

Eriri sized her up with an unfriendly look.

"This is your illusion."

He turned around and continued walking forward.

The girl followed closely behind.

The two walked for a while, then fell silent for a while.

"Eri, is there anything you want to say?"

In the end, he took the initiative to speak.

A young girl's thoughts are usually on her mind, and he noticed the awkwardness in her expression.

That's how it is with pride and arrogance; if you don't point it out, she'll keep it bottled up inside.

"Um... um..."

Eriri's eyes flickered a few times, and after hesitating for a long time, she couldn't help but burst out with emotion and loudly voiced her request.

"Makoto, team up with me and become a manga artist!"

"Eh!?"

He was genuinely surprised to hear this, and his expression turned strange.

"Haven't you already become a manga artist, Ms. Kashiwagi Eri?"

"It's not that kind of comic! I'm talking about debuting! Being serialized in a comic magazine!"

"I advise you to just wash up and go to bed, Eriri. You have absolutely no need to become a 'manga artist,' neither money nor fame.

"If a person has no dreams, what's the difference between them and a salted fish? None of what you're saying matters."

Eriri retorted repeatedly.

"We're only in the first year of middle school, far from the time when we need to put our ideals into practice."

He was still thinking about how to coast through life, so he continued to refuse.

"Of course, the sooner you achieve a goal, the better. I'm not a primary school student anymore; I've grown up and have my own opinions. I've thought about this kind of thing for a long time!"

The girl persisted in her stubbornness.

Oh, so it's the rebellious phase.

He curled his lip, categorizing it as a girl in the naive and ignorant stage of life.

"Get it for me."

The girl suddenly threw her schoolbag at him.

"Machi, do you know? I've loved manga since I was a kid, and becoming a manga artist has always been my dream. After considering all aspects, I think it's necessary to have Machi handle the original work..."

As she walked, Eriri recounted her past, her wings outstretched, and the light in her eyes shone brightly.

"So feel honored that you have received my approval. I wouldn't be happy if it were anyone else."

The girl turned around and pointed at him.

"When I was a child?"

Kanzuki Maki looked helpless.

In order to get closer to her and to help Eriri recover from her failure, he recommended manga to her, a genre different from traditional drawing.

In other words, his contribution played a part in the story's development to this point.

"I just can't do anything with you."

He looked thoughtful, and finally sighed.

"Let me think about it some more and I'll give you an answer tomorrow."

2. Can you take responsibility for my life?

Life always involves making important choices about people, but the people involved may not realize it at the time.

But at this moment, as someone who had been through it all, Mizuki Machi keenly realized that he had reached a crucial point, like a galgame.

Option 1: Reject Eriri's suggestion.

Perhaps it will enter the timeline he originally envisioned, where the childhood sweethearts grow up and eventually walk down the aisle...

Eriri becomes the famous Eromanga teacher 'Kashiwagi Eri' in the underworld, while he successfully becomes a lazy otaku who just loafs around and waits for another chapter of his life to end.

In theory, this is a happy ending, since one can finally stop being a beast of burden and continue to enjoy life.

But it might end badly, because he feels that he doesn't have much charm. He's just using the 'childhood sweetheart' relationship to bind himself. Who knows, one day they might quarrel because they don't get along... Based on his understanding of childhood sweethearts' personalities, it's not impossible. He's not the type to unconditionally please others, and there's no point in being a spineless son-in-law who only suffers mistreatment.

Option two is to accept Eriri's suggestion.

"Become a cartoonist?"

At night, the boy lay in bed, his hands behind his head, staring intently at the ceiling, muttering to himself.

Japan's ACG industry is highly developed, with manga being arguably the most important component. Becoming a manga artist is naturally a very ambitious ideal, especially for those who love this kind of culture, like Eriri, who aspire to become manga artists—there are countless such people.

However, this road is not easy to travel.

Those who become comic artists are either truly talented, a very small number of geniuses, or just gamblers.

A true cartoonist is someone who can make a living by drawing comics for the rest of their life. Otherwise, even if you can serialize in a weekly magazine and rank in weekly surveys, if you don't have popularity, your work will be canceled after ten weeks. If you're lucky, you can publish several best-selling works in a row, which is fine... If you can't do that, you're just a gambler.

Only 0.001% of people can have enough to eat for their entire lives; only one in 10 people can achieve that.

"I'm still a little hesitant..."

He sighed and pulled the blanket over himself.