Cartoonists and their assistants

"That's right, NAME! What are you so surprised about? Don't you know that?"

"I vaguely remember hearing about it somewhere."

"Hmph, then I'll explain it to you!"

Rarely finding an opportunity to show off her talents, Eriri let out a soft hum, somewhat smug.

"The so-called NAME refers to the story that a cartoonist must conceive before drawing the actual work. In addition to writing down the plot, they also need to describe the storyboard in sketches according to the development of the plot. This is the storyboard... Do you understand?"

"I see, so it's a draft?"

At that moment, Mizuki Machi recalled the masterpiece of a famous mahjong master from his previous life.

"It can also be understood that way."

Eriri nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

"You want me to go to this extent!? Can't I just write stories?"

He wanted to decline again because it would cause a lot of trouble.

Moreover, his writing was so bad it was practically nonsensical; how could he possibly show it off?

"Of course not! We're a team, right? Of course we need to divide the work. But when the original artwork is drawn, I'll consider the composition and modify the storyboard, so you don't need to worry."

"Ah... okay then."

He had no choice but to accept it.

"You've had it easy enough, haven't you?"

The girl stared intently, her lips pursed in a resentful manner.

"How long do you think it will take us to finish the original manuscript? Let's set a time, how about a month from now?"

The topic of "Kanzuki Masashi" was changed.

"A month?"

Eriri's eyes flickered.

"Let's finish submitting it during summer vacation. We can do it before summer vacation ends."

"Alright."

After walking a distance from Sawamura's house.

"There are still three months left until the end of summer vacation. It seems like this guy's progress isn't going very well. I wonder if he'll be able to make it by then?"

He glanced back and made a mental estimate.

"Never mind, I'll just finish my own task first and see what happens later."

In the bedroom.

The girl, holding a uniquely shaped paintbrush, was drawing intently on the manuscript paper.

"Before Zhenzhi teaches me NAME, I will definitely master the use of the G pen and D pen as soon as possible..."

Unlike drawing on a graphics tablet, or sketching with a pencil or painting with a brush, improving your comic book drawing skills requires mastering the use of G and D pens. This allows you to take into account lines, features, backgrounds, and atmosphere.

.......

That night.

Mizuki Machi is using a computer to search online for information on how to draw a proper name.

"Haah~"

Suddenly, he yawned, glanced at the time, and realized it was almost midnight.

"Now that we have a good understanding, we can start putting it into practice..."

Thinking of this, he chuckled to himself.

"Honestly, why am I working so hard at this research?"

"It's all Eriri's fault."

The boy lay in bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.

The weekend passed in the blink of an eye.

Students have returned to campus.

When get out of class ended, Mizuki Machi discovered something.

Eriri was resting with her eyes closed, lying on the table, not talking to her classmates as usual.

"Is this guy catching up on sleep from staying up all night?"

His assumption was perfectly reasonable.

That's just how girls are; once they've decided on something, they become very stubborn, especially when it's for their dreams. So it's not surprising that something like this happened.

"It seems I need to remind her to take care of her health. It would be best to ask Aunt Xiaobaihe to keep an eye on her."

Mizuki Machi shook his head, pondering to himself.

Eriri is physically weak, and there were signs of this when she was in elementary school. She would take leave from school almost every month. If she continues to overwork herself, she might fall seriously ill one day, which would be a loss.

During lunch break.

After finishing his lunch, he was feeling bored when a thought suddenly struck him.

"Why don't we take this opportunity to practice our names?"

This idea actually goes against his usual lazy style.

But perhaps it was the girl's determination that moved him, and he was also pushed forward.

So he took out his notebook and started drawing on it with a pencil.

Memories related to it began to flash through his mind. Although they were not all clear, perhaps because he was a soul who had lived two lives, he was able to recall the general content of the story.

The story he chose based on Eriri's style wasn't a manga, but a fairly well-known healing anime. The plot was simple and suitable for both men and women. While fitting the style of the magazine he was submitting to, it wouldn't seem too abrupt as the debut work of a middle school group.

The only problem is that we need to create a NAME that is just like an adaptation of the original manga.

But it doesn't matter, even if it's as abstract as a stick figure, it's fine, since it's just for use as a draft anyway.

"Huh, Mizuki-san, are you... drawing a manga?"

Just as he was getting into his drawing, a gentle voice sounded from his side and behind him.

6. Their respective progress

"call......!"

The sudden sound almost startled Mizuki Machi.

He turned around and saw that the speaker was a female classmate he knew fairly well. She had long, beautiful, and smooth black hair, a gentle and petite appearance, and looked very well-behaved.

"Takasago-kun, don't suddenly start talking to people, it's kind of scary."

"Sorry, sorry~ I was just too curious and accidentally interrupted your creative process!"

Chie Takasago clapped her hands and said with a smile.

Contrary to her appearance, the girl has a very easygoing personality.

"It's not exactly creative work, just some random doodles... But can you even tell?"

Kanzuki Masashi was somewhat speechless.

His drawings, apart from having a comic book-like framework, actually depict characters, backgrounds, and panel layouts that are somewhat indescribable.

"Have you forgotten?! I'm a huge light novel and manga enthusiast. Even though your drawing is a bit terrible, the essence of manga can't escape my discerning eye..."

Takasago Chie's tone was slightly proud.

Yes, the girl is also an ACG culture enthusiast, and her family runs a bookstore that specializes in selling comics and light novels.

In this life, Mizuki Machi met the other person when she was buying manga at Takasago Bookstore, but it wasn't until they became classmates in junior high school that they started to keep in touch.

"You're really quite impressive."

He couldn't help but offer a compliment.

"So, Mizuki-san, are you planning to become a manga artist?"

The girl leaned closer, covered her mouth with one hand, and whispered in his ear.

"Well, that's right."

He looked up and thought for a moment.

"Really!"

At this moment, Takasago Chie made a shocked expression.

She was obviously joking when she said that.

Because she had some understanding of this, she was well aware of how difficult it was to become a cartoonist.

"Mitsuki-kun, do you have absolutely no drawing skills? What's driving you to daydream like this? Please don't think that becoming a manga artist is just about fooling readers. Putting aside interesting stories, at least draw something that looks like a human!"

Several black lines seemed to appear on his forehead.

This guy really has no tact when it comes to talking.

"I already said, it was just a casual sketch, the actual artist is someone else."

"I see, it's NAME... Wait, could it be..."

Takasago Chie suddenly realized, and then a flash of inspiration struck her. She looked at the blonde beauty in the front row of the classroom and quickly made a connection.

She met Eriri under similar circumstances, so she knew they were from the same world, plus their renowned painting skills...

"Shhh."

Mizuki Machi put her finger to her lips as a gesture.

"Takasago, it's fine if you guessed it yourself, but don't say it out loud, or it will cause trouble again."

Eriri experienced a lot of pressure in elementary school because of her love for otaku culture, and even now, he doesn't think Eriri's resilience has increased much.

In particular, the dream of becoming a cartoonist, which is out of reach in the eyes of some people, will definitely be ridiculed by many.

There's nothing we can do about the atmosphere.

Of course, this was Eriri's own doing; there are some things she could have simply ignored.

The girl in front of you is a perfect example of Eriri's personality, both positive and negative. Perhaps it is because of her status as the bookstore heir that she dares to share her favorite manga and light novels with others, or more accurately, to openly promote them and encourage others to buy them from her family's bookstore.

"No problem, I'm very tight-lipped, I'll treat this as a secret between us."

Chie Takasago winked at him playfully.

Why be so ambiguous?

He glanced at the girl.

"Then, I won't bother you any longer."

The girl waved gently and drifted away.

After a little incident.

Mizuki Machi lowered her head and began to draw diligently again.

Mastering a skill is very difficult, especially an art like painting. Without years of practice, it's hard to produce anything worthwhile.

Only then did he realize how difficult Eriri's journey had been, and understand how persistent she was in her pursuit of drawing and how deep her obsession was with proving herself through 'manga'.

All of this has a cause and effect.

His involvement was partly due to the influence of that other person.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Shinji Mizuki's life has changed a lot compared to before.

In order to draw a better NAME, he began to use a lot of his free time to practice comics. At first, he was a little unaccustomed to it, but he was able to persevere quickly.

Anyway, it wouldn't take long, so he set his standard at a passing level, enough for Eriri to understand. Anything more advanced was unnecessary for him, and too tiring. He didn't have the kind of effort to completely dedicate his life to something.