Cartoonists and their assistants

"Really?"

Eriri instantly went from tears to laughter, overjoyed.

"Let's talk about it after we get off the bus."

The two looked around, and the various gazes from inside the tram made the girl feel embarrassed.

After getting off the bus, we arrived at a small garden.

Mizuki Machi took out a delicate little gift box from her bag.

"what is this?"

Eriri accepted it with both hands, her eyes filled with doubt.

"Hairband."

He smiled.

"You've been using the same headband for several years now, haven't you?"

"Yes, it was given to me by Gasang three years ago..."

The girl remembered this clearly, so even though the headband was old, she couldn't bear to replace it.

"It's time to get a new one."

"...Yes, I accept it. Thank you, Zhenzhi."

Eriri rubbed her moist eyes and said softly.

'They're still just kids...'

Seeing the change in her expression, Mizuki Machi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wait, Makoto, you did this on purpose! You were all prepared beforehand, just waiting to see me get anxious!"

However, it didn't take the girl long before she came to her senses and said angrily.

"Hahaha... You're just imagining things. I really just forgot. How could I forget your birthday? Okay, we've reached the intersection. We should part ways now."

Upon arriving at Detective Slope, the boy immediately quickened his pace, turned around, and hurried away.

"Stop right there, you idiot!"

Eriri stomped her feet in anger, but did not chase after them.

After seeing that the person had gone far away, she looked down at the gift box, covered it with her hands, and put on a silly smile.

"hey-hey......"

55 preheating

A few days later, the popularity rankings for episode 5 were released—

Eighth place.

They dropped three places, achieving their worst result ever.

After hearing this, Eriri just pouted and said, "Well, the plot of this chapter is just like that, so it's normal for it to decline."

Today, the girl has also begun to learn to view her achievements rationally.

It's normal for rankings to fluctuate due to plot arrangements; not every scene is a climax, unless it's a long-running work that has built up a large following.

"There might be a chance to surpass fifth place in the next chapter."

Kanzuki Makichi smiled and said.

"Probably? As long as no one else performs exceptionally well..."

Eriri cautiously asked and answered herself a question.

The content of episode six is ​​more impactful than that of episode four, and if portrayed well, it could be very moving.

However, the girl no longer dared to make any guarantees, because she realized that the top-ranked artists were all very talented comic artists, and it was really difficult to surpass them.

"More importantly, why hasn't there been any news about the sale of the collected volumes yet?!"

She was more anxious about this.

"It should be soon. Didn't Miss Minano say today?"

"I think about it for a moment and say."

Just then, both of their phones beeped simultaneously.

Minamoto Matsumura sent messages to both of them at the same time, saying that the official Twitter account of Monthly Shonen Gangan had released a message asking them to log in to their verified author accounts and release similar messages.

"finally come."

Eriri quickly clicked on the webpage and saw the newly released official information—

'The debut work of the youngest manga artist in history, Yuriko Tsukishita!'

The sale of "Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day Volume 1" has officially begun!

It has received widespread acclaim for its moving portrayal of friendship, family, and love!

Pre-order now for a chance to receive a free gift!

The book also includes a printed cover of the single volume, featuring Jinta Yadomi and Menma.

Of course, in addition to online promotions like those on Twitter, there will also be offline promotions such as bookstores and exhibitions.

According to Ms. Minano, because they have great potential, they receive much more publicity than other newcomers.

This is indeed true, so publishers will not give up on marketing this genuinely talented cartoonist.

"Hoo ho."

Eriri burst into laughter upon seeing this message.

"It's our turn to send it now. Have you thought about what you're going to say?"

"I am wise enough to remind you," said Guan Yuezhenzhi.

The magazine didn't require them to submit standardized articles, leaving them with 'freedom' space, clearly to allow the two to showcase their individuality.

As a junior high school student, one should be more assertive in order to gain the trust of readers.

"that......"

"Hello everyone, we are Yuriko Tsukishita. The first volume of our work 'Anohana' is about to be released. We hope you can support us!"

Eriri tapped her fingers together, looking somewhat hesitant.

"This is too ordinary, isn't it? This isn't like Eriri at all. You should be more arrogant."

Kanzuki Masashi scoffed.

"What the hell! What kind of person do you take them for!"

The girl bit her lip, revealing her cute little white tiger teeth, her pupils contracted, and she blushed slightly.

"In that case, how about we do it the same way as before, with each of us saying one sentence?"

"Okay, that's it."

A few minutes later.

Yuriko Tsukishita's Twitter account also posted an update.

The preceding statement is a rather official one.

"We are a duo who debuted under the pen name Tsukishita Yuriko. The first volume of our book, Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, is now available for pre-order. I will randomly select ten people from the comments section below to receive a copy of the first volume, personally signed by us."

The following text is filled with personal emotions.

"This is our beginning, not the end. We will continue to bring you an even better reading experience! In the future, you will always remember our names!"

"By the way, aren't ten autographed copies a bit too few?"

Eriri turned to ask.

"Idiot, things are valued for their rarity. If they become commonplace, they lose their significance."

Mizuki Machi sneered.

What he was actually thinking was that it would be worthless then.

Doesn't that prevent him from secretly selling autographs?

"Oh right, at the company's annual party before..."

"That's different; your connections might come in handy."

"You guy..."

The girl's eyes held a hint of disdain.

A while after they finished tweeting, they refreshed the page.

There are already quite a few comments below.

"Here you go, Teacher Yuexia! I support you!"

"Go, Teacher Yuexia!"

"It's finally online! I've been following it, but it hasn't sent a single message. It's so disappointing."

"I love Yuexia's works, so I plan to buy three books! One to keep, one to read, and one to recommend."

"Teacher Yuexia, please interact with us more!"

"By the way, were these posted by two teachers together? The styles seem different."

There were practically no haters; the comments were mostly very friendly.

After all, they had never used this account before. It was only promoted by the official GANGAN account when they registered, which is equivalent to it being purified.

"It seems we already have quite a few fans. I hope everyone can keep their word."

Eriri was very satisfied.

"Now we have 20,000 followers. If each person buys two or three copies, that's enough."

"I am a joking man," said Mizuki Masachika.

Generally, the initial print run of a single volume is between 3 and 5 copies. The decision to cut losses or increase printing depends on the bookstores' sales volume.

The publisher's target for them was 50,000 copies, which can be considered a positive sign.

"How could you even say that!"

Eriri looked at her with disdain.

"Not everyone will follow this account. I believe many people will find out about it through other channels and buy it as a result."

The girl was also a reader, so she knew very well.

"I hope so."

He nodded.

At this point, the editor sent another message, asking them to fill in one-third of the blank space in the column by writing whatever they wanted.

Being a cartoonist is not an easy job.

Most comic magazines reserve one-third of the space every few pages for advertisements, and some of this space is reserved for recaps of previous events. Therefore, in order to comply with the publisher's requirements, comic artists must specifically leave this space during serialization.

However, when it came time to publish the collected volumes, since the content of the collected volumes was all from the magazine serialization, this corresponding 1/3 of the content was left blank in the collected volumes.

To fill the void, the authors had no choice but to make conversation in this space, which is how the "Casual Talk 1/3" column came about.

"I initially thought it was intentionally left out to help the cartoonist connect with the readers, but I never expected it to be like this..."

After learning about it, Eriri was speechless.

"I don't feel like there's anything to talk about."

Mizuki Machi also sighed helplessly.

But since it was a customary rule, the two of them couldn't refuse, so they racked their brains and wrote down whatever came to mind.