Chapter 77: Senior Haruna, Please Take Care Of Me
Mikazuki Haruna felt that Natsume Mio looked familiar as soon as she saw her.
“Huh? It’s you?” Mikazuki Haruna said, “We took a photo together outside last time, right?”
Natsume Mio smiled slightly and nodded, saying: “That’s right. I’ve been following Miyuki Haru Sensei’s works lately.”
“That’s great, thanks for the support~” Mikazuki Haruna said, looking inside the lobby and then asking, “If you’re here at Shueisha… are you a writer too?”
“Mm-hmm~” Natsume Mio shook her head in an upturned tone, smiling faintly and saying, “No, I’m a voice actor.”
“Voice actor!” Mikazuki Haruna asked, “A voice actor, no wonder you’re at Shueisha. Um… which work are you voicing?”
Natsume Mio stared into Mikazuki Haruna’s eyes this time, saying word by word: “It’s 《Chainsaw Man》.”
“Eh?” Mikazuki Haruna was slightly startled. “It’s Sakamoto Ken Sensei’s work. Is he… about to get an animation adaptation?”
“No, it’s just voice acting for a promotional short video, but I’ll definitely become a Chainsaw Man animation voice actor too.” Natsume Mio said.
“I see… I thought it was getting animated.” Mikazuki Haruna nodded and said.
“It will get animated. I’m really confident in Chainsaw Man~” Natsume Mio continued, “Of course, Miyuki Haru Sensei’s 《Young Lady, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose!》 is great too. I’m really looking forward to the plot after the Doctorate appears.”
Mikazuki Haruna had originally thought Natsume Mio was just being polite about following her works, but hearing her mention the plot from the manga, she realized she was really reading it.
The other was a voice actor and her own reader, so Mikazuki Haruna became a bit more enthusiastic.
“The plot you mentioned will update this Wednesday. Remember to follow up reading then.” Mikazuki Haruna said, “Also, I’m going to serialize in the JUMP main magazine. This time I came to…”
“Eh, Chief Editor, you’re here.” Mikazuki Haruna’s gaze passed over Natsume Mio, looking toward the inner side of Shueisha’s first floor lobby.
Natsume Mio turned to look. It was a middle-aged man in a formal suit. She hadn’t seen him before, but hearing Mikazuki Haruna say he was the Chief Editor, that was Editor Kaji’s boss.
The middle-aged man walked over hurriedly: “Miyuki Haru Sensei, come upstairs with me. Um… who’s this?”
“Hello, Chief Editor!” Natsume Mio immediately gave a slight bow to Ono Tomohiro and introduced herself, “I’m Natsume Mio, the voice actor for the 《Chainsaw Man》 promotional short. Editor Kaji asked me to come today.”
“Oh oh, Natsume-san, I heard about you from Kaji. She has some good ideas, wants to do some cosplay performance.” Ono Tomohiro nodded and said.
“Cos?” Mikazuki Haruna looked at Natsume Mio doubtfully.
Natsume Mio just kept smiling without elaborating.
Ono Tomohiro answered instead: “Natsume-san is probably going to cosplay Makima for volume promotion, right? I’m counting on you.”
“No problem, it’s what I should do.” Natsume Mio said.
Mikazuki Haruna was still muttering “So it’s cosplay,” then followed Ono Tomohiro inside.
At this moment, Natsume Mio called out to her: “Hey wait, Miyuki Haru Sensei, can we add LINE?”
She had already quickly pulled out her mobile phone and opened the QR code for adding friends.
Mikazuki Haruna’s gaze scanned Natsume Mio up and down. Thinking that she was actually a voice actor for A Jian’s work and was going to do cosplay, she felt a bit… uneasy.
Mikazuki Haruna took out her mobile phone from her crossbody bag and scanned the code to add her as a friend.
“Thanks, Miyuki Haru Sensei~ I’ll continue supporting your works.” Natsume Mio waved to Mikazuki Haruna, watching her and Chief Editor Ono Tomohiro walk inside.
Natsume Mio left Shueisha. Since she was already in Chiyoda, she wandered around casually.
Leaving Jimbocho, crossing the Kanda River next to Ochanomizu, in about twenty minutes, she arrived at Akihabara.
She watched a lot of animation, but rarely bought merchandise and had never tried cosplaying anime characters.
Of course, this was up to now. In those memories, she and A Jian often played cos when they were together.
When wearing a set of anime character’s clothing, she felt like she became her, unconsciously role-playing, speaking and acting in her tone. A Jian liked that sensation too.
On Akihabara’s streets, cosers could be seen passing by from time to time, but most cosers, well…
They just didn’t seem very serious.
Aside from the wig, their whole body wasn’t recreating the character at all, even just covering the key points and exposing large areas of skin, posing seductively there.
Not just cosers, there were all kinds of maid outfits too, many handing out flyers and small cards to passersby.
Something like Makima’s outfit was a very normal shirt and trousers set. Without that vibrant hair color, it would be fine even for commuting.
But if A Jian’s work got an animation adaptation and aired, there would definitely be cos like that too—just wearing Makima’s wig, dressed super revealing, and even such videos on weird websites… All big hit works end up like that, right?
Would A Jian like that?
No.
A Jian was a serious writer drawing serious works.
Hmm… If he really liked it, I wouldn’t mind doing it at home…
Natsume Mio wandered casually in the Animate store, standing in front of the magazine rack and looking at Weekly Shonen JUMP, mainly flipping to the 《Chainsaw Man》 page for a glance.
She had actually seen the web version many times already, but seeing A Jian’s work in a physical bookstore made her especially proud.
After all, it was a work she was involved in too.
After browsing the store, Natsume Mio didn’t buy any books. Now, none of the manga she saw seemed as good as Chainsaw Man; they were uninteresting.
It had been over an hour since leaving Shueisha, so Natsume Mio planned to take the train back.
But at that moment, a LINE message notification came on her mobile phone.
「Miyuki Haru」
“Huh?” Natsume Mio was stunned seeing the sender’s name, then quickly tapped in.
Miyuki Haru: 「Hi, Natsume-san~ I just talked to the editor. She said you’re a student at Kanzaki Art Academy too. Really?!」
Natsume Mio: 「Yeah, but school hasn’t started yet. I just graduated high school.」
Natsume Mio: 「Huh? Miyuki Haru Sensei, are you at Kanzaki Art Academy too?」
Miyuki Haru: 「Yep! So I guess I’m your senior. I’ll be in second year after school starts.」
Natsume Mio: 「What a coincidence. I’m in the Vocal Music Department. Is Miyuki Haru Sensei in the Art Department?」
Miyuki Haru: 「Yeah yeah, don’t call me Miyuki Haru Sensei anymore. My name is Mikazuki Haruna. Just call me Haruna. Nice to meet you~ I can show you around campus when school starts. Our campus is pretty big.」
Natsume Mio: 「Thanks, Haruna-senpai. Please take care of me!」
Miyuki Haru: 「Likewise, please take care of me~」
……
Mikazuki Haruna came out of Shueisha. Today she had driven herself, but didn’t head straight to the parking lot.
Haruna turned back and walked straight to the front desk in the first floor lobby.
Looking around, no one nearby, Mikazuki Haruna lowered her voice and said to the front desk girl: “I have a matter I want to ask you to help with. I can give you some remuneration. Is that okay?”
The front desk girl asked doubtfully: “Sensei, if there’s anything you need, just tell me directly. I’ll contact someone for you.”
“No no, it’s a private matter.” Mikazuki Haruna took out her mobile phone, opened a video screenshot, and showed it to the front desk girl.
This was a recording from the last live broadcast event, right at the shot zoomed in and focused on Sakamoto Ken’s face.
“Do you know him?” Mikazuki Haruna asked.
“This is…” The front desk girl thought for a moment and said, “Oh oh, I’ve seen him. It’s Sakamoto Ken Sensei.”
Mikazuki Haruna grinned and said: “Exactly. Next time he comes to the office, can you send me a message? This is my LINE friend code.”
“Eh?”
“30,000 yen once.”
“Uh, this…”
“50,000.”
“The company has rules, I mean…”
“100,000.”
“Sure!”
