Chapter 32: The Perfect Manga Assistant
Mikazuki Haruna put her mobile phone aside and let out a long sigh.
The experiences in her dream were too bizarre; even though she had never seen them in reality, she became the closest lover in the dream and had such a real experience that she still thought about him after waking up…
She hadn’t even had her first experience in reality.
There must be something wrong with this.
She decided to add Sakamoto Ken as a friend and observe him closely from a distance until she figured out the situation.
Now, there were more important things to do.
Haruna refocused her attention on the computer screen in front of her.
To surpass 《Chainsaw Man》, the current illustrations wouldn’t be enough.
She felt that the plot and storyboards were already well done by 《Young Lady》.
What she could do now was to elevate her drawing skills to the extreme.
On the screen was an email, with attachments that contained the resumes and portfolios of several manga assistants that Chief Editor Ono Tomohiro had helped her select according to her request.
She wanted to hire four assistants, with one of them serving as the assistant leader.
This was the Chief Editor’s suggestion; a team of assistants needed a leader to guide them, otherwise, the mangaka would have to worry about arrangements like who would draw which part, which would be too taxing.
All of these candidates were female and specialized in drawing beautiful girl characters.
Haruna opened each email one by one and carefully reviewed them.
Some had a drawing style leaning towards traditional shoujo manga, while others were closer to moe styles. Although their skill levels were decent, she always felt…
Something was missing.
Until she clicked on the attachment for the candidate named “Shijiyuan”.
The portfolio in the attachment immediately caught her eye.
It was a series of color illustrations.
The first one depicted a short-haired girl in a classic black and white maid outfit, looking down at the camera as she elegantly lifted the hem of her skirt to reveal pure white triangle underwear beneath.
Haruna examined it carefully for a moment before scrolling down.
The second one featured a single-ponytail JK girl, looking back, her skirt bunched up at her waist. The pink accent, along with the distortion of the curves, and even the wrinkles, were all drawn with clear precision.
The third one was a blonde nun, wearing a nun’s habit, gently lifting one foot clad in white silk fabric, the hem of her skirt also rising.
The fourth one showed an office lady with round glasses, kneeling on the floor, lifting her tight skirt and turning her head to look at the camera.
The common point in each drawing was that the beautiful girls in the pictures all wore disgusted expressions, as if they were looking at some weakling.
But setting aside this peculiar fetish, the artist named “Shijiyuan” had incredible skill!
The handling of light and shadow, the anatomy, and the wrinkles of the clothing were all perfect.
She had practiced drawing these parts herself, but even when drawing in front of a mirror, she couldn’t achieve such detail.
The distortion and wrinkles of fabric formed by the movement and bending of limbs were particularly difficult to grasp.
Mikazuki Haruna immediately searched for Shijiyuan’s name on her browser and quickly found her Pixiv homepage.
She had been uploading her work on this platform since 2009.
Her early works were still a bit immature, but as time passed, her art style evolved at a visible pace.
Later, she seemed to have focused all her energy on the theme of “beautiful girls,” and her skills became more refined.
However, the illustrations she saw in the email earlier were not posted on her Pixiv homepage, indicating they were her latest, unpublished works.
“It’s her!”
Haruna immediately made up her mind.
Shijiyuan’s art style perfectly matched the effect she wanted to achieve.
After all, the selling point of the manga 《Young Lady, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose!》 was stated in its title, which was pantyhose!
The four illustrations from before were enough to fully showcase Shijiyuan’s mastery of pantyhose.
But she still had a slight doubt.
Mikazuki Haruna sent a message to the Chief Editor.
Miyuki Haru: 「Excuse me, Chief Editor, I’ve reviewed the assistant resumes you sent me. I wanted to ask, is this assistant named Shijiyuan… really a girl?」
As soon as the message was sent, Ono Tomohiro’s reply arrived.
Ono Tomohiro: 「I’ve met her. She’s a girl about your age, and her drawing skills are very impressive.」
Miyuki Haru: 「That’s good to hear. It would be a bit inconvenient to have a male assistant at my place.」
Ono Tomohiro: 「Don’t worry. Her drawings are great, aren’t they? Both the texture of the clothing and the expressiveness of the human body are outstanding. Some editors have talked to her about debuting as a manga artist, but unfortunately, her storytelling lacks a bit. When you said you were looking for an assistant who was good at drawing beautiful girls, she was the first person I thought of.」
Seeing the Chief Editor’s high praise, Haruna no longer hesitated.
Miyuki Haru: 「Then I’ll hire her as my assistant leader!」
Ono Tomohiro: 「You should contact her quickly. I heard Shijiyuan-san is currently preparing for her own doujinshi and plans to release it in the summer. However, I believe if you offer her a sufficiently generous compensation, she will surely accept.」
Miyuki Haru: 「Alright! I’ll email her right away!」
After finishing the conversation with the Chief Editor, Mikazuki Haruna immediately began drafting an email.
She was confident that Shijiyuan could elevate the artwork of 《Young Lady》 by several levels.
Maybe it would become popular.
For the assistant leader, she must show the utmost sincerity!
In the salary column, Haruna thought for a moment and increased the daily wage, which already exceeded the market price of 30,000 yen, by another 10,000.
……
In an ordinary apartment on the other side of Tokyo Metropolis.
A girl with shoulder-length short hair was organizing stacks of drawings in her room.
Her pen name was “Shijiyuan.”
A yellow sticky note was attached to the bottom edge of her computer screen, with a line written in marker:
「Comic Market 88!」
She was preparing for her first doujinshi.
She had already decided on the title for her doujinshi, which was—
《I Really Want Someone to Look at My Underwear with a Disgusted Expression》.
She planned to release this art book at C88, held in August of that year.
C88, full name Comic Market 88, was the world’s largest doujin convention, where countless creators realized their dreams.
Shijiyuan also hoped to earn enough funds through this exhibition to continue her creative pursuits and escape her reliance on her family.
Although her family’s financial situation was decent, she didn’t want to keep asking her parents for money.
Previously, she had considered submitting her work and debuting as a manga artist.
But after the editors read her manuscripts, their opinions were almost unanimous: the artwork was excellent, but the plot was too bland. It was perfect as illustrations, but not good enough as a manga.
Then she considered becoming a manga artist’s assistant, but after looking at job postings, the generally offered daily wage of around 10,000 yen didn’t interest her much. To earn money, she might as well take on a part-time job near her home.
Until today, the Chief Editor of JUMP, whom she had contacted a long time ago, sent her an email saying there was an assistant job opportunity with a daily wage of 30,000 yen.
30,000 yen!
She wasn’t interested in a daily wage of 10,000 yen, but 30,000 yen was definitely worth pursuing!
So, with a “let’s give it a try” attitude, she sent her latest few works.
“Ding dong.”
A new email notification popped up in the lower right corner of the computer.
Shijiyuan casually opened it. The sender was “Miyuki Haru.”
She quickly scanned the email content, and when her gaze fell on the salary column, her pupils contracted sharply.
「Daily Wage: 40,000 yen」.
A daily wage of 40,000 yen?!
And full reimbursement for travel expenses, with a dedicated nanny responsible for three meals and afternoon tea.
The work location was in Shoto, Shibuya Ward, a renowned affluent district in Tokyo.
Shijiyuan didn’t hesitate, quickly replied to the email, and flatly agreed to meet the mangaka teacher named Miyuki Haru for a detailed discussion.
Highly recommended is teacher 40hara’s 《I Really Want Someone to Look at My Underwear with a Disgusted Expression》.
Additionally, the plot in the book generally aligns with the real timeline. At this point in 2015, teacher 40hara was indeed preparing for a doujinshi release. It became a huge hit after its release, and later an anime was produced. Many people have probably seen that illustration of the maid lifting her skirt~ And teacher 40hara is indeed a female artist. （However, the specific plot is fictional.）
Alright, after recommending 40hara, who draws panties, I’ll also recommend Yom, who draws stockings, with their representative work being 《Stocking Vision》.
I originally wanted to include teacher Yom as an assistant, but that would require adding a gender-bender setting for teacher Yom, which is a bit awkward, very awkward… Or perhaps when Sakamoto Ken needs an assistant who draws stockings, emmm… Chainsaw Man doesn’t need one, but we could consider other plots. I genuinely love teacher Yom’s stockings.
This book, Lemon, intends to incorporate various realistic elements, and it largely adheres to the timeline. However, due to Sakamoto-sensei’s rebirth, various changes have occurred~
