Chapter 129: Romance, Like Fishing
Sato Kenta explained to everyone: “Haven’t you all been reading JUMP lately?! The new serialization 《Chainsaw Man》, its author is this Sakamoto Ken classmate! He started serializing in JUMP right after graduating high school!”
“Weekly Shonen JUMP?”
“Is that real or fake?!”
“Has anyone from our Art Department ever made it into the main JUMP magazine before?”
The office immediately filled with gasps and murmurs.
At that moment, Mikazuki Haruna interrupted everyone’s discussion: “What do you mean no one has made it into JUMP? My manga is serializing in JUMP at the same time as his!”
At these words, everyone’s gazes focused back on Mikazuki Haruna.
A girl muttered softly: “Mikazuki Department Head… I remember, at the end of last semester, your manuscript wasn’t just rejected from the monthly award?”
Mikazuki Haruna’s cheeks instantly flushed red, and she immediately denied it: “W-what monthly award! I never entered it!”
She forcibly changed the subject, put her hands on her hips, and raised her voice: “Anyway! You all, go read 《Young Lady, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose!》 this manga right now! Did you hear me!”
The Sato who had recognized Sakamoto Ken earlier touched his chin thoughtfully, mumbling: “I remember it, the author is Miyuki Haru… Miyuki Haru… Mikazuki Haruna…”
“Right, the pen name Miyuki Haru is just three characters from the Department Head’s name!”
“So dumb! Only noticing now!” Mikazuki Haruna said this, but a proud smile appeared on her face.
“So that means… our Art Department now suddenly has two manga artists serializing in JUMP?!”
“That’s amazing!”
Mikazuki Haruna greatly enjoyed this feeling of being the center of attention, and she proudly patted Sakamoto Ken’s shoulder, as if showing off her trophy: “Of course!”
She said to everyone: “Whatever, I’m not talking to you all anymore, I still need to take Sensei Sakamoto Ken to properly tour our campus.”
With that, she took Sakamoto Ken’s hand again and walked out of the office amid everyone’s envious gazes.
……
Sakamoto Ken followed Mikazuki Haruna out the side door of the Art Department Building and stepped onto a tree-lined path.
Away from the noisy crowd just now, the surroundings immediately became much quieter.
Mikazuki Haruna let out a long breath and said: “So, how is it? Our school isn’t bad, right? There are lots of scenic spots, and our Art Department often organizes outdoor sketching classes.”
Sakamoto Ken just nodded calmly, without responding.
He was naturally extremely familiar with the environment of this school.
In his previous life, he had spent four years here.
He and Mio often dated in the small grove, of course, limited to light kissing and hugging.
For more intimate matters, Sakamoto Ken hadn’t been bold enough to do them in the campus where people could pass by at any time.
However, the school clearly wasn’t short on people with even bigger guts.
He remembered one time, while taking a walk with Mio on campus at night, they accidentally spotted the shadows of a couple shaking in the woods; it wasn’t clear, but the sounds were obvious.
The other pair didn’t stop or evade at all even after being discovered, and instead seemed even more excited, with their actions becoming more intense.
At the time, Sakamoto Ken hurriedly pulled Mio away from the scene…
As for him and Mikazuki Haruna…
In his previous life, the two of them didn’t interact much at school.
Most of the time, after class, Sakamoto Ken would directly get in her car and go to some place off-campus.
After all, at that time, he needed to conceal this relationship from Natsume Mio.
“Haruna.” Sakamoto Ken shook the arm she was gripping tightly and said softly, “Can you let go now? It feels like my arm is about to be pinched red.”
Ever since leaving the office, Mikazuki Haruna had been tightly gripping his arm.
Hearing this, she reluctantly let go.
The girl turned her head, her bright eyes fixed tightly on Sakamoto Ken, and asked: “Hey, I want to ask you something.”
Sakamoto Ken stopped, turned to face her: “Go ahead.”
Mikazuki Haruna took a deep breath, stared straight into his eyes, and asked: “You and her… that Natsume Mio, you wouldn’t have already confirmed your relationship, right?”
Hearing this, Sakamoto Ken’s mouth curved into a playful arc, and instead of answering, he asked: “What do you think?”
“What do I think??” Mikazuki Haruna was stunned by his counter-question, feeling even more uncertain.
Sakamoto Ken shrugged, said in a relaxed tone: “Of course not, otherwise why would I come here with you?”
“Oh… yeah, that’s true.” Hearing this answer, Mikazuki Haruna inexplicably let out a sigh of relief.
However, just as she let her guard down, Sakamoto Ken suddenly restrained his smile, took a small step forward, closing the distance between them.
He lowered his head slightly, his gaze sharply locking onto Mikazuki Haruna’s eyes.
Sakamoto Ken’s expression became serious, and he asked in a deep voice: “Asking a question like that, you wouldn’t be…”
Mikazuki Haruna was caught off guard by his sudden change in demeanor and instinctively took half a step back.
Then, Sakamoto Ken’s words followed: “You wouldn’t be thinking of confessing to me, right?”
“C-confess?!” Pressured by Sakamoto Ken’s tone, Mikazuki Haruna said somewhat panicked: “What are you talking about, I didn’t say I was going to confess to you!”
Her gaze darted away, her mind turned, and she stared at Sakamoto Ken: “Eh? Could it be A Jian, you’re the one confessing to me?”
Before Sakamoto Ken could speak, she continued: “I’m telling you, even though your manga is great and you’re pretty handsome, I’m very strict about this stuff, I absolutely won’t just casually agree…”
“Eh?!”
Mikazuki Haruna saw Sakamoto Ken walk right past her toward the front.
“I have a clear goal right now, so I’m not considering that kind of thing for the time being.” Sakamoto Ken said.
From the moment he said that earlier line, Sakamoto Ken had already thought about his current words.
This girl clearly had such soft lips, but she was so stubborn.
And it just happened to fit Sakamoto Ken’s expectations.
Romance is just like fishing.
You need bait, and once the fish bites, you can’t yank hard.
You have to go with the fish’s pull, reeling in and letting out.
She hurriedly caught up with quick steps, chasing Sakamoto Ken and asking: “So what is your goal?”
“My goal is to become a manga master.” Sakamoto Ken said.
“Manga master, huh…”
Mikazuki Haruna repeated the term, remembering that she seemed to have had such thoughts too.
That was back when she had just started drawing 《Young Lady》, when she wasn’t sure if Sakamoto Ken, this “dream lover,” really existed, thinking it was just Lord Benzaiten’s dream guidance, like divine help.
So she resolved to become a woman who would be a manga master.
Eh? Thinking about it carefully, something feels off…
