Chapter 20: Why Am I So Bad?
Kanzaki Art Academy.
It was currently spring break, so there weren’t many people around the campus.
Mikazuki Haruna drove onto the path. This Pamir was not very convenient for turning even in the alley, so in the end she parked the car in the apartment’s parking lot.
Since she wasn’t a registered resident, she had to pay the temporary parking fee.
300 yen for 30 minutes, with a daily cap of 1500 yen on weekdays. Today was Sunday, so the cap was raised to 2000 yen.
Mikazuki Haruna wasn’t actually sure herself whether it was because she was familiar with the streets around here or because of the memories from the dream.
After turning the street corner, she arrived downstairs at this apartment building without taking any detours.
An utterly ordinary apartment, five stories tall, with an open lot serving as the parking lot.
In that dream about the future, she was his fan, particularly obsessed with this manga. After meeting offline, she learned his royalty fees were meager, so she directly gave him a tip.
The guy in her memory had even told her that thanks to the extra tip she gave, he could afford to live in a house like this.
Otherwise, Young Lady, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose! volume publication would have failed, and relying solely on serialization royalty fees, he would have nearly had to move back to the rundown apartment he used to live in.
Haruna had never asked him how rundown his previous place was; she only knew it was a house with monthly rent under 30,000 yen.
A house in Tokyo Metropolis with monthly rent under 30,000 yen—what could that be like?
She hadn’t asked much at the time, just told him not to worry about money in the future; if royalty fees weren’t enough, she was there, so he should just focus on drawing.
Though it sounded strange, in that dream, she had indeed been supporting this man named Sakamoto Ken…
Standing in front of the apartment main entrance, Haruna looked at the smart lock on the security door.
This lock could be opened in several ways.
Card swipe, key, or password.
She naturally didn’t have the first two, but the password…
Mikazuki Haruna skillfully entered six digits: 403403.
It didn’t have any special meaning; it was just the default password given by the apartment administrator to each resident—room number repeated twice. Back when he lived here, he hadn’t changed the default password.
When she pressed confirm, the door lock actually beeped and opened.
If before it was just that she felt her memory contained a complete manga work, which could be explained by a special dream.
But now… the password she knew from the dream actually worked in reality!
As the goddess in charge of literary talent, Lord Benzaiten couldn’t have sent the apartment password in a dream, right?
Right, that was possible too!
It must be that Lord Benzaiten wanted her to meet Sakamoto Ken directly and talk about manga creation face-to-face or something.
Mikazuki Haruna strode directly into the apartment building and arrived at room 403.
She first pressed her ear against it and listened; there was the sound of keyboard typing inside, indicating someone was home.
The room door could only be opened with a key, not a password lock; otherwise, Haruna felt she definitely could have opened it.
Standing at the doorway, Haruna took a deep breath and gently patted her chest.
She felt her heartbeat accelerating.
The memories in her mind felt just like real events that had happened.
She had supported him at first just for the work, as his loyal reader, to urge updates and discuss the manga’s content.
Then gradually… she fell for him.
Truth be told, that guy hit right on her aesthetic preferences, especially his stamina and endurance, like a bull that never tired no matter how much it plowed.
The only problem was that later she discovered he was seeing two other women behind her back…
Never mind that; first, she’d meet him!
Mikazuki Haruna directly rang the doorbell.
Soon, a voice came from inside: “Who is it?”
Huh?
Haruna’s brows furrowed slightly as she took a step back.
She had heard a woman’s voice.
Then, the door handle turned, and the room door was opened from inside.
Standing before her was a woman who looked to be in her twenties, not the Sakamoto Ken she had expected.
The woman looked at Mikazuki Haruna doubtfully and said, “Who are you looking for?”
Mikazuki Haruna blinked a few times, leaned to the side, and peered into the room.
Right, the layout of this apartment room was exactly the same as in her memory.
It was a typical 1LDK house: after opening the door, there was a small step leading to a small kitchen that could only use an induction cooker, with the bathroom on the side, then further in was a bedroom under 20 square meters, and a small balcony outside.
The two appliances visible in the room, the washing machine and refrigerator, were also exactly as she remembered.
She remembered that washing machine clearly because a few times she had been bent over it while he went particularly hard, loosening some internal part, causing the drum to always make strange noises; in the end, she had paid to replace it with a new one.
What was this woman’s relationship with him?
Girlfriend?
But she was a bit too old, and this appearance… not ugly or anything, but Mikazuki Haruna felt she wasn’t A Jian’s type.
Or maybe sister? Relative?
Mikazuki Haruna directly asked, “Hello, I’m looking for Sakamoto Ken. Does he live here?”
“Sakamoto Ken?” The woman’s brows furrowed slightly as she said, “I live alone; I don’t know any Sakamoto Ken.”
“Huh? That can’t be…”
Mikazuki Haruna continued to survey the room, certain she was familiar with every corner inside, since they were all places where she had fought.
“You must have the wrong place; Sakamoto Ken isn’t here.” After saying that, the woman directly closed the door.
Mikazuki Haruna looked around the aisle, her gaze lingering on the door.
She took another step forward, trying to peek inside through the cat’s eye.
But the cat’s eye was designed so only one side could see; from outside the door, it was just a blur.
Then she pressed her ear to the door, trying to hear that familiar voice from her memory.
“Click.”
The door lock was opened again, and Mikazuki Haruna hurriedly stepped back in fright.
“What’s your problem? I said Sakamoto Ken isn’t here; you have the wrong place. Please leave.” The woman said impolitely.
Mikazuki Haruna gave an awkward heh-heh smile and said, “Sorry, sorry, I might have the wrong place…”
She quickly walked toward the stairwell.
Earlier, the woman probably hadn’t gone back inside after closing the door but had stayed watching from behind the cat’s eye, then saw her approach the cat’s eye.
A stranger suddenly doing that outside the door would indeed confuse anyone…
After going downstairs, Mikazuki Haruna didn’t leave the apartment but went to the mailbox room behind the administrator’s room.
There were several rows of stainless steel mailboxes, one for each room, with the corresponding resident’s name posted on them.
She found room 403; the name was… Muto Yuko.
Never heard of her.
In her memory, this room was rented by Sakamoto Ken; the name here should have been his…
At that moment, a white-haired old man walked by, saw Mikazuki Haruna looking around the mailboxes, and came over to ask.
“Hello, are you looking for mail?” The old man glanced at Mikazuki Haruna and said, “You’re not a resident here, are you?”
“Are you this apartment building’s administrator?” Haruna said.
The old man nodded and said, “If there’s something, you can tell me. Please don’t try to open other residents’ mailboxes.”
“Ah… I wasn’t; I was just looking around…” Mikazuki Haruna felt like she was being treated as a bad person and quickly walked out.
“By the way, Mr. Administrator, I wanted to ask about room 403…”
Before she finished speaking, the administrator replied, “Oh, you saw the listing online, right? Are you looking to rent?”
“Eh… yes, yes! What’s the deal with that house?”
“Room 403—that lady has only lived here less than a month, but due to a work change, she has to move. She signed a one-year contract, though, so she’s looking to sublet at a low price to avoid paying a hefty breach of contract fee.” The administrator old man said.
So that’s how it was?!
Mikazuki Haruna felt a “ping” in her head and immediately figured it out.
At this point in her memory, A Jian’s financial situation shouldn’t have been great.
So he took over the lease from that woman, saving a big chunk of initial costs; the appliances in the room might have been left to him directly.
If things had developed as in the dream, he would have rented this place, no doubt.
But the problem was, everything had changed!
《Young Lady, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose!》—this manga had been published ahead of time by her!
That meant A Jian hadn’t created this manga, so he had no serialization royalty fee income.
Even less likely to rent this house.
Unless the Sakamoto Ken competing with her simultaneously on JUMP+ was the one from the dream…
She had thought that before, but judging from the style, it didn’t seem likely.
A manga artist’s personal style doesn’t change much from their initial publication.
She knew very well how big the differences were between 《Young Lady》 and 《Chainsaw Man》.
Plot, storyboard, character, dialogue style—everything was distinctly different.
She just particularly liked 《Young Lady》 out of personal preference, while 《Chainsaw Man》 was an excellent work in the popular sense.
Because I plagiarized his manga, he had no income source and could only continue living in the rundown apartment…
I don’t even know where that rundown apartment is.
Our initial meeting came from 《Young Lady》 this manga.
If he hadn’t published this manga, I wouldn’t even have had a chance to contact him.
This is bad; isn’t this all my fault?!
How could I be so mean?!
