Chapter 39: Look Back
Kaji Keiko returned to the company and parked the company car in the parking lot.
She carried the manuscript paper upstairs and used the company’s dedicated scanner to scan the manuscript paper into a high-definition digital version.
Then, she printed an extra copy of the manuscript.
After all, repeatedly flipping through it would damage the paper, and the hand-drawn manuscript paper was only one of a kind.
She organized the manuscript and left it at the company. Kaji Keiko took the printed copy, left the company, and took a taxi back.
Coming to the company on the weekend counted as overtime, and taking a taxi home from the company could be reimbursed.
Kaji Keiko lived in an ordinary apartment, but the room number was a bit unlucky: 404.
Entering the room, it had a 1LDK layout, that is, a living room, kitchen, and bathroom—the most common single-person apartment room.
There was a wall of bookshelves in the room, fully packed with various manga books.
Kaji Keiko sat at the desk and carefully read through the printed manga draft page by page, holding a red pen in her hand and occasionally making marks on it.
Previously, when exchanging ideas with Sakamoto Sensei, Kaji Keiko had only admired his creation speed and talent, but now she was moved by the man himself.
Sakamoto Sensei had been relying only on himself since middle school, living in expensive Tokyo.
She thought of herself.
Coming from a small city in northern Yamagata Prefecture to Tokyo, her family ran a ramen shop in Tsuruoka City, where there were almost no tourists, so they could only do neighborhood business with low profits, just enough to get by.
So, her family couldn’t provide much financial support.
Most people in Yamagata Prefecture have heard of it, after all, there’s Ghibli’s animated film《Tales of Time》, with the story background in Yamagata Prefecture.
However, this movie also deepened people’s stereotypes of Yamagata Prefecture: countryside.
After all, the story’s protagonist was an office worker who took ten days off to experience countryside life in Yamagata Prefecture.
As for the name Tsuruoka City…
If you asked 100 people on the street, the only one who might say “Oh, I know” would be a Chinese tourist, then say houses there are very cheap…
When she was in university, she relied entirely on her part-time job and applying for a scholarship to make it to graduation.
By the way, she still hasn’t paid off the scholarship yet.
After all, Japan’s university scholarships are basically loan-type scholarships that must be repaid after graduation, even with interest.
But overall, she was still much better off than Sakamoto Sensei.
At least her first semester’s tuition and living expenses were covered by her family.
Her previous work had been canceled, but after several months, she finally found a treasure of a writer. Kaji Keiko was now full of energy.
She had to make Sakamoto Sensei’s work a best-seller!
……
Sakamoto Ken held a pencil in his hand, spinning it casually.
His mind recalled the various works he had seen in his previous life.
Manga, novels, film and animation—he had seen quite a few.
But for short stories, his impression was that 18+ ones were more common.
He didn’t look at these to enlighten himself; purely because this type of work excelled in human body depiction, from which he could learn some drawing techniques.
After all, the three girls around him had already drained his kidneys, so where would he have spare energy to waste on himself.
Besides this type of work, there were manga adaptations based on novels, like《Penguin Highway》, but the original novel was published before 2015 and already existed.
There was also《Land. -On the Motion of the Earth-》, a very profound work, but its length far exceeded 300 pages.
After thinking it over.
Although he always picked on one person to draw from, it felt a bit unfair.
But…
Sorry about this, Tatsuki Fujimoto Sensei.
He believed you could create even greater works.
Sakamoto Ken wrote a book title on the paper.
《Look Back》.
This work was the first short manga to win first place in《This Manga Is Amazing!》.
He remembered this manga was first published on the JUMP+ platform in 2021 and topped the hot searches within a day.
Unlike《Fire Punch》 and《Chainsaw Man》, which were（physically） intense with combat and hot-blooded elements,《Look Back》 was a purely realistic manga.
Two girls who loved drawing met, separated, and then… parted forever.
In a short length of just over a hundred pages, it depicted a life spanning ten years.
At the time, Tatsuki Fujimoto Sensei already had high popularity from《Fire Punch》 and《Chainsaw Man》, which was one reason, but more importantly, the work was moving enough.
Sakamoto Ken wrote the manga’s theme on the paper:
「A youth growth story engraved in each other’s lives.」
Without pause, Sakamoto Ken spread out the manuscript paper, the illustrations from his memory appeared before his eyes, and he picked up the pen to draw on the paper.
Until the sky gradually darkened and the alarm clock on his mobile phone rang.
6:30, half an hour until his evening part-time job.
Sakamoto Ken put down the pen and organized the manuscript he had completed that afternoon.
In nearly four hours, he finished the first 9 pages, including inking, background, and all processes, ready to submit directly.
At this efficiency, he could complete the whole thing within two weeks.
Sakamoto Ken put down the pen, went to the shared restroom to wash the ink off his hands, casually fixed his hair, and went downstairs toward the convenience store for his part-time job.
As expected, through the convenience store’s glass door, he saw Natsume Mio standing inside.
……
From 6 p.m., Natsume Mio had been watching the street outside the store.
Finally, she saw the figure she had been waiting for.
When there were no customers in the afternoon, she chatted a lot with Store Manager Grandma. Store Manager had been a very charming beauty back then, and according to her, she had even won over a magazine male model.
Now Natsume Mio felt her mind was full of romance techniques, strong to a terrifying degree.
The shop door opened automatically. After Sakamoto Ken entered and greeted the store manager first, his gaze turned to Natsume Mio, who had a strange smile on her face.
Store Manager Grandma chuckled and said, “A Jian, if you haven’t eaten dinner, pick a bento yourself.”
“Yeah, thanks, Store Manager.”
As usual, Sakamoto Ken went to the refrigerated cabinet with bentos, selected a lower-priced meat mince bento.
“A Jian, give it to me, I’ll heat it up for you~” Natsume Mio stood behind the counter, her voice rising at the end.
She took Sakamoto Ken’s bento, turned to put it in the microwave oven, and as the microwave ran, their eyes met.
But it didn’t last long; a customer came to check out, and Sakamoto Ken stepped aside to let them through.
The microwave dinged, the bento was heated, and he took it from Natsume Mio’s hand and sat in the corner of the dining area.
Nearing seven o’clock, Sakamoto Ken went to the changing room to change into the convenience store uniform.
Just as he came out of the changing room, the store manager beckoned to him.
“A Jian, come here. It’s Sunday today, tomorrow lots of magazines will be on sale, the store’s bookshelves and that pile of removed books are quite messy. You and Mio sort them out together,” Store Manager Grandma said.
Natsume Mio immediately agreed: “Sure, we’ll clean it up right now!”
Sakamoto Ken nodded without saying much. He stood in front of the magazine shelf and looked; the books on it were indeed messy today, with some magazines placed on top of others, some upside down, not neatly arranged.
Arranged like this, customers couldn’t spot the book they wanted at a glance.
“A Jian, you’re familiar with the store, teach Mio how to arrange the magazine section,” the store manager came over and added.
“It’s simple, just remember a few orders.”
Sakamoto Ken was about to continue when the store manager put her hands behind her back and walked to the shop entrance.
The glass door opened automatically, and she said to the two, “The store is yours now. Mio, ask A Jian if you don’t know something—he’s very familiar with it. I have some things at home, so I’m heading back first.”
“Got it, Store Manager, don’t worry, we’ll take good care of the store~” Natsume Mio smiled brightly and waved to the store manager.
Natsume Mio turned her body slightly, looked back suddenly, and her ponytail swung along with it.
The girl still kept an eight-tenths full smile, her gaze fixed straight on Sakamoto Ken’s face.
