Chapter 82: Sakamoto Ken’s Most Skilled Spot
Just now when Mikazuki Haruna went upstairs, Sakamoto Ken came to the door and looked outside through the cat’s eye.
He saw her looking around in the aisle, but she just strolled around once and then went downstairs.
At this moment, he heard the familiar footsteps again.
Sakamoto Ken came to the door again and checked the situation outside through the cat’s eye.
Soon, Haruna appeared in his view again.
This time, she clearly had a specific goal and came directly to the doorway of the room where Sakamoto Ken was.
The girl was wearing a cream-colored knit sweater on her upper body, with the hem tucked into layers of black cake skirt. Before her gaze even shifted to her legs, she suddenly tiptoed and leaned toward the cat’s eye.
In the cat’s eye convex lens, the girl’s face was magnified, her eyes wide open right in front of him.
After realizing she couldn’t see inside, she pouted her small mouth, stepped back, put her hands on her hips, and looked up and down at the room door.
Then she pressed her ear against it again.
Since she had already come to the door, it meant his address was exposed, and Sakamoto Ken had no intention of letting her just go back like that.
According to his current plan, he must take the initiative and grasp their weaknesses.
So while Haruna was secretly listening, Sakamoto Ken directly turned the doorknob and pushed the room door open.
“Eh?!”
Mikazuki Haruna stepped back two steps and let out a startled cry.
“Miyuki Haru Sensei, why did you come to my home?” Sakamoto Ken said.
“I… I…?!”
Mikazuki Haruna had only come today to follow and take a look; she had no intention of knocking to meet Sakamoto Ken. Now her mind went completely blank.
She couldn’t say she had been stalking, or she might be seen as some weird perverted woman.
Seeing Haruna’s reaction, Sakamoto Ken knew what was up.
This guy only plays to her strengths, acting all smug when dominating the situation.
But once the tide turns and she’s pinned down, she starts begging for mercy.
Being stared at so directly by Sakamoto Ken, Mikazuki Haruna’s corner of the mouth muscles twitched slightly. She gave an awkward laugh twice and said, “Hello, Sakamoto Sensei…”
As she spoke, she backed away.
Just as she turned to run, Sakamoto Ken grabbed her hand.
“You’ve come all this way, how can you just look and leave?” Sakamoto Ken pulled the girl back.
Mikazuki Haruna felt her wrist suddenly gripped by a familiar power, and her whole body shivered.
When Sakamoto Ken pulled her back to the door, he had already let go, but he noticed Haruna was still hooking his fingertip, just like in the previous life habitually.
After two or three seconds, she suddenly realized and quickly let go, putting her hands behind her back.
Mikazuki Haruna felt very guilty now, her gaze evasive. She thought of a barely explainable reason: “Because I was looking at Sakamoto Sensei’s work, so… I just wanted to exchange ideas about creation with Sakamoto Sensei…”
Sakamoto Ken didn’t press her on how she knew the address. That kind of pressing tone worked on little imps like Mio, stimulating her emotions and making her spill everything.
But that method didn’t work much on Haruna; if she didn’t want to say, pressing wouldn’t get it out of her.
Even if given a harsh lesson, she would grit her teeth, cry out stubbornly to the end, and even after total defeat, rest a bit and come back for revenge.
Then Sakamoto Ken would be out of options, after all, her combos ignored cooldown.
While he, no matter how strong, had to wait for skill cooldown.
Sakamoto Ken simply pushed the room door fully open and stepped half a step to the side.
“If it’s exchanging about creation, why not come inside?” Sakamoto Ken said.
Mikazuki Haruna was slightly startled and said, “Is that okay?!”
Though her mouth was still asking if it was okay, she had already stepped forward.
Mikazuki Haruna stood in the doorway’s shoe removal dust area, her heels together, about to rub off her shoes, but hesitated.
Sakamoto Ken looked down; this guy’s stockings style today was quite unique.
About 40D thickness, enough to faintly see the skin tone, but with binding-style black straps wrapped around the calves, adding layers to the overall look.
“Why not take off your shoes and come in?” Sakamoto Ken asked.
Mikazuki Haruna looked down at her feet, silent for a few seconds, and finally took off her shoes, stepping onto the wooden floor inside.
Her feet were very small, just a bit longer than Sakamoto Ken’s palm, wrapped in semi-transparent black silk fabric, looking a bit like chocolate treats.
Once inside, Mikazuki Haruna first glanced at Sakamoto Ken’s eyes for observation and found his gaze indeed downward, staring at her feet.
Hmph, you’re just like in my memory.
Haruna looked around, her eyes wide open; she had never seen a room in such an old apartment.
Sakamoto Ken letting her in completely disrupted her plan. Mikazuki Haruna stood on the tatami in the room, a bit at a loss.
Sakamoto Ken calmly said to her in a very calm tone: “Weren’t you going to chat about creation? Sit down and talk.”
He first sat cross-legged on one side of the low table and looked up at Mikazuki Haruna.
“Then… alright!”
Mikazuki Haruna carefully squatted down, then sat in a kneeling position, adjusting her skirt hem to spread neatly.
“Do you always live in a place like this drawing manga?” Mikazuki Haruna asked, even though she knew the answer.
“Correct, the environment doesn’t affect my creation,” Sakamoto Ken said.
“What about an assistant? Not together?” Mikazuki Haruna asked.
“I don’t need an assistant,” Sakamoto Ken replied.
“Eh?《Chainsaw Man》 was all done by Sakamoto Ken Sensei alone? And two chapters a week?” Mikazuki Haruna was somewhat surprised.
“You do two chapters a week too; it’s not that difficult,” Sakamoto Ken said.
“No, I hired four assistants, all with strong fundamentals,” Mikazuki Haruna said. “Doing it alone, you couldn’t finish so many detailed illustrations.”
“Is it mainly drawing that takes time? Plotting should be smooth,” Sakamoto Ken said.
“Plot… the ideas are indeed very smooth,” Mikazuki Haruna said with a somewhat forced smile.
“Is it because of Lord Benzaiten’s dream? You mentioned it on live broadcast before,” Sakamoto Ken went straight to the core.
“Ha… yeah, I dreamed of a story and then drew it…” Mikazuki Haruna said.
Sakamoto Ken continued: “We talked about it last time we met in the live stream; actually, I’ve had similar ideas.”
“Coincidence, definitely a coincidence,” Mikazuki Haruna said.
Sakamoto Ken nodded, got up, and went to the cabinet in the back, taking a sketchbook out of the drawer.
“I didn’t bring this sketchbook then; actually, for this idea, I drew some fragmented settings before,” Sakamoto Ken said, placing the sketchbook on the table.
Back when he had just been reborn, his mindset hadn’t recovered, and wanting to avoid them, he threw away the first few pages of manuscript for the 《Young Lady》 manga, but the sketchbook still had some related settings.
Besides, showing the original manuscript would be too shocking for her; that would directly reveal the “dream” explanation she was still clinging to.
Mikazuki Haruna suddenly felt the situation wasn’t good and started feeling guilty.
She stared at Sakamoto Ken’s hand flipping open the sketchbook. As it opened, a pencil sketch appeared: the heroine in pantyhose.
Though the lines in the sketchbook were rough, it was clear the character’s form and outfit matched her heroine perfectly.
Next to the character were drafts of pantyhose in various forms, exactly what she planned to draw in the later plot.
Flipping further, there were some close-up sketches Sakamoto Ken drew inspired from Pixiv, some paired with various styles of foot stockings.
At the time, to practice drawing, he chose the hardest part to master: the feet.
After all, the human body has 206 bones, 52 of which are in the feet.
Later, because he practiced that part the most, it became what Sakamoto Ken drew best…
Sakamoto Ken didn’t avoid it at all, generously showing these drawings to Mikazuki Haruna.
“Actually, the pantyhose idea came to me in high school during class, when I was slacking off researching foot drawing techniques in my notebook,” Sakamoto Ken said, looking at Mikazuki Haruna. “How about you, did you come up with your idea while researching feet too?”
“Ah? Me?” Mikazuki Haruna felt cornered by Sakamoto Ken; she couldn’t say it, nor not say it.
You’re a huge foot-fetish pervert, fine, but do I have to admit I’m one too now??
