Chapter 86: I Have The Advantage Over You
The three of them, holding hand in hand.
The action was maintained for a full half minute before Sakamoto Ken was the first to let go.
To be honest, only now did he completely relax.
Because he had confirmed the most important point: although they had some memories about him, they did not remember each other’s appearances from the previous life.
Otherwise, how could they shake hands amicably? It would be good if they didn’t fight.
“Alright, I still need to rush the manuscript at this time,” Sakamoto Ken said to the two of them.
“A Jian, don’t you have manuscripts saved?” Natsume Mio scooted closer to Sakamoto Ken again, her arm already brushing against his side. “Actually, you don’t need to be in such a hurry, right? Take a rest, don’t wear out your body.”
“Huh? How much manuscript do you have?” Mikazuki Haruna asked doubtfully.
“The exact amount is a secret,” Sakamoto Ken said with a smile.
“Exactly, what can’t be disclosed is called a manuscript,” Natsume Mio chimed in.
She had actually already seen a lot of the later content, and now hearing Sakamoto Ken tell Miyuki Haru that his manuscript was a secret.
That meant… besides A Jian himself, only Editor and I knew about it.
You’re an outsider, of course A Jian wouldn’t tell you.
Seeing Mikazuki Haruna pouting her little mouth, Natsume Mio added: “You wouldn’t happen to have no manuscript at all, would you?”
“Of course I do,” Mikazuki Haruna said, her tone a bit forced.
If saying she had some, she did indeed, but at most just one chapter, and the rest were only storyboard drafts.
She had previously been remaking the earlier content, and now she also had very high demands for drawing. Even if her storyboard drafts were drawn quickly, processes like inking and background couldn’t be sped up.
Shijiyuan and the others were already working overtime every day; speeding up further would affect the quality.
Actually, Sakamoto Ken had deliberately said that to Mikazuki Haruna just now.
Not for the sake of secrecy, but considering that if this girl knew the huge gap between herself and him, she would probably feel a strong sense of defeat.
After all, Chainsaw Man had only updated to chapter 8 now, while the manuscript was already at chapter 18, and he had even completed a short story in between.
Mikazuki Haruna had a very strong desire to win. She was most motivated with a slight gap, but if she felt the gap was too big… this girl would just give up directly.
Anyway, she didn’t need to make money from manga. If her own manga completely stalled, and she came specifically to stare at him and urge updates, they’d be back on the old road from the previous life.
At that time, being locked in the black room to be urged for manuscripts, it wasted both brains and kidneys, and also caused several days of disappearance, having to make excuses to the other two about secluding in a suburban guesthouse to rush manuscripts…
Fortunately, he really was rushing manuscripts, and in the end could produce enough manuscripts to prove it, then sleep them into submission.
On the other hand, by saying this in front of both of them just now, it could make Natsume Mio feel like she was the most special existence, forming a sense of superiority over Haruna on the psychological level.
This was to give Natsume Mio an advantage; otherwise, with the opponent’s financial power, once she really started a money offensive and mobilized some family connections, it would be hard to deal with later on.
Don’t think Sakamoto Ken just casually said something; he had thought it through deeply.
Isn’t Tokyo being treated like a romance Galgame?
The previous life was the first playthrough, the initial run; getting a bad end was normal.
But no problem, now it’s the second round.
He was somewhat of a spoiler-sealer, with advanced knowledge about them.
Sakamoto Ken had already stood up and sat at the desk against the wall, placing a new manuscript paper on the desk.
Of course, he didn’t really plan to start drawing now, but turned around to look at Haruna and Mio.
“Are you in such a hurry?” Mikazuki Haruna asked.
Sakamoto Ken nodded matter-of-factly and said, “Manuscripts are of course better the more the better.”
Mikazuki Haruna looked at the tools on Sakamoto Ken’s desk and said, “You only need to prepare drawing tools? No references?”
“Reference for what?” Sakamoto Ken said.
“Human body, poses and such, you don’t even have a computer…”
When Mikazuki Haruna drew herself, she referenced 3D sketch dolls in specialized software for poses, and for details she looked for reference images or directly referenced herself in the mirror.
But in any case, some references were needed.
After all, it was manga being drawn, not artistic paintings.
Drawing speed was a very important point; without any references, adjustments and revisions would take a lot of time.
Moreover, she clearly remembered that Sakamoto Ken needed references for drawing.
CSP software, some art books, and sometimes even directly having her pose…
“I’ll buy a computer once the royalty fees come in, but I don’t need those references,” Sakamoto Ken said.
“No need for reference material either?” Mikazuki Haruna said.
Sakamoto Ken shook his head: “Chainsaw Man doesn’t focus on drawing details.”
“Oh…” Mikazuki Haruna nodded thoughtfully.
Completely different from what was in her memory.
Originally, A Jian should have been drawing Young Lady, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose!, but now it had become Chainsaw Man, with a completely different style.
Natsume Mio listened to their conversation and finally interjected: “Actually, A Jian, if you need reference material, I can help you!”
“What material can you help him with?” Mikazuki Haruna said. “You’re not an art major, you don’t understand drawing at all.”
“Just helping A Jian with reference material; as for drawing, A Jian can draw it,” Natsume Mio said. “For example, if A Jian needs a drawing model or something, he can come to me.”
As she spoke, Natsume Mio crossed her arms over her chest and straightened her back, trying to suppress the other directly in terms of stats.
“Tch, you’re just big-chested…” Mikazuki Haruna said. “Breasts are the easiest to draw; no references needed for that.”
“Then what needs references?” Natsume Mio asked.
“Feet, that’s the hardest part to draw,” Mikazuki Haruna said. “The human body has 206 bones in total, 52 of which are in the feet. Only the most skilled illustrators can draw foot poses well.”
Mikazuki Haruna remembered this theory very clearly.
It was from that memory, when A Jian had her model and they discussed drawing.
In her memory, this guy was a foot fetishist.
But for some reason, in Chainsaw Man, aside from that one scene of Power sitting with her legs crossed, there were no scenes like that at all.
Even that scene with Power had rather rough brushwork; if it were Sakamoto Ken from her impression, he should have obsessively drawn even the lunula on the toenails and the highlights…
Could it be that his current fetish isn’t that yet, and it changed later?
“The hardest to draw… is feet?”
Natsume Mio didn’t understand drawing much, but comparing the forms of feet and breasts, even from her layman’s perspective, Mikazuki Haruna seemed to make sense.
The former, from ankle to instep, toes, and sides of the foot… there were indeed many movable joints, high complexity to draw.
The latter, just one curved line would do.
Even due to restrictions, the lines couldn’t have that kind of undulation.
After all, A Jian was drawing proper shonen manga, all wearing clothes, no need for that kind of drawing at all.
But thinking about it, Natsume Mio said: “But I still have an advantage over you.”
“What advantage?”
“You can model foot drawing techniques for A Jian, and I can too; that’s a tie,” Natsume Mio pointed out. “But you don’t have breasts~”
