Chapter 11: Stockings Aren’t So Simple

Originally, Mikazuki Haruna had been furious. When she clicked on Chainsaw Man, she was actually already planning how she was going to write a negative review.

But after finishing all fifty pages of the first chapter, she hesitated.

She felt that if she were to write a negative review now, it would be a bit against her conscience…

She had even clicked the “favorite” button and was eagerly waiting to read the second chapter.

She especially wanted to see the plot between the male protagonist and the female lead who only appeared at the very end of the first chapter.

From the current plot, the rest of it must be that sweet kind of supernatural romance battle manga, right?

The female lead even had a bit of her style, as if she saw a tiny sliver of herself.

The grand, young-lady-like entrance, the cool lines, and that declaration of keeping him…

Flipping through it again, Mikazuki Haruna felt that the author of Chainsaw Man, Sakamoto Ken-sensei, was definitely not the type to go to another manga’s page to put it down.

That comment under her own manga must have been from some wild reader with a nasty personality.

But she was still mad about that comment!

After thinking it over and over, she posted this:
「This manga is great, and the Miss Sniper, and Pantyhose! next door is also very good. Everyone should go check it out!」

There, now we’re even.

Because she had been soaking in the bathtub reading manga the whole time, first her own and then this Chainsaw Man, she had ended up soaking in the hot water for a very long time.

Moreover, her family’s bathtub had a constant temperature function, always maintaining a very hot temperature, so much so that her forehead was now covered in sweat, and her breathing had become a little heavy.

Her head was dizzy. If she soaked any longer, she was afraid she would pass out.

Mikazuki Haruna slowly stood up, returned to the shower, and rinsed herself again with the warm water.

Standing once more before the vanity mirror, the her in the mirror now had skin that was rosy all over, and her whole body was shrouded in steam.

“So pretty,” the girl muttered to herself in the mirror, quite pleased with her looks.

Hmm… just that my chest is a little small.

I finished the supplements I bought last time. I should order a few more boxes.

Although it was just a chance encounter with that girl outside the Shueisha building, a sense of competitiveness had subconsciously arisen.

So what if yours are a little bigger than mine? It’s not like mine can’t keep developing…

Taking a bath towel from the rack and carefully wiping away the remaining water droplets from her body, Mikazuki Haruna then walked out of the bathroom with her tablet.

Although the house had a central air conditioning system with constant temperature and humidity, it was still a little chilly stepping out of the bathroom, especially since she hadn’t brought her pajamas in. She returned to her room just like that, fresh and clean.

Although the plot of an entire manga was still in her head, it was also very late. Mikazuki Haruna yawned and lay down directly on her bed.

She turned off the lights, pulled a thin blanket over herself, wrapped her arms and legs around a life-sized body pillow, and closed her eyes to sleep.

…

1:00 AM.

Most people were asleep at this hour, but Sakamoto Ken had just finished today’s work.

He walked along the deserted residential path, turned the street corner, and there was the fence of the cemetery.

Through the bars, he could even see the tombstones inside.

This was what it was like living next to a cemetery; the nights were exceptionally quiet.

However, he didn’t believe in ghosts or gods, so he felt this was actually a good thing. At least it was quiet.

He pulled open the main door of the apartment building. He had barely reached the stairwell when he could already hear moaning sounds coming from one of the rooms.

At this time of night, there was only one couple going at it, which was considered fortunate.

Sakamoto Ken didn’t shower in the apartment’s shared bathroom every day. If it was early, he would rather go to the public bathhouse a few hundred meters away. The environment there was better, and he could even soak in a bath, whereas the apartment’s shared bathroom only had a shower.

In his previous life, during the time Natsume Mio lived with him here, if they didn’t go to a love hotel, they would always go to the public bathhouse to wash up.

They couldn’t bathe together at the public bathhouse, which was a slight pity. The main reason was that Natsume Mio felt the shared bathroom in the apartment wasn’t safe; even if the door was locked, it could be pushed open with a simple shove.

Sakamoto Ken himself didn’t mind. He grabbed a towel, toiletries, and a change of clothes.

Only when he reached the bathroom door did he realize someone was inside, and…

“Can’t you people hold it in…”

Sakamoto Ken cursed inwardly and turned back to his room.

The sound he had heard upon entering the building was coming from the bathroom.

The bathroom door was made of frosted glass. The shadows of the people inside were cast upon it by the light. It was clearly a woman bent over, holding onto the wall, with a man thrusting from behind, holding her waist.

Once the manuscript fees arrive, I really have to move…

Sakamoto Ken sat on the tatami mat. Thinking that the first chapter of his manga had already been released, he picked up his phone and opened JUMP+.

In the list of manga updated today, he saw his own work at the very bottom, but he didn’t click on it. Instead, he went back to the top and clicked on Miss Sniper, and Pantyhose!.

Let’s see just how well that girl Haruna can copy my manga from the last life.

Flipping to the first page, although the panel design was the same, Sakamoto Ken could clearly feel that the level of detail in the art was much better than his own back then.

After all, when he drew this manga back then, he had just been accepted into the Kanzaki Academy of Art and lacked a lot of practice in his drawing skills.

Mikazuki Haruna was already a second-year in the art department. She was very talented in drawing. The main reason she hadn’t published her own manga in the previous life was because she was lazy.

She was too rich, so she had no motivation to do something as physically and mentally draining as serializing a manga. She just purely latched onto him and relentlessly pushed for updates.

And now, if she had memories of the previous life and had read the original version of this manga in its entirety, she wouldn’t need to expend any energy on conceptualization at all.

Just like Sakamoto Ken himself, all she had to do was replicate the images from memory.

And as she replicated them, she had clearly used her own drawing skills to make many improvements.

For example, the stockings the female protagonist wore on her legs.

In the previous life, Sakamoto Ken had simply applied screen tone sheets. But besides applying screen tone, she had also used a fine-liner pen to add wrinkle textures in the areas of muscle lines and light-and-shadow transitions.

Don’t underestimate stockings; it’s actually not easy to draw them with a sense of texture.

Sakamoto Ken had quite an in-depth experience in studying beautiful girls’ legs. He had carefully studied all sorts of manga and doujinshi, and had also had hands-on exchanges with them in reality.

How the leg muscle lines extended, how to express the dynamics at the joints…

But in the end, it was mostly theoretical knowledge. He didn’t have a beautiful girl’s gorgeous legs and jade-like feet on his own body. Mikazuki Haruna, who possessed both, clearly had richer practical experience.

Haruna’s art for his manga had doubled the sexiness of the female protagonist’s legs.

After reading the entire first chapter, although the plot was identical, the viewing experience was greatly enhanced because the art was so much better.

Could it be that after being redrawn by Haruna, my manga actually has a chance to become a hit?

He scrolled down and saw the comment section.

「Feels average. Not as good as the Chainsaw Man next door.」

Sakamoto Ken’s brow furrowed slightly. He hadn’t expected that his manga, having just been published, would already have this kind of reader.

Isn’t it a bit rude to come to someone else’s work to put it down?

Sakamoto Ken casually clicked “Report.”

After thinking for a moment, he also posted a comment:
「Sangatsu Haru-sensei’s drawing skills are amazing. I really love this manga, especially the protagonist’s stockings! I have a small question, could the author answer it? I watched Sangatsu Haru-sensei’s live stream, and you mentioned that this manga was sent to you in a dream by Lady Benzaiten. So, besides this manga, what else did you dream about?」

(End of Chapter)