Chapter 22: What’s Wrong with a Writer Being a Bit of a Playboy?

“Ken, let’s tidy up the bookshelf together.”

After the dinner rush ended, Sakamoto Ken officially started his night shift.

Natsume Mio was gathering the magazines on the bookshelf that were to be returned to the publisher tomorrow.

With the gradual rise of digital reading, far fewer people were buying physical magazines, so the store was accumulating more and more unsold stock.

Monday was especially the day when the most weekly magazines were released, so every Sunday, a large number of books had to be cleared out for return.

Natsume Mio already had a large stack in her arms. It was indeed inconvenient for a girl to carry books, especially for someone as well-endowed as her. At most, she could only hold them below her chest; otherwise, if they were pushed up, they would easily topple forward.

Sakamoto Ken skillfully gathered the magazines one by one. After Natsume Mio moved a stack of books away, she opened a copy of JUMP.

“Ken, when will your manga be published in this?” Natsume Mio asked.

“Soon, probably within these two months,” Sakamoto Ken said.

“Huh? Has the editor already confirmed it?” Natsume Mio asked.

Sakamoto Ken shook his head and said, “It’s only been serialized for two chapters. I’m not a famous, established writer. The editor wouldn’t make a decision so early.”

“So, Ken is just especially confident in his own work?”

“Of course,” Sakamoto Ken said. “A writer should have 500% faith in the work they create.”

“But I also read that manga that was released on the same day as yours, Ken. It seems like… the editorial department is giving it a lot more resources… even though the quality is nowhere near yours, Ken,” Natsume Mio said, her tone laced with a bit of indignation.

“…Eh?” Natsume Mio noticed Sakamoto Ken staring intently at her, and she inexplicably felt a chill run down her spine. “Ken, why… why are you looking at me like that…”

“Which one are you talking about?” Sakamoto Ken asked.

“That one… Miss Sniper, and Pantyhose or something…” As she spoke, Natsume Mio flipped the JUMP magazine open to the page with the JUMP+ advertisement.

“Look, even though it hasn’t been serialized yet, the JUMP+ ad is already using her cover.”

“Yeah, I saw it too,” Sakamoto Ken glanced at the JUMP she had opened and said, “You don’t need to pay attention to other people’s works. Since you have confidence, then you don’t need to care who your opponent is.”

Regarding Haruna copying his manga and still being taken so seriously by Shueisha, Sakamoto Ken could roughly guess some of the reasons.

Her family had a large business association, and her mother had also been a writer in her youth and had published works. It was possible she had some connections to Shueisha’s upper management.

In the previous life, she hadn’t drawn any manga herself, and she also looked down on the small manuscript fees, so she had never used those connections.

Now that Haruna had copied his manga and wanted to publish it, her family would likely provide some help.

He just didn’t know to what extent this help would go…

At least for now, it seemed she had only managed to get on a live stream program, and not many people watched that show.

What worried Sakamoto Ken wasn’t that his serialization schedule would be pushed back; after all, that would only be a delay of a month or so.

What he was worried about was that this time, Mio had already formed some kind of connection with Haruna ahead of time…

Sakamoto Ken’s gaze swept over Natsume Mio again, pausing briefly on her chest before naturally moving away to continue tidying the bookshelf.

Although they hadn’t met offline yet, Natsume Mio had paid attention to Mikazuki Haruna’s manga. This counted as having some connection online…

It’s much earlier.

In the previous life, it wasn’t until after school started that Mikazuki Haruna found his homepage by searching for the book title and pen name on Twitter.

Then, after a period of online chatting, there was a reader gathering event, and they met offline.

After meeting a few times, they gradually developed a more intimate relationship.

This time, the relationship between them had changed greatly.

In the previous life, it was the relationship between an author and a fan. To put it bluntly, it was Sakamoto Ken sleeping with a fan.

Now, he and Haruna had become competitors in the same period.

Originally, Sakamoto Ken had thought, so what if I sleep with a fan? I’m not an entertainment celebrity.

This kind of thing would probably be considered a career-ending scandal for an entertainment star, but it was different for a writer.

For Japanese writers, isn’t it normal to be a bit of a playboy?

There was no need to even mention the old master Junichi Watanabe.

And then there was Akiyuki Nosaka, who wrote Grave of the Fireflies.

Everyone knew about the animated film adapted by Ghibli, and everyone knew the director Isao Takahata.

But few people knew that the original author, Mr. Nosaka, had made his debut with The Pornographers, a work written based on his personal experiences.

Mr. Nosaka had also been a rakugo performer, with the stage name Tachikawa Tenno, the only group in history to use such a bold stage name.

Although the crime of lèse-majesté had been abolished by the lovely Americans, he was still frequently targeted by right-wing groups.

Besides writing and rakugo, he also composed songs, such as “Virgin Blues” and “Marilyn Monroe No Return”…

Every year, he would gather his female friends for an overnight stay at a hot spring.

Of course, he publicly claimed that they all just drank and bathed.

As for light novel authors, there were even more.

After all, the harem genre was one of the most popular types in light novels.

Could it be that those authors who had harems running wild in their books were actually theoretical experts who relied purely on their imagination?

No way, right?

In any case, Sakamoto Ken was not.

Sakamoto Ken finished tidying the entire magazine bookshelf, stacking the books to be returned in a designated box.

The specific work of moving them for return would have to be left to Miyamoto Shota on the late-night shift.

Soon, it was 8 PM, time for Natsume Mio to get off work.

As soon as the time came, she hurried to the changing room inside.

A full twenty minutes later, she finally came out.

Just now, wearing the dark blue FamilyMart uniform, she had looked rather plain.

Now, she had changed into a pure white shirt paired with black dress pants, and had even put on a tie.

Natsume Mio walked to the front of the cash register, stood there prettily, and looked up slightly at Sakamoto Ken. She even took a deep breath on purpose, making her chest appear even fuller.

The few buttons just now could barely contain the pressure from within. With her deliberate action of puffing out her chest, they now looked precarious.

“How is it?”

Natsume Mio stood with her hands behind her back, looking at Sakamoto Ken with a beaming smile.

Sakamoto Ken was a little mesmerized. She had clearly reapplied her makeup during that long time in the changing room.

Her already fair and delicate cheeks had an extra hint of blush, her limpid eyes seemed to sparkle with stars, and her moist lips glistened with an alluring light.

“Is it pretty? It’s your heroine, you know~” Natsume Mio leaned forward slightly and said with a faint smile.

Although compared to the real Makima, Natsume Mio lacked that domineering feeling, it had to be said that her figure was actually even better than the Makima in the character settings.

“Very pretty. Your appearance is exactly as I imagined,” Sakamoto Ken said honestly.

“Hmph, hmph, that’s good~” Natsume Mio flicked the braid behind her head, picked up her bag, and walked towards the convenience store entrance. “I’m heading back then, Ken. Bye-bye~”

Natsume Mio had planned this long ago. She wore this outfit today and even put on makeup just to show herself to Sakamoto Ken for one minute.

Only such a fleeting glimpse would leave a hazy impression in Ken’s mind.

If she stayed too long and the impression she gave him was too clear, it would actually reduce the power of his subsequent imagination.

When people fantasize, they always imagine those vague images into the most beautiful versions in their ideals.

In this way, any flaws are ignored.

And then, they fall deeper and deeper.

The so-called “love at first sight” works on this principle.

Standing by the bus stop sign waiting for the bus, Natsume Mio looked into the convenience store from afar through the glass door and noticed Sakamoto Ken looking in her direction.

The corners of the girl’s mouth curved up as she thought to herself.

I’m such a genius!

(End of Chapter)