Chapter 24: How to Draw Pantyhose

「The author is a genius! Just praise them to the high heavens!」

「I couldn’t stop reading once I started, looking forward to the update!」

「Finished reading, I feel my heart has been healed. Thank you, Sangatsu Haru-sensei, for bringing such a good work.」

Mikazuki Haruna pouted and posted several more comments in her own comment section.

Refreshing the page, a comment from a real reader popped up.

「I was attracted by the cover. The art is really speechless, the background and details are handled very well, you can see the author’s dedication. Especially the gloss and wrinkles of the stockings are very particular, simply a work of art. Sangatsu Haru-sensei, can you draw more legs?」

Haruna’s slightly sullen expression immediately relaxed, and she looked at this comment with a beautiful, curved smile.

There are still readers who like my manga~

As for the stockings mentioned in this comment, she casually spread out a sheet of manuscript paper.

This was what she was currently drawing. Every time the female protagonist appeared, she drew her with particular care.

The plot, paneling, and other designs of the entire manga came from that dream, but she had made some improvements in the art.

Sitting in her ergonomic chair, Haruna stretched long and reorganized her desk.

She closed her laptop, pushed it to the corner of the desk, and brought the manuscript paper and drawing tools to the center.

Suddenly full of motivation, let’s finish this page then!

As it happened, this page had a close-up of the female protagonist, and she used the technique of breaking the panel.

That is, to let the character break the comfort of the panel frame, with the image penetrating through and covering other panels.

The scene was in the student council office. The assassin protagonist, who was a normal JK on a daily basis, was wearing her JK uniform, sitting on a chair with her legs crossed. Her shoes were already taken off and placed on the floor. Her raised right foot was extended towards the camera, and her toes were spread open.

Originally, this scene was not designed this way. In the memory from the dream, this scene was just the female protagonist sitting plainly on the chair, looking at the male protagonist in front of her.

But Haruna felt the picture was not flavorful enough, so she made some modifications.

The sketch was already drawn. The next step was inking.

A pose like this…

Mikazuki Haruna gently poked her lips with the end of her pencil, visualizing the picture in her mind.

Imagining it was useless; she had to see it for real.

So, Mikazuki Haruna got up and went to the large wardrobe in her room.

She opened the wardrobe door and pulled out the dedicated drawer for storing all kinds of socks.

She liked black socks. Whether they were ankle socks, thigh-highs, or pantyhose, they were all black without exception.

Following the pantyhose style worn by the female protagonist in the picture, she pulled out a pair.

About 60 denier in thickness, it was the kind that could faintly reveal the color of the skin on her legs when worn, but not appear too transparent.

Haruna hadn’t gone out today, so she wasn’t wearing socks. She gathered both sides of the pantyhose and held them in her warm palm.

Then she bent down slightly. This movement caused the hem of her dress to bunch up, revealing two straight, well-proportioned thighs like carved ivory.

Haruna lifted one foot, her small, fair toes curling slightly as they entered the soft, black silk fabric.

The silky material gently enveloped the tips of her feet. As she pulled it upwards, the translucent black layer extended up her arch, ankle, and inch by inch up her leg.

The pantyhose clung to her skin, outlining the curves of her legs perfectly. The skin tone of her legs, set against the black, looked like chocolate with milk added.

Soon, the other foot was also quickly dressed.

She stood up, her hands skillfully pulling the waistband of the pantyhose over her perky buttocks and securing it at her slender waist. The whole movement was done in one smooth motion.

The girl sat back down in the ergonomic chair, moved the chair, and came to the full-length mirror.

She imitated the posture in the sketch, elegantly crossing one leg over the other.

She lifted her right foot slightly, her toes pointing forward.

Then, the five toes wrapped in the black silk, like petals, slowly spread open. She gently twisted her ankle, showing different angles.

“So this is how it feels…”

Haruna looked at her own foot, examining it carefully, and memorized the image in the mirror.

But for some reason, the face of a certain boy suddenly came to mind…

In that particularly real dream, that guy really liked her…

Hmm… come to think of it, it’s not strange.

After all, for someone who puts the word “pantyhose” in the title of their book, it’s not hard to understand that their hobbies are particularly unique.

Eh, wait?

Now it’s me who copied his manga, and I even copied the title!

It’s me who used a keyword like “pantyhose” in the title.

Speaking of which, could it be that the one with the foot fetish is actually me?!

Pah, pah, what am I thinking!

I’m not a foot fetishist!

How could I be a foot fetishist?!

Mikazuki Haruna immediately shook her head, shaking the strange thoughts out of her mind.

Returning to her desk, she picked up her pen again.

“Hmm… the transition of light and shadow, and the wrinkles when the muscles are tense… the details should be handled like this.”

She continued her manga creation.

And so, until late at night.

It was only because her parents weren’t home tonight; otherwise, her mother would have had Kazuko-obasan come and urge her to go to bed early.

Her parents actually spent more time in their apartment in a tower in Minato Ward, since it was closer to the company.

Kazuko-obasan usually stayed on the first floor and wouldn’t proactively manage when she went to sleep.

After finishing the entire page, the girl leaned back in her ergonomic chair and let out a long sigh.

So tired…

She had thought she could just copy it, but in the end, she had modified so much and made the art even more detailed.

This way, there was too much extra work.

Although it was still better than pure original creation where she had to come up with the plot and characters herself, if the main selling point was the art, then two updates a week would be a bit difficult to complete.

Not necessarily…

Mikazuki Haruna pondered. After all, she was the only one drawing right now. If she relied on herself, she could probably finish one and a half chapters a week, but she could also hire assistants.

After seeing the strong performance of Chainsaw Man, which was competing with her in the same period, Mikazuki Haruna became even more serious about her own work.

She immediately opened a recruitment website for art-related jobs. There was a dedicated section on it for manga artists to recruit assistants.

Mikazuki Haruna posted a recruitment notice:
「Seeking three manga assistants for a modern urban background manga. Need to have a good grasp of picture details and character dynamics, preferably with rich experience as a manga assistant. Purely hand-drawn, so offline cooperation is required. Location is Shoto, Shibuya Ward. Remuneration is 30,000 yen per day, full transportation subsidy, and a nanny will prepare three meals and afternoon tea. Limited to females. Interested parties, please send your resume and personal works to the email.」

An ordinary manga assistant’s daily salary was around 10,000 yen. A skilled one could get 15,000.

If it was a famous author, they might be able to offer a salary of over 20,000, but such opportunities were particularly rare.

The price she offered was enough to find assistants with particularly excellent drawing skills, but it was equivalent to her not earning any money at all.

Of course, she had never considered making money from manga; it was purely for the love of it.

Haruna had already made up her mind. When the assistants arrived, she would start from the beginning and re-optimize the art of all the panels. In the future, every single frame would have all its details meticulously drawn, so that readers could enjoy it purely for the art.

My work will absolutely not lose!

(End of Chapter)