"Rurouni Kenshin Remembrance? What is that, Mizushiro? I don't know it at all." Haruka was talking while helping Airi tidy up the takeaway boxes and all kinds of snacks on the table.
As Airi's editor, these kinds of chores weren't technically part of her job—but she knew that if no one stepped in, Airi, for all her talent in manga and total lack of self-discipline, could probably turn this prime city apartment into a disaster zone.
"Don't you know?" Airi's eyes widened, her face full of disappointment.
"That's it! The works serialized in the periodical Magazine of Kurokawa Publishing, only three episodes were serialized..."
"I don't know, I have no impression at all, but I basically know all the old authors in Osaka. In this case, maybe it is a new writer from Osaka!" Haruka shook her head.
"But why are you asking this?"
Airi got up from the chair, a little embarrassed on her face.
"Didn't I think you used to stay in that manga agency?"
"If you are familiar with there, can you help me copy the follow-up comics of this work, or the name of the manga to me..."
"Although this work has only been serialized to the third chapter in the journal, if the situation is similar to our manga agency, maybe the manga house called Kurokawa Publishing already has the original manuscripts of Kenshin's fourth and even fifth chapters in its hands. Now, as for the name of the manga, maybe the editorial department draws it out and submits it."
"I'm very curious about the follow-up plot of this work." At this point, Airi clenched her fists with both hands, looking at Haruka with hope and expectation.
Haruka, upon hearing this, gave her a hand knife without mercy, which hit her forehead.
"It hurts!" Airi shouted, covering her forehead.
"What are you thinking? It's been two years since I left that boring company, okay? Also, I was in a stalemate with that publishing house. How could I get in touch with other manga manuscripts?"
"And even if I still have a decent relationship with some people at the agency, something is just impossible. Unpublished manuscripts and drafts don't just get shared or handed out. Sure, there are a few unreliable folks there, but when it comes to something this serious, even they wouldn't cross that line."
"But, it would be too painful to update this one week!" Airi sat down heavily in her chair with a listless expression on her face.
"Are you qualified to say such things?" Haruka sneered.
"Do you know how many issues you have closed this year? You have to close one issue a month on average. Have you ever thought that your readers can't even wait for a week?"
"But I really can't draw it! I feel that my talent has been exhausted by me, and my inspiration has also been exhausted."
"Maybe... I've hit the end of the road creatively. Maybe I never should've become a manga artist. Who knows—maybe by now, I could've been a pretty successful fashion model instead."
"Don't think so much, you have to recognize the reality, you are a person like you, can't take care of yourself, and are easy to be deceived, don't understand the world, don't draw manga...you will starve to death!" Haruka, looking at her, said very seriously.
"Okay, do you have any other weird requests? I said them all and I rejected them all, and then I will stay by your side for the next five days, before you draw a new manga. Don't even think about getting close to mobile phones, computers, etc., and the network will be disconnected."
"You are the devil!" Airi jumped up all at once.
"I am a managke, not a slave, I have human rights..."
But Haruka in front of her just gave her a firm and sharp look back.
Airi gradually weakened.
"Then can I make a request?"
"Hey, could you do me a favor? That manga magazine Sora—the one running Rurouni Kenshin: Remembrance—can you ask your friend in Osaka to grab the latest issue for me? And send it over by air, not regular mail. Just take the shipping cost out of my manuscript fee!"
Haruka let out a long sigh and looked at Airi's serious face.
"What's this Kenshin manga about? Is it really that good?"
"It's just something from a local magazine…" Haruka said, sounding a bit unsure.
"It's really good!" Airi beamed, spinning the laptop around to show the screen—like a kid proudly showing off a new toy.
"Here, take a look yourself. It's only up to chapter three so far. Won't take long!"
On Monday, as soon as sora walked into the publishing house, she felt a strange atmosphere.
Almost everyone was looking at her secretly. Several of her colleagues, who had been cold-eyed at her because of her discord with Rika before, looked much better at her when they saw her today.
Sora knew what caused the weirdness she felt.
After the manga rankings were released last Friday, word spread fast—not just within Kurokawa Publishing, but even among the editors at rival companies like Hoshikawa and Tatsuryu.
A series with only two chapters had suddenly racked up tens of thousands of votes on the platform. It caught everyone off guard.
Over the past few days, people from the industry had been messaging her nonstop, all asking the same thing—"What's the story behind that new title?"
Not to mention that outsiders find it incredible, even Sora, the editor in charge of Haruki, could not have imagined that this development would unfold.
Rurouni Kenshin Remembrance would be popular—that was in her guess—but she absolutely did not dare to think that this work would be so fast.
"Hey, Sora, this is a letter from the reader, please submit it to Sensei Mizushiro."
She came to her office, and soon, a woman held a whole box, and almost hundreds of letters were placed on Sora's desk.
"Well, yes. I've confirmed them. These are all letters sent by fans for Mizushiro-sensei from all over Osaka."
After the woman left, Sora looked at the pile of fan letters on the desktop blankly.
If the votes on the voting ranking text messages were just numerical values, she didn't have too intuitive feelings.
The whole box of letters in front of her made Sora understand that Rurouni Kenshin Remembrance is really hot.
It is fully worthy of the 14,000 votes from the previous issue.
In the editing industry for three years, Sora didn't think that she could bring out a popular manga artist under her charge in the future, but it was too fast!
In the first two months, she was still annoyed by her being ostracized after offending Rika in the manga agency, and she even wanted to give up her career. Now, with the popularity of Rurouni Kenshin, her status in the manga agency was naturally also rising.
"Sora, the editor-in-chief is looking for you to talk to." At this time, a colleague came in to inform her.
"Oh, understand, I'll be over right away!"
Sora took a deep breath and responded.
Sora didn't have to think about it and understood. It must be a topic about Haruki.
After all, last week's ranking results had already made the whole Kurokawa Publishing understand that Mizushiro-sensei was Haruki's potential.
(TL:- if you want even more content, check out p-atreon.com/Alioth23 for 50+ advanced chapters)