Fool's Love

A great feeling of surprise hit me.I opened my eyes wide.

"It's pretty good, at the level of a high school student."

I couldn't tell if it was a compliment.

"What about the division of labor? Is it conceived and painted together?"

"No, Mr. Nakajima. I am the original Masumi, and I was the one who called you earlier. This is my classmate Yamagishi, who drew the manga."

Masumi said.His voice sounded the same as usual.

"Oh--"

It made a somewhat playful voice.After taking another sip of water, Mr. Nakajima spread the three manuscripts on the table.Only now did we finally get to the point.

"The level is quite good. There are no problems with the artistry and screen expression, and the tension of the key scenes is also handled very well. Shouldn't it be the first work?"

Realizing that he was asking me, I hurriedly replied, "Ah, this... it's the first time I've collaborated with Masumi, but I've also collaborated with others to create a doujinshi before."

Mr. Nakajima nodded.Then he turned to Masumi again.

"There is basically no problem with the picture of the manga. As for the screenwriter and storyboard... I think you have learned from Nibei Tsutomu and Ishiguro Shoshu."

"Every time I want to draw a storyboard, I will copy a few pages of their storyboards."

"I guess there is such a possibility. However, there are still some problems with the connection processing in some places."

Still not doing enough?For a moment, I caught a trace of unwillingness on Masumi's face.

"Generally, there are no problems, and the stories are very interesting, making people want to see what happens next...

But if I were to choose the best one, it would probably be "Ono-san Wants to Go to the Universe".From my point of view, it is not a problem to publish a newcomer's work in a magazine after refinement. "

Why?That means--

A great feeling of surprise hit me.I opened my eyes wide.

"However, this is only my personal opinion after all. If it is really going to be published, it is not what I say.

The most urgent task is to improve the completion of the storyboard draft to the level of finished draft... The finished draft brought this time is still not as complete. "

——Because efficiency is the most important thing from the beginning, it doesn’t matter if the lines are messy.I thought so, but didn't say it.

"We will complete the manuscript with a standard that can be published in a magazine." Masumi replied immediately.

"Do you know the "Golden Bird Cup"?It is a comic competition held by our magazine, held every six months.This time the deadline may not be met, but you can plan to submit to the end of the year. "

After saying this, he took out a small business card holder from his pocket, took out two business cards and handed them to us.

In the center of the business card with a white background, the words "Kazuo Nakajima" are printed in Ming dynasty script.

He closed the business card holder and put it back in his pocket: "Anyway, if you have any questions about comic creation in the future, you can call me on the phone number on the business card."

I took the business card and preciously put the hard paper into my wallet.

Mr. Nakajima raised his wrist and checked the time on his watch.

"Ah, it's dinner time."

He stood up.He, who had maintained a professional editorial appearance in front of us, suddenly showed a relaxed smile and looked down at us.

"Do you have time now? Do you want to have a barbecue together?"

-

Night fell imperceptibly.In the refreshing summer evening wind, editor Masumi and Nakajima and I walked in a row.

After walking for 5 minutes from the publishing house where "Weekly Barita" was located, the eyes suddenly became bright.

It is a shopping district.But the destination doesn't seem to be here.Mr. Nakajima turned a corner and entered a fork with only low houses from the main road.

Compared with the shopping mall I saw just now, although it looks old, it is also brightly lit.

Warm yellow light shines from the izakaya a few steps away, mixed with the drunken talk of the drunkard and the strong smell of alcohol.

Going forward, when he was about to go out from the other side of the alley, Mr. Nakajima turned and walked into a shop called "Zennosuke Barbecue".Masumi and I followed in.

Before departure, Mr. Nakajima highly recommended this shop to us.However, the actual taste was lackluster.

The sauce was average and the texture of the meat was nothing special.When the waiter brought the shochu, Mr. Nakajima's eyes suddenly lit up.

"That's it!" He took a quick gulp, and when he removed the cup, white froth surrounded his lips.

"The shochu in this store is a must. As long as you don't drink it for a while, you can think about it. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if there is really nothing strange in it?"

He said it nicely... However, among the three present, Masumi and I are high school students and cannot drink.

If you had thought about this aspect in advance, you shouldn't bring people to a shop that sells alcohol.Besides... If you really want to drink, you can go to an izakaya soon.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help feeling a little annoyed, and the movement of turning the barbecue became much more rude.

"Ah... do you live near here?"

"No, Yamagishi and I came from Osaka."

"Hey - take the Shinkansen?"

"Correct."

"That's pretty far."

Mr. Nakajima drank, and his voice became a little drunk after a while.

"If you want to be a manga artist in the future, it would be better to live in Tokyo, right?"

Hearing this, I interjected, "There's no problem with that. After graduating from high school, I plan to go to the Art University in Tokyo. Where's Masumi?"

"Huh? Ah, I'm also planning to take the university entrance examination in Tokyo."

He didn't mean to ask Masumi, but blurted out without much thought.However, Masumi's answer made me a little happy, at least in the same city in the future.

Mr. Nakajima looked at us with an interested expression.

"It's such a good relationship!" He poured another sip of beer into his mouth.The voice is still drunk, but one can feel that the consciousness is no longer blurred.

"Speaking of... When you were in the editorial department just now, you said you were classmates."

"To be precise, we are in different classes, but in the same grade in the same school. Yamagishi and I are both members of the manga research department."

"I just wanted to say, "It's similar to the plot of Stormtrooper", isn't it the same class? "

I smiled and added: "The details are different. I invited him."

"Hmph, you found an original work with good taste."

The shochu in front of Mr. Nakajima, which originally contained a large glass, was now empty.

"But... just like what was said in "The King of Violent Manga" - there are very few manga partners who have always cooperated. Everyone will separate for various reasons."

I thought to myself, the man in front of me is probably already drunk, otherwise he wouldn't have said such words that would only make people uncomfortable even though they were true.

After drinking two or three more glasses of wine, he really couldn't keep his eyes open.I paid for the barbecue while I was still a little conscious, and then I went back to the seat with the support of Masumi and I, and fell asleep.

Originally we planned to send him back, but the proprietress urged us to leave the shop as if we had seen it many times, saying that this had happened many times and it was good to let him fall asleep like this.

Thinking that tomorrow is a day off, and that Masumi and I really don’t know where Mr. Nakajima lives, we left him in the shop and then took the Shinkansen back to Osaka.