My System Always Wants to Force Me to Confess-Chapter 255: The Nightmare of a Newbie Editor Begins

Chapter 255: Chapter 255: The Nightmare of a Newbie Editor Begins

Shirakawa Sawahei sized up the slacker girl’s looks. She wasn’t bad-looking, and her figure was just a bit short of Tsukimi Sakurazawa’s boss-level presence. If she wanted to be an idol, she could totally pull it off.

But... in the manga industry, just relying on looks... doesn’t seem to offer much of a chance. Neon doesn’t buy into that whole internet celebrity scene. The manga, light novel industry here has undergone years of reshuffling and refinement, forming its own set of rules. Rising to fame isn’t something you can achieve just with a pretty face.

"Shirakawa... what are you thinking about?" The slacker girl tugged on his clothes and said cautiously, "I just got the strange feeling that you were eyeing me."

"Nothing." Shirakawa Sawahei reined in his slightly wandering thoughts, nodded, and said, "Then I won’t avoid it. You guys chat, I’ll just eavesdrop as much as I can."

The four of them gathered around the coffee table and sat on the sofa. The junior editor, Morihara Tomona, took a few contracts out of her bag and handed them over.

"If Teacher Hei Bai is to serialize a manga with our magazine, a contract is naturally indispensable. These are some contract terms I’ve secured for Teacher Hei Bai. I hope you can take a look. If there’s anything unclear, I can explain, or we can bring in a lawyer for more professional advice..."

Hinata Rion took the contract. As the only adult among the three, her insight into the contract was naturally much sharper than the slacker girl’s. After looking at some of the more important clauses, Hinata Rion clicked her tongue in wonder and said, "Jin, this magazine is very sincere. For a new manga artist, this contract is already quite good."

"Really? I can’t understand it... Shirakawa, is it true?"

Shirakawa Sawahei quickly skimmed the contract. He wasn’t very knowledgeable about manga artist contracts either, but he could identify some common trap clauses. After a rough scan, he was quite surprised to find that this magazine wasn’t sneakily doing any shifty operations.

Not only that, for key issues like copyrights, the other party didn’t adopt a "I want it all" stance. The terms sought are hardly overreaching for a newcomer manga artist.

In a developed and somewhat standardized industry, capital’s greed isn’t so unsightly right off the bat.

"There shouldn’t be any problem."

Upon hearing Shirakawa Sawahei’s response, Ise Yu Yuzhijin looked at Hinata Rion again. After both of them nodded, she glanced at her phone and then eagerly said, "Then let’s sign the contract today."

"Eh? Jin, aren’t you going to ask your parents?"

"I already did." The slacker girl waved her phone: "I said I had a friend who wanted to be a manga artist, took a photo of the contract and sent it to Dad. He said it was okay."

On hearing this, Shirakawa Sawahei looked at our cute little Ise Yu, somewhat oddly. This guy looked kind of silly, but doesn’t seem actually foolish.

"You... you really are experienced at this... wait! Uncle wouldn’t think that friend is me, would he!"

"...You guess?"

"Since Teacher Hei Bai has already decided, let’s go ahead with the signing." Morihara Tomona adjusted her glasses, excitedly said, "From now on, please guide me more, Teacher Hei Bai. I will definitely help you become a leading figure in the manga world!"

"...No, no... Let’s improve together~"

"..."

Shirakawa Sawahei gave a pitiful look at the little editor Morihara Tomona, this one seems still a rookie editor, has no clue about what kind of creatures manga artists are.

What’s more, she’s facing a master of the art of slacking...

Phew... I can already imagine her frustratingly pulling her hair, shouting for the slacker girl to submit her work in the future...

Fast forward to the point where she can’t take it anymore and starts locking the slacker girl in a little dark room!

Ise Yu Yuzhijin signed her name on each of the contract documents one by one. Once everything was done, the newbie editor put away the documents, pulled out a small notebook, and said, "Now that we have completed the signing, let’s discuss the genre and style for Teacher Hei Bai’s manga serialization. Although I’m just a newcomer, I will do my best to not hold you back, Teacher Hei Bai!"

"Miss Morihara has a lot of enthusiasm! Let’s work hard together!"

Hinata Rion: →_→

Heh, poor thing... you probably don’t know yet just how strong Jin is at messing with people’s minds, do you?

Mourning for you... Amitabha, hope you’re okay...

...

Meanwhile, Little Invisible Study Girl Tachibana Tomoku was living her simple daily life as usual.

She woke up early every day, made herself breakfast, and went out for a bit of morning exercise while there weren’t many people around, timing her return home precisely when everyone else was waking up and stirring. Then she’d water the flowers in the Calligraphy Club—something that took quite a bit of her time. Sometimes she would lean on the windowsill dazedly staring at the budding flower, and sometimes she’d have a little chat with it.

For the rest of the time, Little Invisible would read and practice calligraphy, occasionally taking a break to check her phone messages—a habit she’d developed not too long ago, mainly out of concern for missing out on important messages.

Although this little habit might break her focus on reading and practicing, it also allowed Little Invisible to promptly respond to quite a few messages, and she thus hadn’t considered changing this little habit.

In addition to this, of course, Miss Tachibana Tomoku would surf the internet. Her main Twitter account was following several friends from the Calligraphy Club, so as not to show a childish side, Little Invisible would usually use a secondary account to post her feelings.

[Today everyone gathered for a meal, so happy♪（＾∀＾●）ﾉ]

This was a post from a few days ago. Next, there was a tweet about a visit to Summer Comic, with a photo taken from the exhibition hall overlooking the venue floor.

[Today I went to Summer Comic, so many people, but very happy(ﾉ´▽｀)ﾉ♪]

[I wonder if he’d like that figurine... should have tried harder... Doraemon-san... next time, I definitely can’t miss it.]

Due to being a secondary account, likes and comments were nearly nonexistent. Little Invisible didn’t seem to care about these, quietly posting her mood changes.

[Haven’t been able to chat all day... but talked a lot with Ishihara, also made plans for a movie tomorrow, very excited.]

[Still haven’t been able to chat today... but the movie with Ishihara was so interesting, Ishihara seemed happy too. We went shopping together, even bought a cute hat... but searched the whole store, couldn’t find anything suitable for him.]

[The fireworks festival is in a few days... wonder if my yukata looks strange... should I send it to him to check... but doing so... seems so embarrassing(.-＿-.)]

[Tomorrow, I must have a good chat with him! Go for it!]

[No... can’t do, if it’s tomorrow it will definitely be avoided again... must do it today with full momentum, directly go for it!]

A few minutes later...

[What words should I use to start, I wonder if it’ll be dislikedヽ(>д<)ｐ]

Who knows how long it was before Shirakawa Sawahei, participating in the slacker girl’s manga theme discussion, finally received a message.

[Tomorrow... Shirakawa, are you free?]

The second message quickly followed. Even through the screen, Shirakawa Sawahei could feel Miss Tachibana Tomoku’s tension and unease.

[If, if you’re not free, that’s okay too! Be sure to do what you need to do, Shirakawa... I don’t really have anything urgent...]

[But... if you are free, that would be best...]

[Sorry... for saying something strange... please, please just forget it, Shirakawa!]

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