The air in the living room seemed to freeze. Sahodo Ashisu stared blankly at Shiyuri, who was now covered in a "mask."
The strong masculine scent emanating from Shiyuri's face was deeply etched into Sahodo Ashisu's brain.
Sahodo Ashisu didn't understand, but she was greatly shocked.
She didn't even dare to breathe heavily.
"Well? Sahodo Ashisu, did you manage to film it? If you didn't, we'll have to do it again."
Rin Ito's words brought Sahodo Ashisu back to reality.
"I... I filmed it."
"Phew... that's good. It looks like Sahodo Ashisu has a talent for filming. How about switching careers to become a photographer?"
"Eh... me?" Sahodo Ashisu swallowed, regaining her composure. "No, I still want to draw manga."
"What a pity."
Rin Ito spoke while grabbing a tissue and wet wipe to clean up the sticky lubricant. Taking advantage of the brief moment of relief, he quickly pulled his pants back on; any slower and he definitely wouldn't have been able to.
"Is that it? Is it over?" Sahodo Ashisu breathed a sigh of relief when Rin Ito put his pants on.
The reference gathering process between doujinshi artists... was too perverse!
"Ah, almost. Just one last thing... Miss Shiyuri's 'mask' isn't evenly spread."
Rin Ito reached out and smoothed the sticky substance on Shiyuri's face. From her slender eyebrows to her delicate nose, Rin Ito malevolently evened it out for Shiyuri, then piled the excess onto Shiyuri's tightly closed eyes.
Hehehe... by the time Shiyuri wakes up, the mask will probably be dry.
He put his finger into Shiyuri's mouth, letting her lick off the residue before he went to the bathroom to wash his hands.
When he returned to the living room, Sahodo Ashisu quickly handed the phone to Rin Ito. Rin Ito took a look: the video was over an hour long, but a short edit should bring it down to about ten minutes.
Completely relieved, Sahodo Ashisu glanced at the disheveled Shiyuri and couldn't help but ask, "Is this how you doujinshi artists always gather your reference material?"
Today had been a real eye-opener for Sahodo Ashisu.
"Hmm... I don't know about others, but the doujinshi artists I know do seem to be like this," Rin Ito paused, then smiled.
"Shiyuri... you know Shiyuri is very afraid of men, treating all males like male protagonists who could attack her at any moment in her comics. A boyfriend is out of the question for her, and for a doujinshi artist, lack of sexual experience is her biggest disadvantage."
"Tsk tsk tsk... It's different for mainstream comics. Only virgins who haven't experienced real romance can draw the most perfect and sweetest love they imagine. It's a shame Shiyuri prefers drawing doujinshi."
Sahodo Ashisu's mouth twitched... That actually made sense!
"The editor asked me to be her assistant yesterday. She probably trusts me because I didn't attack her even though she was wearing nothing underneath the whole day, so she asked me to help her gather reference material. Speaking of which... what kind of mangaka do you want to become, Sahodo Ashisu?"
"Uh... I want to become a mangaka who doesn't cause trouble for the editor, I guess."
Aside from some popular weekly series that require dedicated assistants, most mangaka who normally slack off only hire assistants when they're rushing to meet a deadline.
In the year since she became an assistant, Sahodo Ashisu couldn't count how many times she had seen mangaka being hounded by their editors. Therefore, Sahodo Ashisu was determined to become a mangaka who didn't miss deadlines and cause trouble for editors.
"However... I've been submitting manuscripts for a year straight, but..." Sahodo Ashisu shook her head with a bitter, helpless look. "I don't know how much longer I can keep going."
"Would you mind letting me take a look?"
"Eh... O-okay."
Sahodo Ashisu took out her phone, opened her manga, and handed the phone to Rin Ito. After only a few pages, Rin Ito roughly understood the crux of the problem.
"The art is decent, no major issues, but the plot is rather bland."
"The plot is because I haven't gotten to the exciting part yet. I have a story outline..."
Sahodo Ashisu was interrupted before she could finish.
"The excitement in the later plot is useless; readers won't get that far. You must capture the reader's attention within the first few chapters of the first episode," Rin Ito's expression was serious. "An eye-catching art style, a strong plot hook, or panels full of tension—you need at least one of these three to make people keep reading."
"Unless you're an established author, no publishing house will give you that much page space to gradually ease into the story. This isn't a creation problem; it's a reality problem. Unless you're drawing for yourself, not for money or profit, and you slowly build up popularity by posting on social media."
"There are people who succeed that way, but... are you confident that the later content will definitely succeed? Can you avoid deviating without reader or editor feedback? Or, when you only have a small number of readers at the start, can you avoid being swayed by their voices? Every chapter of a manga costs you a lot of energy, and the sunk cost is huge if you fail."
"I..."
Sahodo Ashisu trailed off. She knew that what Rin Ito was saying was a very realistic issue.
Every year, countless passionate boys and girls embark on the path of manga, but less than one in a hundred manage to survive the fierce competition. It's not uncommon to spend a huge amount of energy only to end up with nothing.
However, there will always be young people full of passion and dreams! No matter how difficult, someone will always jump in.
Didn't Sahodo Ashisu know this? Rejection after submission, rejection after resubmission—Sahodo Ashisu had experienced this countless times over the past year. Even so, she kept trying.
"W-what should I do?"
"Watch more, learn more, think more... How long has it been since you genuinely read a manga?"
"!!!!!"
Sahodo Ashisu froze for a moment.
Right... how long has it been since I seriously read a manga I liked?
When she was working, she colored and drew backgrounds for other mangaka. When she rested, she worked on her own manga... Sahodo Ashisu couldn't remember the last time she seriously read a comic.
"I understand! Thank you, Ito-sensei!!!" Sahodo Ashisu excitedly grabbed Rin Ito's hand. Only after a moment did she notice, then she blushed and awkwardly let go.
"Don't thank me. These are all very basic things—how should I put it? The right kind of truisms?" Rin Ito smiled gently. "Newcomers starting out pay attention, but many people forget over time. I'm just reminding you."
"No, this is very helpful to me."
"Oh, and one more thing," Rin Ito paused and mumbled for a while before speaking. "While your art is good, your aesthetic sense... let's just say it doesn't align with most people. Perhaps you could lean toward comedy manga?"
How to describe the specific situation... She probably found the Osaka Expo mascot cute.
"Ahaha..." Sahodo Ashisu laughed awkwardly. Rin Ito took the opportunity to change the topic.
"Speaking of which, I just started a manga club yesterday. Currently, including me, the club has two mangaka and one illustrator. Sahodo Ashisu, would you like to join?"
"A club?"
Sahodo Ashisu was surprised at first, but then she quickly realized a problem... Why would he invite me?
His manga's reader rating is even higher than Shiyuri's, and I'm just a small assistant... Could it be that he's after my body!?
But...
Sahodo Ashisu's gaze fell upon Shiyuri, who was covered in Rin Ito's essence. Shiyuri has a great figure. If he were truly just after a body, he could have easily had her when she was drunk yesterday, but he didn't.
Her own figure... even two of her combined wouldn't measure up to Shiyuri alone... Men are all lovers of large breasts; it's impossible for him to be interested in her body alone.
Even today, he only used the double-ended clamp to squeeze Shiyuri's large breasts into a 'cup' and coated her face for the sake of reference material; he didn't seem to want to truly have intercourse.
"That's right, a manga club called 'Baumkuchen' that just started yesterday. Besides me, there's one girl who used to draw oil paintings and is now working hard on her first manga, just like you. It's a mainstream shojo manga, not an adult one."
Rin Ito smiled. "The other is an illustrator. She's drawing her first doujinshi and preparing to sell it at a convention."
Hearing Rin Ito's words, Sahodo Ashisu nodded thoughtfully.
At first, she thought Shiyuri was also in the club. It seems he invited her because she, like the others in the club, was learning to draw manga.
"Are both of them girls?" Sahodo Ashisu asked tentatively. It wasn't that Sahodo Ashisu thought Rin Ito would assault her like Shiyuri feared; she was just curious.
"Mhm, they are both very cute girls."
That made Sahodo Ashisu feel even more reassured.
There are indeed some harem-themed comics with this kind of setting, such as a school club with only one boy, or a male transfer student to an all-girls school.
But comics are comics, and reality is reality.
How could he possibly start a harem club in real life!?
"This club was built for them. They plan to release their practice work under the club's name if they don't want to use their own. What do you think? Do you want to join? It's just a hobbyist club; you can leave anytime."
"No problem!"
Sahodo Ashisu readily agreed... Although the doujinshi artist's reference gathering method was a bit perverse, having fellow companions with the same goal of drawing manga to exchange ideas with was much better than working alone in isolation. Plus... she would have guidance from a senior mangaka!
However...
"Oh, right, Ito-sensei, joining the club is one thing... but I will not participate in doujinshi reference gathering!"
Sahodo Ashisu glanced at Shiyuri. The substance on Shiyuri's face seemed to be starting to dry, and she absolutely did not want to be coated like Shiyuri!
"That's fine, it's completely up to you."
"Great, then... please take care of me, Ito-sensei!"