"A professional mangaka, part-time high schooler!"
Xia Jing's expression turned a bit strange as he looked at Su Qingxiao's outstretched hand. But since she clearly didn't mind, he definitely didn't either. He took her hand and said softly:
"Xia Jing."
"But, uh, Su Qingxiao, you said you're a professional mangaka… you mean…" he continued.
"You already have a manga serialized in a magazine?"
"Oh? Sharp."
Su Qingxiao finally heard the realization click in his head, and the modest smile she'd clearly prepared ahead of time appeared on her face.
"I started serializing a manga in Sakura Weekly when I was thirteen. So far I've published two short works and one mid-length series. The series that's currently ranked third in popularity in Sakura Weekly, Tales of Sorrow, is my work…"
Tales of Sorrow?
Xia Jing blanked for a moment at the title.
Internally he grumbled:
Don't tell me you're Nisio Isin reincarnated and continuing your own series here?
But he did know about this magazine, Sakura Weekly.
Right now, the manga industry in China was basically dominated by six major manga magazine publishers.
Each of these six giants had at least one weekly magazine whose total weekly sales in China and nearby regions could exceed ten million copies.
But in a market this huge—with over a billion people—even beyond those six behemoths with national and even international distribution, there were still countless second-, third-, and fourth-tier manga magazines, with sales ranging from tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, to over a million.
Sakura Weekly was a manga magazine that was especially popular in the Shanghai area and neighboring provinces.
It belonged to the same parent company, the Illusion Dream Group, as one of the "Big Six" magazines, Illusion Dream Comic.
Of course, it wasn't on the same level as Illusion Dream Comic. It was more of a third-tier magazine where signed mangaka under Illusion Dream, whose works weren't quite strong enough for Illusion Dream Comic, serialized their series.
That might sound pretty average.
But in reality, if your work could get signed and be serialized in any second-, third-, or even fourth-tier magazine, you were already considered top-tier among ordinary manga hobbyists.
It was like the national football team. Everyone online roasted them for being trash, wondered if they'd even be considered fourth-rate in the world—but if he actually went on the pitch against them, chances were he'd still get destroyed.
Especially given Su Qingxiao's age…
Fifteen years old, and she already had three works serialized. That was enough to call her a manga prodigy.
In his past life, monsters like Oda and Kishimoto were still total nobodies at that age.
"Wow… that's impressive," Xia Jing said, offering a compliment.
Su Qingxiao's eyes narrowed slightly.
She could tell that Xia Jing clearly had no idea what Tales of Sorrow was and had only heard of Sakura Weekly the magazine.
After all, it was a relatively "niche" weekly magazine with total sales in the several-hundred-thousand range. Most of its series were emotional, romance-leaning titles aimed at girls.
It was perfectly normal that a boy like Xia Jing hadn't read it.
Still…
She couldn't help feeling a little down.
No one at school knew she was a mangaka. She'd never told them. With people who didn't understand anything about creating manga and only knew how to brainlessly complain that "the art sucks" or "the story sucks," she just couldn't connect at all.
The reason she'd taken the initiative today to reveal her little secret to this boy who clearly had excellent drawing skills and obviously wasn't just in a three-minute phase… was because she had a lot of bottled-up feelings about manga and wanted someone who understood to talk to.
And yet he didn't even know her work.
She pushed the negative feeling down—and suddenly, a fun idea flashed through her mind.
Hmm…
From the few pages of 5 Centimeters per Second she'd seen, it should count as an emotional romance series, right?
So why not…
"Xia Jing, it looks like you've already drawn quite a lot of pages for this manga," Su Qingxiao said, glancing at the desk.
"Yeah, I've already drawn a bit over a hundred pages. At this pace, I should be able to finish it in two or three days," Xia Jing replied.
"Have you thought about getting it published?" Su Qingxiao asked with a small smile.
"Of course I've thought about that," Xia Jing said.
"I'm not even considering the Big Six for now. They basically never accept submissions from complete unknowns. But as for all the other magazines… sigh, I just don't know how to choose."
Don't be fooled by how often "brand-new mangaka" seem to pop up in Jump in his previous life—that was all smoke and mirrors.
In reality, those "newcomers" had probably already debuted under some other pen name years earlier, won prizes in newcomer contests, had short runs in obscure magazines, built up contacts in the industry, and gotten on editors' radars before they ever got the chance to serialize something in Jump under a new name.
Oda, for example—he only started serializing One Piece at twenty-two, but he'd already won second place in the Tezuka Award at seventeen. Those five years in between were spent polishing his craft, publishing short pieces, and winning more prizes. There's no way someone just suddenly "pops out" One Piece out of nowhere.
It was the same in China.
No matter how good his draft was, for a total nobody submitting via mail, it wasn't impossible to get picked, but most likely the editor wouldn't even bother to look closely. And even if they did, the series would probably be killed in the serialization meeting.
If he wanted to serialize something in one of the big magazines one day, he'd first have to build his experience and reputation by running series in second-, third-, or even fourth-tier magazines, then slowly build connections. Only then would he have a sliver of a chance of successfully pitching to the Big Six.
So if he couldn't consider the Big Six, that left the hundreds of second-, third-, and fourth-tier magazines spread across the market.
He didn't know any editors at any of those magazines, and he was still a student, so personally visiting each office to submit would be a huge hassle. The waiting time after rejection would also be brutal. To be honest, he'd been stuck in "choice paralysis" for several days already.
"How about this then…" A gentle smile appeared on Su Qingxiao's face.
"Why don't you submit your work to my editor and see if you can get it serialized in Sakura Weekly like me?"
"Eh? Sakura Weekly? Isn't that a shoujo magazine?" Xia Jing blurted out, stunned.
"That's a stereotype," Su Qingxiao said with a laugh. "Who told you Sakura Weekly is a 'shoujo-only' magazine? It's more accurate to say it's an 'emotional' manga weekly. There are plenty of emotional series for young men in there too…"
"I don't know the full story of your 5 Centimeters per Second, but from what I've seen of the art and the bits of plot, it's definitely an emotional work, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is…" Xia Jing paused, then nodded.
"And your male lead is drawn pretty bishounen, right? Especially the heroine… she's really cute," Su Qingxiao added.
"That's… also true," Xia Jing admitted.
"In that case, why can't you submit it to Sakura Weekly?"
Uh…
He couldn't think of anything to refute that.
"But most of the series in Sakura Weekly are warm, gentle romance dramas with a happy, cozy feel, right? 5 Centimeters per Second is…" Xia Jing said awkwardly.
"Don't tell me somebody dies in your story?" she asked, surprised.
"No, but the ending is… kind of regretful," he said.
"Then it's not a tragedy. So what are you so scared of? Love stories almost always have regret in them. Can you name a single pure-happy, zero-regret romance story?"
Yeah, well, I also can't think of a story that's all regret and no happiness either… Xia Jing roasted silently in his head.
"And anyway, it's just a try. It might not pass at all, so there's no need to overthink it," Su Qingxiao continued.
Of course, her most direct reason was simply that she thought it'd be fun to have a schoolmate's manga run in Sakura Weekly.
You don't know my work, right, Xia Jing?
If your work gets serialized in that magazine, you'll definitely start paying attention to Sakura Weekly, and naturally you'll also notice my series…
Then each week, when you see your popularity ranking below my Tales of Sorrow, you'll get a real sense of how awesome I am.
And if your submission gets rejected, you'll still get a taste of how strong someone your age can be.
After that whole roundabout thought process, the truth was that there was just a tiny bit of a mangaka's vanity acting up inside her, wanting to show off in front of someone her own age.
Looking into Su Qingxiao's clear, bright, expectant eyes, Xia Jing thought for a moment, then nodded slightly, still a little hesitant.
She was right—he really had nothing to lose.
Even though it felt a little weird to have a just-met schoolmate suddenly offering to help him like this, he wasn't paranoid enough to assume some malice from a high school girl.
Maybe she really was just happy to have found another manga lover at school.
"Alright then… I'll be in your care. Please help me put in a good word with your editor…" he said.
"Of course. You're my schoolmate~ Of course I'll help you." Su Qingxiao's eyes curved into crescents as she smiled.
"In that case, you'd better speed up your drawing. From what I know, a few short series in Sakura Weekly are ending in the next two weeks, so there'll be several open slots for new serializations. Do your best!" She raised her fist in a cheerful little "fighting!" pose.
"Uh… oh!" Xia Jing hurriedly copied the gesture.
Just then, the afternoon warning bell rang. Su Qingxiao quickly packed her bag and headed back toward the classrooms.
"Then it's settled. I'll call my editor tonight and let them know!"
Xia Jing stood there for a moment, thinking for a long while before finally packing up and heading back to class.
He had choice paralysis. Since Su Qingxiao had helped him make a choice, he decided not to overthink it anymore.
"Sakura Weekly, huh…" he murmured under his breath.
The afternoon passed, and school was soon over. Xia Jing headed home alone. Drawing during the lunch break was just a way to save time; the real bulk of his work was done at night.
That night, he felt unusually clear-headed, his focus razor-sharp.
By the time he reached the final scenes of 5 Centimeters per Second, his pen flew across the page without a single hitch.
When he finally snapped out of it, he looked down to see a panel where a man, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned, was turning away with an air of acceptance.
The lines weren't complicated, but the character's emotions seemed to overflow from his expression and eyes.
At least, that's how it felt to Xia Jing—his chest tightened again the moment he saw it. The emotional impact of the image was just that strong.
"I… drew this?" he muttered, stunned.
The level of linework and emotional expression was a whole tier above anything he'd managed back when he was a flop of a mangaka in his previous life.
And he'd drawn this page in about half the time he usually needed.
Drawing faster he could understand. But emotional impact in a scene? That was the kind of thing that had a lot to do with raw talent.
Could soul fusion really come with bonus points in artistic talent too?
…