Master of the Machete Style Manga

Chapter 167 Invitation to the Author's Dinner (6600 words)
Sumida District, Natsume's house.

The night outside the window was already very deep, and only a warm yellow table lamp was lit in the room.

Mio Natsume wasn't sleepy. She was wearing a loose pink loungewear set, sitting at her desk, holding her phone tightly in both hands, looking excited.

She exited the current page again and refreshed it.

When I returned from A-Jian's studio, the video had already surpassed 20,000 views; now it has reached 60011 views.

"It's broken 60,000!"

Since dinner, the growth rate has been like a rocket launch.

"Calm down... calm down, this is just the beginning. It should break 100,000 views by tomorrow morning, right? Then the goal of one million views seems quite achievable!"

She patted her cheeks, trying to calm herself down.

She put down her phone and decided to take a shower to distract herself.

In the bathroom, warm water washed over my body, and the melody of "Lemon" unconsciously came to mind as I hummed it.

As she sang, she remembered how focused Ah Jian looked at her in the rehearsal room.

And the warmth of his palms when he massaged his feet.

And the unfinished scene in the car from the dream I had at noon today...

Ugh, why did I refuse back then?!
As for Haruna, let her be. Let her watch from outside the car window and be envious to death.

Thinking about it this way, it seems... even more exciting...

Natsume Mio lay in the bathtub, feeling very hot, and thought about releasing the emotions that had been building up inside her.

So I soaked in the hot water for more than ten minutes, and when I came out of the bathroom, my head was spinning.

Of course, it was mainly because she had just rewarded herself.

After showering, I dried my hair and changed into a dry set of pajamas.

After returning to her room, Natsume Mio immediately grabbed her phone again.

Unlock, open YouTube, and refresh.

In that instant, her pupils contracted sharply.

78765 views.

"You're kidding, right? So fast?!"

Natsume Mio thought she was seeing things.

Less than half an hour has passed since then!
How could the number of views suddenly surge by more than 10,000?
She opened the comments section, hoping to find the reason for the surge in data.

New comments are being added at a rate of several per minute.

"This is so beautiful! Did the artist who drew 'Chainsaw Man' really write this song?"

"It came from Mr. Narita. He said it's the most catchy melody he's heard this year, and it's true!"

"Recommended by Professor Narita +1"

"Narita-sensei?"

Mio Natsume keenly grasped this key word.

She immediately typed "Narita-sensei" into the search bar.

Soon, a music channel with over half a million subscribers appeared before us.

This Mr. Narita is a well-known music critic on YouTube. He also does some cover songs and occasionally releases a few of his own songs. He is very influential in the online music scene.

Natsume Mio clicked on his latest update and, sure enough, saw that he had posted a new video an hour earlier.

The title is: "A song I just discovered, the biggest surprise of the year, worth recommending."

It's been recognized by professionals!

And it was recommended by a big influencer of this caliber!

Refresh the page again, and the number of views immediately exceeded 80,000.

"You must tell Ah Jian!"

Natsume Mio immediately switched to LINE and sent a message to Sakamoto Ken.

Mio Natsume: "Ken! Ken! Have you watched YouTube?! It's almost at 100,000 views!"

Mio Natsume: "A YouTuber named Narita-sensei recommended our song!"

Mio Natsume: "[Screenshot][Screenshot]"

……

In the studio, Ken Sakamoto was still awake.

He sat at his desk, drawing the content of the second chapter of "The Quintessential Quintuplets".

After drawing Chainsaw Man for so long, it feels quite novel to suddenly switch styles.

The phone screen lit up, and he picked it up to take a look.

It's already reached 100,000 views?
Although he had absolute confidence in the quality of the song "Lemon," after all, it was a phenomenal hit song that was later proven by the market.

He originally expected that without large-scale promotion, getting 20,000 to 30,000 views on the first day would be quite good, and that it would take three days to break 100,000, and then snowball faster and faster, breaking one million in a week.

He never expected the effect of online dissemination to be even more exaggerated than he had imagined.

The recommendation from "Teacher Narita" clearly played a crucial role in its success.

Ken Sakamoto: "I saw it. That's amazing. As expected of Mio."

He opened the video page on his computer.

In the comments section, besides music fans who came from Narita-sensei's channel, a large portion of the comments section consisted of Chainsaw Man readers who came through his Twitter link.

"I came here to see the author's antics, but I left crying..."

"Is this the mental world of Ken Sakamoto? To write such a sad song with this kind of rhythm?"

"The lyrics seem to really fit the theme of 'The Chainsaw Man'?"

"This must be the theme song from 'Chainsaw Man,' right? Absolutely!"

Readers have a really strong ability to make connections. Although this song wasn't originally written for "Chainsaw Man," putting them together does create a sense of destiny.

At that moment, Natsume Mio was also browsing through these comments.

She saw a comment:
"Was the song really written and composed by Ken Sakamoto, the artist who drew 'Chainsaw Man'?"

Mio Natsume replied solemnly to this comment:
"Yes, that's right! The lyrics and music were both written by Ken Sakamoto himself! If you're interested, you can support Ken Sakamoto's manga series 'Chainsaw Man' on JUMP+!"

Then, she used her account's access to her own comment section to pin this comment to the top.

Having done all this, Natsume Mio let out a long, satisfied sigh.

Now, everyone who clicks in will see Ah Jian's name at first glance and know that this is Ah Jian's work.

She felt like Ah Jian's good wife, silently supporting his career from behind.

That's great, Ah Jian!

Holding her phone, Natsume Mio was overcome with fatigue from the reward she had just received, and she quickly lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

……

the next morning.

Haruna Mikazuki slept in.

The dream she had yesterday afternoon left a deep impression on her.

I even dreamt of Natsume Mio, and we were even arguing over Ken.

So last night, lying in bed, that scene kept replaying in her mind, and she couldn't fall asleep no matter how much she tossed and turned.

later……

Well, she rewarded herself a little.

And not just once...

From the first time she saw Ah Jian in her dream, she tasted this feeling and felt that she had become addicted to it.

It was already late last night, which caused her to oversleep this morning.

It was nearly ten o'clock when Mikazuki Haruna finally got out of bed, still half asleep.

She yawned as she walked downstairs.

The four assistants had already arrived and were busy at their respective workstations.

Toshihara said to the other three, "Did you hear that? Ken Sakamoto, the author of 'Chainsaw Man,' actually wrote a theme song, and it's really amazing."

"Huh? Really? Let me listen."

When Mikazuki Haruna heard them mention the Chainsaw Man, she immediately quickened her pace and walked over.

Because the entire first floor was so big, she couldn't really hear what they were talking about very clearly from the stairwell.

Upon seeing Mikazuki Haruna approach, the four assistants immediately stopped talking.

Forty-Yuan was still holding his phone, the screen lit up, displaying the YouTube interface.

"Ah...March Haru-sensei, good morning!" Forty-hara said with a smile, "We were talking about a song from yesterday."

Another assistant excitedly chimed in, "It's called 'Lemon,' have you heard of it, Mr. San Yuechun? I've seen it shared in several comic groups."

"Lemon?!"

Upon hearing this name, Haruna Mikazuki's heart skipped a beat.

“That’s right!” Forty-Haru handed the phone to Mikazuki Haruna. “Sakamoto Ken-sensei wrote the lyrics and composed the music. I didn’t expect that Sakamoto Ken-sensei was so good at writing songs in addition to drawing manga.”

The screen displayed the video page that had already surpassed 200,000 views.

The animation is simple, featuring a girl sitting on a round stool singing and playing an instrument. This girl looks about 80% similar to Natsume Mio.

It was only released yesterday at noon, and in less than 24 hours, it already has 200,000 views.

The speed at which this spreads is terrifying!
"And the girl who sang this song has such a beautiful voice," another assistant added. "Natsume's Cat House... wait, do you think she might be Ken Sakamoto's girlfriend?"

"Yes, yes, that's what a lot of people in the comments said, like a talented man and a beautiful woman or something..."

Upon hearing the phrase "talented man and beautiful woman," Mikazuki Haruna's eyelids twitched slightly. She pretended to be calm and pushed the phone back.

“Oh, this song…” she said in a casual tone, “I’ve already heard it, um… it’s alright, I guess, it’s listenable.”

"I think it's absolutely divine!" said Forty-Yuan.

"It's alright... Alright, alright, stop gossiping." Mikazuki Haruna clapped her hands and said sternly, "Everyone, we need to speed things up! We need to catch up, we can't keep being left behind by that Sakamoto Ken guy!"

"Yes!"

Seeing that their boss had spoken, the assistants dared not chat any longer and returned to their seats, picking up their paintbrushes again.

Mikazuki Haruna sat in front of her drawing table, holding a pen in her hand, but her mind was not on the drawing at all.

That Natsume Mio guy...

He actually became famous because of one of Ah Jian's songs.

Two hundred thousand views may not seem like a particularly high number on its own, but the key point is that this has only been a day, and the data is still growing rapidly...

If this trend continues, in three months she might actually be able to build up a large enough fan base to compete for a voice acting role in Chainsaw Man.

hateful!

I thought that by setting a high bar for her, I could make her give up.

Just then, Forty Plains let out another exclamation.

"Huh? That fast?"

She had just finished drawing a page of her manuscript and was refreshing Twitter during a break when she saw a new message.

"What's wrong?" the assistant next to him asked.

"Look! JUMP just tweeted!" Forty-Haru said, pointing at the screen. "Chainsaw Man has officially started its anime adaptation project! That's so fast! The manga has only been serialized for a little over two months!"

"Really?! It's going to be animated?!"

The studio erupted in chaos once again.

"This must be the fastest anime adaptation in JUMP history, right?"

"If it had the added boost of animation, then Chainsaw Man's popularity would be hard to catch up with..."

Listening to her assistants talking, Mikazuki Haruna sat there without saying a word.

Of course she knew about the Chainsaw Man anime adaptation. Because... she was the one who planned and invested in it!

But she couldn't say.

I can't tell them yet, at least not now.

“March Haru’s manga can definitely be adapted into an anime!” an assistant said. “Our art style is so exquisite. If it were made into an anime, it would definitely be better than Chainsaw Man, right? Besides, it’s a completely different audience.”

Upon hearing this, Mikazuki Haruna sighed inwardly.

Of course she can invest in herself.

but……

She herself knew that although the artwork of "The Young Lady" was excellent under her remake, the plot and setting were not as outstanding as "Chainsaw Man".

From a business perspective, if it were to be adapted into an animation, it would at best be an A-level investment project.

If you insist on throwing money at making it an S-level big-budget production, you're likely to lose money.

Although she was rich, she wasn't stupid, and she didn't want to waste her family's money.

But Chainsaw Man is different.

That was a work that truly had the potential to become a phenomenal hit. The tension of the plot, the charm of the characters, and its unique style were all enough to support an S-level production standard.

In this respect, she really has a hard time surpassing Ken Sakamoto.

"hateful……"

Haruna Mikazuki cursed inwardly.

Just as she was feeling down, her phone, which was on the table, vibrated.

It was a LINE message from editor-in-chief Tomohiro Ohno.

Tomohiro Ohno: "Mitsuki Haru-sensei, excuse me, but there's something I'd like to confirm with you."

Tomohiro Ohno: "This Friday evening, Shueisha will be hosting an authors' dinner. The first half will be the awards ceremony for the 'Future Film Stars' writing contest, and the second half will be an internal writers' networking dinner. I wonder if you will be available to attend?"

A writers' dinner?

Haruna Mikazuki originally wanted to refuse outright.

She's in a bad mood right now, so she's not in the mood to attend any banquet.

However, her fingers paused when her gaze swept over the words "Award Ceremony for the Call for Papers".

Call for Papers...

She knew that Ken Sakamoto had participated in the competition and won the gold prize; the winner had already been announced.

She truly deserves the title; she read "Looking Back Suddenly," and it's particularly suitable for film and television adaptation.

The total prize money for the gold medal is 400,000 US dollars.

No wonder this guy reacted so calmly when he received the royalties and consulting fees from me.

There was absolutely no sense of surprise or delight from being kept by a rich woman.

Since Ah Jian won the gold medal, he will definitely have to attend the award ceremony.

Moreover, this was a writers' dinner hosted by Shueisha.

Ken Sakamoto, a contracted writer with JUMP, was also among those invited.

She immediately replied to Tomohiro Ohno.

March Spring: "Editor-in-Chief, I want to participate."

Tomohiro Ohno: "Okay, received. I will add Ms. Haru Mitsuki to the guest list for the dinner and will send you the invitation later."

The dinner is on Friday night, which is several days away.

This is a writers' dinner hosted by Shueisha. Surely Natsume Mio wouldn't be attending.
Haruna Mikazuki was already planning in her mind what clothes she should wear that day.

……

"Ding dong~"

The doorbell rang, and it was still Keiko Kaji who opened the door. She was already used to it; at this time, Mio Natsume would bring Ken Sakamoto a bento box.

Sure enough, Natsume Mio walked in with a smile, carrying an insulated bag.

Her three assistants were already used to her presence, and when they saw her come in, they simply greeted her.

Then, the three of them got up at the same time and went out for lunch.

The main reason is that I don't want to be bombarded with the sight of Sakamoto-sensei and his lovey-dovey couple...

As Natsume Mio opened the bento box for Sakamoto Ken, she excitedly said, "Ken, I have great news for you! I just checked the video data again, and the number of views is almost 30!"

"Three hundred thousand?" Sakamoto Ken was somewhat surprised. "It's much faster than I expected."

"Yes! And a lot of people in the comments section are praising your song." Natsume Mio said proudly. "By the way, I also pinned one of the comments, so now everyone knows you wrote this song!"

"And there's more!" Natsume Mio took out her phone, scrolled through the comments section, and pointed to one of them to show Sakamoto Ken. "Look at this! This morning someone claiming to be from a record company left me a message saying they wanted my contact information and wanted to talk about a collaboration!"

Ken Sakamoto took the phone and looked at it.

That account was indeed the official account of a record company. Although it wasn't a top giant like Sony or Avex, it was still a well-known mid-sized company in the industry, and it had even published a rather influential music magazine.

"This company is fairly reliable," Ken Sakamoto commented.

"Should we contact him?" Natsume Mio asked. "Is it time to release an album?"

Ken Sakamoto shook his head: "It's too early to talk about releasing an album with only one song. We need to accumulate more works."

He handed the phone back to Natsume Mio: "Don't rush to reply, or just politely decline and say that you don't plan to sign a contract at the moment. We need to continue to build up our popularity. When we have more popularity, even if we sign a contract, we will have more room for negotiation on the contract."

"Mmm!" Natsume Mio nodded obediently. "I'll listen to Ken! After all... Ken is my personal manager now~"

As she spoke, she winked playfully at Ken Sakamoto and stuck out her little tongue.

At that moment, Natsume Mio's gaze was drawn to a stack of drawings on the corner of Sakamoto Ken's table.

That's not the style of Chainsaw Man.

The lines are more delicate, and the characters are more graceful, clearly in the style of romance comics. She has been reading this type of comic the most lately, mainly as a romance textbook.

The drawing depicts five beautiful girls who look exactly alike, but with different hairstyles and expressions.

"Huh? What's this?" Natsume Mio picked it up curiously and looked at it. "Ken, is this a new character from Chainsaw Man?"

“No,” Ken Sakamoto said. “These are just some character designs I drew on the spot, and they have nothing to do with Chainsaw Man.”

"That's... a new work?" Natsume Mio's eyes lit up.

At this moment, Keiko Kaji, who had been sitting on the other side, also heard the commotion and immediately looked up.

"A new work? What new work?" Her professional instincts as an editor immediately alerted her.

Ken Sakamoto explained, "It's nothing. I just suddenly had some inspiration a couple of days ago and casually drew some character sketches as preparation for future works."

Keiko Kaji walked over, picked up the character design draft, and looked at it.

"The art style is adorable... However, Sakamoto-sensei, your Chainsaw Man has only been serialized for two months. Even with an assistant, the workload is still considerable. Isn't it a bit too early to be considering a new work?"

She was a little worried that Ken Sakamoto would be distracted.

"Or rather..." she guessed, "is it actually a short story?"

Ken Sakamoto shook his head: "It's not a short story, it's a long story idea. But don't worry, Kaji-san, I'll finish 'Chainsaw Man' soon. I'll have to consider new works sooner or later. I'm just writing down my thoughts for now."

"Finished so quickly?" Keiko Kaji was taken aback. "Sakamoto-sensei, have you already decided on the ending?"

"Hmm... I haven't thought about it in detail yet, but it'll be soon. Kaji-san will find out then," Sakamoto Ken said. "Kaji-san, you won't interfere with my ending, will you?"

Keiko Kaji looked at Ken Sakamoto's confident eyes and remained silent for a few seconds.

In the end, she sighed and nodded: "Okay, I believe in Sakamoto-sensei."

"Don't worry, whether I draw a new work or not, Chainsaw Man won't be perfunctory," Ken Sakamoto assured him.

Keiko Kaji smiled and said, "After all, I have personally witnessed how Sakamoto-sensei was able to juggle a two-chapter-a-week serialization and the creation of 'Looking Back' while working alone. I admire him."

“However,” she said, her tone turning serious, “I will still carefully review every single word as always.”

“No problem.” Ken Sakamoto nodded in agreement.

Keiko Kaji put down her manuscript and continued, "Oh, right, there's one more thing."

"The company just sent out a notice. The email should have reached Sakamoto-sensei's inbox by now. Please check it. It's about the call for papers and the award ceremony."

"An award ceremony?" Natsume Mio, who was standing next to her, immediately perked up her ears. "Is it the gold award for 'Looking Back Suddenly'? The one with the 400,000 dollar prize!"

Kajiko nodded: "Yes, the awards ceremony is scheduled for next Friday evening."

Upon hearing this, Ken Sakamoto opened his email on his computer.

Sure enough, an invitation from the organizing committee was in my inbox.

Mio Natsume immediately leaned over, her head almost touching Ken Sakamoto's face, her eyes fixed on the screen.

First came a polite congratulatory greeting.

Congratulations to Ken Sakamoto for winning the Gold Award in the Reality Category of the Future Film Star Writing Contest...

Next are the specific time and location:

The awards ceremony will be held on the evening of April 10th at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo.

Each winning author may invite one friend or family member to participate. Please click the link below to fill in the friend's or family member's information.

"You can invite friends and family!"

Natsume Mio's eyes lit up instantly.

She turned sharply to look at Ken Sakamoto. Although she didn't speak, her watery eyes were full of expectation.

Seeing her like this, Sakamoto Ken glanced at the invitation on the screen again.

He clicked on the specific link and entered the appointment confirmation page.

His information had already been automatically filled in on the page.

Below that, there is an input box for "accompanying family and friends".

Award ceremony...

As a judge, Ai Hoshihara will definitely be present.

Should we bring Natsume Mio along for this occasion?

After a moment's consideration, Ken Sakamoto realized that he couldn't keep running away forever, and Ai Hoshihara had already laid some things out with her, so she was well aware of what had happened in the previous week.

Ken Sakamoto entered Natsume Mio's name directly and clicked submit.

"All right."

Ken Sakamoto turned to look at the girl beside him who was almost holding her breath, and said with a smile, "Then come with me."

"Great!!!"

Natsume Mio excitedly hugged Sakamoto Ken's neck: "Ken is the best!"

Keiko Kaji watched this scene with a warm, aunt-like smile on her face.

As expected of Sakamoto-sensei...

She coughed twice, interrupting the atmosphere between Sakamoto Ken and Natsume Mio, and said, "Sakamoto-sensei, the email you received was from the official call for submissions contest. Actually, the company also made arrangements."

Keiko Kaji continued, "Taking advantage of this awards ceremony, the company also plans to hold a writers' dinner, and will invite many writers, people from the publishing industry, and people from the film and entertainment industry to participate."

"However, we don't need to apply. All the authors currently serializing their works with Shueisha are invited, and the banquet and awards ceremony will be held in the same hall."

"After witnessing Sakamoto-sensei receive the award, we can go straight to the banquet."

Ken Sakamoto casually uttered an "oh" at first, but then his brows furrowed slightly.

Authors currently serializing their works are welcome to participate...

So... Haruna will be participating too?

Ai Hoshino is a judge for the competition, and she had previously stated that they would meet at the awards ceremony.

And it was in the same hall.

That is to say...

If we bring Mio along, the three of them...

Ai, Mio, Haruna.

We're going to officially meet at the dinner party?
(End of this chapter)