Master of the Machete Style Manga

Chapter 21 is so sweet!
"Miss Machima, what type of boy do you like?"

"I like people like Denji-kun."

"I... also like Miss Machima..."

It's a pity that Ah Jian won't say the last line of the second episode to me.

Although Ah Jian has never been in a relationship, the interactions between the male and female protagonists in his comics make him seem like he has a lot of dating experience.

Denji and Machima are so sweet!

Mio Natsume was still savoring the content of the second episode.

After all, there are only two episodes released each week, and they're all gone in a flash, so you can only watch them over and over again.

Working at the convenience store, Natsume Mio felt much happier just thinking about seeing Ken again in the evening and working with him for an hour.

Convenience stores are an important channel for magazine sales. It's Sunday now, and the new issue of Weekly Shonen Jump will be released tomorrow, but there are still a few old copies left in the store.

Mio Natsume placed these JUMP magazines in the most prominent position on the bookshelf; if they didn't sell today, she would have to return them.

The magazines in the store are sold on a consignment basis, which means they are borrowed from publishers and sold directly.

If the magazine isn't sold out by the end of the week, it will be returned to the publisher, and the staff delivering the new issue will take the unsold copies from the previous week with them.

Because of the resale price maintenance system, returned old magazines are not sold at a discount, but are sent directly to paper mills for destruction and dissolution, and then made into pulp to print the next issue.

Inexpensive magazines like these are usually not shrink-wrapped when they are purchased, but the store will tie the most popular ones together with plastic rope to prevent customers from flipping through them.

Actually, it's easy to solve. If you're comfortable with it, you can stand in the store and keep looking through it until you've finished.

Occasionally, elementary school students will do this, but older people will still buy the magazines under the watchful eyes of the shop assistants.

After all, a copy of Weekly Shonen Jump only costs 260 yen, which is just the price of two bottles of Coke.

The shop owner, an elderly lady, would specially leave a copy for customers to browse. On the day each new issue was released, several elementary school students would always crowd together to look at it after school.

Mio Natsume hadn't read this issue of JUMP yet, but she flipped through it while organizing her notes.

The first dozen or so pages of each issue of JUMP are usually dedicated to promoting new serializations, as well as advertisements for various merchandise and events. This issue has half a page dedicated to promoting the JUMP+ platform.

Mio Natsume immediately recognized that the screenshot on the phone screen was actually using the color brochure from "Young Lady, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose!"

Although not specifically emphasized, the mere appearance of the image constitutes an exposure.

Why is it this comic? Didn't it just start serialization on the web this week?

It's Sunday now, but the magazine is released on Monday, so the editing should have started the Friday before last.

At that time, she hadn't even started publishing yet!

So JUMP was preparing to promote her work so far in advance.

Who exactly is that girl...?

Mio Natsume saw her work; the drawings were very detailed, but it was far inferior to Ken's "Chainsaw Man".

Hmph... If these promotional resources were given to A-Jian, he would definitely be famous by now.

In that case, Ah Jian could publish his own books, earn more royalties, and wouldn't have to worry about making a living.

Then you can move out of that terrible house and rent a nice apartment with good soundproofing so that even if you make a lot of noise in the room, the neighbors won't hear you.

I'm so fed up with having to go to a love hotel all the time...

Wait... no, no...

Natsume Mio wore a sweet smile as she reminisced, muttering softly, "Honestly, I took what happened in my dream seriously again."

After a whole afternoon of waiting, Natsume Mio finally saw that familiar figure through the glass wall of the convenience store.

She hurried to the store entrance to greet them.

"Ken~ You're finally here." Natsume Mio's lips curved into a perfectly cute smile, and two shallow dimples appeared on her cheeks.

When Ken Sakamoto saw Mio Natsume, he was momentarily stunned, as the hairstyle and face of Makima were remarkably similar. Of course, Makima has pink hair, but since Sakamoto hasn't published any color illustrations of Makima yet, judging from the manga alone, one can only determine that she has light-colored hair.

When the color brochure comes out, will she immediately go and dye her hair?

Are you just going to give me a Machima cosplay?
Last time, I had Mio cosplay many characters. She's a voice actress and can imitate the characters' tone of voice, but she's never actually tried Makima...

Sakamoto Ken deliberately made eye contact with her for two seconds, then responded with a smile and stepped into the store.

It's still 6:30 PM. Ken Sakamoto arrived early intending to have a free dinner at the restaurant.

After greeting the shop manager, the elderly lady told Sakamoto Ken to choose any bento box from the area.

It wasn't nighttime discount time yet, so Ken Sakamoto didn't pick the expensive option; he simply got a curry rice for 396 yen.

At this moment, Natsume Mio had already arrived behind the counter, smiling at Sakamoto Ken.

When Ah Jian first looked at me, there was definitely a hint of liking in his eyes!

"Jian, let me heat it up for you~" She reached out and took the bento box, putting it in the microwave.

A minute later, with a "ding", Natsume Mio handed over the steaming hot bento box, and also placed disposable chopsticks and a spoon on the bento box.

"Thank you." Ken Sakamoto took the bento box and turned to walk towards the dining area in the store.

Mio Natsume's gaze followed Ken Sakamoto until he disappeared from sight after turning a shelf.

It's dinner time now, and the restaurant is quite busy. She'll soon be busy paying for other customers.

Even though I can't see him in front of me, I feel especially at ease knowing that Ah Jian is in the same store as me.

Scanning codes, getting change, and heating the food—these repetitive tasks don't feel so boring anymore.

On the other side, Ken Sakamoto was eating curry rice while opening Twitter on his phone.

These days, Twitter's logo is still that blue bird; it hasn't been changed to a black cross.

He logged in using a secondary account named "Meguro Ward's Number One Affection," which was marked with a red dot in the message notification area.

He previously left a comment under Haruna's tweet: "Is this really Haruna from JUMP+? I've seen your work, it's amazing!"

She has now replied in the comments.

March Spring: "@Meguro Ward's Number One Affection, that's right, I am the author of 'Young Lady, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose!'~ Affectionate-san, you are my first follower! Thank you for your support!!!"

Ken Sakamoto put down his spoon and freed his hand to type.

Meguro Ward's Most Affectionate Message: "Mitsuki Haru-sensei, I saw in the JUMP+ comments section that you said you were going to draw a short skit about Benzaiten's dream. When will it be published? I really want to see it."

In less than ten seconds, a reply popped up.

March Spring: "Almost done, almost done! I'm drawing it now, don't worry, I won't skip it!"

……

Mikazuki Haruna pouted, somewhat regretting that she had impulsively mentioned the dream of Benzaiten-sama after seeing readers supporting her in the JUMP+ comments section.

I just mentioned it casually, why did this person take it so seriously?

You actually believe that a deity appeared to me in a dream and asked me to draw this comic?

If it were posted on Twitter, it would be fine; you could just delete it and pretend nothing happened. But the problem is that you can't delete comments on JUMP+ at all.

She didn't want to share what happened in that dream with her readers.

In her sketchbook, there are several sketches depicting scenes from her dreams.

But these are memories she cherishes alone, the things she experienced with that boy named Ken Sakamoto.

Although it was a bit frustrating in the end, there were still many captivating, selfless, comfortable, and peak memories during the process.

Unless I can actually find this Ken Sakamoto and talk to him in person, I'll just keep it as my biggest secret.

(End of this chapter)