Master of the Machete Style Manga

Chapter 88 What to do if the other party has financial power?
A red Porsche Panamera drove onto the main road outside.

The atmosphere inside the car was somewhat tense.

Natsume Mio sat in the passenger seat, turned her head to look at Mikazuki Haruna who was driving.

Haruna turned her head to look at her, but as she turned her head, the car suddenly lurched.

"Huh?!" Natsume Mio was slightly startled and quickly grabbed the doorknob.

Haruna Mikazuki realized what was happening, chuckled awkwardly, looked back at the road ahead, and straightened her direction.

Two or three minutes later, Natsume Mio spoke up: "Haruna-senpai, you didn't come to Ken's house today to discuss manga creation, did you?"

"I'm going to see Professor Sakamoto. Do I need to report to you?" Haruna Mikazuki asked.

“This…” Natsume Mio pursed her lips, speechless for a moment.

She snorted and said, "In Ah Jian's eyes, you're just a fellow serializer who started serializing his work around the same time."

Mikazuki Haru smiled faintly and replied in a relaxed tone, "Of course we're colleagues. Sakamoto Ken's works are very interesting, I like them a lot, and he likes me too."

“Ken was just being polite,” Natsume Mio said.

She turned the steering wheel, the car rounded a bend, and said to Natsume Mio in a slightly teasing tone, "So, Mio-chan, what's your relationship with Sakamoto Ken-sensei?"

This guy speaks like a senior lecturing a junior.

Mio Natsume wanted to say that her relationship with Ken was special, but the truth was that nothing was certain between them.

“We…we are very close, of course, we’ve known each other for many years,” Natsume Mio said vaguely.

“Oh, really?” Mikazuki Haruna said, “Sakamoto Ken-sensei is very talented, but he has a tough life. I was just thinking about whether to give him some money so that he can move to a better place and buy the best equipment so that he can concentrate on painting.”

"No!" Natsume Mio blurted out almost immediately.

She immediately realized her reaction was too strong and quickly added, "What I mean is, Ah Jian... he definitely won't accept money from someone with such an unclear background!"

“What’s so unclear about this?” Mikazuki Haruna said. “Isn’t he in dire need of money? That debt is quite substantial.”

"How did you know?!" Natsume Mio's guard was raised.

“Never mind how I know,” Mikazuki Haruna said. “Anyway, he owes a lot of money and lives in such a run-down apartment. What about you? You can’t help him at all.”

“Ken’s royalties are very high!” Natsume Mio said. “He submitted so many articles this month, and the day to pay his royalties is coming soon.”

“That still won’t be enough to pay back the money he owes, more than 20 million yen.” Mikazuki Haruna said calmly, “Even if he doesn’t hire an assistant and ignores his health, drawing at an extremely high intensity, he would probably have to go without food or drink for a year. Then he goes to university, majoring in art, which will also be very expensive. And after school starts, he won’t be able to maintain such a fast creative speed, and his royalties will also decrease.”

Mio Natsume also knew that Ken's debt was a huge sum of more than 20 million yen, plus various expenses such as tuition fees and living expenses.

Unless the standalone book becomes a huge hit, it would take quite a while to repay the original manuscript fees alone.

But the crucial question is, how does she even know the specific numbers?!

Ah Jian never told her the specific amount of his debt, only mentioning that he had a very large amount of debt.

She knew the exact amount because of that memory from her dream.

But how could Mikazuki Haruna, a colleague he had only recently met, know so much?

Natsume Mio stared at Mikazuki Haruna, who was driving, and said firmly, "Don't even think about it. Ken is definitely not the kind of person who would accept a large sum of money from someone else."

"Is that so?" Mikazuki Haruna's tone was full of disbelief. "That's hard to say. Maybe they're unwilling to accept it just because they haven't given enough."

“I think you’re the one with ulterior motives towards Ken!” Natsume Mio said.

Instead of getting angry, Mikazuki Haruna chuckled softly.

She stepped on the brakes, and the car stopped at the intersection waiting for the red light.

Haruna turned her head, looking directly at Mio with a hint of provocation: "Then why don't you pay it back for him?"

"I……"

Natsume Mio opened her mouth, but couldn't answer.

Yes, how can I help him pay off his debts?

Natsume Mio's family wasn't poor, but they were just an ordinary family.

My father works at a large trading company; he's just an ordinary employee who's been working his way up through the ranks, not in management.

Moreover, her father's income alone supports the entire family, and her upcoming vocal studies are no cheaper than studying art. Even with her usual part-time hourly wages, plus the voice-over and advertising fees she's recently earned, she probably can't even afford to maintain her car.

Is this guy trying to use his money to force Ah Jian to marry him?

Actually, when he said earlier that Ah Jian wasn't the type of person who would accept large sums of money from others, he was a little guilty.

After all, in that memory, it was very clear that Ah Jian got into this car.

It must be for this guy's money!

What else? For beauty?

She's not as pretty as me, not as tall as me, and not as big as me...

Even if Ah Jian is a foot fetishist who likes stockings, she can still wear them.

And it was indeed worn; not only did she buy it herself, but Ah Jian also bought it for her.

At this point, the car had arrived at the roadside in front of Takenozuka Station.

"How about I just take you home?" Mikazuki Haruna asked again.

“No need, I can easily take the train…” Natsume Mio immediately refused.

She didn't want this woman to know her home address.

"Okay then, bye-bye~"

Mikazuki Haruna waved to her without trying to stop her.

Mio Natsume decisively got out of the car, stood by the roadside, and watched as the red Porsche roared and merged into the traffic.

"call……"

Mio Natsume let out a long breath, feeling a slight sense of powerlessness.

Walk up the steps and swipe to enter the station.

Just then, a tram arrived. She boarded the swaying tram, took out her phone, opened LINE, and tapped on Ken Sakamoto's profile picture.

The cursor kept blinking in the input box, but she couldn't type a single word.

Should we ask him?

When asked what his relationship was with Haruna Mikazuki, he replied...
When asked what his opinion of that guy was,
But... what right do I have to ask that?

Just as Mikazuki Haruna said, she and Sakamoto Ken are just classmates now.

But she had ill intentions and was plotting against Ah Jian, without a doubt.

And if I don't take action soon...

If something terrible really happens, we can only watch helplessly as Ah Jian is tricked away by that wicked woman, just like the memory in that dream...

We absolutely cannot let that happen!

To stop Ah Jian from being deceived by a bad woman, the first step is to establish a relationship with him that goes beyond that of classmates.

For example, what if Ah Jian becomes a lover?
This matter absolutely cannot be delayed any longer.

But how do we do it?
Confess your feelings to him?

Actually, she had already prepared to confess her feelings a little over a month ago, on the day the exams ended, but he got away, so she put it on hold for the time being.

Her plan to confess was actually very simple: she would stop Ah Jian and tell him, "I like you, please go out with me."

Looking back now, it seems so insincere, even less so than those girls who slipped little cards into Ah Jian's shoe cabinet.

At least they all searched online for love confession articles and copied them onto cards...

Mio Natsume exited the LINE chat interface without sending any messages to Ken Sakamoto.

Then, she opened the Notes app on her phone and created a new file.

In the title bar, she solemnly typed four words:
—Confession lines.

(End of this chapter)