Living in the bubble economy of Tokyo, I became a literary giant through lotteries.

Guan Gufeng took out a stack of copies of the manuscript, placed them on the coffee table, and pushed them in front of Miyazaki Hayao.

"This is a short story I wrote down about the idea you shared that night while watching the sunset. It's about a girl who accidentally stumbles into a sacred place at a hot spring inn." He paused. "Take a look."

Hayao Miyazaki lowered his head, looking at the title on the cover of the manuscript paper: Spirited Away.

But he didn't open it right away.

"The name is good, but why is it a copy?" His gaze swept past the top of his glasses. "Did you submit the original manuscript to the editorial department?"

"No, this was your idea after all, so I had to let you see it first. I gave the original to my first fan." Guan Gufeng said.

"I promised her that no matter what kind of book it was, I would let her read it first."

"Oh, girlfriend it is, why say she's the number one fan?"

"Pfft!" Guan Gufeng was drinking Ramune soda when he suddenly choked and coughed repeatedly.

"Not...not yet." Guan Gufeng's voice was a little soft. "How did you guess?"

"I just guessed," Miyazaki said casually. "I didn't expect it to actually be his girlfriend."

"Not yet!"

"Okay, not yet." Miyazaki's tone was quite perfunctory.

Guan Gufeng gave up resisting.

"Why don't you read a novel?"

Miyazaki smiled and didn't say much, then turned to the first page and continued reading.

"When our names are taken away, when desire consumes everything, how can we prove we're not pigs?"

The story begins with Chihiro and her parents getting into a car as they move back to their hometown in the countryside, then taking a shortcut through a clock tower and entering an abandoned apartment building.

Chihiro's parents, thinking "we have money anyway," sat down to eat at a restaurant full of delicious food. When Chihiro went out for a stroll and returned, she was horrified to find that her parents had turned into pigs.

The story has officially begun...

To Guan Gufeng's surprise, Miyazaki Hayao read very quickly, finishing the magazine before Guan Gufeng had even finished reading this week's Weekly Shonen Jump.

After putting down the manuscript, Miyazaki's expression was similar to when he first started reading it, but his eyes became a little more profound.

"Your story is really well written," Miyazaki said.

"So," Miyazaki placed his hands on his knees, interlacing his fingers, "what was your idea for creating this story?"

Guan Gufeng looked at the bubbles in the bottle and pondered for a while.

"It's still about growth." He looked up and met Miyazaki's gaze. "Whether you're an adult or a child, growth is a lifelong lesson."

"Chihiro went from being timid and dependent on her parents at the beginning to facing Yubaba alone, taking care of Haku alone, and making choices on her own."

"This process wasn't accomplished through magic; it was through her own will. That's how growth is. You always have to go through an adventure without anyone to help you, and you always have to learn to say goodbye to the beautiful things."

Miyazaki looked at Kaze Sekiya, "What's the deeper irony behind this?"

"Social environment." Guan Gufeng did not deny it. "Grandma Tangtang will take away people's names and make them trapped in another world to work forever."

"Haku forgot his real name and became dependent on Yubaba; Chihiro always remembered her own name and helped Haku find 'Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi'."

"The same is true in reality. Many people lose their original aspirations in the pursuit of fame and fortune, and become strangers who drift with the tide."

"Nigihachi Kohaku, did you come up with this surname yourself?" Miyazaki asked.

Guan Gufeng felt a little guilty, but still decided to shamelessly admit it.

"Yes, the White Dragon is a river god, so his name needs to have the meaning of flowing rivers. Nijihayami is a name that shows divine power when the river dries up; Kohaku-no-Shu is amber, which is transparent after thousands of years of sedimentation, and is the color of memory."

After going over the name in his mind, Miyazaki slowly spoke.

"How do you plan to handle this story?"

"Published by Kadokawa Shoten, the manga of the same name was used to enter the 37th Tezuka Award."

"The Tezuka Award? You know about it..." Miyazaki thought for a moment, "This year's Tezuka Award submission deadline is March 30th. Whose connections are you planning to use to get Shueisha to make an exception?"

Miyazaki Hayao's heart skipped a beat when he saw Guan Gu Feng smiling at him.

"I am the connection," Guan Gufeng said slowly. "I walked into Shueisha with a novel and manga that even Miyazaki-sensei praised highly. Who wouldn't give me some face?"

"I haven't even read the manga yet!" Miyazaki glared at him, speaking with annoyance. "Are you already planning to use my name to fool people?"

"How can you call it deception when it comes to the affairs of scholars? Besides, it's not like I'm not going to show you."

Under Miyazaki's shocked gaze, Guan Gufeng took out another set of manuscripts from his bag, which was the completed "Spirited Away".

Miyazaki didn't continue arguing with him and quickly took the book to start watching.

He looked at it for almost half an hour. Several times he held a page up close to look at it, and then stepped back to look at it again, as if he was checking the perspective.

He took off his glasses and rubbed his temples.

"This is a one-time thing." He put his glasses back on. "And this is the last time."

Guan Gu Feng nodded obediently.

"However," Miyazaki pushed his coffee cup aside, "you've already serialized it in Kodansha's weekly magazine, why don't you participate in Kodansha's newcomer award?"

Guan Gufeng revealed a very calm smile.

"Because the pay is too low."

"The Tezuka Award has twice the prize money of the Kodansha Newcomer Award, and the prize money is two million yen for being selected."

Miyazaki looked at his face and remained silent for a long time. He opened his mouth, as if to say something.

But in the end, he said nothing, lowered his head, and let out a long sigh.

Hayao Miyazaki stood up, went to the break room, got a refill of his coffee, and took a bottle of Ramune soda from the shelf to replace Sekiya Kaze's bottle with a new one.

Then he sat back down on the sofa, picked up the original comic book manuscript, turned to a certain page, and spread it out on the coffee table.

"Here, in the perspective of the door frame in Yubaba's room, how many points did you use when you drew it?"

"Three o'clock."

"Too much. Change it back to two points. The angle of elevation doesn't need to be so extreme. Keep the sense of oppression in the room and Chihiro's vulnerability at this moment, but make sure the reader can see the space behind Yubaba."

Guan Gufeng nodded.

Miyazaki pointed to another page. "And here, you drew three close-up panels of No-Face's expression as he chases Chihiro."

"This pacing is good for the unease of Chihiro being chased late at night, but the confused look in the middle frame is not appropriate."

Guan Gufeng took out paper and pen from his bag, thought for a while, and drew a new look in his eyes.

"Oh, right," Miyazaki said, "there should be a touch of ingratiation in the confusion."

Outside the window, the rain had stopped sometime earlier, and the raindrops on the ivy leaves were illuminated by the setting sun.

In Studio Ghibli, only two people were sitting on the sofa in the rest area. The coffee table in front of them was covered with manuscripts and original drafts, and empty bottles of Ramune soda and cups of black coffee were placed side by side.

A few days later, at the headquarters of Shueisha in Chiyoda Ward.