Full-time comic artist

Higashino Hibiki went to class and, as expected, was asked about by many people.

Even the basketball club president, Kongo Riki, approached Hibiki Higashino, expressing his deep emotion with tears in his eyes.

He admires Hibiki Higashino, who loves basketball and wants to let more people know about the sport and promote basketball.

Kazuya Takasugi was also grinning foolishly at Hibiki Higashino.

……

At Tokai University in Japan, Hanacho was stopped by a senior from the school's basketball team.

"Hey! Hua Chao!"

“Baba-senpai.” Hanako nodded.

"Tori Akino-sensei drew a basketball manga!" Baba-senpai excitedly handed him a newspaper. "Maybe even more people will like basketball now. Our Tokai University basketball team can conquer Tokyo in the future!"

"A new work by Higashino?" Hanako was taken aback.

I took the newspaper and immediately spotted the grinning protagonist, Sakuragi Hanamichi. Then I read the text, "Slam Dunk..."

“That’s right!” Baba replied happily.

Hana ignored him and looked in the direction of Musashino.

"They actually drew a basketball comic..."

"Thank you, Higashino."

When Higashino Hibiki returned to the dormitory and checked the comments on the Jump website, they had already changed.

"Haha, I guessed right!"

"It's so great that it can be serialized so quickly!"

"I'm really looking forward to Akino Mirai's new work! I'll definitely buy it as soon as Jump is released!"

It seems they don't have much of an opinion on the subject matter.

After all, Akino Tori's debut work was Go, which many people don't understand.

Basketball is always more entertaining than Go, right?

At the same time, countless people learned about this work through newspapers, television news, and Weekly Shonen Jump:

It is Akino Mirai's new work, titled "Slam Dunk".

It was serialized in Jump's seventh issue.

Chapter 122 Feedback

Two weeks later.

On the cover of Weekly Shonen Jump, there appeared a tall, muscular boy with messy red hair, dressed in a basketball uniform, who looked arrogant like a delinquent.

His name is Sakuragi Hanamichi.

The work that received a color cover for the first chapter is called "Slam Dunk".

Yamamura-Arai Studio.

Last Friday, Yamamura Morimichi provided Arai-sensei with the plot of the next chapter of "The Sun Murder Case" in written form.

He then went into seclusion to devise the plot for his next comic book.

That's right, he also has plans to prepare a new serialization.

Given the existing readership, this time it's still a mystery comic.

Having learned from the lessons of his previous serialization, this new comic is written in a style more in line with serialization, and the story is more relatable to teenage readers.

Based on this, five unique props were designed to add mystery and expand the scope of the framework.

In short, he was full of confidence.

The mountain village is preparing to compete with "Slam Dunk" in six months.

On Monday morning, he went to a nearby convenience store and saw a long line of people. He assumed they were all buying breakfast, but as he walked further, he realized they were buying Weekly Shonen Jump.

"Huh? What's going on?" Yamamura asked, puzzled.

"We're out of Jump shoes," the clerk next to him told him. "The manager has gone to the warehouse to get them. Please wait a moment."

"Thank you." Shancun nodded, bewildered, and joined the end of the line.

He found it strange, "You have to queue to buy Jump too..."

A high school student in front of him turned around and said, "Because everyone wants to see Akino-sensei's new work as soon as possible."

The mountain village's expression turned serious.

He lowered his head, his eyes flickering uncertainly.

"Tori Akino...has he become this popular already?"

Thinking about his own "The Sun Murder Case," which is still ranked 5th to 9th, Shancun felt a sense of urgency.

With fists clenched, he thought, "I need to start serializing it soon too!"

Not long after, the store manager returned, and Yamamura went home after buying Jump.

"His first issue was featured in the opening color page; the editorial department really values ​​him."

The mountain village couldn't wait to flip to "Slam Dunk" and start reading.

……

The main character of "Slam Dunk" is Sakuragi Hanamichi, a first-year student at Shohoku High School, who has confessed his love fifty times and failed each time.

Sakuragi is a delinquent who forms the Sakuragi Gang with four close friends: Mito Yohei, Oonusu Yuji, Noma Chuichiro, and Takamiya Nozomi.

The girl who recently confessed her feelings to him said she liked Oda, a member of the basketball team, which made Sakuragi hate basketball even more.

At this moment, a cute girl named Haruko Akagi appeared. Because Sakuragi was tall, she mistook him for a basketball player.

Haruko's appearance made Sakuragi yearn for basketball, or rather, he wanted to get to know Haruko through basketball.

Later, Sakuragi learned that Haruko liked a boy named Rukawa Kaede, who was very handsome.

Because of some misunderstandings, Haruko mistakenly thought that Sakuragi was fighting with Rukawa, so she scolded Sakuragi.

After the misunderstanding was cleared up, before Haruko was about to apologize to Sakuragi, Sakuragi was so devastated that he clashed with Akagi Takenori, the captain of the Shohoku basketball team, and the two engaged in a basketball match.

……

“Tori Akino has changed his style,” Yamamura thought, resting his chin on his hands after reading it.

"The protagonist becomes a delinquent teenager who is irritable, easily angered, and loves to fight, and comedic elements have been added to the story."

Will this be popular?

Mamoru Yamamura couldn't predict the success of "Slam Dunk," as it wasn't his preferred genre.

"I thought it would be a story about a protagonist whose dream is to play professional basketball and who works hard to achieve it."

He shook his head and decided to continue observing.

……

Tokai University, Japan.

Kyoko Akagi went to the basketball court.

Sure enough, I saw Hua Chao practicing shooting.

"Damn it! That bastard Hanacho!"

Baba-senpai, true to his name, has a long face. He's never been in a relationship and is never popular with girls. He's extremely envious and jealous of Hanacho having such a beautiful girlfriend.

“Your girlfriend’s here,” he said irritably from the side. “Aren’t you going to go and keep her company?”

"Why are you accompanying her?" Hua Chao asked with a strange expression. "It's basketball practice time right now."

Baba shut up and said nothing.

Was it because I was too attentive to girls in the past? That's why they didn't appreciate it. Maybe if I change my approach, things will get much better.

He decided that he would no longer lick the first-year student Rika, the second-year student Yuzu, the third-year student Haruhi, and the three fourth-year students.

Half an hour later, Hua Chao was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. He went to the side to rest.

Kyoko Akagi quickly took out a towel and bottled water and went over to him, handing them to him.

"Thank you, Kyoko."

After saying that, Hua Chao drank all the mineral water in one go.

"It's nothing." Kyoko smiled, her eyes narrowing. After seeing that he had rested enough, she said, "Have you read Akino's new manga? It's the one called 'Slam Dunk'."

“Hmm,” Hanako nodded, and when he heard about Tori Akino, he became interested. “Higashino’s new manga, just as he said, is basketball-themed.”

"I think I'm the model for both Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede."

"Tall, red-haired, and not very talkative."

"Haruko Akagi is based on you, Kyoko; the drawing is almost identical."

Kyoko Akagi was stunned. You call this being bad at talking?

“I’m not like Haruko Akagi. She’s a fangirl, but I just like you as a person,” Kyoko Akagi said decisively.

She's just attracted to good looks, but definitely not to the point of being a fangirl.

"Kyoko," Hanako's large hand stroked her head, making Kyoko close her eyes happily.

The horse farm on the side was so envious they almost bit their teeth off.

"Will Slam Dunk do well?" Hana asked, his expression filled with doubt and fear. "I don't read manga, I don't understand manga. If Higashino's grades don't go well because of me, then I'll be letting him down."

They met at the gymnasium that day. He hadn't seen Higashino Hibiki for a long time, and in his excitement, he asked Higashino Hibiki to draw a basketball manga.

Now, Hibiki Higashino has actually drawn a basketball manga, making Hanacho uneasy.

“If it’s by Tori Akino-sensei, there won’t be any problems,” Akagi Kyoko reassured him. “I laughed non-stop while reading this manga, and I’m sure it will be loved by many people.”

"Are you guys talking about Slam Dunk?" Baba walked over and said, "There weren't any basketball-themed manga in Jump before because there weren't many people who liked basketball. So..."