Full-time comic artist

He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Even Tori Akino can make a mistake..."

As he was talking, Baba saw Kyoko Akagi glaring at him and immediately realized he had said the wrong thing.

"Ah~ 50 more baskets!"

He pretended to be stupid and ran to the basket.

……

On Friday, Sasaki arrived at the teachers' dormitory.

“Of course, Xiao Zheng is number one in the class,” he said.

With a popular author's new book, massive publicity, and a full-color cover, there's no reason it shouldn't be number one.

"The age and gender ratios are normal, which is the average level on Jump."

"In short, it's too early to tell whether it will be popular. Let's wait and see."

Higashino nodded. "Yes."

In "Slam Dunk", he consciously increased the pace in the early stages, making the plot develop faster.

It reduced some of the fighting and added a few comedic elements.

Therefore, there is some unclear feedback.

Afterwards, Higashino Hibiki handed the manuscript of the third chapter to Sasaki.

"Please find me another assistant."

The working hours for "Slam Dunk" are much longer than those for "Hikaru no Go".

Leaving aside the human figures, just the background alone is enough to exhaust Oda.

Basketball games always have spectators, and a lot of them at that.

Looking around, all you could see were heads.

Sometimes, the camera needs to zoom in to draw four or five people.

These all require a long time to conceive and a long time to draw.

The two assistants, who had artistic backgrounds, were fine, but Oda was struggling to keep up.

"Oda has lost two pounds from exhaustion, it's so pitiful," Hibiki Higashino continued.

"Okay." Sasaki nodded. "I'll contact them right away."

Chapter 123 The Lonely New Assistant

Sasaki is a very proactive person, and by Monday of the following week, he was at Hibiki Hibiki's studio again.

He was all alone, without any assistants.

Sasaki explained, "His home is nearby, and he said he would come over on his own."

Higashino Hibiki had prepared tea and snacks, and the group waited patiently for him.

But half an hour passed and the person still hadn't arrived.

Sasaki's expression grew increasingly grim, and Higashino Hibiki quickly stood up.

"I'll go out and look for it; maybe it's lost. After all, Musashino Art University is quite large."

Higashino walked to the entrance, opened the door, and saw a familiar figure.

"Hello, I'm Tanaka, an NHK staff member..." the other person said blankly.

Ah, the NPC that refreshed several times last spring has reappeared.

This time, her image was different. Instead of wearing a suit and tie, she was dressed casually, her hair was a bit messy, and she no longer had her usual ingratiating smile. Her whole style had changed.

However, he looked very pale, and his cheeks were thin.

"The pricing hasn't changed, has it?" Higashino Hibiki took out his wallet from his pocket, took out 20,000 yen, and handed it to the other person.

"Huh?" Tanaka was taken aback.

He pushed the money Higashino Hibiki handed him back.

Higashino was taken aback. He had even started learning Chinese to collect the fees back then, so why was he now refusing to accept the money he had sent?

Do you like the hard mode?

Why did his easy act of paying make him unhappy?

"I'm sorry!" Tanaka bowed deeply.

Higashino Hibiki was startled.

Sasaki heard the sound at the door, stood up and came out.

"I resigned from NHK a long time ago!" Tanaka said loudly. "After you enlightened me, sir, I started spending money on training, hoping to get a decent job."

“Oh…oh! That’s good,” Higashino Hibiki patted him on the shoulder to encourage him, then asked, “But why are you here with me again?”

Tanaka opened his mouth, unsure how to answer.

Sasaki walked to the door and said to Higashino Hibiki, "This is the new assistant, Tanaka, Tanakai."

"Assistant!" Higashino Hibiki exclaimed in surprise.

Tanaka lowered his head, trembling all over, "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

……

Living room sofa.

Tanaka sat quietly, while Sasaki called Higashino aside to find out what was going on.

Oda looked at the person with curiosity, while Tanaka remained silent, somewhat afraid of Oda's probing gaze.

Yoshii Yamahisa couldn't stand it anymore, so he tugged at Oda's sleeve and dragged him away.

Akemi Akemi offered her a glass of drinking water, smiling kindly and saying, "Please have some."

"Thank you." Tanaka lowered his head, not daring to look at Akemi Akemi.

"Don't worry, Akino-kun is a very kind person," Akemi Akemi comforted him.

“Yes…yes,” Tanaka nodded mechanically, “but I’ve always been like this. I’m sorry to have troubled you.”

"No need to apologize, no need to apologize." Akemi Akemi felt she couldn't handle this person; she couldn't understand his way of thinking.

Fortunately, Hibiki Higashino and Sasaki returned not long after.

Sasaki sat down next to Tanaka and said expressionlessly, "I know everything about your situation."

Tanaka was startled.

Sasaki stated decisively, "It's Tori Akino's problem!"

Higashino remained silent.

He felt somewhat guilty for swindling other people out of their jobs.

"Anyway, don't take it to heart," Sasaki said.

"Yes!" Tanaka nodded.

He recounted his story in fits and starts.

Because his parents moved frequently when he was young, he would often have to part ways with his friends as soon as they became close. Eventually, he simply stopped socializing and stayed home all the time except for going to school. Over time, this led to him developing social anxiety.

"During that period, I often painted at home."

He smiled when the painting was mentioned.

"However, the drawing is not very good; it's just a child's doodle."

After graduating from university, Tanaka encountered numerous setbacks in his job search due to his personality.

Tanaka then realized that he had to change himself and joined NHK's fee collection contractor, becoming a fee collector.

After receiving only basic wages for several months, Tanaka finally mustered up the courage to find his first sucker, Hibiki Higashino.

“The NHK fee contractors are a mixed bag, including petty thugs and gangsters. I couldn’t stay there any longer.”

He looked like he was about to cry but had no tears left, as if he had had enough of being bullied.

Imagine a little white lamb sneaking into a pack of wolves—you can imagine what the outcome would be.

He was clever enough not to be completely exploited and become a homeless person.

Perhaps because he hadn't confided in anyone for a long time, he had quite a lot to say, dissecting his tragic life step by step, a story so rich it could be drawn into a funny comic.

“Last April, I was woken up by Mr. Tori Akino’s scolding and decided to turn over a new leaf. Then I went to Akimiya Art Training Center to study.”

"Because the tuition is too expensive, I can only attend one or two classes occasionally."

Seeing Tanaka's pale face, Higashino glanced at Akemi Akemi, who lowered her head in shame.

“Yes,” Sasaki nodded, “Then you saw the Jump assistant job posting and applied, right?”

“Yes,” Tanaka nodded.

“I understand everything.” Sasaki stood up. “I’ve reviewed your portfolio, and there are no problems. Now, let’s begin the test for Tori Akino-kun.”

"Can...can I?"

“Of course,” Hibiki Higashino walked to the workbench, took out a manuscript with a character drawn on it, a storyboard, a photo of the scene taken at “Tokyo Metropolitan Musashino Kita High School”, and tools such as a G-pen and ink.

It was placed in front of Tanaka.

"You can start drawing now. Draw the background of this original manuscript."

Tanaka's eyes widened as he stared blankly at the exquisite original manuscript.

I picked up the pen, but hesitated to start writing.

He was worried that his own actions might ruin the original artwork he had spent so long drawing.

Hibiki Higashino didn't say anything and walked over to Sasaki.

Tanaka looked up and surveyed the reactions of the crowd.