Full-time comic artist

……

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Higashino Hibiki had the energy to continue.

"Time to draw comics!"

He sat down in the main seat and began his daily work. Akemi Akemi's new work was still in the storyboard stage, so it wouldn't affect his assistant's work.

After working for two hours, Higashino sighed. He knew he couldn't run away anymore, so he got up, went outside, and made a phone call to Sasaki.

About half an hour later, there was a rapid, irregular knocking sound at the door.

Higashino responded, and Sasaki took out the key and opened the door.

Upon entering the living room, he saw the usual work scene at Bird Autumn Studio and nodded in satisfaction.

"That's really good."

However, a shadow quickly crossed Sasaki's eyes, and he said to Hibiki Higashino, "Tori Akino-sensei, can we talk?"

"Of course." Higashino understood, knowing why he had come.

The two went to the study.

Omori glanced at them curiously, but seeing that his seniors were still drawing comics, he swallowed his curiosity and buried himself in his work.

……

"Please sit down, Mr. Sasaki."

Higashino pointed to the seat opposite him and said to Sasaki, who was deep in thought.

“Hmm,” Sasaki nodded in a deep voice. After sitting down, he pondered for a long time before finally speaking, “Tori Akino-kun, are you saying that Slam Dunk is going to end?”

“That’s right,” Hibiki Higashino replied, “but it will continue to be serialized for about another year and a half.”

After Hibiki Higashino told Kazuhiko Torishima when "Slam Dunk" would end, Torishima was taken aback for a moment, but because of a previous agreement, he quickly accepted it.

He also kept his promise and, as the editor-in-chief of Jump, pushed for the conclusion of "Slam Dunk".

In the end, they remained friends, which made Hibiki Higashino very happy.

Kazuhiko Torishima said he would inform the upper management of Shueisha and the editors in charge to stop their pressure.

But Hibiki Higashino decided that he would tell Sasaki himself.

He and Sasaki are partners, so Hibiki Higashino hopes that the two can be honest with each other.

"Why did you think of ending it?" Sasaki asked, his hand trembling.

Slam Dunk was at its peak at that time, and its average sales per volume of the collected volumes were unprecedented.

There's still a lot of room for drawing in the manga. The National Tournament isn't over yet, and the Autumn National Sports Festival is still worth drawing.

Both logically and emotionally, we should continue drawing.

Hibino Hibiki's reason is that Inoue-sensei ended "Slam Dunk" there, and he felt it was better to start another legendary work than to add a bad sequel.

On the other hand, drawing Slam Dunk was too hard. For most manga in Jump, each chapter requires a team working day and night.

Moreover, this is especially true for a realistic manga like "Slam Dunk," which requires a huge amount of work.

The weekly serialization was torture, and with Hibiki Higashino occasionally writing two books at once, the workload became even greater.

He has been supporting this for almost five years, from a minor student to a 23-year-old young adult in society.

He spent a large part of his life drawing "Slam Dunk".

Hibiki Higashino got tired of it and decided to spend more time on more innovative works, which would be more interesting.

Moreover, Hibiki Higashino can understand Takehiko Inoue's thoughts.

Takehiko Inoue is a very pure person who doesn't care much about profit and pursues the quality of his works more.

In "Slam Dunk," readers witnessed the growth of the Shohoku basketball team, shed tears together, and were greatly inspired. This emotion reached its peak during the Sannoh match. Therefore, it's time to conclude.

Hibiki Higashino replied, "Regret is also part of youth."

Readers will remember the end of Shohoku that summer, and be shocked and saddened by it.

It ends abruptly, leaving a beautiful blank space.

Hibiki Higashino once saw that more than 20 years after the end of "Slam Dunk", there was a poll of the ten most successful manga endings, and "Slam Dunk" was among them.

This is the recognition that time has given to the ending of Slam Dunk.

Some readers and viewers may think that "Slam Dunk" had a bad ending, but many more people believe that "Slam Dunk" had the best ending.

Sasaki was speechless.

He was talking about profit, while Tori Akino Mirai valued the worth of the work.

There's nothing more to say about that.

Jump is a commercial magazine, and the most important thing for the editors is that the comics bring value to the editorial department.

But he felt powerless to talk about this in front of Tori Akino Mirai.

Sasaki and Hibiki Higashino had known each other for over six years and knew each other very well.

The person in front of me is very confident. He firmly believes that after finishing "Slam Dunk", he will be able to create high-value works.

They also possess a detached quality, not blindly pursuing money.

This is difficult.

"Yes." Sasaki nodded.

Sasaki was fully aware of the promise that Tori Akino Mirai made to Torishima Kazuhiko back then, and as Tori Akino Mirai's editor, he had already fulfilled his responsibility.

Let the guy in front of me be free.

Sasaki thought.

"Thank you for letting me know, Toriakino-kun."

"I can't not inform Mr. Sasaki."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

……

The feelings between people are fragile, and sometimes they take precedence over interests.

Hibiki Higashino and Sasaki are the latter.

Watching Sasaki's departing figure, Hibiki Higashino felt a warmth in her heart.

He understood himself and didn't ask himself to continue drawing "Slam Dunk".

After Hibiki Higashino returned to the studio, Akemi Akemi looked up and asked, "Is it about that matter?"

Higashino nodded.

"Just as I thought." Tanaka sighed sadly. Slam Dunk was almost over, and he had to find a new job.

"Huh?" Omori was completely baffled. "What exactly is going on?"

Hibiki Higashino answered seriously, "It's a very important thing."

"Alright, let's get to work." He returned to his seat and began drawing comics.

"Huh?" Omori looked at Tanaka.

Tanaka: "This is drawn wrong, correction fluid, correction fluid."

He then looked at Akemi Akemi.

Akemi Akemi stood up and handed the completed original drawing to Hibiki Higashino.

"So what exactly happened?!"

……

Two days later, Inoue Kaede contacted Hibiki Higashino, wanting to get together again.

When Hibiki Higashino met him, it was indeed about the end of "Slam Dunk".

Hibiki Higashino's thoughts analyzed...

"That's how it should be! That's what Slam Dunk should be like!"

Director Inoue Kaede, an employee of Toei Animation, surprisingly gave it high praise.

He liked the ending, and with that thought in mind, his words were not very convincing.

This dinner party eventually turned into a discussion about how to leave the ending of "Slam Dunk" open-ended.

……

Time flies, and October has arrived.

After successfully persuading Sasaki and Inoue, Hibiki Higashino felt much lighter and wrote with even more ease.

Slam Dunk has won first place in the rankings many times in a row.

However, this time, Xiaozheng's first work is "One Piece".

Its setting is in the town where it all began—Rogue.

It was here that the Pirate King Roger was executed, and that's where he uttered that famous line.

"Want my treasure? You can have it all! Go find it! The Grand Line! I've left everything in the world there!"

Now, Straw Hat Luffy is also being executed here by Buggy the Clown.

Luffy faced his death with honesty, and he smiled. This close-up shot deeply moved countless readers.

The success of One Piece has reached a new level.

……

"With Slam Dunk and One Piece, Jump is amazing right now!"

"They're so interesting, they're all fantastic comics, I don't want to put any of them down."

"However, One Piece has only been serialized for two years. Compared to the success of Slam Dunk, it still has a long way to go."

"Eiichiro Oda's drawing skills and panel layout are far inferior to Mirai Tori. The difference between the two is like that between an apprentice and a master."