Full-time comic artist

"Yes!"

……

On Sunday, Mamoru Yamamura received a sample copy of Jump magazine.

"The Sun Murder Case" was a color page in issue number 23; he had been looking forward to this moment for a long time.

"Hikaru no Go is second place, and our manga is only fifth. It's simply unforgivable," Yamamura said to Arai-sensei, who was working nearby.

He was frustrated because he wanted to surpass "Hikaru no Go". But after reading the manga, he really liked the content of "Hikaru no Go".

Pain and happiness.

He'll be very unhappy if the quality of "Hikaru no Go" declines and he can't find any interesting manga.

But he was even more upset that "Hikaru no Go" ranked higher than his own manga.

So all we can do is improve ourselves.

After a year of improvement and with feedback from readers, he began to revise the original details, striving for perfection.

The manga's name can be changed to "The Sun Murder Case - Revised," and the mountain village will begin to add more new content.

Secondly, of course, are the featured sections, such as the color pages inside the volume and the color pages at the beginning of the volume.

“There’s a color page in the middle of the manga,” he said smugly. “Even the cover will have an illustration and text. This time, we’re sure to surpass the ranking of Hikaru no Go!”

Aside from the first episode, he had been behind "Hikaru no Go" for a long time. He was just one place away from being ranked higher, by a few dozen votes, but he always came in behind "Hikaru no Go".

“You,” Arai-sensei looked at Yamamura Morimichi with amusement and shook his head, “this result is already very good. My own manga is always ranked below tenth. Young people should learn to be content.”

“I am the guardian of the mountain village,” he said, taking a sample copy of Jump magazine from a paper bag, standing up and holding it high. “I must be number one, even if I am the number one as a newcomer!”

He made a bold statement, which Arai responded with a mixture of helplessness and admiration.

Working with this young man even invigorated his own spirit.

It feels like I've gone back to when I first started drawing comics.

"That's very well said! Let's work hard together! I will create the best painting!" he said with deep emotion.

But then he saw that the ruddy face of the village magistrate suddenly turned ashen, and then as black as soot.

"If I was born in Akino, why was I, the village keeper, born here?" He roared to the sky.

"Hey! Are you alright, Yamamura?" Arai asked with concern, leaning closer to check on you.

Yamamura Morimichi quickly hid the jump, but then realized he couldn't hide it anymore.

He sighed again, "I never expected that the cover of this issue would be 'Hikaru no Go'."

He had just made a boastful statement, only to be immediately proven wrong. Even someone as thick-skinned as him couldn't take it anymore.

On the cover of Jump, Kondo Hikaru is holding a black Go stone between two fingers, with Fujiwara no Sai dressed in a style similar to Tang Dynasty clothing, representing 1000 years ago.

It occupied almost the entire cover.

The color pages inside the volume that made him happy and that he had been looking forward to for a long time only occupied less than 1/10 of the cover, making them very inconspicuous in comparison.

"It's a color page at the beginning of the issue," Arai exclaimed. "I've been drawing manga in Jump for seven or eight years, and I've never received this honor before. As expected of Akino-sensei."

"Wait!" Yamamura Morimichi suddenly shouted. Forgetting his embarrassment, he remembered something very dangerous. "In the last chapter of *Hikaru no Go*, he was second place, right... *gulp*..."

He swallowed hard, his eyes wide as he stared at the comic magazine. "It's just a prelude chapter, plus this issue's opening color page... Could it be..."

"Could it be..." Arai was also shocked, "that he will become the number one in the school?"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Yamamura Morimichi waved his hand violently. If Hikaru no Go took first place, his courage to pursue it might disappear.

He quickly picked up the comic book and started reading.

After a while, Yamamura Morimichi breathed a sigh of relief.

The content of the comic was different from what he had imagined.

The build-up over several chapters is for Akira Touya vs. Sai Fujiwara.

However, in the end, Hikaru Shindo's obsession with Go led to him playing against Akira Touya.

Given his skill level, he naturally lost, and in the middle game, Hikaru Shindo resigned.

All the hard work was for this one competition, but the result was a disappointing ending.

Akira Toya stepped out of Fujiwara no Sai's shadow and moved towards professionalization.

Hikaru Shindo continued his pursuit.

Arai finished reading it quickly.

He said, "This kind of content naturally won't appeal to readers. But..."

“It maintained the tone of the work,” Yamamura Morimichi continued, recalling the short story “Hikaru no Go” in the Tezuka Prize. “Hikaru Shindo is different from Torajiro. If Sai continues to play Go, then Hikaru Shindo will just be a second Torajiro.”

“Yes,” Arai nodded, “giving up the present to see the long-term future, that takes real courage.”

Hikaru Shindo, obsessed with playing Go, is naturally more charming than a puppet.

Yamamura Morimichi remained silent.

After a while, he said, "He's a formidable opponent, Akino Mirai. It's quite interesting to be serialized in Jump with him."

……

Hibiki Higashino was reading a manga when he was surprised by "The Sun Murder Case".

The painting skills have improved, and they are now more in line with the artwork.

The novel was adapted into a manga, and the content was changed, with more reasonable methods of committing the crime and more detailed developments.

Even the novel's plot has been altered, with the final culprit now shrouded in mystery and unknown.

In the realm of comics, "The Sun Murder Case" represents an evolution.

"Oh! How interesting! As expected, the most important thing in mystery works is the unknown!" Simply adapting the original manga won't survive in Jump.

"That guy from the mountain village has real guts."

Higashino sighed.

He found it more interesting, but he didn't know what the readers would think.

Jin Yong's novels have been revised into many versions, but not all of them have been accepted by readers.

Higashino Hibiki felt a sense of respect for Yamamura Morimichi.

After reading "The Sun Murder Case", he started reading the latest serialized comic.

It looks very familiar, and I know more about the later content than the author does—"Rurouni Kenshin".

"This is going to be a pillar of Jump's future!" Hibiki Higashino exclaimed in amazement. "It's starting serialization now?"

He had previously watched the anime series "Rurouni Kenshin" and also watched a great live-action theatrical film.

So I have some impression of it.

Kenshin Himura, the killer with an "X" scar on his face, has finally joined the same stage as "Hikaru no Go".

"What an era teeming with monsters!"

Chapter 54 Progress

In the latest issue of Jump, "The Sun Murder Case" unexpectedly became a hit, surpassing "Hikaru no Go". "Kimi ga Killer" ranked fourth, and "Hikaru no Go" ranked fifth.

But Yamamura Morimichi wasn't as happy as he'd imagined. He silently deduced the plot, wanting to come up with something even more exciting and have a good competition with the future "Hikaru no Go".

……

Hibiki Higashino sat in the classroom, feeling somewhat unhappy about getting fifth place.

Only by gazing at the mysterious world of JK girls outside the window can I relax.

A gust of wind blew downstairs, lifting the skirt of the beautiful girl in Higashino Hibiki's line of sight. She screamed and, like Marilyn Monroe, struck a sexy pose, pressing down on her skirt.

Unfortunately, being on the second floor, Higashino Hibiki could only see the top of her head; he couldn't see anything else.

"Tsk."

He turned his head away and stopped looking out the window.

In the classroom, Asahina Yuko kept drawing, not letting go of any spare moment, even during lunch break.

At Tetsuya Endo's suggestion, she outsourced some of the work to others.

Considering it's a student animation festival, hiring already-employed professionals would be tantamount to cheating.

So she asked her classmate.

They also formed an animation team.

Hibiki Higashino had no idea how she did it.

How did Asahina, who is not good at speaking and is lonely, manage to gather 4 or 5 classmates?

Nishimura, who couldn't draw manga, also joined the animation team and took on logistical work.

Higashino nudged Shinohara, a classmate in the row in front of him, who turned around in confusion. "What's wrong?"

“I’m just curious,” Hibiki Higashino asked, “Are you and Asahina close? Why did you join her animation group?”

“Hehe,” Shinonome said with a laugh, “Asahina is very cute.”

Seeing Higashino Hibiki looking at him with disdain, he coughed twice, "Of course there's a salary too, 5000 yen a day!"

Higashino Hibiki asked in surprise, "You're not short of money, are you?"

“It’s not that we’re short of money,” Shinonome said disdainfully, “but you, Higashino, certainly don’t understand the joy of earning a salary through work, you idle fellow.”

Higashino really wanted to beat him up because of his attitude.

Thinking about it later, I realized he was working for himself, so I chuckled twice and told him to keep trying.

"I'll go ask her about her progress."

Hibiki Higashino stood up, walked to Yuko Asahina's side, and quietly watched her paint.

Shinonome covered his face, feeling embarrassed for Higashino Hibiki.