Tokyo: Oreimo

Hattori Takuya was just about to head to the conference room for a meeting when he got up and happened to bump into her humming a cheerful tune as she returned to her seat.

"Have you met Shi Yuze?"

"Yes, the teacher has already left."

"So, is there something important that you came all this way to talk in person?"

Hayakawa Rumi did not hide anything and told Ryosuke in detail about accompanying Ayano to submit the new manuscript.

Hattori Takuya sighed.

"This is the current novel market. It's much less competitive than comics. But even Shigaze might not be able to get his manuscript approved. That would be the best outcome, allowing him to focus his mind on the novel."

"Eh, does Editor Hattori have so little confidence in Shigaze-sensei?"

Hayakawa Rumi was somewhat surprised, as she had been worried that morning that Takashiro Ryosuke would be poached by the neighbor.

Hattori Takuya nodded.

“You should have read that young man’s work. In the current comic market, the audience is mainly young children. Kino’s Journey can no longer be considered a children’s book to a certain extent. His style may not be to Saito’s liking.”

“Not every novelist can easily switch to comic book scripts. From the beginning, my concern was that he might lose his way due to external temptations and deviate from the right path.”

In Hattori Takuya's opinion, Takashiro Ryosuke, who was able to write "Kino's Journey" at that age, was undoubtedly a creative genius.

If an editor's negligence causes them to be distracted, it is a waste of their talent and a dereliction of duty.

"I think Shi Yuze might be able to do it."

Rumi Hayakawa muttered.

Although the voice was soft, Hattori Takuya still heard it clearly and frowned as he looked at her.

"Do you feel it?"

"Yes, I have confidence in Teacher Shi Yuze!"

Hayakawa Rumi recalled her conversation with Ryosuke, who possessed a confidence that showed he was not afraid of anyone.

Hattori Takuya sighed inwardly, said nothing more, and carried his tea directly to the conference room.

'Some things only have an effect when said after the younger generation has experienced them firsthand.'

Hattori Takuya never believed in intuition.

As an editor, one's professionalism should be linked to one's understanding of the market and the authors, rather than intuition.

"If intuition is useful, then what's the point of editing?"

...

Comic editorial department.

Ritsu Saito returned to his workstation, holding the original manuscript of "Cardcaptor Sakura" in his hands, admiring it dearly.

His colleague Hideo Nomura was getting hot water at the tea station behind him when he saw this and couldn't help but make a joke.

"Saito, look at your frivolous attitude. You just snatched a best-selling work that was about to end from Iori. Is that something to be so happy about?"

The story of Iori Setsuna had already spread throughout the editorial department; it wasn't a secret, and Nomura had also heard about it.

I thought the other party could rise to the position of deputy editor-in-chief with "Moon Witch Transformation". Before being publicly criticized at the conference, many editors went up to curry favor with him.

"Be careful. Although Iori has become the focus of attention because of what happened before, she might still get promoted next year after the storm passes. The value of the work you took over from her has basically been squeezed dry."

Nomura sat down next to him with a cup of tea and whispered a reminder.

The two were close within the company and would often whisper to each other.

“I know all that.” Saito Ritsu couldn’t help but laugh. “Iori Setsuna has that old bastard Yamazaki backing her up…”

Nomura quickly covered the other person's mouth with his hand, looking helpless.

"You idiot, even if you have a problem with the editor-in-chief, don't shout it out loud. That's why you've never been promoted!"

Saito rolled his eyes and slapped the other person's hand away.

"So what? I just want to see how long that old guy can keep me in check!"

Nomura smiled bitterly.

This guy hasn't changed at all over the years; his personality is just too straightforward.

Nomura joined Kadokawa around the same time as Saito, becoming an editor, and has been there for nearly eight years.

Unlike Nomura himself, he is not particularly outstanding in terms of ability and has never developed any hit works, remaining relatively unknown.

But Saito is different. He has a keen eye and strong abilities, having developed more than a dozen best-selling works, but he has never been able to get promoted because of his straightforward mouth.

Offending the editor-in-chief makes it extremely difficult to advance within the company, as superiors' evaluations carry significant weight in promotion assessments.

As a peer, Nomura also couldn't stand it, but his abilities were limited, and neither of them had any background, so they could only keep a low profile.

"You little rascal, you could have just softened your stance a little."

"Do you want to see me kneel down and lick the boots of that old guy like Iori Setsuna? I can't do something like that, where I'll do anything to climb the ladder."

Ritsu Saito frowned, his expression making no attempt to hide his disgust at the phenomenon.

He himself was well aware of how corrupt the company's system was, and no matter how despicable the superiors were, subordinates had to endure it because they held the power of life and death.

Why?

Ritsu Saito, however, insisted on doing the opposite.

"You bastard..." Hideo Nomura sighed, giving up on trying to persuade him further.

"It's a good thing you're capable, otherwise you would have been kicked out of the company long ago."

Nomura spoke from the heart; the best-selling works under his control were a get-out-of-jail-free card, which was why even if the editor-in-chief disliked him, he couldn't do anything about it.

Suppressing Ritsu Saito and preventing him from being promoted is the only option left.

"Maybe I'll have a chance to try this year."

Ritsu Saito patted the manuscript he had placed on the table and winked at Nomura.

"Don't joke around, the proposal to end 'Moon Witch Transformation' has already been approved."

Before Hideo Nomura returned to his workstation, he assumed the other person meant they were going to help the author continue polishing the work.

He also believed that Saito Ritsu had the ability, but Iori Setsuna had already initiated the proposal before the handover, and the high-level meeting had already approved it.

At this point, it's impossible to back down.

"It's not the work 'Moon Witch Transformation'."

"Hmm?" Hideo Nomura looked over in confusion.

"When did you get your hands on this new work? As far as I know, there haven't been any new writers assigned to us recently, right? Even if there were, they wouldn't have ended up in your hands."

"Could it be that you volunteered yourself? Did you just get incredibly lucky?"

Ritsu Saito laughed, picked up the manuscript, and waved it in front of Hideo Nomura.

"That old man Yamazaki thought he was leaving me with a mess, but I ended up finding a treasure."

Upon hearing his colleague's words, Nomura took a closer look and was shocked to realize that the manuscript in the other person's hand was not the final chapter of "Moon Witch Transformation" that he thought it was, but a completely new work that he had never heard of before.

"Cardcaptor Sakura, the new work of that genius shoujo manga artist, is it still a magical girl genre?"

Hideo Nomura's tone was slightly skeptical.

This topic was considered low-grade by their department; Saito Akira had previously shown little interest in this type of manuscript.

“That’s right.” Saito Ritsuhide nodded twice and immediately put the manuscript back into the file bag.

"Hey, aren't you going to let me see it? And who is this CLAMP guy? I've never heard of him in the industry."

Hideo Nomura's curiosity was piqued. He trusted Ritsu Saito's judgment; this work must have something special about it, otherwise the other party wouldn't have said such a thing.

"You've hit the nail on the head. You'll have a chance to see it at the monthly meeting."

"Are you trying to whet my appetite, you bastard!"

Hideo Nomura cursed.

“Heh.” Saito Ritsu raised an eyebrow at him.

Seeing his colleague's slightly frantic expression, he felt happy to have done this silly thing.

"Just watch, after the monthly meeting, that old man Yamazaki will definitely be furious."

Chapter 26 Monthly Meeting

At the end of December, the Kadokawa Building was decorated to welcome the New Year.

The 32-story comic book editorial department was still filled with a tense and oppressive atmosphere.

The December monthly awards ceremony will be held today, ahead of the New Year holiday.

The dozens of new works submitted by the editors will be voted on at the conference, and seven works will be selected to be published in the first magazine of the new year.

"The year-end monthly awards are always a time when outstanding works are gathered. I heard that many veteran authors have started new works this time."

"I feel like Mr. Zhongshan's 'Wind Warrior' and Ms. Youyu's 'Dream Fairy' are going to be a fierce battle."

"Of course, it's during the winter break when magazines are pushing for increased print runs, which is when they get the most exposure."

"Editor Ikeda, is Hojo-sensei also participating in the monthly awards this year?"

"That's right, the new work is called 'City X Hunter,' an extremely excellent work. To be honest, I think it has the potential to become a huge hit. If it wins the monthly prize, I will propose it at the serialization conference."

"I really envy you. My authors have been lacking motivation lately, and their serializations are only doing so poorly."

"By the way, I heard there will be a newcomer award this time, but it's only a silver award."

"I've heard about it too. It's said that it was assigned to Editor Iori."

"Both the Grand Prize and the Gold Prize are for complete short stories, and editors are already in charge of publishing them as standalone volumes."

The editors took their seats in the meeting room beforehand, discussing the works for this month's awards, mostly praising each other.

Saito Ritsu crossed his arms, feeling that the surrounding environment was excessively noisy.

Hideo Nomura sat to his right, reached out and patted him on the shoulder, gesturing for him to look in a certain direction.