Tokyo 1970: I'll draw Doraemon?

He took off his hair tie and handed it to her, saying, "Here you go."

"Wait," Asano Megumi stopped Fushimikawa, untied the hair tie from the back of her head with one hand, then used her hand to hold her hair in place, and came to Fushimikawa's side, her long, fair neck turned away from him.

"please."

Fushimikawa could clearly smell the girl's delicate fragrance and see her straight, slender shoulders, wondering how they could bear the heavy burden on her chest.

"Ok."

He nodded, grasped Asano Megumi's long hair, and gently tightened it to keep it from slipping from his grasp. Then, as was his habit, he tightened the hair tie, bringing the old hair tie back to the back of its owner's head.

"That's fine."

Fushimikawa clapped his hands, his gaze sweeping over Asano Megumi's delicate collarbone.

Asano Megumi's handsome face flushed slightly: "Thank you."

The two's oblivious interaction left the members of the anime club speechless.

They looked at Fushimikawa and Asano Megumi, then at the incompetent Fujiwara Maki, and sighed in unison.

"We can't win."

"They're like an old married couple."

Fujiwara Maki was already feeling unwell, and with everyone egging her on, she really wanted to go up and separate them.

"Who is she?" she asked Fushimikawa.

“Oh, I haven’t introduced you yet,” Fushimikawa said with a smile. “This is Asano Megumi, my best friend, who is now working at Waseda.”

"We're just friends," Fujiwara Maki said, covering her mouth as if to hide her upturned lips. But anyone could see the sarcasm in her expression.

Asano Megumi glared at her with her upturned eyes.

Sparks flew between them.

……

Asano Megumi successfully joined the manga club.

During their private conversation, Fushimikawa learned about her situation.

She is studying Japanese literature and plans to become a magazine editor.

Fushimikawa was taken aback: "It's a good fit for my work."

"Mm." Asano Megumi nodded gently.

Fushimikawa asked, puzzled, "You just showed me 'Sunday,' how did you know I'm the author of 'Doraemon'?"

Asano Megumi took a deep breath: "Nammu San and Oikawa Ni seem to be from the same lineage. Also, Oikawa Ni is in the Waseda Manga Club, and you're a genius. I think you'll shine sooner or later. Finally..."

Her gaze softened, as if glistening with water: "I'm sorry, I'm not as brave as Shizuka, and I don't dare to face you going to Tokyo."

Fushimikawa couldn't help but comfort him, "It's nothing, we'll see each other again now, won't we? You must have worked hard for a long time to get here. Thank you for your hard work."

Asano Megumi's lips trembled as she suppressed her bravado and lowered her head: "Mm."

Afterwards, Fushimikawa took her to his studio and gave her a sketch he had drawn a long time ago.

"Although it's late, I think you'll like it."

"……Feel sorry."

She apologized again.

……

The members of the Comic Club began to get busy preparing for this year's CM Expo.

Because of the near-accident last year, the school refused to provide a venue.

Left with no other choice, Fujiwara Maki and Utsunomiya had to contact Yoyogi National Gymnasium to rent the venue, which can accommodate 10,000 people, for two days.

Therefore, clubs that want to participate in the CM exhibition this year need to pay a booth fee ranging from 100 to 1500 depending on the size of the booth.

Even so, applications continued to pour in.

Last year's Waseda CM exhibition has long become a legend. Many people who missed it waited for half a year before the news of its re-enactment came. Hundreds of dollars could not dampen their enthusiasm.

"Does Fushimi-kun not have any doujinshi to submit?" Fujiwara Maki asked.

“I don’t have time,” Fushimikawa said, rubbing his forehead. “There are too many things to draw, and I’m overwhelmed all the time. I’m afraid I won’t be able to come to the manga club for the next few months.”

Fujiwara Maki gave him a pitying look: "There's nothing I can do to help you with that."

"Um……"

Just as Fushimikawa nodded, Asano Megumi leaned over and said, "I'll draw it for you, just like before."

"That's great, thank you, Megumi." Fushimikawa said thankfully, "With your help, I can have an easier time."

He led Asano Megumi and Arima to the studio, unaware of the two people exchanging glances behind him.

Fujiwara Maki clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and glared at Asano Megumi, who was looking at her smugly: "That damned newbie! I didn't have this idea at first, but she's stirred up my competitive spirit!"

……

Back in the studio, Fushimikawa introduced Asano Megumi to Hirokane Kenji.

The three skilled workers quickly got to work on drawing the original manuscript.

Arima focused on "Ikkyu-san," and after finishing that, he helped Hirokane Kenji draw "Doraemon." Finally, the three of them tackled the toughest challenge together: Fushimikawa's new work, "Confessions."

The realistic style of "Confessions" was more complicated to draw than "Doraemon" and "Ikkyu-san" combined.

The assistants felt like they had gone from being painters to assembly line workers, with no end in sight to their work.

Only at lunchtime can we rest for a while.

"The recent Doraemon content is all about Shizuka," Hirokane Kenji muttered while eating ramen.

Fushimikawa replied, "I have a storyline I want to draw, so I'll lay the groundwork for it now."

The books he wanted to draw, in order, were "Two Shizukas", "The Story of the Swapped Ropes", "Nobita's Jellyfish Aquarium", then "Snow Mountain Romance", and finally "The Battle to Reclaim Shizuka".

Each of these chapters has its own focus, which enriches Shizuka's character and the love story between the two.

Although it may seem strange for fifth-grade elementary school students to talk about love, how can a shonen manga be without romance?

After reviewing the storyboards for the first two episodes, Asano Megumi nodded in satisfaction: "Childhood friends should be together."

……

Two weeks later, "Try to Say Goodbye" officially came to an end.

This episode left a deep impression on the readers, who couldn't help but look forward to what would happen next in Doraemon.

As more and more readers come to love Doraemon, the manga has gradually become the number one ranked work in Sunday magazine.

At this point, Watanabe Shizuo regretted his decision and, at Takei's request, finally agreed to a contract with an annual fee of 60 yen.

Takei immediately contacted Fushimikawa, only to receive bad news.

"I'm sorry, I've already signed a contract with 'COM' and will be serializing a short story there starting in May."

The implication is that he cannot belong solely to Shogakukan.

Takei felt like he'd been struck by lightning. He'd NTR'd Fukuda before, and now he was going to be NTR'd by someone else?

He considered the time; Oikawa and Tezuka Osamu needed to talk, and they still needed the space provided by Shogakukan.

I felt even worse.

"It's all Watanabe's fault!"

If Watanabe Shizuo had agreed to give Oikawa a two-year contract fee at the annual meeting, then there would have been no way he would have gone on to serialize in "COM".

"Don't worry, let me talk to the editor-in-chief. Our Shogakukan can cover the breach of contract penalty from 'COM'."

Fushimikawa glanced at the nervous Takei Toshiki and said calmly, "Takei-san, this is something I promised, how could I go back on my word? What am I supposed to say to Tezuka-sensei? Things have already come to this, let it happen."

He made it sound so easy, but how could Takei Toshiki be content with that?

Upon returning to Shogakukan, he found Watanabe and demanded that Watanabe personally apologize to Oikawa.

"Oikawa-sensei's potential is already very clear; he's undoubtedly the one who can save Sunday. If we let him slip away, Jump and Magazine will laugh at us!"

Watanabe Shizuo hesitated. He had indeed made a mistake, but it would be too embarrassing to make the editor-in-chief apologize to the manga artist.

Especially underage cartoonists.

This has never happened before.

“Senior Takei, I don’t think it’s that bad, is it?” Having listened to the whole thing from the editor-in-chief’s desk and noticed Watanabe Shizuo’s dilemma, Yamashita seized the opportunity to step forward.

“We at Sunday magazine gave Oikawa a platform to showcase his talents, and he should be grateful to us. Staying with Sunday magazine with gratitude is what he should do, not have the editor-in-chief beg him.”

Takei's eyes widened, wanting to yell at him, but he saw Watanabe Shizuo silently nodding in agreement.

"Besides, what kind of manga magazine is 'COM' and what kind of magazine is our 'Sunday'?! Is Oikawa Ji really that stupid as to abandon 'Sunday' for 'COM'?"

Whether it makes sense or not, what Yamashita said was made with absolute certainty.

Even if he leaves Sunday, he will eventually slink back when he sees the terrible environment outside.

Watanabe Shizuo's wavering resolve was solidified by Yamashita's words. He said to Takei Toshiki, "Yamashita makes a good point. Let's wait a little longer. It's not too late for us to sign a contract with Oikawa-kun after he finishes his short story with Tezuka-sensei."

Since it's a short story, it won't be serialized for long.

What could possibly go wrong in less than six months?

Moreover, Watanabe himself really didn't want to lower himself to ask a young upstart for help.

Wu Ju laughed in anger upon hearing this.

He worked tirelessly for Sunday's cause, and this is how the editor-in-chief repaid him.

"Forget it," he waved his hand, "I don't care anymore."

Instead of arguing with Watanabe, he should go and train Adachi Mitsuru.

Finally, he glanced down the mountain, his tone unreadable: "Instead of worrying about these things, you should hurry up and sign a cartoonist."

The smug man at the foot of the mountain stopped in his tracks.

The cartoonists he signed were all the type who would be quickly canceled, and he didn't have a single veteran cartoonist under his wing.