Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist

Shueisha's internal year-end party was held in a very low-key manner. Although the Shangri-La Hotel in Chiyoda Ward, a top-tier hotel, was booked out, there were no venue decorations.

There were no signs, banners, or directional arrows at the hotel entrance, as if the hotel was simply open for business as usual and not booked out for any reason.

"OK……"

The three responded and unbuckled their seatbelts to get out of the car.

After getting out of the car, Ayane Takeda made a point of looking down to check if her collar was turned up properly and then tugged at her skirt.

The four of them got off the car together and went up to the hotel lobby, where they found that there were already quite a few people there.

Some of them were clearly hotel staff, while others were likely guests like Eri Aragaki and her friends.

This is easy to identify, since the staff are definitely wearing uniforms, while the guests are all wearing casual clothes.

No one was wearing tuxedos or bow ties; the most formal attire was probably a casual suit jacket.

This also relieved Ayane Takeda and Erina.

Ayane Takeda showed concern yesterday and even asked about it. Although Eri Aragaki said yesterday that she didn't need to dress too formally and she said she understood, it was clear that she was still worried.

I'm dressed a bit more formally today. Besides the down jacket for warmth, I'm wearing a knitted cardigan over a long skirt and a white shirt, which looks like a typical office outfit.

Although Erina didn't say it out loud and dressed casually, she was actually a little worried.

Eri Aragaki and Akane Natsume were truly relaxed, dressed casually, and showed no signs of worry whatsoever.

Eri Aragaki was still wearing that thick cotton coat and jeans, while Akane Natsume was even simpler, wearing a dark brown coat over a beige sweater and black trousers, her hair casually draped over her shoulders, and she barely wore any makeup.

At this moment, the scene in the lobby is that staff are guiding guests and explaining something to those who have questions.

The visitors today would approach familiar faces to ask questions, then start chatting, gathering in twos and threes, and occasionally you could hear keywords like "last week's manuscript," "single volume," and "anime adaptation" floating by.

It's obvious that these people are either manga artists and their assistants from Shueisha, or editors from Shueisha.

Most of them were male, but there were women among them, so Eri Aragaki and her three friends weren't particularly special here.

However, Eri Aragaki did not recognize any of these people.

She stood at the entrance of the hall, scanned the area, but didn't see a single face she recognized.

But just then...

"Teacher Pear".

A familiar voice rang out from the right.

Eri Aragaki looked over and, sure enough, it was Masaya Sakurai.

Masaya Sakurai wasn't wearing a suit today either, but rather a dark gray sweater underneath a black down jacket, looking much more relaxed than when they usually meet at the editorial department.

He was accompanied by two women. One looked to be under sixteen years old and was wearing a white down jacket. The other looked to be around twenty or thirty years old, with a gentle demeanor and was wearing a beige coat.

"Mr. Sakurai."

Eri Aragaki breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing familiar faces, quickly walked over, and then greeted the woman next to Masaya Sakurai, "Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Eri Aragaki, and I'm the manga artist under Mr. Sakurai's supervision."

"Hello, nice to meet you, please take care of me."

Masaya Sakurai's wife, Ryo Sakurai, and daughter, Chinatsu Sakurai, quickly returned the gift.

When Sakurai Ryo bowed slightly, his movements were very natural, while Sakurai Chinatsu secretly looked up at Aragaki Eri while bowing.

Sakurai Chinatsu, in particular, straightened up and took half a step forward, saying to Aragaki Eri, "Riko-sensei, I really like your drawings of 'Attack on Titan,' especially the character Petra..."

Eri Aragaki felt a pang of unease, after all, Petra had just been killed off in the recent episodes of Attack on Titan.

Sure enough, she could see some resentment in Sakurai Chinatsu's eyes.

When readers mentioned the character's name to her face, Eri Aragaki felt a little guilty, but she just smiled and said, "Thank you for liking her."

"Let me introduce you. This is my wife, Ling, and this is my daughter, Qianxia."

Masaya Sakurai then introduced his wife and daughter, gently patting them on the shoulder one after the other.

"Mr. Sakurai, Mrs. Sakurai, and Miss Sakurai, this is my younger sister..."

Eri Aragaki also introduced Erina and the others to Masaya Sakurai's family.

The three people bowed slightly in turn.

After exchanging friendly greetings, Masaya Sakurai said, "Now we can all go up together. The year-end party is pretty casual, we just eat something, chat, and then everyone goes up to draw a prize, and that's basically it. The main thing is for everyone to meet and chat."

The venue is on the second floor, and a buffet has been set out. Just help yourself to what you want to eat.

After all, he was a senior editor who had worked at Shueisha for more than ten years, and he had attended year-end parties and the like more than once or twice, so he was very familiar with the process.

"I understand."

Eri Aragaki said, then glanced at the people in the hall, "But why does it seem like I don't see many manga artists..."

She was very curious, mainly because although she didn't recognize other manga artists, she could still recognize Kishimoto, Tite Kubo, and Akira Toriyama.

Akira Toriyama needs no introduction; I've seen his face countless times in magazines.

The influence of Dragon Ball remains unparalleled worldwide to this day, and Eri Aragaki was a loyal fan of Dragon Ball in her previous life.

Kishimoto and Kubo Tite are popular manga artists on par with Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece, and they often appear in interviews. Eri Aragaki was a fan of their manga in her previous life, so she could recognize them.

However, they were nowhere to be seen among the people in the hall.

"Yes, that one is Professor Amano Akira."

Masaya Sakurai, however, directly gestured to a woman who was about forty years old and unremarkable in appearance and who was waiting in the lobby.

She was wearing a dark blue down jacket, glasses, and minimal makeup. She stood quietly in the corner looking at her phone, surrounded by several people who appeared to be her assistants.

Eri Aragaki only noticed her presence when she looked over, and then she was a little stunned.

She never imagined that the author who drew so many cool characters and awesome battles in "Katekyo Hitman Reborn!" would have such an ordinary appearance.

"Then, Riko-sensei can go chat with Amano Akira-sensei and take a picture together..."

Masaya Sakurai then instructed, "But the photos must not be leaked. Professor Akira Amano doesn't like to show his face."

When Eri Aragaki looked over, she suddenly realized what was going on.

She was somewhat surprised that Amano Akira looked like this. Indeed, he was unremarkable in appearance, the kind of person who would not stand out in a crowd for more than half a second.

It's no wonder she doesn't like to show her face. There's a contrast between her appearance and her work, a contrast she probably doesn't want all her readers to know.

"And that one is Mr. Taiyo Matsumoto, the artist who drew 'Takemitsu Samurai'..."

"That one is Keisuke Itagaki, the author of 'Baki'..."

"That's Mayu Murata, the artist behind the shoujo manga 'Lovely Complex,' the one whose live-action movie adaptation was a huge hit this year..."

Masaya Sakurai then introduced them one by one.

I didn't know until they introduced Eri Aragaki that everyone there was such amazing manga artists.

Taiyo Matsumoto is a recognized genius in the Japanese manga industry, Keisuke Itagaki's "Baki" has countless fans, and Mayu Murata's "Lovely Complex" just had a live-action movie released this year that was a box office hit...

The manga artists that Masaya Sakurai mentioned, Eri Aragaki had read quite a few of their works in her previous life, although most of them were anime.

When she looked at the people chatting in twos and threes, she felt that the atmosphere of the whole hall had changed, as if she had stepped into a comic book textbook.

"The other teachers should either not have arrived yet, or they should have already gone upstairs."

Finally, Masaya Sakurai said, "Oda-sensei should arrive quite early. If you want to find Oda-sensei, it's easy to recognize him; he usually wears a fish head mask when he attends."

Since 2004, Oda has been less fond of appearing in live-action films, explaining that he wants to protect his family and his own safety.

His concerns were not unfounded, as a terrible thing had happened in 2007, which is now the year he was born.

That is, Oda's former assistant harbored resentment and hatred towards Oda after being fired, and his wife continued to send text messages to Oda, almost all of which were threatening and intimidating.

It wasn't until 09 that the police arrested the former assistant's wife.

Regardless, it is indeed quite frightening.

Before this, Oda himself had encountered some similar situations. Because of this, he, who had never shied away from appearing on screen in his early years, began to reduce his appearances. When he had to appear on screen, he would wear a fish head mask.

"Actually, I'd like to talk to Akira Toriyama. I'm a fan of Dragon Ball."

Eri Aragaki then said...

She prefers Dragon Ball to One Piece, after all, it was her childhood favorite.

She grew up watching Goku and Super Saiyan. Although she mostly watched pirated versions when she was young, she bought a lot of Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball movies, and related merchandise as she grew up.

"Akira Toriyama doesn't usually attend gatherings like this very often..."

However, Masaya Sakurai shook his head, his tone tinged with regret, "He didn't come to last year's year-end party, nor the year before, and I'm not sure about this year either. It seems like he only came once in recent years, in 04."

"Oh? I see..."

Eri Aragaki said with a hint of regret.

Chapter 110 Year-End Party [Part 2] (Daily Life)

But just then, Eri Aragaki came to her senses and discovered the key point.

She shifted her gaze from Masaya Sakurai's face, glanced around at the crowd still waiting in the hall, and then turned to ask, "By the way, if the venue is on the second floor, what are we all waiting for? Can't we just go up there?"

She had originally thought the year-end party venue was on a very high floor and that she would need to take the elevator up in batches.

However, if you're on the second floor, it only takes about ten seconds to walk up the stairs, so you probably don't need to wait for the elevator.

She felt something was off as she watched the cartoonists and editors standing quietly in the hall.

"There was a minor incident; the hotel is probably conducting some kind of investigation."

But then a voice suddenly came from the side, saying with a hint of apology, "Everyone will be able to go up soon, please wait a moment, teacher."

Masaya Sakurai, Eri Aragaki, and the others turned to look.

The person speaking was wearing a dark blue casual knit sweater over a light gray shirt, and appeared to be around forty or fifty years old.

Eri Aragaki didn't recognize the person, but he looked familiar, as if she had seen him somewhere before.

"Editor-in-Chief Ibaraki, you've arrived too..."