Chapter 24: You Are Our Dad!
That was a long time ago. At that time, Shimizu Hakuseki had just left home and was being rejected by many magazines. He spent most of his time meditating on various stories, hoping that his novellas could be appreciated by any editors. Sometimes, he would feel too depressed and would wander alone in the street at night to relieve his depression. The cold streets and the cold air at night could give him a different feeling, which was a good way for him to change his mood.
Once, he saw two bad students being beaten up by some hoodlums. Because his novella had been rejected so many times, he was very unhappy at that moment. Moreover, the two students were wearing the uniforms of his school, so he beat the living daylights out of those hoodlums.
Because of the distinctiveness of his family, the hoodlums didn't dare do anything after learning of his identity, so he easily left with the two bad students.
The two bad students gave him a thousand thanks and promised that they would repay Aniki Shimizu's kindness.
After that, the two bad students went to the hospital. Now, it appears that they have totally recovered.
"Well, if I remember, you are Abe Takumi and you are Eguchi Haruka. Were there any complications from your injuries?"
"We have recovered. Thank you for your concern."
They answered respectfully.
"You don't need to be so polite. I just helped a little."
"No, no, no, it's only a trifle for Aniki Shimizu, but it's a life-saving grace for us. This time, in order to show our gratitude, we collected a precious masterpiece for you."
"Aniki Shimizu, you will like it. Read it and you will find that it is a real treasure!"
So they offered the treasure to Hakuseki Shimizu: a crumpled old magazine.
Taboo Paradise.
It's a magazine of “Taboo Paradise” from late August.
Shimizu Hakuseki picked it up casually and turned it over. Well, the first chapter of "Welcome to Tokoharu Apartment" was published in this issue. The quality of the magazine's paper was as bad as ever, but the printing quality was still good. The lines and shadows of the pictures were very clear, none of them was dirtied by ink.
In general, it wasn't bad.
"Aniki, your instinct is so good that you can immediately find the most valuable treasure at a glance! What do you think of the quality of this treasure?"
The quality? It can't be bad. After all, those are my paintings in it!
Looking at the two bad students in front of him, he knew that Abe Takumi and Eguchi Haruka were just two impatient and immature teenagers. They didn't like studying and yearn for the wonderful world outside of the school. Their essence wasn't bad, but in this era, they were standard bad students in the eyes of the public.
Suddenly, Shimizu Hakuseki had an idea: although these two people are bad students, they are also my readers. Perhaps I can get the answer I need from these two people.
Editor Ida asked him to create a masterpiece that could make readers go crazy, and he agreed without hesitation at that time.
But now, when he was going to draw the manga, he didn't know where to start. It was easy to draw another "useful" manga, but he didn't know how to create a masterpiece that could trap readers' hearts and make them become infatuated.
He had many ideas in his mind, but he still didn't know if the readers would like them.
After finding that Abe Takumi and Eguchi Haruka treated his manga as a precious treasure, he had an idea.
Maybe I should ask these two young people, even if they don't know anything.
Even when Bai Juyi wrote poems, he would ask questions of an old woman. I'm learning from Bai Juyi!
(Bai Juyi: a renowned Chinese poet. The most striking characteristic of his poetry is its verbal simplicity. There is a story that he was in the habit of reading his poems to an old peasant woman and altering any expression which she could not understand.)
Thinking about it this way, Shimizu Hakuseki immediately felt good about himself.
He closed the magazine and slowly said, "The quality of this magazine is good, but you two only want to use this to repay me?"
"Aniki Shimizu, don't underestimate this magazine. It's already out of stock now. We won it from a duel with the bad students from another school!"
What the hell are these students doing? Launching a duel for an adult magazine? Is it really worth it?
"No, of course I don't mean to underestimate you, but even I have had a lot of access to this kind of magazine."
"What?! Impossible!"
"Aniki Shimizu, is that true? No, it doesn't mean that we don't believe you, it's just, just… too amazing!"
Even their voices trembled. They were very excited at this moment!
"Of course it's true. I don't have to lie to you."
"Aniki Shimizu must be a Yakuza! Only the people of Yakuza have the channel to collect as many adult magazines as they want!"
"I've known for a long time that Aniki Shimizu isn't an ordinary person. He is probably an elite member of a big organization."
"I think he is probably a leader of Yakuza! After all, he knows kung fu!"
“You two can stop right now! I just said that I have a lot of adult magazines, why do you think that I'm a member of Yakuza?”
"Ha ha, it's not as exaggerated as you think," explained Shimizu Hakuseki, "I just know some people who work for adult magazines, so I have ways to get all kinds of adult magazines. Do you want them?"
Abe Takumi and Eguchi Haruka immediately kneeled down to Shimizu Hakuseki, "Aniki Shimizu, you are as kind as my brother!"
"No, you are as kind as my father!"
Do these two bastards still have a sense of morality? Just for some adult magazines, you can actually kneel down and call me dad or brother!
"Get up, get up, don't be so respectful. But I need to tell you, even if it is me, I can only get very few magazines at a time, so you should keep it a secret and never tell anyone else."
"I promise I will keep it a secret all my life!"
"Even if we were tortured, we wouldn't betray you, aniki!"
"Cough, cough, I see. Oh, there is one more thing. Because I can only get very few magazines at a time, I want to ask you, what genre of adult mangas do you like best?"
