Chapter 22: Kitahara's Plan
"In a word, Sensei Baijie has such an outstanding ability, I can’t miss her!" Kitahara said in a low voice, "Besides, it's not just me. As far as I know, several adult mangaka’s have begun to study and imitate Sensei Baijie's painting skill. You know, the manga circle is very small, so people should soon discover the uniqueness of Sensei Baijie's painting skill."
"You mean those mangaka's who draw for shonen magazines?"
"Yes, those manga masters have keen ears and eyes, nothing in the manga circle can escape their eyes, and their painting skills are unimaginable. When they see Sensei Baijie’s painting skill, they will naturally want to learn from it. No mangaka will be an exception." Kitahara Shimomura's face showed a look of fear. He shook his head and continued, "Even in the face of fists, I have no fear, but as long as I think of those people, I can not help but tremble. They are not human, they are devils! Sensei Baijie is indeed a genius, but his talent may only give him a temporary advantage. Soon, his mangas will be studied, analyzed, thoroughly understood, then his painting skill will be imitated and finally surpassed by others."
Those talented mangaka's were never self-satisfied with being a stick-in-the-mud. Most of the mangaka's who only depended on their talents would soon be knocked out, and those real outstanding mangaka's didn't only have great talent but also constantly learn from others. Listening to Kitahara Shimomura's words, Ida Shinji felt some chills run down his back unconsciously.
Is the world of shonen manga so terrible? It feels like a world of predators.
Ida Shinji shook his head and drove these irrelevant things out of his head, "What you said has nothing to do with us now. Anyway, You want to be Sensei Baijie's assistant because you want to learn Sensei Baijie's painting skill?"
"Of course, it can be said that Sensei Baijie has caused a revolution in the adult manga market. At least all mangaka's I know are learning Sensei Baijie's painting style, then why don't I learn it? And I know clearly that I am a person without talents, if I had to study Sensei Baijie's mangas alone, I might not be able to learn anything useful, but if I became Sensei Baijie's assistant…"
Assistants and mangaka's were like apprentices and masters. When assistants help mangaka's to draw, they could observe mangaka's' drawing process closely, participate in the work and even talk over the plot of the manga with the mangaka's. Many excellent mangaka's started from being other mangaka’s assistants. For example, Eiichiro Oda (the author of One Piece) was Nobuhiro Watsuki's assistant (the author of Rurouni Kenshin), and Nobuhiro Watsuki was Takeshi Obata's assistant (the author of Death Note).
In a word, to be a mangaka's assistant was the best way to absorb and learn the mangaka's painting skill.
"It shouldn't be a big problem. Sensei Baijie once mentioned this to me, and he really needs an assistant. But I can't give you a definite answer yet. I need to ask Sensei Baijie first."
"Of course."
After Ida Shinji left, Kitahara Shimomura showed a conspiratorial smile in his room. His mouth opened bigger and bigger, finally, he couldn't restrain the pleasure in his heart and laughed in the narrow room, "Screech! Screech! Finally, I’ve succeeded. This time, I will take a big step forward to a successful life. Well, that idiot Ida Shinji, he was deceived by me. Chatter! Chatter! Surely I am a wise man like Zhuge Liang!" (PS: Zhuge Liang was a Chinese politician, military strategist, writer, engineer and inventor. He is recognized as the most accomplished strategist of his era.)
Simply put, Kitahara Shimomura didn't only want Sensei Baijie's painting skill, but he also wanted to obtain Sensei Baijie.
He was really convinced by Baijie's painting skill and wanted to become Sensei Baijie's assistant.
He longed for Sensei Baijie's talent.
However, he also had a great interest in Sensei Baijie herself!
Beauty Baijie, what a special, seductive name. She must be a beautiful woman with a coquettish heart. And coincidently, Kitahara Shimomura himself was an unmarried thirtyish man.
If he married this woman, all her property would become his!
"Beauty Baijie." He just whispered this name and this was enough to make his mouth water.
Ordinary people had fantasies about the characters in the manga, but Kitahara Shimomura was an adult mangaka, his ideas were naturally different from those of ordinary people.
He had a fantasy about the author of the manga, "Beauty Baijie"!
He had imagined more than once that he had become Beauty Baijie's assistant. In the hot summer, Sensei Baijie instructed him to draw pictures, then Sensei Baijie's clothes were soaked with sweat and gave out a fascinating smell. At this time, Sensei Baijie complained in a pleasant voice, "It's so hot."
Then Sensei Baijie took off her coat and revealed her white T-shirt. The T-shirt was also soaked with sweat and vaguely showed Sensei Baijie's brassiere.
Her brassiere was black.
As a mangaka, Kitahara Shimomura's imaginative power was far beyond ordinary people, so in his mind, the scene was as vivid as reality.
In the dark room, Kitahara Shimomura raised another horrible laugh, "Chatter! Chatter!" , as if he was a little monkey in estrus.
"Assistant?"
Listening to Ida Shinji's words, Shimizu Hakuseki was somewhat surprised.
"Yes, as you mentioned the last time, you hoped for me to recruit an assistant to help you."
"Oh, yes, I remember that now. I need to go to school and draw manga at the same time, I'm indeed pressed for time."
"If you have an assistant, it would be much easier on you. You can leave many works to your assistant," said Ida Shinji.
"Indeed, I have a lot of ideas now. If all the paintings are done by myself, it would take me too much time. It would be good to have an assistant”. But, Shimizu Hakuseki thought of what Takahashi did before. In some cases, it wasn't a good thing to cooperate with other people. He asked with some worry, "What kind of character is the assistant? Will he be an obedient assistant?"
"Of course. He is over thirty years old. If he doesn't understand how to be an obedient assistant, I'll also feel ashamed."
"What about his character?"
"He is a good person, he will not cause trouble for others."
"That's all right then. What do I need to do here?"
"First of all, you must pay a certain fee for him, but this fee is not much. You only have to pay a very low cost of living security for him. Also, he needs to live in this apartment. The room doesn't need to be too good, you only need to find a place for him to sleep. Then you can let your assistant work for you day and night."
"It doesn't need to be so harsh."
"You must be strict on him. This is the rules of the manga circle. He wants to learn your painting skill, then he must pay the price. Not only can he help you in painting, but you can also ask him to buy groceries, walk the dog, clean the room and do other trivial things in life for you."
"Wow, that sounds like I'm buying a slave at a low price."
"But correspondingly, you also need to give him guidance on painting techniques. You have an obligation to answer his questions seriously. It can be regarded as a special relationship between teacher and student."
"That's nice. Thank you very much."
"No, no, no, I'm the person who needs to say 'thank you'." Ida Shinji bowed and continued, "I have another ruthless request. Your assistant may have limited time to help you in the early days, because he himself will also draw a manga at the same time."
"Oh? What kind of manga?"
"It's the manga that I mentioned to you last time and was rejected by you."
"Oh, Astro Boy's adult manga? I see. No problem. I usually go to school during the day, so I can only work at night. He only needs to help me at night."
"Thank you very much! Well, it's time to leave now. I'll bring him to visit you tomorrow. Please don't forget to find a room for him."
"No problem."
"Good-bye then."
"Good-bye."
After Ida Shinji left, Shimizu Hakuseki walked to Kasannoin Ayase's room.
After knocking on the door, he entered the room and found that she had a guest.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were entertaining a guest. I'll come back later."
"No, no, it doesn't matter. He is a new tenant, you don't need to leave."
Hmmm, so this person is coming here to rent a room. It shouldn’t be a problem to listen to their conversation.
"It doesn't matter," the guest also smiled and said, "It's my luck to meet such a responsible apartment manager."
"Ha ha, thank you. Could you tell me about your occupation, please?"
"It's not a secret. I'm a mangaka."
Listening to this, Shimizu Hakuseki carefully observed this person's face. He was a sunny young man in his twenties, and there was always a faint smile on his face, which gave him a warm feeling. On the whole, he was a tidy, bright young man.
"Mangaka?" Kasannoin Ayase took a glance at Shimizu Hakuseki, then turned back and continued to ask, "Well, could you tell me your name?"
"Mitsuru Adachi."
"Never heard of it."
"Well, have you read the manga 'Kieta Bakuon'? It was published on Shonen Sunday DX."
"Ah, sorry, I don't pay much attention to shonen manga. If you are talking about Osamu Tezuka and Shotaro Ishinomori, I have indeed heard of them."
"I'm very sorry, I'm just a newcomer, how can I be compared with Osamu Tezuka? Ha ha."
"Oh, like comparing a firefly to the bright moon, right?"
"Ha, it's embarrassing, but Miss Apartment Manager, you're right."
"So, can you pay the rent on time? I always feel that mangaka’s are not very reliable. How old are you now?"
"I'm twenty-three years old. I came to Tokyo several years ago and I've been drawing mangas for a long time. I think it shouldn't be a big problem to pay the rent on time. Please rest assured, even if I don't eat, I will save the money to pay the rent on time!"
"Even if you don't eat…" Listening to Mitsuru Adachi's words, Kasannoin Ayase asked curiously, "Don't mangaka’s make a lot of money?"
Mitsuru Adachi smiled embarrassedly and said, "Only very few mangaka’s can earn a lot of money. Those real masters should be able to earn a lot of money, but most of the mangaka's who struggle at the bottom like me are… ha ha."
"Are you really so poor?"
"Isn't it natural for mangaka's to be poor? It's nothing to be surprised about."
"Oh," Kasannoin Ayase stiffly shifted the topic, "So, do you have any bad hobbies?"
"You mean?"
"Like excessive drinking. Do you get wild with wine?"
"No, no, you can rest assured there. I'm a quiet person, sometimes I will work late into the night, but I will be very careful. I promise that I will never interfere with the neighbors."
"Why did you want to move here?"
"For a quiet environment. A rock singer moved to the room next door of my old room, it's really a bit too noisy. Oh, there is another reason: the rent here is cheap, and the traffic here is very convenient."
"Well, I have no more questions now. What do you think, Hakuseki?"
"Ah? Oh, I don't mind. He looks like a reliable person."
Mitsuru Adachi? Is this true? He is Mitsuru Adachi? The living Mitsuru Adachi is sitting in front of me!
"Humph, you're so naive, you can't just judge a person from his appearance," Kasannoin Ayase shook her head helplessly and said, "Well, Mitsuru… well…"
"Mitsuru Adachi."
"Well, Mitsuru Adachi, you can move in your room tomorrow. Welcome to Tokoharu Apartment."
"Thank you very much. It's nice to meet you, beautiful Miss Apartment Manager."
After Mitsuru Adachi left, Shimizu Hakuseki still felt a little dull. Oh, Mitsuru Adachi looked so young!
"Hey, Hakuseki Shimizu, what were you doing just now? Why didn't you help me?"
"What? How could I help you?"
"Help me find out his faults, so that I can raise the rent or just drive him away."
"Is it really necessary? I think the new tenant looks very good. And why do you want to drive him away? Isn't it good for you to have a new tenant?"
