Full-time cartoonist.

Chapter 232 I Have Become Very Mature Now

"In order to chase a man, you will always be so young."

"Because I like to pursue that person's self."

Torishima Kazuhiko shook his head, feeling the point lines in "Millennium Actress".

The connotation contained in the work made him recall it for a long time.

After a long while, Kazuhiko Torishima sighed, ""Millennium Actress" is very well completed, echoing back and forth, the moment Chiyoko flew into the universe on a rocket, I was so moved that I wanted to cry."

"This is the value of being a human being."

"In the process of reading "Millennium Actress", I understood the joy of Chiyoko Fujiwara."

"It's been a long time since I saw such a wonderful cartoon."

"Millennium Actress" is very attractive to him. If there is no job, he will drink tea quietly and taste this comic.

Correspondingly, as he grew older, Torishima Kazuhiko gradually became unable to appreciate juvenile comics.

Serial works can only be selected based on the experience of previous years.

The unique "One Piece" was almost dismissed because of his idea.

If it really happened, it must be a painful lesson.

At the New Year's party in 1998, Eiichiro Oda asked him to apologize in person.

Although he apologized without changing his expression, he was still disappointed in his heart.

It's not that he was frustrated by being slapped in the face, but reality has proved that he doesn't seem to be suitable for the post of editor-in-chief.

The glory of the past has become a mirror, making him clearly understand his current loneliness and incompetence.

Kazuhiko Torishima stopped talking, and Sasaki nodded aside. This is also how he felt when he first watched the storyboard of "Millennium Actress", and then decided to serialize the short story without hesitation.

Sasaki said: "It is not an exaggeration to call "Millennium Actress" an art comic."

Kazuhiko Torishima looked up at Sasaki, and suddenly excitedly asked, "What is the score of the last episode of "Millennium Actress"?"

Kazuhiko Torishima immediately broke away from his inner world, and started to care about the flow of "Millennium Actress".

If "Millennium Actress" is in Xiaozheng's top three, a single book can be released later and a movie can be made.

Although "Millennium Actress" did not perform well in the past, the last episode was very exciting, sublimating the style of the work, and it is normal for countless people to be attracted by it.

At this moment, Torishima Kazuhiko looked at Sasaki expectantly.

Sasaki raised his eyes and replied calmly, "It's the seventh place."

"Eh?" Torishima Kazuhiko was stunned, "Only the 7th?"

The low ranking was beyond his expectation.

In Torishima Kazuhiko's view, this manga is more exciting than most of Jump's works. Even if it is serialized in Shonen Jump, it should have a small positive ranking of No.3.

After all, Jump has a lot of traffic and is an old-fashioned magazine with decades of history. It is reasonable to accumulate some older readers.

They will understand "Millennium Actress" and like this work.

Torishima Kazuhiko thought so.

"I thought the lowest would be No.3..."

He felt weak for a while.

Sasaki lowered his head, "After all, Jump is a boy manga, and if "Millennium Actress" is not the work of Akino Tori, this ranking will be even lower."

If "Millennium Actress" is the work of other cartoonists, then its small positive ranking will be around 15.

"Sasaki-kun," Torishima Kazuhiko said calmly, "I may not be suitable to stay in the position of editor-in-chief."

……

"Mom, I'm back." Akane Nakajima returned home with her schoolbag, waving her hands enthusiastically and shouting loudly.

In the past, Mrs. Nakajima would greet her with a smile on her face.

But today, Akane Nakajima did not see her mother.

"very strange."

Putting down her schoolbag at the entrance, Akane Nakajima walked towards the living room exploratoryly, and faintly heard the sound of someone sobbing.

She rushed over and found that Mrs. Nakajima's eyes were red and swollen, and she kept wiping away her tears with toilet paper.

Akane Nakajima quickly asked with concern, "Mom, what's wrong with you? Did something happen?"

"Xiaoqian," Mrs. Nakajima gave her a sad look, "you're back."

"Mom, tell me, is there something wrong with you?" Akane Nakajima was very anxious, her little feet kept stomping like ants on a hot pot.

Mrs. Nakajima's gaze softened. She pulled Akane Nakajima into her arms and said softly, "Mom, I have no problem. I just watched Tiao Akino-kun's new work "Millennium Actress", and I was very moved."

She has been out of acting for 20 years, and she still has some nostalgia for her status as an actress.

Now watching Chiyoko Fujiwara regain her original intention and become a person who pursues her goals again, she shed tears with empathy.

She is happy for Chiyoko Fujiwara.

but……

"It's not that I have lost my pursuit, but... the goal of my pursuit has changed..."

"Now, I want to give Xiaoqian a happy childhood and grow up with her."

The moment Mrs. Nakajima saw her concern for her daughter, she felt relieved.

"So it's just like this." Akane Nakajima pouted and broke free from her mother's arms, "I thought something was wrong, I went to play games!"

She waved her hand indifferently and walked out of the living room.

Mrs. Nakajima: "..."

I regret……

"By the way, Mom," Akane Nakajima returned and poked her head into the living room. She asked, "You like "Millennium Actress" so much, did you vote for it?"

"Voting?" Mrs. Nakajima tilted her head, not knowing why.

"It's the reader survey form in Jump," Akane Nakajima explained, "There are options for favorite works, and after filling it out, it will be mailed to Jump's editorial department. The more comics selected by readers, the better its score will be. The more likely it will be animated."

"Huh? There is such a thing. I will vote now."

"It's too late." Akane Nakajima shook her head, "This week's Xiaozheng results have come out. The next statistics will be half a year later."

Half a year after the publication of each issue of Jump, statistics in units of [-] will be carried out, which will be more accurate and subdivided, and small gaps can be reflected.

It is the most rigorous statistical result.

"It's okay," Mrs. Nakajima smiled and shook her head, "I really like "Millennium Actress", so let me do what I can for this work."

……

Hokkaido, in a farm.

Nishimura's blond hair fluttered in the wind, messing up his eyes.

At this time, he was wearing an apron and brought a lot of tools, and walked into the cowshed.

He picked a cow and pulled the cow to the stall.

Then use the rope to hoist the cow's right hind foot.

The hooves of the cows were invisible under the cover of hay and earth.

So Nishimura took out the grinder and polished it carefully. After a while, the pure white cuticle was revealed.

"Sure enough, it's not what I expected. Is there a stone in here?"

With the right flap of the hoof, he could see little black, rotting pits.

Nishimura could smell a stench without getting close.

He took out the knife without changing his face. Nishimura has been able to ignore the smell after his university internship and work in the past six months.

He scraped off the cuticle next to the wound with a knife, and then glued the left cow's hoof to a mat to raise it.

After that, Nishimura started the final work. After cleaning the pus and blood, he took out the small stones, cleaned the wound again, and sprayed disinfectant on it to bandage it.

it is finally over.

He wiped his sweat. It is hard enough to do this job in summer, even in the cool Hokkaido.

After dealing with the small problems of a few cows, the sun was about to set before Xicun packed up his tools and ended today's work.

After graduation, he entered the ranch to work.

The dormitory is in the home of the ranch owner, with dozens of rooms.

Rather, the rancher lived in the dormitory too.

He returned to the dormitory lightly and deeply, feeling very tired. It was the exhaustion that he wanted to sleep well after taking a bath.

"Although it is very hard, I have become very mature now."

Recalling his silly self in high school, he felt like he was watching black history.

"At that time, I was really easy to be startled, and I was not calm at all."

"But now I'm a tough guy who won't change his face even if the sky falls."

When the ranch owner's daughter saw him, she rushed over excitedly, "Nishimura-san, here is your letter, which was handed over by Mr. Higashi Higashino."

"Really! Higashino's letter!"

Nishimura's eyes lit up instantly. He ran over and took the letter with both hands.

"Ah, I haven't contacted him for a long time, I really miss him!"

He quickly opened the envelope, and his eyes swept quickly, the kind that looked at ten lines at a glance.

"Kid Dongye, he's getting married, damn it!"

Among the three of them, it was unexpected that the most calm person got married first.

"Nishimura-san, is your friend getting married?" the ranch family's daughter asked curiously.

She pinched the hem of her clothes and poked her head curiously.

"Yeah." Nishimura nodded, "This guy Higashino hides so deeply!"

He thought carefully, now in the trio, besides himself, the other two have girlfriends.

"Damn it!" He shouted unwillingly, "I also want a caring girlfriend!"

The girl on the side blushed, like the setting sun in the distance.

"I...can I..."

She whispered.

"Hey! Hey!! It's true!" Nishimura raised his voice a little, and he was shocked, "Higashi's fiancée is Akemi Akimiya!"

"That Akimiya Akemi-sensei!"

"The most beautiful Qiugong teacher in Yanyan High School!"

"It's really enviable!"

The girl took a step back and looked at the jumping Nishimura.

Finally turned and ran away in fear.

"It's actually a teacher-student relationship, I'm afraid it started in high school... Higashino Hibiki! Heavenly Execution!"

After venting freely for a while, Nishimura came back to his senses and asked, "What did you say?"

In the end, I realized that the girl who was still beside me just now had already run away.

"What are you doing?"

……

"What are you doing!"

When the time came to September, Omori, who thought he could relax, took a break from only serializing "Slam Dunk" for a week, and in the future, Tori Akino joined the extra work of "Slam Dunk".

He was about to collapse.

Is this teacher forged?
Although the salary is high, it is too busy here!
He tried his best to draw cartoons.

I only heard a "swish" sound!
Mirai Tori Akino finished today's work.

Higashino slept two hours less last night just to save time.

He has a very important job to do.

Higashino Hibiki had a serious expression. Under Omori's curious eyes, he sat down in front of the TV and turned on the TV.

Omori: "..."

Higashino switched the channel to the "Honinbo" round-robin live broadcast.

Today is the seventh game of the round robin.

Odagiri came to the end again, challenging Zhao Zhixun 1989th Dan who has ruled the title of "Honinbo" since [-].

The current score is 3:3.

Whoever wins the seventh set will become the next "Honinbo" and will receive a bonus of 3200 million yen.

During the layout stage, Zhao Zhixun glanced at Odagiri.

"It's really a hero born out of a boy," he thought to himself, "Odagiri, who is not yet an adult, actually made me feel a little bit of fear."

In the first two games, he won easily.

In the first game, Odagiri played very eagerly, obviously there was six hours of slow chess, but it gave Zhao Zhixun a feeling that he couldn't wait to win.

In the slow layout, he wore down Odagiri's fighting spirit, and finally won the victory because of Odagiri's unstable mentality.

In the second game, Oda cut very slowly.

Seemingly deliberating, Zhao Zhixun found that Odagiri was flustered.With frequent mistakes, he easily won the game.

Victory is at hand.

But in the next game, the opponent calmed down and began to play chess patiently.

Odagiri's eyes became dull, and only Go was in his eyes.

So in the next four games, Odagiri won three games and lost only one game.

It's the last game.

Zhao Zhixun is under a lot of pressure, and he is more likely to lose this round.

But at this time, he found that his opponent's eyes were piercing and sparkling.

Every time Odagiri makes a move, there will be a "bang" sound. The opponent is now full of fighting spirit, and the move is very fast.

"I don't know why, but his mentality has changed, maybe I will win." Zhao Zhixun thought while holding the chess piece.

……

Higashino turned on the TV, four hours had passed, and the chess game had entered the middle game.

"Eh? Is Zhao Zhixun's [-]th dan at a disadvantage?" Higashino was surprised.

"Has Odagiri become so powerful now?"

Last year, he was still struggling under the hands of his opponents.

Now it's more than enough.

What an amazing boy.

"The teacher is watching a Go match."

Omori glanced at the TV, a little surprised, "I know he drew "Soul of Go", but does the teacher also play Go?"

Akimi raised her head, she stroked her hair, and said proudly: "Higashi, he was better than a professional chess player before."

It's a pity that he gave up the path of Go because of the comics.

Otherwise, he might appear in the game on TV now.

Akemi Akimiya thought about it, feeling a pang of regret in her heart.

"It's really amazing!" Omori said: "I also watched "Soul of Chess". Professional chess players are honed through hard work. Teacher, he is very good."

"Yeah!" Akemi Akimiya nodded heavily, "He's very powerful."

"However, Akino Tori, who decided to become a manga artist, is even more powerful."

She said confidently.

"Among Go and manga, Higashino-kun chose to pursue manga."

"He prefers drawing manga."

(End of this chapter)