The clock on the table has reached nine o'clock in the evening.
A steady male voice kept ringing in the room.
"Yes, there is still one work that needs to be printed. Sorry, the current progress is a little difficult, it will probably take one... no, two days."
There was also a faint voice from another man on the phone.
"Ah, no! This one is to be printed in color, not black and white! We will provide the manuscript to you after color printing.
Is it the finished part now...? I think at least the cover should be sent before you go to work tomorrow morning, Mr. Yamakawa."
Then the other party's troubled urging came from the receiver, and Kato Yusuke still responded in an orderly manner, with a strange and reassuring tone in his tone.
In the middle, he used a paper tube made from a comic book to hit a girl whose sitting posture was so bad that she was almost putting her face on the manuscript, and mouthed: "The eyes are too close, go to
Sit back a little."
Ying Lili pouted her mouth dissatisfied with this, simply threw the mechanical pencil in her hand on the empty drawing paper, and then put her head feebly on the table, looking a little depressed.
Kato Yusuke then focused on the call again.
"...The printing fee after the deadline will be increased by 20%? No, but based on the number of pages and the amount of reservations, it is already 100,000 yen, right? This is a bit...
Looking at the limp-looking girl, he said firmly to the other end of the phone: "I understand, we will definitely deliver the manuscript on time, so please, please be accommodating."
After a few dozen seconds of silence, the other person sighed and said OK.
After sincerely thanking the other party, Kato Yusuke breathed a sigh of relief and ended the call.
After helping with ordering midnight snacks and drawing manuscripts, tonight he was finally entrusted with the task of negotiating with the printing house.
To the young girl who exudes a lazy aura, Kato Yusuke seems to be not only a versatile assistant who can handle chores, but also the reason why she can fish in an open and honest manner, and she will not be polite in the slightest when using her.
It's a pity that this assistant will not let her idle for too long.
"You heard what I just said. The deadline is the day after tomorrow at the latest, so I have to catch up no matter what, otherwise the printing cost will be high. Do you understand? Yinglili."
After being told in such a serious tone, the girl who was so bored that she was killing time on her mobile phone muttered unhappily.
"It sounds so easy, but I just can't draw it when I'm not inspired... Can't I just pay the printing fee?"
A certain little rich woman obviously didn't take the additional fee of 100,000 yen to heart.
Kato Yusuke couldn't help but laugh at himself at this: "...I feel a little mixed after hearing you say it so lightly. It should be said that the money is basically equivalent to my previous month's salary from working."
"Hey - are you working part-time...is such a small amount of money really enough?"
Ying Lili, who was scrolling through the comments on Twitter, asked this question. It didn't sound like she was full of interest or lack of interest, but it meant "if you want to talk, I'll listen."
But in the final analysis, this is actually another way to avoid drawing.
The young man who was thinking "too much is not enough" shrugged his shoulders, decided to give the other party some relief, and then said: "At that time, I worked in a convenience store. Although the salary was not high, the advantage was that I could eat discarded food at will. Plus, I was working in a convenience store.
There’s no need to think about rent, so it’s pretty decent.”
"...Hmm~~~"
After hearing this, Ying Lili glanced at him and said nonchalantly: "Well... considering that you have helped me so much, if there is a need, I will still help you with this level of things.
.”
"Well, I know, and didn't you already advance 300,000 yuan for me? Thank you."
Kato Yusuke smiled and nodded slightly, "Although I don't know how many copies of the work I can sell at this sale, I will return it to you as soon as possible. Now you only need to think about the new work."
Yinglili twisted her body unnaturally, "...that kind of thing will be fine anyway. I don't mean to rush you, so don't rush me. I will naturally draw when it's time to draw."
Then he changed his words: "Speaking of which, you are somewhat confident in terms of the sales of your works! You must know that you have been recognized by me, Eri Kashiwagi? But you are still like this, which makes me almost angry.
It’s coming!”
As she spoke, she couldn't help but sit up straight and continued talking indignantly.
"Listen up - even though I have been in this industry for a long time, even I have a lot of negative fans, so as long as we can satisfy the preferences of most people, that's basically what doujinshi is... As for
Let the others die! Ah, I am talking about you, the user with the ID "kimokimoXX"!"
"...Eiri Riri?"
"What's going on? Let's make a long story short!"
"What are you doing?"
"Reply to blogs and tweets, you can tell this kind of thing at a glance!"
"But you look like you are gritting your teeth?"
"Who told this person to call someone else's hard-painted work without permission?! It's his fault!"
The girl who gritted her silver teeth said this, then threw the phone over, "These comments annoy me so much, you can help me reply to the rest!"
Kato, who took the phone, looked at her blankly: "No...is it really appropriate to leave this kind of thing to me?"
Yinglili said confidently: "Anyway, your work has been finished, right? Plus, I don't have anything to draw for you now, so isn't it just a matter of time?"
"...Should I say that you can make ordering others so natural?"
"Interacting with fans is also part of the club's work."
"I'm sorry, the way you spoke has made it difficult for me to tell whether you are addressing your companions or your slaves."
"While you're complaining about that, the deadline is coming the day after tomorrow."
"…………"
Facing Eri, who was looking askance at her, the corners of Kato Yusuke's eyes twitched twice, and then he dropped his shoulders as if he suddenly lost strength, and said "I understand."
then--
He then responded to the message on the social account of "Eri Kashiwagi" according to his own wishes.
There is nothing to say about expressing gratitude to those who support; to those who abuse... Although a girl strongly suggested that he go back, Yusuke Kato still chose to ignore it in the end.
Until he saw such a comment...
"Honey, I like you!! prprprprprpr——!!!"
The number of likes below is quite high.
In response, Kato Yusuke's expression couldn't help but become a little subtle, "Have you ever revealed your true identity to your fans? Eiriri."
"Haha? You wonder how I could do something like that! You idiot." Yingli said confidently.
"But there are a lot of people up there calling you wife?"
"Ah, that word is very common in the industry, just like "ma'am", so you don't need to worry about it."
Speaking of this, the girl suddenly let out a laugh: "Basically speaking, if there is an incompetent waste who can't do anything by himself and claims to be a director on the Internet to recruit team members, but when asked, he has no brains to accept the job for free.
The case was told as if it were natural.
As a result, in the end, not only was I idle and unable to produce anything, but after I found out that I was a woman, I even pestered him to ask out to meet... Let me tell you, I hate that kind of person the most."
What he said not only made him furious, but also succeeded in making Kato Yusuke look surprised.
"... Being able to explain things to this level of detail does that mean this is your personal experience? Yinglili."
Finished speaking.
"Well--"
The other person stroked his forehead with a headache, "It's all you who reminded me of the disgusting past, which makes me just want to sleep and forget all those things."
After saying that, he stood up from his seat, dragged his shaking body towards the bed, and then fell down on it.
"...So that's it for today, I'm sorry. If there is anything else, we can wait until tomorrow."
And this is equivalent to confirming the above statement.
Kato Yusuke couldn't help being stunned when he saw this scene, and then hurriedly said: "Wait a minute, Eiriri. At least draw the cover picture first. That one will be sent to Mr. Yamakawa tomorrow morning."
But what he responded to was a limp hand, "Just draw whatever you want, good night..."
"Even if you say so."
Kato Yusuke couldn't help but frown deeply, "The question is which of the two heroines do you want to choose?"
"Huh...huh..."
A slight breath came from the girl's mouth, and this time there was no reply.
After standing there for a long time, someone finally pinched his eyebrows irritably. Regardless of whether the other person was really asleep or pretending to be asleep, he spoke directly.
"In this case, I will draw two versions, and you can decide which one to use later... Also, although this may not sound nice, if you still have no inspiration tomorrow night, then you can
I'll take over."
First, he turned on the lighting table lamp on the painting table, then walked to the door, opened a door and reached out to turn off the overhead light.
As a result, the room suddenly became dark, with only a small area still emitting light, while the rest was enveloped in the quiet night.
It wasn't until he finished all this that he sat down in front of the girl's workbench, and then began to work quietly.
The sound of brushing paper and the subtle sound of pen movement gently echoed in the room, caressing the ears gently.
The night becomes more intense.
Even the bright moon outside the window emerged from the clouds as if curious about this scene, spreading the soft moonlight down and slowly climbed onto the girl's bed.
And quietly reflected a pair of eyes that I don't know when they were opened. There were little stars of light flashing inside, but they were rippling like water waves.
Silently staring at the straight back figure sitting at the table, listening to the soft rustling sound.
The girl quietly pulled up a corner of the quilt and buried her face in it, leaving only her eyes exposed.
The next second.
"Thanks……"
A murmur that only he could hear sounded from under the quilt.
The corners of the mouth on both sides are slightly upward.