At seven o'clock on Friday night, Kato Yusuke received a call from the Fusugawa Manga Department.
On the phone, Kimura first apologized for disturbing him at night, and then touted the results of "Chainsaw Man" a little bit, and then got down to business and discussed with him the layout of the next issue.
The entire phone call lasted a total of 15 minutes, of which only 3 minutes were about business. If we threw away those tactful and useless polite words, it would have ended in just 1 minute.
Kato Yusuke didn't like this way of speaking that contained too long foreshadowing, but he didn't interrupt, but listened quietly to the whole thing.
In general.
The other party explained to him the situation of "Toe Sword Master" and the reason why he would jump in line in the next issue. His words were very respectful.
Finally, he mentioned the old editor Suzuki’s great love for him and asked him to prepare an illustration and send it in his spare time as the cover of that issue.
There is nothing else.
After ending the call, Kato Yusuke put away his cell phone, turned around and walked into the yakiniku shop behind him, and returned to a seat in front of the bar.
Yoshida, who was wearing a shirt, was sitting here. When he saw him coming back, he took the initiative to ask: "What's wrong? Is this a call from a family member?"
"No, it's work."
"Work?"
"Um."
"Oh, oh, speaking of which, you did say you were the student council president last time."
Kato Yusuke thought for a while and realized that this understanding was a bit wrong, but explaining it here was a bit like showing off, so he did not correct him.
The two of them were at a chain roasted bird restaurant two blocks away from their home.
For some unknown reason, Yoshida knocked on the door after get off work and invited him to have dinner with him. Yusuke, who was alone at home, had no reason to refuse, so the two of them came here together.
A male clerk with an open uniform on his chest and a headscarf on his head brought the menu to the two of them and asked: "What do you two want to order?"
"I want a draft beer. Where is Kato-chan?"
"Oolong tea."
"What about food?"
"Mr. Yoshida, it's up to you."
"Then eight skewers of fat sausage, eight skewers of local chicken, eight skewers of fried beef, eight skewers of chicken with green onions, eight skewers of pork belly, four skewers of salted cabbage and four skewers of sauced cabbage."
"Okay——!" the clerk replied energetically and reported the order to the barbecue chef behind the bar.
Draft beer, oolong tea and cabbage were served quickly.
Yoshida picked up the large glass and downed half the beer in one go with great relish. Then he let out a lazy cry of "poof" and subconsciously reached for his trousers pocket, but when he reached halfway, he stopped.
stop.
"It doesn't matter if you can smoke." Kato Yusuke said at the right time: "I don't mind this, and there are people smoking next to me."
Yoshida glanced at the office worker next to him, but still didn't take out the cigarette from his pocket, but picked up a bunch of cabbage and started eating it.
"Your recent condition seems to be a little better than before. Have your troubles been resolved? Brother Kato."
Kato Yusuke went through the recent events in his mind and said "hmm" as a response.
"That's it, that's good." Yoshida said as if he was relieved.
"——I've kept you two waiting for a long time!"
The waiter came over and brought over the other skewers they ordered, and then placed the accompanying dipping sauce in front of them.
There are three kinds of dipping sauces, namely special dipping sauce, yellow mustard and special miso.
Kato Yusuke took a bunch of sausages, dipped them in a special dipping sauce with garlic paste, and took a bite.
The taste of the large intestine is very soft, does not taste fishy at all, and is very smooth.
"About those things you told me last time..."
"Last time?"
"Uh, uh." Yoshida coughed vaguely and said, "It's about Miss Goto. She asked me about Mishima's work yesterday."
"So what we are going to talk about today is about Mr. Yoshida's crush?"
"...No, I'm just talking casually. Sorry, forget it if you don't want to hear it." Yoshida said, picking up a bunch of local chicken skewers, dipped it in yellow mustard, and ate it as if to hide it.
Kato Yusuke also picked up a skewer of chicken and onion skewers and asked while eating: "Is there something wrong with Miss Goto?"
"...Is there something wrong? Or what? According to what you said last time, I have given more guidance to Mishima recently. As a result, Ms. Goto seems to be quite concerned about Mishima's condition?
"
"Why a question?"
"Well... maybe I have misunderstood. I just think Miss Goto looks a little strange. It seems that she is not just concerned about Mishima's work."
"So Mr. Yoshida thinks that Miss Goto is jealous."
"Pfft, cough, cough... I'm talking about you——"
Yoshida seemed to be choked by his words. He quickly picked up the beer at hand and took a few sips, then spoke with a red face.
"It's all because of the strange words I said to you a while ago that I couldn't help but think about that... But if I think about it carefully, Ms. Goto really only cares about work, huh."
After that, he continued to eat the skewers, as if to convince himself.
Kato Yusuke glanced at him and asked thoughtfully: "Mr. Yoshida, what do you do?"
"...Huh? I'm responsible for programming and software development. Why do you suddenly ask me that?"
"It's nothing, I just suddenly understood."
"Huh? What did you understand?"
"Mr. Yoshida may not know much about girls."
"——What?" Yoshida frowned visibly and said unconvinced: "Why did you come to such a conclusion? Besides, Miss Goto is a mature woman, and the word girl is not the right word."
Is the problem here...
Kato Yusuke silently increased his straightness towards this neighbor and said: "As for the issue Mr. Yoshida just mentioned, if you are not sure, why not try to make an appointment with Ms. Goto for dinner."
After he finished speaking, he added: "By the way, I mean the two of you alone."
"Huh? Why do you have to emphasize it so much? No, if you invite Miss Goto like that, wouldn't it become a date!?"
"...Is this something worthy of surprising you?"
"You actually said you were surprised..." Yoshida opened his eyes in astonishment, and then he seemed to be angry and grabbed a skewer of fried beef and ate it, muttering as he ate.
"You're obviously still a student, but you speak as if you know a lot about it..."
"I just know a little better than Mr. Yoshida."
Squeaking, Yoshida ate the skewers silently, and was a little confused by his understatement. He couldn't help but ask: "The question is, how to send out an invitation?"
"...Basically, I'm usually the invited party, but it's still a little bit..."
Kato Yusuke didn't know how to speak, so he thought for a while and said, "If you want to say something, wouldn't it be enough to invite the other party just like you invited me?"
"No. These two things are different!"
Yoshida scratched his cheek unnaturally, picked up the beer as if he was embarrassed, and whispered: "Basically, when a man invites a woman to dinner alone, this is already a clear indication that I am interested in you...?"
"... Just eating makes you so nervous. Then when you meet him later, you take him home and go upstairs to drink coffee. Mr. Yoshida, are you really okay?"
"Drink, drink coffee——!?"
"Hmm... I'll give you a tissue, let's wipe it first." Kato Yusuke took out a tissue from the table and motioned for him to wipe away some beer that spilled due to his shaking hands.
"Hug, sorry!" Yoshida reached out to take the paper and hurriedly wiped it on his pants.
After tidying up a bit...
"Excuse me, please add four skewers of green peppers, four skewers of grilled bean curds with mashed radish, a grilled rice ball and a glass of draft beer."
"no problem--!"
Yoshida asked the clerk for more food, as if to cover up his embarrassment.
"Have you finished ordering so much?" Kato Yusuke asked.
"Hmm? Shouldn't male high school students have a stronger appetite?"
"Then let's wait for the AA system."
"No need, don't underestimate the single social beast! My savings are not even enough to treat a kid to dinner!"
Yoshida rejected his proposal without explanation, then pursed his lips and said calmly: "And the topic just now, going to Miss Goto's house for coffee... Do you think it is possible to get to that point?"
"--impossible."
"Are you denying it too quickly??"
"Mr. Yoshida, I think we should start by having the courage to invite Miss Goto to dinner."
"...As expected."
"Um."
Seeing that he was a little frustrated and hesitant for a moment, Kato Yusuke thought about it again.
"Mr. Yoshida, you are a programmer, right?"
"Huh? Ah, um, what's wrong?"
"Then maybe you can think differently."
"What's the meaning?"
"Take the bug in the program as an example. If you keep leaving it alone, the program will not run successfully, right?"
"Ah? Isn't that natural?"
"So the same goes for Ms. Goto. If you don't fight for it because you are afraid of falling out of love, you will never enjoy love one day."
"...!"
Yoshida couldn't help but froze on the spot, then frowned and fell into deep thought, as if he had tasted the intoxicating taste of love.
After that, the two casually chatted about some topics, drank the store's signature red miso soup, and returned to the old apartment together after having a full meal.
When the two came back, they happened to meet Asami who was just about to go out, so they had a brief chat.
The main speakers were Yoshida and Asami, while Kato Yusuke was more of a listener.
After the last visit, the outgoing Asami got to know Yoshida, and because of the common bond of Yusuke, they became familiar with each other.
The girl wore glasses on her face, and she still spoke with that hot girl accent, but she had a bit more of a gentle temperament.
"Speaking of which, Asami is about to take the exam, right? Have you chosen a university yet?"
When Yoshida asked about this topic, the other party made a joke.
"The question Yoshidazai asked is too old! Of course that kind of thing has been decided a long time ago."
"Yes, yes, that's what I said, sorry."
"Hahahahaha, there's no need to apologize. After all, Yoshida-chan is already an uncle. It's normal for him not to remember things from high school."
Asami who said this raised three fingers and said openly: "Tokyo University, Hayao University, Aoyama Gakuin, these are my three choices~~~"
"Wow, aren't they all prestigious schools that are quite difficult to get into? Is that okay?"
"Wow, Yoshida-chan, are you looking down on me? This is too much!"
"Uh, I'm sorry, I just didn't realize it..." Yoshida, who was speechless for a moment, scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
Asami waved her hand and continued: "Well, don't look at me like this, the deviation value in school is also above 70? Do you understand?"
"He's actually an honors student!"
"So the word 'surprisingly' is redundant! But that's it, OK Ranch~!"
"This, that's it, um, then you have to study hard and I wish you can get into the university of your choice."
"You have to say ~ I'm kidding, thank you. Ah, no, I have to go to the convenience store to buy something, so I won't tell you about it now. See you next time, Yoshida-zai, Kato-zai."
Asami, who glanced at her watch, greeted them and trotted away.
Kato Yusuke turned to look at Yoshida on the side and said: "...Then I will go back too, Mr. Yoshida."
"Well, you go up first, I'll smoke a cigarette outside." Yoshida nodded and said.
"good."
So he returned to the room first.
After returning to the room, I gave the cat water and food as usual and cleaned up the cat litter.
Then I came to my desk, sat down, and turned on the digital screen.
While thinking about the Immortal River, Kato Yusuke began to draw the cover illustrations to be used in the next issue.
The last manuscript of episodes 2 and 3 of "Chainsaw Man" submitted to Immortal River was 47 pages in total, and the total manuscript fee received was 564,000.
150,000 of the money was given to Shinjoka, 400,000 was used to pay off the debts of Eiri's family, and the rest was reserved for daily expenses.
According to current calculations, without using system points to exchange money, it will probably take a long time for him to completely pay off the debt.
Although Mrs. Sawamura did not rush, Kato Yusuke decided to speed up the process in order to pay off the debt as soon as possible.
Since the "Chainsaw Man" manga has been widely praised and there is no interference from Akane Benisaka, he has no worries and can continue drawing freely.
Different from ordinary comic book authors.
With complete resources in his mind, he does not need to work hard to think about the plot, discuss with the editor, and repeatedly revise the storyboards.
All he needs to do is draw what is in his head, so naturally he will not be subject to too many constraints in this regard, and his speed is far beyond what others can match.
Perhaps the only issue that needs to be considered is whether the Immortal River is willing to accept a large number of manuscripts at once.
Kato Yusuke decided to take the time to go to the Immortal River to discuss this issue with the manga department.
But what he didn't know was.
Because she was worried about his reaction, Kimura did not tell him that she wanted to arrange a courier for him, and only wanted to discuss it after finding a specific candidate.