The sudden burst of enthusiasm from Sasaki Hisashi caught Akira off guard.
After their conversation ended, Sasaki enthusiastically walked him to the building entrance, exchanged contact information, and repeatedly urged him not to submit his work to any other magazine. He only let him leave after Akira promised several times.
"Phew!"
He raised a hand to wipe away non-existent sweat from his forehead and sighed. "This is really... much smoother than I imagined."
As he spoke, a smile couldn't help but appear on his face.
At the beginning of June, Shonen Jump would hold its regular serialization meeting. This was the core mechanism used to decide the life or death of a manga, as well as the key process for the editorial department to screen works and maintain the magazine's competitiveness.
Whether Fate/stay night could be serialized would depend on Sasaki Hisashi's performance at that meeting.
In any case, everything he could do on his end was already done. Now, he could only wait for news.
Hopefully, Sasaki would be as reliable as he claimed.
"However, a genius, huh?"
Recalling Sasaki Hisashi's undisguised praise, Akira smiled and shook his head.
As a transmigrator, the absolute memory granted by his cheat, the knowledge from the future stored in his mind, and the superb drawing skills of the original owner were his greatest sources of confidence. So he wouldn't belittle himself.
But "genius" or not, he'd rather not think about it too much.
Whether it was "Emiya Kiritsugu" or Fate/stay night, no one knew better than him how much of it truly belonged to him and how much came from others.
Self-awareness was important. If he actually got lost in other people's praise, that would just be embarrassing.
He had no intention of becoming Xia Luo from Goodbye Mr. Loser.
Back to the topic.
According to Sasaki Hisashi, he still needed to prepare some materials, such as character design sheets and storyboards for several chapters, but it would definitely be easier than before.
Although he hadn't been pushing himself as hard as the original owner, working during the day and drawing at night for the past ten to twenty days without any entertainment still made him feel like he had returned to his final year of high school—exhausted and in desperate need of rest.
During the waiting period, he should not only rest but also start exercising.
Leaving aside his previous life, at least in this one, if nothing went wrong, he would likely become wealthy. If he didn't take care of his body, wouldn't it be a waste to enjoy fewer years of that life?
Oh, right.
He still had to go to work.
The smile on his face faded a little.
Although the shop manager, Kayo, took good care of him, no one could truly enjoy working. No one.
That said, he had chatted with Sasaki Hisashi for over three hours. It was now just past 17:00, close to dinner time.
Should he just go home after eating?
He fell into thought.
He didn't want to draw for the next couple of days, and he didn't feel like exercising today either. But going home would leave him with nothing to do. Even finding cheap entertainment was difficult.
As someone used to the digital age, living without internet access was surprisingly hard.
Why did he suddenly feel a bit empty and lonely?
...Wait.
At that moment, he remembered—there was actually a good place to go.
After 17:00, many people in Akihabara were heading toward the subway station to go home, while Akira did the opposite, just arriving from the subway.
Although he worked here every day, today felt different.
He was here to sightsee.
Akihabara was not only a long-standing hub for electronics but also a famous center of anime culture. The two blended together to create a unique atmosphere.
Every year, besides locals, many foreign tourists came here to visit.
Since transmigrating, he had wanted to properly explore Akihabara, but work and drawing manga had taken up all his time.
Even the original owner had only briefly wandered the streets while job hunting.
That said, after walking around and having dinner, he could also go watch Rin's performance. Today, he finally had time to stay longer.
With a rough plan in mind, he set off.
Come to think of it, he wasn't someone who enjoyed shopping in his previous life. Most of the time, he was dragged along by family.
Occasionally, after meals with friends at malls, he would walk around, but that felt more like digesting food than shopping.
For him, finding something he really liked but couldn't afford was pure torture.
So he never quite understood why some girls loved shopping so much.
Later, after discussing it with female friends, he gained some insight.
First, expectations mattered. If you treated shopping as just browsing rather than buying, it became less frustrating.
And if you happened to find something you liked and could afford, that became a pleasant surprise.
Second, shopping with friends turned it into a social activity. Chatting, comparing tastes, and even complaining about prices became part of the fun.
Thinking about it that way, it made sense.
It was like how he and his friends played games online all the time, yet still preferred going to internet cafes together during holidays.
At that point, the location didn't matter—the important thing was being together.
From then on, he understood and respected shopping as a hobby.
That said, it was still better not to invite him. He'd rather just play games at an internet cafe.
Back to the topic.
After walking around for a while, it was almost time for dinner. Considering he had taken the day off and lost out on earning eight thousand yen, he would probably need to eat something cheap.
Just as he was thinking about what to eat, a familiar figure entered his view.
"...Hmm? Shimizu?"
Even though he hadn't seen her in a while, Rin was still dragging her performance equipment as usual. Today, however, she had changed to a fresher hairstyle.
But that wasn't the main point.
She seemed to be in trouble.
A middle-aged man in a suit had stopped her and was speaking enthusiastically, while Rin frowned, clearly uncomfortable.
"Miss Shimizu!"
"...Mochizuki-kun?!"
He walked up and greeted her with a smile.
Seeing him, Rin's eyes widened in surprise.
Aside from when she was singing, this was the first time he had heard such emotion in her voice.
He nodded at her, then turned to the man.
"May I ask who you are?"
"I am Nakajo Takashi, president of Maekawa Agency. Pleased to meet you!"
To his surprise, the man's eyes lit up upon seeing him as well.
As the man continued talking, Akira quickly understood the situation.
The man ran a small talent agency and was scouting people on the street. He had set his sights on Rin and was trying to recruit her.
Now, he seemed interested in Akira as well.
In his eyes, Akira was a bonus.
Buy one, get one free.
...Seriously?
Akira was momentarily speechless.
Then he interrupted firmly:
"Sorry, I'm not interested. And Miss Shimizu feels the same, right?"
"...That's right. I already have my own plans."
Rin nodded quickly, giving him a grateful look.
"I'm very sorry, but I truly believe you both have great potential. With some training—"
Despite being rejected, the man kept smiling and continued persuading them.
Akira frowned and cut him off again.
"With all due respect, these days, legitimate companies don't recruit people off the street like this. A small agency like yours probably can't offer many resources."
"Even if we wanted to debut, we'd choose a more established company."
"Well, that may be true, but big companies—"
"And from what I've heard, some scouts use this exact method to trick girls into filming AVs. Who's to say you're not one of them?"
"Eh?" x2
Both Nakajo Takashi and Rin froze.
Rin immediately looked at the man with suspicion and disgust.
"In short, we're not interested. Please find someone else."
With that, Akira ignored the man's reaction and turned to Rin.
"Let's go."
"...Ah, okay!"