“We have to give it a try, right? If it doesn’t work, we’ll talk about it later.”
Hikigaya Hachiman was inexplicably open-minded at this moment.
In short, let’s set a small goal first, to surpass Ms. Yamada!
…
A few days later, the Fuzugawa Bunko announced several works that won awards on its official website, including one Best Award, three Best Awards, and seven Best Works.
His “Summer Reappearance” was in the last row of Best Works, and it didn’t seem so eye-catching.
But to be honest, as one of the three well-known bunkos in the industry, the traffic of the Newcomer Award is not low, so when it wins the award, it will more or less have more traffic, and then when it debuts, it will make a publicity gimmick, and immediately have a guarantee of sales.
As for whether it can become a big hit in the future, it depends on their own abilities.
After the Grand Award was announced.
On the weekend, Hikigaya Hachiman took the train to Tokyo again. In addition to receiving the award, he also finalized the contract for his debut.
It was still in the chat room, and Machida Sonoko handed him the contract.
“Take a good look at it. If you are sure there is no problem, sign the contract.”
Hikigaya Hachiman was naturally well prepared before coming. He had a little understanding of the market. In his eyes, this contract was very reasonable. There were no traps, and of course there was no preferential treatment. The proportion of royalties was exactly the same as that of most newcomers.
This was normal. He was just an unknown young man who had just debuted, not a super popular author or a super genius who suddenly appeared.
After confirming, he signed the contract.
“Hikigaya, I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation in the future.”
Machida Sonoko closed the folder, then stood up and stretched out her right hand.
“I will trouble Miss Machida in the coming days.”
He also stood up, stretched out his hand and shook it, and responded politely.
“As for any work arrangements in the future, we will still contact each other through chat software or phone calls.”
Machida Sonoko finally waved goodbye.
After returning, Hikigaya Hachiman put a lot of energy on rewriting the first volume of “Summer Reappearance”.
After this period of ability improvement, he felt that when he reread it, he saw a few more loopholes in himself.
Although it is not fatal, it feels very annoying.
He plans to make major changes to several plots and dialogues, and delete some parts to try to make the effect of the first volume better, even beyond his current ability.
Because once the official serialization begins, considering the existence of the deadline, he will not be able to repeatedly ponder certain problems like he does now.
In this way, another month has passed.
After all, it is only improving some aspects, not completely rewriting, so it does not take a lot of time, but in terms of quality, he thinks it has improved a lot compared to before.
Because he can almost say that he spent more than half a year on this first volume. If it is not good enough, then he has worked in vain, right?
After the revision, Hikigaya Hachiman directly sent the manuscript to his editor-in-chief, Ms. Machida, and won her approval.
“It does feel smoother to read, Hikigaya, it seems that you have spent a lot of effort, so, it’s about time to consider formal publication, right?”
Machida Yuanzi called and asked for his opinion.
“Well, it’s time.”
Hikigaya Hachiman gave the answer after thinking for a few seconds.
Now he has entered a bottleneck period. No matter how much he modifies “Summer Return”, he can’t improve it much. It’s meaningless to continue.
Now, it’s time to really step into the industry!
14 New illustrator, Eromanga teacher
“Then I will arrange the next work.”
When Machida Yuanzi was about to hang up the phone, Hikigaya Hachiman suddenly thought of something very important.
“Ms. Machida, um, have I arranged my illustrator?”
“You are worried about this, don’t worry, although I can’t help you get a famous illustrator in the industry, but I will help you find a new illustrator with the same potential as you.”
There is no doubt that illustrators are very important for light novels. This is the first impression given to readers. Just like people with good looks are more likely to be favored, the joke of buying illustrations and giving light novels away does exist in the industry.
Especially for this type of light novels called toilet paper in another world, there is usually a good illustrator working behind the scenes.
Although his type of subject matter pays more attention to the plot itself, it is never a bad thing to have good illustrations.
With the editor’s assurance, Hikigaya Hachiman felt relieved.
Just a few days later, the editor sent him a message.
Machida Sonoko: Hikigaya, I’ve spotted a good new illustrator, but she’s a little special and asked for her personal information to be kept confidential. I haven’t even met her, but as a newcomer, she draws very well. I’ll give you her contact information, and you can just note the author of “Summer Returns”. Let’s talk about it, and if it’s okay, I can sign a contract with her.
Me: OK.
“Did you find it so quickly?”
Hikigaya Hachiman muttered, logged into Line, and searched for the other party’s ID.
A name with an anime avatar appeared in the search results.
“Eromanga Sensei??
He subconsciously muttered the other party’s account name.
I didn’t expect there would be such a fate.
He took a look at the other party’s information and found that there was nothing except this name. It looked like it was a new account.
Without thinking too much, he clicked on the friend request and noted down the information.
In the evening, the other party approved his friend application.
Me: Are you Teacher Eromanga?
Mr. Eromanga: No, I don’t know anyone with that name. The pen name comes from Eromanga Island in the Pacific island country of Vanuatu. It has nothing to do with ‘erotic comics’.
Okay, now it’s confirmed, it’s indeed that person.
Me: It doesn’t matter, it’s just a title. It’s not important. What’s important is do you plan to become an illustrator for Summer Reappearance?
Mr. Eromanga: Yes, I have this plan.
Me: Can I see your work? See if it suits my taste.
Mr. Eromanga: Yeah, okay.
It seemed that because of the online text chat, the chat with the other party was very smooth, which was a bit inconsistent with the impression in his memory.
Soon, the other party sent several colored works. From a completely layman’s point of view, he didn’t know how much better than ordinary people. His intuitive feeling was that he thought they looked good.
Being able to work with such an illustrator when I was just starting out, apart from the fact that Ms. Yamada knew a great illustrator herself, was undoubtedly a very lucky thing.
Moreover, being able to work with a very cute white-haired lolita is not a bad thing no matter how you think about it.
But Hikigaya Hachiman felt that he still needed to be responsible for himself and his works, so he asked one more question.
Me: Do you have any taboos in painting? For example, these characters all seem to be thin. They are cute, but too cute.
Eromanga-sensei: Well, I’m really not good at drawing characters with large breasts, and the same goes for illustrations of battle scenes.
Me: In that case, I might have to say no.
Although he couldn’t bear it, he still typed this sentence.
Because this is his crucial debut battle, they cannot waste each other’s lives just because of their temporary preferences.
Teacher Eromanga: Please give me a chance! I will work hard to make up for these shortcomings! As long as you give me time, I will definitely be able to do it!
Hikigaya Hachiman was a little surprised at her persistence.
Me: Why are you so insistent?
Mr. Eromanga: Because I like illustrations, I don’t want to miss this opportunity. I want to prove myself. In addition, I have seen the teacher’s works, and at that time I had the idea of drawing them myself no matter what.
Me: Is that it?
Mr. Eromanga: That’s it.
Me: Well, you have convinced me and I am willing to cooperate with you. However, I hope that Teacher Eromanga can correct your shortcomings as soon as possible. Time waits for no one to avoid problems in future cooperation.
Mr. Eromanga: I will do it!
Mr. Eromanga: Also, I don’t know anyone with that name!
“Hmph…”
Hikigaya Hachiman chuckled several times and closed the chat box.
Why would he agree to give the other party a chance?
First of all, it’s not because the other party is a weak white-haired loli. Cuteness is useless. His sister Komachi is already cute enough!
It’s just that Mr. Eromanga is indeed a talented painter and can provide him with a lot of help. As long as he is willing to correct his shortcomings, or even keep it as it is, he will probably be favored by some readers.
There was no reason for him to turn down such a precious opportunity.
After Machida Enzi got the news, she contacted him later and chose to approve the decision he made.
However, the official publication time will be delayed for a while.
All I can say is that good things come hard.
He thought optimistically.
As agreed between them, Teacher Eromanga works hard to change himself every day, obtains information from the Internet, draws scenes that he was not good at before, and even sends him a new one every few days. The picture was said to be painted until he was satisfied.
This is enough to show how attentive Teacher Eromanga is.
What surprised Hikigaya Hachiman even more was that the other party’s evolution speed was so fast. It was almost genius, which was a bit beyond his expectation.
In just three weeks, the opponent’s drawing of battle scenes has changed from boring at the beginning to a sense of power. The original situation of only drawing small characters has also been greatly improved, with various breasts. I gradually became familiar with the style, and it is said that I learned it from some side training videos.
Me: Why so fast? Who taught you this?
Teacher Eromanga: If the teacher wants to know, it’s okay to tell you. It’s my mother. She is a very good painter. I asked her to give me hellish training.
Me: That’s it.
Hikigaya Hachiman typed a reply, then showed a thoughtful expression, and thought of one thing at the same time.
It seems that Sagiri’s mother died in an accident in her past life memory, and she doesn’t know if this will really happen…
If possible, he certainly wouldn’t want such an unfortunate thing to happen.
15 exposed!
After thinking about it for a while, there seems to be no good solution. You can’t just go in front of others and say that you can predict the future, right?
Moreover, he didn’t know the specific date, but there was no need to worry unreasonably, after all, it was still early before that period.
Just like a small butterfly flapping its wings and disturbing the air, which may cause a storm in a distant place after a long time, his appearance will also cause a greater butterfly effect, leading to a huge change in everything in memory.
That kind of thing may not happen.
…
After confirming that Eromanga’s painting problem has improved, they will formally discuss the illustration problem next.
For this kind of problem, it is best to communicate face to face, so that communication will be easier to understand and faster. Some things are limited by text communication alone.
Obviously, Eromanga, who is shy and extremely afraid of strangers, does not intend to come out to meet, and this is not a problem in a short time. They have to communicate almost every once in a while, so the next best thing is to make a video call.
After Eromanga was ready, Hikigaya Hachiman clicked on the video invitation.
After the video was connected, the person in front of him wore an anime character’s mask and a hooded jacket.
The girl tried her best to cover her appearance, because it seemed to be another unknown identity, which made her more comfortable.
