4 – Shion's 4th Case – An editor's duty
"Misaki, get over here!" Takano-san yelled the moment I entered the office.
"Uhm… c-coming!" I quickly put down my bag on my desk and walked towards him.
"You're gonna get a manga to supervise. Here are the notes, the mangaka will come by tomorrow for a meeting." he handed me a folder.
"A-already? Really?!" I smiled.
"Yes. Study that folder today so that you're ready for tomorrow. Oh and also, make sure to call the mangaka to set a time for your meeting. That's everything, do your best." he said and got back to his work.
"I'll work hard, thank you very much!" I bowed down and walked back to my desk, happily holding the folder with both of my hands.
"Morning Shii-tan, what's that?" Kisa-senpai asked as I sat down.
"Good morning. Takano-san just gave me my first manga!" I said with a smile.
"Ohhh, congrats, congrats. What kind of manga is it?"
"Hmm, I don't know yet, I haven't taken a look inside." I opened the folder. "Hoshi Furu Yoru. That's the title." I read it out aloud.
"Night of falling stars, huh? Sounds interesting. Do your best!" he said and turned back to look at his laptop. I thanked him and started looking through the sheets in the folder.
The mangaka was a young woman named Kotori Sakura. According to the notes, it wasn't her first attempt at creating a manga. She had tried to submit manga a few times already, but was always told her stories wouldn't fit the magazine. There were no problems with her drawings though, according to her own testimony, she attended an art school and had always liked to draw since she was young. When suggested several times to team up with a storywriter, she thankfully refused, saying she'd want to create something on her own first.
I took a look at the manga's plot summary. The genres were romance, fantasy and mystery, but the thing that caught my attention was the protagonist. The story was told from a boy's perspective. I read through it and immediately got interested in the story, I wanted to know more and I decided to ask her some questions during our meeting the next day. I continued looking through the notes and after I was done I decided to call her. I took some deep breaths as I dialled her number on my office phone. After I took one last breath to calm myself down I finally pushed the call button.
"Y-yes? Hello?" a woman's voice answered.
"Good day, my name is Shion Misaki from Marukawa Publishing's Emerald Department. Am I speaking to Kotori Sakura-sensei?" I asked friendly.
"Y-yes, that's me."
"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you right now, Sakura-sensei, but I called to ask about tomorrow's meeting time…"
"Oh, yes, I understand."
"Thank you very much. Then, do you have a preferred time?"
"Not really, I have no other plans for tomorrow."
"I see, then how about 2pm, would that be alright for you?"
"Yes, sure. I'll be there."
"Thank you very much, Sakura-sensei. Then we'll talk again tomorrow, yes?"
"Yes, thank you very much as well, Misaki-san."
"No problem. Well then, I hope you have a nice day. Until tomorrow, Sakura-sensei."
"Y-you too, until tomorrow, Misaki-san." she said and hung up. I let out a deep sigh and hung up too.
"Amazing Shii-tan. You sure it's your first time doing this kind of work?" Kisa-senpai had apparently been listening to me the entire time.
"Well, I have experience in talking to customers and strangers because of my part-time jobs in different bookstores, so talking to someone on the phone isn't really that much of a challenge, I guess." I explained.
"Impressive! I get the feeling you're a perfect fit for this kind of work."
"I think I still have a lot to learn, Kisa-senpai." I smiled.
"Y-yes, and… I, as your senpai, still have tons of things to show you, hehe…" he was in a good mood. "So you gonna meet her tomorrow?"
"Yes. I hope everything goes well. I'm a bit nervous."
"I bet she's at least as nervous as you, don't worry."
"If you say so…"
"Oh but I'll be away tomorrow, so I won't be able to help you, Shii-tan. Sorry."
"It's okay, I'll manage." I smiled and continued my work. I saw that there was also a rough storyboard in the folder Takano-san had given me. I looked through it and started reading. At first I hesitated to note down things or correct stuff because it was my first time actually doing it. But I took another deep breath, took a red pen and marked things that I found important to address when talking to Sakura-sensei the next day. I was sunken into the storyboard when my phone started ringing.
"Marukawa Publishing Emerald Department Shion Misaki speaking, how may I help you?" I asked while continuing my work.
"Uhm, Misaki-san?" a familiar voice asked.
"Sakura-sensei?"
"Y-yes, I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but…"
"Is something the matter?" I put down my pen.
"Well, it's about tomorrow's meeting…"
"Yes?"
"We decided on a time, but I think we didn't decide on a place to meet, and-"
"Oh my! You're right. Excuse me, I'm terribly sorry, how could I-" I was freaking out internally.
"Ah, no no, don't worry. It's okay, I didn't remember earlier either, so we're both to blame." she said followed by a chuckle.
"O-okay… then, is it okay if we meet here at Marukawa?" I asked finally.
"Of course. Then tomorrow at 2pm."
"Yes. Exactly. I'm so sorry again."
"It's okay. Well then, until tomorrow, Misaki-san."
"Until tomorrow, Sakura-sensei." I said and hung up. I let my head fall down on the desk and hid under my arms.
"You okay?" Kisa-senpai asked.
"Mhm." I nodded.
"You forgot to say where to meet?"
"Mhm." I nodded again.
"There there." he patted my head and giggled.
"Senpai are you laughing?" I said still hidden.
"Me? Nooo!"
I sighed deeply and continued my work as if nothing had happened. Luckily no one else except Kisa-senpai had noticed my mistake. The rest of the day passed by without any further occurrences. On my way home I stopped by a konbini only to buy dinner for my cats, but when I saw the new Shounen Bump I had to buy that one as well.
"I'm baaaack." I said as I opened the door to my apartment. I entered the living room, put down my bag and went to the kitchen. As soon as I filled their feeding dishes, my cats joined me in the kitchen. "Hey Kiriko, hey Kumota." I said and stretched out my arm to pat them, but they dodged and headed to the food. Cats. Kiriko and Kumota were siblings, I got them from my parents when I left home to live on my own. I've been told they're Himalayan Cats, I'm not that knowledgeable when it comes to different cat breeds, but I know that they're pretty and fluffy. Since I wasn't that hungry I only ate some of the leftover rice balls I made the day before. I sat down on the couch, turned on the TV and started reading Shounen Bump. I decided to not stay up too late, tomorrow would be a very important day.
When I woke up the next day, I was lying on my couch, the manga magazine on my chest and my cats on my legs. I apparently fell asleep without noticing it. Luckily my TV had a function where I could set a timer to turn off automatically. And since my couch was comfortable enough I didn't mind having spent my night on it instead of my bed; it happened frequently. I stood up and got ready to leave; it was the big day of my first meeting.
"Good morning everyone!" I said as I entered the office.
"Morning, Misaki-san." Hatori-san was the only one there.
"Where are the others?" I asked as I sat down.
"Meeting."
"I see." I took out my laptop and put it on the desk.
"Everything ready for your first meeting?" he asked.
"Yup, everything ready. Everything planned. There's no way this can go wrong, it's fool proof." I said proudly.
"Glad to hear, do your best then, Misaki-san."
"Thank you very much!" I said and focused on my work. I still had plenty of time until Sakura-sensei arrived. "Better look through storyboard again, yes." I said to myself. Time passed and it was already 1:50pm when my phone rang.
"Marukawa Publishing Emerald Department Shion Misaki speaking, how may I help you?" I said as I picked up the phone.
"Good day Misaki-san, this is Minori Sasaki, from the reception desk. Kotori Sakura-sensei has arrived. Shall I send her to your offices?" a woman's voice asked.
"Oh, uhm, sure. Thank you very much, Sasaki-san." I answered.
"Understood, well then…" she said and hang up. I took a deep breath and got everything ready. "Let's do this." I stood up and wanted to wait in front of the elevator, but at the same time a somewhat short woman with long brown hair, big glasses and a cap was standing at Emerald Department's entrance. She was holding a briefcase with both of her hands.
"Uhm… Kotori Sakura has arrived." she said.
"…Sakura-sensei?" I approached her.
"Misaki-san?"
"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you!" I said, bowed down and stretched out my business card.
"The pleasure's all mine, Misaki-san." she said. I looked up again and she was smiling. She seemed like a nice person, there was no reason to be nervous.
"Very well, shall we start our meeting then?" I said and led the way to a separate room. She nodded and followed me. I opened the door, let her in, entered as well and closed the door. We sat down at the table and before I could say anything she had started talking already.
"Oh, here." she said and stretched out her business card. "I kind of always forget this, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, thank you." I smiled. "Well then, uhm…"
"Do you like my story?" she said out of nowhere.
"I do. I've only looked through the storyboard so far, but it does seem like it can become an interesting story." I said.
"Really? You don't think it's weird I'm applying for a shoujo magazine with a story that features a male protagonist?"
"I don't."
"Misaki-san you're the first one that thinks like that. All my prior stories were rejected because of that. They said 'that's not how it's supposed to be', but that's the point!"
"I would like to read through those as well some time, if you don't mind."
"No, not at all! I'd love to show you." she smiled.
"Oh, I'm… I'm sorry… we should, get to the meeting. Sorry, this is my first actual meeting." I scratched the back of my head.
"Ohh, okay. I'm sorry, I'm kind of used to them already."
"You are? You sounded rather nervous on the phone, if I may say so."
"That's just because I really dislike talking to people on the phone."
"Is that so?" I chuckled. And for some reason I felt relieved afterwards. I took a deep breath and took out the storyboard from my folder. "Okay, so… here. I'm not sure if everything I did was correct but…" I said and the air around her changed. The happy carefree attitude changed to a serious one as soon as she saw the corrections I'd made to her storyboard.
"Oh, yes. I see. I wasn't quite sure if the reader would understand it if I'd make it that way, so I was hoping for you to notice it and decide on it." she pointed at a corrected spot.
"It felt like some readers may not immediately understand what you want to express in this panel." I took out my pen.
"Yes, yes. Exactly." she said. I already knew that she took her work very seriously, despite her joyful nature. I was happy the first mangaka I was assigned to was someone like her.
"As to this next one…" I continued talking and time passed by in a flash. I learned a lot just by talking to Sakura-sensei. An hour had passed and the meeting finally came to an end.
"Phew…" I said.
"I'm gonna start working as soon as I get home so I can send you the edited storyboard as soon as possible, Misaki-san!" her eyes were sparkling.
"Thank you very much, I'll be looking forward to it then." I said and put everything back into my folder.
"Awesome! Well if there's nothing else to discuss, I'll be taking my leave then." she stood up. I stood up as well and opened the door.
"Well then, thank you again. I'm looking forward to be working with you, Sakura-sensei." I smiled.
"Me too, Misaki-san." she said as she pushed the elevator's button. The doors opened and she entered. "Bye-bye." she waved her arm as the doors closed. I walked back to my desk and sat down.
"Phew…" I sighed deeply.
"Well done, Misaki." I heard Takano-san.
"Oh, Takano-san. Thank you very much. Is the meeting over?" I asked.
"Yup, finally."
"How did it go?" Onodera-san asked.
"I think everything went well." I answered.
"Glad to hear." he smiled.
"Hang in there. It's only getting tougher from now on, newbie." Takano-san said with a grin.
"Yes sir!" I saluted. At the same time, a familiar voice called out to us.
"Whoooo wants donuts?" Kisa-senpai was standing there all of a sudden.
"Kisa-san, weren't you out on business?" Onodera-san asked.
"Yup, Ricchan. But I finished earlier and decided to come here and bring you something." he was holding a little box on his hand, various pastries were printed onto it. Takano-san sighed and stood up.
"Kisa, how often do I have to tell you not to bring sweets into the offi-"
"I've got your favourites too, Takano-san." Kisa-senpai said.
"…okay, coffee break time everyone." he put his glasses on the table, approached Kisa-senpai, took the box and walked towards the break room.
"H-hey, Takano-san. They're not all for you!" Kisa-senpai followed him.
"Oh my, shall we go as well?" Onodera-san said as he stood up.
"Sure!" I said and joined the others. A tasty donut would be a great reward for my first successful meeting as a manga editor.