Chapter 3: Are You Gonna Draw?

"Hey! show me more! can you show me your drawings?" Ueno's voice was getting excited! She was thrilled.

"Umm...maybe you shouldn't..."

Alex scratched the back of his head and felt a little embarrassed. After all, he drew the cover! Was there any artist who showed his drawings to his neighbors!? Naked covers to a beautiful high school girl! in Japan! hmm?! Fuck it, why not. Alex sighed and just took out an HB pencil.

"I haven't drawn anything for a long long time, so my skills are not up to the mark as compared to what they used to be, there is nothing to look at."

Alex covered his face embarrassingly, why is she looking at me with a star-struck pose? what is wrong with this girl? she's making me feel embarrassed. And I'm an adult male in this body! why the hell am I feeling so embarrassed about it?! Get a grip Alex! she's too young for you!

Half of what he said was true. He hasn't drawn anything significant in this body, a pure amateur. Although he inherited the skills and memories of the original him, unfamiliarity with his current body was inevitable. For him, it was also the first time, he tried to draw something, and the combination of skills also needed to adapt to the current level of the system. A professional Mangaka? Yeah! Keep dreaming! This wouldn't even get a pass if he tried to submit it to Marbel back in his old world.

Therefore, the current him needs to catch up with the previous level and would take a while to train up to the pro level. However, it should be more than enough to deal with regular cover art. After all, the fat lady hasn't sung yet, luck could change at any given moment. With a bit of talent and hard work, anything is possible. Not that his art was anything to rave about before, but he could tell what works for the professional level and whatnot. And whatever this is? it's rough, barely presentable if he has to admit the truth.

" Do you want to have a look at it, Ueno-san?"

her pair of watery eyes flickered at the artwork, she blushed a bit but still manage to nod at it.

"Yeah "

Alex looked at his two little angels in those watery eyes of Yume Ueno. Those eyes of hers were full of tears, her face was red. Finally, he compromised.

"It’s okay, but Ueno, don't be disappointed. Compared to whatever it is out there... I don't have the confidence, it might disappoint you"

Yume immediately perked up.

"It's okay! Can I call you sensei from now on? You're drawing because of me and your Dad isn't it?."

uhh not really, I was just saying that to cover my face.  I mean, you were about to have a look at my ecchi drawing, What am I gonna say? No? She's a high school girl who is appreciating my ecchi artwork. I didn't have any experience like this in my previous life! This is awkward for me too!! Alex thought to himself.

" Come on Alex! let's go home! We live beside each other anyway!"

We're on our way back from school to our rented apartment. The street was narrow so we walked side by side together. she immediately took the blueprint protector and took the picture inside to have a look.

The first drawing is the cover of a man and the female lead of "My World", but Alex hasn't had the time to draw it properly yet. He only sketched the outline and filled in the details. The rest of the stuff will need to be filled again tomorrow.

In the first drawing, the male and female lead was facing back to back naked.  and the second drawing was the scene where the male and female lead entered the cave while being chased by the three-headed lion. The third drawing... felt a little different.  I painted this one in full color for its cover.

Looking at Alex's drawings, unconsciously, the tears started to slowly slip from the corners of Ueno's eyes.

"Ueno? Hey? Ueno?".

"Oh! Sorry! Sorry!"

Ueno quickly put down the draft and wiped her tears. She cleared off any tears that ran down her cheeks.

"Hey Sensei... I'm sorry, I almost got my tears on top of your drawings."

"Smudging is a trivial matter, but ..well, never mind.."

Alex simply smiled and handed Ueno a  tissue pack from his trousers.

"Don't call me Sensei. I don't deserve that title, I'm not a manga artist yet, and people are rather particular about titles here in japan, I don't wanna offend anyone, after all... I still look like your typical gaijin from the outside"

"No, Sensei! you are forever my idol! You are worthy of my heart! You're my first friend ever! and you're the only one I ever told you about my secret! "

Alex almost choked at the mention of the word," your heart? excuse me? is this a confession? Are we an item or something? I don't ever remember giving you that impression girl? At least I don't think so? Hey Alex, it isn't even in your memories. what did you do to this girl? Damn player!"

" What? hold up girl, you're complimenting me too much"

Ueno simply blushed back at what she just said, and then looked at the cover art. she look at the artwork and look at Alex again, back and forth. Alex was embarrassed and fidgeting in front of this based high school girl, his childhood friend, Osananajimi type A, totally a fine beauty, but what's up with this feeling? this is weird, this is definitely what the previous Alex would feel, he's sure of it. He didn't have this jittery embarrassment from before.

"W...well, maybe no more ecchi stuff in the future? this is so embarrassing"

Alex blushed from that compliment, especially since these are the first three covers he ever made in his life. Oh, how could he show his face to this girl in the future? How could he not draw more ecchi? that's impossible.

"So, Alex-san, what kind of work are you doing right now?"

"Ah? Do you mean manga? drop the san thing, I'm not used to it"

The cold sweat on his forehead started to pour out from Alex's forehead.

And umm, I don't have a current project, ahh...I will think of something soon."

Ueno smiled and didn't ask much. She thought it was just a little embarrassing for him. To be honest, she felt like having her friend back gain, even back then they never used honorifics with each other. so this feels much better.

Looking at the time, Alex noticed that it was already 2 p.m. He needed to prepare the draft, or else this month's living expenses would be difficult to cope with, even with her mother working two jobs, he wanted to ease the burden.

"Ueno, I may have to go out for a trip. Can you take care of my sister and my mother for me?  I will be back before six o'clock."

"Sure thing Alex, I'll watch your sister when she comes back home"

Just as Alex was about to rush out with his artwork and head to the train station, he looked back at Ueno

"Ueno, if my manga turns into an anime, can you be the voice of the heroine? I meant what i said back then"

Ueno thought of the future. With a smile, she said with tears coming out,

"Yes! I will continue to work hard, and I will try my best to match your work before that day."

Alex did not say anything more, he waved her away and rushed down to the nearest train subway to head towards the address and wipe her tears away, there was no need to say anything anymore. Both of them understood it.
.
He went to the barbershop and took care of his hair which had not been trimmed for three months. He's headed towards the address here in Sapporo to hand out his submission by today. He knew of the company Satelight Incorporated.

It was a well-known company in this sub-sector. Although this company has always been in the production of manga, its track record in producing animations was top-notch. In this world, many of the works that have been produced in this world were being churned out by this company. Works like Genesis of Aquarion, Glass Fleet, and Noein, were all produced here. but in this timeline, it was under a different name with some minor changes. the rest of their biggest titles doesn't seem to exist yet.

Alex, who recently changed his appearance, was mature and capable now, he looked like a proper adult even with that sickly face of his and his thin demeanor. He was originally only 30 years old and he knew how to look presentable. There is a certain charm that reveals a mature temperament, which can also be called an Ikemen. Maybe? He had hoped it would be like that.

‘Although I am very confident about my art, my heart is still a bit reluctant to do this. After all, it's like going through an interview all over again, I'm just glad I knew Japanese natively just like I knew my English from my previous life"

After politely greeting the front desk, Alex stood in the elevator hall until he reached the third floor of the book editorial department according to the front desk lady. the young lady actually blush as he walk away, Alex knew that this face would work well. he really did just charm an innocent office lady.

However, when walking down the aisle, a voice stopped him from behind.

"Hey! Isn't this Alex? It is you! Alex san!" said a person with a lot of black spots on his face.

The eyes of people who made me uncomfortable looked over my shoulders as he step back and look at who is calling his name. Alex looked at this person from head to toe, who the hell is this guy? He does seem familiar from his memory. Where has he seen this uncle before? The man walked to his side of Alex and started to scan him from top to bottom, the small man said with a sigh of relief.

"Don't you remember me? It’s me! I am Kameda! Kamedamura desu!" Kamedamura said very rudely. There is no formality at all. That stupid grin, that unkempt hair, and tieless shirt, This old bag of a person are rather annoying.

"Kameda?Kameda Who?"

Hell no Kameda? that means turtle right?, seriously who are you old man, have we met before? Are you an Isekai guy too?

"It's me, the one who wants to apply as your father's assistant, but I got rejected by him and got myself fired! hahaha!"

He said that with a tone full of sarcasm.

At this time, he only remembered that there was such a person. At that time, his father did recruit an assistant when he was just a kid around 10 years old, the art technique of this Kameda guy was good. However, the attitude of this person to the manga industry was completely distorted.

Right, before He forgot to mention it, there was another thing that Alex was brought into this world. His father was a famous mangaka in this world before he passed away. He was called Tochigi-san, that was his pen name in this world. His father did many series in the past before he quit the whole manga business to settle down with my mother. Father always thought that art should be prioritized more than money, same with life. and He choose to be with my mother to provide a better life and left that industry.

I wouldn't say I agree with his choices back then, but I do agree to put family first. Too bad he died too early. Our family just wasn't ready for his loss. For all of his popularity and pop culture icon in this world, he didn't leave much behind. There weren't any deals made on his behalf around his IP and his works. It was a disaster.

It can be said that in his eyes, This Kameda guy was even worse. To him, Manga isn’t art, but a monetizable product just to make more money! While I do agree to make money, there is a fine line that you should never cross, At that time, the reason why he came to apply to be his father's assistant was only that he was famous at the time and he wanted to give himself a boost in reputation in the circle. He had a self-proclaimed title of "The Assistant of the Genius Mangaka" and flaunt that title away, he even gave his father a bad name after that, dropping the sales of the series to a certain degree and trying to commercialize the series towards a different distributor. he was getting out of line.

His father found out about it in an interview on Kodansha tv, and it wasn’t very pleasant. So my father fired him after that.

"Oh! How can the famous Sensei Tochigi's son appear here in Satelight? Are you trying to follow in the footsteps of your father? But that's not right! I haven't seen your clout anywhere at all! not even on the net, what's your pen name, anyway kid? Don't be shy! you can tell me! I used to work with your father before, And I was pretty good! some say I was even better than him!"

Alex twitched at his scathing comments, but he calmed down and relaxed. He still has 2 angels waiting for him back home, His Mother and little sister are waiting for him to bring back success. Losing to this failure of a troll is not an option.

Alex simply smiled and said

" None of your business.”

Kameda was taken back and said

"W...what?!"