What is going on in Aya Gozen's mind right now is just utter Chaos, he always thought that Alex was a sickly young man, He certainly was a sickly kid before this, but now? she wasn't sure anymore, White milky skin, under that soft velvety towel, lies a lustrous hue of healthy muscle on a well-developed male body, his muscles are lean and well maintained, She never did notice it since he always wore a suit or baggy oversized shirts when he was at him with his full-body sweater,

She never knew a high school student could look this...good? Ueno thought the same thing as well, he knew Alex wasn't the healthiest person she know, he often got sick and wears baggy clothing and hoodies to cover his face, he doesn't have the best self-esteem in school, a loner type that kept to himself and doesn't have any friends except her, but this look of his...did he worked out? since when?

Alex simply smiled at them innocently and said

"Sit down, I'll get a change of clothes and we can discuss it soon"

Aya looked towards the side and saw Ueno's gaze locked on him as well, Alex was simply oblivious towards all of this as he ignored the two girls and walked back towards his room to change, the shower in this house is in the opposite direction of his room, Aya never noticed that since the house was relatively small.

After Alex went into the room and changed, He was perplexed as to why those two acted that way? Should he ask later? Something tells him in the back of his mind that he should just ignore it.

......

Sitting on the sofa in the living room, Ueno made some black tea for both Aya and Alex, and after serving it to the two of them, in order not to disturb their work, she immediately went back out of the door, her ears were still red from embarrassment. she took the tray out and ran away immediately as she close the door quietly behind her.

"Miss Ueno is really honest."

"Yeah, She's honest to a fault."

Aya took a sip of black tea and said lightly, Unline Ueno, she's an adult, but even so, that was a close call even for her. This Alex needs to know that he's living with his mother, a younger sister, and even this wayward little chicken girl from next door who even has a key to his house. He should show some self restrain! Everyone else around him are just females!. Alex then add more salt by saying-

"She could even make a great wife for someone in the future"

Alex said that with a smile, simply expressing his feelings without thinking too much, Aya could only stand still as her anger boils,
Suddenly, Alex felt a strong murderous aura he never felt ever in his life, what was going on? where is it coming from? Alex felt that the air in the room was a little colder than before, He looked towards Aya Gozen and her face was cold and unnerving, was it something he said?

"It seems that Mr. Alex here likes Miss Ueno very much."

Aya said coldly, squinting her beautiful eyes, the # symbol appeared on her forehead as if she was very angry,

"You even gave her the key to your house huh?"

Alex just stood there unable to say anything, all he was thinking was,

"key? what key? why is she angry? oh, key? is she talking about the house key? It's just a key though?"

the thoughts of a clueless man who never dated or have any social life during his 32 years in his previous world do not teach him the common sense of the world and this in turns fuels Aya's Gozen anger even further when he looks at his dumb innocent face.

"Holy crap, is she angry? right! She is just angry! But... why is she angry?"

At this very moment, He knew he fucked up-

Alex thought about countless reasons, and finally came to the conclusion Does she suspect that I have some sort of relationship with Ueno? wait, that can't be right. I'm a 32-year-old uncle inside and she's just an 18-year-old high school girl... Think carefully, please! I don't want the FBI to call me and go - Moshi Moshi Onichan- IT'S MOTHERFUCKING JAIL TIME! ah wait, we're in Japan, so not the FBI then, but still-

"No no no, Ueno is just a good friend of mine, and! We're just classmates alright! she was just helping out with the family okay!"

Alex quickly explained that clearly, if he didn't explain it, she would call the police for "molesting a girl". wait, that's not right, Isn't he also 18? Anyway, there's no way something would happen with the both of them, at least he wouldn't do it. He's an upstanding gentleman, his mother wouldn't teach him to debase himself, after all, I mean, if not, why would she even give her the key right?

" You don't have to explain it to me, and it has nothing to do with me (it seems I've thought too much)."

her slender hands picked up the black tea as she took a sip, but Alex could tell, she clearly not satisfied with that. But to Aya, Seeing Alex's flustered face, she knew that she really think too much about it. Although she said that he didn't need to explain anything to herself, that somehow made her a little bit happy. She could only sigh as she took another sip of that black tea.

"Is there something wrong with Editor-in-Chief?"

Alex asked curiously,

"You don't need to call me the editor-in-chief anymore, I have already resigned."

Aya Gozen took out her business card, which was given to Alex. Right now it reads Freelance Editor -Jamp Magazine subsidiary

Seeing the business card, Alex was stunned by that name, it's JAMP comics, when did she switch over to JAMP?

"Presumably you might already know that the Kokusai Manga Shou Comic Awards will officially start the day after tomorrow. The format of this award is different from the previous ones. This time, the Kokusai Manga Shou Comic Award committee will cooperate with JAMP and Sasaki Publications, and NetIdol for the marketing and promotions, The first preliminaries will be on the Internet. A one-week selection will be held, and the top three most popular works will be voted by the deputy editor of the JAMP editorial department and the editorial manager of the above position"

As expected of a genius editor, with just a few simple words, perfectly summed up the elaborate reward system without missing a single point.

And Alex understood all of this because He was used to the same style of Competition awards back in his old world, well...sorta.

"I am one of the people in charge of handling the registration of the Mangaka's for the Kokusai Manga Shou Comic Awards this time. Since you signed up under this Event we have used up the Quota under Satelight Publications if you were to win and signed with Jamp, Satelight will directly plan and publish your serialization while shall remain as your Editor, I am responsible for your work for the time being. Due to your special situation, I came here to learn about your latest creation, your newest manuscript?"

Although she showed indifference in his tone, some of her words "deliberately" betrayed her concern for Alex, but fortunately, Alex decided to play down the matter, and just show her the stuff, now that he thinks about it, it wasn't finished...to be frank, he hadn't even started it since he could not perfect the style that he wanted. So he kinda has...nothing.

"Well, actually..."

Alex scratched his head in embarrassment,

"Actually, I haven't started for that Event yet."

"what?"

Aya simply stood up at once! She almost doubt that she heard it wrongly!

"You haven't done a single thing?! What about the manuscript you were saying earlier when you were half-naked back then?!"

she thought to herself, she was sure he would have had something! after what he said back then that he really wanted to join the competition and even with his injured hand, he said he will do it! the dateline is very close! She even quit her job to be a freelance editor for him!

But in Alex's mind, he wanted to save that for a different occasion. If it is a traditional competition, it is really not a big problem, because traditional competitions are in the form of submissions, as long as you submit your submissions before the deadline, you will be fine! But! The biggest problem this time is the method in which they use to judge the works.

This time the awards are in the form of voting! Online! Under JAMP comic publications Online and their Web platform each user have a different setting, some even have a VIP setting. It prioritizes paying viewership, of course, this means that only paying viewership are able to vote on it. A user who doesn't have an account can't vote, and a user who hasn't paid anything for any series can't vote, not to mention that get a VIP status, you need to spend a certain amount of money in a single month to subscribe for certain works online,

Only one vote is allowed for those with no VIP account can cast one vote per day. Users above VIP level 5 can vote twice per day, and the final result is only determined by total popularity, That is to say, The sooner it is published, the more votes you can get, and as long as the ranking is high in a short period, it can be seen by more people, the more people see it sooner, the more votes you get! It's a constant cycle, The early birds get the first votes after all since faster submission will appear on the site for the voting rights to be activated.

And no shit-no surprises! The top-ranked works on the first day can be supported till the end of the competition just by an average voting count, There is always a huge gap of votes between the first and the second place due to disparity in upload times sometimes. the sooner you vote during the open preliminaries, the better your chances are of winning this competition.

It's because of this stupid method that Aya was quite flustered that he hasn't even submitted anything yet. He would surely lose this time!

"Editor-In-Chief Aya, please don't get excited first, sit down and calm down."

Seeing Aya stand up so suddenly like that, he felt that he seemed to have annoyed her unintentionally. Aya and her icy torrential gaze turned predatorial and her anger was lashed out at full force.
　
"I'm not the editor-in-chief now!"

"Okay, Ordinary Editor Aya, please calm down and listen to me..heh." he said playfully-

"YOU! how could you stay calm when this is all happening, you're taking this too lightly Alex!"

Alex couldn't refute her, he probably thought he would have taken it slow considering the subject that he needs to tackle right now is getting the artwork right, especially in the current climate and genre. He wouldn't want to publish "Kyoto Ghoul" wrongly, he needed to make sure certain steps were perfected first. as an artist and as a Mangaka, he is obligated to give this series a fair chance to debut properly. Getting a serialization while it is important isn't as important to him as getting the best impact for the series.

He wanted it to trend past beyond the competition, a true hype of an anime if you will. Aya simply couldn't understand his train of thought right now.

After calming down a little, Aya simply looked him in the eye and said,

"As far as I know, Kameda that guy, and some well-known mangaka artists have participated in this competition, and they submitted their manuscripts yesterday, What are you going to do now? Care to explain how you're going to do this?"

Sitting down, Aya couldn't afford to calm down even if she tries to suppress it, he knew that Alex was new to this, but to think he didn't even know a simple thing like this, She should have explained it properly to him. She should not have given him the benefit of the doubt, now that things have escalated this way, is there any way she could salvage it without a single manuscript? Satelight would be thrown in the mud if they didn't have anything to upload by the end of this week!

"Well..." Alex could only look at her with a smile on his face as he gaze upon those angry eyes

"This is quite the troublesome matter, that Kameda san huh?"

Although this Kameda is a joke to him, he is known as a top-notch mangaka artist in this world, he has not only drawn many manga's but also illustrated some of the highest paying light novels in Japan. Even in the early days, he also had a certain reputation in the niche ecchi and psychology fandom, so his popularity is real. While his penchant for NTR is not to his liking, there are people who cater to those tropes and rally behind this disgustful taste, In this world, there seems to be a boom in NTR culture, and it's all because of his series.

Other than him, Alex has also heard that the Queen of Shoujo in this world has her protege debuting, and there are also a few rising stars (although they are older than him), they have been assistants for seven or eight years under the hands of famous Mangaka legends in this world, and they have accumulated a certain amount of popularity and experience ver the years, and their drawing skills are also very good. Stable, and in this competition, there is a famous Mangaka behind every one of them canvassing votes for them for their own fandom.

On the whole, While he did use his father's Tochigi penname, that wouldn't garner much hype since he hasn't published a single thing for a very long time, this will be his first proper debut. But in his eyes, he was at ease, because naturally he has some ideas how to succeed even if the odds are not in his favor.

He wasn't on home ground territory, this is Japan's turf and he's just a newbie former American cartoonist who gets isekai'ed here on his death and landed with these newer legends he never heard of with different styles and techniques that were probably as good as the old world as well, He has seen some original works in this world, some of them are really really good. That shoujo Queen, for example, Lilian Akamatsu, her talent is the real deal.

"Editor, I might lose this competition."

Alex said with a heavy heart but with a smile and lightheartedness he continued and said,

"However, please trust me, Editor, I will definitely be there during the competition so that readers can see my artwork."

Aya could only open her lips slightly as she wanted to protest, she wanted to say something, but she didn't know where to start. After all, she was only his temporary editor in charge, and how many rights did she have to interfere? Besides, as an author, he is very calm, what's the use of worrying about it? Seems like he has some sort of plan, all she can do is trust him right now. This is the person who inherited Tochigi sensei's will.

"In that case, I'm looking forward to your proper debut Mr. Alex."

After drinking the black tea in the cup, Aya stood up and simply left, Alex didn't say anything, he just sat there as she stared at her back walking away from the door and towards the exit, It seems like he didn't give her enough confidence. How could he? Even he admitted that this plan was like gambling. Alex got up and close the door.

"No use thinking about it, I'll just need to execute it flawlessly, Gotta go finish it up then"

Alex simply walked towards his studio and continue his work in the room silently, Her sister will be back home soon with her Mother, and he wonder what they will have for dinner tonight?

.....

Walking outside the door and turning around, she bit her red lips and said with some difficulty that her mind was in turmoil as to how she could turn this around. Alex said he will do it, She has no choice but to believe in the 18-year-old Mangaka that she decided to bet everything on, even her career. Her phone was buzzing and on the phone, it was a number that she didn't want to pick up.

It was her sister-

" What do you want? Sister?"

She picked it up abruptly and her cold icy demeanor immediately overflow that even the passerby that walked down the streets could feel the chill around the air as they walked around her.

" I heard from our dear Uncle that you quit Satelight, Finally seen the light sister? why won't you come work for Us at JAMP permanently?"

Aya gave her a curt and bland reply

"Not Interested, anything else Maya?"

There was nothing, no sound was coming out from the other side of the phone for a few seconds until-

" Who is this kid you're hanging around with? Does father know about him?"

"He's under my care, He's going to be great, I found a talented Mangaka that cou-"

"Whatever,  Jamp has too many of these so-called "Talent". Not that it matters as long as they make us money"

Aya could only stand there on the sidewalk silently in front of a brightly lighted neon shop, the pink blare in her eyes makes her look like a Demon, she was angry at this person, her sister, she really didn't like her attitude about disrespecting the work gone into creative work. all she see is dollars and deals, she never changes, even from back then.

"I'm an Editor, and he's the real deal"

"The real deal huh? finally found your Muse little sister, I thought you wouldn't get out of that phase with that asshole Tochi-"

Aya didn't even let her finish there sentence, press the cancel on the call of her phone,  turn it off, and walk away without even a care in the world, that icy figure instantly disappears as her eyes burned with newfound conviction. She really couldn't stand her sister after her stupid bad breakup. it's already been several years. She really doesn't need this right now. All she could think was how to make  Alex work faster for the coming days, he needed to submit his work and he needed to submit it fast.

There isn't anything else to worry about as a distraction.