Full-time cartoonist

Xiaochun went out to enjoy the wind. After returning to the qualifiers, he found his opponent sitting in the living room drinking drinks, not feeling nervous or anxious at all.

I couldn't help feeling depressed, so I waved to him and went back to play chess.

This game of chess made Xiaochun very complicated. His opponent was a fourteen-year-old child, but he was defeated easily.

"I lost." He lowered his head.

When Odagiri also lowered his head, Koharu took the opportunity to rub Odagiri's hair.

After packing up the chess pieces, he stood up dejectedly and walked out the door, looking forward to the second game.

The teacher responsible for maintaining order looked at his back and said to his colleagues: "Tori Akino said he is very strong, but in my opinion, he is still some distance away from being a professional chess player."

"Who knows?" the colleague shrugged.

On the second day of the competition, his opponent was Odagiri again.

"Uncle Xiaochun!"

Seeing how enthusiastic he was, Xiaochun's inner depression dissipated a lot.

"Let's play chess." Xiaochun said.

This time he did not go out again, he concentrated and went all out to finish the game.

Still lost.

Looking at the other party's childish smile, he hoped in his heart that he would not meet this kid next time.

After winning three out of five games, if he loses one more, he won't even be qualified to enter the professional competition. It would be a pity if his Go career ends like this.

Odagiri said: "My opponent was uncle you twice. It's really annoying. I want to try playing chess with more people."

Xiaochun nodded repeatedly.

During the third competition, he came to the scene.

The kid named Odagiri has won three games and passed the qualifying round.

He was a little lucky.

The remaining three opponents were all of average strength. After hovering on the edge of danger, Koharu finally entered the professional competition.

"Damn Bird Akino!"

If it weren't for him, he wouldn't be in such danger.

…

"A sneeze! A sneeze!"

Hibiki sneezed several times. It was the rainy season now. It was raining non-stop and the temperature dropped a few degrees.

So Akimiya Akemi couldn't help but be concerned: "Do you have a cold? Do you have a fever?"

Higashikata waved his hand, "Maybe someone is thinking about me. I'm in very good health."

"That's good, but it may also have something to do with the recent weather," Akimiya Akemi said, "After all, it reminds me of "The Garden of Words"."

Higashikata smiled, "Would you like to go out with me and sit at the pavilion in a nearby park?"

Akimiya Akemi gave him a roll of her eyes, "...Let's continue drawing comics."

As soon as Higashino Hibiki picked up the g-pen, he received a call. It was Akira Toriyama.

"Mr. Toriyama, you should be at a tour exhibition of your works in Nagoya at this time. How come you have time to call me?"

Akira Toriyama's tone was indignant, and he talked about Yoshihiro Togashi.

"Togashi told me that Jump gave him the right to update once a month!"

Even though he is no longer serializing for a long time, he is still a little angry when he hears this qualification.

"Why didn't you give me this condition when I was serializing!"

Higashino Hibiki shook his head, a nightmare was coming, jump opened the source of all evil, and only the readers would suffer in the future.

"Toriyama-sensei, you're okay, but I feel bad. While we, the authors, are working hard to serialize the weekly comics, Togashi-san can go play mahjong, ski, and play video games. I feel even worse."

Hibiki Higashino almost vomited while painting. When he opened his eyes every day, except for going to school, he faced these manuscripts. He felt like he was working hard in a sweatshop with a twelve-hour working day.

"Pfft," Akira Toriyama laughed. As expected, just a comparison made him much happier.

"By the way, Higashikata," he said, realizing that he was going too far: "When I was watching "The Soul of the Game", I saw what you wanted to draw.

Don't worry about the editorial department's obstruction, just draw what you want! After the quarrel between Togashi and I, they won't be as tough as before. "

"Indeed," Higashino Hibiki said, "Thanks to you old-timers. I know what to do."

"Well, then I won't bother you about drawing comics," he laughed twice when talking about comics and ended the call.

Higashikata looked at his phone, always feeling like he was laughing at himself.

Looking at the half-drawn manuscript on the desktop, I became increasingly angry.

"Why are you painting!" He stood up, walked to Akimiya Akemi, and grabbed her hand, "Let's go out and play together!"

Akimiya Akemi looked at the rain outside and felt that Hibiki looked like an idiot.

"Oda-kun and Yoshii-kun will be here soon, and won't it rain if we go out now?"

Higashino Hibiki sighed and sat back again. Looking at Shindo Hikari who was halfway through the drawing on the paper, he felt so disgusted.

"Okay," Akimiya Akemi walked up behind him, massaged his shoulders, and said coaxingly: "Work hard and work hard. When you're done, I'll make potato stew for you."

Is there any man who doesn’t like beef and potatoes stew?

"Then...okay." Hibiki Higashikata said.

Seeing Higashino Hibiki being so awkward, Akimiya Akemi was not angry, but actually quite happy.

He also has a childlike side. This feeling of needing her care is something I have rarely experienced before, and it feels quite new.

After a while, Oda arrived.

He didn't bring an umbrella, so he came here wet.

Hibiki lent him the bathroom.

After cleaning up, Oda asked to borrow the phone. Higashino pointed to the door, and Oda expressed his thanks.

When he was on the phone, Hibiki could vaguely hear his voice. Because Oda was particularly excited, his voice was loud.

I thought it was about falling in love or something, but I didn't expect that I was communicating with a friend.

The topic of communication was, of course, Akira Toriyama.

Oda talked about the collection on the Tokyo tour, and he told his colleagues the details of the painting.

Extremely proud.

Show off halfway.

He suddenly yelled "Hey!"

"You participated in Shueisha's HOP STEP Grand Prize this month!"

This is an event held by Shueisha every month. Oda once won the "Tezuka Award" the year after he won it.

He just thought it was a coincidence.

because……

Someone knocked on the door, it was Sasaki.

Oda opened the door immediately. Sasaki was carrying a handbag and carefully protecting it on his chest, so the handbag didn't get wet.

"Thank you." Sasaki nodded in greeting, "Tori Akino-sensei is here."

"He is drawing comics. How could he be running around in the rain? Hahaha." Oda watched Sasaki walk into the room, and he asked his colleague, "What is the name of the comic work you submitted?"

"'Robot'," the other person replied, "I don't think I can win the prize, I just want to give it a try. When I was in high school, my brother said that the comics I drew were terrible, and my college classmates also said that my comics were terrible, so...

I really hope to win the prize! "

he suddenly shouted.

It feels like a passionate comic book hero.

Oda was also moved by this emotion, "Don't worry, the Newcomer Award is very easy. Even people like me, who have poor perspective and poor painting skills, have won the Newcomer Award."

He became more and more curious. After saying that, he immediately hung up the phone and ran into the room.

The person on the other side was left alone, listening to a busy tone, feeling very shocked.

"That old man is also planning to become a cartoonist?"

He wanted to ask carefully, but the other party quickly hung up the phone, leaving him with a lump in his throat.

…

Seeing Sasaki come in, Higashino Hibiki stood up to greet him.

Sitting down on the sofa, Sasaki carefully avoided the tea and took out a few comics.

"This is the shortlisted work. Please, Mr. Tori Akino."

Just like Akira Toriyama serves as a judge for the "Tezuka Awards", Hibiki Higashino is also asked to evaluate works participating in the HOP STEP Awards today.

Facing such a situation for the first time, Higashino Hibiki rubbed his hands excitedly.

But after watching it for a few minutes...

"That's it?"

Each book is worse than the other, with story, frame, lens, perspective, dialogue... From all aspects, there are only one or two advantages at most.

"These are all shortlisted works?" He was a little unbelievable.

It's only a little better than the original "War between Gods and Humans" that the original author participated in the Comic Awards.

"After all, it is an event that is held every month," Sasaki replied in a calm tone: "That's how new cartoonists are, they have shortcomings. What we need is to find the advantages from the shortcomings. Wait for the moment when they are polished into diamonds. .”

"Teacher Toriyama Akira, and you, Toriyama-kun, were all polished like this."

He looked at the original manuscripts and said seriously: "Maybe a top cartoonist will be discovered among these works."

Higashino Hibiki looked at Eiichiro Oda on the side and nodded in approval.

He had read Oda's short stories, which were terrible. But it also has the style of Future Oda, which is a description of the growth of a man, transforming into a man in a certain incident.

The Sniper King plot that moved readers very much is the embodiment of this part of Oda's abilities.

In "One Piece", there are countless such plots, and each time they touch the hearts of readers.

This is the advantage of Oda. When he is polished into a diamond in the future, Jump's efforts will be rewarded.

Understanding this, Hibiki Higashino patiently looked at these entries.

Just like in the public world, the children of American emperors may be future presidents, in these works, there may be pillars of jump.

20 minutes passed, Hibiki Higashino's patience was almost worn out, and he saw a comic.

The painting style looked very familiar, but it was in his mind, but he couldn't figure it out.

I couldn't help but look at the name of the comic - "Robot", but I didn't have much impression.

He looked at the author's name again, and it turned out to be Masashi Kishimoto!

No wonder I can't remember it, it's the great Kishimoto who has just started to grow up.

The blue bird seemed to be ringing in Higashino Hibiki's mind again, and he went back to the days when he watched "Naruto", which was his lost youth.

He prefers "Naruto" to "One Piece" because he was exposed to it when he was very young.

I really like the first boss plot, the story between Zabuza and Haku.

Unexpectedly, this author's comics are now lying in his hands.