The Man Making the Tankobon
That time I tripped and my face got exposed on stream, Suihwa's broadcast was completely ruined. The cosplay stream she'd prepared so hard for got deleted from replays.
"She said there was no backup because they deleted it in such a rush."
I felt terribly sorry. They'd given us free tickets and lodging, and instead of helping, I'd caused trouble. My conscience was killing me.
Anyway.
"Shouldn't have told Yuu about it back then."
She'd been so curious, so I'd casually told her the location—and sure enough, she'd shown up and waited for me. Of all times, she saw me face-plant right in front of her.
"...If you're here, just say so."
She definitely wasn't your average person. With that thought, I replied.
What the hell was disappointing about that? I couldn't wrap my head around it. I almost asked what she was thinking—but her vast, perverted worldview was beyond my imagination, so I gave up.
Her reply came right away.
"Yeah." Following Yuu's instructions, I half-covered the finished cover and uploaded it to X-Net right away.
By the way, my follower count had grown a ton compared to before.
"...Wasn't this much before."
Over 500k followers now. An unimaginable number. It had stalled around 300k, but after Rito and Yuu commented, it skyrocketed.
I should formally thank them later. It was probably just casual comments for them, but it had a huge impact on my account.
And then.
Ding-!Ding-!Ding-!
X-Net notifications after ages. Non-stop. Since my last post was a while ago, they kept coming. Usually they calm down after 3 minutes or so.
Guess not drawing while in Japan was the issue.
"Gotta draw harder from now on."
With so many more followers, it was a bit burdensome, but the attention felt pretty good. I'm the type who enjoys it anyway. This much was fine.
By the way.
"Reactions are great."
Insanely good. Likes had always come fast, but not like this even after some time post-upload. Unprecedented speed.
"It was like this when Rito commented last time."
More followers meant way more firepower. Didn't expect this much though. Impressive, I thought, as I checked the comments on the art.
"Oh, now it's auto-translating cleanly."
Before, it showed original + translation, but they patched to show only translation in the update. Easier to read. I kept scrolling.
"Heh."
My shoulders rose on their own. Collabing with Yuu of all people was a massive career boost for any artist. I'd gotten numb to it, but chewing on it, it was huge.
As I basked in self-praise.
Yuu messaged. She'd checked the X-Net comments.
I figured she'd play humble, but she had serious pride in her work—no false modesty. Fair enough. She was drawing Japan's hottest manga right now.
"And I'm doing its tankobon cover."
The more I thought about it, the more excited I got. The Rito thing was already unreal for an artist, and now this with Yuu. I vowed to myself to do it right and started adding more details.
*
How much time passed?
"Ughhh..."
The tankobon release day finally arrived. Balancing school, X-Net uploads, chatting with Yuu to pick the right art—lots going on, but I wrapped it up somehow.
"...Finals soon though."
Next week was finals—a big issue, but whatever, it'd work out. I hadn't totally skipped studying. Prep from now would get me good grades.
As I thought that and drew.
Ding-!
Yuu messaged. Probably about the tankobon.
"...Hope it turned out well."
It wasn't exactly the X-Net version. We used that for the cover but I designed the internals a bit since it's a book. Hoped it printed nice.
"Phew..."
Deep breath, then replied.
Reply came fast.
...Time to see the final product.