There was one manga that always came up whenever people talked about the most popular manga in Japan right now.
The name of that manga was Silver Bullet.
I’d read it out of boredom too, and it was so good I ended up buying every volume that had come out so far.
But I never would have guessed that the author of that manga would be that hopeless-looking woman standing right in front of me.
What shocked me even more was that I’d assumed the author was a man because the name was Honjo Soji, but she was actually a woman.
"I-I thought you were a guy...."
"Ah, that’s just my pen name~ My real name is Nia. ‘Honjo Nia.’ Pretty common, you know? A woman drawing shonen manga under a male pen name."
That was news to me.
Come to think of it, there was a strong impression that shonen manga was drawn by men, so maybe that was why she used that kind of setup.
Still, I never expected the real author of Silver Bullet to be this hopeless in personality.
"By the way, why was Silver Bullet on hiatus?"
That was one question I had at this point.
Why had Silver Bullet gone on hiatus?
Silver Bullet had started serialization about ten years ago.
And right now it was on hiatus because of the author’s health problems.
But looking at Honjo-san now, she didn’t seem to have any health issues, so I wondered why it was still on hiatus.
"Ah~ That was because I had some stuff going on, so I was taking a break, but I recently came back. Check this week’s magazine. Serialization has resumed."
There had also been that incident where Itsuka-kun had gone berserk recently, and I hadn’t bought the magazine, so I hadn’t known.
Hearing from the author herself that a canceled manga was coming back felt strangely moving.
I was definitely going to go home today and reread the whole thing from volume 1.
"Wait, Silver Bullet started ten years ago, right? You look like you’re barely in your twenties at most...."
While I was thinking that, Itsuka-kun asked Honjo-san as if something seemed off.
...Huh?
Come to think of it, serialization started about ten years ago, but Honjo-san looked like she was in her early twenties at most.
In other words, unless she was insanely youthful-looking, that meant she’d been serializing since her teens at the latest, which was a little weird.
How could someone in their early teens serialize a popular manga in a magazine?
At that age, you’d still be playing around in elementary school.
Even if she were a once-in-a-century genius, serializing manga in a magazine as an elementary schooler was impossible.
Grrr....
But Honjo-san’s stomach growled, as if to ignore all those doubts.
She’d said she hadn’t eaten for days, so it was probably only natural that her stomach was screaming for food.
"B-bap...."
Watching Honjo-san cling to me and ask for food, I felt my image of the Silver Bullet author shatter once again.
How in the world could someone like this draw a manga like that?
******
"It’s delicious! So delicious! What is this!"
Honjo-san’s home, or maybe I should call it her workspace?
We borrowed the kitchen in that place and made a meal, and now she was inhaling it like some kind of beggar who hadn’t eaten in days.
Ah, so she really hadn’t eaten in days.
"I don’t think it’s enough to make you cry, though...."
I turned my eyes away, because the sight of her eating while crying was pretty ridiculous and not exactly pleasant.
"How do you live day to day and still have nothing but alcohol in the fridge...?"
Itsuka-kun’s complaint as he cooked with me.
Just as he said, Honjo-san’s fridge was packed with alcohol.
It was so bad you couldn’t even tell whether this was a bar or a manga artist’s house.
How much of a drinker is this person?
"A warm, delicious meal is the first I’ve had in a week...."
Wrong, this person was so focused on eating right now that she couldn’t hear anyone else talking.
"Well, we’ll just clean up and head out."
It was getting rude to keep hanging around here like this, and it seemed like we should head back soon, so I stood up.
"Make sure you eat properly from now on."
Itsuka-kun also got up to leave with me, nagging Honjo-san as he headed for the front door.
That is, if Honjo-san hadn’t stopped us.
For some reason, she grabbed our shoulders and stopped us from leaving.
"Since you’re here, want to do some part-time work?"
"......"
Apparently she needed manpower and was trying to keep us there.
The kind of part-time work a manga artist like Honjo-san would ask for was probably coloring or some related help.
"No, that’s a little...."
"We’ll do it."
"Huh?"
"We’ve got time, so we’ll do it."
Honestly, I couldn’t resist the chance to work on something related to a manga I liked.
Besides, since she called it part-time work, it probably wouldn’t be unpaid, and I figured it wouldn’t be bad to try something new while also developing a hobby that had been cut off earlier.
But Itsuka-kun seemed to think differently, because his face clearly showed he didn’t really want to do it.
"Still, though...."
"Itsuka-kun. How about I delete ‘that video’ as the condition?"
Well, if he didn’t want to do it, all I had to do was make him want to.
Itsuka-kun himself knew very well that that video contained his black history, so it would be hard for him to refuse this offer.
"...Fine, let’s do it."
"Thanks~!"
As expected, my prediction wasn’t wrong.
******
Just as I’d guessed, the job Itsuka-kun and I were given was coloring the manuscript pages.
Honjo-san taught us how to color, so there wasn’t much difficulty in the work.
However, for some reason, Honjo-san was working while wearing a very revealing outfit.
"Wow~ Thanks. I don’t usually use assistants, but this deadline is hanging by a thread."
"That’s fine, but what is that outfit...?"
"Ah, this? I bought it a while ago for reference material. Also as a service for boys."
Even if she called it service, Honjo-san’s body type was such that it didn’t exactly get my blood pumping.
Honestly, even if another woman wore something like that, it would probably be a turnoff for me instead.
If you’re wearing something like that as so-called encouragement, it just feels awkward for the person receiving it.
The sort of person who’d like that would be Tonomachi-kun, or Tonomachi-kun, or Tonomachi-kun.
"Look~ I don’t have any boobs, but my figure isn’t bad, right?"
Honjo-san dangerously stepped onto the desk and struck a weird pose, swaying her hips, and we each handed over the finished manuscript pages.
"Here, is this the kind of feel you wanted?"
"Finished."
Honjo-san took the pages from us and checked them over, telling us not to overdo it, but then—
"What, you’re good at this?"
She looked a little surprised and told us to keep going with that kind of intensity.
Luckily, it seemed both Itsuka-kun and I were pretty decent at the job.
"Turns out we’ve got a knack for this kind of thing."
"A knack? We’re only coloring."
"That’s true too...."
I said that, but even if we were only coloring, I hadn’t expected Honjo-san to approve it all at once.
We weren’t amateurs or anything, just ordinary people, and if it passed on the first try, then maybe it wasn’t wrong to say we had a knack for this sort of thing.
Well, the biggest reason was probably that it was a black-and-white manga, so coloring itself was simpler than with a full-color manga.
More than that, Honjo-san had already done the detailed coloring, so all we had to do was fill in the big areas that anyone could look at and think, yeah, just paint that black.
"There, boy. Your hand’s gotten slow."
"Ah, sorry."
I’d let my thoughts wander for a moment, so my hand had slowed down.
At Honjo-san’s correction, I picked up the pace again, and so Itsuka-kun and I kept filling in the colors in her workspace.
******
Evening, when the sky was turning orange.
"Done!!"
We had finally finished coloring all the manuscript pages.
"Whew... It’s been a long time since I focused this hard."
Honjo-san, who had managed to meet the deadline in the end, spread her arms wide in delight, and Itsuka-kun, relieved that it was over, still collapsed face-first onto the desk.
And I just felt a little regret.
Coloring was surprisingly fun.
"Hieta, aren’t you tired...?"
"Me? I’ve got more stamina than I know what to do with."
For me, stamina is a stat that comes from mental strength.
Ever since my body became like this, I’d been exhausted from running out of mental strength, but I’d never once been tired because I lacked stamina.
For the undead, stamina is basically mental strength.
Of course, when my stamina runs out completely, my body does feel a little heavy, but even that doesn’t really restrict my actions in reality.
That was probably one of the reasons my stamina felt endless.
"...Ah, I see."
Itsuka-kun also knew what my body was like, so he accepted it on his own and nodded.
"You guys really saved me! Here, this is your payment for the trouble!"
"Gah! W-what are you doing!?"
While Itsuka-kun and I were talking and he’d let his guard down, Honjo-san suddenly came up close and shoved an envelope full of money into her chest, pressing it toward us.
That woman really never changes.
"What’s the problem~? Come on~ take it~"
When we didn’t take it and just stood there, she swayed her hips and urged us to take it, but since Honjo-san’s chest wasn’t that big, the envelope of money she’d stuffed in there slipped out and fell to the floor with a soft thud.
"...Ah."
"...Mm."
Seeing that happen right in front of us, Itsuka-kun and I let out small groans and just stared at the envelope of money.
...She might be able to compete with the commander.
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