“Hello, Teacher Tsukiyuki Nishiki. I am your editor, Sakurajima Mai.”
The bunny girl editor bowed ninety degrees to Gao Sijin, speaking in painfully awkward and stilted Chinese.
Sakurajima Mai?
Wasn’t that the female lead from one of Gao Sijin’s favorite anime series, Youthful Pig-headed Teen Series?
The story was so brilliant that Gao Sijin had actually broken his usual habit and bought the physical copy.
Could his editor really share a name with Sakurajima Mai?
Seeing Gao Sijin’s dumbstruck expression, Tsukiyuki Rio let out a giggle and patted his shoulder, smiling.
“Gao-kun, your editor’s name is Mishima Kaoru. She was just playing a little joke on you.”
“You gave me a fright.”
“That said, Miss Mishima does indeed manage the Youthful Pig-headed Teen Series as well.”
“What?!”
Upon hearing this astonishing news, Gao Sijin’s eyes immediately lit up. As a seasoned ACGN enthusiast, back when that series was trending, he had lived by the mantra “a man’s life exists solely for Senior Mai.” Back then, Gao Sijin could never have imagined that one day in the future, he would actually meet that very work’s editor.
This stroke of fate left Gao Sijin both shocked and overjoyed. He bolted from the car like a prisoner seeing daylight again after escaping a cage, immediately grabbing Editor Mishima Kaoru’s hand and shaking it vigorously.
“That is truly an incredible work! But it’s such a shame. If there had been a second season, they could have adapted Makinohara Shoko’s story. When I bought the physical tankobon and learned about Makinohara Shoko’s arc, it genuinely brought me to tears!”
Seeing Gao Sijin so worked up, Mishima Kaoru took a step back with an awkward look on her face and said:
“Hello-thank-you-xiaolongbao-goodbye!”
“Ah, uh…”
In his overexcitement, and because he had been confined to the temporary palace for two weeks where the maids all spoke to him in Chinese, Gao Sijin had almost forgotten he was under house arrest in a foreign land. He had instinctively spoken to Mishima Kaoru in Chinese.
What a fool.
Gao Sijin didn’t know Japanese, couldn’t understand Japanese. Aside from a few stock phrases from anime and certain adult videos, he knew absolutely no Japanese whatsoever.
“You don’t need to worry too much, Gao-kun.” Tsukiyuki Rio stepped slowly and elegantly out of the car, looping her arm through Gao Sijin’s, her face beaming. “Whether it’s me or Qingxue, we can both translate what Miss Mishima says. Just leave the communication to us.”
“I’m going to learn Japanese when we get back…”
The bunny girl editor, Mishima Kaoru, made a “please” gesture, and Gao Sijin’s group followed closely behind.
It had to be said, Mishima Kaoru was a beauty. However, her beauty felt rather monotonous compared to Tsukiyuki Rio and Yu Qingxue. She lacked that breathtaking, stunning quality.
If you bumped into Mishima Kaoru on the street, you might glance back a second time, but that would be the extent of it.
“Gao-kun,” Tsukiyuki Rio said with a nuclear-friendly smile, speaking to Gao Sijin in Chinese, “why do you keep looking down at the female editor’s butt? Did I not satisfy you enough last night?”
“It’s not that, Rio. I was just thinking about something.”
“What about?”
“Whether that bunny tail is just an accessory or a plug-in…”
“Do you want me to ask her for you?”
“Better not. That would be far too rude.”
Originally, Gao Sijin had expected his editor to be some greasy middle-aged man; he never imagined she would be a beauty, and one who had managed a major title he loved at that.
“Later, I’ll have to ask Editor Mishima to get me an autograph.”
Inside the editorial office of Dengeki Bunko, nearly every inch was covered in highly concentrated anime posters. These anime characters initially appeared in written form within these very offices, and now they had all become vividly realized figures.
“Oh, that’s Misaka Mikoto, and Kirigaya Kazuto,” Gao Sijin called out the names of the characters one by one as he looked at their posters. “Why is Kousaka Kirino here? I clearly prefer Gokou Ruri…”
For an ACGN-obsessed otaku, the atmosphere here was incredibly rich, and he could casually name every character on the posters.
But then, a sudden sense of disappointment washed over Gao Sijin.
Every single anime character on those posters was a J-Country citizen. There wasn’t a single one from China.
Back home, the anime industry lagged far behind J-Country’s. Although it was slowly developing now, there was still a very long road ahead.
Gao Sijin knew the truth: China’s anime lagged behind not due to a lack of imaginative authors, nor due to falling short in capital or technology. It was a problem of systems and business models. Some so-called anime were even nothing more than money-laundering tools…
“Gao-kun’s characters will also appear on posters like these soon, you know.”
Tsukiyuki Rio murmured softly in Gao Sijin’s ear.
“If Tang Ge, the male lead from my work, could appear here too, then my life would truly be complete.” (Tang Ge was the protagonist inside Gao Sijin’s work.)
“Don’t worry, Gao-kun. As long as I’m here, every single one of your future works will receive an anime adaptation.”
A dream he had held for so long, realized just like that by Tsukiyuki Rio.
Yet, this feeling of his work being pushed onto the stage by money made Gao Sijin feel like he was cheating.
Deep down, he truly wished his work was beloved by editors and readers alike, making them want to adapt it into anime, not just because of cash.
But Gao Sijin was also torn, desperately wishing to see the characters from his pen appear on the screen as soon as possible.
Mishima Kaoru led Gao Sijin and the others to a private, soundproofed office.
“Gao-kun, Editor Mishima says please, have a seat.”
Gao Sijin sat directly opposite Mishima Kaoru, observing the beautiful editor clad in the bunny girl uniform.
The ensuing conversation was conducted primarily between Tsukiyuki Rio and Editor Mishima Kaoru. Yu Qingxue acted as translator throughout, providing Gao Sijin with a real-time translation of their dialogue.
In summary, Editor Mishima highly praised Gao Sijin’s work, stating it was far more brilliant than the writing of many established masters in the industry. Other topics discussed were merely sales forecasts and analyses of the current market.
“This green tea is really good…”
Gao Sijin sipped leisurely at the green tea Editor Mishima had brewed for him.
He felt like his presence here today had been entirely pointless. Honestly, if he could have heard some sharp, critical opinions of his work from the editor, it would have made the trip worthwhile.
Perhaps it wasn’t that the editor wouldn’t offer sharp critiques, but that she fundamentally couldn’t bring herself to.
Gao Sijin glanced at Tsukiyuki Rio. With her, he suspected she’d definitely use her financial power to threaten the editors.
“Gao-kun,” Tsukiyuki Rio stood up and spoke again, “tomorrow we can start picking an illustrator for you!”
“Illustrator?”
“You know, those illustrations in the light novel tankobon? If everyone else has them, naturally Gao-kun must have them too. And not just have them, they have to be better than everyone else’s.”
Tsukiyuki Rio smiled and looped her arm through Gao Sijin’s once more.
Editor Mishima stood up to personally see them off, but in the end, Gao Sijin didn’t even manage to get her contact information.
Though, on second thought, Tsukiyuki Rio probably wouldn’t allow him to make contact with the outside world anyway.
