Manga Artist Versus Illustrator

About a week after Kaiko Mikuniyama met Itsuki, Toki arrived at his apartment with the rough draft of chapter 1 of the All About My Little Sister manga. Colloquially referred to as the “name” in Japanese, this draft provided the framework for the comic, similar to a plot outline for a novel; in adaptation projects like these, the original novelist usually did their checking with this draft, looking over the story flow and dialogue.

“…Here’s the draft for chapter one.”

“Whoa! Finally! I’ve been waiting for this!”

Itsuki practically burst into paroxysms of joy as he accepted the printed-out stack of paper and began to read…failing to notice the rather taut expression on Toki’s face.

Every manga artist has a different approach to how detailed their “name” drafts are (schedule lengths are another factor). Some of them are little more than the bare minimum of word balloons and panel layouts, while others are detailed enough to almost be submittable as is. Kaiko’s draft was firmly in the latter camp, easily publishable in its current format. It was already even higher quality than what new artists usually submitted to competitions, showing just how enthusiastic she was for this project.

“Whoa… Man oh man! She sure didn’t let me down…”

Volume 1 of Itsuki’s novel took approximately twenty pages to establish the main protagonists’ traits and the story setting. Here, with a few changes in the dialogue and structure, Kaiko had done the same thing in several pages of vivid, fluid comic art.

“Right…”

With a nervous swallow, Itsuki turned to the next page. Now the manga was tackling the first major event of the story, where Ichika is struck by an attack of carnal desire while in the shower, and her elder brother Kazuma must give her his own blood to stop it. This wasn’t just fan service—it represented how All About would grow and thrive as the immoral, silly rom-com that it was. It was illustrated with a color spread at the front of the Volume 1 novel, and Hoshiimo’s wonderfully obscene depiction of the moment was vividly burned into the minds of its viewers, Itsuki included. It wouldn’t be going too far to say that the manga’s approach to this scene would be the make-or-break for it, the first demonstration of what this thing was truly made of.

But I’m sure Kaiko did a great job, Itsuki thought, the expectation swelling in his mind (along with the tiniest sliver of trepidation) as he turned the page.

“………………………………………………………………Huh?”

And when Itsuki laid eyes upon Ichika, drawn proudly across the entire page, his pupils shrank to two little pixels of shock.

It made no sense. The face—its expression—was exquisitely done. He could practically hear her pained groaning, her seductive panting, in his ears. Her pale bare shoulders, arms, and thighs were nothing less than works of art. Every strand of dampened hair, every splash from the shower, every droplet coursing down her body, was drawn right in. The quality was amazing, easily good enough to use as a novel-insert illustration.

But.

However.

For some reason…

This Ichika was wearing underwear.

“Huhhhhhhhhhhhh?!”

Itsuki brought the draft page right up to his face, boring holes in it with his eyes, but it was no mirage. Once he realized it, he couldn’t help but physically yelp in consternation.

The lingerie Ichika had on—every wrinkle, every shadow, even the intricate embroidery on it—was drawn elegantly and without compromise. Even in black and white, they shone in their realer-than-real presence, boasting overwhelming amounts of texture, realness, and allure. They were the best damn bra-and-panties set in the history of manga. One look at it, and you could tell the artist’s passion for comic art wasn’t just lip service.

But, of course, Ichika was nude in the novel version. She’d kind of have to be; she was taking a shower at the time. In fact, whenever she was struck with an irresistible jolt of horniness in the novels—on top of the roof at school, in the gymnasium, in a cave, atop a snowy mountain—she was always completely naked.

That was why they called it fan service. Nudity was part of the definition. That was the absolute, ironclad rule for All About My Little Sister, for all of Itsuki Hashima’s work.

“And, she, you, this, you, this…you… This is bullshit!!”

Toki had to hurriedly step in to keep the enraged Itsuki from ripping the page apart.

“Whoa, chill out, Itsuki!”

“Fugginsshit!”

“Get ahold of yourself! Okay? Don’t worry… Everything’s gonna be okay…”

“Hahh…hahh…hahh…”

“…There you go… It’s okay, just keep it together… Keep it together…”

“Hahh…………phew…”

Itsuki, recomposed but now drained of strength, tossed the entire draft chapter on the table. His suspicious eyes turned to Toki.

“………So what’s this about…?”

“…I was just as shocked as you when I saw it,” came the awkward answer. “I asked Mr. Tokuyama at Gifted about it, and…I guess, um, Mikuniyama… She’s got a huge underwear fetish.”

“An—an underwear fetish…?”

The term “underwear fetish” seemed impossible to mesh with the heartwarming, squeaky-clean image Kaiko put forth in person. Itsuki didn’t know how to react.

“Yeah. She’s obsessed with drawing stuff like this, so she wound up drawing ’em in even with the nude scenes.”

“What do you mean, she ‘wound up’ drawing them?! Then have her fix it!”

“…Look,” Toki began with a scowl, “apparently, she loves panties and stuff so much, the whole reason she became a manga artist was so she could draw more of it. If we ban her from drawing panties, it’s definitely gonna affect her motivation in a bad way. So the Gifted editorial team made us a proposal, like…if the original creator’s okay with it, we could continue having her go with panties and stuff for the fan service scenes.”

“Is this a joke?! Hell no I’m not okay with that! If she wants to draw panties that bad, have her do it in her own manga! The fan service in my series is all about stripping down, man! That’s the rule!” Itsuki told him point-blank.

“…Well, worst-case scenario, that could mean Ms. Mikuniyama has to depart the project, but are you okay with that?”

“Mngh…” Itsuki couldn’t reply.

“She loves your work from the bottom of her heart. That’s a fact.”

“…Yeah. I can tell that from the manga.”

“I frankly doubt we’d find anyone better able to depict the world of All About in manga form than her.”

“…Yeah. I don’t know anybody else who understands my work that much…who loves little sisters that much…”

But.

Itsuki’s face was racked with pain.

“But…I want to see her nude… I want to see Ichika in the manga without a stitch of clothing on her…”

They went back and forth a while longer on this before Itsuki made his decision:

“…Let’s start by talking with Kaiko one more time.”

They hastily arranged a meeting between novelist and manga artist for the next day at Itsuki’s place.

Itsuki and Toki sat at one end of the table, Kaiko and Tokuyama at the other, all four of them stone-faced. The rough draft of chapter one was haphazardly laid out on the tabletop.

“Um…Kaiko?”

“Y-yes?” Kaiko immediately replied, gauging Itsuki’s slightly tensed voice as her own trembled with anxiety.

Itsuki picked up the draft and opened it up to the problem area—Ichika taking a shower in her undergarments.

“…Could you explain to me why Ichika isn’t naked in this scene?”

“It’s just as I said to my editor. I love panties. So I drew them.”

“Well, don’t!” Itsuki’s voice quickly grew ragged at the total lack of regret in Kaiko’s answer. “Didn’t you like my novels? If you like them, why are you butchering the parts that make them good?”

Kaiko twitched an eyebrow. “…I do love your work, Mr. Hashima. But, if I may say so, there is one aspect of it that I find disappointing.”

“Disappointing? …Wait…”

“Yes,” Kaiko said, eyes fixated upon Itsuki. “Why, Mr. Hashima, do you always take these wonderful, darling little sisters and immediately rip all their clothes off? That’s rubbed me the wrong way ever since the beginning. I always want to see more of them wearing lingerie or panties or whatnot, but it’s always full nudity with you, every time… These poor sweet girls! They deserve better. They deserve panties and bras just as cute as they are.”

“Ha! You fool!” Now Itsuki was on the counterattack. “It’s in the heart of any big brother’s mind! He wants to see every crevice, every nook and cranny of his cute little sister! Panties? Nothing more than dumb pieces of cloth! Having such crude, dirty rags in the way of the sheer, divine charm that is the sister’s naked form is the height of stupidity! It’s barbaric, like spitting on heaven itself! A little sister is at her most beautiful only in her most natural of forms! Denying this form—swaddling it in garbage like bras and panties—proves to me that you know nothing of true beauty!”

“G-garbage…? Are you calling this garbage…?”

Kaiko’s body visibly shook as she took in a deep breath.

“Her ‘most natural of forms’?! How is that any different from some wild animal?! A human being becomes a sentient creature only when they gain the modesty to cover themselves in undergarments! Coveting nudity above everything else puts you squarely in the primate family, Mr. Hashima! The most beautiful of women deserve the most beautiful of wardrobes! That is where the pursuit of true beauty lies—for your little sisters, and for all else who walk upon the earth!”

“Quit being stupid! The truly beautiful are beautiful by their own merit! You don’t need to decorate them with superfluous adornments! The nude form is the pinnacle of fashion! You think it’s like being an animal? Well, what’s wrong with that?! The little sister is the most beautiful untamed creature in the world, master of humanity and all other living creatures!”

“The pinnacle of fashion?! I was born in Gunma Prefecture to a family that’s been farming silk since Japan was ruled by the shoguns! Since infancy, I was raised surrounded by beautiful silky-smooth undergarments! And a man-ape like you dares to debate fashion with me?!”

“Well, what a coincidence! I wasn’t about to brag about my family, but my grandfather came from a rich family in Gifu Prefecture that raised fancy koi fish for ponds! I learned all about what beauty is from a tender age, trust me on that! And just as a koi is at its most beautiful when set free to swim around in its natural form, a little sister is at her most beautiful when she’s naked! What you’re doing is like putting clothes on a fish! Nothing more, nothing less!”

“Hah! Gifu? No wonder you have a chimpanzee’s sense of style!”

“Pfft! Gunma? Well, given that Gunma’s full of barbarians who just found civilization half a year ago, no wonder they’re treating underwear like it’s some divine miracle!”

The kindred spirits of just a few days ago were firmly in the past. Now they were using the rudest of terms to berate each other’s beliefs and even dunk on each other’s birthplaces.

Toki stepped in. “…Does it really matter? Whether she’s nude or not…?”

“Yes, it matters!!” the other two shouted at once.

“B-but,” Itsuki’s editor warily protested, “I mean, Ms. Mikuniyama, if this is the type of quality you can consistently produce, then I think our readers will be totally happy either way, nude or not…?”

“You dumbass! I’ve never stripped down my little sisters for the sake of my readers’ happiness! Not even once! My nude scenes aren’t reader fan service! They aren’t even really necessary! I just put them in because I want to see little sisters naked!”

“And that’s something to brag about?!”

“I’m the same as Mr. Hashima,” Kaiko added. “I am not drawing in panties because I think that’s what the readers want. I just can’t help it—I want to see these darling sisters in underwear that’s just as darling. If it weren’t for that, I’d never do anything so reckless as adjusting the novels’ premise.”

“Oh, so you know full well that it’s reckless?!”

Toki sighed. These two creators were of the same mind—and that was exactly why they could never get along.

“Ugh… What should we do about this…?”

That was when the doorbell rang.

“……”

Itsuki silently got up, looking just as peeved as ever, giving a final glare before opening the front door.

“Hey there, sir.”

It was novel illustrator Setsuna Ena, a small kid with an eye-catching hairdo.

“Sorry, we’re busy right now.”

“Aww, really? Well, okay. I’ll see ya later.” He turned to leave, dejected.

“Ah! Wait a second, Puriketsu!!”

It was Toki who hurriedly stopped him. Turning around, Setsuna found the editor standing up from the kotatsu to approach him.

“…I apologize about SILLIES. I just couldn’t do enough for it,” Toki said, bowing.

“Oh, no. It’s fine,” the illustrator replied with a slightly distressed smile. “These things happen, y’know.”

Itsuki immediately read between the lines.

“…So they’re going through with the cancellation of SILLIES?”

“Yup,” Setsuna replied a bit sadly.

SILLIES was a novel series illustrated by Setsuna. The first four volumes in publication were fairly popular, but after Volume 5 was released back in March, sales plummeted. The reason was easy to grasp—the main heroine revealed herself to be a boy in the second half of Volume 4, but the other protagonist didn’t let the gender barrier stop him from hooking up with the hero[ine]. Quite explicitly, it should be noted. The fact that most of Puriketsu’s artwork for the second half prominently featured the hero[ine]’s bare ass probably didn’t help matters.

“Yeah, this is the first series I worked on that got canceled, but boy, it’s kind of a shock, huh…?”

“You shouldn’t feel at fault for it,” Toki said. “None of this would’ve happened if we’d managed to keep Yohei Kitagata under control.”

But Setsuna shook his head. “Nah, y’know, I wasn’t too sure about the whole gender-bender twist, either. But I had some confidence in it, y’know? Like, if I can draw some supersweet asses for the second half, the readers would still dig it, whether it’s a dude’s ass or not…”

“That was exactly how Kitagata defended it to me. Like, ‘If the readers truly love this character, then gender’s nothing more than a tiny detail.’ Which sounded good at the time, but…I dunno. If that series had a decent female audience, that’s one thing, but if you’re writing a sex comedy with a ninety-nine percent male readership, I guess forcing male asses on ’em is a little extreme.”

“Yeah…”

Itsuki had mixed feelings about this, as he observed how much of a letdown it was for Setsuna. He hadn’t heard it directly from Toki’s mouth, but from his observations, he was pretty well convinced that SILLIES was the novel series that was going to be turned into an anime before All About My Little Sister was slotted into its spot. It sucked to hear that Setsuna—his friend, and someone he owed a lot to for his artwork—had a series canceled, but if SILLIES hadn’t fallen like a rock like that, All About wouldn’t be an anime at all. In a way, it was a stroke of luck for Itsuki.

“Well, I’m outta here. I’m gonna go search for that girl again.” With that, Setsuna headed for the door again.

“W-wait a moment!”

It was Kaiko who stopped him, standing up and using a concerned- sounding voice.

“Um, are you the Puriketsu? The illustrator for Genesis Sisters of the New World…?”

“Oh! Yeah?”

“Oh no!” Kaiko’s cheeks turned red, her eyes watery. “I had no idea I’d be meeting the Puriketsu today…!”

Setsuna’s artwork had been heavily praised by professional manga artists and illustrators alike. He had a lot of respect around the scene, and he figured she must be another fan.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry, my name’s Kaiko Mikuniyama and I’m handling the comic version of Mr. Hashima’s All About My Little Sister!”

“Oh, Kaiko, huh? Hey. All About’s getting a manga? Congrats, sir!”

“Thanks,” Itsuki said with a nod before lowering his voice. “…I dunno if this girl’s gonna be the artist yet, though.”

Kaiko let out a low groan.

“Mm? You guys got creative differences?”

Itsuki picked up the problem scene from the draft on the table and handed it to Setsuna.

“Whoa, this is really good… Huh? Wait, isn’t this the…?”

“…This girl put panties on Ichika for her nude scene.”

Setsuna had thought something was off. Now he knew.

“Huhhhhhhhhhhhh?!”

His reaction was exactly the same as Itsuki’s when he first laid eyes upon the page. This time, though, Kaiko was there to be taken to task about it.

“Huhh? Huhhhhh? Like, huhhhhhhhhhhh?! Like, what were you even thinking here?! Why would you do something as terrible as putting panties on a naked lady?! This is, like… Wow, now I know what they mean by raping the original!”

“Exactly.” Itsuki gravely nodded, even as Toki and Tokuyama were both giving him “what are these people talking about” looks. “I knew you’d understand, Setsuna. This monster’s having her way with my novels, and you need to show her the truth!”

Kaiko’s voice trembled. “P-Puriketsu, are you saying you’re a believer in the evil cult of extreme nakedness…? All I wanted to do was give these beautiful girls the beautiful clothing they deserve…”

“You’re crazy, man! I really like this scene in All About! Hoshiimo’s illustration was bursting with sheer ass-power! Why’d you go and put panties on her? I mean, the bra’s one thing, but you gotta have her take the panties off!”

Now Itsuki was startled.

“What’re you talking about?! I don’t need the bra or the panties! I want her fully, completely naked! I won’t accept anything else!”

“A bra only…? What a disgraceful thing to say! I had no idea you were one of those, Puriketsu!”

It was hard to figure out what Kaiko was mad about, exactly. Setsuna ignored it.

“And plus, like, I don’t care if you do that with scenes where Ichika’s facing the reader! But when she’s got her ass front and center, I hope you take those panties off, dude!”

“How—how could I do something so unnatural?! The bra completes the panties, and vice versa! That’s the one true, correct way to make Ichika shine as brightly as possible!”

“What do you know about Ichika[’s ass]?! C’mon, sir! There’s no way you can give the All About manga to someone like this!”

Itsuki seemed ready to instinctively agree with Setsuna, but instead, he just looked at him, conflicted.

“I know. I really want to sever ties…but apart from the nude scenes, I’ve got absolutely no complaints about the All About she draws. It’s wonderful. Nobody’s more qualified for this job than her… Ugh! Why does someone with as much talent as you have to have this ridiculous lingerie fetish…?!”

“And why does someone like you, Mr. Hashima, love the little-sister characters as much I do but still insist on stripping them naked all the time? You’ve let evil conquer your brain…”

But before Itsuki and Kaiko could bicker any further:

“So let me draw it!!”

Setsuna’s declaration came out of nowhere.

“Wh-what are you, crazy? You’ve got other work to—ah.” Toki cut himself off.

“Mm-hmm. Now that SILLIES is done, I got some time in my schedule.”

“Hmm… Setsuna drawing my novel…”

Itsuki gave the proposal the serious consideration it deserved. He had wanted to wait a bit—to grow as an author so he could team up with him again for his “ultimate” novel. But if Setsuna could be the guy adapting his work into manga instead, he’d be a great partner for that, no doubt. The team from Genesis Sisters of the New World (Itsuki’s debut series) coming back together would attract tons of reader buzz, too—it might even convince readers who were just fans of their work to come back for the manga.

“But Setsuna…um, can you draw manga?” Another thought had occurred to Itsuki.

“I’ve never drawn any before,” Setsuna replied, breezily as ever, “but I bet I probably can! I’ve drawn novel illustrations that were all divided up into panels before, so…”

“Mmmm.” Itsuki thought about it for a moment—just a moment. “All right. If you think you can, then let’s go with this.” He turned to Toki and Tokuyama, eyes deadly serious. “I wanna stage a competition between Setsuna…I mean, between Puriketsu and Kaiko. If Kaiko can beat him, then I promise I’ll let her draw panties on naked girls.”

“Um, no, I mean, this is rather sudden…”

“I don’t mind,” Kaiko said, cutting off the flustered Tokuyama as her sharp, willful eyes turned toward Setsuna. “In fact, I insist. Being able to compete with Puriketsu would be an honor for any artist.”

“…You sure? ’Cause I don’t wanna put you out of a job.”

Setsuna sounded serious, for a change. It made Kaiko flinch back a bit—but not enough to relent.

“…I won’t lose this. I promise you.”

Thus, it was decided that Setsuna and Kaiko would hold a manga battle right there in Itsuki’s apartment.

Kaiko had her art materials with her, and while Setsuna generally worked with digital tools, he was just as handy with a mechanical pencil. Each artist was assigned the same controversial scene—the sexy one with a naked Ichika letting her libido run wild. Setsuna would depict her naked, just like the original, while Kaiko would stick with her lingerie look. The judges were Itsuki, Toki, and Tokuyama, with Itsuki allowed to cast two votes as the original creator.

The main thrust here wasn’t who can make the better manga; it was who’d make a better person to adapt the novels. They would be judged not just on their current manga art skills, but on their overall future potential, name-brand value, and so on.

Like Itsuki, the two editors knew full well that (1) if the original had naked chicks, having said chicks be naked in the manga would be the safest bet, and (2) having a known figure like Puriketsu handle the manga instead of a nameless rookie would have merits of its own. In terms of gut feelings, Setsuna enjoyed a substantial advantage—but Setsuna had never drawn All About My Little Sister and was a total amateur at manga. Kaiko, on the other hand, got full marks for her art style and had drawn this scene once already. She was the better manga artist, but was she good enough to make the judges pick her over Setsuna, despite her willful intent to ignore the original? That was the question.

So Setsuna and Kaiko were seated on opposite sides of the table, two blank sheets of paper in front of them. As the two stared each other down, the three judges stood over them to observe.

“Pencils at the ready,” Itsuki said. Setsuna picked up his mechanical pencil, twirling it around his fingertips. Kaiko, meanwhile, took out all her manga stuff—pencil, eraser, G-nib pen, ink, Wite-Out, screen tone, utility knife, and so on.

“I kinda wanted to compete at the sketch level,” Itsuki said. “Are you gonna ink it, too?”

“Yes.” Kaiko nodded, full of drive. “I’m going to cram everything I’ve got into these pages.”

“Yeah, uh, we’ll see about that.” Setsuna laughed, still twirling his pencil around.

“…All right, whatever. Are you two ready?”

“One moment,” Kaiko said—and then, for some reason, she removed the headband from her hair, then plucked the ribbon off it. As Itsuki looked on dubiously, she undid the bow…and gave the rest of the room a shock.

“Wha…?!”

They couldn’t be blamed. The accessory everyone had assumed to be a ribbon was actually a single pair of women’s panties.

“P-panties…?”

“Panties, huh…?”

“Yep. That’s definitely a pair of panties.”

Before the wide-eyed Itsuki and Setsuna, Kaiko gave the underwear a loving caress for good luck, bewitching smile spread across her face.

“You… You’ve been wearing a pair of panties on your head this whole time?!”

“That’s correct.”

“Oh, gross, gross, gross!” Itsuki was reeling.

“How rude of you. What’s so bad about using panties as a ribbon?”

“How could it ever—? Well, hold on, maybe… Hmm? …Maybe it’s not…?”

Kaiko was so matter-of-fact about it that Itsuki wasn’t so sure his common sense was telling him the truth any longer.

“…So,” he sputtered, “so why did you just take it off your head…? Are you using that as a model, or—”

“No. Even without a model, the styles and textures of every type of lingerie known to mankind are alive in my mind.”

Ewww! thought Itsuki. He somehow managed to keep from voicing it.

“…Um, so what are those for?” he finally asked, fearing it’d be something even worse than he could imagine.

*   *   *

“…From this moment forward, I, Kaiko Mikuniyama, will reach out and attain manga divinity.”

And with those resolute words, Kaiko put the panties on. Like a wrestling mask.

““““Whaaaaaaaaaaa?!””””

Faced with this act straight out of Hentai Kamen or maybe Blue Snow from Shimoneta, Itsuki, Setsuna, Toki, and Tokuyama all screamed in surprise.

Kaiko pointed the tip of of her mechanical pencil at Setsuna, like a knight challenging their opponent to a duel. “…Let us begin,” she said, her voice clear as the morning sun.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What’s that for?!” Itsuki frantically interjected.

“This is the uniform I wear when drawing my manga. What is the issue?”

“Your—your uniform…?”

Itsuki could feel Kaiko’s sharpened eyes drill into him as he searched for the words. He knew a lot of people who changed into work clothes or tracksuits or whatnot before sitting down at the writing desk, to help them mentally switch gears. He even heard stories about manga artists who went with gothic Lolita fashion, or bondage gear, or even cosplay of their own characters. And considering Nayuta Kani was so off-kilter that she couldn’t write a word without going completely naked, the concept of a prim young woman wearing panties over her head all day then unrolling them down her face when at work wasn’t so weird. Probably. Maybe? Perhaps. Itsuki made a very deliberate choice to think so.

“Um, well, all right… Are you ready now?”

“No issues here.”

“Yep. No way I’ll let this perv beat me,” the now-calm Setsuna said.

“All right. Ready… Go.”

At Itsuki’s signal, Kaiko’s and Setsuna’s pencils immediately began to dance on the paper. This was a do-over of sorts for Kaiko, but there wasn’t a moment of hesitation or indecision in Setsuna’s strokes. Itsuki was happy to see that—Setsuna wasn’t just being kind to him; he really did like his work. Getting to partner with him again would be awesome.

Seeing this boyish-looking guy with the fancy dyed hair compete head-to-head with a girl whose face was covered in panties was downright surreal at first glance, but both artists’ eyes were both brimming with competitive spirit as they focused on their sheets. It put him at the edge of his seat.

They were both undoubtedly geniuses in their own ways, and nobody else wanted to bother them for now. Itsuki left the kotatsu to write at his desk while the two editors flipped up their notebook PCs and attended to their e-mails.

Two hours passed.

“Yes! I got the rough done!”

Setsuna was the first to shout out, three pages’ worth of manga in front of him. It was sketchy, of course, being done with nothing but pencils, but it still exhibited the full force of Setsuna’s skills in expression. Just one glance at it was enough to take your breath away.

“Whoa…”

Picking the sheets up, Itsuki felt excitement shoot up and down his body. There was Ichika in all her unbound glory, cute but still utterly depraved. He wished he could just plunge into that page and cling to her, right then and there.

“Whew… Man, your nudes are just incredible…”

Setsuna wiped the sweat from his brow as high praise slipped from Itsuki’s mouth.

“Heh-heh… But what about you, Kaiko?”

He tossed a doubtful glance across the table.

She had drawn a total of five pages. The pencils were all done, and once again, they were easily magazine-publishable quality. She had even finished inking page one, and her G-nib pen was busily wrapping up the next one. Her attention was focused solely on the page in front of her; she hadn’t even noticed Setsuna was done. Her breathing was ragged through the mask, causing her to make little rhythmic “fwssh, fwssh” sounds through the fabric. It must’ve been hot under those panties, because her face looked almost worryingly flushed.

“…Man, talk about concentration,” an impressed Setsuna muttered as he picked up page one of her work, Itsuki leaning in for a glance.

““Huh…?!””

They both yelped out loud at once. It depicted Kazuma realizing the sex-crazed Ichika was in danger and leaping into the shower room. She was naked in the original and tastefully clothed in lingerie in Kaiko’s first take. This time, though, Ichika had a school uniform on, her bra poking out from underneath her damp white shirt. A pair of white panties was just barely visible from the bottom of her upturned skirt.

“She… She’s exposing even less…?”

Transforming a nude scene into a lingerie tease had almost cost her the job, and now Kaiko had gone and thrown a second layer on her. It made no sense at all.

Confused, Itsuki turned toward the page Kaiko was inking presently. It depicted Kazuma scrambling to help the pained Ichika, dutifully undoing each button on her shirt, the bra underneath gradually becoming visible down to the most minute, intricate detail. She took up an entire page with that alone.

He picked up the other three penciled pages from the floor. Ichika, overcome with lust, was now advancing upon Kazuma, her half-unbuttoned shirt revealing yet more of her, her skirt pulled down just a bit so you could see the upper rim of her panties—every possible detail drawn into the lace and so on, as usual.

On page four, she still had the shirt sleeves on, but the bra was almost entirely visible. The skirt was still further down her legs now, exposing the panties halfway to the world. Finally, page five had Ichika’s shirt completely off, skirt on the shower-room floor; she was now back to the state Kaiko had drawn her in the first round. She was lewd, lustful, violent, beautiful as she lapped up the blood running down the back of Kazuma’s neck, peace and tranquility slowly but surely returning to her countenance…

After reading it, Itsuki took an astonished step back. Right now, he realized, I was just completely enthralled by this manga. I spent all that time and effort writing that nude scene, and she went and gave her an entire outfit for it—but look how it turned out! As much as he hated to admit it, the sight of Ichika gradually disrobing, gradually revealing what lay underneath, made even a nude-or-nothing guy like him excited.

He wanted to see more. He wanted more of that bra and panties. Like a starving beast, he wolfed down the comic pages, all but begging for more. This wasn’t a single illustration, like what light novels generally had. This was manga, a series of artwork connected by a common thread, and it had just told the tale of a hapless set of undergarments. And it enthralled him!

“…What do you think?”

Itsuki, staring at the pages on all fours like some barnyard animal, was brought back to reality by Kaiko’s voice from above. He stood up, embarrassed, and turned toward her.

“Lemme see that one sec,” Setsuna said as he took the pages away, a grim look on his face. “…Huh. Yeah, that’s another way to draw it…” The joy and frustration were written all over his whispered praise. “Um, sir? I don’t think we have to wait for Kaiko to finish inking, do we?”

Kaiko raised an eyebrow. “You mean…?”

“Like…just say it, sir.” Setsuna sounded like someone had just deflated the air from his tires. “What do you think of this manga?”

“…Ahh… Well…how to put it………?”

Then, all at once, in the most uncomfortable way possible:

“…………It made me think, y’know, maybe lingerie’s better than I thought.”

Kaiko’s manga had just physically excited a sworn acolyte to the naked female form. The world is full of superb, exquisite, engaging works of art, but how many of those works have the power to change the very way its readers view the world? Even if that epiphany was along the lines of “I used to like nude chicks, but I’ll totally start faving panty shots, too!” Itsuki had just been granted a brand-new outlook on life.

Setsuna’s manga was great, too. Moving, even. But it was overwrought in areas, from the panels’ pacing to the way he used dialogue, and it wasn’t actually all that complete a manga package. It was basically Puriketsu the illustrator trying to cram his immense artistic talent into the manga format. He was such a great artist, and the art remained great in this manga. Maybe they could hire someone else to do layouts for the manga run until he got more used to the genre. But as Itsuki judged it, Setsuna’s talents were best utilized when he could focus wholly on illustration.

And Setsuna himself seemed to agree. He flashed them a smile, already resigned to his fate.

“Whew… Well, you ready for the judgment?”

“I’m as ready as ever.” Kaiko nodded.

In the end, the vote between Itsuki, Toki, and Tokuyama was unanimous. Kaiko swept it.

“Thank you so much!” she half shouted, beaming as she practically ripped the panties off her head, sending beads of sweat flying into the air.

“I can’t wait to begin working with you, Mr. Hashima!”

Holding the sweat-soaked panties like a valuable treasure, she gave a polite bow to Itsuki.