26 Chapter 26
Right after we arrived home, I can feel the vibration from my phone, noticing that someone is calling. When I take a look, I can see Yoshida-san's name on my phone, and suddenly I remember that today is the day Tezuka Award's result was announced. So I replied to the call quickly to hear what Yoshida-san would say.
"Good evening, Yoshida-san. How can I help you?" But the only answer I get was Yoshida-san's pants as he shouted,
"Congratulation, Hiroyuki-sensei! You are the winner of the Tezuka Award this edition!" This get me surprised, but quickly changed into a wide smile.
"Really? Thank you for the information!"
"I will send the survey result and the comment from the judges to your fax. The prize will be sent to your bank account. Also, you need to write 150 characters comment for Jump's next edition about your win."
"How about, 'Thank you for all of your support. I hope you will support my creation in the future.'?"
"That is a good one. I will send you the detail tomorrow. Once again, congratulation Hiroyuki-sensei!"
"Thank you." I closed the call with a smile that makes Kiyoko look at me strangely and asks,
"What happened?"
"What do you mean 'what happened?"
"Well, your smile is creepy, and your mood is far better than usual. And that was right after the call you received, so I doubt it is about the quintuplets. So, what happened?" I chuckled at what she said.
"Well, if you really want to know, the manga I created won the first prize of the Tezuka Award." Kiyoko looked at me surprised, and then shared my widened smile.
"Congratulations! I knew right after I read your manga that if it didn't win it would be a crime!"
"Really? You have never said a single word about Bakemono no Ko after you read it. What do you think?" Now I cannot help but feel curious. After thinking for a moment, Kiyoko replied,
"I don't know about the drawing, but the detail of the story is very good. You create a family-genre manga without leaving the drama and the action behind. In fact, the action and drama within your manga really make the bond between each character as a family stand out in a unique way. And you using the second-best fighter, not the best, as the main character's mentor and father figure is also unusual but really welcomed one. In all honestly, your manga really deserves the first spot."
"Wow, thank you. I don't know that you are thinking of me that high." I replied with a dumbfounded expression. But it quickly changed into a mischievous one while added, "So, after praising me that high, what do you want me to buy for you?" She blushed and slapped my back as I laughed out loud.
"You can order anything you like for dinner. Let's celebrate it tonight!" Kiyoko's eyes shine at me saying she can order anything. We spent the rest of the night with a large pizza and strawberry milkshakes as dinner, with a cheerful laugh that can be heard from the neighborhood.
I smile as I looked at Kiyoko's smile while thinking inwardly, 'Thank God, it is a good life.'
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Third person PoV
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The next day, almost all of the conventional stores that sell manga were filled with a crowd who want to know the result of the Tezuka Award. There are a lot of debates about who won the award, Bakemono no Ko by Hiroyuki Hori or Large Bander by Eiji Niizuma. A lot of people think that Bakemono no Ko will win the award, but the people who want Eiji Niizuma to win are also not a few.
The reason why they want Niizuma to win the award is that his manga has better action, more suitable for shounen's age, and they also want a high schooler to win the award as proof that everyone can win no matter how old they are. And two of the people who really want Niizuma to win because of the final reason are Akito Takagi and Mashiro Moritaka, the future Ashirogi Muto and the main character of Bakuman.
"Who do you think will win the award, Saikou?" Takagi asked his partner.
"It is hard to decide. While Niizuma has better action scenes, the quality of Hiroyuki's battle is not that far from Niizuma. Besides, Hiroyuki is clearly better at the storytelling part and how he draws the emotion of his character. You said it yourself, you cried when you read Bakemono no Ko. It definitely shows his quality as a mangaka.
If the winner is based on the judges only, I will bet that Hiroyuki will win. But the survey is a different matter. I bet there are a lot of people like us who voted for Niizuma because we want a student to win this award, not because of his manga."
After hearing Mashiro's thoughts, Takagi sighed deeply and muttered lowly, "It will be hard to compete with them in the future." Which resulted in a slap on his back.
"Don't be pessimistic, Shuujin. Think of it from a different angle. We are the same age as Niizuma, and only four years younger than this Hiroyuki. If they can win Tezuka Award at their age, why can't we do something greater? We want to have anime adaptation at the age of 18, right?" This made Takagi straighten his posture.
"You are right! We will definitely be better than Hiroyuki and Niizuma. For now, let's learn from their manga."
After they brought the manga from the convenience store, they sighed when they read the winner of the Tezuka Award.
"As you said, Hiroyuki is the winner."
"It is not that hard to guess. But look at Oda-sensei's comment about Bakemono no Ko." Takagi turned his attention to the part that Mashiro mentioned and bulged his eyes at the comment from Oda-sensei.
"This is so good that it will surprise me if no director wants to make the anime movie adaptation from this story – Eichiro Oda"
"Wait, seriously?! Getting that comment from Oda-sensei will definitely make it easier for Hiroyuki's future manga to get the adaptation. Hell, many directors will fight for this Bakemono no Ko because of what Oda-sensei said." Takagi said, clearly dumbfounded at what he read. Meanwhile, Mashiro gripped the manga hard with a hint of jealousy coming from his eyes.
'They might win today, but I will be far better than the two of them in the future. This is a promise.'
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Back to Hiroyuki PoV
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This morning turned out to be noisier than I expected. A lot of people keep calling me asking if it was really me who draw the manga and congratulating me. Hell, even Nekomata-sensei is calling me, and that is really weird. But what really surprised me is the presence of Oikawa in my home.
"So, what are you doing here?" I asked while making two cups of coffee for us.
"Can I just say congratulation on winning the first prize in the Award?"
"So, you want me to believe you come here while skipping your class, just to congratulate me? I don't think I am that important to you." I raised my eyebrow slightly, unimpressed by his obvious lie. Then, he took a deep breath and said,
"Well, I have wanted to have a conversation with you for a long time, so I decided to come here today as I also want to congratulate you." He stopped talking for a while before asking,
"Senpai, what do you think about my chance of being a professional volleyball player?"
"You want to be professional?" I asked, and while I know from the manga that he will become a professional in the future, what surprised me is that he talked it to me out of all people.
"Yeah. I mean, I know I am a good setter. But seeing as I have never defeated Shiratorizawa, I don't know how I can compare myself with other setters from the national team. I also thought about going abroad, and I had wanted to play in Argentina since I saw Jose Blanco when I was a child. But back to the first problem, I don't know how to compare my abilities with other setters in the world. So, what do you think?"
I thought for about fifteen minutes before giving him what it is in my head right now,
"First, I will say that among all the other setters from the national team, if all of you join the professional in Japan right now, you will be a standard player among the others. Not a bad player, but definitely not a good one." Oikawa bowed his head at that.
"And if you want to go abroad right after you graduated, I can say that even the bench players will be better than you." I raised my hand to stop his protest,
"But what I want to hear right now is, have you talked to your parents about it and gotten their approval?" This time, Oikawa looked unsure before replying,
"I want to hide it from my parents for now, because I know they will not agree with my career choice. I will tell them when I have the professional contract or I will not tell them about it forever."
"Then, do you have enough money in your saving?"
"For what?" I can see the confused look in his eyes so I decided to explain it to him.
"Let me tell you something, Oikawa. Being a professional is not easy, and it is definitely not cheap." I sighed at his blank face. 'It will be a long day.' I muttered.
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Author Note:
Didn't want to discourage you who want to be professional, but I can tell you that it is not cheap and the chance of being a successful one is not that great. So if you really want to be professional in sports, you better work hard and pray, because sometimes you will need all the luck you can get.
You can also read:
- Transmigrated Into Anime World as Kiyoko Shimizu's Older Brother up to chapter 33
- Naruto: Ashigaru up to chapter 04, my new fanfiction that I will start posting it at the beginning of October.
I want to add more chapters to my Patreon account so you can read up to 10 chapters. But I still don't have that many chapters, so I just added them little by little. Hopefully, by the end of the week, you can read up to 10 chapters when you become a member. Thank you!
You can read all of it at my Patreon account, pat_reon.com/zwolf1 (Without '_') Thank you for your support! :)
