I just want to quietly draw manga Chapter 342(2in1)

At the izakaya near Evermark Production, the table was covered with empty plates and half-finished cups of sake. A server squeezed past them with a tray balanced on his shoulder, muttering quick apologies without stopping. The counter grill hissed quietly, filling the air with the scent of soy and smoke.

“To the success of Code Geass,” Kazuya said, raising his glass.

“To the success of Code Geass,” the others, Haruki, Wes, Masafumi, and David, repeated, tapping their glasses lightly before drinking.

They had already been there for almost two hours.

Masafumi leaned back after eating the final bite. “So, how are you handling all the attention, Kazuya?”

Kazuya rubbed the back of his neck. “When Haruki first came to me all excited and said he wanted to make an anime that looked like it was made 30 years in the future, his ambition really fired me up too. But when we made the first demo, we said it wouldn’t work unless we brought in more talented people. And then it kept getting bigger and bigger as we invited all of you.

“At that time, I doubted everything. I wondered how I could control the production quality and whether this would even succeed. I was already stressed after episode one and worried about episode two. So many talented artists joined… I thought I was holding them back. I even wondered if someone else should direct. But I knew if I wanted to grow, to reach your level, I had to go through this. Now… after six months of pressure, the attention feels rewarding.”

Masafumi said, “Don’t sell yourself short. You’re just as talented as anyone in the room. You just need time. Now I think you’ll be able to handle any work. You just need one or two more projects. And Haruki being on your side, you won’t run out of good work. Which reminds me, I saw recently that with his work, his publishing finally established their position at number 3. They’ve been fighting for that for 10 years. He really does too much.”

Kazuya nodded. “Haruki is a once-in-a-century type of talent. But I fear he might be doing too much work. I’ve had to remind him many times to take it easy. You have your life ahead to tell stories to the world, but he always says he has too little time and too many stories to tell.”

As he looked toward Haruki, Wes and Haruki were talking.

Haruki, working with Masafumi when recording music, had also picked up a few things. But after that, when he started working around Wes, it seemed like they spent too much time together, like teacher and student. And Wes hadn’t been shy about teaching Haruki all his knowledge.

Haruki took another sip of his drink. He wasn’t dizzy; his tolerance was better now. Before, he would get drunk after just two or three bottles of light beer. Tonight he had drunk something much stronger and was only slightly tipsy. All this he built up through official parties and making toasts. Otherwise, he never drank alone.

“So,” Wes asked, “now we’ve finished making the anime, what do you think of the final product? The complete Code Geass. Did it match the imagination inside your head, or did we mess it up somewhere?”

Haruki looked at him. “It exceeded it. I’d have to redraw and rework a lot more scenes, especially after the conscious motion we added. And with the new technique, it fit Code Geass so smoothly. The final two episodes especially… those went in a direction I hadn’t pictured at all, and that turned out better than what I expected.”
He thought, His earlier work in anime, he could say he copy-pasted directly from the system, but with this, he could definitely say he co-wrote it and animated it.

Wes leaned back, remembering their work on those episodes. When he first joined, Haruki had everything mapped out and rarely needed to redraw key frames. That’s the kind of thing you only hone after making anime for more than 30 years. Still, you always have to redraw some key frames. Haruki had a solid grasp on it, and when Wes brought in his new technique, which completely broke Haruki’s key frame plan for the last episodes, Haruki still started picking it up quickly.

He had the talent for making anime, so Wes decided to teach him whatever he wanted to learn.

What he didn’t know was that Haruki was also drawing manga… two series at the same time. Wes had picked up JoJo and FAMB to see how Haruki handled the manga. The art styles being so different and drawing them simultaneously… it showed how flexible he was. Many people don’t realize how hard it is. Even copying one drawing style and copying another at the same time, you need to be very flexible. And Haruki finding the art style that fits the story told him everything — he was very talented and had the drive to learn.

Wes asked, “So have you decided on your first anime after Code Geass finishes?”

Haruki said, “I thought I’d need more time before I could make an anime, need to work more on animation. But I think after we finish Code Geass, I’ll be ready. And after working on Geass, I realized how satisfying it is when something turns out better than what you imagined. So I want to do that for the anime I make from now on.”

Wes nodded, satisfied. “That’s how animators think. You always have to push past your limit.”

Wes asked, “You still haven’t given me your answer. What anime will you be making?”

Haruki had the perfect work in mind. “It’s a surprise. I’ll tell you after we finish making Code Geass.”

Across the table, David was quietly sipping wine. He never liked sake much. He kept watching them talk.

As they started getting ready to leave, Kazuya said, “Next week, we’ve got that interview with Anime Direct. All four of us together.”

Haruki was already thinking about what questions about the story would be asked. He hoped there wouldn’t be live questions… how many times could he justify why he had written the emotional scenes? He also noticed a growing fandom online calling themselves ‘Cliffhanger Enjoyers.’ That would definitely come up.

But the silver lining was that all of his interviews would take place before the final episode aired, which was a good thing. After that, he would vanish from the earth until next season came, and he wouldn’t have to answer anything about the last episode.

Wes, Kazuya, and the others looked at Haruki, who had gone quiet. They were enjoying this. They knew that when the interview came, they wouldn’t have to deal with emotional fans; only Haruki would. They enjoyed that part.

Haruki came back from his thoughts, seeing all of them looking smug. They knew exactly what would happen in that interview.

Haruki narrowed his eyes. “Don’t worry. If I go down in that interview, I’m dragging all of you with me.”

Wes quickly said, “We didn’t write the story. You can’t put the blame on us.”

Haruki pointed at him. “I just wrote it. Only words don’t hurt that much. But you guys made the animation, the sound, everything, so the emotions hit harder.”

Wes smirked. “But it was you who gathered us here. So in the end, it’s your fault.”

“Okay, that won’t work. People will still blame me. But I have one advantage: my interviews finish before the final episode airs. So after that, all the questions about the final episode… you guys have to answer.” Now, it was Haruki’s turn to look smug.

They all knew he was right. Haruki’s interviews would end before the season finale, but theirs wouldn’t. The biggest cliffhanger of the whole series was still waiting for them, and none of them would escape the fallout.

Even the fans wouldn’t leave untouched after that episode.

A few seconds later, they all started laughing under their breath, the kind of laugh you make when you already know the suffering ahead but can’t do anything about it.

And with that, they left the restaurant and headed home.

Next day

Haruki woke up with a dull headache. He slowly pushed himself upright, rubbed his face, and muttered, “Guess I don’t have as much alcohol tolerance as I thought.”
He had only drunk two glasses last night.

He dragged himself to the bathroom, splashed cold water on his face, then brushed his teeth. After that, he changed into fresh clothes, walked to the fridge, and grabbed a cold bottle of water.

Now that Code Geass was finished… he actually had nothing to do today.

It was Saturday. His assistants had the day off. Their output had always been faster, and with Haruki drawing rough drafts, they didn’t need to redraw too much, which usually consumed the most time. Now that Fullmetal and JoJo had started drawing, and those series were long ones, they wouldn’t face the issue they did when ending both Natsume and Initial D and ending up drawing four manga at the same time. So they could relax.

Saturday used to be their drawing improvement class with Haruki, but he had stopped it over a month ago. Now he was free. “Maybe I should call them if they’re free so we can start the class back again.”

So he picked up his phone and dialed Noya.

After a few minutes, he learned that Kenta and Noya had gone on a double date, watching a movie and planning to spend the whole day.

Since when did they have girlfriends? …Did they just never mention it?

He called Hayato next. After a short call, he learned Hayato had also gone out with his girlfriend.

Haruki stared at his phone.
Since when did they all get girlfriends and not say anything? Is it because I don’t have one? Do they think I’ll feel left out?

He exhaled and muttered to himself, “I choose to be single by choice, okay? They don’t need to hide it from me.”

With nothing better to do, he turned on the TV and scrolled through shows that aired over the past six months. Too many choices. He couldn’t focus on any.

So he picked up his controller and launched LoL. After a few matches, he stopped. The excitement didn’t hit the same way it used to when he was busy.

He put the controller down and started pacing around the room.
“What to do… what to do… what to do…” he muttered, walking in circles.

Maybe Kotone might need help. I should ask.

Immediately, he called Kotone.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he asked.

The voice came from the other side. “Drawing manga. Not everyone is as efficient as Mr. Cliffhanger who finishes their work early.”

Haruki ignored her remark. “Do you need any help?”

Kotone sighed. “Let me guess, you finished Code Geass, and now you don’t know what to do with your life? I’m right, aren’t I? You don’t even need to answer.”

“Do you need help or not?”

Kotone replied, “If you’re that bored, go to a gym. You never exercise. Mangaka die early all the time from overwork… you’ll end up like that if you keep going like this.”

Haruki said, “I’ll do that after all the promotion interviews are over. I’ve thought about it.”

Kotone paused for a second, then said, “Fine. If you want to draw, come to my place.”

“I’ll come right over,” Haruki said immediately.

He spent the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday at Kotone’s apartment.
She didn’t actually let him draw full pages. She wanted to do every panel herself. She only handed him key parts to sketch, not because she needed help, but so she could see how the panel would look without having to redraw it entirely.

They talked here and there while working, so he wasn’t really bored anymore.