Warner-Pioneer Investment's training room is located in an old building near JR Ebisu Station in Shibuya District.
In the training room manager's office, Kaito glanced at the slightly fat man sitting on the sofa, then turned to Asako and asked, "Asako-san, has this place become a shelter for losers?"
The slightly plump man is called Shota Yoshioka, he is 35 years old this year. He used to be the agent of Kaito. The two had a very good relationship. He resigned for personal reasons a few years ago. Today, Kaito came to report to Asako and found that Shota Yoshioka also came here to work, so he deliberately teased him.
"You little brat, what does that look mean? Please don't take me with you!" said Yoshioka dissatisfiedly.
"Isn't Yoshioka-san a loser? Or have you forgotten that you were once my agent?"
"Does being Kaito-san's manager make you a loser?"
"Don't you need to take responsibility for my failed idol career, manager-san?"
"Shouldn't we blame President Tanaka for the failed business?"
"Yukio-san has already apologized by disbanding the agency, so how are you going to apologize to me, Yoshioka-san?"
"Wasn't it because of Kaito-san's performance accident that the agency was disbanded?"
Hearing what Yoshioka said, Kaito pretended to be confused and said, "Is that so?"
"Stop playing dumb..."
Next to them, Asako, who always had a serious expression, was amused by the two people's deliberate bickering.
Before, she said that Kaito would come to teach, and Yoshioka was worried that Kaito would not be able to adapt to the change of identity from idol to office worker, and was thinking about how to counsel him, but when they met, they started bickering.
Yoshioka is still the same as before. He obviously cares about Kaito, but he is stubborn and hypocritical.
Thinking of this, Asako couldn't help but say, "You two have a really good relationship."
Upon hearing this, Yoshioka immediately retorted, "Who would be on good terms with a rude brat? I strongly request that the brat be sent to distribute flyers."
Asako agreed, "If we hand out flyers, Kaito-san is so handsome, he should be able to attract a lot of female students."
"Are you really going to let me distribute flyers, Asako-san? That would take me further away from my dream." Kaito acted terrified.
"Then may I ask, what is Mr. Kaito's dream?" Yoshioka picked up a magazine, rolled it up, and pretended to interview with a microphone.
"To make a lot of money, of course!"
"What a cheesy dream. Here's an opportunity to make money. Here, take it."
As Yoshioka said this, he threw the magazine he was using as a pretend microphone to Kaito.
Kaito picked it up and found that it was a magazine published a week ago, called "Bunyun Post". There was a very eye-catching subtitle on the cover of the magazine, "The First Shogakukan Picture Book Competition, Prize Money of One Million Yen!"
"Picture book competition sounds great."
Flipping open the magazine and coming to the page that detailed the picture book competition, Kaito read it carefully.
Yoshioka next to him just said it casually, but he didn't expect Kaito to be really interested. He couldn't help but ask, "You really want to submit it, right?"
"Is it not possible? If you win the grand prize, you'll get 300,000 yen."
Kaito has roughly read the introduction of the competition. The one million yen in the title is actually the total prize money, which will be distributed according to the awards. The largest prize is 300,000 yen.
However, in addition to the prize money, even works that only receive a small prize can be published and distributed with the help of the organizer, Shogakukan Co., Ltd., and this is the key point.
"Mr. Kaito can draw?" asked Yoshioka.
"I learned it for a while when I was a kid."
He did learn it when he was a child, but his level was not very good. However, it was just an excuse. The real picture book was drawn by relying on the skills from his previous life.
"If you're interested, you can give it a try, but please don't talk about painting until later. I need to take Kaito-san to get familiar with the work."
Asako finally did not forget the important matter.
"I was so busy chatting with Yoshioka-san that I almost forgot I came to work." Although Kaito had ideas about the picture book competition, this was not the time to consider it.
"I have to go to class too." Yoshioka also stood up and prepared to leave.
Kaito pretended to be surprised and asked, "There are also agent courses in the training room?"
"Yoshioka-san is in charge of piano and guitar lessons," Asako explained.
"Hey, it turns out Yoshioka-san is so talented. If I had known earlier that I would form a band with Yoshioka-san, I might have become famous."
"Of course, I formed an underground band when I was in college and even served as a backing musician for the Southern All Stars, who didn't make their debut yet." Yoshioka looked proud.
"Hey, could it be that Kuwata Keisuke himself doesn't know about this?" Kaito said with a smirk.
"You little brat!" Yoshioka made a gesture to hit him.
"Let me see where the dance studio is first..." Kaito ran away before he got hit.
Looking at Kaito's back, Yoshioka sighed, "I heard from Mr. Tanaka that Kaito became more cheerful after the performance accident. It seems to be true. He was always gloomy before, which made people worried."
"Maybe if the dream is completely shattered, the pressure will also disappear," Asako said softly.
…
After getting to know the training room, Kaito found that working here was quite easy. It was all basic introductory teaching and there were not many classes every day.
Of course, if you want to earn more, you have to take the initiative to apply for lessons. After all, in addition to a fixed salary, you also get lesson bonuses.
Although the training room was invested by Warner Pioneer, in addition to helping Warner Pioneer train singers, it also accepts external students. Otherwise, Warner Pioneer would not be able to operate the room with the limited number of people it has.
After getting familiar with the work, a week had passed before he knew it.
In an apartment in Shibuya Honmachi, Kaito sat in front of a drawing board, surrounded by discarded manuscript papers and empty paint tubes. The messy scene and his tired and dazed state showed that he had obviously been busy for a long time without rest.
The reason for this was because of the picture book competition in the magazine. He was really interested when he saw it that day.
Of course, he wanted the prize money after winning the award, but what he valued more was the promise of publication and distribution.
In Japan today, writers have a very high social status, and once they become famous, it is a very lucrative profession, so naturally, it is not easy for them to make their debut.
Although picture books are also reading materials that mainly use pictures and are supplemented by text, they are completely different from comics.
Because picture books focus more on literary and artistic qualities, as well as their educational significance to children, they are recognized as literary works.
Even in the entire literary world, picture books have a higher status than most traditional reading materials and can compete for many major awards, such as the International Hans Christian Andersen Award, which is far beyond the reach of commercial comics.
Therefore, even among the group of writers, picture book writers are of very high status.
Therefore, the picture book competition is undoubtedly the best stepping stone to becoming a writer.
In addition, the Japanese picture book market has been cultivated since the 1950s and 1960s and is now quite mature. Picture book writers can get started and their commercial income can be guaranteed.
He started working right away, thinking that the deadline was still early, so he copied what he remembered and was able to draw a picture book easily.
But after he started, he found that it was not as easy as he had imagined. Either the color was wrong or the text on the picture was wrong. With only two days left before the deadline, the work was not completed yet. He had no choice but to ask Asako for leave to go home and concentrate on the creation.
"It's finally over!"
After finishing the last stroke of his work, Kaito, who had not slept for two days and one night, had no time to rest. He packed up his picture book and rushed out of the apartment with a haggard face.
Today is the deadline, and it's almost noon. If I don't hurry up and submit my manuscript, my chance to make my debut as a writer will only be a dream.