Over the next stretch of days, although Xia Jing still went to school and attended classes as usual, the real focus of his life had clearly shifted to 5 Centimeters per Second, which was about to begin serialization in Sakura Weekly.
Since the magazine's release date was fixed and printing required lead time, he had to finish coloring the five color pages before June. In reality, he had less than a week.
On top of that, there were still some details in the original pages that needed polishing. The workload wasn't huge, but it was extremely tedious. He was basically working late into the night every day.
Strictly speaking, with this kind of weekly serialization intensity, most mangaka would struggle to keep up. Normally, you had to hire at least a few assistants to handle the repetitive, mechanical parts of production.
But unlike other mangaka, Xia Jing didn't need to spend large chunks of time planning storylines and doing name storyboards. He could pour all his working hours directly into drawing final pages.
And ever since his soul fusion, his drawing speed was ridiculously high. With only one series to serialize, having one or two assistants in the room might actually distract him. It could even hurt the quality instead of helping it.
So he turned down Su Mingxi's offer and chose to work alone.
By June 1st, though, he found himself once again at the villa complex where she lived.
When Su Mingxi was at work, he was in class. When he was free on weekends, she was off on her two-day break.
It was obviously impossible for the school to let him constantly take time off for manga stuff. Thankfully, Su Mingxi didn't make a big issue out of it. She simply accepted that anything involving Xia Jing would be handled on her own time after work.
In the villa's living room…
"This is beyond what I imagined," Su Mingxi said, stacking the completed manuscript pages he'd handed over.
"It doesn't look like the work of a newcomer at all."
Hearing her praise Xia Jing again, Su Qingxiao, sitting nearby, looked like her jealousy was about to overflow.
Her sister had never complimented her like that.
Xia Jing, however, just responded modestly. He didn't really count as a true "newcomer"—he'd been a flop for years in his previous life, after all.
"In that case, we'll lock in this finalized version of 5 Centimeters per Second and I'll submit it all at once to the company…" said Su Mingxi.
"You've worked hard these past few days, Xia Jing-sensei."
"Mm. I wanted to ask something," he said.
Seeing that she was satisfied with the final version, he steered the conversation in a different direction.
"5 Centimeters per Second is only running for five weeks, right?"
"That's right," she nodded.
"Then once it finishes, that open slot in the lineup… would I be allowed to create a new manga to compete for it?" he asked.
The room fell silent.
"Open slot?" she repeated, turning to look at him.
Even Su Qingxiao spoke up.
"You already have an idea for a new series?"
"Yeah. I came up with it around the same time as 5 Centimeters per Second," he said. "From my own feelings, I don't think it's any weaker than 5 Centimeters per Second. Since this one got a serialization chance, I don't want the other story to just get buried."
He slightly polished the truth as he spoke.
At that, Su Mingxi's eyes lit up.
She'd seen the full quality of 5 Centimeters per Second with her own eyes. If this new series was "no worse," then it absolutely deserved to be taken seriously.
"It's just that… you're being a little too optimistic," she said after a pause. "There isn't enough time."
"Not enough time…?" Xia Jing blinked, surprised.
"On paper, yes—5 Centimeters per Second starts in two weeks, and finishes in seven. It sounds like plenty of time. But at the serialization meeting, there were several strong candidates. Given that 5 Centimeters per Second is confirmed to be only five chapters long, we decided at that same meeting to assign another series as its successor for when it ends. There won't be another meeting specifically for that slot…" she explained gently.
"If you'd brought this new idea to me back then, I could've sent it into the same serialization meeting. Maybe you'd be running two series in Sakura Weekly at the same time. Missing that meeting really is a pity…"
"I see," he said, his tone carrying a trace of disappointment.
But there was nothing he could do. Manga serialization didn't work like: I have a good story, let me in. You needed available slots in the magazine, and that wasn't something he could control.
"But we can't really predict everything," Su Qingxiao cut in, rolling her eyes slightly. "I remember several of the low-ranking series in Sakura Weekly are doing pretty badly… That one, Voices in the Clouds, only sold twenty thousand copies of volume six in its first week. That's tragic. Keep going like that and the company's going to axe it in a few weeks."
She turned to Xia Jing, eyes gleaming.
"So just draw the new one first. When you're done, I'll help you review it—point out problems and suggest changes. That way, when an opportunity does come up, you'll be ready to jump right in."
Her face was full of pleased anticipation. This was the side effect of 5 Centimeters per Second.
It was just like in his previous life—after watching 5 Centimeters per Second, he'd become a fan of Makoto Shinkai as a director, and later he watched Garden of Words, Your Name, and the rest as soon as they came out.
Once a single work establishes your trust in a creator, that trust doesn't vanish until they produce something truly awful.
She'd kept saying 5 Centimeters per Second was too sad, too painful—but after some time to digest it, she'd unconsciously become a fan. Her expectations for Xia Jing's next work were already sky-high.
Su Mingxi glanced at her but didn't contradict anything.
"I understand…" Xia Jing nodded.
"In that case, I'll have to trouble you, Editor Su, to help keep an eye out for any openings within the group."
"By the way, what kind of story is your new series?" she asked. "You know Sakura Weekly only runs emotional and romance-focused works. If your new idea isn't in that vein…"
"Don't worry, Editor Su. It's pure romance. No love triangles, no long-distance angst," Xia Jing said with a smile.
"So… is it another ending full of regret, like 5 Centimeters per Second?" Su Qingxiao asked.
"Regret…" he echoed, going quiet for a few seconds. Then he shook his head and gave a small smile.
"For the main couple, there are no regrets between them."
Of course, that was only from the characters' point of view. For the readers… that was another story.
But Xia Jing had never liked spoilers. Since both sisters were curious about his new work, they could experience it themselves when the time came.
Hearing that, Su Qingxiao let out a small breath, but for some reason, she also felt a faint sense of loss.
She kept saying she didn't like tragic stories.
But deep down, there was still a part of her that… expected it.
…
It was nine at night by the time Xia Jing got off the bus and made it home.
He pushed open the old wooden door, turned on the lights, and saw the big table in the living room covered in character design sketches.
In his previous life, Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight only existed as a novel and a live-action film. There had never been a manga version.
Adapting it into manga would be a much bigger job than 5 Centimeters per Second. He'd have to build everything from zero—character designs, locations, backgrounds…
Of course, for key scenes, he could "borrow" storyboards from the film, which meant the lower limit on quality was already guaranteed.
"Then… let's begin," Xia Jing murmured as he sat down in his chair, picked up his pen, and looked at the sheets of character art spread out across the desk.