Story 10: Chapter 1: The Pen is Mightier than the Sword….and Magic (Patreon)

Drawn to Power

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 1: The Pen is Mightier than the Sword….and Magic

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- ?? -

I finished the shading of the final page of my drawing when the bell of the class rang.

A shadow appeared on top of my paper and I looked up to see the familiar face of a black haired red eyed girl staring intensely at me.

“You are slacking off again, aren’t you?” She asked, her hands on her waist.

“I wasn’t slacking off. I have already finished my work so I was using my free time doing something productive.”

“You are not supposed to be drawing in class.” She retorted.

“Oh, so you don’t want to read the next chapter of my manga?”

“I….I didn’t say that. I am just saying that you need to study in class.”

“Yes yes. I will. Anyways, we have art class now, right?” I waved her off.

“Hmph.” 

“Alright, calm down and help me see how the new chapter is. I have finished it already.” I gave her the pages of the manga and watched her read my story intently.

Nearly ten minutes later she set the book aside and looked at me.

“Tanjiro and Nezuko are so pitiful. Hmph, those demons are all bad after all.”

While she was complaining a message flashed in front of my eyes. I called Status in my mind to check.

Name: Tatsuya Kushihashi

System Rank: F

Body:(G-12)

Mind:(G-16)

Spirit:(G-20)

Magic:(G-9)

Points: 91

Manga: Demon Slayer

One point finally.

Yes. This was my life now.

My life has suddenly become a game.

Well, not suddenly and this is certainly not the only strange thing about me.

The first would be the fact that I am a reincarnator.

In the memories I gained, which I assume was my past life, I was an aspiring Mangaka but passed away in an accident.

It has been several years since that day.

I woke up in this world, slowly regaining the memories of my previous life.

It was a bit disconcerting at first but I slowly got used to it.

I have loving parents. Mother who, despite not spending a lot of time with me, had done all she could to shower me with love before her illness took her life.

My Father too didn’t slack off and has taken really good care of me despite his extremely busy schedule.

I still remember my parents from my previous life but these two people have made their place in my life which is no less than theirs.

There were some ups and downs but overall, my life was fine.

That said, there were a few surprising things in this world too.

Magic.

This world had magic.

Apparently, there were ghosts and youkai in this world as well as Gods.

My Father’s clan was a clan of Onmyoji. One of the Five Principal Clans of Japan, the Kushihashi Clan who housed the Azure Dragon of the East. The Clan was blessed by the Shinto Gods which allowed them to use special powers.

For the Kushihashi, these powers were Wood Manipulation, Air Manipulation and Lightning Manipulation.

In fact, we had the most abilities among all the Principal Clans.

Anyways, that's something for later.

Recently, a change happened in my life.

Six months ago, I started seeing a screen in front of my eyes.

At first I had thought someone was pulling a prank on me as I often read manga and light novels but within an hour I found out that it was real.

And wasn’t that a surprise.

It seems that I am here with the complete Isekai package now.

Anyways, over the months, I had figured some things about the System.

I called it the Mangaka System.

The Rank of the System was divided into seven Ranks, from F to S, with F being the lowest and S being the Highest. Below F was G which is used for normal humans.

I get one manga from the system for every Rank and I gain points for anyone who reads these manga. They are given through a lucky draw for which I will need Gacha Tickets.

There are no restrictions for drawing my own manga but it wouldn't count for anything system related.

This part had made me laugh. The choice was all in my hands.

I could do whatever I wanted on my own but if I want the System's help, I will have to work as it says. 

With the points I earn, I can use the System shop. However, I can only buy items within the Rank of my System and the items will only belong to an active or completed manga I get from the System and only up to the chapter I have drawn. In fact, the items were added to the shop when I completed the chapter where they appear first and at least one person reads it first.

So at F Rank, I could probably buy common swords from Demon Slayer but no Sun Breathing. For that I would have to upgrade my System to a higher Rank.

It was a bit restrictive but hey, I was getting a massive cheat like this. Why should I complain?

I could unlock higher levels of the System by completing quests.

Upgrade Quest: Say my name.

Let the world know your name for the first time.

Sell Ten Thousand copies of your manga. (0/10,000)

Reward: E Rank System Upgrade, Gacha Ticket x 1

My first quest was to sell ten thousand copies of my manga.

Now, that was something which would make me wait for a while.

Which means I am stuck at the F Rank till I’m older as I have no way to get my story published and sell that many copies.

To be honest it wasn't a bad thing for me. It wasn't as if I couldn't train and increase my power. 

Next is the Kushihashi Clan. It was primarily a Clan of Onmyoji and thus the kids were trained in magical arts.

The magic training would start later but according to my father, I could skip it if I wanted to. He didn’t want me to force myself to do those things if I didn’t want to and for that, I’m grateful.

I liked drawing. I drew the manga and showed them to some people around me to read so that I could get some points.

And among the people was my second fan in this world, the girl sitting beside me, Shizuka Himejima. She was a member of another Principal Clan like mine, the Himejima Clan which houses the spirit of Suzaku, the Vermillion Bird of the South.

We studied at the same elementary school and due to the relations of the clans, we had a very good relationship.

Well, for one, she wasn’t as annoying as the other children from the remaining clans.

“Did you like it or not?” I asked, stopping her rant for a moment.

“Well it was not….bad.”

“Ah….just not bad. Then maybe I should stop writing this one.” I pretended to be upset.

“What! No. I mean you can still do a lot better if you work harder. But we are just in elementary school. You will obviously get better.” She tried to cheer me up quickly and I smirked.

She realised that she was tricked and punched me on my shoulder, not meeting my eyes.

__________________________________x___________________________________

I returned home after school to an empty house.

Dad’s been out for some work and will be returning today but the maid has already done all the work.

My dad had many privileges in the clan. There were two reasons for it.

First, he was the grandnephew of the current Clan head and second… he was strong.

I have seen him using Magic and damn if that wasn’t cool.

It was as if straight out of some kind of anime.

From what I have heard from others talking, he also had a title, the Lightning Fist, which was due to him coating his fists with lightning in his fights.

I remember I was so hyped about learning that magic too but dad said I needed to be older to do so and till then, he only told me to concentrate on physical training.

I took off my shoes and wore the indoor slippers and returned to my room.

Safety was never a problem in this place as it was in the Clan area, although on the outskirts.

There are very few people who would want to rob the Clan of superpowered demon slayers.

I went in for a bath and when I came out, I heard someone opening the door.

Before I could worry, I heard Dad’s voice.

“I’m home, Tatsu.”

“Welcome back.”

I shouted while coming down the stairs.

My father, Hiroshi Kushihashi was a man in his thirties, grey haired and golden eyed.

I took after him in terms of looks having the same hair and eye colour but I have the shape of my mom’s face… or at least what he says.

Speaking of my mom, she was from Italy so I had some caucasian features.

They had met with each other when she came here for some work and were introduced to each other through a mutual friend. 

My dad had married her despite the protests of the clan who were hardcore traditionalist people. It was one the reasons that we were living on the outskirts of the clan despite Dad being the reserve heir of the Clan.

That's why the clan mostly kept away from me. They didn't do anything to harm me and gave me the same facilities as the other members of the clan so I don't mind them either.

We are all free to make our own choices.

He brushed my hair with a smile before handing me some takeouts.

“Did you eat?” I asked while moving towards the kitchen.

“Not yet. I wanted to eat with my cute son today. Let me take a bath first.” He said in a happy mood.

“Okay, I will set the plates till then.” I replied happily.

Okonomiyaki was my favourite after all.

__________________________________x___________________________________

“So, how is it?” I asked, as I took a bite from my plate.

“This is really good. Your drawings are becoming better each day. I think you have real talent with this.” He replied as he turned the last page of the chapter and kept the manga aside.

I checked and saw 10 points had increased from him reading one chapter alone.

In the past days, I had observed a trend. Not every person gave the same amount of points when they read my comics.

For example it took some others and Shizuka reading a chapter of my manga to give me only one point while dad alone reading a single chapter could give me ten points.

I have several speculations about this.

It may be related to how close they are to me or maybe how strong they were. I haven’t been able to test it with someone else at my dad’s level yet.

He alone netted me around 90% of my points.

There could always be other factors.

“You think so?” I asked, feeling happy at his compliment.

“Obviously. I guess you are my son after all hahahaha.”

“... you can’t draw to save your life, dad. Remember the last art class where you helped me?”

“Eh! No way. I… didn’t want you to rely on me to do your homework. It was a… life lesson. Yes, a life lesson.”

“Yes yes. I totally believe you.”

“Wha….! You don’t believe me. You don’t believe me, do you?”

“Oh? What clued you in?”

“Hah… when I was younger I could have totally become a mangaka if I wanted. I could have rivalled the likes of Akira Yamatori. Let me tell you a secret. It was me who sent the idea for Drag-so-ball to him. The dragon was based on Seiryu-sama but they had to change the name for copyright reasons. Shenron, Seiryu… both start with an S. See…”

….

I was too far gone to even roll my eyes at the joke.

And Akira Yamatori… seriously… what kind of jumbled up world was this? Not to mention Drag-so-ball.

“Now, let’s talk about other matters. I have heard you are very close to Shizuka-chan from the Himejima Clan? Is that true?” He smirked with a goofy look on his face.

“...yes.”

“Hoh oh… I mean I agree. She is adorable and will no doubt grow up to be a beautiful young woman. Dad approves.” He gave me a thumbs up.

“I am in elementary school, dad.”

“Just more time to get to know each other.”

He kept teasing me after that.

We talked and had fun before retiring for the night.

_________________________________x____________________________________

“Where are we going, dad?” I asked, looking out of the window.

“To meet a friend of mine.” He said, not looking away from the road while driving. “We are almost there.”

What I didn’t expect was for him to stop in front of the Shueisha building.

My head snapped back as I looked at my dad giving me a smile.

“Why are we here?” I asked, not understanding his intention.

“Did I tell you I could have become a mangaka when I was young and you didn’t believe me? Well, let me prove it today.”

I found myself staring at him in stunned silence.

“Come on. Don’t get left behind. We have a meeting in fifteen minutes.” He said when he parked the car and I quickly opened the door and followed him, still trying to comprehend what was happening.

After going through some checks, I found myself in a small cabin with my dad, waiting for someone.

The door opened and a young man with black hair fell just above his shoulders. He looked like he was in his early twenties.

He looked at dad and smiled. “Hiro-senpai, how are you? It’s been so long since we met. I heard from some friends that you even got married and had a child.”

“Hahahaha yes. I got busy with work and life. How have you been, Koji-kun? You seem to have found your favourite job after all.”

The guy smiled and sat down. “It was thanks to the support of you all. Thanks for always encouraging me.”

They talked about a few things before the man’s attention turned towards me. “Is he?”

“Yes. This is my son, Tatsuya.” I bowed to the man who nodded while dad continued. “He doesn’t believe that I was super talented in art and could become a mangaka in my younger days if I wanted to.”

I looked at him in shock.

Did he really bring me here to prove this point?

“Ehhh that’s a bit…”

“Wha…! Didn’t I draw a bunch of dogs for the School Fest to decorate the classroom. Everyone liked it. You said so yourself.”

“Those were dogs! I thought they were elephants.” The main exclaimed, actually looking shocked.

….

….

….

….

After the awkward silence which lasted a few moments more than I would have liked, my dad coughed and directly changed the topic.

“Anyways, I needed your opinion on something. Can you spare me a few minutes of your time?”

The man quickly grabbed the line of escape and agreed instantly.

My dad opened the bag he had brought with him and pulled out an envelope and gave it to the man.

He opened them and I saw something extremely familiar.

I quickly looked at my dad in shock and he only smiled.

That was the oneshot I had made for Demon Slayer before starting the chapters. Did he bring it to Shueisha?

I looked at the man who was looking at the pages in a completely serious mode right now. It was a stark contrast with the goofy and shy guy who was talking with dad moments ago.

His expression was almost unreadable as he turned the pages one by one.

After what seemed like the longest fifteen minutes, he put the pages back in the envelope and looked at dad.

“Who drew this?” He asked.

“Eh? Why can’t you think I did? Obviously I am not bad. But how was it?”

“It’s a very interesting plot. Senpai, I am a newbie editor at Weekly Shonen Jump. I really think this manga has the ability to become a massive hit. Can you please introduce me to the author?”

“Hahahaha well, you are right. I am not the author. It’s my adorable son, Tatsu.” He brushed my hair.

….

“Senpai, please be serious. I am not kidding when I say that this story can be a great chance for me.”

“Hah! I am not joking, you know. It was really done by Tatsu.”

The man just stared at dad in a deadpan.

At this moment, I raised a hand. “Umm, I really did.”

“You drew this?” He asked, almost mockingly.

“It’s just a one shot. I have also drawn ten chapters of the full story. If you give me a pen and a paper, I can show you.” I replied.

He just stared at me, not believing even now. He went to a nearby drawer and pulled out a paper and a pen.

“Here, show me.”

And show I did.

Drawing these characters was not too hard and I already had experience in doing so over a hundred times already.

Within a minute, a scene of Tanjiro using the Hinokami Kagura.

The man was looking at the sketch with his mouth open in shock and only broke through the shock when dad coughed from the side.

He pointed at me. “This…”

My dad just raised his eyebrows. “How about it? Isn’t he awesome?”

“He’s a genius.” The man said in awe.

“Hahahaha well obviously. Whose son do you think he is?”

“I guess he has inherited good drawing talent from your wife.”

“Hey!”

“Anyways, what do you want to do, senpai? Although he is talented, he is still very… young.”

“I have researched a bit and found that there was going to be a competition for new manga authors. I want to submit this there. As for Tatsu’s age, he can use a pen name if he wants. From what I have seen, he drew ten chapters in just two months. Even if he doesn’t make a weekly release, he could easily do a monthly one. It ultimately depends on him. Anyways, all of that will come when he wins a good spot in the competition.”

“You can draw five chapters in a month?” He asked me, in shock.

“Hmm.” I nodded.

“How much of the story do you have planned?” he asked me curiously.

“Over a hundred chapters.”

“... seriously?”

“Hmm.”

“No, really… seriously?”

“It’s around that more or less… for now.”

“Alright senpai I will do it. We can talk later if he gets a good result in the polls.”

“When… he gets a good result.” Dad corrected him.

The man smiled. “You really believe in him, don’t you?”

“Obviously. I am his father. It’s my job to have faith in him.”

I won’t lie but I teared a bit at the amount of confidence he was showing in me.

The competition was going to be held in two months.

The guy’s name was Koji Yoshida. He said he will inform us about everything. In the meantime, he gave us his details and told me to call him anytime I needed anything.

I felt I knew this name but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t recall who he was.

__________________________________x___________________________________

One month passed by in a flash.

During this time, I had stopped showing chapters to others as suggested by Koji-san.

My only readers were Shizuka-chan and dad so my points were rising up very slowly.

Although there was that incident two weeks ago.

I had just completed a chapter and given Shizuka to read and opened the menu to find an increase of over fifty points all of a sudden.

I never found out how so many people read my work all of a sudden.

My thoughts were broken by a knock at the door of our classroom. A staff member of the school called for me and I looked up in surprise.

I was led to the principal’s office and standing in there was the maid who worked in our home.

“Himari-san?”

She didn’t say anything but the expression on her face was not good.

“We need to go home.” She spoke directly.

No explanations given, she held my hand and led me out.

“Wait, my bag is still inside.”

“Someone will bring it later.” She answered curtly but didn’t stop.

I looked at her questioningly but she didn’t say anything else.

We soon reached the Clan’s area and directly went to the gathering place. I saw many people gathered there.

Everyone had different types of reactions to seeing me.

I could hear some whispers and suddenly a pit formed in my stomach.

What is going on here?

When I reached the end of the crowd, I felt my knees give up at the sight in front of me.

There, covered in a white cloth… lay my father’s… dead body.

__________________________________x___________________________________

The entire day went by in a haze.

I couldn’t concentrate on what was happening around me.

From the bits and pieces I heard, the mission he was on turned out to be an ambush and he was killed while covering for the rest… everyone else survived.

What bullshit.

My dad was strong. He was one of the strongest people in the clan. How can he die while everyone escapes? There had to be something wrong.

Several doubts, several kinds of bad thoughts were plaguing my mind but all of it was buried under the pain and sadness I was experiencing.

It was after the funeral that the head of the Clan, Nobuhiro Kushihashi, my father’s uncle, called for me.

I was led to the head’s house.

Inside the room was the man himself sitting with a servant standing behind him.

He stared at me for a moment and then spoke.

“The Kushihashi Clan is given the honour to be the bearers of the great Seiryu. It is the supreme honour given to only ones with our blood by the Gods themselves. Each child of our Clan carries this blessing… and those who do not… are no members of our clan. Hiroshi married a woman from a different land, a different faith, against the will of the Clan and had you. We didn’t remove him because he still carried the blessing of our Gods and was still worthy of the Kushihashi name. You however… do not. The only reason you were permitted to stay in the Clan was due to Hiroshi. Now that he is not here, you are not welcome here anymore. I will give you an hour. Take your belongings and get ready. The maid will escort you out.”

I kept looking at the man.

Throwing me out right after dad passed away. But I wasn’t angry.

They had already shown their attitude towards me all these years so this… didn’t come up as a surprise.

What I was thinking about was my dad’s death.

Was it because of me?

Was it because he married my mom?

“Before leaving, can you answer a question of mine, truthfully?” I asked.

The man narrowed his eyes but nodded.

“Who killed my dad?”

“He was ambushed by a group of cultists from the Hagoromo Gitsune cult. They were a group with a grudge against him for killing many of their people. He took them all out before losing his life.”

“I see. Was anyone from this clan directly or indirectly involved in it?”

“Imprudent brat!” The servant beside him shouted and got up immediately, gripping his sword by his side.

I however didn’t look at the servant. I was looking at the man himself.

“Are you doubting the Clan?”

“Everyone except my Dad escaped….unscathed. That means they were either all cowards or they had something to do with the ambush.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“What would the answer even change? You are just a small fish. Can you fight against a dragon?” The man questioned, almost tauntingly.

“A fish can jump across the dragon’s gate and become a dragon too. Do you want to risk the wrath of a dragon?” I replied back, unmovingly.

Suddenly a weight fell over my body and I fell to my knees already. It was as if the gravity of the place had increased suddenly. It was as if the pressure was on my soul itself.

I saw sparks of lightning flickering across the body of the man in front of me.

This power….

I was however unwilling to back down.

This was for my dad.

So I forced myself to stand up by gritting my teeth.

The man stared at me for a while before the pressure disappeared the next moment.

“The Kushihashi Clan doesn’t permit killing others of our blood… not even impure ones. That’s the only reason you still have your head on your shoulders. If I had to have someone killed, I would have chosen you instead of Hiroshi. At least he could move on with his life then. Leave.”

I got the answer I needed so I left the place.

Home was only home when we had our loved ones with us. Without that, it was just four walls and a roof on the top.

Without mom and dad, this place was not my home.

I took my belongings, basically the personal things of my parents and me and left.

Three days after the death of my father, I was exiled from the Kushihashi clan.

I was led out by the maid.

Apparently, dad knew something like this would happen if something happened to him someday so he made arrangements for me in advance.

The car arrived near the outskirts of a shrine and stopped.

We walked up the stairs to the shrine above. Outside the Shrine, a woman was waiting for us.

She looked… a lot like Shizuka, except the eye colour. She looked at me and smiled lightly.

The maid looked at her and spoke. “As per Hiroshi-sama’s wishes, we have left him here. From now on, he will not bear the name of Kushihashi and have no relation to our honourable clan.”

The look on the woman’s face changed to a stoic emotionless one. “Very well. You may leave.”

The maid didn’t wait for any more words and left directly.

“You must be Tatsuya-kun. My name is Shuri Himejima. I am a childhood friend of your father’s.”

I looked at the woman. “I didn't see you at the funeral.”

A look of pain passed through her face before she instantly corrected it.

“I am not liked by the Principal Clans, at least not anymore.”

I looked at her questioningly as we walked towards the shrine.

She continued. “I married against the wishes of my clan. I was given a choice to choose between the two. I chose my husband and daughter.”

Similar to my dad.

“How did you know my dad? He never said anything about you?”

“Heh! That is odd. Then again, it's understandable. We were supposed to get engaged with each other but your father left me alone. Sigh, poor me.”

I looked at her incredulously. 

“Fufufufu I am just joking. While we were supposed to get engaged with each other, we were different types of people and understood that it wouldn't work between us. I wasn't lying when I said we were childhood friends. So we decided to not go through with the decisions of the clans. In fact, I was the one who introduced your mother to him and after a few years, I met my husband too. It worked out well for us.”

We reached the house behind the shrine where a girl who looked like a miniature version of Shuri was playing with a burly man with black hair and beard.

“Okaa-sama!” The girl called out as she saw us approaching. Her eyes then fell on me and she stopped in her tracks, hiding behind the man who I assumed was her father and peeked at me.

“Akeno, this is Tatsuya-kun. You can consider him your big brother.” She went on to introduce us.

Her daughter was Akeno and her husband’s name was Baraqiel.

I wasn’t familiar with the myths of christianity but I did remember that it was the name of an angel or something.

They gave me a room and took the opportunity to wash up before coming out to eat.

“Tatsuya-kun, Hiroshi said that you are a very good artist. He even showed us your manga, is that true?”

I nodded unsurely.

“I must say it is a very good manga. Even Koji-kun was full of praise towards your work. Akeno is your fan too.” I looked at the girl who was blushing at the comment. “I hope we will get to read more of it in the future.”

They made some small talk during dinner after which they sent their daughter to her room and we three were the only ones left in the room.

She looked at her husband and then at me.

“Hiroshi knew that you were not blessed and that you couldn’t learn the arts of the Kushihashi Clan. If you wish to learn different types or arts, we could always assist you.”

“I….don’t….I don’t want anything to do with the Supernatural.”

I really wanted nothing to do with the principal clans or their onmyoji fuckery.

If I needed anything, I can do it with my System.

The more I stay here, the more it reminds me of dad. I just want to go away.

“I….just want to go away from all this.”

She looked at me sorrowfully.

“I see. Then I won’t force you. If you want to go then I can find someone to take you in. But remember, if you ever need anything, we are here to help.”

I bowed. “Thank you.”

_________________________________x____________________________________

I spent the next month with Shuri-san and her family.

During this time, I completely closed myself off and started working on my manga.

The Himejima family helped me fully with this.

Shuri-san is a very supportive woman. Baraqiel, while tough looking, was quite a soft guy and Akeno was adorable.

They tried to cheer me up all the time but I felt bad for interrupting their family time.

During this time, I found something else too.

Brarqiel gave 50 points for every chapter he read while Shuri-san gave one point.

50 points was huge.

I got over a thousand points from him reading the chapters I had written.

Who exactly was this man?

Today, Shuri-san brought me and Akeno to the person who had agreed to adopt me.

She was actually very distantly related to me and a former member of the Himejima Clan who had a similar situation to me.

Shuri-san kept in touch with her even when she was exiled and when she told her about me, the woman agreed to let me stay there.

Ageha Ikuse was an old woman in her seventies who lived with her grandson who was a year younger than me. Her son and daughter-in-law live and work overseas.

She was getting older and thought that having me would be good for her grandson too.

To be honest, I wouldn’t mind living alone and with the money dad had left me, it wouldn’t be impossible either but I doubt anyone would allow a kid like me to stay alone. This was the best option that I could get.

We reached there by the time it was evening.

Shuri-san rang the bell of the apartment and an old woman opened the door.

“Is that you, Shuri?”

“Oba-sama.” She bowed deeply.

“And this must be your daughter and is he Hiroshi’s child? What is your name dear?”

“Tatsuya.” I couldn’t use my last name. Those bastards had made it clear. This was not done normally for the ones exiled from the clan but I guess they went that extra step because of my questions before leaving.

“Tatsuya is a good name. Come in first.”

We went inside and in the living room was a boy with black hair and greyish eyes.

“This is my grandson, Tobio. Say hello, Tobi.”

The boy bowed and we all got introduced to each other.

“Thank you for letting me stay here, Ageha-san.”

“Call me grandmother, dear. Your father used to call me Oba-sama.” She smiled and I nodded. “Anyways, with my son and daughter-in-law living and working overseas, the house is pretty empty. With you living here, things would be more lively. Even Tobi would have someone his age to play with.” She smiled.

We talked about a few more things, especially about my hobby of drawing manga.

Tobio was quite excited to read the manga and this immediately acted as an icebreaker between us.

I noticed another thing.

Grandma Ageha gave me the same points for reading each chapter as dad did.

Grandma Ageha decided to convert one of the spare rooms for me to use as a manga studio- my first manga studio.

Shuri-san took me out for one last thing before I could settle there.

We reached a familiar building and I looked at her in surprise.

“Hiroshi really looked forward to seeing you become a mangaka. He even showed us the manuscript you had submitted to Koji-kun. He was so proud when he told us about the competition you were planning to participate in.”

I looked down at my hands.

It brought back memories.

How much has changed in just two months?

“Do you still want to?” She asked softly.

I nodded silently.

“Alright. Let’s go. I have already made an appointment with Koji-kun.”

We went inside the familiar building and into the same cabin.

She must have noticed my mood and caressed my hair slightly when the door opened.

Koji-san entered the room and looked at us. His face showed a hint of sympathy when he looked at me.

“I am really sorry for your loss. The news….it was a shock for me too. Hiroshi-senpai….sigh” He bowed slightly and said.

I nodded and thanked him softly.

He then turned towards Shuri-san. “Senpai, you look as pretty as always. Your husband must be a lucky man.”

“Ara ara, and you have a silver tongue as ever, Koji-kun.”

“I assume you are here to enter Tatsuya’s manga for the competition?”

She nodded.

“Great. I will have it done.”

“Koji-san.” I interrupted.

“Yes?”

“I apologise if I am being rude with this but what are my chances of getting serialised if I win or even get a runner’s up place in the competition?”

He paused for a moment and looked at me quietly.

“Your manga is good but if you want a serialisation spot, it might be tough considering your age. The chief would very likely think that you cannot do the job.”

I looked down and didn’t say anything.

“But you don’t need to be in such a hurry. You are very young. The things you draw will only become better as time goes by.”

“I have completed fifteen chapters in the last month alone. I have over thirty chapters ready. I will not let any deadlines pass so please….give me a chance.”

He looked uncomfortable but let out a sigh. “I will talk to the editor-in-chief if you get a good spot in the competition.” He finally relented.

“Thank you.” I got up and bowed deeply.

“I still have your manuscript. You will be submitting that one, right?” He asked, showing me the envelope.

The competition will start in a week.

“Please give me five days, no, two days. I want to brush up the drawings a bit more.”

“Take as much time as you want.”

“Thank you.”

We left the place and this time, unlike when we had entered, I was not feeling lost….after a very long time.

I had a goal again.

I will become the best mangaka in this world. For myself and for my dad’s last wish.

- Koji Yoshida -

“Please sir, give him one chance. At least talk to him once. He is a genius. An absolute genius. I have seen his work and I am sure ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’ would do wonderfully if serialised.” He argued.

“The problem is not the potential of the manga, Koji. Anyone who can win the Jump Treasure Newcomer Manga Awards has talent. The problem is his age. Talent doesn’t equate to productivity. The work and stress of a mangaka’s life, do you think a ten year old will be able to bear it?” The chief argued.

“The boy is different, Sir. I won’t ask for anything but please….at least meet him once. I don’t want such a budding artist to lose hope. Right now, drawing is very important for him. As for the productivity, I can assure you that he will not fail. He already has over 40 chapters of the manga ready and I have gone through them. They are all ready to be published according to my judgement. The boy draws at an incredible pace. He can draw ten chapters a month.”

The chief raised an eyebrow at this.

Finally, he agreed to meet Tatsuya.

He nodded and rushed out to inform Shuri-senpai to bring the boy in.

About Tatsuya, he had mixed feelings at the start. It was true that he was doing it for Hiroshi-senpai at first but he wouldn’t accept the manuscript if the manga itself was bad. But he didn’t lie when he said that Tatsuya was an absolute genius.

He had visited the house where he was staying and seen him working.

The boy worked like he was possessed by something.

He knew about the line of work Hiroshi-senpai was in and had an idea about how he had passed away.

No doubt, Tatsuya knew it too, because it showed.

It all showed in the manga, in his drawings.

The emotions he drew in Tanjiro and the characters in the manga, the feelings….those were not something a normal ten year old could do.

And the result was evident.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba but Tatsuya won the grand prize in this year’s Jump Treasure Newcomer Manga Awards.

There have been several letters asking for serialisation of the manga and many people wanted to search for the mangaka.

He was putting it all into this work and so Koji decided to support him too both for his resolve and Hiroshi-senpai.

He informed Shuri-senpai and they decided to visit the very next day to have a conversation with the chief.

_________________________________x____________________________________

He walked outside the chief’s office nervously.

Shuri-senpai and her husband had entered the office with Tatsuya while the Chief had told him to stay outside.

What happened next was all on them?

“Yoshida, why are you roaming here so nervously?” Yamahisa asked him.

“Is this about ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’?” The assistant editor-in-chief, Heishi-san asked and he nodded.

“Really! Who is it? That pretty lady? Is she the mangaka?” Tamahisa asked.

He didn’t answer, still looking at the door.

“Kishibe-sensei wanted to remain anonymous so his name cannot be revealed.” Heishi-san lent him a helping hand and he nodded in thanks.

At this time, the door opened and he was called in along with Heishi-san.

“Kimetsu no Yaiba will be given a chance at serialisation. We will however test it first. For a one year period, it will be tested as a monthly manga and if the performance and reception remains good, we will change it to weekly.”

His face brightened at the reply. “Thank you.”

“Since you brought him here, you will be responsible for managing him. Other details of the contract have been discussed already.” Chief completed.

They left the room and after some instructions, they left the place too.

Koji followed them to collect the manuscript for the first chapter.

- Tatsuya -

It has been a year since the first chapter of my manga got published and I just got a call from Koji-san that Kimetsu no Yaiba will be a weekly manga from this point forward.

The editor-in-chief had kept his word.

The man had been almost unmoving and it had taken me literally begging him to give me a chance for him to finally come up with a compromise.

He did explain his reasoning to Shuri-san and Baraqiel-san. He didn’t want me to get crushed under pressure and end my manga career before it could start.

Fortunately, after some words from Shuri-san, he agreed to give me a chance with the monthly prints first.

Three months ago, the first volume of the manga was printed. It had seven chapters in it.

And just like that, the first quest requirement for my System upgrade was finished.

Not only that, even the second upgrade quest had started. I needed two hundred thousand copies sold to get the upgrade for the D Ranked System. That was a huge jump from ten thousand but with the rate I am going at, I expect it to be done in a few months.

I looked at my Status.

Name: Tatsuya Ikuse 

System Rank: E 

Body:(G-57)

Mind:(G-46)

Spirit:(G-56)

Magic:(G-15)

Points: 80,598 

Manga: Demon Slayer

Features Unlocked: Training Room

Inventory: Gacha Ticket x1

Shop

My status panel looked a lot different than just a year ago last year.

When the System upgraded, I got a few new things.

The first among those was the Gacha Ticket which was the reward for the Quest.

It can be used to roll for a random manga which I can publish.

I haven’t used it yet since I couldn’t even get Demon Slayer to become a weekly manga. If I tried to force a second manga, I would surely be kicked out.

I will wait for a while, at least till the System upgraded. I could always draw the manga till then and find an opportunity to get it published later.

But this was not the only thing I got.

The best part was the Training Room facility.

It was an alternate space where I could train. The time flow between both worlds are the same but as my System Rank is upgraded, I could upgrade the Training Room too.

For now, it could reproduce any environment in the anime or manga I draw for me to train in. This included the tools as well except the magical ones.

Any injuries I sustained inside the Training Room were healed within seconds and I returned to a perfect state.

If I were to somehow die, I would get resurrected outside as well.

There were some shortcomings though.

Since the Time Dilation was the same as in the outer world, I had to train in secret. There was also the fact that I couldn’t bring anyone inside, which wasn’t a big problem.

I couldn’t escape into it either if I was being chased or attacked and the maximum amount of time I could stay inside was for twelve hours at a time after which I would be thrown outside and I would have to enter again. I could also enter the Training Room only once a day right now.

It also consumes 1,000 points a day to use the Training Room.

But even with all that, the effects it granted were awesome. It was totally worth the 1,000 points to use it.

As for my stats, I finally bought a few things from the System shop.

The thing I bought was Total Concentration Breathing. It was an E Ranked technique which cost me most of my points. Thirty Thousand Points total.

I plan to buy Hinokami Kagura next but that’s double the cost.

Still, just buying Total Concentration Breathing helped me a lot.

I got all knowledge on how to train it and a basic proficiency of it which I could train to a higher level. That said, the training was not easy. It was especially hard considering my current physical capabilities.

That said, even maintaining it for short periods of time gave me a considerable increase in strength.

From what I can feel, I am as strong as an adult human even at the age of eleven.

This would have been unimaginable in my previous life. This really is a world of magic.

A while after I calmed down from dad’s death, I realised that while I may not want any part in the Supernatural world, I shouldn't be unprepared in case I accidentally encountered something. I needed a bare minimum level of power.

This was especially true when I was becoming famous. Who knows if someone from the Supernatural side tries to come after me due to my rising popularity?

As the saying goes, the lion won’t spare you just because you are a vegetarian.

The other thing that changed was… my name.

Grandma Ageha offered to adopt me and give me her name. I agreed.

To be honest Shuri-san had wanted to offer the same but the Himejima name had no less problems associated with it than the Kushihashi name. It would have been like jumping from the frying pan and into the fire.

The one who was the happiest about it was Tobio as he had always wanted a sibling.

The guy had grown very close to me.

“How did it go? Did they agree?” Tobi asked me as I cut the call.

I smiled and nodded in reply.

“Great! Now your manga can be a weekly.”

“Congratulations, Tatsu-kun.” Grandma Ageha wished. “I will make your favourite Okonomiyaki to celebrate today.”

And we did just that.

- Shizuka Himejima -

“Shizuka?” She heard the voice of her granduncle and kept the manga under her pillow and left the room.

“Granduncle.” She bowed.

“You have done well in your training. Keep it up and you might have the potential to inherit the right to be the next host of Suzaku-sama. It's a great chance for the clan, especially after the last disappointment, there is no room for any mistakes.”

“...Yes granduncle.”

“Good. Your next training will start with the goal of making you the next host of Suzaku-sama so you better get ready.”

With that said, he left.

She closed the doors to her room and went back to her bed and brought out the manga she had been reading. 

Demon Slayer.

This was the same manga as the one made by Tatsuya.

It had been over a year since she had heard any news of him.

She had been shocked to hear about Tatsuya’s father and then the fact that he had been exiled from the Kushihashi clan due to not being blessed.

But so what if he was not blessed?

She had never understood the obsession with the blessing.

He was still family.

And they drove him out at such a time.

The entire thing made her sad and angry at the same time.

Moreover, she wasn't even allowed to ask about him. Her own clan prohibited any association with him and she couldn't even find where he was on her own.

She had tried to enquire among her school friends and still found nothing.

Then suddenly, a week ago, she saw someone in her clan reading a manga. 

Demon Slayer.

The art on the cover page drew her eyes. Tanjiro Kamado.

She had quickly borrowed the book and the story was the same. On investigating further, she found the manga was currently one of the most famous ones.

There was news that it was going to become a weekly manga soon.

On asking further she found that the author was using an alias and the company didn't reveal any information about him.

She became more sure that it was Tatsu. It had to be.

But for now, there was nothing she could do even if she found him. She was too weak for that. She had to get stronger, stronger than any of the previous inheritors of Suzaku-sama so that she can bring about a change in the rule of the Five Principal Clans. And when she did….

She would go and find the mangaka of Kimetsu no Yaiba….Rohan Kishibe.

________________________________x_____________________________________________________________________x_____________________________________

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Author’s Note:

Blame Jackle for pushing me to make this story.

This story had been in my mind for a while and I finally penned it down.

As per the request, here is a human MC story.

And before people start flooding the comments about fuck the fallen and kill the devils….no. There will be no such things in the story.

No bashing of any faction will be done.

If you want that kind of story, don’t read. This is not the one for you.

Let me clear out a few things first.

Tatsuya was quite young when he died in the previous life so he will have slight immaturity in some things initially.

Second, he knows nothing about Dxd or any world included in this story. Yes, for those who have not noticed, this world has a slight crossover from ‘The Rise of the Nura Clan’ and Bakuman. I might or might not add a few slice of life worlds in from some plot.

Tatusya will have a relatively slower start but he will grow there in time.

His System might look a bit similar to Mathias’ System but it has many differences too.

Mathias’ System could allow him to get stronger even when he was alone but his needs him to reach out to other people.

Mathias’ System allowed him to keep his powers secret whereas he must reveal most of it to others and gain their viewership to get the points.

So while the Systems might look similar, it’s quite different.

We will see where the story goes from here.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.