Chapter 17: The Manga Artist and His Assistant (Part 1)

  "Hello everyone, this is the 'JUMP Interview Team'. Today's live broadcast is a face-to-face interview with the recently emerging talented cartoonist - [Horizon] teacher. Thank you for watching!"

  With "Detective Conan" this detective manga settled in "Weekly Shonen Jump", relying on the precise arrangement of the previous few chapters and the clever interweaving of characters, each event was depicted as very colorful and deeply moving, gaining recognition from many editors in "Weekly Shonen Jump". Soon after, it was announced that it would be serialized stably under the flag of "Weekly Shonen Jump", a newcomer writer who achieved great success with just one recommendation will be accepting an interview today.

  This is the title of this episode and also the main content of this interview.

  Moguro Kunitoshi said that before accepting this program interview, only the female editor in charge of her knew Moguro Kunitoshi's true identity. Except for this, even the people in charge above did not know, and in Weekly Shonen Jump, she is a very mysterious cartoonist, making many people suspicious.

  Sōsuke was puzzled by this, if he intended to keep his identity hidden, why would he choose to accept this live interview? That way, not only the readers but also his classmates and other authors would find out about Muhou Jūshi's true identity.

  Although it's unclear about the rules of this industry, in Sosuke's eyes, most cartoonists focus on drawing and rarely participate in such high-profile activities.

  Even if there were any, they would be meet-and-greets held by authors of extremely popular manga works. Apart from that, it is rare for manga artists to appear in the media.

  Sōsuke wanted to ask what Matsumoto's thoughts were on the matter, but before he could say anything, he was driven back by Matsumoto's words.

  "Do you want to ask me why I let my identity be exposed? Can't you understand even now?"

  Sōsuke stood at his own entrance with Kayano Kusa, and when Kayano asked him a question in reverse, Sōsuke was taken aback for an instant.

  Is there still something I haven't discovered, something I haven't understood?

  Although Makihara Kaito was temporarily staying at Hayashi Akane's house, it was not possible to use that as the location for this interview. After a meeting and discussion, it was decided that the meeting would take place in Sosuke's one-bedroom apartment.

  This is also why the two of them are standing together waiting for the interviewer to arrive here.

  No no no, this is not important, what's important is what does Mugiyono want to understand about herself? What does she want to make clear to herself? In other words, it's about things between her and herself.

  As for the connection between the two, it's just about that game and what happened on that day.

  Yes! Sosuke thought of it - he took away Mokuren Kujou, wanting to save him, so for that reason, through coercive means, he made Mokuren leave that house and found a way to get his father's recognition.

  So now, is Mogi Kuri no Jitsuro letting society know about her just so that her father can see her current achievements?

  He is not afraid of the pressure that follows, nor does he worry about the public opinion that comes next. Muhara Kujira chose this path with determination.

  Standing beside her, Sosuke suddenly felt a bit weak, or rather, completely not as strong as the girl in front of him.

  Sighing, Sosuke walked from the entrance towards the interior of the room at the sound of screeching brakes.

  "I'll go hide on the second floor for a bit, I'm handing over ownership of this room to you now, Teacher Horizon."

  "Horizon" is a pen name used by Gosho Aoyama in the Weekly Shonen Jump serialization of Detective Conan, and Sosuke thought of an administrator on the "Fate Night" forum.

  Are they all just coincidentally having the same name?

  Satoru met Miharu Ninomiya at the game meeting that time, and with her current pen name, the action taken that time, could it be that [Horizon] on the forum is actually Miharu Ninomiya?

  Sō felt he was ninety percent sure of his guess, but just as he had walked halfway, he was pulled back and almost fell to the ground.

  "What's wrong, don't suddenly pull my clothes."

  "Why did you leave."

  Mao Yuanji combed his own hair with a practical hand and said with a calm face

  "Why? Isn't it obvious? They're going to interview you, and as an outsider, I should leave. And besides, seeing a high school boy and girl in the same room doesn't seem right."

  "It's okay."

  "I think it's a big deal."

  "You're stubborn in strange places, is that also the reason you were able to write that game script? In short, it's better for you to stay here because ——"

  Mao Yuanjiu took a deep breath, not because she was nervous, but to give herself encouragement.

  She stared at Sosuke's cheek and continued her own topic.

  "Because you're the one who helped me clear up my confusion, so from now on... it's going to be... with you."

  "Huh? With you?"

  "Of course I accept the interview."

  Makihara Kiyoshi loosened Sosuke's clothes, and then footsteps sounded outside the door.

  There were not many footsteps, probably just two people's footsteps.

  They stopped at the door and after ringing the doorbell, a woman's voice responded

  "Sorry to disturb you, we are from 'JUMP Interview Team', and today we're here to interview teacher Horizon!"

  The two people standing in the house looked at each other, and Sosuke nodded after exhaling all the turbid air from his lungs.

  In front of Mao Yuanjiu, a woman in a suit and skirt and a slightly chubby man with a camera on his back greeted him.

  "Hello, we're here to interview teacher Horizon... excuse me... is that teacher Horizon? He's a young guy!! Come on in, camera zooms in on teacher Horizon's lower body!"

  "The shot is wrong!"

  Sōsuke lifted up the camera lens and walked over to Makihara Kiyoshi's side.

  He raised his right hand and pointed at Mao Yuanjiu Shi

  "You're wrong, this is actually teacher Horizon."

  "Huh?! Did I get it wrong? This young lady is actually Teacher Horizon?! So, this little guy on the lower half of your body is your boyfriend?!"

  "Don't call me lower body! By the way, can you be a host like this?!"

  "Say, what's with that? I got this position based on my excellent grades, you know! Don't look at me like that, the top half of my body is quite impressive!"

  "You're already out of the game by emphasizing this!"

  Who would say lower body and upper body in one breath?

  Mogami Kujou calmly inserted himself between the two and raised his hand to lead them into the house.

  "Please come this way, the lower half of the body is not a stranger, but my assistant, so it's okay."

  "So who's the lower half now!"

  After making such a serious spit, and playing the two-person group walking towards the living room, Sosuke sat down on the sofa next to Mahiru in the drawing room.

  Am I an assistant?

  Makihara Kyouya glanced at him and Sosuke couldn't help but smile wryly. It seemed that this interview was unavoidable after all.