For all the manga he had signed contracts for, Raize didn't release any additional rights, even if it meant earning a bit less in manuscript fees.
Some people tried to contact him for profit after his manga became popular. He didn't mind that, but he needed to carefully observe whether they had the necessary ability.
He didn't want the manga he used to pave the way for his games to be animated by others. That would damage the popularity he wanted.
Today was another day to deliver manuscripts to an editor. He usually handed over completed drafts in batches, and today was right on schedule.
Half an hour later, Raize arrived at the agreed meeting place with the manga editor—a dessert shop.
"Hey~ Raize, over here, over here!!"
While he was speaking with the staff upon entering, a short-haired beauty sitting at a table not far away raised her hand and smiled at him, signaling him to come over quickly.
Raize nodded to the staff, then walked over. Looking at the short-haired beauty before him—his mother's friend and his current manga editor, Iida Ayano.
As Raize approached the table, he noticed that Ayano wasn't the only one sitting there. Beside her sat a young girl, quietly eating cake in small bites like a gentle little hamster.
The girl's aura was so clean and ethereal it felt unreal, like a tranquil girl stepping out of a painting. She was tall but slender, with smooth light-blonde hair cascading over her shoulders, snow-white skin, and slightly mature-looking phoenix eyes.
She was beautiful overall, yet also gave Raize the impression of a fragile piece of fine art.
Raize recognized who she was. After all, there was a middle-aged female teacher named Sengoku Chihiro in the school office. If his guess was correct, this girl was the renowned artist Shiina Mashiro.
This girl's artistic life had already been paved with countless awards. Her value could not be measured in money. At sixteen years old, she was already a world-class artist.
According to Raize's memories from frequently watching TV, a certain queen from a certain island nation had placed Shiina Mashiro's paintings in a royal palace.
That alone was fascinating. Paintings passed down in royal palaces were all priceless treasures from the Renaissance era. This meant that Mashiro's paintings were already valuable enough to rival those of Da Vinci or Van Gogh.
Without immense value, they would never appear in a palace. Mashiro's worth was no less than that of a princess.
Although Raize knew her background, after sitting down in front of Ayano, he still raised an eyebrow and looked at her grinning face, saying, "Why did you bring another person? Your daughter?"
"Of course not!!"
As soon as Raize said that, Ayano's smile collapsed on the spot. If Mashiro were her daughter, how old would she have to be?
But if she really had such a cute and talented daughter like Mashiro, she would probably laugh herself awake in her dreams.
Beside them, Mashiro finished her Baumkuchen, licking her pale fingers like a little cat. She turned her innocent, calm gaze toward Raize.
Her cute, innocent face showed no obvious emotion.
Being examined by those clear, watery eyes didn't make Raize feel anything in particular. Mashiro was indeed cute and beautiful, and her pure, ethereal aura naturally drew attention.
But compared to the aura of Sei's mature form, Mashiro's purity fell far short. She couldn't compare to Sei's holiness at all. The mature appearance of Sei was something Raize simply couldn't forget.
Ayano glanced at Mashiro beside her, smiling as she introduced her to Raize. "She's also a manga artist, though she just debuted. But her fame is quite something~ Guess who she is."
Ayano truly treated Mashiro like an irresponsible little sister. She was also good friends with Mashiro's friend, Rita Ainsworth.
Hearing Ayano's mysterious tone, Raize put away his smile, took out his phone, aimed it at Mashiro to take a photo, then tapped image search.
After scanning the results briefly, he directly showed the phone to Ayano. The screen was filled with basic information about Mashiro.
Seeing Raize's action, Ayano puffed up her cheeks in dissatisfaction. "Raize, you're so rigid. You're nothing like your mom, who was always so lively."
She was quite familiar with Raize, after all. Knowing his mother meant knowing him as well.
She had attended the funeral held at Raize's home.
"So many strange colors…"
Suddenly, Mashiro, who had been silently watching Raize, spoke up. She stared into his eyes with those beautiful phoenix eyes and said, "Why do you have so many colors?"
Her soft voice was like a gentle breeze, so faint that one might mistake it for an illusion if not paying attention. But Raize was not among those who would miss it.
"You also have a pair of extraordinary eyes, great artist." Looking at the girl before him, Raize's gaze carried no emotion. After carefully examining her clear, pure eyes, he returned the compliment calmly.
Mashiro was clean inside and out, and her beautiful eyes clearly perceived the world differently from ordinary people. In the eyes of an artist, the world itself might be different. Raize didn't know what she had seen in him, nor did he have much interest in exploring it further.
At Raize's compliment, confusion surfaced in the girl's eyes.
The pure girl was very pure, but she was neither stupid nor dull. She was simply born with this kind of personality.
With her keen senses and vision, the girl saw a "color" on Raize that was different from the people coming and going around him, which made her extremely curious.
"Hey, riddler, go away already. Don't talk using things I don't understand. Raize, could it be that you've taken a liking to my Mashiro?"
Watching the two of them converse at a frequency ordinary people couldn't understand, Ayano, who had a bit of a temper, secretly added salt into the dessert on the table, then took a hard bite and spoke up.
She even reached out to hug Mashiro beside her, pressing her cheek against Mashiro's, and looked at Raize with a teasing smile.
Facing Ayano's carefree teasing, Raize tasted the dessert the waiter had just placed down. After that, he ignored her teasing and took out a thick bundle of manuscript pages from his handbag, placing them on the table.
"My time is tight. Looks like you brought another motive along with submitting the manuscript this time, Ayano-nee."
Resting his chin on one hand on the table, a pair of pale blue eyes like the sky stared straight at Ayano, making cold sweat slowly form on her back.
Since his debut, Raize had never delayed a manuscript. When it came time to submit, he always handed over a large stack of pages at once to his editor. After he gained popularity and became famous, he even directly handed over complete manuscripts.
This time, he had brought over the complete manuscript for JOJO Part Five and handed it to her to handle.
Trying to divert attention, Ayano released the dazed little Mashiro, picked up the manuscripts on the table, and began flipping through them quickly.
Mashiro, standing to the side, looked with shining eyes at the delicate manuscripts in front of Ayano. Although the art style felt very unusual to her, after watching for a short while, she was drawn in by Raize's immersive drawing style.
"May I… take a look?"
Mashiro was completely attracted by the manuscripts and spoke to Raize.
She knew that casually looking at someone else's unpublished manuscripts was rude, so she politely asked for permission first.
"You may."
Raize smiled and nodded. He had quite a good impression of Mashiro. He didn't refuse the request of such a pure, ethereal girl.
He was merely a porter laying the groundwork for games. Compared to Mashiro, a girl with extremely high attainment in art, he was really nothing special. Having his work viewed by a world-class painter was an honor to him.
After receiving Raize's permission, Mashiro carefully took the manuscripts that Ayano had finished reading and placed aside, blinking her beautiful phoenix eyes as she read them seriously.
Naturally, Ayano didn't mind Mashiro's actions either, since the owner of the manuscripts had already agreed.
Raize ate his dessert bit by bit, while Ayano rapidly and carefully flipped through the pages for inspection.
The quality of the work was still impeccable. After finishing her accelerated reading, she carefully placed the manuscripts back on the table and stored them away, under Mashiro's reluctant gaze.
Raize's art style was just as refined as hers, and it carried a kind of magic that pulled people into the story. While flipping through it, it felt as though one truly entered an interesting world.
This was exactly the trait Mashiro had always wanted to pursue. Ayano had also pointed out the shortcomings of her manga before.
"Dugo-sensei, are we signing the contract the same way as before?"
After finishing her review, Ayano became serious, and the way she addressed Raize changed to "sensei."
In response, Raize calmly said, "How many times do I need to repeat myself, Ayano-nee?"
"So it's still not possible…"
Ayano gave a bitter smile. She had already known the answer.
After his manga became popular, Raize kept all derivative rights firmly in his own hands. Since he planned to make games, it was impossible for him to let those rights go.
Animation adaptations were fine, but he would first thoroughly evaluate the other party. He firmly believed in quality over quantity. If someone only wanted to cash in on his manga without putting effort into production, Raize would never hand it over.
For example, after JOJO became popular, many companies wanted to animate it. Under Raize's careful selection and intervention, many were rejected. In the end, only one met his standards.
Voice acting, animation quality—none of it could be lacking. Under his obsessive insistence, the JOJO trilogy appeared in this world. Part Four was already in production, and its quality was no worse than what he remembered from his previous life.
If that animation studio continued to meet his standards, what would be wrong with giving them the rights again?
To Raize, manga was merely a necessary step to pave the way for games. He didn't care much about the profits. Anyone who tried to obstruct or ruin his groundwork was absolutely unacceptable.
Ayano naturally understood his obsession in this area. Without overwhelming strength, it was impossible to obtain those derivative copyrights from him, and Raize would never place trust in manga publishers in this regard.
"Raize, it's not that I won't give up—it's just that the people above me won't. They keep wanting to tie you to their war chariot."
Ayano wore a helpless expression. In the end, she was just an employee. Raize was the son of her friend, so she would never harm him.
As Raize's value continued to rise, some people naturally wanted to pull him to their side.
As for recruitment attempts, Raize usually made careful choices. But when it came to his fundamental interests, he would never compromise.
Ayano took out a contract from her handbag and handed it to him.
"Here. It's still according to your requirements. We originally prepared two copies, but honestly, that felt unnecessary."
Raize silently took the contract, carefully checked it, and signed after confirming there were no issues.
"By the way, Ayano-nee, I won't be drawing JOJO Part Six for the time being. After some time, I'll give you a new manga."
"Huh!? JOJO is so popular and has such a bright future. Why stop now?"
Holding the signed contract, Ayano was in a very good mood. Raize was unlike ordinary authors who delayed endlessly. This weirdo had never taken a break. Every submission was either several installments at once or a complete work.
But hearing that he wouldn't continue JOJO for now left her unable to understand. After all, JOJO was what made him famous, and its popularity was at its peak. Continuing it would definitely have a great future.
Previously, when Raize paused JOJO, he released Dragon Ball. Although its quality was excellent, its popularity couldn't quite match JOJO at the time. She thought he was just taking a break to find inspiration.
Dragon Ball's first part had popularity second only to JOJO, but once Dragon Ball Z was released, it would be on an entirely different level—far beyond JOJO.
That was one of the most explosive phenomenon-level manga of his previous life. JOJO was good, but it simply couldn't compare.
Of course, Raize didn't tell Ayano all of this. There was no need. He let facts speak for themselves.
"Don't worry. Didn't I say it already? I'll give you a new manga. The quality definitely won't be weaker than JOJO."
"Then… alright."
Seeing Raize's firm and confident expression, Ayano swallowed the words she wanted to say. He was a true professional and wouldn't do anything without confidence.
After finishing the business discussion, Ayano moved on to a request. She immediately took out another set of manuscripts from her handbag and handed them to him.