"Delayed release?"
In an apartment, a man in his thirties jumped up and exclaimed, "What a joke!"
Angrily, he said to the man opposite him, Sun-san, editor of Weekly Shōnen: "Weekly magazines have reading habits. Your behavior will ruin the reputation accumulated over the years. It's simply incomprehensible!"
It takes years for a magazine to cultivate fixed reading habits. However, if the release is delayed for no reason, this behavior will make readers lose confidence after a while, and it's also unfair to other mangaka.
"Tomato, calm down!"
Sun-san explained, sweating, nervous: "The company also found it difficult to make this decision, but Mirai-sensei was very active and hardworking in front of The Detective Sherlock. All the editors want to help him."
"Just because he's a genius?"
The man called Tomato is actually Takeda Yuanhua, a veteran mangaka at Hinotori Publishing: "You're biased against geniuses again, no matter the company!"
"..."
Sun-san was speechless. Before publishing his original manga, Takeda was a mangaka at Tatsuryū Publishing. He was abandoned due to a dispute with a talented artist. Although he later switched to Hinotori Publishing, he also started to develop a prejudice against geniuses.
He is a hard worker. He lacks talent and has gotten this far through effort.
At that moment, Sun-san suddenly remembered that when he took over Takeda, he heard that the person he had had a dispute with was an idol mangaka. 'Wasn't that Mach, who won the manga adaptation of The Detective Sherlock? No wonder he was so angry. Mach and Mirai-sensei were geniuses. It was normal for Takeda to feel imbalanced.'
Sun-san could only console him and change the subject.
However, he didn't know that Takeda's anger hadn't subsided. The professional mangaka went to the bookstore early the next day to buy Weekly Shōnen. He wanted to see what was so special about the manga that Mirai-sensei had delayed for a day.
If the content was the same as usual, Takeda would have to consider changing jobs, because drawing manga would be the same wherever he went. 'He didn't want to stay in a company that favored geniuses and ignored the lives of other mangaka!'
After a one-day delay, Weekly Shōnen was successfully published.
Takeda found the bookstore emptier than in previous weeks. He sneered inwardly. 'Apparently, yesterday's incident had caused some readers to give up on this issue of Weekly Shōnen.' However, many still bought it. Takeda grabbed it when only three copies were left.
Takeda was stunned when he first saw this issue of Weekly Shōnen.
The cover showed a strange man whose face was not clearly visible. He wore a high-brimmed hat, a white suit, and a monocle over his right eye. He was dressed as a magician and stood on the rooftop of a building. Helicopters flew overhead and a brightly lit city lay behind him. He appeared distant and mysterious.
"Oh my God! How handsome he is!"
The girl's exclamation beside him interrupted Takeda's thoughts. He was shocked and jealous. 'This painting, this dazzling beauty, was a scene he could never draw. It was something only a few could do. It was magnificent artistic skill, a true display of prowess!'
Mirai-sensei, an irritating genius.
Takeda opened Weekly Shōnen with jealousy. As expected, Detective Conan was ranked first in the serialization list. The next day, 'what kind of story would it tell? The murder of a magician? Was such a beautiful cover prepared just for a case?'
However, the beginning of the plot bewildered Takeda. He didn't see the man on the cover, and the plot didn't seem to be about a magician. The beginning was very simple. The detective agency where Conan worked received the task of guarding jewels, warning that an international thief would come to steal them.
This is a legendary and internationally renowned thief who has committed crimes in 12 countries, including the United States, Great Britain, and France. He specializes in stealing high-value works of art and jewelry. The total number of stolen items exceeds 150, and his criminal code is 1412.
"Thief?"
Takeda harbored an absurd conjecture. 'Could it be that the handsome man on the cover was a thief? Shouldn't a thief cover his face and sneak around? How could he dress like a magician? Impossible...' He continued reading.
Conan and his group didn't find the thief in the exhibition hall. They returned to the detective agency. In the dead of night, Conan discreetly went out to catch the thief alone. It turned out that he had already deciphered the code left by the thief and had cornered him on the building's rooftop.
The mysterious thief fell from the sky like a bird. He was elegant and calm. He was, without a doubt, the magician from the cover!
Takeda was very surprised. 'How could he appear from the sky? And besides, he could be drawn like that. He had never seen such an elegant and well-dressed thief in novels and manga.'
"Kid..."
He continued reading enthusiastically.
Conan used his reasoning abilities as always. He prepared fireworks in advance and used them to attract the police's attention from afar. Normally, Kid should be caught like other criminals.
However, Kid's actions were even more unexpected. He calmly took out his walkie-talkie, mimicked the police chief's voice, and gave orders to all surrounding police forces. The most surprising thing was that he called all police forces to the building where he was located and was instantly surrounded by the police.
"What the hell is this!"
Takeda was confused. He couldn't understand Kid's actions. 'Why had he fallen into the trap? Since he could command the police, why didn't he take the opportunity to escape?'
The next plot answered him...
"Little brother, let me tell you. If a thief is a creative artist who steals treasures with magnificent techniques, then a detective is just a critic who follows the thief and makes a fuss about the treasures."
The thief Kid said this to Conan calmly and elegantly, surrounded by police.
Then, a smoke bomb fell from his sleeve and he disappeared; yes, this thief disappeared from the top of the building with miraculous skills. Surrounded by the entire police force, no one knew how he escaped.
'Like a magician...'
Takeda was sweating behind his back. 'Kid was mysterious, evil, attractive, and handsome, and seemed omnipotent. In a single chapter, the charm of the character created by Mirai-sensei shocked professional mangaka. It is conceivable that Kid's character would be a great stimulus for readers!'
But this thief broke the myth of protagonist Conan's reasoning. 'Is this appropriate? How will the subsequent development continue?'
"This is the first volume of the Kid chapter of Detective Conan. The "Detective Single Book," which is released next week, will give away the second volume of the Kid chapter!"
On the last page, the book was openly advertised. Takeda knew the answer and couldn't help but take a deep breath. 'It turned out that this was a harbinger of the book. If you want to know how Conan can fight back against the thief, you can only buy the book.'
This issue of Weekly Shōnen is extremely dominant. It is simply a perfect calculation, step by step. It is terrible. Mirai-sensei is even worse than Mach, because he obviously has one more quality.