"A painter?" Fumiya Jin raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, Ms. Shiina is a genius oil painter who can be called an artist," Ms. Andou took out her phone, searched for an overview of Shiina Mashiro's work, and then handed it to Fumiya Jin.
"Take a look, these are her works. She's been winning awards left and right these past few years. This year alone, she held solo art exhibitions at two major venues: the Tate in London and the Grand Palais in Paris. Countless renowned artists were amazed by her after viewing her exhibitions, and many have already decided she is a figure destined to be recorded in the annals of European art history."
Fumiya Jin took the phone and had a look.
Although he was a man of simple tastes and didn't know much about oil painting, just by clicking on the images and glancing at them, he could feel the colors and artistic conception bursting forth.
An ordinary genius's talent might be misunderstood by the mediocre and thus go unnoticed. But the talent of a top-tier genius is so dazzling that it simply cannot be ignored.
By the time he returned the phone to the editor, Fumiya Jin fully understood just how exaggeratedly talented this young woman was at painting.
No wonder she could obtain a conceptual-level drawing skill in the Samsara Game, something akin to Ma Liang's Magic Brush.
"She's truly incredible," Fumiya Jin nodded, looking at Shiina Mashiro with a hint of admiration.
But he found that Shiina Mashiro was still staring straight at him, her crystal-like eyes shimmering brightly.
It seemed that throughout the entire conversation between Fumiya Jin and the editor, Shiina Mashiro had not averted her gaze at all; she had just been watching Fumiya Jin with rapt attention.
"Oh, right, I got so caught up in the introductions that Ms. Shiina is still standing," Ms. Andou smiled apologetically and quickly shifted her position, moving further inward.
The table they were at was a four-seater. On either side of the square glass coffee table, there was a long sofa that could seat two to three people.
Ms. Andou moved to the spot by the window, freeing up the seat closer to the aisle and gesturing for Shiina Mashiro to come and sit down to talk.
This was also in consideration of the fact that Shiina Mashiro was a girl and Fumiya Jin was a boy, and since they were meeting for the first time, it would definitely be inappropriate for them to sit together.
"Ms. Shiina, please come and have a seat."
But upon hearing this, Shiina Mashiro didn't go over.
She paused for a moment, then walked over to Fumiya Jin's side.
Fumiya Jin was sitting relatively close to the center of the sofa, so there was still some empty space on either side of him.
Shiina Mashiro actually sat right down next to him.
Her fair, soft arm gently brushed against Fumiya Jin's arm.
But she didn't seem to mind. Instead, she turned her head and continued to look straight at Fumiya Jin, her eyes shimmering with a myriad of colors.
"Huh?" Ms. Andou was taken aback, sensing that something was amiss. "You two... do you know each other?"
Fumiya Jin shook his head unequivocally. "No, we don't."
The fact that they had met in the Samsara Game was something that ordinary people absolutely could not know.
So Fumiya Jin set the tone for the question before the girl could answer. As long as she wasn't too slow, she should understand what he meant and not expose him.
As it turned out, the girl was indeed not slow.
She paused, then also shook her head. "We don't know each other, but... I feel like I've seen him somewhere before."
Ms. Andou was slightly startled, then suddenly burst into laughter. "Isn't this just like the male and female protagonists in a novel? But... come to think of it, you two are indeed about the same age as the protagonists, and you're a perfect pair of a handsome man and a beautiful woman. If a live-action version were to be made in the future, with your looks as the male and female leads, it would definitely be a nationwide hit."
Of course, Ms. Andou was just joking. After all, acting requires more than just good looks.
And at that moment, Fumiya Jin was in no mood to play along.
Because the girl beside him was full of too many unknowns.
And unknowns could harbor danger.
"Ms. Shiina, why do you want to illustrate this book?" Fumiya Jin looked at Shiina Mashiro beside him and asked.
"I saw the book online and liked it a lot," Shiina Mashiro answered straightforwardly.
"When did you see it?"
"A week ago."
As she said this, Shiina Mashiro suddenly remembered something, opened the tote bag she had brought with her, and took out a tablet.
She turned on the tablet, opened an already completed drawing, and handed it to Fumiya Jin.
"I tried drawing one."
Fumiya Jin looked down.
It could be considered a piece of concept art.
Under a brilliant starry sky, two figures stood on the left and right sides. The background on the left was the countryside, a torii gate, mountains and fields.
The background on the right was skyscrapers, a bustling streetscape.
The two figures were so minuscule in their respective backgrounds.
But at the same moment, they looked up at the same starry sky, as if they had faintly reached some kind of resonance.
"I don't know what happens later in the story, so... I drew it based on feeling," the girl said, looking earnestly at Fumiya Jin, awaiting his evaluation.
Fumiya Jin looked at it quietly for about five seconds.
And then...
He nodded.
In terms of composition alone, it wasn't a particularly remarkable stroke of genius, but it could be said to fit the mood of the original work.
However, the girl's use of color and her conveyance of the scene's mood were truly incredible. It surpassed the limits of what words could describe, perfectly expressing the feeling of being separated by a world of distance yet sensing each other's presence.
Of course, from the perspective of a typical light novel illustration, this picture didn't clearly depict the faces of the male and female protagonists, only their blurry figures. It might seem unqualified.
But Fumiya Jin knew very well that for a work like Your Name, the mood, the sense of story, and that feeling of striving to meet each other across space and time were more important than the characters' beauty.
And when it came to expressing these more complex concepts and moods, Shiina Mashiro, who was herself a genius artist for whom sketching out an atmosphere was as easy as drinking soup, was likely a dimensional reduction strike compared to ordinary illustrators who typically focus more on character design.
"It's great. The feeling is spot on," Fumiya Jin said sincerely.
Shiina Mashiro's watery eyes lit up, and she seemed very happy.
Meanwhile, Fumiya Jin secretly opened the modification log to take a look... the earliest date was from a few days ago. This meant the girl had drawn it several days prior.
So she hadn't doxxed him and sought him out on purpose, but had really just encountered him again by pure coincidence, wanting to illustrate a work she liked?
This discovery lowered Fumiya Jin's guard slightly.
"Right? Right? The quality is very high, isn't it?" Ms. Andou smiled. "The publishing house also saw her art and realized her skill level was extremely high, which is why we're considering this collaboration. Plus, Ms. Shiina is famous, a beautiful and genius painter, which generates a lot of buzz. She's a good match for you, Fumiya-san, our genius young author. If we combine these factors, our promotional efforts could easily have an explosive effect... But of course, all of this still depends on Fumiya-san's own opinion."
Fumiya Jin, of course, understood this logic—beautiful girls have always been very popular. Even a girl whose looks are just slightly above average can easily attract a large following if she becomes a painter or a writer.
Not to mention a genuine top-tier beauty and genius painter like Shiina Mashiro. For someone like her to enter the ACG community in Japan, the promotional effect would be absolutely nuclear.
And if you add to that the decent quality of the work, plus the small extra boost from Fumiya Jin himself as a young, handsome author...
Money.
He saw lots and lots of money.
Although Fumiya Jin himself wasn't too obsessed with money, why not earn it if you can? Wouldn't it be nice to live in a huge mansion with his cute wives in the future?
"I think... we can do it," Fumiya Jin nodded and said.
Shiina Mashiro's eyes instantly became incredibly bright, as if the brilliance of the entire starry galaxy had converged in her gaze alone...
______
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