Bakuman 73

Chapter 73

01

Father: Well, it's clear you're not doing this because you got her pregnant...

Father: but Kaya's only 19.
Title: Page 73 Fate and Star
Takagi: Yes, I'm sorry.
Miyoshi: Why are you apologizing?

Left margin: The marriage meeting is making him shake with anxiety!!

Takagi: I guess if you think about it normally, they won't agree...

Mother: I was 19 when we got married.
Miyoshi: That's right.

Father: But I was 26 and we were both working. You're still students.

Takagi: Yes, I'm sorry.
Miyoshi: I said to stop apologizing.

Miyoshi: You're always saying that no guy would want to marry an unrefined girl like me. And that if one did you wanted to see him.
Miyoshi: Well Akito-san here would be glad to take me.
Miyoshi: And here's what he looks like. Isn't he handsome!?

Takagi: ...Sorry.

02

Father: A mangaka with potential, huh...?
Takagi: Sorry.
Miyoshi: He doesn't just have potential. He's already had a serialization and has a new one starting in February.

Mother: ...Wasn't your best friend a mangaka?
Father: Don't bring that up now...

Mashiro: Right about now, Shujin must be being told that he's too young or that he can't have their daughter because a mangaka's future isn't set.
SFX: *draw*
SFX: *draw*

Father: He literally risked his life drawing manga. He died doing it.

Miyoshi: ...He died?

Miyoshi: Was your best friend Kawaguchi Tarou?

03

Father: Yes, he was Mishiro Nobuhiro...His pen-name was "Kawaguchi Tarou".

Takagi: Wow.

Father: We were in the same class in kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th grades, and for most of middle and high school. We were childhood friends and kindred spirits. He was the best friend I've ever had.
Father: How did you know it was him?

Miyoshi: I told you Akito-san is doing the writing, right? Well, the art is being done by Kawaguchi Tarou's nephew, Mashiro Moritaka-kun.

Father: So that would be Mashiro Masahiro-senpai's kid...
Miyoshi: Oh, you knew Moritaka-kun's father, too?
Father: He was the team captain of the middle school Judo team when I was a first year.

Father: The world...no, Yakusa truly is small.
Miyoshi: Yeah, it feels kind of like fate.

Mother: That's right. Your mangaka best friend's nephew is making a manga with the person who's going to marry our daughter.

Takagi: Since they know how Kawaguchi Tarou died, they might be even more against this...

Father: It is moving...but that and this marriage are two different things.
Takagi: I knew it...

04

Father: Making manga together, huh...?
Takagi: Sorry.

Father: Can you call that Mashiro Moritaka-kun here as well?
Takagi: Eh?
Miyoshi: Why?

Father: If they're working together, I want to know about him too.
Father: I want to test his will-power as well as Akito-kun's.

Miyoshi: Test their will-power...?

Father: I want you to spar with me in the empty dojo.
Miyoshi: Ehhh!?
Takagi: S-spar? So we're going to have a karate match?
Miyoshi: Well, it's not quite the same as a match.

Father: That's right. That way I can see how much will-power you have. If you pass, I'll agree to the marriage.
Mother: Ah ha ha. This sounds like something you would see in a manga. And it's very like you.

Takagi: ...Sparring...

05

Mashiro: Hey, Shujin. Was it a no go?
Takagi: Saiko, please come here and spar with Miyoshi's father!

SFX: Pfff
Mashiro: Huh!?
Mashiro: What are you saying all of a sudden!?

Takagi: He said he wants to see how much will-power we have. I'm begging you!
Mashiro: But I don't have anything to do with this.
Takagi: We're a team! The two of us act together!

Mashiro: I'm afraid of strangers... And about this will-power thing...We're not sports-oriented. We're more cultural.
Takagi: I know. That's probably why we look weak to her dad. He's more sports-oriented. Please! Come over to Miyoshi's house!

Takagi: It seems Miyoshi's dad was a good friend of Kawaguchi Tarou.
Mashiro: My uncle's friend...?
Takagi: After that came to light, things started looking better. But that's when he brought up this will-power test.

Mashiro: U-understood. We're friends too after all...
Takagi: O-ohhh! Thanks. We'll be waiting!

06

Mashiro: *sigh* I give up.
Mashiro: And on top of it all he's a friend of my uncle.

Mashiro: Oh, you're all outside already.

Mashiro: Hello, I'm Mashiro Moritaka.
Father: You've grown up. I saw you briefly at Nobu's funeral.
Mashiro: Oh, is that so?

Father: Okay, let's head to the dojo.
Miyoshi: Let's go!

Father: You don't have to come, Kaya.
Miyoshi: Why!? I want to cheer him on.
Father: That cheering would be distracting. I want this to be just between us guys.

Takagi: I'll do my best, Kaya-san.
Miyohi: O-okay. Good luck, Akito-san.

Miyoshi: Will they be okay?
Mother: If he's going to the sparring, he's already accepted him.

07

Mashiro: Um...I'm a professional manga artist, so I don't want to use my right hand in the sparring. Will that be okay?
Father: Well said. You need to say what needs to be said. Nobu was the same kind of person.

Father: Is here fine?
Takagi: Sparring at a family restaurant!?

Father: There are things that are hard to say in front of my wife and daughter. The sparring was just an excuse to call you two out.
Mashiro & Takagi: Eh?

Father: Nobu was my best friend, but he was also my rival in love.
Takagi: Your rival in love?

Mashiro: Is this about Haruno Miyuki-san?
Father: ...I'm shocked.

Takagi: We're renting the studio that Kawaguchi Tarou left behind from Moritaka-kun's grandfather. We saw the letters from her there.

Father: I see, so you're there.
Father: I went there to play a lot.

08

Father: It's a common story. During the night on a field trip in the second year of middle school, Nobu and I told each other what girl we liked for the first time.

Father: I like Haruno Miyuki.

Nobu: So do I...
Father: You too, huh? I've liked her since first year.
Nobu: It's been since the 5th year of elementary school for me.

Father: I wonder if the other guys like her too.
Nobu: I'm sure some others do, but Haruno isn't really the type to go out with, is she? She's so quiet.

Father: Maybe we're the only ones that like her and she actually wants to go out with a guy.
Nobu: Then confess to her.

Father: You're fine with that? I mean, you like her too.
Nobu: It's a bit complicated, but I'm fine if it's you, Yoshi.

Nobu: I'm not quite sure what it means to "go out" with someone. If she agrees, what happens?
Father: Come to think of it, I don't know either? Do you exchange diaries? Well, whatever you do, it makes you a couple. And if some other guy starts going out with her, it's over.

Father: So during the spring break between the 2nd and 3rd years of middle school, I confessed to her. We were all in the same class for the 3rd year, too.
Takagi: ...So you confessed to her?

09

Nobu: No good, huh, Yoshi?
Father: She said she isn't going out with anyone, but that there's someone she likes.
Nobu: I see. So there's someone Haruno likes.

Takagi: Th-that's too bad.

Father: And on our graduation day...
Nobu: Yoshi, I'm only going to tell you about this.
Father: What is it?

Nobu: I got a letter from Haruno.
Father: Ehhhh!?
Father: So the person she liked was...?
Father: I was just a fool?

Nobu: Sorry...
Nobu: But it isn't a love letter.
Nobu: It just says "Let's both do our best in high school, too."
Father: She's just shy. Getting something like that from Miyuki-chan is like a once in a lifetime confession!

Father: Ah...Maybe she didn't just say she likes you because she knows we're friends and she didn't want to destroy our relationship because I'd confessed to her.
Nobu: ...You'd have to be really optimistic to see it that way.

Father: I'm really jealous, but, since it's you, I'm fine with it. It's better than having some other guy take her. And you did say it'd be fine if it was me last year.
Nobu: ...Then can I write back to her?
Father: ...Nobu.
Father: Go for it.

10

Takagi: We know the rest from reading the letters. Miyuki-san ended up marrying someone else without them having ever told each other that they loved each other.
Father: Yes...

Mashiro: I heard that he once tried to confess to her, but she had become the secretary of the president of a company and he couldn't do it due to the difference in status he felt.
Father: What an idiot. Who knows what would've happened if he'd confessed then.

Takagi: Um...
Father: Hm?

Takagi: Miyuki-san's daughter was our classmate in middle school and is currently going out with Moritaka-kun.

Mashiro: Shujin...Because of that last conversation, we'd gotten on track for him agreeing to your marriage.

Takagi: And her daughters name is Miho-san and she's Kaya-san's best friend! Doesn't this seem like too much to just be a coincidence?
Father: Miho-chan, huh? I've heard Kaya talk about her. The world really is a small place. This really could be some kind of fate.

Takagi: Miho-san has been aiming to be a voice actress since she was in middle school and is currently working as one. We're going to have her play the heroine if our manga gets an anime. And

Moritaka-kun and she promised that, once that dream comes true, they would get married.

11

Father: If you get an anime, huh? If she loves you, she shouldn't need that kind of condition.
Mashiro: Actually, I'm the one that came up with it.

Father: Why? You just have to say, "I love you."
Nobu: I just got lucky with this serialization. It's only monthly and it might end in 4 or 5 chapters. I have to be a qualified mangaka first.
Father: You don't have to go that far to just say, "I love you."
Nobu: Yeah, but I want to marry her.

Father: If I'm going to go out with her, I want to do so with the intention of marrying her.

Father: I see. So that's what you're thinking. With how stubborn you are, nothing I say is going to help.
Nobu: I'll do my best. I'll...I'll become the most popular mangaka.

Father: If you succeed you'll get married, huh? Are all uncles and nephews this similar?
Takagi: But Moritaka-kun and Miho-san have already confirmed each other's feelings.

12

Father: Then I have no choice but to root for you.

Father: Become a top-notch mangaka and marry Miho-chan.
Father: Get revenge for Nobu.
Father: Although that might be exaggerating things.

Takagi: Um... I'm more interested in Kaya-san and me...
Father: Then how about you two also get married when you get an anime?

Takagi: Once we get an anime...?

Father: Just kidding. I just said you don't need that kind of condition if you love each other.
Takagi: Eh?

Father: From seeing what happened to Nobu I know that if you love someone you need to be with them as soon as you can. As for if your manga doesn't sell, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. If you do your best, everything will work out in the end. And you seem like you'll do your best.
Takagi: Th-then you approve?

Father: I'll find you a nice place to stay. But in exchange I want it to be near our house.
Takagi: Th-thank you very much!

13

Mashiro: Awesome. You did it!
Takagi: Ahhh. Thank god.

Takagi: Oh, sorry. All my energy just left me. Thank you, father.
Father: Don't worry about it. When I met my wife's parents and got their approval, I lost my energy too.

Mashiro: So you're really getting married. I'm both jealous and scared.
Takagi: Y-yeah. Our livelihood depends on it, so we have to do our best on our manga.

Father: Just so you know, the world is a harsh place.
Takagi: We know. We heard that Mashiro's uncle started working towards being a mangaka when he entered college. We've been at it since middle school. We're sure to be famous.

Father: It's true it was in college for Nobu, but I feel it was more that he became one than that he tried to become one.
Takagi: Oh, is that so?

Father: He was an idea man. From elementary school through high school his grades in drawing and the arts were good. He was especially good at drawing.
Takagi: Ehhh!? Kawaguchi Tarou was good at drawing!? You're joking.

Father: He was good as a student, but he was ignorant of the real world.
Mashiro: Yeah. He said he only realized he wasn't any good at it when he went pro.
Takagi: I see. So that's what happened.

14

Father: And he wasn't exactly popular, but he had a great gag sense in the funny things he would whisper.
Takagi: Oh, like what?
Father: Hmm, it was only in whispers, so...

Father: Oh, in our first year of middle school...

Teacher: So no matter the story, there's a lesson we can learn from it. For example, there's the story of "The Big Stump" that is told in the lower grades of elementary school. Can anyone tell me what the stump was?

Nobu: Sally's little brother.
Miyuki: Hee hee
Father: Bh

Takagi: Wow, that was lame. But it's amazingly Kawaguchi Tarou-like.
Mashiro: I don't get it.
Takagi: Don't you know "Sally the Witch"? Her little brother's name was Kabu.
[TN: Kabu is Japanese for stump.]

Father: Miyuki-chan sat diagonally in front of Nobu and I didn't like that she giggled at his jokes.
Takagi: Ha ha.

Father: And he was a stubborn guy who would always go through with something once he'd decided on it.
Takagi: Like what!?

Father: Hmm. We were both pretty bad.
Takagi: Eh? You were delinquents? Well, I can kind of see it with you, but...

15

Father: Well, that was the golden age of delinquents...
Father: but that's not what I meant by bad.
Top Box: Long Uniforms
Middle Box: Baggy Pants
Bottom Right Box: Biker Gangs
Bottom Left Box: Thinner Sniffing

Father: For example, there was the North-Star Test.
[TN: The North-Star Test is a mock exam for the high school entrance exams.]
Takagi: We have that now, too. By the way, I always got almost perfect scores!

Father: They had us take them on Sundays, and we would never take them because we thought having to go to school on a Sunday was wrong.
Takagi: In this age where we have school on Saturdays, I kind of understand.
Father: The teachers threatened by saying we weren't going to be able to go to high school, but we never took it even once.
Takagi: You were fearless, no manly! I love people like that.
Father: Similarly, in the third year of middle school, there was a morning study session that started 30 minutes early to prepare for exams, but we thought it was wrong to be forced to come for anything other than class, so we didn't go to them either.
Takagi: Ohh...

Father: If you didn't come, you had to kneel throughout the lunch break and we were the only ones.
Takagi: So you just took it!? Exactly what I would have expected of you!

Box: After talking with Miyoshi's father like that, we told Miyoshi that we passed the test of will-power and left.

16

Takagi: I'm so glad her parents are such good people...!
Mashiro: I had a lot of fun listening to her dad's stories. We really did get along. We even have the same taste in women. He likes "Suu-chan" from Candies, "Kei-chan" from Pink Lady, and "Sonoko-chan" from Onyanko.
Takagi: Who are you emailing?
Mashiro: I'm just telling Azuki about your marriage. Although Miyoshi might have already told her.
SFX: *beep*
SFX: *beep*

Miho: Waah!

Takagi: Oh, I've got a call.
SFX: Bvvv

Takagi: It's Azuki...
Mashiro: So instead of replying to me she calls you, huh?

Miho: Congratulations, Takagi-kun.
Takagi: Thanks. I'm gonna work hard to make sure you and Saiko get married as soon as possible!

Miho: You're always going to be friends with Kaya...and Mashiro-kun aren't you?
Takagi: And you too, Azuki-san.
Miho: Oh, thank you. I need to call Kaya. I ended up calling you first. Congratulations again.
Takagi: Okay.

Takagi: Okaaaay! Let's do this. Let's make "Tanto" a huge hit!
Mashiro: Yeah! You and Miyoshi's livelihood counts on it!

17

Box: January 15th The New Year's Party

Mashiro: Since Takahama-san became our assistant, we can make it somehow, but not having any other assistants is a problem.

Takagi: Kawaguchi Tarou was a bit of a gag writer even when he was a kid...
Takagi: What about me?
Takagi: I've can't think of any more gags for the Chapter 4 storyboard.

Mashiro: Shujin, are you listening?
Takagi: Hm? You said something about our assistants.
Driver: We've arrived.

Mashiro: Last year, both Aoki-san's and our serializations were coming to an end, so it was a bit complicated. But this time everyone in the Fukuda Group has a serialization, so this should be fun.
Mashiro: Even if Nakai-san isn't here.
Takagi: ...We have Iwase in his place.

Miura: Oh, you're here! Sorry, but I still have some stuff to get ready, so just do whatever. There are plenty of people you know here.
Mashiro: Okay.

18

Mashiro: Oh, it's Hattori-san.
Takagi: Good evening.
Hattori: Oh, congrats on the serialization.

Mashiro & Takagi: Eh?

Hattori: Akina-kun, the 7th chapter was really well done. But you don't have to write the 8th chapter yet.
Aiko: But you said on the phone that Chapter 7 was good and didn't need any corrections.
Guy: Hey, I was talking to her.

Takagi: Iwase...
Takagi: She's already on the 8th chapter and Hattori-san says it's good...

Editor: Niizuma-kun, I'm shocked. You have real talent to do that much with Akina-kun's novel-style story.
Yuujirou: Niizuma-kun, are you really okay with 5 assistants?
Eiji: I'm gonna be the best mangaka.
Hattori: Oh, Niizuma-kun. Natural's story is done through Chapter 7.

Mashiro: Eiji...
Mashiro: He has 5 assistants.
Takagi: Well, Hattori-san is his editor.
Mashiro: Isn't he being kind of cold to us?

19

Niizuma: Hattori-san, I want to see that 7th chapter as soon as possible.
Hattori: Okay, you can see it after the party.
Mashiro: Normally he would be yelling "Ashirogi-sensei!"

Fukuda: I don't know for sure, but it seems Natural's advance reviews are good. Akina's making a huge deal over it.
Mashiro: Fukuda-san!

Editor: The idea to have Niizuma-kun draw it was great. Hattori is the shining star of the editorial department.
Hattori: Stop it, Heishi-san.
Eiji: That's right, Hattori-san is...

Eiji: the stubborn shining star!!

Takagi: As usual, I have no idea what he means.

Mashiro: ...Stubborn star??

Mashiro: Anyway, it looks like the editorial department is expecting more of "Natural" than of "Tanto". Let's turn it around.
Takagi: Yeah. I don't want to lose to Iwase and this time we'll surpass Eiji!
Text: Next will be the report of who is the star of Jump!!