After their feast, Shiraishi Ritsu took Smeargle to their usual art supply store.
The moment they entered, Smeargle made a beeline for the premium paints section.
"Smear!"
He excitedly picked up a box of paints and turned to Shiraishi Ritsu.
"Buy it!"
"Smear!"
He picked up a set of professional brushes next.
"Buy it!"
"Smear!"
Then came a stack of high-quality drawing paper.
"Buy it all!"
The clerk stood nearby, watching in stunned disbelief.
What had gotten into this young customer today?
On his previous visits, he had carefully compared the prices of different drawing papers.
Now he was buying things without the slightest hesitation!
When it was time to pay, Shiraishi Ritsu looked at the bill and finally felt a little sting.
"Ouch... that really added up."
Smeargle hugged his newly purchased paints, looking utterly blissful.
"Smear!"
Shiraishi Ritsu glanced at him.
"All right, we need it all for work anyway."
Then he could not help adding something else.
"But, partner, we may have money now, but you can't shop like this every day from now on!"
Smeargle nodded immediately.
Whether he would be tempted the next time he saw newly released paints was a matter for another day.
That afternoon, at the studio.
Shiraishi Ritsu put away the new art supplies, while Smeargle had already eagerly begun trying out his new paints.
Just then, Kikkawa Maho called.
"Mr. Masuda, did you buy a lot of things today?"
"Huh? How did you know?"
"The art supply store owner just called me."
"What?"
"He said you ordered so many large sheets of drawing paper that he's arranging a delivery tomorrow. He wanted to check whether you needed the publisher to help carry them."
Shiraishi Ritsu immediately felt a little embarrassed.
"Haha, I bought a little extra."
Kikkawa Maho gave a helpless laugh.
"It seems today's royalty payment really did make you happy."
"Of course!"
"But there's something else I called about."
"Go ahead."
Kikkawa Maho's tone grew serious.
"Mr. Masuda, have you considered hiring a manga assistant?"
Shiraishi Ritsu paused.
"An assistant?"
"Yes."
Kikkawa Maho explained, "Pokémon Adventures has a very steady serialization schedule now, but as the plot progresses, the characters and settings will become increasingly complex."
"Add in volume revisions, promotional illustrations, and any special content that might be added later, and the workload will only keep growing."
Shiraishi Ritsu instinctively looked at Smeargle.
He was sitting at the worktable, engrossed in testing his newly purchased brushes.
Most of the finished artwork had been completed by him alone all this time.
Backgrounds, characters, Pokémon, battle effects...
Almost all the drawing work fell on his shoulders.
Although Smeargle was an excellent artist, there was only one of him, after all.
Whenever a deadline approached, he would still end up swamped.
"You mean finding someone to help share Smeargle's workload?"
"Exactly."
Kikkawa Maho said, "Work like drawing backgrounds, applying screentones, and organizing the artwork can all be handed over to an assistant."
"Smeargle can handle the most important character art and battle scenes, while you continue handling the story and storyboards."
Shiraishi Ritsu gave it some serious thought.
The suggestion was certainly worth considering.
Especially when it came to drawing backgrounds.
Although Smeargle drew well, he had never particularly liked complicated backgrounds.
Whenever it was time to draw city streets, buildings, or large-scale scenes, he would look thoroughly reluctant.
If they could find an assistant who was good at backgrounds...
"Partner!"
"Smear?"
Smeargle looked up.
"What do you think? Should we hire an assistant?"
Smeargle tilted his head and thought for a moment.
Then he quickly drew a picture on the paper.
In it, an assistant sat at a desk, head down as they drew a complicated city background.
Beside them, Smeargle lounged comfortably in a chair, drinking Berry juice.
The corners of Shiraishi Ritsu's mouth twitched at the sight.
"I said they'd help share your workload, not that you could laze around every day!"
"Smear..."
Smeargle set down his brush regretfully.
On the other end of the communicator, Kikkawa Maho heard the exchange and could not help laughing.
"It sounds like Master Smeargle has already agreed."
"Of course he has!"
Shiraishi Ritsu spoke irritably.
"He can't wait to have someone draw backgrounds for him!"
But he soon grew serious again.
"Miss Maho, we can consider hiring an assistant, but we need to take our time choosing."
"In particular, we can't let strangers have access to the studio's address or unpublished manuscripts indiscriminately."
Kikkawa Maho immediately understood what he meant.
Some time ago, someone had specifically asked around about Masuda Senbei's personal information.
She had never forgotten about it.
"Don't worry. We can handle recruitment through the publisher first, then arrange drawing tests and interviews after selecting candidates."
"We'll also prepare the necessary confidentiality agreements in advance."
"Good."
Shiraishi Ritsu nodded.
"We can take our time assessing their drawing skills, but their character has to be up to standard."
"Understood!"
They discussed the assistant's specific duties for a while longer before ending the call.
Leaning back in his chair, Shiraishi Ritsu could not help marveling.
"Who would've thought?"
Smeargle raised his head.
"Smear?"
"We've actually reached the point where we need to hire an assistant."
He looked at the artwork on the desk, a smile slowly spreading across his face.
"If we really do set up a studio someday, you'll be the lead artist!"
"Smear!"
Smeargle immediately perked up.
He had already begun imagining himself sitting in a spacious, bright studio, directing assistants as they drew backgrounds.
But Shiraishi Ritsu suddenly added something else.
"Of course, even the lead artist has to turn in his work on time."
"Smear..."
Smeargle's beautiful dream instantly shattered.
That evening, Kikkawa Maho brought over another distribution plan from the publisher.
Besides arrangements for reprints in the Kanto Region, the document also mentioned potential future markets for expansion.
The Johto Region.
The Hoenn Region.
Even places farther afield.
Of course, these were all still preliminary contacts for now. Whether distribution could actually go ahead would require further discussions between the publisher and local distributors.
But to Shiraishi Ritsu, that was already enough to look forward to.
"Johto, huh..."
He stared at the region's name on the document and could not help smiling.
"If we really can sell it in Goldenrod City someday, we might attract even more Trainer readers."
As for Hoenn...
Quite a few Pokémon that might appear in the future had already surfaced in Shiraishi Ritsu's mind.
If Pokémon Adventures could keep running, there would be plenty of room to develop the stories ahead.
For now, though, the most important thing was to draw the Kanto Arc well first.
He set the document aside and opened his savings records.
Serialization fees.
Volume royalties.
Income he had saved previously.
Even after deducting daily expenses and the money spent on art supplies recently, the remaining figure was still quite substantial.
Shiraishi Ritsu looked at it for a long while, then could not help laughing aloud.
"Partner."
"Smear?"
"It looks like we really don't have to worry about rent anymore."
Smeargle stopped drawing and looked at him intently.
Shiraishi Ritsu reached out and rubbed his head.
He still remembered making a wish back when he had first decided to create manga.
Once he made money someday, he would definitely buy a house of his own.
Preferably one with a yard.
And he would prepare a spacious, dedicated art studio for Smeargle.
Inside would be a big worktable, neatly arranged art supply cabinets, and floor-to-ceiling windows that let in the sunlight.
Then Smeargle could draw however he liked, without worrying about getting paint all over the living room floor.
At that thought, Shiraishi Ritsu suddenly stood and walked over to the bookcase.
After rummaging around for a while, he took a brochure from the bottom drawer.
It was a Celadon City real estate brochure he had picked up while out shopping some time ago.
Back then, he had only browsed casually and had not even dared to enter the sales office.
Now things seemed a little different.
Shiraishi Ritsu sat back down on the sofa and opened the brochure.
It introduced homes in various areas of Celadon City.
There were apartments near the city center, as well as detached houses with small yards on the outskirts.
Of course, the prices were quite impressive too.
Shiraishi Ritsu looked through a few pages and couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath.
"Whoa, houses in Celadon City really aren't cheap."
Still, he soon did the math on his savings and the manga income he could expect going forward.
Buying a house he liked outright right now might still be a bit of a stretch.
But if his ongoing serialization kept performing this well, he could certainly start viewing houses and get a sense of the market.
At that thought, Shiraishi Ritsu suddenly turned to one of the pages.
The photo showed a small two-story house with a yard.
A few trees grew in the yard, and there was a spacious, bright room on the second floor, with windows facing the garden.
Shiraishi Ritsu's gaze lingered.
Smeargle leaned over beside him, too.
As it looked at the large windows in the photo, its eyes gradually lit up.
"Smear!"
Shiraishi Ritsu smiled and patted its head.
"Like it?"
"Smear!"
Smeargle nodded vigorously.
Then it picked up a pencil and drew a picture right on the blank sheet beside the brochure.
In the picture, Shiraishi Ritsu lay sunbathing on a chair in the yard.
Smeargle sat in a spacious studio on the second floor, with high-end paints and all kinds of art supplies spread out before it.
There was even an assistant beside it, dutifully drawing backgrounds.
After looking at it, Shiraishi Ritsu couldn't help bursting into laughter.
"You've even worked out the work arrangements for the new house already?"
"Smear!"
Smeargle answered quite seriously.
Shiraishi Ritsu gazed at the house in the drawing, then looked down at his savings records again.
The life that had once seemed so far out of reach now seemed to have a real chance of coming true.
He turned the brochure back to the page introducing that small two-story house and reached over to pat Smeargle on the shoulder.
"Smeargle, do you think we could start considering buying a house?"