"Smear..."
At the studio entrance, Smeargle clung to the doorframe and cautiously poked his head out, looking both ways down the hallway.
Only after confirming that the terrifying black-haired girl had left did he finally breathe a sigh of relief, turn around, and call into the room.
"She's gone?"
Shiraishi Ritsu poked his head out from behind the door and glanced outside.
The hallway was empty, without a soul in sight.
"Phew-"
He let out a long breath, closed the door, and collapsed onto the sofa.
"Finally got that nightmare out the door!"
Heaven only knew how much psychological pressure he had endured over the past hour or so.
This was Sabrina!
The Saffron Gym Leader who could casually turn people into dolls with her psychic powers in the anime!
Especially at the end, when Sabrina discovered that she appeared in the next installment too, her expressionless face had practically made Shiraishi Ritsu wonder whether she intended to bundle him and Smeargle up and take them back to the Saffron Gym.
Fortunately, she had not done anything in the end.
She had merely given him another icy reminder before leaving.
"Remember what you promised."
Then she had left, holding her doll.
Of course Shiraishi Ritsu knew what she meant.
The manga disclaimer!
He had to get that arranged immediately!
At that thought, he immediately scrambled off the sofa, picked up his communicator, and dialed a familiar number.
Before long, the call connected.
"Hello? Mr. Masuda?"
A clear female voice came from the communicator.
"Have you finished today's manuscript? I was just about to contact you."
On the other end was Kikkawa Maho, his assigned editor at Shonen Adventure magazine.
As a professional editor, Kikkawa Maho had been in quite a good mood lately.
After all, the rookie manga artist she handled had recently brought her quite a surprise.
Pokémon Adventures' serialization results kept climbing, and the editorial department had already begun discussing plans for collected volumes.
At this rate, this year's best new series award at the magazine might well end up in her hands.
So her tone was particularly cheerful when she received Shiraishi Ritsu's call.
But the next second...
"Miss Maho."
"Yes?"
"I almost died today."
"...Huh?"
Kikkawa Maho froze.
"Mr. Masuda, what are you talking about?"
Shiraishi Ritsu looked up at the manga pages scattered all over the floor and could not help feeling grief well up.
"I said, I almost got killed by a psychic today!"
"A psychic?"
"Sabrina from Saffron City! You know Sabrina, right? The Psychic-type Gym Leader!"
"Yes, what about her?"
"She just came to my studio!"
The other end of the line went quiet for a few seconds.
Then Kikkawa Maho let out a cry.
"What?!"
Shiraishi Ritsu hurriedly held the communicator farther away.
"You're saying Gym Leader Sabrina personally visited your studio?!"
"Yes!"
"What did she go there for?"
"What else? To settle the score with me!"
"Think about it," Shiraishi Ritsu said irritably. "I turned the esteemed Saffron Gym Leader into a Team Rocket executive and even had her take orders from Giovanni. Would you be happy in her shoes?"
Kikkawa Maho immediately fell silent.
"And that girl has psychic powers!" Shiraishi Ritsu continued complaining. "Over a dozen drawing pens were floating around my head. I didn't even dare move!"
"She also asked why I made her a villain."
"I said it was because she was powerful and had just the right air about her."
"And then?"
"Then those pens came flying at me!"
"..."
The sound of rummaging came through the communicator.
Shiraishi Ritsu heard Kikkawa Maho apparently speaking to a colleague beside her. Only after a while did she speak again.
"Mr. Masuda, are you safe right now?"
"Obviously! Could I be calling you if I weren't?"
"And Gym Leader Sabrina?"
"She went home. Nothing's wrong for now."
Kikkawa Maho audibly sighed in relief.
That relief did not last long, however.
"Wait, Mr. Masuda. Did you just say Gym Leader Sabrina came to your door because of her characterization in the manga?"
"Yes."
"Did she demand that we stop publication?"
"Not so far."
"Did she ask us to change the content already serialized?"
"No, she just told me not to make her look so stupid anymore."
Kikkawa Maho: "..."
What kind of demand was that?
For a moment, she actually had no idea how to respond.
Shiraishi Ritsu, however, had already begun bringing up old grievances.
"Miss Maho, isn't your publishing house a little too unreliable?"
"When I first submitted my work, why didn't anyone warn me that using real Gym Leaders as villains carried such huge risks?"
Kikkawa Maho fell silent for a moment, then suddenly raised her voice.
"Mr. Masuda! You have the nerve to blame me for this?"
"Huh?"
"When you first submitted Pokémon Adventures, I did know that Gym Leaders appeared in it!"
"But who could have imagined that you would make all three Gym Leaders-Sabrina, Lt. Surge, and Koga-Team Rocket executives!"
Shiraishi Ritsu rubbed his nose.
"Well, the plot needed it."
"Even if the plot needed it, you can't just do whatever you like!"
Kikkawa Maho held her forehead, feeling that this manga artist would sooner or later infuriate her to death.
When she first read Pokémon Adventures, her attention had mainly been on the exciting plot and Smeargle's astonishing drawing skills.
The Pokémon battle scenes in particular had truly been a revelation.
Although she had thought using real people's likenesses in the manga was rather bold, she had considered the entire work clearly a fictional adventure story and had therefore failed to promptly push the publisher for a stricter review of the use of those people.
Now that Sabrina had actually come knocking, she too realized that the matter was more serious than expected.
What was more, Sabrina was only the first.
At that thought, Kikkawa Maho suddenly had an ominous feeling.
"Mr. Masuda."
"What?"
"I remember that besides Sabrina, Lt. Surge and Koga are in the manga too, right?"
"Yes."
"Those two Gym Leaders... will probably see the manga too, won't they?"
Shiraishi Ritsu fell silent.
A moment later, he looked at the mountain of manuscript pages piled on his desk and said slowly:
"Miss Maho."
"Yes?"
"Do you think there's still time for me to announce a hiatus and move to Hoenn overnight?"
"Absolutely not!"
Kikkawa Maho rejected the idea without a second thought.
"Pokémon Adventures is so popular right now, and the readers are all waiting for what happens next. How can you just announce a hiatus like that?"
"Then what do you expect me to do? Wait for all three of them to turn up at my home together?"
"...Surely it won't come to that?"
"Sabrina already came knocking today!"
Kikkawa Maho fell silent again.
Fine.
There really was no arguing with that.
The two fretted over the communicator for quite some time before Kikkawa Maho finally recovered her composure as a professional editor.
"Mr. Masuda, don't panic yet. Tell me exactly what Gym Leader Sabrina asked for."
Shiraishi Ritsu nodded and began recounting what the two of them had agreed upon earlier.
First, they had to make a clear distinction between the manga and reality.
Second, they could not use the manga's plot to spread misleading publicity about real Gym Leaders.
As for the misunderstandings that had already arisen, the publisher needed to step forward and provide the appropriate explanation.
After hearing him out, Kikkawa Maho thought it over carefully for a while.
"Let's do this. We'll first add a formal statement about the work in the next issue."
"We can keep the original disclaimer on the title page, but we'll also need to set aside a separate small section where readers can clearly see it."
Shiraishi Ritsu nodded repeatedly.
"That sounds good!"
"Also, since the manga's characters use real people's likenesses, the publisher will need to review the relevant content again and contact the people involved to discuss it if necessary."
"Understood."
"We'll need to resolve these issues before releasing the collected volumes too."
As Kikkawa Maho spoke, she picked up a pen and wrote a few lines in her work log.
"As for the reader misunderstandings that have already arisen, we can address them in the next issue's reader Q&A column."
"If someone asks whether Sabrina is a Team Rocket executive, we'll tell them directly that the manga's plot is entirely fictional and cannot be treated as a real person's history."
Shiraishi Ritsu nodded repeatedly as he listened.
"Miss Maho, you really are reliable!"
"Now you realize I'm reliable?"
Kikkawa Maho replied irritably.
"One more thing."
"What?"
"If Gym Leaders Lt. Surge and Koga come knocking next, please contact the publisher immediately. Whatever you do, don't go saying things on your own."
Shiraishi Ritsu immediately took exception to that.
"What do you mean, 'saying things'? I successfully persuaded Sabrina today with my silver tongue!"
Kikkawa Maho recalled what he had told her earlier.
"Didn't you say you almost got turned into a pincushion by over a dozen drawing pens?"
"..."
Shiraishi Ritsu felt that his editor was getting worse and worse at conversation.
While the two discussed things, Smeargle beside him had long since lost interest.
He sat cross-legged on the carpet with a bag of Berry cookies in his arms, eating as he flipped through the manga pages his owner had just sorted out.
"Crunch, crunch."
As he ate, something suddenly occurred to Smeargle.
He looked up at Shiraishi Ritsu, who was on the phone, and his eyes darted about.
Then he picked up a clean sheet of drawing paper and secretly began to draw.
Panel one.
Shiraishi Ritsu stood at the studio entrance, all smiles as he welcomed the pretty, black-haired girl.
A line of dialogue was written beside him.
"Hey, beautiful. Want an autograph?"
Panel two.
Sabrina spread the manga out on the table and pointed at the Team Rocket executive in it.
The smile on Shiraishi Ritsu's face instantly froze.
Panel three.
More than a dozen paintbrushes floated in the air, while Shiraishi Ritsu hunched his shoulders, so frightened he was on the verge of tears.
Panel four.
Smeargle sat leisurely to one side, holding a large bag of Berry cookies and watching the show.
Meanwhile, Shiraishi Ritsu had turned into a tiny doll, dangling from Sabrina's hand.
At the very bottom was another line of crooked handwriting.
[A manga artist's miserable day.]
Smeargle looked at its masterpiece, thoroughly satisfied.
"Smeargle!"
It reached out a paw and gently patted Shiraishi Ritsu's thigh.
"What?"
Shiraishi Ritsu was listening to Kikkawa Maho and did not even turn his head.
Smeargle patted him twice more.
"Smeargle!"
Shiraishi Ritsu lowered his head helplessly.
"What do you want now? Didn't I already give you all the cookies?"
Then he spotted the sheet of drawing paper Smeargle was holding up.
Shiraishi Ritsu froze at first.
Then his expression gradually darkened.
"Smear! Gle!"
This little pest!
It had actually turned what had just happened into a four-panel manga while he wasn't looking!
And it had made him look so embarrassing!
Especially in that last panel.
He had actually been turned into a doll by Sabrina!
"Are you asking for it?!"
Shiraishi Ritsu reached out to snatch it.
Smeargle was ready and ducked behind the sofa, clutching the drawing.
"Smeargle! Smeargle!"
The man and Pokémon immediately sent the studio into an uproar.
Over the communicator, Kikkawa Maho heard the commotion and asked in confusion, "Mr. Masuda? What happened?"
"Nothing! Smeargle's pulling another prank!"
"A prank?"
"It actually turned the scene of Sabrina scaring me just now into a four-panel manga!"
The other end of the call fell silent for a second.
Then-
"Pfft!"
Kikkawa Maho could not hold back her laughter.
Shiraishi Ritsu's face immediately clouded over.
"Miss Maho, what's so funny about this?"
"Sorry, sorry!"
Kikkawa Maho struggled to suppress her laughter.
"But, Mr. Masuda, could you take a picture of that drawing and send it to me?"
"What are you planning?"
"I'm just a little curious."
Shiraishi Ritsu hesitated for a moment, but finally picked up his communicator and took a photo of the drawing.
Not long after he sent the photo-
"Hahahaha!"
Unrestrained laughter rang out from the communicator.
Kikkawa Maho laughed so hard she could barely breathe.
"Mr. Masuda! That expression of yours is just too funny!"
"And the last panel! Hahaha, Smeargle actually drew you as a doll!"
Shiraishi Ritsu listened with a blank expression.
Smeargle, however, looked immensely pleased with itself, its tail wagging like a pellet drum.
"Smeargle!"
It looked like its manga talent had earned a professional editor's approval once again!
It took quite a while before Kikkawa Maho finally caught her breath.
She wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes and suddenly said, "Seriously, Mr. Masuda, this sort of four-panel manga is pretty fun."
"If the opportunity comes up, we could consider adding a little column about the author's daily life to the magazine."
The corner of Shiraishi Ritsu's mouth twitched.
"Miss Maho, are you serious?"
"Of course!"
"You want me to draw my experience of getting scared half to death by a psychic for the readers?"
"The readers would definitely love it!"
"..."
Shiraishi Ritsu decided that he absolutely could not let Smeargle spend time alone with this editor in the future.
If those two got together, sooner or later they would turn his embarrassing past into an entire manga collection!
Still, after all that commotion, the tension Sabrina's visit had caused gradually faded.
Kikkawa Maho confirmed the arrangements for the statement in the next issue with him once more, then prepared to end the call.
But just as Shiraishi Ritsu was about to hang up, she suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, right, Mr. Masuda."
"What is it now?"
"We were so caught up talking about Gym Leader Sabrina that I nearly forgot the important part."
Kikkawa Maho's tone suddenly grew lighter.
"The latest reader popularity results came out today."
Shiraishi Ritsu paused slightly.
"That soon?"
"Yes, the editorial department just finished compiling them."
"How did it do?"
Shiraishi Ritsu immediately perked up.
Although Pokémon Adventures had been performing well in serialization lately, he still could not help getting nervous every time the reader popularity results came around.
After all, they affected the upcoming serialization arrangements, as well as how much he and Smeargle would receive in manuscript fees at the end of the month.
At the other end of the communicator, Kikkawa Maho looked at the results sheet in her hand, the corners of her mouth gradually lifting.
"Mr. Masuda."
"Yes?"
"I have some good news for you."
She deliberately paused.
"Pokémon Adventures seems to have grown even more popular!"