Chapter 5:

Signing a contract in blood just to get four very bloody sentences published

The Shiruka Collection


The editor woke up and headed off to work. As he passed by a convenience store, he noticed Shiruka huffing proudly as he read the latest issue of the company's weekly manga magazine.

"Must be admiring his work," the editor thought as he walked away.

The editor then passed by a bookstore and saw Shiruka's Four very bloody sentences on display.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. This probably didn't take much work to make," the editor thought.

"Huh? Why's there a scary manga inside this book? It's only one chapter though," a student said as he read Four very bloody sentences.

Curious the editor glanced over and noticed the Four very bloody sentences book he was holding looked quite thick.

"Don't tell me they made a screw up," the editor groaned.

"HUH!?" The hell is this? The magazine said there was supposed to be a new manga, but all they have listed is a blank page with four damn words," a male passerby growled as he read the weekly shonen editor manga magazine.

The editor went pale as he ran inside the bookstore. Meanwhile, the student approached the male passerby and showed him the novel he read.

"What the hell? That's the manga that was supposed to be here!" the man exclaimed.

"Those words are the same as the title of this new horror novel. Could this be intentional?" the student theorized.

"Hmm, I wonder. Those are both Shiruka works yes?" a voice rang out.

The two turned to see a masked man in sunglasses. It was actually Shiruka in disguise.

"Seems you two don't know that Shiruka sensei is infamous for making works like this. I heard he even made Six Chances at Love just to get One letter a physical release," Shiruka mused.

"So then this-"

"Or maybe it's the work of a prankster spirit. I know not, I'm no occult master," Shiruka smirked as he walked away.

The student and the man both ran into the bookstore as Shiruka's editor stormed out in anger.

"SHIRAGIKU!" the editor shouted as Shiruka froze in fear.

"Uh oh, lecture time," Shiruka nervously thought.

                                                                               ...

The editor slammed copies of Four very bloody sentences and the latest issue of the weekly shonen editor magazine on his desk.

"So, care to explain this?" the editor fumed.

"You did say it could use some spotlight. Plus it should become a hit with the occult," Shiruka huffed.

"Our printing press broke because of this stunt, not to mention our staff got overworked and fell asleep from exhaustion."

"I thought you didn't care about overworking them?"

"OK wiseguy, want me to tell the press YOU were the one that overworked the staff? It was YOUR complete and utter fault."

"But they happily agreed to do it. Gomu-san even said they were all glad they did it just now did he not?"

"And how about the printing press? We have other works we need to publish, like next weeks issue of the weekly manga magazine which DAMN NEAR CERTAIN WILL BE WHERE YOUR MANGA IS PUBLISHED UNTIL IT GETS VOLUME RELEASES!"

"Yeah, I agree with that part, though we will need to do a proper volume release of Four very Bloody sentences. Plus, I'm sure you can make back the money for the printing press repairs and then some by making the version of Four very bloody sentences that just released a limited edition."

The editor sat back in his chair and wiped his brow.

"Where the hell do you get all these ideas?" he asked Shiruka.

"Well, I guess you could say I have an advisor," Shiruka nervously giggled.

I then entered the scene along with Gnarry the gnome and Gnorville the alien.

"What's with the cosplayers and the anamatronic gnome?" the editor asked.

"They're real, and so am I. I'm the one Shiruka signed a contract with in order to make his work a reality, Muramasa Jouzu."

"MURAMASA JOUZU!?" the editor screamed in terror.

I do love it when everyone screams my name in terror.

"So who are these two?" the editor asked pointing at Gnarry and Gnorville.

"I'm Gnarry, Muramasa Jouzu's latest recruit."

"I'm Gnorville, Muramasa Jouzu recruited me as well."

"I'm Shiruka, your contracted author that signed a contract with Muramasa Jouzu to get his work published," Shiruka stated as he joined in with the introductions.

"I ALREADY KNOW WHO YOU ARE!" the editor yelled at Shiruka.

"So you signed a contract? What kind?" the editor glared as he readied to speed dial the company's attorney.

"Just a deal to publish his next manga in Dark Dragon Enterprises' Weekly Darkness Monday. Authors can publish in multiple magazines," I snickered as I slammed the contract on the editor's desk.

He looked at it and glared at Shiruka.

"Oh THIS you sign in blood! Great going dumbass, you just signed a deal with the dark dragon demon himself."

"But it was worth it, plus I kind of owed him for giving me the idea to get One letter published," Shiruka sheepishly laughed.

"Great, well in that case, publish your damn horror manga, then write a television drama script before you go off to hell," the editor ordered.

"What!? But that will overwork me!"

"You said yourself that I don't care about overworking people so get to it! First the manga needs to be completed in its entirety, then the script for the drama! You have a week!"

Luckily, Shiruka had already finished the manga so he simply fetched the remaining manuscripts from his office.

"Good, we'll be sure to have all these chapters published weekly. As for the drama, it must be an isekai. As long as it's an isekai, you can write what you want, now get to work, I want to get filming asap in order to make the fall season," the editor barked.

As Shiruka left, I turned to face the editor.

"Heep! What do you want?" He stammered.

"Just wanted the let you know your printing press is working," I snickered.

Not believing me, the editor ran to the printing room and went pale as he noticed a high tech printing press.

"I gave you the highest quality printing press humans can manage. You better provide me so good entertainment," I snickered.

"H- How much-"

"Oh this was effortless to make. Though if we're talking business deals, licensing rights to Six chances at love, Four very bloody sentences, Grouping of ghosts, and both versions of One letter," I snickered as I handed the editor a pen and the contracts.

"Deal! _!? Why did I just say that? And why did I just sign those?" the editor trembled.

"Relax, your soul's fine, and there's no strings attached. Besides, you can still keep the full rights to the TV drama Shiruka's writing."

The editor sunk to the floor in shock as I warped outside along with Gnarry and Gnorville.

"How did you make that printing press so quickly?" Gnorville asked.

"I'm more curious about how you made that guy willingly sign away the licensing rights," Gnarry stated.

"The answer to both your questions is Omni101."

                                                                              ...

Shiruka grumbled as he sat in his office and went on his computer.

"One week huh? I'll give you the shittiest isekai drama you've ever seen, though what should it be about?" Shiruka mused.

I decided to nudge him in the right direction by making a certain hoax website appear on his computer.

"YES YES! YES! This will be the greatest piece of shit I've ever written!" Shiruka maniacally laughed.

He ended up finishing in a few days, but turned everything in at the last minute so the editor couldn't refuse.

"Damn you Shiragiku! I'm going to have to be up all night making calls just to find some actors that would want to star in this shit!" the editor growled as he picked up his phone.

Mario Nakano 64
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