Don't Miss Your Deadline! (Manga Editor Quest)

Our Daughter Is a Vampire! Chapter 2 in three pictures!

So I apparently have an old Imgur account from about 4-5 years ago. Let's see if this picture post goes smoother this time.
View: https://imgur.com/gallery/JEAPtsi

Notes:
1. I use Harvey's home to do these sets (basically a free place to decorate/take pictures without messing up your home decor; it also allows you to invite your villagers for photo shoots or use amiibo cards to invite other characters.)
2. Unfortunately, one of the limitations in decorating a room is that you can usually have only one wallpaper up at a time. You can choose an accent wall, which will display a different wallpaper on a chosen side, but any partition walls you put up will only reflect the "main" wallpaper. Also, you're stuck with the one floor pattern per room, so no partitioning that. I managed to put a row of simple pillars to look like a hallway wall and differentiate from the bathroom wall, but I'm still not happy with the first picture.
3. ACNH doesn't have a jogging expression, so I'm having Sakura and her friend (played by Lolly) stop for a breather while dad anxiously spies in the background.
4. Only after I posted the pictures did I realize that in picture 2: A. Dad doesn't have his hat and is still wearing his house slippers B. the "worry" expression dad's doing in the background actually looks a bit like jogging. C. I FORGOT TO GIVE SAKURA SHOES!
5. I used Lolly as the friend and I tend to use my husband's character for the male roles in my ACNH pictures, as previously seen in my other picture posts.
6. Can't use trees inside, so I used a pergola for dad to hide behind.
7. The human player characters pretty much have the exact same body type, so I can't make them look skinnier or fatter; that's why the scale is in the kitchen in the third picture.
8. I figure that Sakura would dress up in multiple outfits, being from the cosplay club, so I went with something different, but with an elegant vibe that a vampire would wear.

[X] Plan Hiroshi To The Rescue
-[x][Quantity] 20: A slight reduction, allowing you to cut off some of the worst performing series. (-10 Favor)
-[x][Quality] 40: Let's just keep things the same for now. (-5 Favor)
-[x][Personal] 4: Okay, maybe you can do a little more. (-4 Favor)

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"Two emergency team meetings in two weeks?" Shion muttered, shifting nervously as the lift slowly took you all upwards. "I may not be the most experienced with office work, but I doubt that this is normal."

"And I'm not familiar with how Japanese corporations normally work, but being told to drop all our work and head over to the Editor in Chief's office immediately probably isn't a good sign," John rumbled, arms crossed and foot tapping restlessly.

For once, he was actually wearing a suitable work outfit. The color scheme was a little odd, but he actually looked fairly snappy in that dark green suit and red tie. You're not sure about the black gloves and weird eye-shaped lapel pin though.

Judging from Shion's initial delighted reaction, you're pretty sure that this was another cosplay of some kind, but at this point you'll take what you can get. At least he wasn't running around in spandex anymore.

"I'm sure that everything will be fine," you said reassuringly. "I've done what I can to… grease the wheels, so to speak." And hadn't that been a bitch and a half. Even with your uncle standing by to provide support, stepping into that boardroom had felt like jumping into a pool full of piranhas. Angry, hungry piranhas that would zero in on the slightest weakness with zero hesitation.

Fortunately, it seemed that most of the board were more interested in tearing at each other rather than focusing on you. You hadn't seen that many backhanded compliments, thinly veiled insults, or venomous insinuations being thrown around since your days back in the high school student council committee.

It was actually somewhat disappointing to realize that the people in charge of your company — and by extension, your own career — were behaving like a bunch of bickering, status obsessed schoolgirls.

On the plus side, it meant that they hadn't been able to unite against you. Divided as they were, you and your uncle had been able to rally enough support to ram your proposals through their half-hearted resistance.

At the end of the day, you'd walked away from that meeting room having achieved all of your goals… and having earned the enmity of at least a third of the board, judging by the glares you'd received.

On the bright side, you're fairly certain that none of that hatred is against you personally. In fact, most of them seemed to assume that you were simply there as your uncle's deniable pawn, a catspaw who could push his agenda forward without risking his own reputation if it failed. But even a pawn could be a problem if left alone for too long.

You tried not to sigh as you realized that you'd probably have to keep an eye out for any "unfortunate" work problems in the future. And after you'd just burned through most of your reputational favor, too…

The ding of the lift doors opening startled you out of your thoughts. Rallying your confidence, you gave your companions a slight nudge to get them moving. All this plotting and damage control would have to be Future Maeda's problem.

For now, you had a slightly more immediate problem: surviving another meeting with your esteemed Editor in Chief.

---

"Shion-san. John-san. Maeda-san," Editor in Chief Suzuki greeted you cooly, his eyes showing no emotion as he gestured to the seats in front of him. Beside him sat Masaru-senpai, who looked as exhausted as ever, though he did give your group a friendly smile and wave as you entered.

Rather than Suzuki's office, today you were gathering at one of the larger unoccupied rooms. Judging from the white screen and projector, this was probably meant to be a corporate meeting room. A comfortable place for managers to get together and discuss charts or numbers or whatever other boring things corporate suits talked about when they were left unsupervised.

Now, however, the room contained a rather unpleasant looking addition — a veritable mountain of paperwork piled haphazardly onto the table in the middle of the room. Judging from your fellow editor's expressions, neither of them were particularly enthusiastic about finding out what this was about either.

"I apologize for interrupting your work, but I'm afraid that this information needs to be addressed sooner rather than later," Suzuki said, cold eyes locked on you as you nervously took your seat. "There has been a… change of plans. Though I suspect that some of you might already know this."

You coughed, looking to the side to avoid his intense gaze. It seemed that your Editor in Chief may be a little annoyed about you going over his head like that. But between this discomfort or having to suffer through eight series a week, you know what you'd rather deal with.

"So what's this all about? Did someone finally see sense and reduce our workloads?" John asked bullishly, dropping himself into the seat beside you.

You resisted the urge to flinch at his bluntness, but fortunately for all your sakes Suzuki didn't seem to take offense. In fact, you couldn't help noticing his lips curl upwards slightly as he responded.

"Yes, actually."

"Wait, no shit?" John blinked, before a wide smile spread across his face. "Hah! I knew you lunatics would see sense sooner rather than later!"

Aaand there went all the goodwill you'd just gathered. Suzuki coughed loudly, his eyes cold once again as he turned towards the final member of your trio.

"Shion-san, I assume that you've managed to secure a laptop of your own by now?"

Sitting on your other side, Shion nodded silently. Unlike John — who looked far too pleased with himself right now — she looked tense, like she was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Very well then. In that case, let's get this meeting started," Suzuki said, pushing his glasses up as he turned back towards the documents in front of him. "I apologize for the last minute announcement, but last night I received a message from the Board of Directors regarding our new… format.

First of all, the Sunday Star will be undergoing a revamp of sorts. We'll be cutting out some of our worst performing series and replacing them with fresh new works. For now, each editor will be in charge of five series. As always, I expect you to adhere to our company's quality standards, so do not take this reduced workload as an excuse to slack off."

Beside you, John and Shion nodded, both looking relieved at the news that they would not be expected to turn into mini-Masarus in the near future. Across the table, Masaru himself looked like he was torn between bursting into tears or simply passing out in relief.

"Unfortunately," continued Suzuki. "This means that before we start working on this week's issue we first need to settle on exactly what series we'll be using. As Masaru has a… greater workload, I've spoken to him first to help decide what to keep and what to throw.

However, as the three of you currently have similar workloads, I decided that it would be quicker to go through all of your series in one shot rather than splitting this up into individual meetings. This will also allow me to pass over any feedback or requests directly rather than through email."

"Alright, that makes sense," John nodded.

"We'll go through Maeda's series' first," Suzuki said, raising a copy of last week's manuscripts for everyone to see. "Let's see…

Your first series is Space Racer Subaru-kun. It had a very strong opening chapter, but our readers weren't happy with the second one. Personally I believe that you jumped too quickly from fast paced action to slow character building.

For the next chapter, I want a strong focus on the race itself. We need to show our readers that the first chapter wasn't just a one-off and that we are actually capable of making a good racing story. I'm not expecting a miracle, but we should at least make sure that our readers are getting what they expect. If necessary, you may even split up the race into more than one chapter in order to create maximum impact."

Space Racer Subaru-kun Requests:

• In Chapter 3, improve Dynamic Art to at least 70
• In Chapter 3, raise Special Effects to at least 50

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"Your second series is Our Daughter is Actually a Vampire! Interesting premise, if nothing else. I'm pleased that you were able to listen to our requests for the previous chapter, even if some of the advice you received was completely tastele-… ah, I mean, might not have been the most suited," he corrected himself.

"You've managed to raise this series' popularity over the past chapter, so I will not be spending too much time on requests. That said, I would suggest bringing in the main character's wife sooner rather than later. I'll leave the timing up to you, but I expect a chapter focused on her at some point."

Our Daughter is Actually a Vampire Suggestion:

• Have a wife focused chapter by Chapter 10 at the latest (optional)

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"And for the third series, we have… My Secret Ninja Sensei Needs to Stop Training Me," Suzuki closed his eyes, seemingly gathering the strength he needed to push on.

"Honestly, I don't know why you chose to go forward with a manga whose main themes are 'ninja' and 'ramen'. Everyone who hears about this is going to immediately compare us to Naruto. That said, taken in isolation this… isn't the worst series we've worked with.

Still, 'barely acceptable' isn't going to cut it anymore. For the next chapter, you will need to shore up the weaknesses from this chapter while continuing to develop the story further. In the long run, we need this manga to make it clear that this isn't another cheap Naruto clone.

Personally, I would suggest aiming more on the ramen aspect and turning it into a cooking manga, but if you have another approach in mind then feel free to use that instead. But whatever the method, this series must find a way to stand out from the crowd."

My Secret Ninja Sensei Needs to Stop Training Me Requests:

• In Chapter 3, raise Setting to at least 50
• In Chapter 3, raise Characters to at least 50
• This series must be able to stand out from the crowd by Chapter 10

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"Before we move on, I'd like to bring up another issue with your work, Maeda-san," Suzuki said, glasses flashing ominously as he rested his chin on his templed hands like some scheming villain. "Despite being here for a week longer than John-san and Shion-san, the fact remains that within this team you have the least amount of experience when it actually comes to working in this industry."

"While that's true, I believe that my work so far has-" you tried to argue, only to be interrupted.

"I apologize," he said bluntly, shocking you into silence. "I am not trying to disparage the work that you've done so far. However, it has been suggested that handing three brand new series to a totally inexperienced editor may not have been the most… efficient idea.

As such, Masaru has agreed to take over one of your series for you, while letting you take charge of one of his more… cooperative mangakas in exchange. You will be given a slightly lighter workload - four series' rather than five - until we are confident that you can handle it."

Oh. Ooh. Right, that thing.

"Before I decide, may I know what series I'll be taking over?" you asked, fishing for more information.

Suzuki shook his head. "We'll be going through that together after finishing John-san and Shion-san's own reports from last week's issue. As the more experienced editors, I believed that it would be better to give them 'first dibs', as it were."

Well, you supposed that Suzuki wanted to at least try to avoid being seen as biased despite the Board's demands. But truth be told, you weren't exactly happy at the idea of giving up one of your own series either. Even if they weren't the best, they were yours, dammit!

Still, the question remained: would you follow along with your Editor in Chief's idea or stick to your guns and demand to keep all your current series?

Maeda will…

[ ] Agree with Suzuki's request and give up one of your current series
-[ ] Which one?

[ ] Refuse Suzuki's request and stick with all your current series plus one more (-3 Favor)

[ ] Refuse Suzuki's request, but agree to take on the same workload as the rest of the editorial team (take charge of 5 series rather than 4)

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VOTE CLOSED