I Got Reincarnated And Mistaken As A Genius? Chapter 50

—- Arakawa Kouki Point of View —-

While drinking a soda, I explained the “subculture” which is popular in j.a.pan before my reincarnation. s.h.i.+ngo makes a difficult face and asked a question.

“But anime is for kids? It is impossible to suddenly make an anime that everyone will like”

“Yes, I know. That is why, our first step is to sell a poster with a picture of our character”

“‘Picture’? If no one understands what the picture should be, n.o.body can draw it. Don’t tell me you’re going to draw it yourself?”

“That’s right, I’ll draw. What I want to ask s.h.i.+ngo is to sell the picture in auctions. If it sells, I like you to invest on it and we will move into our next major action.”

As s.h.i.+ngo said, no one can draw the picture if they don’t know how it should look like. I just have to do my best. Ma~ since mom a.s.signed me to Creation Program, I somehow started to draw simple designs. This project should be possible somehow.

The problem is where to draw─ If it’s just on a piece of paper, it will be so dull, and if we use a canvas, I will be using water for the painting and I do not have any tools for that. I should get something that I can find quickly here at Hakone Base, something rare like a front armor of a power suit.

I guess I can get sc.r.a.p armor from the repository, paint it with white and spray protective coating all over after the drawing is over. With that, we can easily create a poster with high durability.

“Fuhi! I understand. I will decided whether to invest after seeing the result of the auction”

“That would be fine. Let’s try drawing a picture for the time being, let’s go pick up a front armor sc.r.a.p of a suit instead of a canvas! In addition, we also need to borrow some tools that we will use to paint on armor”

“Eh… You want to draw on a suit’s armor!? Won’t they get mad?”

“Don’t worry since we will be using a sc.r.a.p, also it will catch the attention of the people since we are using some kind of flashy material. Oi, Kon let’s go!”

I reply to s.h.i.+ngo who is asking with a worried look. Kon who was eating a chocolate trotted into me and I pick her up. We were about to leave the room when I heard the sound of the interphone. It was too early for Alice group to come home, macho and mom are also in Noah. There are no other people who will visit my room so I wondered who it was. When I open up the door with doubts in my mind, I saw skinhead standing. (TN: Kouki use -san honorific for skinhead (skinhead-san). I will not be adding it here since old translation don’t use it)

“Ah, long time no see. Did something happen?”

The face of skinhead that I haven’t seen for a long time made a wry smile to my question.

“No, nothing happen. It’s just that, I am on patrol and Jos.h.i.+ asked me to check on you once in a while… By the way, looks like you are about to head out?” (TN: Jos.h.i.+ means Miss/Madam/Madame. He was referring to Kouki’s mother)

Skinhead who saw us wearing our jackets and preparing to leave asked a question worriedly, however I am not sure if I should just honestly tell him that we are going to the sc.r.a.p repository. Rather, it is troublesome to explain if he asked me “Why are you going to there?” however… If I don’t tell him, I feel like we will get in trouble. While I was thinking on what to say, s.h.i.+ngo arbitrarily responds to the question of skinhead.

“Fuhi! We are going to the sc.r.a.p repository in the third level, because Kouki wants to draw a picture on a front armor plate of a suit”

“Wa~ to use an armor plate to draw a picture… really something that Kouki would do. However, what kind of picture are you going to draw?”

“Ah, I’ll explain as we go there. It will be quite long to explain everything and it will be faster if you see what I draw”

“I see, then I will go with you if you don’t mind”

It cannot be helped. It is troublesome but I will explain to skinhead on our way to the repository. When you think positively though, it will be a lot easier to borrow tools if we have an adult with us. I was somewhat annoyed that I will repeat the explaination to him that I told s.h.i.+ngo just a while ago. I pick up Kon again and went outside the room──

As we walked along the corridor, I explain to skinhead not only about animation and manga but also the concept of the subculture itself which cannot be found in this world.

“Na, is this what Kouki-kun is talking about?”

While saying that, he showed his personal terminal and was surprised on the image which is displayed on his desktop. It is somewhat old… the character image is similar to those 1980s style of loli bunny girls in my previous life. Could it be these kind of things are spreading without my knowledge? I hurriedly asked skinhead a question.

“This─where did you get it? Is there a special site that has such images?”

“No, this is… uhm… I drew it”

“Haa!?”

Wait a minute! You mean this osan in front of me who looks like he will kill any people on his way draw this picture? That’s absolutely a lie. Rather, skinhead is not the kind of person who is interested in this kind of things. When osan saw s.h.i.+ngo and I with stunned face, he put his hands in front and began to explain in a hurry.

“Wait! I do not know what the two of you are thinking but I am not into girl’s hobbies or little girls! Well, ma~ I do not dislike them, I just like them since they are ‘cute’ but I do not mean it in a strange way"

“I understand, please come down! Saying ‘little girls’ while in the corridor will just make you more suspicious”

“Aa, my apologies. I was not able to keep myself so I explain in a hurry. For the time being, s.h.i.+ngo-kun, can you please stop looking at me with such eyes as if you are looking at a criminal?”

It certainly looks like s.h.i.+ngo is looking at Ossan with eyes as if he saw a criminal. Moreover, his hand started to operate his terminal… wha? That screen is the emergency report page which is directly connected to the line of the security department!

“Oi! s.h.i.+ngo, lets listen to him for the time being. Filing a report should be decided later”

“Fuhi! I’m sorry… I thought somewhat reflexively”

s.h.i.+ngo returned to reality with my words and I was able to somehow discourage him from reporting to security department. Yos.h.i.+, this is your time to make an excuse ossan… I meant your explanation. Using my eyes, I urge him to continue.

“I originally belonged to the Russian Army. I was a.s.signed directly to a special force which is directly under the ministry of foreign affairs on my last moment in military. However, I started out in Air Force. Aircraft nose paint─ pilots have their own personal marks on each of their own plane and I was a.s.signed to paint those, that’s how I learned how to draw”

“I see, I understand why you can draw but why do you have a picture of a ‘little girl’ on your desktop?”

“Un? Aa~ there are a lot of men in military and I was asked a lot before to paint s.e.xy beautiful women, but I like cute girls more than s.e.xy so I still use little girls as my personalized image”

It is your fetish after all! I don’t mean to judge but maybe we really should notify the security department? Osan continue to explain his interest while having a gentleman’s face. s.h.i.+ngo got tired of it and told him.

“People have different hobbies so I cannot say anything but since you can draw picture, why not help us on what we are about to do?”

Hmm, that certainly not a bad idea. What osan draws is somewhat different from what I have in mind, but we can use this as an indicator to know which is better for the people in this world.

Also, it seems that Osan likes to draw pictures, and he is somewhat different compared to others because he had an idea on subculture. With that said, I decided to repeat the words that I said to s.h.i.+ngo in my room in order to add osan to my list of allies──

—-Skinhead Point of View —-

While watching over Kouki-kun and s.h.i.+ngo-kun searching for a sc.r.a.p metal of a power suit from a short distance away, I operate my personal terminal. In the mail that I received from Jos.h.i.+ this morning, she said “My son is going to do something soon, please strictly observe him” however, I never thought the he will truly act.

Perhaps we should praise her for being able to read the behaviour of her son or perhaps Kouki is just easy to predict because he is similar to his father, Shuichi-san, who constantly cause trouble… It’s hard to judge the cause.

“But I never thought he will ask me, ‘Do you want to create a new culture with me?'”

I am 35 years old this year and the words of a boy who barely had half of my age makes my heart warm. I don't have much talent… I don't have any martial arts skills like Shuichi-san and the ghost troop members and I am not smart like jos.h.i.+ and her researchers.

I only have an above average military skill but here in Hakone base, I could be considered as one of the people in the bottom. I thought that I will be someone among the vast majority of people who will die of old age and be forgotten with time. However, Kouki-kun has given me hope.

"Skinhead's artistic talent is what I need most right now! Why not try new things together with us? Nothing will change if we fail but if we succeed, your name will leave a mark in history. You need to have such dreams since you are a man"

Kouki-kun who showed a smile relative to his age was so dazzling. It was such a huge dream… when was the last time that I dreamed of something? Was it when I entered the military? But I think I have given up on a lot of things before that happens. Will it really be alright to have such huge dream for the last time?

Kouki-kun who found an armor plate which has a good size asked me a question while I was debating with myself.

"Skinhead! I found good unpainted armors. The size is also just right, let's paint on these! Paint a picture of whatever you like"

The plate armor that Kouki-kun handed to me with a smile was an armor from a prototype suit which was painted white beforehand. Certainly, we won't need to paint this armor white anymore however, even if you tell me to paint whatever I like, I still don't know what to draw.

I tried to ask Kouki-kun on what I should draw but I stopped on my track. Kouki-kun was painting a pretty black-haired girl, dressed in j.a.panese national clothing 'Kimono' and had fox ears on her head.

"What a cute girl…"

"Thank you, skinhead can also paint your favourite picture. Since all people here also like this kind of things, you don't need to be embarra.s.sed. Just draw your interest with all your might"

My interest… then I will draw what I have in mind for quite some time! I will imitate Kouki-kun and use the full size of this armor in painting the picture. I'm sure I can paint any picture right now better than any other picture that I painted in the past.

With that in mind, I concentrate in drawing a picture on this armor plate. After a while, someone go beside me so I look into my side.

"You are concentrating really hard on that. I am done painting my picture but how was yours, skinhead?"

Kouki-kun asked me a question, did I spend so much time already? As I was wondering, I check the time on my personal terminal and was surprised to see that three hours have pa.s.sed since I began painting.

"I'm sorry, I got carried away and took longer than I thought. I am almost done"

"Fuhi… This is─ Kouki-kun, I can only describe this painting as amazing"

"Aa, I did not expect that he will be able to paint something of such high level"

The two people who saw my painting praised it, I was embarra.s.sed and I somehow unintentionally cover the picture with my hands. Looking at me like that, Kouki-kun smile and asked me a question.

"As I explained earlier, we would like the picture to be auctioned but do you already have a t.i.tle for that painting? Ma~ I can only think of one good t.i.tle for it"

"That's right. How about 'Girl in the moonlight'?"

These two boys who have the same mindset us me, saw my best masterpiece and said that 'it was the best t.i.tle'. Despite my age, when I look at the picture my face turns red and believe that this is my greatest work ever. It may possibly sell at a high price.

If… If we are able to really sell this picture, I will have my last chance to chase on a big dream. We will leave our name in the history of this world, Kouki-kun, s.h.i.+ngo-kun and me. I made my conviction while looking at the 'smiling girl lit by the moonlight'.

Author Notes:

I received e-mail asking to lessen foul words as much as possible. When I tried to cut the sentences without affecting the story, the length of the chapter decrease. I am also somewhat lonely. (‘• ω • `)