Chapter 4

Counterfeit is the fourth chapter of the Time Paradox Ghostwriter manga series.

Short Summary
Teppei Sasaki is introduced to the assistants who will help him as he writes White Knight. These are Genki Akaishi, Jiro Yamane, Hajime Igarashi and to Teppei's great shock, Itsuki Aino.

As Teppei begins to write the first chapter for White Knight he continues to be wracked with guilt over having plagiarized the series from Itsuki's future self. However, he continues to write on as he sees Itsuki's self belief and determination to improve and does not wish for her to become discouraged upon learning the truth. Teppei continues to write the series debut, scrapping draft after draft determined to draw a version of the story that impresses even Itsuki and lives up to the original.

Long Summary
Teppei is in his brand new workspace, as he is about to be introduced to his new assistants through his editor, Mr. Muneoka. He admits to himself that he hoped to tell Itsuki the truth about White Knight, but she had left just as quickly as she came. He then realized that he was now the only one who could draw the series.

As he meets the experienced assistants, composed of Genki Akaishi, Jiro Yamane and Hajime Igarashi, he finds out that Itsuki herself is among the ones that want to help him, and she declares that she will do whatever she can to help with the White Knight she was 'also drawing'. Teppei is shocked at her being there, and Muneoka talks about how convenient websites are for posting wanted advertisements for assistants, and asks how the two know each other.

Jiro asks what she means by 'also', and thinks she was making a fanart, but Itsuki really means that before Teppei published the series, she was working on a manga with the exact same title and concept. Genki is in complete disbelief and thinks it is a lie, but she asserts that this is what happened. The two are fired up about it, and Jiro attempts to calm them down, saying that everyone who draws manga knows how it feels for someone else to do your idea first, but having the same title surprises him. Teppei wonders if she is really fine with wanting to be his assistant.

She happily answers 'yes', saying that they are two of a kind. He is shocked that she is so energetic about this. Itsuki is frustrated that he beat her with a White Knight way better than hers, though this was because she had a decade to improve herself, but as an artist like her, she thinks she can help him and will offer all the strength she has in support. She wants to train herself as an artist until the day she draws a better series than White Knight.

Genki thinks that her attitude towards Teppei is rude, but Itsuki is annoyed by his rudeness. Jiro's attempts to calm the two fail, and they continue to bicker. Muneoka finally stops the two, and tells the other assistants to have a look at the work Itsuki brought with her.

The three are impressed at her art and quickly accept her, and that makes her happy as she was worried about the reaction due to not having shown her work before. Teppei thinks she is good too, but he really wanted to tell her the truth and apologise. But he could not bring himself to say it, as it would hurt her and maybe even stop her from drawing manga altogether. As the two shake hands, he says that not revealing what happened will keep her on the path to chasing her dream.

With the meeting finished, Teppei gets to working on drawing White Knight's first chapter. However, he gets increasingly frustrated the more he tries to draw from the original, wondering if he can really pull off a White Knight serial. Teppei scrunches up another draft and says that the quality is disrespectful to both present and future Itsuki. Before, Teppei had thought of telling the truth and making her be the new artist, but that puts what she will do in response into question. And all the options lead to her feelings being hurt, and apologizing would be only to soothe his own ego. The only thing he can do is assume the responsibility of bringing the series to the readers of the current world, from start to finish, and give them a White Knight that is closest to the real thing.

Three weeks pass, and the assistants return to Teppei's office to check on him, as he has not contacted them, only to find out that the office is extremely hot. Jiro asks how the chapter is going, as they have nineteen days until the deadline, and Teppei answers that he as not drawn a single page yet, despite its length being fifty-four pages. He had already done this, but was redrawing it because the art quality was not up to standard for him, Itsuki feels slight concern but does not say anything.

Looking at his work, Genki and Jiro like it, but Teppei says again that is not good enough, and begs to let him redraw it despite the deadline coming up. His attitude amazes Genki, and he endeavors to stay with Teppei to the very end. Itsuki worriedly wonders if he can redraw it all in time, and Genki thinks that with enough guts, he will be able to pull through. Hajime does not think guts will be enough to solve the problem, and the deadline on the first chapter of one's series absolutely could not be missed.

Jiro suggests that they draw the backgrounds first, as they know the general scenery from the scrapped version, they can draw that separate and use the computer to combine it with Teppei's art, if he can draw the characters in the next ten days, the timing should be fine. The team agree to the idea, and are excited to get to work, Teppei cries at their enthusiasm to help.

Ten days later, the first chapter is finally completed again, and the team are all happy. Teppei hands the work to Itsuki for her opinion, and she states that she thinks it is perfect. He does not seem to agree, as he tears up all their work and shouts that it is not enough. The others shout in shock.

There are nine days left to the deadline, and no progress has been made.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Teppei Sasaki
 * Muneoka
 * Genki Akaishi
 * Jiro Yamane
 * Hajime Igarashi
 * Itsuki Aino

Events

 * Teppei is introduced to his assistants: Genki Akashi, Jiro Yamane, Hajime Igarashi and Itsuki Aino.
 * Teppei completes his portion of the chapter but is not satisfied and redraws it.
 * The team work together to create a superior version with better backgrounds and art.
 * Teppei still thinks his own efforts are not enough and tears the chapter up.