Otonari ni Ginga

Ichirou Kuga has a lot on his hands beyond his pen. Ever since his father's recent passing, he has been the sole provider for his younger siblings Machi and Fumio, as well as taking on the duties of being a landlord. All of this is on top of managing his shoujo manga career, for which he just barely received recent success in spite of constant deadlines and a lack of assistants. But Ichirou is still determined to pull through for the sake of his siblings' future, until one day his editor gives him a call with some promising news.

Racing outside to find his new assistant, Ichirou meets 19-year-old Shiori Goshiki, who soon reveals herself to be a beautiful young woman with talent through some quick inking. With this being her very first job in the industry and having gotten into manga only recently, Shiori seems out of this world—in more ways than one as Ichirou learns after a mid-work nap when he dazedly assumes a pointy pen is sticking out of her body and reaches out to save her. But when she wakes up and immediately tells him that touching her stinger essentially renders them betrothed, Ichirou doesn't know what to think!

Otonari ni Ginga was published in English as A Galaxy Next Door by Kodansha USA from April 26, 2022 to March 12, 2024.