Chapter 16 Kamiya Yu's comics heal people
As the commotion surrounding the Service Club's new member recruitment subsided, Kamiya Yu's life returned to its regular rhythm: school, drawing manga, and exercising.
Amidst this peaceful routine, Kamiya Yu's first manga was released.
May 4th, Thursday.
Nakatani Hiroki, seventeen years old and a second-year student at Aoba Johsai, was walking home, heading towards the Nagawa Bookstore near his house.
Most high school students Nakatani Hiroki's age enjoy manga and games, and he was no exception. He was rushing to the bookstore because the latest issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump was out today.
The bookstore was quite crowded, mostly with students his age. Looking closely, the Weekly Shonen Jump magazines displayed in the store were rapidly dwindling under the eager grabs of the crowd.
"Wait, save one for me! Otherwise, I'll have to go all the way to the branch store five kilometers away."
Nakatani Hiroki had been delayed by a few things today, preventing him from arriving at the bookstore immediately.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle."
Nakatani Hiroki's clothes brushed against the crowd, making rustling sounds. His eyes scanned the magazines at the very bottom, and his right hand quickly reached out and pulled one back.
Confirming it was indeed the latest issue, he handed over his considerable allowance to the smiling owner. Nakatani Hiroki then eagerly rushed home.
"Hiroki, you're back. Dinner will be ready soon."
As soon as Nakatani Hiroki entered the genkan to change his shoes, he heard a voice from the kitchen and quickly said while heading upstairs,
"Mom, call me when dinner's ready. I'm going to read manga first."
Thump, thump, thump.
The sound of footsteps came, the sound of walking on wooden stairs. His mother in the kitchen chuckled and said, "Don't spend all day reading manga; study more."
"Got it!"
Nakatani Hiroki flopped onto his bed, throwing his backpack to the floor, and immediately focused his attention on the magazine.
The magazine's cover featured a sunny-faced young man wearing a headband. Above the young man's head was written "Legend of the Steadfast Ninja."
"Is he finally attacking the Daimyo's mansion this time?"
Nakatani Hiroki looked at the title, "Night Raid." The manga's plot was exactly as he'd imagined: the protagonist infiltrated the Daimyo's mansion at night and killed the Daimyo who had murdered his mother when he was young.
"This is so awesome! The battle scenes, and the protagonist finally got his revenge!"
Nakatani Hiroki excitedly wriggled on the bed like an earthworm, occasionally chuckling foolishly.
Then, something else came to mind, making his mood drop. After all, the protagonist had successfully achieved his revenge, so there wouldn't be much plot left. It was probably going to end, this manga he had been following for three years.
"Sigh, I'm a little sad to see it go."
Nakatani Hiroki continued to sigh while flipping through the pages.
"Earth Defense Force"
"The Hero is Too Strong"
"let's fall in love"
"This issue of let's fall in love is really good. Mamiko is so cute. Is she finally going to pluck up the courage to confess?"
Nakatani Hiroki kept flipping, trying to find the answer. The last scene read: "Will Mamiko confess? Please look forward to the next issue of Weekly Shonen Jump..." Nakatani Hiroki froze. He hadn't expected to be left hanging at such a crucial moment; the manga wasn't finished yet.
"This is such a tease, Yumeno Sakiko-sensei! You're really stringing us along!"
The magazine was slammed onto the bed by Nakatani Hiroki, who stared at it with a constipated expression. About 10 seconds later, he took out the Newcomer Award manga collection, which was given for free with Weekly Shonen Jump, from his backpack and began flipping through it.
"[The way I published my manga, you don't have to pay too much attention to it.]"
"I wonder if there are any good works in this Newcomer Award collection."
Nakatani Hiroki muttered to himself, casting aside his previous unhappiness. What appeared before him was a colored illustration of a pitiful young girl.
"takopi's original sin. That's a strange title."
Nakatani Hiroki was a little curious and continued to flip through. The next scene surprised him.
"Is this really the work of a newcomer?"
The girl in the picture was crouching on the ground as if looking at something, her expression weary.
In the next panel, a cute octopus appeared, holding bread with its tentacles and eating continuously.
"Is this the octopus p from the title?"
Nakatani Hiroki read the narration and learned that this octopus was octopus p, who had come to Earth to bring happiness to the world.
As Nakatani Hiroki continued flipping, he finished reading the entire manga in about 10 minutes.
Chapter 1: Kuse Shizuka commits suicide at home, her body hanging from a beam.
Chapter 2: octopus p disguises himself as Shizuka-chan, is beaten and threatened by Marina.
Chapter 3: Marina schemes to send Shizuka-chan's dog away, separating it from Shizuka-chan.
Nakatani Hiroki couldn't say a word now; his face was grim, and he felt completely numb.
"Why would they do this, harming octopus p and Shizuka-chan!"
"Is this author even human?"
He flipped to the first page of the manga and found the author's pen name.
"Kamiya Kyo, you really don't consider yourself human, do you?"
Nakatani Hiroki clenched his fists, staring intently at the three characters "Kamiya Kyo," as if he wanted to devour the author whole.
He was currently fuming. This was Nakatani Hiroki's first time reading this type of manga, and his emotional defenses were low. However, he probably, or perhaps, would develop resistance with more exposure.
He flipped the manga back to the last page, where a string of text was written vertically across two panels.
[The goal is reconciliation. Please look forward to next week's Weekly Shonen Jump.]
"Only a dog would look forward to next week's magazine! Publishing this kind of manga, it's infuriating!"
"No, I have to go online and curse this Old Thief. Otherwise, I won't be able to quell my anger."
Nakatani Hiroki opened his phone and went to his familiar manga forum. The forum was bustling now, with new messages constantly appearing.
"Has everyone read the latest Jump? Go check out takopi's original sin, it's incredibly good."
"Haven't seen it. I'm going to read it now."
"I just bought it. Since the OP recommended it so much, I'll check it out first."
Five minutes later... "Everyone, don't trust this dog! It's too painful! Why would they bully my Shizuka-chan? Waaah, waaah, waaah."
"Yeah, and octopus p is so cute! It was so hard to watch him get bullied by Marina."
"And! octopus p tried so hard for Shizuka-chan! He kept going back, trying to help Shizuka-chan."
Nakatani Hiroki read the forum comments. Most were discussing the works from this Newcomer Award, and among them, the discussion about takopi's original sin was the most intense.
His fingers didn't stop moving as he quickly typed on his phone: "The author's pen name is Kamiya Kyo. Kamiya Lao Zei is too despicable; his manga makes people so uncomfortable."
Messages kept pouring in below.
"Yeah, from now on we'll call him Kamiya Lao Zei. That guy is really cunning."
"Exactly. When I reply, I'm definitely giving him a one-star bad review and cursing him out."
"Me too..."
...Messages kept flowing, causing the forum's thread count to rapidly increase as more and more people joined the manga discussion. But at this moment, Kamiya Yu was leisurely drawing at home.
Kuse Shizuka, who was being bullied.