Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist

Chapter 45: Comics are adventures for ordinary people.

Takuya Ueno returned to school, and a month passed by in the usual uneventful way, until the end of September.

In September, it's still hot in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture, but the morning and evening breezes are starting to carry a hint of coolness.

For an ordinary student like him, there weren't many changes in his school days.

It's nothing more than finishing class, participating in club activities, and then going home to read comics and watch anime. The friends and classmates around me are still the same group, with almost no changes.

Unlike manga, there won't be a transfer student appearing and then any story unfolding.

There won't be any unexpected events, like Shinji Ikari in "EVA," where a world crisis suddenly occurs and someone like Takumi Ueno, who has always been an ordinary student, is urgently needed to save the world.

For Taku Ueno, the only way to experience unexpected and exciting stories is probably through manga and anime.

Only through comics and anime can Taku Ueno appreciate the charm of the different stories in those worlds.

Luffy encounters one crewmate after another on the Grand Line, Naruto fights with all his might in the Fourth Shinobi World War, and Ichigo Kurosaki wields his Zanpakuto to sever the mask of a Hollow...

And there's also his favorite new manga series, Attack on Titan... Eren stood on the city wall, looking at the vast and cruel world outside, his eyes burning with an inextinguishable fire.

Those characters went on adventures for him, fought for him, and experienced things he would probably never have experienced in his life.

He channeled his emotions into those moments of turning the pages, which is probably why he keeps buying JUMP.

It's the last Monday of September.

After finishing his last class, Ueno Taku stuffed his textbook into his bag, stood up, and walked out of the classroom.

The club he joined was the soccer club.

When he chose a club, he didn't think much about it. Sports clubs sounded like they involved more physical activity than academic clubs, and his parents also said that more exercise was good for his health. So he filled out the application form, submitted it, received a team uniform, and became an ordinary member of the soccer club.

He's not a starter, not a substitute, and not the kind of player the coach would call on individually for individual coaching.

He was just an ordinary department member.

Every day after school, I would go to the playground, run five laps around the field with everyone to warm up, and then do basic training.

Passing, controlling the ball, dribbling, shooting. The coach walked back and forth in the middle of the field, blowing his whistle, occasionally stopping to correct a player's movements.

While the main players were divided into two teams to play practice matches, Ueno Taku and several other ordinary members would help retrieve the ball on the sidelines or continue practicing their basic skills on the open ground next to the court.

Today was no different. After the club activities ended, he rode his bike home with a few close friends.

They parted ways when they were almost home, and Ueno Taku went to the bookstore they had visited before.

Behind the cashier sat the bookstore's elderly gentleman, wearing reading glasses and reading a newspaper.

Hearing the door open, he looked up, his glasses sliding down to the tip of his nose.

"Oh, Ueno-kun, you're here today too."

"Yes, it's Monday today."

Taku Ueno walked to the magazine shelf.

The latest issue of Weekly Shonen Jump is neatly arranged in the most prominent position.

He then picked up the magazine, some drinks, and snacks, paid the bill, and drove home.

Back home, my mother should be in the kitchen preparing dinner.

He called out, "I'm back," and went into his room without waiting for a response.

He put the cola in the refrigerator and opened the potato chips and poured them into a bowl.

Then I sat down at my desk and opened a magazine.

He eagerly flipped the magazine to the One Piece section.

This week's plot is stuck at the most crucial point of last week.

The battle between Luffy and Lucci has reached a fever pitch. In the last chapter, Luffy was hit head-on by Lucci's Six Kings Spear and fell to the ground motionless.

Ueno Taku turned to the corresponding page and saw the moment Luffy stood up again, his whole body steaming, his skin turning dark red, and his hair floating upwards.

"Second gear."

He stared at Luffy covered in steam on that page and couldn't help but shout in a somewhat childish way.

Luffy completely overwhelmed Lucci with his speed in Gear Second, and every punch he threw left a trail of steam.

Lucci's expression shifted from confidence to shock, then to anger, and finally to a ferocious look.

The two fight from the top of the tower on Judiciary Island to the ground floor, from indoors to outdoors; the entire double-page spread conveys a sense of speed and power.

"This is the kind of battle JUMP should be fighting like this."

After reading this chapter, Ueno Taku nodded in satisfaction.

He stuffed the potato chips in his mouth and flipped to the Naruto page.

This week marks a new phase in the battle between Naruto and Pain. Naruto has mastered Sage Mode, and Pain's true nature has finally been fully revealed.

Then he stopped caring which comic to read first and just read them in order.

"This battle has gone on long enough."

"Ulquiorra, this kind of cool-headed villain, is quite interesting..."

"The concept of box weapons is becoming increasingly complex."

"Hiruzen's tactics are always unpredictable."

"What new outrageous move did 'The Prince of Tennis' pull out this week... No, the Hundred-Armed Giant's Guardian... Ah, that's much more normal... At least it sounds more reasonable than Tezuka's Domain and Thousand Hammers."

……

He read through every serialized novel he regularly followed, some quickly and some slowly.

Read carefully if there's a plot, and skip over the funny parts.

I ate most of a bowl of potato chips and drank a third of the cola.

I finally found Attack on Titan.

The current plot development is that the flashback part is almost over, and the series is currently on its eleventh episode.

In the first ten episodes, after telling the story of the sudden appearance of the Colossal Titan, the breach of Wall Maria, the eating of Eren's mother by a Titan, and Eren and his two companions joining the Training Corps for three years of training, the story finally returns to the timeline after the end of the Trost District recapture battle.

The previous chapter was immediately followed by an unexpected and shocking opening.

Marco's body has been found.

In the previous storyline, Marco and Eren were both among the top ten members of the Training Corps.

Unlike Jean, who constantly opposes Allen and openly declares his intention to join the Military Police from the beginning, Marco is the kind of character that everyone likes.

She has an outgoing personality, is kind to everyone, has excellent training results, and has clear goals and ideals.

He has had a significant role in the previous chapters and interacted a lot with other characters, and readers have already begun to like this character.

As a result, his body appeared at the beginning of this episode.

Only half of the body remained.

In the video, Jean stands frozen in place in front of the mutilated corpse.

His face was expressionless, but his eyes were wide open. In the background, there were still smoking ruins of the post-war site. Other soldiers stood at a distance, and no one dared to approach.

Ueno Taku stared at that page for a long time.

Chapter 46 Scraping into the Top Ten

On the previous page, he was still talking to others, but on the next page, he was kneeling on the ground with his friend's unrecognizable corpse in front of him.

This sudden turn of events left Ueno Taku speechless.

He recalled that in the previous chapters, Marco had been laughing and discussing with Jean which military unit to join after graduation. Jean said he wanted to join the Military Police, while Marco said he wanted to join the Survey Corps because he wanted to do something for the future of humanity.

The scene was quite heartwarming back then, with the two of them standing by the fence of the training field, the setting sun shining behind them.

As a result, those images have now all turned into knives.

"You're really ruthless for not eating pears."

Takuto Ueno couldn't help but say that.

He continued scrolling down.

He knelt beside Marco's body, feeling as if all his energy had been drained away.

But no one seemed to suspect that Marco's death might be suspicious, because the death of a recruit in the face of Titans was perfectly normal.

Even if this recruit had excellent grades in the training corps.

But at that moment, Ueno Taku saw the scene of the three fellow villagers who followed.

Reiner stood beside the crowd with a strange expression on his face, not sadness, but more like some kind of tension.

Bertholdt, on the other hand, remained the same, somewhat timid, with that usual kind-hearted air about him.

But the usually aloof Ani looked lost in thought, especially when facing Marco, seemingly dazed...

"These three people..."

Ueno Taku frowned, suddenly sensing something was wrong, and said, "It seems Marco's death is related to them..."

But what exactly is their relationship?

He didn't think about it in detail, especially since this wasn't a classic mystery novel and the comic didn't offer many clues.

He continued reading.

The Survey Corps soldiers faced their own decision after the war.