Both? Both is Good
The next morning John woke up feeling fresh. Although the night had been a storm of headaches and the feeling of someone trying to break out of his skin, when he opened his eyes, things were calm.
Terrifyingly calm.
"Is this the Ghost of Hanma?" He sighed, adjusting his bed hair.
After a big breakfast, he stretched a little and looked at himself in the mirror. His muscles had grown a bit, very streamlined at that. However, the sound his punches made was way different. And his weight had increased even if there was little difference in his overall shape.
He could only chalk it up to increased bone density and compact muscle, or it could be the breakfast. Still, as much as he ate, it shouldn't increase the weight by 15 kilos.
John pulled a scuttle, something one would see on a submarine, from his inventory and pressed it against the wall. With a sharp hiss, it stuck to the wall, creating a shining outline for a door.
Portable Training Room: A door that leads to a space filled with fitness equipment and training facilities. Can stick anywhere; no need for extra room beyond the surface.
Price—250 EP, Maintenance Cost—1EP/day of use
John had bought it while browsing the shop during breakfast. Leaving the fingerprint and retina scanner technology aside, when he turned the handle, it opened into a stacked gym that a dozen people could use.
Weights, machines, good lighting, heavy speakers, and mirrors. It had everything. But the main reason he went with it was because of the boxing area, the sauna, and the cold bath zone.
John walked on the mat, passing by the machines, and stood in front of a punching bag as big as him dangling from the tiled ceiling. Skipping forward with footwork that looked trained and refined, he landed a couple of hits on the bag. Moving around while shifting his body.
The rattling chain echoed in the place alongside the blows until he decided to swing for real.
The fist caught the bag right in the centre. The bag curved and nearly folded. The rattling chain snapped. John looked at the bag landing with a thud, sand pouring out the hole he had punched.
After about five seconds, the punching bag was back in position like nothing ever happened. The mess on the floor was also gone.
"I give this maintenance service a whopping 5 cheeseburgers." John walked out happy with his purchase. If there was a review section for products, he would've left a long and thankful paragraph.
Between sharing a gym with others, or creating his own and then worrying about maintenance, this was the perfect option.
1 EP wasn't so bad if it kept the place squeaky clean and brand new. It was a steal.
"I am a broke boy now, though." John had only a handful of EP now. He had used whatever had been collected overnight for this place.
Regardless, he'd get more. And he already had his next goal set.
Specialized Training Room: - If the owner has a clear image of what he wants, the room will create that atmosphere for their training.
Price—1000 EP, Maintenance Cost—1EP/hour of use
Using this, he could train the observation Haki further and refine it to the fullest. Currently, he wanted to see if he could break through the basic Haki limit and learn advanced techniques by force.
But if he couldn't, because of some shop restrictions, there was an option to buy them from the shop as well.
'Shopping is so fun, but no money.' John could only begrudgingly sit down, placing the circular hatch in his inventory.
But unlike his sombre start to the day, the readers had quite a different morning. Half of them were still asking why Kyomoto had to die; the other had just accepted it.
John had even added something extra in the physical copy. Kyomoto's diary entries, from the main timeline, about how she would apply to be Fujino's assistant again after she finished art school. There was a double-page spread of them enjoying an anime adaptation of a manga they co-authored along with a shelf full of awards, surrounding the TV.
Needless to say, readers were cursing him while crying. But John was happy he drew that double page, because it wasn't a lie. In one of the worlds, they had indeed achieved that and much more. At least he believed it.
The thing that caught him off guard was some readers showing interest in Chainsaw Man. He had featured it in Look Back in place of the shark man part. Readers were especially taken by Makima's appearance on one of the manga covers, her pointing at the screen with her finger, and the appearance of American Yoru in the double spread.
Many were taken by their eyes, wanting to know more. But John could give it a thoughtful look. He had introduced quite a few emotional works; maybe it was time to throw his readers some philosophical bones to chew on.
That way they'd grow out of the heartache, and then he could strike again when they least expected it.
If the reader kept expecting sad endings, it would often soften the blow. And he wanted them to feel those bitter moments to the fullest; that was the only way he could truly honour the great works he had read.
'You should feel the same suffering I went through; it builds character.' There was no ulterior motive here, none at all.
For the rest of the day, as the lectures passed by, John kept thinking about what to write next. Over the past few days, he had narrowed the list down to three works.
Fight Club and Princess Mononoke.
Given there was an actual fight club in Marvel, run by She-hulk somewhere down the line. John expected the book to be here, but it wasn't. Maybe they just didn't talk about Fight Club online?
'Well, if it did exist, it would be a famous work.' John had been thinking about the book and read it again himself. It proved a bit helpful during the Ghost of Hanma episode.
As for Princess Mononoke, it just came to him on a random Tuesday. Still, choosing between the two wasn't easy.
'Both? Both is good?'
In the end, he nodded to himself sagely with his arms crossed. The professor was so impressed at his seemingly immense understanding of the topic that she asked him to come to the board and share his insights.
Gwen closed her eyes, biting down a smile when she saw the look on his face. She barely held herself together as he stumbled, her shoulders trembling.
But after the lectures ended, it was Gwen's turn to be distraught.
Many readers, who now received their physical copies, were taking to the internet to vent. Seeing them, many new readers came in, adding to the sea of tears.
Gwen was one of those new readers, even if she had gotten her physical copy earlier than most. She read Look Back for the first time right now, sitting at the usual diner with John.
...
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