Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist.

Chapter 115 Warm-up (Daily Life)

On Friday, Xiao Nanliang, a junior high school student, finally got a holiday and went home.

One downside of the second semester is that after the National Day holiday, there aren't many holidays in November and December.

Xiao Nanliang and his students could only anxiously await the arrival of the weekend each week.

Tomorrow is the weekend, so he doesn't need to do homework tonight.

He can leave his Friday homework until Saturday, which is an agreement between him and his parents. As long as his grades don't drop, the night before every holiday is his free time.

After finishing his meal, he went straight to his room and turned on his computer to play some games, as instructed by his parents. His mother called out from the kitchen, "Don't stay up too late," and he responded and closed the door.

During this period, Xiao Nanliang also developed a liking for playing games under the influence of his classmates, and he played games that were popular in China at that time in 07.

Fantasy Westward Journey, KartRider, Warcraft III – these are all the games the boys in my class talk about during breaks.

However, he mainly uses his computer time to catch up on anime, read comics, and chat with others. He only plays games occasionally, and his skills are so-so. His best friends often complain that he's bad at the game.

Besides the group for finding comic resources, there was also a group created by more than a dozen classmates who had QQ accounts, and he also chatted with some friends he got along with.

Most of the messages in the class group are about copying homework, making plans to go to internet cafes on the weekend, and discussing which teacher went overtime again today.

He would occasionally chime in, but most of the time he just watched from the sidelines.

He went straight online and contacted his best friend Wang Jiahao, whom he'd known since middle school and who was already online. [Nan Wangni: Online! Mouse, hurry up! Let's run a dungeon together tonight!]

His nickname uses the trendy Martian language, and he followed suit by choosing a name like that. Several boys in his class also use this combination of symbols and Chinese characters in their IDs, thinking it's really cool.

Then he waited for his best friend's reply, but strangely enough, he didn't receive a reply for a while.

Wang Jiahao's profile picture was lit up, but the chat box was quiet.

Xiao Nanliang waited for about two minutes and sent another message, "Where are you?", but still received no response.

All right----

He didn't intend to just wait around.

So he went to check out the Chinese localization group's resource group, which he had been very active in.

Open the QQ group list, and the pinned Orange Cat Translation Group icon is flashing, with hundreds of messages already piled up.

As before, the group chat was lively every evening.

But right now everyone is—

"Where are the translated resources from last week? Please hurry, everyone!"

"Yeah, it's been almost two weeks, and the translated resources from last week still haven't come out? Usually they're released on Mondays."

"Are you guys busy this week? @OrangeCatTranslationTeam—DaNiu @OrangeCatTranslationTeam—FeiFei @SOSTeam—XiYang"

"This week is a bit special. Last year, around this time, the localization resources were released rather slowly. I remember the year before last was the same."

""

"What's the rush? They don't owe you anything. You're just doing this out of love, why are you urging them? If you're so capable, go learn Japanese and watch the raw videos yourself."

"I'm only waiting for the Chinese translation because I can't learn Japanese. If I knew Japanese, why would I be waiting in the group chat?"

Soon after, because someone tagged members of the translation team, several people in the group who were mentioned probably received a notification.

After waiting for a few minutes, someone finally replied.

However, it is only —

[SOS Brigade - Orange: We had a lot of resources last week because it's the end of the year. Last week was a combined issue, which is equivalent to two weeks of serialization. Please give Sunset and the others some time.]

[S0S Team - Orange: The workload for translation and typesetting has doubled, and their school finals are coming up soon.]

[SOS Brigade - Orange: Please be understanding.]

Generally speaking, although Orange is the leader of the Orange Cat Translation Group, everyone in the group knows that Orange went to study in Japan, so she doesn't usually take charge anymore.

Most of the time, when Orange comes out, it's just to chat, talk about life in Japan, complain about his mentor, or recommend a few good comics he just read.

So we never tag him in the group chat.

But unexpectedly, the oranges appeared instead.

Lin Beimiao has always been very popular in the group, not only because he created the translation team, but also because he is down-to-earth and can chat with anyone.

The news immediately caused an uproar, and those who were previously arguing about why the Chinese translation hadn't been released yet all shifted their focus to it.

Xiao Nanliang and the other group members excitedly greeted Lin Beimiao, who had finally popped up in the chat.

"Boss! Long time no see! The last time I saw you was last month when you posted Fog Hill of Five Elements!"

"Hey Orange! It's almost New Year's, are you coming back for the holiday? You were in Japan last year and didn't come back for the New Year."

"What does 'combined issue' mean? Does it mean a two-week serialization? Does it mean last week's issue is twice the usual size?"

"That's right, that's why I told you not to rush. Last week was indeed the time when many manga magazines in Japan released their year-end combined issues. Shueisha, Kodansha, and Shogakukan all released their combined issues this week, doubling the volume."

"Wouldn't that be even better? After all, it's a two-week serial story! Now we should be able to see the results of capturing Annie, right? Last week, the Titans were stuck on the trapping of Annie."

"This is bad—because it means that the magazine will be suspended for the next two weeks. The combined issue is the content of two issues in one issue, and the magazine will be on holiday for the next two weeks."

"Huh? Does that mean there won't be any comics to read for the next two weeks? Is there a break after the combined issue?"

"Yes, so it's not entirely good news. The quantity has doubled, but the gap afterward is also real."

"It's pretty much the same as the hiatus in August, right? I'm going crazy waiting!!"

"Aaaaaah! Why?! Why did this have to happen?! I'm dying from not being able to read JUMP for two weeks!"

"You'll get used to it. It's like this every year. The end of the year and the beginning of the new year are the fixed off-season for the Japanese publishing industry. Manga artists also need to celebrate the New Year. You set off fireworks and eat dumplings during the New Year, but they also want to soak in hot springs and sleep in."

Seeing the group chat become even more lively with his appearance, and the message notifications going off non-stop, Lin Beimiao smiled as he sat in front of his computer.

He had just finished reading this week's combined issue. Reading the two chapters of Attack on Titan back-to-back was really satisfying. He was about to go to sleep when he saw the chat in the group chat and replied casually.

Then he typed back to each one, his fingers flying across the keyboard, and every message received a response.

[SOS Brigade - Orange: I might come back for New Year's Day, but the Lunar New Year is a bit of a hassle. It falls right between winter and spring breaks here in Japan, and the New Year's Day holiday is only a few days long, while the Lunar New Year holiday is right in the middle of the semester, so it's hard to schedule anything for either.]

[SOS Brigade - Orange: I still have to go back to Japan for classes during the Lunar New Year. It's ridiculous. My advisor won't let me go, and there's a conference being held during the Spring Festival.]

[SOS Brigade - Orange: But I'm already on vacation. I plan to travel around Japan for a while before going back. Tokyo is quite lively during Christmas, and I'd like to go and have some fun.]

[SOS Brigade - Orange: And it just so happens, haha, there's a Shueisha-hosted comic convention tomorrow. I bought tickets and I'm going with some friends.]

[SOS Brigade - Orange: I also heard that some popular manga artists will be there for autographs tomorrow! Apparently, Oda, Kishimoto, Tite Kubo, and Riko will all be there!]

Upon seeing his reply, Xiao Nanliang stared at the line of text on the screen, completely stunned.

The rest of the group was also in an uproar, with messages flooding the chat even faster than before: "Wow! There's an event like this? We can meet Oda and the others!"

"Is it Shueisha's Jump Festa? Isn't that event limited to a certain number of participants? Not everyone can go."

"I wanted to go when I traveled to Japan, but when I got there I found out that I needed to get the qualifications in advance—and there were restrictions for overseas fans."

"Wow, Orange, you're so lucky! You actually won a spot in the Jump Festa lottery!"

"I really want to go too, to see what Pear looks like, and whether she's really that pretty!"

"Hey boss, could you get Zhang Limei's autograph for me? I'll treat you to dinner when you come back for New Year's Day, anywhere is fine, Shangri-La, Grand Hyatt, anything! Seriously, I'm not kidding!"

"That's awesome! Boss, remember to take lots of pictures for us! We can only rely on you to send us photos since we can't be there in person!"

"There must be a lot of people queuing for autographs, boss. You should go early to get in line. I heard that there's a limit to the number of people who can get autographs like this."

"Rika's autograph is probably valuable in Japan now. Attack on Titan seems to be quite popular lately. She's good-looking, and popular shoujo manga artists are in high demand."

"If Pear Girl is really as beautiful as she was in the previous interview, she'll probably attract a lot of attention."

"I also want to get Pear's autograph. Pear said she really likes the culture of the Republic, right? When will you come to the Republic for a meet-and-greet or for tourism?"

"If Pear Girl ever comes to the Republic for tourism, I'll be her tour guide, taking her to eat authentic Chinese food and visit famous historical sites!"

"Dream on! You want to be Pear Girl's tour guide? If anyone's going to be one, it'll be me! I can even cover all of Pear Girl's travel expenses!"

Seeing how excited the group members were, Lin Beimiao smiled and continued typing—

[SOS Brigade - Orange: Haha, it was just luck. I'll tell you guys tomorrow night or the night after. Haha, I'm going to catch up on my anime now.]

[SOS Brigade - Orange: I'll finish reading this week's combined issue first; two chapters are enough to keep me up until midnight.]

Lin Beimiao remained online, but turned around to get this week's comic book magazine.

-

Sure enough, everyone then noticed that Lin Beimiao stopped talking.

Xiao Nanliang continued chatting with the other group members for a few more minutes, and then his best friend finally replied.

[HaoDistance: Now Online!]

[HaoDistance: My dad just called me to help my sister with her homework. Just finished, speechless.]

Xiao Nanliang understood immediately upon seeing this.

My best friend has a younger sister who is almost ten years younger than him and is currently in kindergarten. So he often gets his parents to help his sister with her homework.

He immediately sent a message, telling him to log in quickly.

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