Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist.

July passed in the blink of an eye.

Even in August, it would appear and disappear in an instant.

Before we knew it, most of the summer vacation had already slipped away.

The cicadas continued to chirp from morning till night, and the sweltering heat made one wish they could unleash their reverse-pulling energy.

Nobody wants to be out and about at this time, especially students. They'd much rather stay home with fans or air conditioning on and enjoy cold drinks.

Fujimoto Itsuki, as usual, came to the convenience store that day.

"Phew~"

He pushed open the glass door, and a blast of cold air hit him, completely separating him from the sweltering world outside.

He walked straight to the magazine shelf, picked up the latest issue of Weekly Shonen Jump, and then went to the snack section to get a bag of potato chips and a large bottle of cola, which he then placed on the checkout counter.

The cashier was a middle-aged woman wearing glasses. After scanning the code, she glanced at the screen and said, "That'll be nine hundred and eighty yen in total."

Fujimoto took a 1,000 yen bill out of his pocket and handed it over.

The cashier took the money, gave him two 10-yen coins as change, and then put the magazines and snacks into a bag. "Thank you for your patronage."

"Thanks."

Fujimoto took the bag and change, gave a casual reply, turned around, and pushed open the door to leave.

The heatwave immediately enveloped him again.

He squinted, stuffed the change into his pocket, and walked home with the bag in his hand.

During this time, he acquired another favorite comic.

It's that new serialization, Attack on Titan.

He had almost made it a habit to read the latest installment of "Claymore" after buying a magazine, and then immediately flip to "Attack on Titan".

Sometimes he would wonder if he should save Attack on Titan for last and savor it slowly, but his hands would always skip his thoughts and he would automatically turn the page after finishing Claymore.

"Anyway, this week will probably be just more of the same old memories."

He muttered complaints as he climbed the stairs.

After returning home, Fujimoto put the cola in the refrigerator to chill, opened the potato chips and poured them into a bowl, then took a magazine and sat down at his desk.

He first flipped to the "Claymore" section and read through the entire week's serialization.

The standoff between Gunia and Priscilla continues.

Priscilla's awakened form almost filled the entire page, and the oppressive feeling pressed down directly through the paper.

Gunia's high-speed sword exploded on the next page, the sword light filling the entire double-page spread.

Fujimoto stared at the double-page spread for a long time, muttering to himself.

"Priscilla's recovery ability is just too outrageous."

He turned another page, and Gunia was sent flying, crashing into the rocks behind her.

The image freezes on the moment she grits her teeth and stands up again.

"But Gunia certainly won't just fall like that."

He muttered to himself as he finished reading the magazine, then closed it and pondered the possible future developments of the story.

He considered several possible directions but none of them seemed quite right, so he decided to put them aside for now and take another look later.

"Never mind, let's look at the Titans first."

Fujimoto Tatsuki turned to the Attack on Titan section and said.

Currently, the plot of Attack on Titan is mainly unfolding from Eren's perspective.

The story begins three years ago, on the day Wall Maria was destroyed by the Colossal Titan. Eren witnessed the horrific scene of his mother being eaten by a Titan, and the despair and helplessness he felt were directly conveyed to the audience through the visuals.

Then comes the storyline where he, Mikasa, and Armin join the Training Corps, and the three of them begin training to become soldiers.

The latest episode is episode five.

Allen encountered difficulties while learning to use the 3D Maneuver Gear.

He kept falling during balance training, and no matter how he adjusted his posture, it was wrong. The instructor said he was completely incapable.

Allen was very frustrated by this and even began to doubt whether he had any talent to be a soldier.

Fujimoto turned to the page where Allen fell off the device.

In the scene, Eren is hanging upside down on a rope, his face down in the mud, while Mikasa is sitting steadily on the ground next to him, looking at him expressionlessly.

"This is too tragic."

Fujimoto Itsuki couldn't help but say something.

He continued flipping through the pages. Allen went to the training ground alone that night for extra practice, but he still fell.

Mikasa stood at a distance, watching, wanting to go over but not going over.

Armin ran over to keep him company, and the two sat by the training field chatting. Armin also started reminiscing about how he was bullied when he was a child.

"Armin's character is all about talking."

Fujimoto Itsuki muttered to himself, but still finished reading the conversation.

Then, they gradually realized that the problem was actually with the testing device. After replacing it with a working device, they discovered that Eren not only passed the test, but also had an excellent ability to maintain balance.

Fujimoto closed the magazine and leaned back in his chair.

"So it turns out it was a problem with the device after all."

He grabbed a handful of potato chips from the bowl, stuffed them into his mouth, and chewed them with a crunching sound, complaining.

"When will we get to the part where we kill Titans again...?"

He picked up the cola, took a swig, and the icy bubbles rushed down his throat, causing him to burp.

He glanced again at the Survey Corps trio on the cover, the Wings of Liberty logo printed in the lower right corner.

"But it's still really pretty."

Fujimoto Tsuki reopened the magazine, turned back to the first page of Attack on Titan, and read it all over again.

This time, he specifically chose to watch the scenes featuring Titans. Although the Titans only appeared occasionally as background figures in this episode, their blank expressions and disproportionate bodies still appealed to him.

"I wish there were more battle scenes involving killing Titans."

He flipped through the pages, muttering to himself, and sighed.

……

Meanwhile, on the other side is Shueisha.

At this moment, Masaya Sakurai is, as usual, working with his other editor colleagues to compile the popularity survey questionnaires that need to be statistically analyzed this week.

This is one of their regular weekly tasks.

In the large office, there were several stacks of reader survey postcards sent back from all over the country. The editors divided into several groups, categorized these postcards according to the works, and then counted the votes one by one.

This is a very tedious job, but no one dares to be careless, because the numbers on these postcards directly determine the fate of each serialized comic.

This is also the statistic from the popularity survey questionnaire of the first chapter of Attack on Titan.

Masaya Sakurai went through the stack of postcards he was in charge of, picked out the ones addressed to "Attack on Titan," and set them aside separately.

He picked and counted as he went, and by the end, he had a rough idea of ​​the number in his mind.

It's not considered high in the rankings... After all, it's a new work by a new author, which is normal. As long as the data isn't too bad, being ranked near the bottom is fine.

And the result he's currently expecting... is probably not last place.