Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist.

"Ta-da~ Ta-da~"

Sony Ericsson's classic "Connecting" played in the cluttered room, and a clean, white hand suddenly emerged from under the covers and took the flip phone that was constantly ringing.

Eri Aragaki weakly got out of bed, her hair disheveled and hanging over her shoulders, her eyes not fully open.

She yawned and turned off the alarm clock.

Although she slept for almost nine hours, it still wasn't enough for someone like her who loves to sleep.

But she had to get up, because she was going to the Metropolitan University to submit her leave of absence application today.

She had already prepared her leave of absence application; all that was left was to submit it and go through the process.

Eri Aragaki rubbed her eyes and looked at the spot next to her.

Erina was no longer in bed; the blankets were neatly folded.

She glanced at the clock on the wall; it was almost nine o'clock.

Erina should have been in school long ago.

Eri Aragaki got out of bed and walked to the dining table.

On the table was a plate with a thick omelet and a piece of fried toast.

Breakfast was very simple, even rudimentary.

However, Eri Aragaki thought it was a pretty good breakfast.

She couldn't accept what Japanese people considered a proper breakfast, like eating rice first thing in the morning; the thought of it made her stomach uncomfortable.

She sat down and finished her breakfast. The omelet was still a little warm, and the toast was a bit burnt, but it tasted delicious.

After finishing her meal, she went to the washroom to wash her face, changed her clothes, took the documents for her leave of absence application, and went out.

……

When I arrived at the station, there happened to be a tram about to depart.

Eri Aragaki walked quickly into the station, swiped her monthly pass, and boarded the train.

The tram wasn't crowded, so she found a window seat and sat down.

After the tram started moving, the scenery outside the window slowly receded into the distance.

She stared blankly out the window, her mind preoccupied with the Tezuka Award.

She was quite confident in herself... and in the abridged version of Attack on Titan.

Anyway, after finishing the first draft, she read it through and believed that it was no worse than the original manga. If she were to be a little more confident, she even felt that she was a little better than Hajime Isayama.

Needless to say, Attack on Titan, setting aside the plot's sluggish development in the later stages and its subtle "anti-defeat" distorted values, is indeed the best shonen manga in the last 10 years, purely from a manga perspective.

She was more confident in the giant than in her amazing drawing skills after she gained superpowers.

A work of this caliber should have no problem getting selected for the Tezuka Award.

But Eri Aragaki was still worried about what might happen, and during this time she had started to imagine various scenarios in her mind.

Something like a judge who couldn't stand seeing newcomers emerge was jealous of her, or something like that.

Or perhaps she's at odds with another manga artist because that artist was a judge who highly regarded her work, and the other artist went against her, causing her submissions to be highly controversial and resulting in a major internal dispute at Shueisha.

During this time, she has thought of all sorts of plots in her mind, which is probably her biggest flaw: she tends to overthink.

Then, because she thinks too much on weekdays, she has very little energy, so she thinks that's why she loves to sleep in.

Just as Eri Aragaki was lost in thought...

"bite--"

The train arrived at the station, and Eri Aragaki immediately stood up and got off.

She walked out of the station and headed towards Tokyo Metropolitan University.

The school is not far from the station, about a ten-minute walk.

She walked through the campus, where avenues lined with cherry blossom trees lined both sides. Unfortunately, the cherry blossoms had already faded, leaving only lush green leaves.

Eri Aragaki walked along this road until she reached the office building of the Student Affairs Department.

She pushed open the glass door and went inside. The air conditioning was on, making it much cooler.

There are three windows in the student affairs office, and there was no one queuing in front of the middle window.

Eri Aragaki walked over and said to the clerk at the window, "Hello, I would like to apply for a leave of absence from school."

The clerk was a woman in her thirties, wearing glasses and with her hair tied in a ponytail.

She glanced at Eri Aragaki and asked, "Have you prepared all the documents for taking a leave of absence?"

Eri Aragaki took a brown paper envelope out of her backpack and said, "Everything is ready."

The clerk took the envelope and looked at the documents one by one.

"The leave of absence application form is filled out correctly, but it still needs the signature of the supervising teacher."

She looked at it for about two minutes, then looked up and asked, "Did you go see your advisor?"

Eri Aragaki said, "Not yet, I don't know which office my advisor is in."

The clerk said, "The Business Administration Department's guidance office is on the third floor of Building 2. Go find Professor Lin; he's the advisor for second-year students. After he signs it, you can take the materials back."

Eri Aragaki nodded and said, "Okay, thank you."

She turned and walked out of the student affairs office, heading towards Building No. 2.

Building No. 2 is an old building, and some of the exterior tiles have fallen off.

Eri Aragaki climbed to the third floor. At the end of the corridor was a door with a sign that read "Faculty of Business Administration Guidance Office".

She knocked on the door, and a man's voice came from inside, "Come in."

Eri Aragaki pushed open the door and walked in. Inside was a small office with two desks.

Behind the desk by the window sat a man in his fifties, wearing glasses and with a receding hairline.

The man looked at Eri Aragaki and asked, "Which class are you in?"

This is quite normal. Just like Eri Aragaki's college counselor in her previous life, unless you are a student leader in some college or have excellent grades and have won scholarships for two consecutive years, who would recognize you as a counselor?

"Hello, Ms. Kobayashi. I am Eri Aragaki, a second-year student in the Faculty of Business Administration."

Eri Aragaki didn't seem to care at all and said, "I want to take a leave of absence from school, I need your signature."

Ms. Kobayashi pointed to the chair in front of her desk and said, "Sit down and let's talk."

Eri Aragaki sat down and handed the leave of absence application form to Ms. Kobayashi.

Ms. Lin took the application form and read through its contents.

He frowned slightly as he looked at it, then looked up at Eri Aragaki and asked, "Are you experiencing financial difficulties? Could you elaborate?"

Eri Aragaki said, "My parents died in a car accident and left behind some debts. I need to take a break from school to work and earn money to pay off the debts."

"I see, that must be very difficult..."

Ms. Kobayashi's expression turned serious as she asked, "Don't you have any other family members?"

"I also want a younger sister..."

Eri Aragaki said, "But my younger sister is still in high school, so I will take care of her as well."

"If you take a leave of absence, the longest you can take is two years."

Ms. Kobayashi nodded, understanding the situation, and softened her tone considerably, saying, "If you want to rejoin the school within two years, you can come and complete the procedures at any time. If it exceeds two years, your student status will be cancelled. Please be aware of this."

Eri Aragaki said, "I understand. I plan to take a year off from school, and then decide whether to continue the leave after that."

Ms. Kobayashi picked up the pen on the table, signed the leave of absence application form, and stamped it.

"Okay, just take it back and hand it in to the student affairs office."

He handed the application form back to Eri Aragaki and said, "If you have any difficulties, you can come and talk to the school."

Eri Aragaki took the application form, stood up, bowed, and said, "Thank you, Ms. Kobayashi."

Ms. Kobayashi waved her hand and said, "Go on, be careful on the way."

Eri Aragaki took the signed application form, walked out of the guidance room, went downstairs, and headed towards the student affairs office.

After another round of trouble, she finally completed all the procedures and successfully obtained her leave of absence permit.

Eri Aragaki then turned and left the Student Affairs Office.

She stepped out of the office building, the sunlight shining on her face, a little dazzling.

She narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath.

She has completed the leave of absence procedures and will no longer be a university student starting next month.

However, she didn't feel sorry for herself, because she had more important things to do.