On the bumpy road, the bus swayed non-stop, jostling people within the cramped space.
Logan sat still, holding his phone, but a sudden turn sent everyone tumbling like dominoes, thanks to the bus driver's, let's say, spirited driving.
Logan wanted nothing more than to quietly admire his handsome self, but the crowd's momentum was too strong, and two male students, unable to keep their balance, ended up bumping into Logan's shoulder.
Plak!
Logan met the impact with an expressionless face. He could tell they had tried to steady themselves, 'Well, rush hour is unforgiving. But… there should be quite a lot of girls around… What a real shame.'
"Oops, sorry about that, man."
"It's fine."
The two boys, who seemed to be friends, quickly apologized, while Logan casually waved it off. Scanning the bus, he noticed that all the students in school uniforms were still fixing their appearances after the upheaval.
'Indeed, plenty of girls.' With a shake of his head, he returned his attention to his manga.
Logan scrutinized each panel carefully, not wanting to miss any potential details. Just as he flipped to the last page, a male student standing next to him started to chat.
"Wow, dude, you're into Naruto too?"
From what he had read so far, the plot wasn't looking good, and Logan was still frowning, deep in thought. Hearing this, he looked up.
"Uh..." At this moment, Logan's expression was somewhat intimidating. When the male student who had just bumped into someone saw this displeased expression, he was startled, 'Was it because I accidentally bumped into him? He sure holds a grudge... and why does this guy look so intense reading manga?'
The ordinary-looking student felt a little nervous, "Well, what a coincidence, I'm reading it too, haha."
"Mm."
'Yikes.' The cold reply made the pimples from his late-night binge almost ache with embarrassment.
"Y-yeah, it's, uh, a great series..."
Yu Logan had already looked back down. After all, this student is neither a girl nor a beautiful boy.
"..."
The atmosphere was stifling. The boy, overwhelmed by his own inner monologue, tried to chuckle away the awkwardness, but his friend noticed their conversation and eagerly leaned over, "Oh, are you guys talking about Naruto? Which part?"
'No, no!' The first boy tried to hold his friend back. He couldn't let others fall into this suffocating exchange. He whispered urgently, "Hey, this guy's kind of… odd..."
Logan's brow twitched when he heard this.
However, the friend did not pay attention to the strange-sounding words of the male student at all, and said to Logan with a smile, "Brother, are you reading the latest chapter of the manga? Ah, Team 7, who went to chase Hattori, finally returned to the village, right? Ugh, that plot… I'm totally hooked! I got into the anime first, then started catching up with the manga, though it's painfully slow."
At first glance, he seemed to be a loyal fan of the work. Seeing a like-minded person, of course he will be happy, "But wow, Hattori is so awesome."
"Oh, tha… yeah… he's pretty awesome."
Logan, of course, was glad to hear praise about himself, but he almost misspoke. Correcting himself, he replied casually.
The other boy, who had stayed silent this whole time, looked over in surprise at Logan's 'kind' response, 'Why the double standard? So unfair!'
In the world of drama kings, ordinary folks simply can't understand.
Logan raised his hand, then noticed the small [To Be Continued] text tucked into the corner of the manga's last black-and-white page. His feelings were mixed. He'd encountered it back then, and here it was again, yet the two worlds portrayed vastly different perspectives.
The new chapter continued seamlessly from the previous storyline. Logan had briefly wondered if the author might delve into some flashbacks, maybe hinting at why he hadn't returned.
Though this Naruto was technically still in its early phase, there was no guarantee that the soulless pursuit of profit wouldn't push it into drawn-out, cash-grabbing filler.
In the end, everything proceeded normally: Sakura led Konoha's reinforcements to the Valley of the End, where only a desolate battlefield remained. Kakashi and Jiraiya brought Naruto and Sasuke back to the village, the scene then shifting to the perspectives of Hiruzen, Koharu, Danzo, and others.
There was no mention of Hattori's defection or any scenes of his time working for the Akatsuki. No secret meetings through the Magic Lantern Body Technique with Zetsu, nothing at all.
'The author sure knows how to keep the readers hanging...' Logan sneered in his heart. His character wasn't discussed much, but this chapter at least hinted at the Akatsuki's presence.
From an audience perspective, Itachi and the mysterious Akatsuki organization were starting to look like major, powerful, and cool storylines coming into play.
"Man, that illustration is fire. I even set it as my lock screen." Seeing Logan put away his phone, the loyal fan took out his phone and slid open the interface.
'So it was an illustration of myself...' Keeping his expression neutral, Logan observed the other student's lock screen. On the lock screen of the other party's phone, he was wearing a black cloak with red clouds pattern, sitting on a rock and looking coldly into the distance. The background was a desolate wasteland.
'When was that drawn?' Logan thought to himself.
Manga chapters usually opened or closed with a detailed illustration, like the scene of Kakashi during his ANBU days, or Zabuza and Haku's tragic final moment in the mist.
But most of these images served as eye-catching inserts, and is not necessarily related to the content of this chapter, but mainly to boost appeal and draw readers in. Logan, who had 'followed the series closely', was well aware of the pattern.
After thinking back, Logan couldn't recall this specific illustration. It could've been an image of his years away, or simply something the author whipped up. After all, his current status was quite the hot topic, and anything with him would sell.
"He is indeed handsome and good-looking." Logan nodded in agreement.
The other party laughed and didn't notice anything wrong. He put his phone away very contentedly, as their destination, Fresno High School, was approaching soon.
Logan thought the conversation had ended and raised his head, but he didn't expect that the other party would sigh again after he paused.
"Still, I don't get why Hattori defected, it's just so dumb! The reason's so vague. Was the author trying to stir up attention? The plot is garbage after that!"
Logan blinked and shifted his gaze back from the window.
'There are some who praise it and some who criticize it, but there's always 'loyal' fans who are unique and full of ideas.'
The observant male student sensed Logan's glance and, recalling the suffocating atmosphere from before, tried to smooth things over, gently holding his friend's shoulder, "It's not that dramatic. You're just exaggerating, haha."
"Heh, newbies like you don't understand." The critical fan shook his head, swatting his friend's hand away, " Just because a series is popular and has good reviews doesn't mean you have to go with the flow? Sure, the fights are well-done, but the story's still trash. I'm what you call a rational fan. You shouldn't be so easily satisfied by fanservice and fluff! It's all formulaic and vulgar! "
The friend was left speechless, 'Alright, guess I'm vulgar.'
"In my opinion, Hattori's defection is clearly just to attract the BL fanbase!" The other party asserted with disgust, "They ruined such a good character just to cash in! And don't even get me started on those intense eye contacts. Way too suggestive. Makes me cringe."
"It's… not that bad…" His friend tried to defend.
"What do you think, man?" The fan asked Logan.
"..."
'Say, I'm trying to attract fujoshi?'
Logan, who was asked, had a polite smile on his lips, "Does it really make you uncomfortable reading it?"