Later that evening
The teacher was finally heading home. Her heels clicked rhythmically against the pavement as she made her way through the quiet residential streets. The day had drained her, and her mind wandered—mostly back to the strange picture the students were raving about.
Just then, she spotted someone in the distance.
A somewhat short but sturdy figure, hoodie darkened with sweat, walking with a tired posture.
Her eyes widened.
"Yu-kun?!"
I paused mid-step.
Someone just called my name. I turned around slowly, wiping my forehead with the sleeve of my sweatshirt.
And then I saw her.
It was like the evening light hit her just right. Her long black hair flowed with each step, a pair of elegant glasses perched on her nose. A soft brown skirt hugged her waist and stopped just above her knees. Her black wool shirt fit neatly, giving off a mature but stylish vibe. She was tall—at least 5'9, and her sharp green eyes practically glowed against the warm sunset.
Beautiful. No, stunning.
My mouth might've been open a second too long.
"Uh-uhm, do we… know each other?" I asked, still staring, caught in complete awe.
She blinked, then her face flushed. "You forgot me? We went to the same school!"
School…? That was tricky. I had inherited Yu's memories, yes—but they weren't exactly organized like a photo album. Accessing them without a clear context was like fishing in the dark.
"Could you maybe remind me of your name?" I asked, scratching the back of my neck awkwardly.
"Maki Haruna!" she replied quickly, her cheeks still red. "Really, you don't remember?"
Haruna… Haruna…
Then it clicked. A soft memory surfaced—Yu sitting in the back row of class, isolated. Maki, the only one who ever tried talking to him. Thigh she had been more of a problem than a helping hand.
"Maki-san… right. I think I remember now."
Her smile returned, warm and genuine. "Good. You had me worried for a second."
I smiled back, the awkwardness slowly melting. "Sorry."
"No, no it's okay, after you quit school all of a sudden we didn't hear of you anymore. That made me a bit sad." She said.
"Well then if it's all, bye." I was about to go back, I didn't have the energy to talk right now.
"wa-wait, could you please give me your number, so we can catch up later."
"Ah, uh okay." That's a bit unexpected.
-…..
Monday Morning
Shueisha Headquarters – Editor's Office
Sato leaned forward at his desk, elbows pressed against the wood as he stared intensely at the computer screen. His Twitter tab was open, notifications constantly updating — retweets, likes, new comments, quote tweets. The promotional post for Parasyte had exploded over the weekend. It wasn't viral yet, not truly, but it was gaining serious traction for something in the manga space.
And now… it was launch day.
The new issue of Weekly Shonen Jump was already available in select convenience stores and digital platforms. By the afternoon, real reactions would start flooding in.
Still, his nerves were fraying.
What if it wasn't enough?
What if people praised the art and concept… but moved on the next second?
What if the old man — the editor-in-chief — was right?
Sato rubbed his face and sighed heavily.
"C'mon…" he whispered to himself, refreshing the Jump sales portal again. "Please don't get buried."
Meanwhile – At Yu's House
The TV played softly in the background, some daytime variety show featuring comedians reacting dramatically to weird foods. I wasn't paying much attention. I was sprawled on the couch, one hand loosely gripping the remote, the other scrolling through Twitter. My heart wasn't racing… yet. But the tension? It was building.
I had checked the Shonen Jump app at midnight just to see it live. My one-shot — Parasyte — was real, sitting right there in the middle of the magazine lineup, exactly as Sato said it would be.
No flashy placement. No cover highlight. Just… there.
It didn't feel real, even now.
I kept refreshing my feed. Searching for the title. Looking up hashtags. Mentions. Reactions.
Then — a ping. A notification.
@silent_akai:
Holy hell, Parasyte?? That thing was DARK but soooo good. Creepy as hell in the best way. Who's the artist??
Then another.
@retroKuma:
That one-shot in Jump, the one with some parasyte that takes over the arm? I'm still thinking about it. That's what horror should be.
And another.
@greenmatcha42:
Bro I never read manga, but that new story, Parasyte, gave me chills. Is it gonna be a series?
My fingers froze.
I stared at the screen as comments trickled in. Slowly. Then steadily. Then faster.
More people were reading it. Sharing panels. Posting cropped screenshots. The page with the arm transforming mid-air into a blade? That was already being reposted with captions like "WHAT IS THIS AND WHY DO I WANT MORE??"
I leaned back against the cushions, letting the weight of it all sink in.
"…It's happening," I muttered.
Back at Shueisha – Late Morning
Sato practically jumped out of his seat when his assistant barged in without knocking.
"S-Sato-san!" she stammered, eyes wide. "You need to see this!"
He rushed to her computer station just outside his office. On the screen: live sales tracker, early download numbers for the Jump issue.
And Parasyte?
It wasn't just doing "okay."
It had the third-highest clickthrough rate in the entire issue.
Beaten only by two long-established series.
"Impossible…" he breathed, stunned.
"No headline, no cover art… and it's trending."
She nodded quickly. "Twitter. Reddit. Even some English-speaking sites are picking it up. Apparently someone translated the one-shot already — unofficially — and foreign readers are going crazy for it."
Sato blinked, a slow grin stretching across his face.
"Bring me that damn tea," he said, laughing as he returned to his office. "We're gonna need caffeine."
At School – Akio's Perspective
"Yo, dude! Did you read Parasyte?!"
Akio had barely set foot in the classroom before being mobbed. The tables had flipped. Suddenly, he was the cool one — the guy who found something before everyone else.
"It was crazy, right? Like when his hand just talks and starts shifting?"
"I couldn't sleep after that last page. I think it moved in my dreams."
Akio just grinned, holding court like a king. "Told you. Didn't I say it was gonna be fire?"
More importantly — no one was calling it "childish." No one was laughing about reading manga.
That was new.
That was huge.
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Author's note: I won't be updating everyday, like at least 3-4 chapters a week. Sorry if it's kinda rushed.
Also these chapters aren't for the sole reason that it is not going to be a main project, I'm currently writing a fanfic a,d stockpiling chapters. Thank you for reading my book 🙏.
Also don't forget to comment, and possibly give a review, and also some power stones if you liked the chapter.