Manga Fever

EC: 2.8

Masashi, after creating several volumes and making a few sales in the hour, checked his balance. He is now a little over a quarter of the way to buy the store.

Of course, he'd still have to look for a property, but he'd have the coins to use the ability. Well, he'd also have to buy the property…all his savings will likely be gone after that. It is what it is. Having a physical location is far better in the long run, so it's no skin off his back.

It's around noon now and he started with 60 at 6:00 am, sold 46, and made 30 volumes. He would've made more but he had to deal with customers explain what the manga is and a short summary. They could read it, of course, but he had to hook them in and he wouldn't just say, "The summary is on the back.", what kind of salesman does that? Do you want to scare away customers?

He wonders how much longer he'll stay, but the lunch rush just started so he'd be a fool to leave now, but perhaps after? Some food would be nice. He's never been to Lightning Burger but he knows Boruto and his friends go, so he should try it.

Considering his cabinets full of cup ramen, he's naturally been to Ichiraku Ramen. It was as good as the fanfictions made it out to be. That's only if you like ramen, to begin with, otherwise probably not.

"Wait, Boruto!" A young kid yelled and a blond blur practically crashed into the stand.

Masashi was completely bewildered looking at Boruto. He looked as if he was vibrating…oh wait he was! His eyes were shining and looking at me like I was the messiah that held all the answers.

"Hey…wait who are you? Anyways! Where's the next volume?!" Boruto began looking around and then moving books out of the way to see if they were at the bottom.

"Chill out, Boruto!" Shikadai grabbed his shoulder looking horrifically embarrassed as people were now staring.

Masashi naturally did nothing even if he wanted to start laughing. Any publicity is good publicity! More sales! If he didn't have any survival instincts, he might've tried to sell his manga to the Otsutsuki that would come during the Chunin Exams.

Naturally, he isn't that crazy. Even if they could use it, he might not be using Ninshu, but manga can bring people together too! He then had a sudden burst of enlightenment.

Sage of the Six Paths…Sage of the Six Arts? Wait, is it really six?

Illustration, Manga, Anime, Movies, Games…only five. His disappointment is immeasurable, and his day is ruined. Masashi would have sunk down in his seat filled with depression, but he has a loyal customer to deal with.

"It's Masashi, and the next volume hasn't been made yet." He explained and now it was Boruto's turn to be depressed, even Shikadai frowned a bit.

"Aww. When will the next volume come out?" Boruto asked, depression being replaced with hope.

"Tomorrow. If you give me your email, I'll notify you of the exact time if you want." Masashi offered, but soon realized he didn't even have a computer. Wait, could he send emails with his Cosmic Computer? He'll have to test that. The internet is nonexistent at the moment, and it's just localized servers and websites. It's not international and is only really available in Konoha and the Capital.

He sat down quickly and summoned his computer to create a blank card before dispelling it swiftly, handing the card to Boruto. Masashi patted down his pockets and found a random pen in one of his pockets before setting it down.

"Great!" Boruto quickly writes down his email before looking at the stack of volumes with a heavy expression as if deliberating something. "Could I get two more?"

Shikadai's mouth was twitching at his friend. This gacha addicted fool.

Masashi smiled and received the bills and he took the volumes with him. Putting in those cutouts was, indeed, a solid move.

"Oh right, what are the rarities for the cutouts?" Boruto remembered what he and Shikadai got, wanting to know more about the grading system.

"From highest to lowest: Cosmic. Rainbow, Gold, Silver, and Common." He explains and Boruto shoots a jealous look towards Shikadai.

'Huh. I wonder what he got?' Masashi was tempted to laugh.

The reason why he didn't give a Cosmic Grade to his first customer was because it was already special enough. It's one of a kind. A variant. Like a discontinued set. 

Boruto left with Shikadai hoping to get something else good, but Shikadai didn't bother getting another. He didn't care that much, and he'd get another with the next volume, so why bother?

+=[ES]=+

Earlier | Boruto & Shikadai

+=[ES]=+

Boruto ran inside with his friend trailing behind him trying to keep up. Knocking his shoes off in a rush, he made his way up the stairs to his room. 

Hinata hearing the commotion, called out from the kitchen, "Boruto?"

"Hi, kaa-chan! Bye, kaa-chan!" Boruto ran up the stairs making a lot of noise.

"Boruto!" Shikadai struggled to keep pace while taking his own shoes off before running after him.

"No running in the house!" Hinata scolds them before getting no response. "Boruto? Boruto!" The door to his room opened and shut. "That boy! What's gotten into him?" She sighed before resuming cleaning.

Himawari who was sitting on the count, "What's wrong with, onii-chan?" She asked, looking at her mother.

Hinata glanced back to the hallway. 

"I don't know, dear." She responded before her daughter resumed watching TV.

Back with the boys, Boruto dives onto the bed with his volume, then notices something.

"Hey isn't this backwards?" He asked and Shikadai also inspected it. 

He tried opening it the normal way, but he got a graphic telling him how to read it.

"Well, he did say it was a different style of comic book," Shikadai stated before flipping it back over.

Boruto also looked at the graphic before understanding the instructions and both boys started reading.

He liked the family dynamic and wondered what it would be like to have more siblings. This Tanjiro apparently had a job, but where is his dad?

Soon after, he found out he died and felt a bit bad. While he didn't have a good relationship with his own father, Boruto certainly didn't want him to die.

Sprinkles of demons and warnings made Boruto on edge, and then the scene he saw made him green.

He looked over to Shikadai and also saw the same expression. He felt sadness and anger at who had done this. The setup implied it was a demon attack. No wonder the manga had an age requirement.

After that horrific scene, Boruto began to be deeply pulled into the world of Demon Slayer. 

The weakness to sunlight, that demon slayer guy, the basket, getting attacked by another demon feasting on humans, Urokodaki, the training, Makomo, Sabito, cutting the boulder…and then Boruto saw it. A cutout.

"I got one!" Boruto smiled before pulling it out. Shikadai looked over.

It was Kamado Tanjiro that had a gold shine to it.

"Woah! It's gold!" Boruto was ecstatic and flipped it over. "Volume 1: Gold Shiny Kamado Tanjiro."

Shikadai thought it looked pretty good and wondered what his would be. Boruto puts it on his desk before getting back in bed before continuing.

Final Selection, and the cliffhanger about slicing through the demon that killed all Urokodaki's students.

Boruto and Shikadai felt all the ups and downs. Before they even knew it, they finished the volume in about an hour considering they stopped to talk about what was happening.

Shikadai got his at the very end and was surprised when he got a look at it. "What…is this?" He thought that the rarities would follow a similar pattern to the trading cards after seeing Boruto's character, but this threw him for a loop. Boruto looked over and he was even a little jealous that he got something that looked so good.

"Volume 1: Cosmic Shiny Urokodaki Sakonji."

"I wonder what the grading system is." The lazy pre-teen thought before setting the book down.

"Yours is definitely higher, I can just tell." Boruto looked a bit miffed but he was more excited about wanting to know what happens next. "Hey did you see if there was a second volume?"

His friend thought about it but shook his head. "I don't think so, if there was it would've been displayed on top, but they seemed to all be the first one."

Boruto started scratching his head.

"Maybe, but we have to tell everyone about this! This is the best kind of comic book there is! Manga! Come on! I'll be able to show off my character!" Boruto got up snatched his Tanjiro and ran out of the room.

Shikadai without even having room to deny to just chill today, went to follow him, grabbing his own character subconsciously. 

"Why do I get dragged into these situations? So troublesome." Shikadai really just wanted to relax a bit and read, but now he's about to spend the whole day running around.

Descending the stairs they both head out the front door, "Hanging out with friends. Bye, Mom!"

The door opened and shut behind them.

Hinata didn't know what to make of Boruto today.

It had been about an hour before they went up and could hear them excitedly talking about something.

She shook her head and continued watching TV.

Himawari, however, decided to investigate after hearing her brother and Shikadai constantly talking. She could hear them from her room.

She went into his room and saw a comic book on his bed.

+=[ES]=+

After running around convincing his friends to meet at Lightning Burger, which took an hour, they were all sitting at a round table.

"Why did you basically demand us to come here? You didn't even say why!" Sarada huffed annoyed at Boruto's behavior, which was nothing new.

"I don't care. The food will be here soon anyway." Chocho had a smile on her face, but she wouldn't deny that she was a little curious.

"Tell us, Boruto!" Metal Lee also wanted to know.

Inojin just stared at him.

Boruto got up on the seat about to enlighten them all.

"I just found the greatest comic book in the world, today! A new style of comic book called: Demon Slayer!" He shouted which drew eyes to him across the restaurant.

"Get down, Idiot!" Sarada pulled him back to his seat. "A…manga? Really?! That's what you brought us here for? Why would we care?!"

"You're right. It's very good." Inojin sipped on his soda. His comment caused a blush to appear on Sarada's face and avoided all their eyes.

Everyone looked at him with a bit of incredibility, especially Shikadai and Boruto. Wasn't Boruto claiming to have found it today? Did Inojin get it before him or something?

"How?! I was up super early today! Did you get it yesterday or something?" Boruto face faulted thinking that he was the one who struck treasure only to find out Inojin got to it first.

"My otou-san gave it to me and my mother as gifts earlier. It was really well made and I even asked him if there was a second volume but he didn't know." Inojin continued to sip after that explanation.

The food came and after hearing what Inojin said, he had to find out if there was a second volume first.

He scarfed down his food and began to run off…again.

Shikadai knowing that he would end up embarrassing himself given how hyped up he is, decided to follow after him after taking a few fries.

"Stop making me run after you, Boruto!" Shikadai exited the store.

Chocho stole Shikadai's fries soon after he left.

"Seriously, what is up with him? It's just a manga or whatever." Chocho said in between bites.

"His passion is most youthful!" Metal Lee was also interested in this manga.

"It's a great series so far. They even have cutout characters like those trading cards, see?" Inojin shows them a Rainbow Shiny Rokuta.

"Woah, that is pretty!" Chocho has stars in her eyes. "Is that kid in the manga?"

Everyone at the table and even a few eavesdroppers paid attention.

"Well…" He began to explain the basic premise of the story without spoiling anything in case they wanted to read.

"Huh, where did your dad get it? That fool ran off before telling us." Sarada was mildly interested and she didn't have anything better to do anyway.

"The Open Market. He didn't say exactly, but we'll eventually find it by walking around." Inojin explains eating some fries.

"After lunch though!" Chocho took another bite of the burger.

They agreed to finish up their food before heading over.

+=[ES]=+

Himawari sat down and opened the manga.

Boruto didn't know at the time, but he was about to be in some deep trouble.