Amamiya Rin tapped his toes against the ground, sank his waist slightly to skillfully disperse the momentum, and stood firm.
Turning his head, he saw the person who had brushed past him was a fair-skinned young man, looking about eighteen or nineteen years old, dressed in an ordinary shirt and trousers.
The young man, also stumbling from the reaction force, took a step back before dropping to his knees on the sidewalk tiles without a second thought.
"Hontoni Sumimasen!!! It was me not looking at the road! I bumped into you; I am truly, terribly sorry!"
He pressed both hands to the ground and touched his forehead to the pavement. His voice carried an exaggerated panic, his posture humble to an excessive degree.
That booming voice attracted the attention of others. Passersby subconsciously looked over, and the focusing of pair after pair of eyes made Amamiya Rin frown slightly.
He was not accustomed to being knelt before like this, especially when wearing Tomie's skin, because Kawakami Tomie's charm always drove other people's emotions to extremes.
"It's fine, please get up."
Amamiya Rin emitted a cold yet melodious voice. Not wishing to complicate matters, he moved to step around the man.
Hearing the voice, the man raised his head. As his gaze touched Kawakami Tomie's cheeks, his entire being seemed to freeze. A look of stunned amazement exploded in his eyes.
"So beautiful! You... you are truly too beautiful! I have never seen anyone as beautiful as you! Your hair is like the finest black silk; your eyes are more captivating than gemstones; your skin is like flawless white jade... Oh god! You must be a goddess descended to the mortal world, right?"
The man's gaze stared straight at Kawakami Tomie's face as he praised her with an abnormally exaggerated tone.
Amamiya Rin felt a wave of weariness in his heart.
It's this reaction again. Tomie's appearance possessed an attraction to males that was practically rule-level.
However, he had no interest in listening to this hollow flattery, nor did he wish to be entangled by men.
Amamiya Rin walked quickly past the man, heading along the sidewalk toward the intersection.
"Please wait!"
Seeing this, the man hurriedly scrambled up from the ground and trotted to follow closely, pouring out a ceaseless stream of praise for Kawakami Tomie's looks.
"Please forgive my presumption, but your beauty makes me unable to control myself! I have never seen a woman as beautiful as you; I fear there isn't a second person in the world as beautiful as you, is there? Your existence itself is the most beautiful gift to this world..."
Amamiya Rin's brows locked together tightly.
He knew how strong Tomie's charm was, but those who became fanatical to this degree after just one meeting were the minority.
I'll need to keep a mask ready at all times later on.
Amamiya Rin couldn't help but speed up, attempting to shake off the man behind him.
However, Kawakami Tomie was merely a frail woman. Even with the enhancement of the Breathing Method, without being in a limit-broken state, her physical strength would not improve.
"I say, could you stop pestering me?"
Although not very willing, Amamiya Rin decided to utilize Kawakami Tomie's charm.
A slightly high-pitched voice rang out on the street corner, carrying obvious displeasure.
Before the words even faded, the gazes cast from all directions became fervent, and even more numerous.
The males passing by on the street, seeing such a beautiful woman being pestered by a man, immediately gathered around, having just been fretting over the lack of an opportunity to strike up a conversation.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"Show some respect to the lady. Didn't you hear her tell you to stop pestering her?"
"Want to be a stalker? Get lost, quickly!"
Five or six men inserted themselves between Amamiya Rin and the youth, blocking the young man and accusing him with righteous indignation.
Blocked by these men, the youth had no choice but to stop. He piled an exaggerated apology onto his face, bowing repeatedly: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend, I just admired this young lady's beauty too much..."
Amamiya Rin seized this opportunity to leave rapidly.
Seeing Amamiya Rin's figure drifting further away, the youth wanted to chase after him with some urgency, but how could those men possibly let him succeed?
"Still want to stalk her, huh?!"
"Miss, just keep walking, don't worry, we will stop this guy's criminal behavior!"
"You bastard, are you ignoring us?"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please forgive me!"
The sounds of constant apologizing and the scolding words of the passersby drifted from behind. Amamiya Rin did not pause for a single step; only after walking for about a hundred meters did he glance back.
Confirming that no one had followed, he finally slowed his pace.
"Really... it's not enough that only I can resist Tomie's charm."
Amamiya Rin muttered to himself, sighing lightly.
Approaching noon, Amamiya Rin finally arrived at J's publishing house, the office building of a certain Gakukan.
"Hello, I would like to find the editor in charge of the manga artist J. There is something regarding his work, Pressure Training, that I would like to inquire about."
The receptionist at the front desk was a young woman; Tomie's charm was of no avail, and she merely smiled in a procedural manner.
The receptionist glanced up at him, didn't ask many questions, and simply took out a registration book and pushed it over.
"Please trouble yourself to register your name, contact information, and reason for visiting first."
Following the procedure, Amamiya Rin soon found a young woman wearing a necklace in the editorial section on the third floor. The characters 'Editorial Division: N-yama' were printed on her name tag. She was precisely the avatar of Junji Ito in the manga—the editor in charge of the manga artist J.
Perhaps this young woman, like the manga artist J, was a projection of the narrative structure, and her true body was Junji Ito's editor in the real world.
"Generally speaking, an author's research locations are considered relatively private information. We cannot disclose them casually. We are primarily concerned that readers might go there directly, disturbing the normal operations of the research site, which could also affect future cooperation with the author."
Upon learning Amamiya Rin's purpose, Ms. N-yama revealed a troubled expression.
"A gym should belong to the category of public business places. Since it is open to the public, there shouldn't be so many taboos, right? Moreover, I don't think there are many people besides me who would come knocking on your door because of the nonsensical talk in that manga."
Amamiya Rin spoke calmly.
The so-called Pressure Training should normally involve tying bands around the arms and legs to restrict blood flow for exercise and achieve high efficiency. Yet, Ito Junji's Pressure Training involved throwing people into pressure cookers—wasn't that obviously fake?
Only Amamiya Rin, who had read this manga in his past life, would take the manga as truth.
"Ugh, let me ask Teacher J first."
Ms. N-yama hesitated for a moment, picked up her mobile phone, and sent a text message.
After waiting for two minutes, Ms. N-yama received a response. She scanned the reply and said to Amamiya Rin, "Teacher J heard that a reader came to the publishing house because of his manga and was very happy. He stated that the gym is in X Ward, XX Town, and its name is called [Katsu Sports Club]."
Amamiya Rin committed the address to memory and stood up to express his thanks. "Thank you very much, and please trouble yourself to thank Teacher J for me as well."
Ms. N-yama also stood up and said politely, "You are welcome. Please continue to support Teacher J in the future."
"Definitely!"
Amamiya Rin nodded.
Although it was somewhat regrettable not to see the avatar of Junji Ito, having obtained the intelligence, he delayed no longer and immediately left the publishing house to head for [Katsu Sports Club].
____
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