I just want to quietly draw manga Chapter 348

[Note: Last minute, I had an idea to add something, so I can’t complete the chapter . I’ll post a double chapter tomorrow instead.]

The next day, Haruki woke up from a good nap, while making everyone else lose sleep for the next few weeks until people forgot what had happened. He went into his usual morning routine, brushing his teeth.

After showering, he made a cup of coffee and sat at the dining table while scrolling through comments. New ones kept coming in since the episode had dropped, and it had only been twelve hours. Yet his latest post already had more comments than he had followers. Some were memes, some were light teasing, and some were threats, joking ones mostly, saying that if he didn’t reveal what happened next, they might “do things” to him.

Did I go too far? he wondered. But in most of the threat threads, fans were defending him. Well, they still support me even after I put them through so much. Maybe I should do something nice for them. And the anime he had in mind for his first original project felt like the perfect reward.

There were some genuinely funny memes, and as he scrolled with his coffee in hand, an occasional comment nearly made him spew it out, sometimes from laughter, sometimes from how outrageous it was.

After finishing his coffee, he sat down at his drawing desk. He adjusted his chair a bit, picked up his pencil, and started working on the new Fullmetal chapter.

After about half an hour, he heard the front door being opened. Kenta and Noya had arrived early.

Haruki glanced at the time. “They’re early today. Did they come early just so they can learn what happens next?”

The moment they entered, the two of them surrounded him like he was trying to escape.

Noya leaned forward. “Don’t let him get away. You have to answer our question first.”

Kenta opened his arms wide so Haruki couldn’t escape. “What happened next? Tell us.”

Haruki stared at the two of them for a few seconds, then put on a small smile. “In JoJo, they’re going to arrive in Egypt, you know. And for Fullmetal, Ed and Al are going to trap the first homunculus.”

Noya groaned. “Look at how smug he is while answering that.”

Kenta narrowed his eyes. “At first I felt like he did this because of how the story he writes has to end there, but now I feel like he’s doing it on purpose.”

Before Haruki could respond, fast footsteps echoed down the hallway. Hayato appeared, walking straight toward Haruki’s desk.

“What happened next in Code Geass?” Hayato asked.

Haruki looked over at Kenta and Noya. “Is this what you were talking about? You have to understand how many projects I’m working on. It’s hard for me to know which manga you want an answer for.”

Noya pointed at him impatiently. “Now you know. So give us the answer.”

Haruki sighed. “About that… I don’t have an answer for myself. I’m still thinking about how to continue the story.”

Kenta pointed at him immediately. “Cut the crap. That trick works on fans, not on us. We’ve worked with you for over two years. We know how you write.”

Haruki saw there was no real escape from this interrogation. “Fine. I use my rights as the author, and you can’t force me to say anything.”

Noya, now feeling like he wouldn’t get an answer, changed tactics to pleading. “You’re really not going to tell us? Not even one line? At all?”

Haruki looked at their act as they tried to be pitiful. “I think the suspense would make season two more enjoyable.”

Kenta held up a finger. “But just one line.”

Haruki nodded slowly. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. The line is… ‘One year ago.’”

Kenta blinked. “Are we jumping to a flashback?”

Hayato frowned. “It could also be a one-year time skip.”

Noya threw his hands up. “This isn’t enough. This isn’t even a real line.”

Haruki shrugged. “You said one line. I gave one line. Now go back to work.”

They reluctantly walked back to their desks, each of them muttering under their breath.

Kenta sighed loudly. “I’m left with even more questions now.”

Hayato nodded. “Same. But I don’t think he’ll tell us right now.”

Noya stretched. “We’ll have to wear him down naturally. Now that he’s back to drawing manga, we’ll have more time with him. Naturally, we’ll get the answer.”

They made a quiet pact among themselves, determined to find out what happened in the story before the second season aired.

The rest of the day went quietly, drawing manga compared to the outside world. Outside, new people who had finished watching the final episode, the first thing they did was go to Haruki’s official page and post their thoughts about the cliffhanger. After that, they started posting reactions, breakdowns.

Even in the midst of that online chaos, today was also the release day for Muzishiro’s manga adaptation of Fullmetal’s new episode, which began gaining attention as well. The wave of popularity from Code Geass helped push it forward. The marketing team at Studio Bone had already shifted to using the “Muzishiro anime” branding heavily compared to how they promoted other series. And now that Code Geass season one had finished, Fullmetal became one of the top contenders for new releases.

After the episode had aired, under the Fullmetal thread:

“there is nothing to nitpick about this episode, it had done perfectly”

“like story itself doing nothing outside of the box, just doing everything perfectly”

"But after seeing the last 2 episodes of Code Geass, I can't stop imagining how it would look in that quality."

“Stop dreaming, lmao. This is a once-in-a-generation thing.”

"And do you really want to watch scenes like Euphy massacring Elevens in that quality? Like the Nina scene and everything else?"

“Can’t wait for the anime-only fans and all the new Muzishiro fans to start watching Fullmetal. I’ve already been gently nudging people in my circle to get into it.”

“Smart. If you force them, they’ll blame you for the trauma later. This way you still get the reactions.”

"Hey, this reminds me, I need to get my sister and some friends to watch this."