Fujino Terumi helped Amamiya Rin set up the overbed table and arranged the red bean soup and yokan.
Amamiya Rin expressed his thanks, picked up the spoon, and scooped a spoonful of red bean soup into his mouth.
The warm, sweet fragrance spread through his mouth. Just as she had said, the sweetness was moderate, the texture dense and smooth, and the temperature was just right.
By the time Amamiya Rin finished the red bean soup, it was already past nine o'clock. Fujino Terumi tidied up the utensils on the table, picked up her bag, and bade Amamiya Rin farewell.
"It's getting late, so I won't disturb Rin-kun's rest any longer. Please recover well; I'll come to visit again tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow, then."
Amamiya Rin nodded agreeably.
Watching Fujino Terumi leave, as the ward door was gently pulled shut, Amamiya Rin adjusted his posture, closed his eyes, and immersed himself in Dhyana once more.
A sleepless night.
Because his current amount of knowledge was insufficient to support further progress in his dreams, Amamiya Rin spent the night in Dhyana.
Although Dhyana could not replace sleep, it could reduce the toll of staying up all night to a certain extent.
At six in the morning, the sky was faintly bright. The nurse arrived punctually for rounds, measuring his body temperature and blood pressure, and checking the dressing on his shoulder wound.
"Recovery is going very well, Mr. Amamiya. There are no signs of infection in the wound, and the healing speed is faster than expected," the nurse spoke with some surprise as she made notes.
"I feel much better, too."
Amamiya Rin glanced at the ferocious wound. It looked a bit frightening, but one could see at a glance that it was much better than yesterday, and no Blood Jade Tree had grown from it.
The nurse carefully rinsed the area around the wound with saline solution, reapplied medicine, and bandaged it again.
"Breakfast time is almost here; please wait a moment."
Shortly after the nurse left, the sky outside the window gradually brightened.
Around seven o'clock, the meal server pushed a food cart into the ward, delivering a standard patient's breakfast: a bowl of plain porridge, a small plate of grilled salmon, a few pieces of pumpkin boiled until soft, and a small portion of natto and rice.
The taste of this meal was very light, but it was exactly suited for his body which currently needed recuperation.
After finishing breakfast and clearing the table, Amamiya Rin casually picked up the manga magazine Fujino Terumi had left the previous night and began to flip through it.
The ward was very quiet, with only the faint city hustle and bustle from outside the window and the rustling sound of turning pages. Sunlight filtered through the blinds, casting striped patterns of light and shadow on the magazine pages.
Amamiya Rin flipped through the magazine casually.
In terms of entertainment, this world seemed about the same as his previous life. One Piece, Hunter x Hunter, Shaman King, Hikaru no Go—he had read most of the manga in Weekly Shonen Jump.
Tossing Weekly Shonen Jump aside, Amamiya Rin picked up the other one, Weekly Big Comic Spirits. After flipping a few pages, an art style that looked very familiar to him attracted his gaze.
The title of the story was "Waterfall Training".
The protagonist of the manga, seeking a spiritual breakthrough, went alone into the deep mountains to perform waterfall training. Under the waterfall, he saw figures of several others also training from a distance; their postures varied, immersed in the harsh baptism of nature.
The protagonist intended to go over and say hello, but when he got closer, he found that those figures had vanished.
The protagonist was somewhat puzzled but did not delve deeper. He walked alone under the waterfall, enduring the impact of the freezing water flow.
Just then, the protagonist suddenly discovered that the practitioners who had disappeared just now had actually appeared beside him!
Moreover, their body sizes had become extremely abnormal, only a dozen or so centimeters tall, like bizarre dolls, yet they still maintained their waterfall training postures.
Faced with this scene that defied common logic, the protagonist's reaction was surprisingly calm.
After the training ended, the protagonist walked to the riverbank not far away, preparing to relieve himself.
As he released himself in comfort, those practitioners who were originally under the waterfall had gathered under the stream of his urine at some point, maintaining the same training postures, as if regarding the protagonist's urine as a waterfall.
Only then did the protagonist finally feel immense terror. He pulled up his pants in a wretched state and fled the riverbank in a panic.
"It looks familiar... no, it's too familiar. This art style..."
Amamiya Rin frowned slightly.
Both the story style and art style of this short piece carried a strong sense of déjà vu. Especially that technique of seamlessly blending the daily routine with the absurd...
"Junji Ito?"
In Amamiya Rin's impression, only Junji Ito's manga possessed this style and art.
He flipped back to the title page of the manga, his gaze falling on the author's signature—a simple English letter: J.
"J... Horror Manga Artist J!"
A flash of insight struck Amamiya Rin's mind.
In Junji Ito's manga world, the person Junji Ito exists!
A cat diary, a dog diary—the male protagonist in them is Junji Ito, depicting his daily life raising cats and dogs. The male protagonist's identity is a horror manga artist, with the pen name J.
There are also some ultra-short stories. Amamiya Rin remembered that Junji Ito appears in them as a manga artist who, at the request of his editor, goes to experience various events and then draws them into manga for publication. They belong to the comedy manga genre.
"Waterfall Training"—although he had forgotten the details of the content, he remembered there was such a story.
"The path to physical strengthening has been found!"
Amamiya Rin looked slightly pleased.
He remembered another ultra-short story where Junji Ito, at his editor's request, went to experience pressure training. As a result, he went to the wrong place; the gym he went to threw people into a giant pressure cooker to pressurize them. Although it was ridiculous, the effect was very strong—a comprehensive strengthening from the inside out. It only took two or three sessions to turn a skinny bamboo pole into a muscle man.
Nowadays, Amamiya Rin's spiritual cultivation was no less than that of a highly respected high monk; his greatest weakness was his body.
Even if his body recovered completely, his physique would only be that of an ordinary young man. He could learn combat techniques in the Dream World, but bodybuilding was not something that could be accomplished overnight.
Since Junji Ito is also a manga artist in this world, he could simply find Junji Ito after being discharged. As long as he could ask for the whereabouts of that gym, he could quickly achieve the limit of human physical strength.
Around three in the afternoon, the sunlight had lost the scorching heat of midday, becoming gentle and lazy.
Amamiya Rin ended a round of Dhyana. Through the [Tomie Network], he clearly perceived the Tomies' brains and their conscious exchanges, clamorous like a beehive.
It was filled with all kinds of trivial desires, comparisons, and contempt for others. The effects of the previous day's Dhyana seemed to have completely vanished from them.
"Time is up, my companions. According to the agreement, the one with the most room for improvement in overall performance today, please hand over control of your body to me temporarily for the purpose of learning combat techniques."
With a thought, Amamiya Rin conveyed his will to the Tomies.
____
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