"Haha, my place is very simple, please forgive me."
Ren held Pochita and placed her in one of the few uncluttered corners of the room. He also set up the doghouse, opened a bag of food for Pochita, and put out some canned food.
Sakura, observing this familiarity, immediately asked, "Ren-san, have you ever had a pet before?"
"I had a kitten named Becca, which I got from the mother cat in exchange for cat food sticks," Ren said.
To be precise, the kitten Becca he had raised in his previous life was entrusted to him by the mother cat. The mother cat was hit by a car on the road and almost died.
Ren felt pity for her, and for the past few years, he used to bring her cat food sticks, and the mother cat eventually entrusted Becca to him.
Becca... Sakura suddenly recalled Ren's name, Ren Amamiya. The pet's name and the owner's name had a slight match.
It felt a little strange.
But...
"Where is the kitten?" Sakura asked, stunned.
"In my other home..." Ren scratched his head, "but I can't go back anymore."
'Luckily, in my previous life, my family bought Becca a timed cat food dispenser, and the food I put in advance would last her for half a month.'
'Becca is very smart, and she's a tabby cat too. If there's no food, she should go out and find some.'
Although Ren was a little worried, he still believed that Becca would live well after his departure.
"So that's it. Ren-san isn't from around here," Sakura suddenly realized.
"I'm half-local too. My hometown is Kyoto, but my mother is from Tokyo, the Magic City," Ren said with a smile.
He was talking about his previous life, but the original owner's ID card in this life also states Magic City as his origin.
"Then why does Amamiya-san rent a house alone instead of living with his grandfather?" Sakura asked again.
"My father and grandmother are no longer with us." Ren shrugged and said.
To be precise, he has no relatives in this life, so where could he find his grandparents?
"Ah... I'm sorry..." Sakura immediately clasped her hands together and apologized quickly.
"It's fine, there's nothing to apologize for." Ren didn't mind.
Suddenly, Sakura saw a drawing paper on the old desk next to her.
She picked it up curiously; it had vivid and beautiful cartoons.
"Amamiya-san, are you a mangaka too?" she asked with bright eyes.
"Barely, but it's mainly to make a living." Ren thought for a moment and said.
'I probably can't be called a mangaka; after all, you can't be a mangaka just by drawing a few pictures.'
'A mangaka also has to be able to create, right?'
'But he's just a plagiarist, he still retains some self-awareness.'
'But he's not stupid; he didn't directly say he traveled to another world to plagiarize.'
'Even if he has a brain problem, mental illness and stupidity are two different things, right?'
"You draw very well... and this is your work, right?" Sakura said as she observed the plots on the drawing sheets.
This is the content Ren had just drawn up to the end of episode 23, and the corresponding plot is probably the end of the sixth episode of the anime in his previous life.
That is... David's older brother, Maine, becomes a cyberpsycho and is finally killed by the anti-cyberpsycho squad.
Sakura saw the scene where Maine told David to run.
"David... this is my end..."
"But you have to live..."
"Don't you run faster than anyone?"
"Now... run..."
This plot, as well as Maine's numb look, moved Sakura a little, as she had never seen "Edgerunners" before.
In the end, the image freezes showing David clutching Maine's single remaining arm, silently crying with open eyes in the car.
"This is the end of the episode."
After reading the drawings, Sakura couldn't help but say, "Excuse me, Amamiya-san, are the drawings from the first part of your work here? I want to take a look..."
It could be said that Ren drew the most impactful plot and image in the first half of "Edgerunners." Maine's numb face and David silently crying in the car after escaping are very impactful and narrative.
It's almost as good as the face of pain of Agni, the protagonist of another famous work, "Fire Punch."
It makes one want to read the entire manga.
However, hearing Sakura's request, Ren scratched his head and said, "I'm sorry... I only have chapters 7 to 23... Well, those are the drawings you just saw. I already submitted the first 1 to 6."
"Ah, then, Amamiya-san, will your work be published in a manga magazine? Which weekly is it?" Sakura asked with a surprised expression on her pretty face.
"Akatsuki, it seems to be "Manga World Gogo"?" Ren asked. "But it seems it will start publishing next month."
"Next month... What's it called...?" Sakura asked, a little regretfully, but still asked.
"Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners," Ren replied.
"Cyberpunk 2077? Does this story take place in the future?" Sakura asked curiously again.
Now she felt very curious about "Edgerunners."
Because the final plot, whether it was the plot, the images, or the character design, everything felt wonderful to her.
"Yes, the story takes place in the future, in 2077," Ren said.
"What does 'cyberpunk' mean?" Sakura asked again.
Ren thought about it, and he really knew; after all, he had hard drive memory.
"It's the English word Cyberpunk... It seems it doesn't exist yet, so imagine it as a new word I formed from Cyber and Punk."
"'Cyber' is internet and computers, and 'Punk' should be music, right?" As a university student, Sakura's English vocabulary is quite good.
"Almost the same, but 'Punk' doesn't refer to music, but to its ideas, more inclined towards ideological liberation and a radically anti-mainstream stance. 'Cyber' mainly refers to Cybernetics, which means control and governance."
Ren continued to explain: "Cyberpunk mainly refers to the fact that, in an extremely developed world with great capitalist power, people have become insignificant creatures. Due to the development of high technology, the division between humans and machines has begun to disappear. The development of artificial intelligence has given rise to thinking bionic people, and conflicts have emerged between artificial intelligence, hackers, and the large corporations that control wealth. Marginal figures use high technology to escape collective consciousness and achieve individual freedom...".
He had looked up the encyclopedia entry for cyberpunk in his previous life, and the internal memory allowed him to recall the description clearly and repeat it instantly.
"So it means anti-utopia and anti-capital, right?" Sakura's eyes lit up and she said.
"Alright... It seems so, mainly reflected in high technology and misery." Ren scratched his head.
'Wait... It seems the concept of cyberpunk really doesn't exist in this world. Will he become the progenitor of the cyberpunk school?'
"How cool... In this world, the protagonist is David, right? Is he going to stand up against those capitalist bastards?" Sakura said excitedly.
"That's right." Ren thought it was fine and said.
"A story like that must be very exciting! No wonder Amamiya-san's work is published in the manga world!" Sakura gave a thumbs up and said. "Then I will read your work in the manga world and will definitely vote for it on the official website!"
She was originally a loyal reader of the manga world and subscribed to "Manga World Gogo" every month. It just so happened that Ren's "Edgerunners" was still being serialized in the magazine, which allowed her to see it.
When the official website's reader survey was conducted, she simply voted for "Edgerunners."
"This... Haha, don't force it." Ren didn't care much and said.
"Alright... Amamiya-san... It's getting late, I should go."
Sakura suddenly remembered that she had come to see Ren's address so she could visit Pochita later.
She was curious about the "Edgerunners" drawings Ren had laid out and his identity as a mangaka. She chatted with Ren for a while and almost forgot that she had to go back.
At that moment, she touched Pochita's adorable little head beside her, with some reluctance.
Pochita, obediently, stuck out her tongue and licked her palm, as if she didn't want to roar twice: "Woof, woof!"
"Alright, Sakura-san, take care." Ren nodded and said.
"Alright... When I don't have classes, I'll come see Pochita."
Sakura headed for the door and left after saying that.