Chapter 1: Offering Chainsaw Man For Rebirth
“The exam is over. Please put down your writing tools and turn the question booklet and answer sheet face down.”
He had just woken up from a coma when he heard a somewhat serious voice in his ear.
The blood-red haze before his eyes dissipated, the pain in his chest was gone, and his vision gradually cleared.
Sakamoto Ken confirmed the current situation.
2015, February.
Kanzaki Art Academy entrance exam, the scene right after the final cultural subject exam ended.
Thanks to those years of experience, he could skillfully control his expression, so he didn’t laugh out loud on the spot.
Sakamoto Ken let out a deep breath, stood up, and walked toward the classroom main entrance.
Fortunately, he got another chance to start over.
This time, he absolutely wouldn’t step into that abyss again!
As he walked out of the classroom main entrance, Sakamoto Ken suddenly heard a girl’s voice.
“A Jian! How did you do on the exam?”
Sakamoto Ken instinctively had a physical reaction to the voice and quickly dodged to the side.
His eyes wide open, he looked at the girl in front of him in horror.
Natsume Mio?!
The girl was wearing a familiar JK uniform, with a shoulder bag slung over her shoulder, shoulder-length short hair, a bit naturally airheaded. If judging by her face alone, anyone would come to the same description:
Cute, gentle, Yamato Nadeshiko.
But only Sakamoto Ken knew how crazy this girl would become later…
“It was average.”
Sakamoto Ken tossed out the words, turned around, and quickly walked toward the outside of the school building.
“Eh? A Jian, wait!” The girl hurried after him.
But Sakamoto Ken didn’t stop; he quickened his pace.
So the boy charged straight ahead with his head down, while the JK panted as she chased.
Don’t let the girl’s dazed appearance fool you; she was unassuming but a kendo fifth-dan player with super stamina and ran incredibly fast.
“A Jian, A Jian! I, I have something to tell you… Eh, you, don’t run!”
At the school gate, Sakamoto Ken glanced back. To avoid being caught, he directly hailed a passing taxi.
“To the opposite side of Tachibana-batake West Elementary School in Adachi Ward, please hurry.”
After getting in the car and giving the address, he looked through the car window at the girl standing by the roadside with a puzzled expression, then patted his chest and sighed in relief.
He knew what Natsume Mio wanted to tell him.
In the previous three years, he had insisted on prioritizing his studies, so Natsume Mio had held back until now.
If he had walked a bit slower, what awaited him would have been Natsume Mio’s public confession.
However, after the taxi started moving, he somewhat regretted the decision.
It was still the habit from the late stages of the previous life; some girl had given him too much pocket money, so he didn’t care much about the cost of taking a taxi.
At this point in time, he was just a would-be graduate living alone on a meager salary from a part-time job at a convenience store.
He even had debts from his gambling-addict father, and a public-interest lawyer was helping him with the lawsuit to waive those debts.
The tuition fee for Kanzaki Art Academy, which he was about to enter, was not cheap.
Sakamoto Ken pulled out his wallet from his shoulder bag and took a look.
“Um, driver, just to Nippori Station front…”
The driver old man turned his head to look at Sakamoto Ken, his brows slightly furrowed, but he didn’t say much, just silently drove.
Two minutes later, the taxi stopped steadily by the roadside in front of Nippori Station.
After all, it was less than 2 kilometers.
Sakamoto Ken took out a 500 yen coin and a 100 yen coin from his wallet and handed them to the driver old man.
“Thanks…”
Sakamoto Ken got out of the car and blended into the crowd on the sidewalk.
Although giving a faraway destination first and then suddenly changing it would confuse the driver.
But face? How could it compare to a 5000 yen taxi fare?
From Nippori Station, taking the train and transferring to the bus, with a student card, it only cost just over 300 yen.
Standing in the swaying train, Sakamoto Ken looked at the city outside the window.
Ten years later, Tokyo was basically unchanged.
No matter what, being reborn was a good thing.
Recalling the previous life, he had entered Kanzaki Art Academy’s Art Department with excellent grades, and in the following years, he would successively meet them…
Sakamoto Ken admitted that he might have been a scumbag once.
But that wasn’t his fault.
After all, the previous life was his first rebirth in Tokyo.
Tokyo! Back in middle school, he had searched online for keywords like “Japan-Korea premium online” to find Japanese videos.
Rebirth plus exotic allure, double stimulation—he treated reality like a galgame.
As a result, Tokyo women made him pay a heavy price…
……
Back to the rundown apartment he rented.
50 years old, 1-room, shared bathroom for the whole floor.
Sakamoto Ken casually tossed his bag onto the tatami and sat down, lost in thought.
His mind was a bit chaotic, so Sakamoto Ken took out paper and pen and wrote down three names.
Mikazuki Haruna.
Natsume Mio.
Hoshihara Ai.
These three had left him with unforgettable memories.
Romance was something he had yearned for only in the first round, but now he was tired of it.
Back in 2015, Sakamoto Ken’s first thought was to make money.
After all, the trigger for falling into the love triangle in the previous life was poverty.
Both parents dead, no siblings, no house—he was single in a bustling metropolis like Tokyo, with no connection to lavish indulgences.
Sakamoto Ken’s thinking was simple: as long as there was a huge sum in his bank card, he wouldn’t fall into a love triangle again.
Stepping back 10,000 steps.
Even if he did fall into a love triangle, the bank deposit would be his confidence, allowing him to confidently take the upper hand.
At least… he wouldn’t have to live off a partner or anything.
Living off a partner is tasty, but dangerous!
You never know what wild ideas a rich young lady has in her head!
Sakamoto Ken was an art student; back then, to scrape together tuition for Kanzaki Art Academy, he had been drawing manga.
But he didn’t know much about the manga industry at the time; his work was published by an obscure small publishing house, far from going viral, barely avoiding cancellation.
Because of that, he cared a lot about his few readers and attended an offline fan meetup.
At that meetup, he met his fan leader, Mikazuki Haruna…
Or more accurately, his number one hater.
Coincidentally, Mikazuki Haruna was also a student at Kanzaki Art Academy, in the Art Department, one year above him.
But now it was different; Sakamoto Ken had complete memories from his previous life.
He went to the bookshelf in the room: 《Shonen JUMP》, 《Weekly Shonen》, 《Shonen Sunday》…
Full of various manga magazines.
He picked up a 《Weekly Shonen》; the cover image was 《Attack on Titan》.
This work started serialization in 2009, volumes published in 2010, anime adaptation in 2013. After release, it quickly swept the market, and now in 2015, it was at its popularity peak.
This month was also the release time for the final volume of 《Naruto》. The lower shelf had originally collected all 71 previous volumes of 《Naruto》, but he sold them all for money, leaving only the 72nd volume alone.
If old magazines sold well, he definitely would have sold those too.
The existence of these magazines and manga proved he had reborn in the same world, not a parallel one.
Or at least, in the manga field, nothing had changed.
He picked up his mobile phone and searched online for a few other names he was familiar with.
《Demon Slayer》, 《Jujutsu Kaisen》, 《Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End》, 《Chainsaw Man》…
In the present of 2015, none of them existed.
Closing his eyes in meditation, Sakamoto Ken confirmed the golden finger brought by his rebirth.
Everything from the previous life experiences—everything seen, heard, all details—could be recalled in minute detail if he focused.
That included all the manga works he had read.
Storyboards, characters, scenes… he could completely replicate them!
Unfortunately, he hadn’t paid attention to the investment market back then; otherwise, diving into the stock market would have made him rich easily.
But no problem—as long as he drew these manga ahead of time…
He didn’t aim to become a big conglomerate; earning a few billion in royalty fees to live peacefully was enough.
Sakamoto Ken was a man of action; otherwise, he couldn’t have juggled them for so long in the previous life.
He pulled out an old manuscript from the drawer that he had started and planned to submit soon.
《Young Lady, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose!》.
A story about a loser high school boy protagonist who ends up living with a killer young lady.
Pure virgin fantasy!
Total garbage relying on edgy driving!
No wonder it didn’t catch fire in the previous life.
Straight into the trash can.
He wouldn’t walk the crooked path again.
This time, it was the royal road!
Closing his eyes to think for a moment, recalling a manga he had completely read.
Perhaps because the protagonist’s situation was too similar to his now, one name surfaced in his mind…
He spread new manuscript paper on the table and picked up the pen.
【《Chainsaw Man》】
【Chopping trees can earn 60,000 a month】
【The kidney I sold before earned 1.2 million】
【Right eye, 300,000】
【Sold one ball, how much did that get again?】
【Seems like less than 100,000…】
【Remaining debt is… 38.04 million yen】
【Woof!】
【Pochita, I get it, hurry up and butcher it!】
