The Amazing Mangaka

Chapter 1: The Bite

"Guys, don't worry about it." Nagatoro said, lifting her arm up to showcase an injury on her wrist. "I'm telling you, it's nothing."

Maki Gamou, Nagatoro's best friend who commonly goes by the name "Gamo-chan," had a perplexed look on her face as she examined her wound closely. Alongside her was Orihara, Nagatoro's friend and rival, as well as a prominent member of the school's judo club whose skills were often considered to be on par with that of Olympic-level athletes.

"Well, it looks like a light injury.." Gamo-chan noted. In her mind however, the wound Nagatoro sustained seemed to be more than just that.

"I'm sure it'll be just fine!" Orihara replied, keeping a positive, optimistic smile on her face. "Come on, Hayacchi. Let's get you to the nurse's office for now."

Nagatoro gave her a smile back as she allowed herself to be helped up by Orihara. Gamo-chan gave her a playful pat on her back as the three friends began to walk out of the judo club room. Unfortunately, they weren't able to get very far before another one of the girls in the room spoke out towards them.

"You hurt your wrist?" She asked. The three of them stopped walking and they each turned around to face her.

The girl's name was Shikki. A rather serious girl, Shikki was a remarkably taller girl who towered over Nagatoro by nearly a foot, and she had a body that put nearly every other girl to shame. Her face knew no smile, and her stern eyes always seemed to convey grumpiness. Shikki was very passionate about judo, so much so that she despised those who she deemed "quitters." Such a belief was why the girl looked down on poor Nagatoro, who only recently returned to her martial arts career after abandoning it several years prior.

"It's just a scratch," Nagatoro said back to her. Shikki let out a quiet "hmph" and walked away from the girl, turning her back on her.

"You got hurt just from that? I guess you weren't really trying, after all." Two other girls who were always by Shikki's side began to chuckle as they followed their friend. Contrary to Shikki's stern demeanor, these friends were the exact opposite. One could only describe them as stuck-up, bratty followers.

"You're not gonna say anything back, Hayacchi?" Gamo-chan asked Nagatoro. She had a whole bunch of witty remarks to lob back at Shikki in response and was always ready to get snippy with her. Unfortunately, Nagatoro only let out a light sigh as she went back to walking out of the judo hall.

"Just let them say what they want," was all she said to her. Gamo-chan looked back at Shikki, then to Nagatoro. She shrugged and simply continued following her. Orihara did the same without saying anything.

The next day, Nagatoro met up with her friends after school in the library. Her group consisted of Gamo-chan, Sakura, and Yoshi. Sakura was considered the "matchmaker" in the group because of her experience with boys; she was the only one who had any sort of experience, in fact. She was also a rather poor academic achiever, who frequently underperformed in her studies. That wasn't to say that she wasn't a hardworking girl however, as Sakura was the only one in the group who was juggling a part-time job.

On the other hand, Yoshi was a ball full of energy. However, the poor girl suffered from social anxiety, which hampered her ability to comfortably express herself to other people. Thus, she was only able to do so with her friends, most notably Gamo-chan, who she became a sort-of sidekick to.

"Your wrist, Toro-chan!" Sakura exclaimed, leaning forward a bit so she could get a closer look at her friend's injury. "It's broken!"

Nagatoro had her hand held up. She had it covered in several layers of bandages, wrapped snuggly as it held her hand in place. Even so, her injury didn't seem to bother Nagatoro at all.