Chapter 8

**Message** (メッセージ, *Messēji*?) is the eighth chapter of the Time Paradox Ghostwriter manga series.

## Synopsis

Teppei Sasaki rereads the message on the fridge telling him to continue drawing *White Knight* and save Itsuki Aino. He rubs at the message and realizes it is written using iron sand. Still perplexed, Teppei wonders out loud if he was being sent a message from the future and why the microwave had changed from simply delivering *Weekly Shonen Jump* issues. Teppei considers the chance that there was someone on the other side who could hear his voice and asks for their identity, inquiring if they are the one sending him the magazines.

The sand forming the message suddenly flocks together and hovers over the fridge door as sparks of lightning surrounds. It then moves back to the door and forms a new message, a sole "

144

{\displaystyle {\sqrt {144}}}

." Confused, Teppei tries to decipher the meaning of the new message and becomes skeptical if there truly was someone that could hear him. He thinks back to the first message and understands his goal is to keep drawing *White Knight* as Itsuki's death would be related to the series and, by having someone else draw it, the future could shift to prevent Itsuki's demise.

Teppei doubts his mission, given he had already effectively started drawing *White Knight* and the root issue still had not been solved. He is interrupted by the sand displacing itself once again, this time revealing that very soon, Itsuki will begin a new series and Teppei must beat her. Otherwise, his defeat will lead to her death.

After reading, Teppei yells and frantically asks why he had to defeat Itsuki to save her life and why *he* was the one chosen to accomplish this task. The sand brushes against him and he coughs, seeing another message once again forming on the fridge. This time, a date "**2021/04/22**" (April 22nd, 2021) and a time "**6:20 PM**" are provided, along with a string of numbers "**7&12&20&31&37&41**" which are later revealed to be winning lottery numbers. Teppei comments that the date is two days from the present day and reads that the lottery numbers were granted to him to help take him out of debt and fund the production of *White Knight*.

Horrified, Teppei immediately shouts that he is going to give the money to Itsuki no matter what happens and that he didn't want him or *White Knight* to be involved in something like this; his only desire is to show the beauty of *White Knight* to the world. However, he exclaims that he is incapable of continuing the series on his own, let alone beat Itsuki with the upcoming series she will release. Once again, Teppei desperately asks how he is supposed to save her life this way, why he was the one chosen, and who is the one sending him messages. In response, the sand shifts to eerily form the shape of a smiley-face, and Teppei immediately remembers seeing that exact smile on Itsuki's hair clip.

The sand slides off the fridge door, leaving everything back to its previous state. Teppei grabs the fridge door and tries to get more answers, but he receives no response. Defeated, Teppei then thinks about Itsuki and becomes determined to save her, spending the night distraught while working on the story. He tries to form the plot based off of all the currently released chapters, but struggles heavily and bites his finger, making blood drip on the page.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Teppei Sasaki
* Itsuki Aino

## Events

* Teppei continues receiving messages from the future, written using iron sand. The messages include (in order of apeparance):
	+ 144

	{\displaystyle {\sqrt {144}}}
	+ A notice that Itsuki will start a new series and Teppei must defeat her to prevent her death.
	+ The date "**2021/04/22**" (April 22nd, 2021), the time "**6:20 PM**," and winning lottery numbers "**7&12&20&31&37&41**."
	+ A single smiley-face that matches the ones on Itsuki's hair clips.
* Teppei begins to attempt building a plot based off of the released *White Knight* chapters.