Thanks for the update!
I knew I recognized that card boarded-up window, the chubby Taniguchi featured here is the same slim guy from back in
Ch. 5. The question is whether this chapter took place before and he had come to terms with it by the time the guy from the publishing company came to interview him, or if he was driven to stress eat and ended up like this afterward. In either case, how much time has passed between the two for such a transformation to occur?