Early Wednesday morning, bookstores across the city stocked the newest issue of Sakura-iro Weekly.
Most people were already at work or school at that hour, but there were always a few who drifted between internet cafés and bookstores with no fixed schedule.
Rina was one of them.
June had arrived, and universities around Tokyo were gradually starting summer break. Seniors were preparing to enter the workforce…
But Rina still hadn't found a job.
Her family was well-off, though, so she wasn't panicking. Most of her days were spent indulging in manga, hopping between bookstores and cafés with whatever new magazine caught her attention.
A quick online search told her that this week's Sakura-iro Weekly had returned to an older-style cover: a collage of character portraits from every currently serialized manga.
Youthful. Warm. Bright.
But the top-ranking manga featured on the cover didn't interest her.
She paid for the issue quickly and headed to a nearby café, choosing a seat by the window.
The first thing she turned to was the page number for 5 Centimeters Per Second.
Just as some people fall in love at first sight, her connection with this manga had been instant.
The first chapter had been slow and melancholic, nothing like the sweet, fluttery shoujo romances she usually read…
And yet;
"I love it."
Maybe it was because she had once known a boy like Takaki, back in junior high.
She couldn't even remember his face clearly anymore. But knowing that such a person had once been a part of her life was enough to fill her with a small warmth.
Smiling faintly, Rina opened the second chapter.
The story picked up exactly where the first chapter had ended.
Takaki had waited for hours at a transfer station on a freezing winter night. By the time the connecting train finally arrived at 8 pm, he was already an hour late for his promised meeting with Akari, which was supposed to be at 7.
His face, drawn in stark black and white, was filled with confusion, anxiety, and anguish.
It was their first reunion in a year.
And soon, once Takaki moved, the distance separating them would grow into something terrifying, thousands of kilometers.
If they couldn't meet tonight… their last meeting might remain the graduation ceremony.
Just one look at Takaki's expression made Rina feel a tight ache in her chest.
'How could two middle schoolers possibly fight against the decisions of their families?'
'How unfair.'
[I didn't make it in time… Akari must be so anxious.]
[But that night, when she called to tell me she was transferring… she needed comfort far more than I did, and I didn't say a single kind word. I feel ashamed…]
Panel by panel, the ticking of a clock kept appearing.
Time passed:
8:00
9:00
The train had finally moved again…
Only to stop in the middle of a snowy wilderness.
Repetitive delays. Endless cold.
Takaki remembered Akari's letters from the past year.
[For some reason, Akari always sounded so alone in her letters.]
The train didn't move for two hours.
Takaki sat with his head lowered, his heart cracking open, tears pooling in his eyes.
And then:
[Akari… I wish you were home.]
The line pierced Rina's heart.
She took a slow, shaky breath.
In Akari's position, she would have been terrified, wondering whether he had left early, whether he had decided the weather was too dangerous…
Or worse, whether she meant so little to him that he'd simply given up.
And yet…
There was still a sliver of hope.
Rina turned the page.
Takaki stepped off the train.
The station was buried in layers of snow. It was past midnight.
"He… he's way too late. There's no way she's still there." Rina whispered, fists clenched.
If she had been waiting, she would have gone home long ago. How could anyone endure from 7 pm into the freezing early hours of the morning?
But Takaki pushed open the waiting-room door.
His eyes widened.
And Rina froze.
Sitting alone in the silent, empty waiting room was Akari.
Her head lowered. Her posture small and fragile. A girl who had waited through the freezing night without moving.
Tears instantly filled Rina's eyes.
Without a single line of dialogue, she understood.
Akari must have felt abandoned.
She must have thought she'd been stood up.
But she stayed anyway, because she knew: If she left that station, she would never see Takaki again.
Once he moved far away…
They would have no next time.
'Was this what love looked like?'
Rina Morikawa's mind raced, but her eyes stayed fixed on the manga pages.
She watched Takaki walk gently toward Akari. The moment the girl noticed him, her calm expression crumbled, sadness and relief flooding in all at once.
Silently, she grabbed the sleeve of his coat, holding on desperately as tears slid down her pale fingers.
Before she even noticed it, Rina's eyes had already turned red.
The immersion was overwhelming.
In the quiet waiting room, the two spoke softly about their lives over the past year.
Then they stepped out together into the snowy night, walking side-by-side through the deserted streets.
They arrived at the cherry blossom tree Akari had mentioned in her letters.
But in the middle of winter, no blossoms were falling.
"Hey… doesn't it look like it's snowing?"
Akari reached out her hand, letting the snowflakes slip through her fingers.
It echoed the scene from Chapter 1, what she had said a year ago:
"I hope we can see the cherry blossoms together next year."
No blossoms. But the snow made the same soft sound of petals drifting down.
The two scenes mirrored each other.
Under the winter sky, Takaki and Akari looked at each other quietly.
For a moment, it felt like they had returned to a year ago.
The falling snow turned into cherry blossoms in their eyes. The barren trees seemed to bloom for them alone.
And then, softly, tenderly, they leaned in and shared a kiss beneath the tree.
Rina stared at the panel with a swirl of emotions.
It should have been sweet. A beautiful, heartwarming moment.
But instead, her chest tightened.
Because she understood the truth beneath the surface.
Everything tonight existed only for tonight.
Tonight's kiss, tonight's conversation, tonight's embrace, all of it would vanish with the dawn.
Tomorrow, Takaki would return home, then move with his family to a town thousands of kilometers away.
The more deeply they cared for each other now, the more painful the parting would be.
It was like a dream, a dream that would end as soon as morning came.
[When we kissed, I felt we understood everything between us.]
[But the next moment, an unbearable sadness washed over me. I knew we could not stay together forever. Distance, time, and life itself stood in our way.]
In the cold winter night, they embraced.
Dawn brought the moment of parting.
Akari stood at the train door, watching Takaki, offering him gentle words of blessing. Takaki promised they would continue writing letters and stay connected.
Then Akari pulled out an envelope from inside her coat, a letter addressed to Takaki.
Unopened.
Her expression was filled with sorrow as she watched the train pull away.
"No… no way!"
Rina panicked.
Scenes like this were always precursors to tragedy.
Why hadn't Akari given him the letter?
Suddenly, Rina remembered the letter Takaki had lost in the snow back in Chapter 1.
He had never managed to express his deepest feelings to Akari.
And now Akari was holding onto a letter she couldn't give.
Rina flipped the page, and froze at the words:
[End of Chapter 2]
One letter lost. One letter never sent.
"What kind of plot is this?!"
Why make Takaki lose his letter? Why make Akari hold hers back?
Was the author hinting that these two, because they couldn't express themselves, would end in quiet tragedy?
Then she realized something.
This was exactly how most relationships fall apart in real life.
People know certain words must be said. They know silence will only widen the distance.
But they still hesitate.
Still avoid.
Still stay silent.
And then everything breaks.
Rina took several deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down.
She reread Chapter 2 from the beginning.
She had only one thought:
What will happen in Chapter 3?
Where would Akari and Takaki go from here? Would they ever meet again? Could their long-distance bond survive?
Question after question filled her mind.
Meanwhile, across Japan, countless readers had already finished the new chapter.
Chapters 1 and 2 formed the first complete arc of 5 Centimeters Per Second: The Cherry Blossom Chapter.
A story of two middle schoolers, and the fragile, heart-wrenching bond between them.
Last week, readers felt only a subtle melancholy.
But after this week, the arc's full emotional weight finally landed.
Many manga readers had already sensed that something was unusual.
On the official Sakura-iro Weekly forum, discussions about 5 Centimeters Per Second had exploded far beyond last week's volume.
SakuraDrop_77: I cried in Chapter 2, when Akari was sitting alone in that freezing waiting room, omg…
ume_ko: THIS is love. Real love.
StrayCat14: Takaki is kinda weak though.
nighttrain00: Weak?? Man traveled hundreds of kilometers ALONE at 13. What do you want, rebellion arc??
shizuku_melt: Long-distance romance = instant tragedy.
MomoMint: Bruh they didn't even have smartphones, pain speedruns.
rinrin_heart: I'm crying at lunch rn someone help.
mirai_sayoko: This hit too close. I had a friend like that in junior high… then we moved. I still wonder what he's doing now.
tomato_splash: Yeah this is definitely going tragic.
haruka_yo: Something is off. Why didn't Akari give him the letter??
petalstorm: SHIROGANE-SENSEI, IF YOU'RE HERE, PLEASE LISTEN!! Make it sweeter later, I am BEGGING.
uzuki_panic: It's literally Chapter 2 y'all calm down. If you don't like it, don't read.
NatsuMilkTea: NO. We LIKE it. We just want them HAPPY.
ghostline: Anyone know who Shirogane-sensei really is?
blue_sakana: Rumor says Shirogane-sensei is a high school student.
shigure_momo: Impossible. A high schooler can't write emotional pacing THIS sharp.
kurokawaX: Best romance manga this year hands down. Voting for 5cm/s first.
hana_ichigo: Sakura-iro Weekly usually goes for hopeful endings. Maybe there's still a twist coming??
Rei_Station29: What if they stay in touch for YEARS, promise to reach the same university, and finally reunite later. Could be a wholesome ending?
ChiffonSky: Wait… that sounds cute. I'd read that.
The discussion only grew more heated, and at the same time, fans across the entire distribution region began voting for 5 Centimeters Per Second through their mobile phones.
Inside Hoshimori Publishing Group, the Sakura-iro Weekly editorial team monitored the internal data continuously.
Everyone noticed the spike.
"It feels… unexpected," Misaki murmured, her eyes thoughtful. She was genuinely beginning to anticipate the results.
No one could predict how high 5 Centimeters Per Second might rise in the rankings.
But the fact that it ignited such a massive wave of discussion by only its second week was proof enough:
This manga had serious potential.
Normally, new series peaked in their first week thanks to heavy promotion.
Week two always dropped.
But judging from the momentum, 5 Centimeters Per Second looked like it would rise instead.
"Regardless of the final number… 5 Centimeters Per Second will most likely overtake Love Like Fireworks."
Misaki glanced meaningfully at Takeda jun.
His brows were tightly furrowed. He had seen the signs too.
The oppressive, melancholic style he'd assumed readers would reject, was not being rejected at all.
On the contrary, while the forum was filled with complaints and emotional outbursts, many readers still ended up voting for "5 Centimeters Per Second."
People really were contradictory like that.
Takeda felt increasingly uneasy. He looked up from his computer and accidentally met Misaki eyes, the faint, satisfied smile on her face made his heart tighten.
No way…
Could Yuto's Love Like Fireworks, actually lose to a newcomer's manga? And not just any newcomer, a high schooler?
First Saki, now this Shirogane.
Saki becoming the number-one voted author in Sakura-iro Weekly while still in high school was already unbelievable.
But now another high schooler?
And this one… felt even more frightening.
Why were all the prodigy manga artists appearing under Misaki's wing?
Jun wanted to curse out loud.
'Just give me one prodigy! Just one! Why does she get all of them?!'
The next morning
After a sleepless night of frustration, Jun arrived at the office early and immediately received the latest fan-voting data from the statistics department.
And the numbers only made his stomach twist harder.
…
Meanwhile, time continued moving as usual for Rei Kirishima.
Attending classes, sketching during breaks, hurrying home after school, Rei had no idea how much emotional chaos Chapter Two of 5 Centimeters Per Second had stirred among romance-loving readers throughout Tokyo and the surrounding regions.
Nor did he know that several manga reviewers across Japan had started paying close attention to his work.
However, at lunchtime, Rei finally received an update from the ever-well-informed Miyu.
And the news shocked him.
The second chapter of 5 Centimeters Per Second had risen from last week's rank of 9th to 6th place.
Meanwhile, "Love Like Fireworks," which had been 6th last week,dropped to 8th.