After Sakura-iro Weekly pushed the announcement early that morning, it took less than half a day for Rei's newly verified accounts to explode.
Tens of thousands of followers flooded in almost instantly.
He had set his accounts so that only followers could post or comment, and the moment fans gained the right to speak, weeks of pent-up emotion burst out like a dam breaking.
"Shirogane! You finally crawled out!"
"You actually dared to open an account? Explain the ending of Five Centimeters per Second immediately!"
"Sensei, don't mind the haters, I loved the work. I'll definitely buy the tankōbon!"
"Teacher Shirogane, if Takaki and Akari really can't be together, then give Kanae a happy ending at least! Please! I'm begging you!"
"If you don't change the ending, I'm not buying the tankōbon!Do you hear me?! CHANGE IT!"
"Garbage author! If you can't write romance properly, hand me the pen! I'll draw a better ending WITH MY FEET!"
"Hey trolls, relax. Are you still bitter because Five Centimeters per Second beat High-Scoring Romance? Move on."
"No matter what the sales are, I'll support you, Sensei!"
"Teacher Shirogane, now that you have an account, can you post a selfie~? Is it true you're a beautiful high school girl manga artist?"
'A high school girl?'
Rei stared at his comment feed with an expression that was somewhere between bafflement and amusement.
But thinking it through…
It wasn't surprising.
"Shirogane" was a gender-neutral pen name
Most authors in Sakura-iro Weekly were female
The emotional delicacy of Five Centimeters per Second, the inner monologue–heavy narrative;
Male authors rarely created stories in that style
So the misunderstanding was inevitable.
Rei let out a small sigh.
"Let them fantasize."
And one day, he would take great pleasure in personally shattering those fantasies.
That, too, was one of the joys of transmigration.
Rei tapped out the first-ever official message under the pen name "Shirogane," to the entire manga world:
"Hello everyone! I'm Shirogane, author of Five Centimeters per Second. Nice to meet you!"
A short, simple greeting.
And yet, it marked the official debut of the manga artist "Shirogane" in this world.
Naturally, the comments erupted again, complaints, curses, encouragement, confessions, fan dedications…everything.
Time flowed quickly.
Soon, July 23rd arrived.
Every year, Japan produced a staggering number of manga.Most of them sold poorly, and countless manga artists barely scraped by.
If a new manga's tankōbon sold below 5,000–10,000 copies in its first week, the work was essentially marked for cancellation.
First-week sales usually determined everything.
In general:
First-week sales = 40–60% of first-month
First-month sales = 40–60% of total sales
This was considered "normal."
Of course, exceptions existed.
Long-running monsters like One Piece had such overwhelming long-term sales, that first-week numbers were a fraction of total lifetime sales.
In Japan's manga industry, magazines like Sakura-iro Weekly followed harsh rules. If a new tankōbon sold fewer than thirty to fifty thousand copies in its first week, the serialization was essentially over. Such numbers meant the work had no commercial viability, lowered the magazine's overall standard, and would be axed without hesitation.
But when it came to Five Centimeters per Second, the editorial department held strong confidence. After all, it had overpowered High-Scoring Romance, a long-running series with an average volume circulation of 520,000 copies. No matter how conservative the prediction, the tankōbon should at least exceed half a million in lifetime sales.
Using the standard calculation, first-week sales roughly equal to one-third of total sales, the editors quietly set an internal "success line" of two hundred thousand copies for the first week.
Distribution for tankōbon was also far wider than weekly magazines. Weekly magazines had a very short sales window, usually only a few days around the release date, and bookstores were extremely selective. If a weekly didn't sell well in a region, stores simply refused to stock it. That was why Sakura-iro Weekly circulated only in a handful of prefectures around Tokyo.
Tankōbon were much safer for retailers. They didn't expire quickly, unsold stock could be returned, and bookstores took far fewer risks. Because of this, Five Centimeters per Second was stocked across more than a dozen prefectures, though its strongest sales push was naturally in the regions where the magazine already had loyal readers.
On July 23rd, the tankōbon quietly appeared on bookstore shelves throughout Japan. The cover featured a cherry blossom tree shedding petals in the wind, with a boy and girl sharing a gentle kiss beneath the falling blossoms. The promotional sticker said only one line:
"The tear-jerking masterpiece by genius high school manga artist Shirogane."
Surrounded by tankōbon from the country's biggest bestsellers, it didn't stand out visually. But readers of Sakura-iro Weekly, especially fans who had been mentally wrecked by the final chapter, didn't hesitate. In the prefectures where the magazine circulated, people walked straight into stores, headed directly for the manga shelves, picked up Five Centimeters per Second, and went to the counter without even flipping it open.
First-week sales reports usually took a week or two to compile. But internally, Hoshimori Group began receiving unusual signals almost immediately. Only three days after the tankōbon's release, multiple regional distributors reported local stock shortages and requested urgent reprints.
This was not ordinary behavior for a five-chapter short series.
When Misaki saw the internal report, she momentarily forgot to breathe.
"Already… out of stock? After only three days?"
It wasn't a production problem, Hoshimori Group had more than enough printing capacity. If there were signs of shortages, they could be printed very quickly, unlike popular manga tankōbon which, once out of stock, might be completely unavailable in the market for a long time.
More importantly, Misaki knew something the average reader didn't: two of Hoshimori Group's second-tier magazines, Ametsukage Weekly and Mirage Weekly, were about to cancel ongoing serializations.
That meant open slots.
And once slots opened, the company would immediately hold a serialization meeting to select the next works to fill them.
If the tankōbon sales of Five Centimeters per Second were strong enough, she would have the real leverage she needed. She could take Rei's new manuscript, and submit it to the serialization meetings of both magazines.
If the numbers were mediocre, everything would become uncertain. She could still submit his work, but the editors judging the meeting would almost certainly dismiss it. For a new mangaka to enter a second-tier magazine without overwhelming sales data from a previous work was nearly impossible.
Misaki pressed her fingernails lightly against her palm and whispered to herself:
"Come on… come on…"
She had done everything she could. Now everything depended on the first-week sales report for the Five Centimeters per Second tankōbon.
Two hundred thousand copies in the first week would be the bare minimum, just enough to pass. But for a high school debut author who had already topped Sakura-iro Weekly, even that felt too low to her.
What she really wanted was, first-week sales between two hundred fifty and three hundred thousand.
If it reached that range, the projected lifetime total would comfortably exceed seven hundred thousand copies. In the Japanese manga industry, that would be enough to prove that Shirogane wasn't just a lucky beginner.
It would give her every justification to place Tonight in front of the editors at Ametsukage Weekly and Mirage Weekly.
.....
Bonus @500 PS
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