After hanging up the phone, Reina leaned over the concrete railing of the rooftop and looked down toward a specific classroom in the neighboring building.
Her vision was quite sharp, allowing her to spot Haruto sitting in his usual window seat in Class 2-3. He was fast asleep, head buried in his arms.
She had only discovered this vantage point because her competitive nature had driven her to keep a close eye on him lately.
"He really has no sense of urgency whatsoever. Anohana debuted in thirteenth place!" she muttered to herself.
There were only fourteen series currently running in Crimson Maple. The one at the very bottom, Black Pupil, was a dead work walking, already confirmed for cancellation because the plot had completely unraveled. Based on what Reina had gathered from Yukino regarding the other submissions, the evaluations for Azure Flame Tail were roughly on par with her own Star Sea. It was safe to assume that the debut of that series would yield similar numbers.
Logic dictated that once Black Pupil concluded in the next issue and the veteran author Red Dragon launched Azure Flame Tail, Anohana would likely slide down to fourteenth place.
It would be the absolute bottom of the rankings.
Reina pressed her pale palms against her face, hiding her anxious expression. She watched Haruto through the gaps between her fingers as he continued his peaceful nap by the window.
She truly couldn't understand him. Even if his novel was a slow-burn and he had absolute confidence in the later chapters, who could ever predict the future?
If he had time to sleep, he should be using it to brainstorm, double-check his drafts, and see if there was anything at all he could do to improve the pacing.
Instead, he just lay there.
"How can you even sleep right now?"
She stomped her foot in frustration, but almost immediately, she realized her reaction was a bit strange.
Why was she getting anxious on his behalf?
After a moment of self-reflection, she realized that while she desperately wanted to beat Haruto herself, she couldn't stand the thought of him losing to anyone else.
In the world of dreams, Haruto was once again immersed in the memories of Shiori Takahashi.
It was just as he had suspected: if he spent his waking hours obsessing over a specific element of her life, the likelihood of seeing a related memory fragment during sleep increased significantly.
Naturally, he had been thinking about nothing but the serialization of Anohana.
When he lay down for a quick nap after lunch, he found himself dreaming of the middle stretch of the original Anohana anime, specifically episodes four through six. He spent the entire lunch break captivated by the unfolding story.
"It definitely gets more interesting as it goes along. The setup is quite long, but once the complicated character dynamics are ironed out, you start to see the real heart of the series."
The childhood friends had drifted apart because of the heroine's death, and the core of the story was about her spirit driving the protagonist to mend those broken bonds and rediscover their lost friendship. However, even after seeing up to the sixth episode, Haruto felt the story was merely "excellent." He didn't yet feel it was a masterpiece that surpassed Blue Spring Ride.
But in Shiori's memories, the comments on the streaming site she used were filled with viewers crying and hyping up how emotional the later half was. This only fueled Haruto's curiosity.
The later half? How much later?
Once Shiori finished those three episodes, her memory shifted to something else entirely. Instead of watching more anime, she started playing a video game. It was a pixel-art game with graphics so retro they looked ancient, but she had started it based on a friend's recommendation that the story was incredible.
An island, a wish, two doctors...
Haruto found every aspect of this parallel world fascinating, so he paid close attention to this new memory fragment as well.
In the afternoon, the sharp ringing of the school bell jolted him awake.
Today was Monday, marking the start of his final week at school for the semester.
From Monday to Wednesday, there would be no regular classes, only final exams.
The plot of that pixel game had only just begun. To be honest, the beginning seemed quite dull, but Haruto treated it as a welcome distraction. For now, he needed to focus on the tests in front of him.
Over the next few days, as the exams came to an end, the second chapter of Anohana was officially released.
The second chapter was... yet more setup.
It introduced Poppo, the boisterous boy who had grown into a world-traveling free spirit, and Tsuruko, the elegant and aloof honors student attending a prestigious prep school. Then there was Yukiatsu, the handsome and arrogant top student at that same elite school.
Finally, there was Anaru, a fashionable girl at a lower-ranked school who clearly harbored feelings for the protagonist, Jintan.
While Poppo remained as cheerful and welcoming as he had been as a child, Tsuruko and Yukiatsu were openly mocking and distant. They looked down on their former friends who had dropped out or failed to get into good schools, viewing Jintan's behavior as a pathetic sign of his inability to cope with reality.
The chapter focused on the interactions between these characters, highlighting the deep-seated friction between them. Every conflict, however, centered on the memory of Menma. By the end of the chapter, there were signs that Jintan, Poppo, and the tsundere Anaru were beginning to rekindle their old bond.
On the Crimson Maple Literature website, some of Shiori Takahashi's fans were starting to complain.
"The pacing is just so slow!"
"What kind of story is Shiori Takahashi trying to tell here?"
"Is it a romance? It doesn't really feel like one."
"There's not much romance to write about anyway. The relationships are already obvious. From the first two chapters, it's clear that as kids, Yukiatsu and Jintan both liked Menma. Tsuruko likes Yukiatsu, and Anaru likes Jintan. Poppo is just the happy-go-lucky guy who doesn't like anyone like that."
"So what's the point? Is it just going to be a casual daily life story between a ghost girl and a shut-in?"
"I'm starting to worry that Shiori has lost her touch. She's famous for writing shoujo-style youth romances. Why is she trying to write this weird, ambiguous story?"
"I've read the first two chapters. Honestly, the writing isn't bad, but the quality feels like a step down from Blue Spring Ride."
"I actually like how Menma is written. I've teared up a few times during her scenes, but the rest of the characters just feel a bit boring."
"Everyone needs to relax. Trust in Shiori's talent. It's only the second chapter, what's everyone panicking for?"
"It's just frustrating to see Airi who used to lose to Shiori Takahashi, getting rave reviews for her new series while this one struggles."
"The Airi fans are being so arrogant on the forums. They're constantly trashing Shiori, calling her a one-hit wonder and saying her lack of skill is being exposed now that she's in a real magazine. They're saying the tide has gone out and we're seeing that she was just swimming naked. It's really annoying to read."
_______________________
Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
Support me at patreon.com/CulturedOne and read 50 Advanced Chapters