Reader votes and ratings are meticulously tracked. Every legitimate reader who buys a physical copy can scan a QR code on the final page, enter a unique verification code, and cast their judgment. This data is recorded instantly on the publisher's backend. While a vote is final once cast, ratings are a different story.
If a reader initially gives a series a lukewarm score but finds the subsequent chapters extraordinary, they can submit an application to modify their rating. The score displayed on the public site is the cumulative average of every chapter rated throughout the serialization.
The top four novels in the current issue all boasted a "9.0," but the internal numbers told a more precise story. Winter Lake sat at 9.09, Star Sea at 9.07, and She's a Bit Strange at 9.01. The public display simply rounded down, hiding the cutthroat competition happening at the thousandths place.
This system is why a series can climb to the heights of a 9.0 or sink into the abyss of a 4.0. A score of 4.0 usually indicates a story has collapsed so spectacularly that even the hardcore fans have turned on it, collectively tanking the rating out of spite.
The 9.2 rating for Anohana, however, was a testament to the sheer quality of chapter thirteen. After reading it, a massive wave of readers had logged back in to revise their earlier scores of 5, 6, or 7. They felt those old numbers were an insult to the masterpiece unfolding before them. In just twenty-four hours, the average score surged to 9.2, placing Anohana at the absolute top of the quality rankings.
But the real shock came from the reader votes. In a single issue, Anohana's vote count exploded by over four thousand. It looked as though the author had activated some sort of cheat code.
The editors at Crimson Maple Literature were fans of fiction themselves, and they had all read chapter thirteen. They had seen the deluge of emotional discussions flooding the official forums the previous night. Yet, the level of reader support still managed to leave them speechless.
Winter Lake, the reigning champion, had consistently held over twenty thousand votes.
This issue, it dropped to nineteen thousand. She's a Bit Strange also saw a decrease of two thousand votes. In the ecosystem of a magazine, votes do not vanish into thin air. The losses sustained by the titans were roughly equal to the massive gains made by Star Sea and Anohana.
"So, who was it that said the limit for Anohana and Star Sea was third and fourth place?" one editor asked, breaking the stunned silence of the room.
No one replied.
The turnaround was nothing short of legendary. With one chapter of text, Anohana had officially launched a siege on the number one spot.
Meanwhile, although Star Sea had technically slipped from third to fourth place, its raw vote count had increased by nearly two thousand. No one in their right mind could call that a decline. When several people standing together are all over six feet tall, it doesn't matter who is slightly shorter; they are all giants.
"I heard that Yukino discovered Shiori Takahashi and Airi earlier this year while she was on shift for walk-in submissions," a younger editor whispered. "They supposedly both showed up at the exact same hour on the exact same day. She dug them out of a pile of slush. It was pure luck."
"I've been an editor for decades," an older man sighed. "Why does that kind of miracle never happen to me?"
"I still stand by my point," another editor interjected. "With only one chapter left, it is impossible for Anohana to bridge a five-thousand-vote gap with Winter Lake and take the crown."
"But it just grew by four thousand votes in one week," someone countered. "If the finale adds another five thousand, it isn't impossible. And if the rating hits 9.3? That would make it both the most popular and the most acclaimed work in the magazine's history."
The thought made several hearts skip a beat. Many eyes turned toward Yukino, who looked just as bewildered as the rest of them. She had cried her eyes out reading the final chapters, so she knew support would rise, but this scale of success was beyond her wildest dreams. No rookie in the history of the Minamijo region had ever achieved a vertical climb from fourteenth place to second in a flagship magazine.
Yukino's head spun for a moment before she snapped into action. She hurried toward the Editor-in-Chief's office. With popularity soaring like this, the publisher couldn't afford to be passive. They needed to increase the marketing budget immediately. Between the upcoming tankōbon releases and the inevitable scramble for media rights, they needed to start laying the groundwork now.
---
Around noon, Haruto was woken from a nap in his classroom by a call from Yukino.
"Ranked second in votes... and first in ratings," she reported, her voice thick with excitement.
"I see," Haruto replied after a brief pause.
"Why are you so calm?" Yukino asked.
"It isn't time to celebrate yet," Haruto said with a light chuckle. "When the next issue is out and Anohana is number one in both categories... that's when I'll cheer over the phone."
Yukino held her phone in stunned silence. The goal he had just stated was something she only dared to fantasize about in the privacy of her own mind, a dream she was afraid people would laugh at. Yet Haruto spoke of it with such ease, as if he had known from the very beginning that Anohana would reach the summit.
Ten minutes later, on the school rooftop, Reina hung up her own phone. Much like their game sessions, she had been under Haruto's shadow for five months. Recently, she had managed to gain the upper hand in their matches, shifting the win rate to 7-to-3 in her favor. But this was a different game entirely.
"It's fine. It's only one issue," she whispered to herself. "Maybe the final chapter will have a small flaw, or the readers won't be satisfied, and the rank will drop. I can still win."
Despite her words, her eyes were swimming with unshed tears. Yukino hadn't spoiled the ending, but she had made it clear: the finale of Anohana was a masterpiece that elevated the entire work. If chapter thirteen had done this much damage, what would the finale do? Unless Yukino's professional judgment had completely detached from reality, Reina knew the truth deep in her heart.
Star Sea was likely going to lose.
Mid-August arrived, bringing another Sunday. The summer heat was so intense it made the air shimmer over the asphalt. The fans of Anohana, having been left on a massive cliffhanger, were out in force. Before the bookstores even opened, lines had formed down the blocks.
In the queue, a large man stood wearing a white sundress and flip-flops, his hairy legs attracting plenty of stares. To the dedicated otaku of Japan, cosplaying on the street was a badge of honor, regardless of how cursed it might look.
"Hey man, you cosplaying Menma? Where'd you get the dress?" someone asked.
"I modified one of my sister's old outfits," the man replied proudly. "And I'm not Menma. I'm Yukiatsu from chapter six. He cosplayed Menma in the story, so I'm cosplaying him cosplaying her."
"That's a lot of layers of irony, my friend."
"Jealous? My look is flawless."
"I'll just say you're as much of a freak as the guy in the book."
At eight-thirty sharp, the shutters rattled up. The hungry crowd surged into the bookstore, their eyes locked onto the stacks of Crimson Maple containing the final chapter of Anohana: "The Secret Base."
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