Crimson Maple Literature.
The staff in the editorial department had assumed this would be just another ordinary day.
They expected Anohana to conclude its run with respectable popularity, finishing with a solid but ultimately standard set of numbers. Instead, the series exploded with a level of fervor that defied their wildest imaginations.
In the previous issue, the thirteenth chapter had secured second place in the reader votes and first place in the quality ratings. That data alone had shocked the office, considering how far the series had climbed from its sluggish start. After the thirteenth chapter's release, the series had already achieved a massive surge in engagement among the magazine's core readership.
By noon on the day of the finale's release, the official website for Crimson Maple Literature was completely overrun by emotional fans.
"We need a sequel! We need Anohana Season 2!"
"Keep those high ratings coming! Cast your votes now! If the numbers are high enough, maybe Shiori Takahashi-sensei will consider a follow-up!"
"I've been reading light novels for years, but this is the first time I've ever been reduced to sobbing. I have no idea what kind of mental state Shiori Takahashi-sensei was in when he wrote this."
"The character of Menma is just... I'm still in shock after reading chapter fourteen this morning. I knew it would be moving, and I knew she'd probably disappear for good, but I never expected to cry this hard."
"A person so kind that even in death, her only fear was that her absence would cause others pain. Even though she was crying because she had to say goodbye, she still gave everyone one last smile."
" 'The kind of love where I want to be your bride.' That one line has been haunting me all morning. She didn't want to leave them either!"
"Wait, what is everyone talking about? Is this for Anohana? I dropped it at chapter three because I thought the setup was too long. Is it actually that good? If so, I'm digging out my old copies of Crimson Maple right now."
"Bro, I'm warning you: don't do it. Unless you want to end up like me, a total emotional wreck."
"Is it really that moving? I just logged onto the forum and even the discussion threads for Winter Lake are buried under this stuff. Are you all just paid shills for Shiori Takahashi?"
"Fine, I'm going to find my back-issues and catch up. I want to see what all the fuss is about."
Before the morning was even over, the Crimson Maple Literature forums were effectively "slaughtered" by a relentless tide of heartbroken fans. Discussion threads for every other series in the magazine were drowned out.
Fans of other works found themselves clicking into the forum in total confusion, only to leave feeling compelled to find their old magazines and start reading Anohana from the beginning.
By lunchtime, the phenomenon had breached the walls of Crimson Maple Literature.
The official forums for the other four major Minamijo publishers, Skycrest Library, Blue Sky Publishing, Fantasy Literature, and Sakura Archive, were similarly invaded by Anohana fans.
The light novel readership is a massive, interconnected community. It only took a handful of fans discussing the finale on rival sites for the wave to become unstoppable. Soon, those forums were also filled with thousands of threads debating the story.
The buzz traveled through Discord servers, fan groups, and even into real life. In bookstores, subways, and parks, it wasn't uncommon to see people clutching a copy of Crimson Maple, their eyes turning red as they quietly wiped away tears.
For many, the final chapter was a tactical emotional strike. Without warning, those final few thousand words had detonated in the readers' hearts. The thirteen chapters of setup were merely the fuel for a monumental explosion of feeling in the fourteenth. If the "tear-meter" for chapter thirteen was a ten, chapter fourteen had multiplied it by an order of magnitude.
---
In the Fujimoto household.
Reina Fujimoto lay across her bed in a pristine white nightgown, her slender arms and legs exposed to the summer air.
A copy of Crimson Maple lay open over her face, covering her features. She had been lying in that exact position for over half an hour.
Finally, she pulled the magazine away, revealing a beautiful face with unmistakably red eyes.
"No wonder..." she whispered. Her voice carried a mix of regret and frustration, yet beneath it was an undeniable sense of respect. "No wonder he was so confident in this work. If I were him, I would feel the same."
Reina had suspected the finale would be excellent, but she hadn't known the true depth of its quality until she experienced it herself. She knew, with absolute certainty, that she had been defeated once again. She knew the remaining chapters of Star Sea, regardless of how she edited or polished them, could never reach the emotional heights of Anohana.
Compared to her previous loss with Blue Spring Ride, this defeat felt different. It wasn't that she was getting used to losing; rather, it was the realization that she hadn't made any mistakes. She had done her best, but she had simply encountered a stronger rival. It was a reality she found impossible to change.
"Is this what it feels like to be chasing a person, only to realize the person is impossible to stop?"
She thought of all the second-place students who had been trailing her since elementary school. For the first time, she felt a strange sense of bewilderment. While she wasn't about to give up, she felt a heavy, pessimistic weight when she thought of Haruto.
How much more did she need to grow before she could craft a story as perfect as Anohana? When she pictured Haruto's face, her frustration was joined by a flicker of intense curiosity.
How did he write like that? Could a character like Menma really be born from nothing more than playing video games and watching anime at home? She simply couldn't fathom it.
---
The following morning at the Crimson Maple Literature editorial department.
Every editor arrived with a look of grim intensity. From the previous day through this morning, the "fan riot" over Anohana was impossible to ignore. Not every editor had the time to read the works of their colleagues' authors; many had only read the first few pages during the serialization meeting and had no idea what the story was actually about.
They had been baffled by the outcry. Why was the finale making people so hysterical? To find out, many of them had spent the previous night binge-reading the entire fourteen-chapter run.
Honestly, the results were devastating. Even the veteran editors, who prided themselves on their high emotional threshold, had found themselves feeling a lump in their throats.
They remembered how they had all dismissed the series at the start, assuming Shiori Takahashi was only getting a slot because of a "backdoor" connection with Yukino. Now, they saw the truth.
Akira possessed a terrifyingly sharp eye for talent.
Had she seen this potential from the very beginning? Had she pushed the series through the board meeting specifically because she knew it was a masterpiece? The editors began to weave a narrative of Akira's brilliance in their own minds, their respect for her reaching fanatical levels.
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