After the results for this installment of the Ascent of New Gods were released, Aika Miyamoto buried her face in her pillows and refused to come out for the entire afternoon.
"You need to come out right now," her agent urged while knocking frantically on the bedroom door. "You have a fan meeting scheduled for this evening."
"I am not going," Aika replied from beneath the blankets, her voice muffled and thick with grievance. "I had such a massive lead, and the editors at Kiyozawa Library spent so much money and resources to promote Cyberpunk: Sin Domain. Despite all of that, I still lost to To the Moon. I cannot show my face in public."
"Then you will just have to win the next time," her agent said in an attempt to comfort her. "Prodigy authors appear every single year in Japan, but how many of them actually manage to stay relevant in the light novel industry by the time they reach their twenties or thirties?"
"For all we know, this Shiori person might completely flop with her next work," the agent added.
"I feel like you are subtly making fun of me right now!"
The bedroom door swung open and Aika stepped out with a look of pure misery. Her tantrum had only lasted a few minutes; she wasn't the type of person who could actually stomach the idea of making her fans wait.
"I am simply stating a fact," the agent said while looking her in the eye. "There are far too many talented people in the light novel industry, but those who survive until the end all share one specific trait: they refuse to accept defeat."
"Besides, you aren't the only one who lost today," the agent continued. "The other five favorites are in the same boat, and some of them had it much worse than you did. Just think about how miserable they must feel. Konning dropped to seventh place. He has actually made history today by being the first author from Osaka to fall out of the top six rankings since the competition began."
Aika couldn't help but let out a small giggle at that. The gloom in her eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a much brighter expression.
"There is still one final installment left," she noted with a hint of playfulness. "I haven't officially lost the whole thing yet. What if Shiori makes a massive mistake and turns the final chapter into a complete mess?"
'Young people really are easy to cheer up,' the agent thought while letting out a quiet sigh of relief.
However, a moment later that day, the agent looked at her phone and frowned at the information she had gathered about Shiori Takahashi. It was incredibly frustrating.
Almost everything about the author was listed as unknown. Aside from the fact that the author was a high school student attending Third High in Minamijo, there was nothing. It seemed as though not a single person in the Minamijo light novel circles had ever actually met the author.
'Perhaps that is for the best,' the agent thought as she looked out the window of the high-rise building. 'If it is this hard for me to find them, the other agencies will have just as much trouble.'
She knew that every major publishing house in Japan was likely scouring the country for any lead on Shiori, desperate to sign the next big star of the industry.
A few days later, on Sunday, April 14th, the official forums for the Ascent of New Gods magazine were buzzing with activity as early as five in the morning.
"The bookstores in my area open in three hours," one user posted.
"Lucky you," another replied. "My local shop doesn't open for another four hours."
"I actually own a bookstore," a third user chimed in. "I can tell you right now that I already have the stock and I have already finished the final chapter of To the Moon."
"Are you serious?"
"Do you want me to spoil it for you?"
"No! Do not even think about it!"
"We do not need your help with that!"
"The wait is absolutely agonizing."
"We have already waited ten days, so a few more hours won't kill us."
"I am actually quite nervous. I haven't felt this way about a book in years. I am terrified that the author might ruin everything in the final chapter."
"The tragedy of the ending is already set in stone," someone pointed out. "River died with her regrets, and Johnny is at the end of his life. I just hope that before he passes away, he can truly remember that night when they made their promise."
"I hope so too. If he remembers, then at least River's spirit can find some peace."
"Technically, Johnny never actually forgot that night. He just couldn't access the memory because of the beta-blockers. It is like when you are trying to write a kanji and you know the word, but your hand just won't move. You haven't forgotten the word; you just can't bring it to the surface."
"That is a good point."
The fans of the story were in a state of high anxiety as they prepared for the conclusion. Finally, as the sun began to rise, a reader named Hashira left his house and pedaled his bicycle toward the nearest bookstore.
After quickly purchasing the magazine, he didn't head home. Instead, he bought a light breakfast and sat down on a park bench. He carefully unwrapped the plastic packaging and looked at the cover of the magazine under the morning light.
He felt a sense of relief.
Traditionally, the final issue of the Ascent of New Gods season featured the work that had the most influence and popularity during the previous nine installments.
A few weeks ago, everyone assumed that honor would go to Aika's Cyberpunk: Sin Domain.
However, the cover of the tenth issue featured something else entirely. It was a beautiful, soft illustration of a young boy and a young girl sitting together on a fallen log, pointing up toward a bright moon. It was the same artwork that had appeared in chapter eight.
The organizers of the competition had chosen this image for the final cover, and beneath the magazine title was a single line of text.
To the Moon by Shiori Takahashi.
This was the highest form of recognition the magazine could offer an author. Hashira flipped to the table of contents and saw that To the Moon occupied the very first pages of the issue.
Previously, this place of honor belonged to the cyberpunk novel. It was a reminder that while all competitions claim to be fair, there is always a natural hierarchy. Being the first story a reader sees in a magazine as thick as a dictionary is a massive advantage. The fact that To the Moon had won even when its rival held that advantage proved the clear difference in quality between the two works.
Chapter Ten: To the Moon.
The title was a triple entendre. It referred to the name of the book, the plot of the final chapter, and the title of a specific song within the story.
The narrative picked up exactly where the previous chapter had left off. In Johnny's new memories, River had reappeared as his colleague and fellow astronaut. The seeds of love were beginning to sprout once more. However, the story immediately revealed one final, crucial detail.
In the original timeline, River had suffered from Asperger's syndrome and died of an illness, heartbroken because Johnny could not remember their childhood promise. Johnny, in his grief, had composed a song for her titled 'For River'.
Hashira had initially thought the song was just a minor plot point, the kind of melodious detail authors add to make a protagonist seem more talented and romantic. In many novels, such details have no real impact on the actual plot.
But in the tenth chapter, everything changed.
Within his newly rewritten memories at the space agency, Johnny sat down and performed that very same song in front of everyone. According to the internal logic of the story, Johnny should not have been able to compose that song. In this new life, he had no memory of River as his wife, and therefore the inspiration for 'For River' should not have existed. Yet, the music flowed out of him regardless.
He titled the piece To the Moon.
In the vast silence of the performance hall, Johnny sat at the center of the stage. His fingers moved gracefully across the keys as his gaze remained fixed on River in the crowd. The melody was light and soothing, yet it carried a distinct undercurrent of melancholy.
Even if his life changed and his experiences were different, Johnny's love for River remained constant. He had changed the title, but he still only performed the piece when she was there to listen.
Hashira rubbed his eyes.
Since the eighth installment, this story had been relentlessly attacking his emotional defenses. He thought he was prepared for the end, but this reveal caught him off guard. He wondered how many more layers and callbacks Shiori had buried in those first seven chapters. He wondered if the author had cried while writing these words, or if they were somehow immune to the sadness they created.
In the memory world, years passed in the blink of an eye.
Neil and Eva could hear Johnny's real-world heartbeat slowing down. They knew the end was near.
Johnny and River lived their new lives together, training and preparing for the ultimate challenge: a mission to the moon. Under a crimson evening sky at the launch site, the massive rocket stood ready on the pad. Neil and Eva watched from a distance, knowing that the memory world would reach its conclusion here.
The rocket launched with a roar that seemed to shake the heavens. Inside the capsule, Johnny and River worked the controls together. Their ship began its long journey toward the lunar surface.
Within the cramped cockpit, the sound of the EKG monitor from the real hospital began to bleed into Johnny's consciousness. He looked around in confusion but saw nothing. Beside him, the normally silent and socially anxious River looked at him with a soft gaze and reached out her hand.
Johnny hesitated for only a fraction of a second before gripping her hand tightly. Through the glass of the cockpit, the lunar surface loomed large. At the exact moment their ship touched down on the moon, Johnny held her hand firmly.
In the real world, Johnny's heart stopped.
This was Johnny's dream. This was To the Moon.
The final chapter ended there.
Hashira's face was wet with tears. Passersby looked at him strangely as they walked through the park, but he didn't care. These were the final moments of a man's life.
Was it a happy ending? In a way, yes. He had reunited with River in a new world, they had fallen in love, and they had gone to the moon together. But it was also a beautiful lie woven by a machine in his final moments.
He had found his long-dead wife in a dream. He was no longer lonely, and his love had finally found a home. But the reality remained that River had died years ago, still trying to ask him what he saw in the paper rabbits she made. She had died wondering if he saw the moon, the stars, and the girl who had talked to him that night.
Who was to blame for the tragedy? Was it River, who could not express her feelings due to her condition? Was it Johnny, whose memory had been suppressed? Or was it Johnny's mother, who had used drugs to make her son forget the pain of his brother's death?
The story was over, but the questions lingered in his mind. He instinctively flipped the page, finding a promotional poster tucked into the back of the magazine. It showed River and Johnny as astronauts, staring at the moon through their cockpit window while holding hands.
The image was warm and simple, yet it triggered a fresh wave of grief in his heart. He didn't know how to properly review such a work, but he knew he would never forget it as long as he lived.
Across Japan, countless fans were experiencing the same emotional turmoil. They were happy that Johnny had fulfilled his dream and died without regrets, but they were devastated for the River who had only existed in his fading mind.
Such is the nature of life.
The traffic on the Ascent of New Gods website reached a fever pitch, far exceeding the activity from the previous week. Fans were determined to give the story a perfect score, pushing its rating to an unprecedented 9.5.
The voting was equally decisive.
Fans weren't just flooding the magazine's forums; they were swarming the Crimson Maple Literature website, demanding that Shiori come forward to address the audience. It was only then that some fans realized Shiori had no personal social media accounts.
The only presence online was on Panda Music, where the author had uploaded two tracks: the ending theme for Anohana and the theme song for To the Moon.
The fans realized that the account undoubtedly belonged to the author.
Haruto had even composed the very melody that had defined Johnny's life.
A massive wave of emotional readers began searching for the username Shiori Takahashi on music apps, desperate to find the person behind the story.
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