Haruto finished at the absolute top of the rankings with To the Moon, while Reina secured the ninth position with Fate of the Rainbow. Since both of them had managed to place within the top ten of the Ascent of New Gods serialization, they received formal invitations from the organizing committee to attend the grand awards ceremony.
As the first-place winner, Haruto was the recipient of the Gold Award. He would be presented with a gold-plated trophy during the ceremony. Reina, finishing in ninth place, would receive the Newcomer Excellence Award, which was accompanied by a silver trophy.
While the physical trophies were primarily symbolic, the real prize lay in the prestige and the subsequent publishing deal. Following the awards ceremony, the organizing committee, backed by the seven major publishing houses, would print the top ten stories as standalone light novel volumes for nationwide distribution. Historically, securing a standalone release through this committee guaranteed a minimum sale of 1.6 million copies per volume.
This was a monumental milestone in a writer's career. Regardless of a creator's previous track record, being published under the banner of the committee meant they were officially recognized as a million-seller author.
This achievement served as a critical dividing line in the literary world. Furthermore, because the competition was a non-profit event designed to foster talent, the seven major publishers were not looking to line their own pockets. As long as the sales covered the marketing and distribution costs, the vast majority of the profits went directly to the creators. The royalty rate was set at an astonishing 15%.
This meant that any author in the top ten could expect a minimum payout of over hundred million yen.
When combined with potential licensing deals and the prestige of such a record, joining a major publishing house for future projects became a much simpler task. However, there was a significant catch to accepting the honor.
"Reina, have you truly thought this through?" Haruto asked with a heavy tone while looking her in the eye. "The ceremony will be broadcast live nationwide on Tokyo TV4. To have the committee publish your standalone volume and to gain recognition from every fan in Japan, you have to accept the award in person. Once you step onto that stage, your secret identity will be gone forever."
He knew she didn't care about what her classmates thought, but her family was a different matter entirely.
"Life always requires some form of sacrifice,"
Reina replied after a long silence. She then offered him a small, determined smile. "The worst that can happen is that my parents will be furious. Perhaps they will even kick me out of the house. But my current income is more than enough to support myself. If they truly refuse to accept my path as a novelist, then I will simply have to be selfish for the sake of my own future."
She kept her gaze fixed on him as she continued. "I have already made up my mind. I am not leaving this industry until I have surpassed you. If I were to lose to the same person three times and then run away, I would have to call myself a total loser."
'Please do not drag me into your drama,' Haruto thought, his expression stiffening. He was already worried about how his fans would react to the revelation that their favorite female author, Shiori Takahashi, was actually a teenage boy. Reina's declaration that she was doubling down on her career specifically because of him only added to the pressure. He briefly wondered if she would hold a grudge for the rest of her life if she never managed to win, perhaps even haunting him as a vengeful spirit in the afterlife.
Reina's resolve was partly fueled by her family's wealth. Her parents were affluent and their primary goal was to groom her as a successor to the family legacy. Because she didn't have to worry about financial survival, she had the luxury of being headstrong about her passions. If she had been from a poor family where everyone was sacrificing for her education, she likely would have chosen a much safer career path instead of chasing a dream.
"Now that we have established your resolve, let us move on to more professional matters," Yukino said. She nodded in approval and steered the conversation toward business.
"Is this about something official?" Haruto asked with curiosity.
"It concerns you specifically," Yukino said while looking at him. "I mentioned before that my father owns an animation and film production studio in Tokyo. It seems he has taken a personal interest in To the Moon. He wants to adapt it into a live-action feature film. He asked me to inquire if you would be open to a collaboration."
"Wait, he is asking me?" Haruto paused before realizing the situation. "Wouldn't the publisher handle that?"
He quickly remembered that the Ascent of New Gods magazine was a talent search event. Unlike standard contracts, the copyrights for the works remained entirely with the authors. Crimson Maple Literature had no say in the matter, and neither did the organizing committee. The decision on how to license or sell the rights to To the Moon rested 100% with Haruto himself.
"Of course, you should not feel any pressure just because of our relationship," Yukino said with a smile.
"Over the next few weeks, many companies will likely reach out to discuss developing the intellectual property. You should choose the partner you feel has the most potential and offers the most reasonable terms. However, I figured I would take advantage of our proximity to get my father's proposal in front of you first and make a good impression."
She handed Haruto a document containing a general overview of her family's production company. Haruto took it with an intrigued expression.
"That is enough business for today," Yukino said cheerfully. "Both of you have written three novels in a single year while balancing your schoolwork. You haven't had a chance to relax. There is a major gaming expo this weekend. As usual, come to my place early and I will take you there myself."
The hype for the Ascent of New Gods magazine was intense but often short-lived once the three-month serialization ended.
However, even though the magazine had finished its run, the popularity of To the Moon continued to ferment within the light novel community. By April, every major light novel recommendation guide for the spring season featured the title prominently.
Whenever a fan on a forum asked for a high-quality story to read during a dry spell, the comments were inevitably flooded with recommendations for To the Moon.
When discussions turned to the most emotional or heartbreaking stories of the year, Haruto's loyal and vocal fan base would bring up To the Moon and Anohana in tandem. Having produced two consecutive tearjerkers, the mysterious author Shiori Takahashi was beginning to be labeled as a master of the emotional tragedy genre.
In late April, the organizing committee officially announced that the awards ceremony for the top ten winners would be broadcast live on Tokyo TV4 at 7:00 PM on Sunday, May 5th. They also began distributing five thousand free tickets to fans across Japan. To prevent people from claiming tickets and then not showing up, the organizers required a 2,000 yen deposit. The money would be refunded upon arrival at the venue, but anyone who secured a ticket through the lottery and failed to attend would forfeit the deposit.
The news sent the student body at Minamijo Third High School into a frenzy.
"So the identities of Shiori Takahashi and Airi, who have been hiding in plain sight for a year, are finally going to be revealed?" one student exclaimed in the hallway.
"I am definitely going to be glued to the TV," another added. "I need to see who these legends are. One of them took the top spot and the other came in ninth. They have brought so much glory to Minamijo."
"I cannot wait for May 5th," a third student laughed. "They are going to have to show their faces to the whole country. They won't be able to hide anymore. Why were they being so secretive anyway? If I were that talented, I would be bragging about my rankings every single day."
"Exactly, if you are famous, you should show it off. Why act so humble? My younger sister keeps asking me for Shiori-sensei's autograph and I cannot even give it to her. It is so embarrassing!"
"I am curious about how much money they have made from those rankings," a student admitted. "I am not jealous, I just want to know."
"Airi hasn't made as much as Shiori, but based on her previous two books, she has definitely earned millions of yen," an observant student explained. "As for Shiori Takahashi, the two volumes of Blue Spring Ride are selling nearly 600,000 copies each. Anohana is even crazier, selling 1.8 million copies per volume. Once the stock issues are resolved next week, those numbers will probably skyrocket. Shiori has likely earned at least a hundred million this year. That is not even counting the Ascent of New Gods royalties or the licensing fees. She is practically a mega millionaire while still in high school."
"That much?"
"I have to ask my mom for pocket money just to buy a carton of milk, and my classmates are out here making a fortune?" a student lamented. "I feel so demotivated."
"We should look around and see if we can figure out who Shiori Takahashi is," a boy suggested with a grin. "If we find her before the reveal, we can try to ask her out. Finding a self-made millionaire girlfriend in high school is the ultimate life hack."
The school's online forums were flooded with messages.
[I bet Shiori Takahashi is a total goddess!]
[What if Airi and Shiori are actually the same person? No, that's impossible, they have different styles.]
[I hope they are both from our Third High. Imagine the pride at graduation!]
The classroom conversations were dominated by talk of the two authors. Shiori Takahashi and Airi had become the absolute focus of attention at Minamijo Third High, effectively becoming campus celebrities before they had even been identified. Many students who were fans of their work applied for the ticket lottery, hoping they might get lucky enough to attend the ceremony in person and support their schoolmates while wearing their school uniforms.
Haruto's mood shifted from nervous to calm, eventually settling into a state of total acceptance. He figured becoming a campus celebrity wouldn't be so bad. When he saw a classmate at a nearby desk passionately arguing that Shiori Takahashi was definitely a beauty and listing seven pieces of evidence as to why it might be the Class 5 president, Haruto couldn't help but smile mischievously.
'If you are that curious,' he thought, 'then I have a very big surprise for you in two weeks.'
Over the next few days, Haruto began preparing for his trip to Tokyo in May. During this time, the standalone volumes of Anohana finally reached bookstores across the entire country. Building a reliable nationwide distribution network was a challenge that only a few major publishers could handle, and even for Crimson Maple Literature, printing enough copies in a short window had been a significant test of their resources.
Even a month after the anime had finished, the popularity of the story remained high. Initially, it was the anime fans who had supported To the Moon. Now, the process had reversed.
Fans of the novel were going back to read Shiori Takahashi's previous works. Six months after its initial conclusion, the Anohana novel was experiencing a massive second wave of sales.
In the nine days between April 22nd and April 31st, the two volumes sold over 2.11 million copies across prefectures. Combined with previous sales, the average volume sales jumped by a million in a single week, reaching 2.8 million copies. This was the power of a successful anime adaptation and the weight that the name Shiori Takahashi now carried among readers.
Meanwhile, at KyoAni, the preparations for the Anohana merchandise and Blu-ray releases were almost complete. These items were set to hit the market in late May. Even Haruto's debut work, Blue Spring Ride, was seeing a massive influx of orders from regional distributors thanks to the success of his later stories.
As April faded into May, Haruto and Reina prepared to board their train and depart for Tokyo
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