"A part-time... manga artist?" Haruto asked, blinking in surprise. He regained his composure and followed up with a question of his own.
"Which manga are you currently working on, if you do not mind me asking? I might have come across your work before."
"I am certain you haven't," the girl replied. A flicker of gloom passed over her beautiful, pale face, but she quickly forced a polite smile back onto her lips.
Haruto sat up straight, his pride as a consumer slightly wounded. Although he had been deeply immersed in his own writing over the past year, he had kept up with a massive volume of anime and manga in his spare time. Her use of the word "certain" felt like a direct challenge to his standing as a dedicated fan of the medium. Even if he truly hadn't seen her work, staying silent now felt like a defeat he wasn't willing to accept.
"You never know. I actually have a taste for many niche and obscure titles," Haruto insisted with a serious expression.
"My works... have never actually been published. How exactly would you have seen them?" the girl said after a short pause, her tone laced with a lack of enthusiasm.
'Never been published.' Haruto understood her meaning instantly. It was the polite way of saying that her submissions to manga magazines had been rejected time and time again.
An awkward silence settled between them for nearly ten seconds.
"Anyway, let us move on from my hobby," she said, breaking the tension.
She reached into her bag and took a copy of To the Moon. Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she looked at Haruto.
"Could you please sign this for me?"
Haruto hesitated. This senior claimed to be a fan, but her attitude toward him was casual, lacking the reverence or nervous energy he usually encountered from readers. She was lively and perhaps a bit too familiar for someone he had just met. Still, it was just an autograph, so he didn't overthink it.
After he finished signing his name in large, bold letters on the title page, the girl looked at the book with a satisfied expression. Then, she performed a move that Haruto did not see coming. She tore a page out of a notebook she was carrying.
"As the saying goes, one good turn deserves another. Since you gave me your autograph, I shall give you mine in return."
A few seconds later, a slip of paper with the name "Shizuru" written on it was pushed toward him. Haruto stared at the signature in a state of utter confusion. However, out of respect for her effort, he carefully folded the paper and tucked it away.
"Do not look so surprised," Shizuru said, catching his bewildered expression.
A playful smirk touched her lips. "I might be a nobody in the manga world right now, but one day, I am going to be one of the most famous female manga artists in Japan. Trading signatures with me now is actually the bargain of a lifetime for you, junior."
"I have actually been interested in manga for a long time. I have always felt that being a manga artist is a truly admirable profession."
"Unfortunately, my hands are useless when it comes to drawing, so I had to settle for being a novelist instead. Hearing about your grand ambitions is truly inspiring."
Haruto began reciting the polite remarks he had mastered over the past year. After dealing with so many publishing professionals and animation staff, he could drop these meaningless pleasantries at a notice.
They were the same hollow compliments people usually used on him, and he had learned to mimic them perfectly.
"You are interested in manga too?" Shizuru, who had been about to grab her bag and leave, suddenly looked back with a look of interest. "Are you planning to quit writing and switch to drawing?"
Haruto nearly choked on his coffee. "I was just saying that the industry has always intrigued me."
"I see," Shizuru said, her clear eyes narrowing as if she were hatching a plan. "Well, if you do end up enrolling at Minazuki, you should look for the Manga Research Club. I am the president of the club. We are starting our recruitment drive as soon as the semester begins, and we are currently short on members. I will go ahead and reserve a spot for you right now."
Haruto opened his mouth to protest.
"Anyway, I have to run. I have things to do. Do not worry about finding us; if you do not come to the clubroom, I will just come find you myself. It won't be hard to track down the famous author Shiori Takahashi once he is on campus."
She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, gave him a casual wave, and ran out of the café.
Haruto watched her retreating figure for a long time before his heart finally settled. Her behavior was certainly eccentric, but he found that talking to her had left him feeling strangely refreshed. He shook his head, figuring she was likely the type of person whose enthusiasm lasted about three minutes. She would probably forget all about him and her club recruitment by the time the first day of college arrived.
He finished the rest of his coffee, refusing to let a single drop go to waste. Even if he found the taste inferior to the cheap instant coffee at the supermarket, it had cost several thousand yen, and his frugal habits died hard.
As July progressed, Haruto found himself with plenty of free time in Tokyo. He decided to sign up for a driving school to pass the time. He opted for the VIP package, which provided one-on-one instruction and high-end service.
The instructors never raised their voices, provided him with water whenever he looked tired, and handled all the exam scheduling for him.
It was a perfect experience, marred only by the astronomical price tag.
While he was practicing his three-point turns, the sales figures for the first week of the To the Moon standalone release were published.
Across all prefectures of Japan, the book moved a staggering 1.87 million copies in its first seven days. In contrast, the second-place entry from the competition, Cyberpunk, only managed 910,000 copies.
While Japan occasionally saw legendary series that moved tens of millions of copies, those titles didn't release new volumes every week. For that specific seven-day period, the crown for the highest-selling light novel in the country belonged to To the Moon. These statistics were featured in several major industry magazines. Many readers chose their books based solely on these charts, operating under the assumption that while a high-selling book might not be to everyone's taste, a low-selling book was almost certainly a waste of time.
By mid-July, the story had triggered a fresh wave of discussion across social media. Sugar Man Pictures capitalized on the momentum by officially announcing the production of the To the Moon animated feature film. Haruto's fan base across Japan erupted in a celebration.
During this same period, the national exam results were released. Haruto had scored a total of 453 points.
By the standards of a top-tier school like Minamijo Third High, it was an exceptionally mediocre score. However, it was more than enough to satisfy the requirements of his special admission agreement. He was officially set to enroll in the Department of Literature at Minazuki University. The very next afternoon, he received a congratulatory call from the university admissions office.
As July drew to a close, Ms. Hime finally contacted him with a answer. She invited him to another meeting and presented him with a formal contract. The terms were exactly as they had discussed.
"There will be several serialization slots opening up in our secondary magazine, Azure Kiyozawa, over the next two months," she explained. "Our internal team has evaluated the manuscript for Parasyte, and everyone has given it an incredibly high appraisal. I will do everything in my power to secure one of those slots for you. I look forward to our partnership, sensei."
Haruto signed the document with a smile.
August arrived, and Haruto had now been living in the capital for over a month. He was gradually adapting to the Tokyo and the frantic pace of the city. He realized that he had been absent from the public eye for three months now, but he was far from idle.
Yukino was currently buried under the weight of her new business venture. She was so focused on her studio that she often went days without calling him. Given her dedication, Haruto chose not to bother her.
He did manage to call Reina once to ask which university she had chosen, but she only gave him a mysterious reply: "You will find out soon enough."
Time slipped away, and as the middle of August approached, Haruto prepared for the start of his life as a university student. At that moment, he received a notification from Ms. Hime.
The manuscript for Parasyte had been shortlisted along with two other works.
Kiyozawa Library was holding an internal editorial meeting to decide which of the three would be chosen for serialization in Azure Kiyozawa starting in three weeks. In a prestigious magazine like that, a slot might not open up for months, so the competition was fierce.
Unlike his previous works, Parasyte was not a slow burner.
Its premise was unique and its pacing was tight. Haruto felt confident that based on quality alone, he should have no trouble winning the slot. He felt the tension in his shoulders begin to fade.
However, in another office within Kiyozawa Library, an editor sat at her desk staring at a set of documents.
"So he refused to sign the standard long-term deal only to go and sign with Hime?" she muttered, a flicker of irritation crossing her face before she shook her head.
"Well, geniuses are always arrogant. It is only natural. But everyone who serializes at Kiyozawa was a genius in their youth."
"He is about to learn that refusing an exclusive deal has consequences. The editorial meeting is going to be a very difficult experience for him."
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