Early July arrived. The standalone volumes of the top ten works from the Ascent of New Gods competition were officially released through a joint effort by the Big Seven Publishers Committee.
While Haruto had been preoccupied with his entrance exams and searching for a new publisher last month, the reputation of his work, To the Moon, had been spreading like wildfire throughout the light novel community. The critical acclaim for the story was undeniable. Many readers who had missed the original serialization in the Ascent of New Gods magazine had been primed by months of hype. Now that the standalone tankobon was finally on the shelves, the anticipation had reached a fever pitch.
Even in the heart of Tokyo, Haruto could see massive stacks of To the Moon displayed prominently in local bookstores. The sales data made one thing very clear: his book was moving significantly faster than the other nine entries from the competition.
Industry insiders now predicted that, given the quality of the work and the momentum it had gained during its serialization, To the Moon would sell over four million copies within its first three months on the national market. This was an astronomical figure by any standard.
Even the massive hit Anohana had only recently surpassed the five million mark after nearly a year on sale, and that was with the colossal boost of a hit anime adaptation behind it. While the Big Seven provided nationwide distribution and marketing, they weren't about to invest their absolute top-tier resources into a non-profit project that didn't serve their primary corporate interests. In that light, a projection of four million copies for To the Moon was an incredibly high appraisal of its raw appeal.
Once the animated film adaptation hit theaters, the sales for the light novel were expected to experience a second, even larger surge.
Haruto scanned the sales data sent over by the committee staff before turning his gaze toward the towering skyscrapers in the distance. Since moving to the capital, he had spent the first few days coordinating with Sugar Man Pictures to finalize the details of the To the Moon anime film.
Now, he had a different engagement. He was heading to a prearranged meeting with Aika's manager, Ms. Hime. He arrived at a café in the city center nearly thirty minutes early. On the table to his left sat a printed manuscript containing the first five chapters of Parasyte.
A classical piano melody drifted through the café. Haruto's attention was drawn to the young woman playing the grand piano at the center of the room.
She had skin as pale as snow, her hair tied back in a ponytail. Her fingers moved across the keys with a grace that left a faint trail of afterimages in the soft lighting.
Haruto noticed her not just because of her beauty, but because she had been staring at him almost since the moment he sat down. He could feel the intensity of her gaze.
Furthermore, he noticed that her playing had become slightly erratic the moment he walked into the establishment. Having spent so much time collaborating with Reina on musical scores, Haruto had developed a keen ear for such nuances.
He suspected she might have recognized him from the national broadcast. After all, he was a celebrity to light novel fans now. After thinking it over for a moment, he beckoned a waiter over to his table.
"Who is she?" Haruto asked while nodding toward the pianist.
"That is a university student from Minazuki. She is working here part-time over the summer break, sir. Is her performance not to your liking?" the waiter asked with a concerned look.
A student from Minazuki University? A part-timer?
That made her his future upperclassman.
Haruto immediately shed his detached attitude. If she were just a random passerby, he wouldn't have cared, but since she was a senior at the school he was about to attend and potentially a fan of his work, he felt he should show some support.
"Oh, no, not at all. I was just going to say that she plays very well."
Haruto turned his attention back to the manuscript on his table.
But a few moments later, the melody changed. A familiar tune filled the café. It was the theme he had composed with Reina: For River.
Haruto blinked in surprise as he looked back at the girl. She caught his eye and offered a knowing nod, her fingers never leaving the keys. It was clear now. She definitely knew who he was, and this was her way of proving it.
Before he could say anything, a woman in a white dress and high heels walked into the café. She was tall, standing at nearly one hundred and seventy centimeters, and carried a small designer bag. Her fair, beautiful face was lightly touched with makeup.
"Good afternoon. You must be Shiori Takahashi. I am Hime, a manager with Kiyozawa Library."
The woman offered a warm smile as she sat down across from him. She had heard about Haruto from Aika and understood the game their colleagues were playing. Some had assumed that a headstrong boy who refused a long-term contract would eventually cave once he realized how much nepotism existed at the other major publishers. They figured they could just ignore him for a month or two until he came crawling back to sign a ten-year exclusive deal.
Hime didn't care for such tactics.
While the company had initially approached him with standard terms, Haruto had shown he was a creator of exceptional value. This meeting was a fresh start, a chance to find common ground.
"Aika told me about your situation, and I am honored that you reached out to me. After all, you are the person who managed to beat the genius author I spend so much energy managing," Hime said before taking a delicate sip of her coffee. "However, I must be honest with you. My personal approach is strictly professional. I value merit above all else. If you can provide the quality, I will provide the results."
"I am aware of the risks," Haruto said firmly. "I only have two non-negotiable conditions. First, my next work must be considered for serialization in the secondary Kiyozawa magazine, Azure Kiyozawa. Second, I will not sign a long-term exclusive contract."
He called them simple conditions, but in reality, they were a massive challenge to the industry standard.
"Refusing a long term contract is not an issue, but you must understand the consequences," Hime explained with a soft laugh. "Your royalty rate will be slightly lower, and your marketing budget for standalone volumes will likely be only sixty or seventy percent of what an exclusive author would receive. However, as the saying goes, a truly great work can overcome any obstacle. If you produce a massive hit, the company will pour resources into it regardless of your contract status because they want the profit. They aren't going to turn away money just to spite a freelancer."
In essence, for an average story, the contract status determined the marketing budget, which in turn drove the sales and the author's income. But for a blockbuster masterpiece, no publisher was going to sabotage their own bottom line.
High-level marketing was a self-serving act for the company. Exclusive contracts were primarily designed to protect the middle-tier of authors while preventing top-tier creators from demanding impossible prices once they became famous.
"As for your desire to serialize in Azure Kiyozawa, that does not depend on me," she continued. "It depends entirely on your manuscript. I can secure a spot for you in the editorial meetings, but if the work itself does not have the strength to stand on its own, no amount of lobbying on my part will help."
"I understand perfectly," Haruto nodded.
The two had already been discussing the details over LINE for several days, so the meeting was mostly a formality to finalize the partnership.
Haruto handed her the manuscript he had prepared. In the Big Seven publishers, the role of a manager often overlapped with that of a traditional editor.
However, their primary focus was the holistic development of the author's brand.
They managed the company's marketing budget to ensure positive public relations, organized fan meetings, and oversaw the adaptation of the author's intellectual property into other media. They even monitored the author's physical and mental health, hiring therapists if necessary to ensure that the pressure of a deadline or the sting of online criticism didn't lead to a breakdown.
Writing was a lonely profession, and very few authors had the energy or the business savvy to handle those logistics themselves.
"Parasyte?" Hime murmured as she opened the folder and began to read. She had a team of staff back at the office to handle the formal technical reviews, and she would ultimately rely on their professional feedback to decide on any plot changes.
However, as a veteran in the industry, she possessed an instinctive ability to judge a story's potential. She chose to read the manuscript as a regular fan, letting the words of Parasyte wash over her without overanalyzing the structure.
'An alien invasion of Earth?' She frowned slightly as she read the premise. It wasn't that the idea was bad, it was just that Haruto was once again pivoting to a completely different genre.
Blue Spring Ride was a shoujo romance, while Anohana was a poignant drama about friendship. To the Moon was a romantic tragedy of a completely different sort. Now, Parasyte looked like a dark action thriller.
She continued reading. The parasites would randomly infect animals and humans, burrowing into their brains and masquerading as members of society. The woman who seemed like a gentle wife or a loving mother could, in the dead of night, split her head open and devour you right in your own bed.
Hime's eyes widened. The current literary world didn't have anything quite like this. The sheer horror of the concept was immediately gripping.
The idea of a parasite trying to take over the protagonist's brain but failing, only to be forced to live as his right hand, was a brilliant twist. It transformed a generic invasion story into something unique.
Initially, she thought it would be a standard battle series where the hero used his alien hand to fight off monsters. But as she read further, the tone shifted. The story became dark, philosophical, and incredibly tense.
It focused less on the protagonist's power and more on the transformation of his psyche.
The tension peaked in the fifth chapter. When the protagonist returned home and received a frantic call from his wounded father, telling him to call the police and not to trust his mother, Hime felt her heart tighten. The prose described the boy's internal terror as he waited for his mother to come home, desperately hoping his father was wrong.
Then, the horror was revealed. The woman he loved most in the world was a monster. Her head split into a mass of sharp, fleshy blades, and she drove one through his heart without a moment's hesitation.
Hime snapped the manuscript shut and took a deep breath, looking at Haruto with a new sense of awe.
"It is... incredibly original," she said, struggling to find the right words. Deep down, the desperate urge she felt to know what happened next told her everything she needed to know. This was a work of exceptional quality.
"I will keep the manuscript with me for now. I need to consult with the editorial board and draft a formal proposal. If everything goes smoothly, I should have an answer for you in a few days."
She stood up and offered her hand. Haruto shook it firmly. Hime was a busy woman and couldn't afford to linger over coffee, so she made a prompt exit.
Haruto let out a long breath of relief.
His reputation as the number one newcomer was proving to be a powerful asset.
With a proven track record, negotiations were a natural progression rather than a desperate plea. If he were a total stranger, Hime wouldn't have even agreed to meet him. Talent only mattered once you were through the door. He sat back and finished his coffee, but a moment later, a shadow fell over his table. He looked up to find the young woman who had been playing the piano.
"Excuse me, are you a... senior?" Haruto asked, the word slipping out before he could stop it.
"A senior?" The girl looked at him with a suspicious gaze. "Are you a student at Minazuki as well?"
"Not yet. I am hoping to enroll there in the fall," Haruto said, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"You are that certain you will get in? The final results are not even out yet, are they?" she asked with curiosity.
"I have already compared my answers to the official key online. I am quite confident I passed the threshold," Haruto explained. He didn't mention the special admission deal; he just knew his score was well above the required threshold.
"I see. Was there something you needed, senior?" Haruto asked.
"In a way. I am an aspiring manga artist, and I am also a huge fan of your novels. I have been following your work for a long time. I couldn't believe it when I saw you sitting here, so I had to come over and ask for an autograph," the girl said with sincerity.
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