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Haruto Minami, 30 years old, has been a signed manga artist with Kurokawa Publishing since his debut at the age of nineteen. Step by step, he has serialized some short manga in Kurokawa's second and third-tier journals, and now, his work Celestial Book is featured in the publisher's top journals. For the past two years, Celestial Book has consistently held second place in the popular vote.
For a manga artist, this is the result of years of persistence and growing fame. He also lives the prosperous life he dreamed of with the income from his manga. Though Demon Realm's position in the industry remains unshakable, Haruto has already felt a sense of satisfaction with his achievements.
But everything changed three weeks ago when two new works started serialization.
Though he was initially shocked that Takahashi's new series, Hidden Girl, pushed him down to third place after its first episode, Haruto understood the situation.
It's true that, as a manga artist, he wasn't quite on the same level as Yuna. According to last year's media rankings, he only ranked ninth, barely edging past tenth. Meanwhile, Yuna had consistently been in the top three for two years.
Haruto had anticipated that Sora's new works would surpass him, but what he couldn't have predicted was what happened two weeks ago. Rurouni Kenshin, another new series, exploded onto the scene and will quickly surpassed both Hidden Girl and Celestial Book.
Haruto could no longer bear it. He, too, had been a long-standing artist with Kurokawa. Seeing Yuna's Hidden Girl surge past him was one thing, but Rurouni Kenshin—a work by the new artist Mizushiro—was taking the industry by storm. That was a challenge he couldn't ignore. At home gatherings, his peers would definitely have something to say about this.
In his studio, Haruto and his three assistants were hard at work on the latest chapter of Celestial Book. They were all inspired, in part by the rise of Hidden Girl and Rurouni Kenshin. In this new story, Haruto had accelerated the plot and redesigned the protagonists' combat scenes, making them more dynamic and visually striking. Of course, these scenes were much more difficult to draw.
The key shot was one Haruto drew himself, his brush steady as he concentrated deeply, his gaze as intense as it had been when he first entered the manga industry eleven years ago.
He didn't resent the competition Rurouni Kenshin presented. After all, the manga industry is about constantly pushing forward, with the waves of new talent pushing against the old. But as one of the top manga artists , Haruto wasn't about to give up without a fight.
...
The rise of Rurouni Kenshin left the entire editorial team at Kurokawa The growing interest in Rurouni Kenshin hadn't gone unnoticed at Kurokawa Publishing. Mizushiro's new series was still finding its footing, but over the last few issues, it had gradually worked its way up to third place in the reader rankings—a promising start for a fresh serialization.
It hadn't overtaken the top titles, but the consistency of its climb was enough to draw quiet attention from the editorial floor. The gap was still there, yet smaller than many had expected.
Kurokawa's flagship magazine, Sora, remained the benchmark in the industry. But now, editors were starting to wonder—could this new title keep gaining ground?
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Soon, the fifth chapter of Rurouni Kenshin Remembrance was released.
That night, the voting statistics from the first to the fourth episode were also revealed.
First place remained Demon Realm, with more than 37,000 votes.
Second place was Secret Girl, with over 35,000 votes.
Third place was Celestial Book, with more than 28,000 votes.
Fourth place was Rurouni Kenshin Remembrance, with over 25,000 votes.
...
The editors at Kurokawa Publishing, upon hearing the voting results, fell silent for a moment.
On the surface, the rankings for this issue seemed unchanged from the previous one.
But in reality, the situation was quite different.
Firstly, the number of votes for the top two, Demon Realm and Hidden Girl, had increased, indicating that the battle for first place had spread to their respective fanbases.
Even some long-time, die-hard fans who rarely voted online after purchasing their magzine couldn't remain idle this time and made sure to cast their votes for their favorite works.
Meanwhile, Celestial Book had dropped below the 30,000-vote mark, and Rurouni Kenshin Remembrance continued to surge in popularity.
In the first episode, it garnered over 4,000 votes. In the second episode, it jumped to over 14,000 votes. By the third episode, the votes exceeded 19,000.
Now, with the fourth episode, the votes had surpassed the 25,000 mark.
At this point, the top four most popular Manga on the entire manga platform presented a strange situation.
Hidden Girl was eyeing Demon Realm's top spot, and Rurouni Kenshin was gaining momentum, inching closer to pushing Celestial Book out of third place.
Not just at Kurokawa Publishing, but the entire Osaka manga industry was stunned by the fierce competition between these four works.
With the rise of Hidden Girl and Rurouni Kenshin, Manga had seen a dramatic surge in sales. Previously selling around 350,000 copies a week, it had now jumped by 100,000, becoming the highest-selling periodical among all manga journals in Osaka.
...
At a quiet pub, Haruto nursed a drink across from another manga artist.
"It's hopeless," he muttered, setting his glass down with a sigh. "That newcomer's going to surpass me in next issue. I can feel it."
His cheeks were flushed from the alcohol, but the frustration in his voice was clear.
"Come on, Haruto," the other man said. "You're not seriously throwing in the towel, are you?"
It was Shinji—creator of the hit series Demon Realm. Younger than Haruto and usually calmer, he wore a faint smile as he swirled the drink in his glass.
Haruto gave a bitter laugh. "I'm telling you, it's happening. That momentum isn't normal."
Both of them knew what it meant when a new series spiked that fast so early in its run.
Demon Realm had held the top spot for a long time thanks to its steady serialization and dedicated fanbase. But now Hidden Girl was gaining fast, and it wouldn't be long before the rankings shifted.
"The veterans at Kurokawa are watching us, you know," Haruto said, his voice low. "Especially since Yuna used to go head-to-head with us at Hoshikawa. If she takes the top spot here too... it won't look good."
"First place?" Shinji tilted his head. "I'm not so sure it'll happen that fast."
"What do you mean?"
Shinji leaned in slightly, his tone quiet but certain.
"Rurouni Kenshin," he said, eyes focused. "That's the one we should be watching."
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(TL Note: I've made edits to the previous chapter, where I found some gender swaps and other minor issues.
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