Thursday morning.
The moment Rei stepped onto the second floor of the school building, he froze.
It was even more ridiculous than before, a crowd of manga-obsessed students had already clogged the doorway of his classroom.
Most of them were students from the same high school who enjoyed reading manga.
Yesterday, many had bought the latest issue of Dream Comic, and after reading Hikaru no Go's debut chapter, the excitement bubbling in their hearts could no longer be contained.
So today, they gathered in front of Rei's classroom to catch a glimpse of him.
Rei inhaled deeply, braced himself, and began squeezing through the herd of students.
After a painful struggle, he finally pushed his way inside and shut the door behind him.
The noise outside immediately died down.
Under the curious gazes of his classmates, he walked to his desk and sat down.
To them, he was someone they saw every day.
No matter how famous a person became, if you saw them daily, the shock value naturally faded. Their attitude toward him was now a mix of familiarity and a quiet pride .
"Our classmate is a famous manga artist."
"You see how impressive you are now, right?"
Miyu snorted, unable to hide how funny she found the situation.
After all, her own identity as the manga artist Saki remained perfectly hidden.
Even though there were rumors online guessing that Shirogane's mysterious friend Saki might also attend this high school, nobody would realistically suspect her, an honor student consistently ranking top five in the grade.
Except, of course, for Hana and Yui.
From the number of times she'd slipped up in front of them, showing herself to be a die-hard fan of Saki, any normal person would start doubting things.
But since neither girl had ever questioned her directly, everything simply remained unspoken.
"Hey, Rei, who's the real protagonist in Hikaru no Go? Shindō Hikaru or Sai?"
"Rei, sign this for me! My sister is begging for your autograph!"
"Rei, how much do you earn per page? Be honest!"
"Rei, can you teach me to draw manga? Do you think I have talent? Can I serialize in Dream Comic someday like you?"
His classmates surrounded him enthusiastically the moment he sat down, throwing questions at him from every direction.
Rei fulfilled the reasonable requests calmly.
"Keep it up, Rei…"
Miyu said with a bright smile from a nearby row.
"The first chapter of Hikaru no Go was really good. I'll definitely follow it."
"Yeah! Do your best," Yui immediately added.
"I looked it up, out of the twenty manga running in Dream Comic, twelve already have anime adaptations or are preparing for one! As long as you're not dead last, we might actually get to watch the Hikaru no Go anime by the time we graduate!"
"This is our last week of the first semester of sophomore year… If you work hard, I'll have something awesome to brag about when I start university!"
At that comment, the classroom suddenly went silent.
Serializing a manga and serializing a manga that might get an anime were two completely different leagues.
"I'll do my best," Rei smiled.
At lunchtime, Rei and Miyu went to the rooftop as usual.
Rei was waiting for Dream Comic to release the first-week ranking of Hikaru no Go.
Of course, Miyu was waiting too.
Her own manga, Sakura Rain, was currently ranking top three in Ametsukage Weekly, but she actually cared less about her own ranking than she did about Rei's.
In fact, she was the one acting nervous, constantly twirling a strand of hair beside her ear.
"Why are you nervous?" Rei asked.
"At this rate, you'll go bald before we hit third year."
"You'll go bald!" she snapped, glaring at him.
"And besides, isn't it normal for me to be nervous? Your results are way better than mine now. From the way your series performs in Dream Comic, I can judge how far I am from ever entering that magazine."
"If your manga doesn't do well, that means I'm still nowhere near Dream Comic's standards!"
"You really overthink things," Rei sighed.
"But why aren't you nervous?" she asked.
"This is your manga. Aren't you even a little worried that the ranking might come out dead last?"
"So what?" Rei replied calmly.
"If Hikaru no Go ranks at the very bottom for its debut, that just means the only direction left… is upward."
"Sometimes I genuinely don't understand your confidence," she muttered.
"You're not seriously trying to break into Dream Comic and still think you'll reach the top of the rankings with your first work there?"
Just then, Rei's phone rang.
It was Editor Misaki.
Miyu immediately closed her mouth and leaned closer, trying to listen without being obvious.
"How's the result, Editor Misaki?" Rei answered straight away.
"The ranking for Hikaru no Go's first chapter is fifteenth," she said.
Fifteenth.
Rei paused, then smiled.
"Thank you for your hard work, Editor Misaki."
"Although the debut ranking isn't high, it's above the cancellation line. And more importantly," she continued, "the reader rating for this chapter is very high."
"After the first chapter was serialized, hundreds of thousands of readers rated it. It scored 9.0, the highest opening score for a new series in Dream Comic in recent years."
After hanging up, Rei looked at Miyu, who had been shamelessly eavesdropping beside him.
"Alright, you heard it. That's the situation for Hikaru no Go's debut."
"Fifteenth place…" Rei's expression became more serious.
"This will be the lowest ranking Hikaru no Go ever gets."
Even with how brilliant the manga was, a niche genre like Go needed time to ferment before exploding in popularity.
Friday was the school's final activity day. After that, a twenty-day winter break officially began.
Rei finally didn't have to go to school during the day and draw manga deep into the night.
And best of all, he didn't have to deal with the increasingly obsessed manga fans stalking him in the hallways.
On Monday, Misaki came to collect the manuscript for Chapter 6 of Hikaru no Go.
Tuesday, Rei spent the entire day with Rika, discussing the advanced Go positions needed for future chapters.
Then came Wednesday.
The publication day for Hikaru no Go's second chapter.
Without the "new series spotlight" from the previous week, this week's Dream Comic cover returned to its standard layout.
Fujiwara no Sai, now a fan favorite, appeared only in a tiny corner of the cover , the kind of placement you'd miss unless you examined it closely.
This alone reflected the hard truth of magazine hierarchy.
Even so, countless fans woke early to head to bookstores for the new issue.
Fans who had been suffering for a week finally opened Chapter 2.
Chapter 2 was a transition arc.
After receiving a flyer for a children's Go tournament in Chapter 1, Hikaru was forced by Sai to visit the event and watch the matches.
While Sai explained the moves of two children competing, Hikaru accidentally repeated Sai's analysis aloud, an analysis so sharp that it instantly caught the attention of Ogata, a professional 9-dan player present at the venue.
Ogata, deeply surprised that a child could blurt out a move even pros would hesitate over, immediately took interest in Hikaru.
Not only him, Ogata's teacher, the world-class champion Tōya Kōyo, also noticed Hikaru.
He even said that besides his own son Tōya Akira, he never imagined another child of the same age could display such skill.
Hikaru apologized again and again to the event staff, and his rude "big mouth commentary" was finally forgiven.
As he walked out of the venue, Akira, who had been agonizing ever since losing that first match, rushed desperately to the location by subway, by taxi, and finally by bicycle.
Akira arrived at the exact moment Hikaru stepped outside.
The final page of Chapter 2 showed Akira, chest heaving from exhaustion, but eyes burning with intensity as he stared straight at Hikaru.
He had finally found him.
But Akira had no idea that the person he sought, the presence he longed to challenge, was not Hikaru, but Sai, standing unseen behind him.
"I found you. I finally found you, Hikaru!"
A sense of destiny coursed through every panel.
Even though this chapter served as a transition, it successfully introduced major characters like Tōya Kōyo and Ogata, and the long-awaited reunion between Akira and Hikaru pulled the story into the eye of an approaching storm.
After the chapter went live, countless readers flocked online, their appetites completely whetted.
They didn't understand Go, but they understood the feeling.
They understood the drama.
And they definitely understood the hype.
"Chapter 2 ends HERE? Shirogane-sensei, how are you sleeping tonight??"
"You already drew so many pages this week! Couldn't you give us ONE more?!"
"How can you leave us on a cliffhanger for another full week?!"