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Shizuru watched Yukino's silhouette from behind and felt a surge of warmth. Having this reliable, older-sister figure as a housemate provided her with an imnse sense of security. Haruto, however, felt a completely different sensation. Looking at Yukino's hand wrapped around his own, he adjusted his grip and squeezed back, his palm pressing firmly against hers.
Yukino's posture stiffened imdiately. She glanced back at him over her shoulder, her eyes shooting him a warning look that clearly said, "Cut it out."
But the more she resisted, the more Haruto felt a playful urge to tease her. He let his index finger trace a slow, light tickle across the center of her palm. The sensation was like an electric shock running up Yukino's arm. She reflexively yanked her hand away and spun around to face him. The sudden movent startled Shizuru.
"What happened?" Shizuru asked, looking at Yukino with concern.
"Static electricity," Yukino replied after a second of silence.
Then, a radiant smile broke across her face. In that instant, it felt as though the entire hotel lobby had brightened, drawing the wandering eyes of several guests.
Ms. Tanaka watched the trio with a growing sense of bewildernt. She shook her head inwardly and led them toward the elevators to the nineteenth floor. The organizing committee had booked this entire floor for the authors of the twenty nominated manga. As they stepped into the communal lounge area, nearly every eye in the room gravitated toward them.
"That's him. That's Haruto."
"He's so young..."
"Nineteen? He looks like a kid."
"When I was nineteen, I was getting into street fights. At nineteen, he's one of Japan's top mangaka."
Whispers rippled through the room. There was plenty of envy, but surprisingly little malice. After all, the gulf between Haruto and the others was simply too wide for petty jealousy to bridge. While most of the authors there were moderately successful and had released notable hits in the past year, they were not in the sa solar system as Initial D.
Haruto, however, reacted differently than they expected. Seeing the gathering of legendary talent, his eyes lit up. He imdiately reached into his bag, pulled out a notepad and a pen, and hurried over to one of the authors.
"Are you Sensei Noa? Could I please get your autograph?" Haruto asked, looking genuinely starstruck as he approached a middle-aged woman.
"You... you know who I am?" she asked, looking confused.
"Of course! I've read your table tennis manga at least three tis. I never dread I'd actually run into you here."
Noa's face lit up with delight.
She knew her chances of winning the Ryugin Gold Award were slim, she'd be lucky to break the top ten, but having the frontrunner and superstar Haruto as a fan was a significant achievent in its own right.
After securing Noa's signature, Haruto naturally offered his own in return before moving on to the next veteran.
Most of the creators of the twenty nominated works were elite, established mangaka. Many were people whose work Haruto had grown up loving. In this environnt, Haruto had completely flipped into fanboy mode.
Yukino watched from the sidelines, montarily stunned. After a mont, she realized there was nothing wrong with it. She shrugged, pulled out her own pen and paper, and joined him in hunting for signatures.
By the end of the afternoon, the perspective of the other nominees had shifted entirely. Reality was nothing like the manga. In a story, a young, handso genius like Haruto would be walking around with his nose in the air, looking down on everyone.
But Haruto felt like a regular ACG enthusiast. Despite being the biggest celebrity in the room, he did not care about hierarchy; he just wanted signatures.
He lacked even a trace of coldness or arrogance. By evening, many of the other mangaka had regained their spirits. If they were going to lose the Gold Award to a talent like Haruto... it did not feel so bad after all.
---
Haruto had arrived in Fukushima a few days early, as the actual awards ceremony was not until the 15th. He was not there to relax, however. He had a secondary mission: coordinating with Pri Manga for Initial D promotions.
He had already done nurous signings in other prefectures, but he had never held an event here. Attending the Ryugin Awards was the perfect excuse to fulfill the wishes of his Fukushima fanbase. Between the promotions and the award preparations, his schedule remained grueling.
The days blurred into one another until finally, April 15th arrived.
By dayti, the manga community was buzzing with anticipation.
"Tonight's the night! Watch Sensei Haruto and Sensei Shizuru ascend to the throne by taking the top prize at the Ryugin Awards."
"Maybe ascending to the throne is a bit much, but it's definitely one of Japan's most prestigious honors. Winning the Gold Award is the ultimate certification of status in this industry."
"April 15th: Watch Haruto win the Ryugin Gold. April 22nd: Watch him win the Naoki Gold. April 29th: Watch him win the Seika Award for Best Animated Film. It's a sha he didn't have a new TV ani airing last year, or he'd be sweeping the Best TV Animation category too."
"Don't get ahead of yourself. Even if he had a new show last year, it would have been flattened by Puella Magi Madoka Magica."
"If Sword Art Online or Initial D had been adapted into ani directly instead of starting as a novel or manga, maybe they'd have a shot against Madoka."
"Probably not. Both are long-running series. By the ti they found their footing after a few months, Madoka would have already finished its run. It's hard to beat that kind of concentrated hype."
"I don't care about the logistics. I've followed Takahashi-sensei for years, and seeing him finally reach the absolute peak of the industry makes so proud."
"Scalpers are selling tickets to the ceremony for 180,000 yen each. It's ridiculous, but I bought one anyway. I have to be there to support Sensei and Shizuru-sensei."
"I'm going too. I hope those scalpers find a very uncomfortable place to spend eternity."
Throughout the day, the manga fanbases for Haruto and Shizuru grew increasingly restless. Simultaneously, Haruto's novel and ani fans began mobilizing online to defend him against any lingering haters.
As the ti for the ceremony drew near, a massive line ford outside the venue. Of the 5,000 available seats, over 4,000 had been snapped up by Haruto's organized fan clubs and community groups. They had bought blocks of tickets to ensure they were seated together in the best vantage points.
In the long queue, you could see fans cosplaying as nma from Anohana, clutching paper rabbits from To the Moon, or dressed as Asuna and Kirito. Others wore shirts printed with the iconic AE86. Major fan groups even carried massive banners into the hall.
Usually, at a manga award show, you'd expect to see manga fans. But Haruto's following was a different beast entirely. His ani fans, his novel fans, and his movie fans had all showed up in force.
It did not matter. They were all there for the sa man. Everyone in Japan knew that Initial D was the protagonist of this year's Ryugin Awards. If the audience had not been dominated by Shiori Takahashi's fans, that would have been the real headline.
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