In early May, flowers blood beneath the gentle warmth of spring.
After months of bitter winter, sunlight finally spread across most regions of Japan.
While Rei was buried in work on the Demon Slayer: Kitsu no Yaiba ani, an adaptation that wouldn’t even have a chance to premiere until at least the following year.
The Japanese manga industry was suddenly shaken by earth-shattering news.
Nearly a year after the ani began airing, the average per-volu sales of Hunter × Hunter officially surpassed Echoes of the End, reaching 20.2 million copies per volu.
Its sales had risen to first place among all currently serialized manga in Japan.
At this point, the Ant Arc was still in its buildup stage.
The Ant Queen had given birth to the Royal Guard, while Kite, Gon, and Killua ventured deep into enemy territory to investigate the ergence of these humanoid ants.
The so-called Ant King, ntioned repeatedly in the narration, still remained within the Ant Queen’s body.
Yet the atmosphere and montum of the entire arc had already reached a peak.
Gone was the lighthearted, codic tone of earlier arcs.
In its place was horror, bloodshed, and an ever-growing sense of oppression.
Any reader who had followed the Ant Arc closely, and truly understood the Ant Queen’s terrifying reproductive speed and the colony’s monstrous evolutionary potential, would feel a chill creep up their spine.
If this threat were allowed to grow unchecked...
Would humanity not face extinction?
Within the story, an isolated and closed-off country was wiped out without a single alarm being raised. Its entire population was consud to produce new ants, and most frightening of all, the incident never alerted the rest of human society.
One could say that whether humanity survived or not depended entirely on whether the protagonists could gather and transmit intelligence in ti.
Once the groundwork was laid, the reputation of the Ant Arc skyrocketed.
Naturally, this triggered another explosive surge in Hunter × Hunter’s tankōbon sales.
Within the industry, it had already been a consensus that Hunter × Hunter would eventually reach the top.
Even so, many veterans of the manga world could only sigh.
It was simply too fast.
Echoes of the End had taken nearly ten years of serialization to achieve its status.
Hunter × Hunter had caught up, and surpassed it, in just two years.
The forr had long been acknowledged as the invincible manga of its era.
Yet no one had imagined that sothing could exist beyond "invincible."
With the achievent confird, Hoshimori Group imdiately released the promotional materials it had prepared long in advance.
Although Rei had disputes with Dream Comic over the serialization format of Demon Slayer and the endpoint of Hunter × Hunter, when it ca to the success of the work itself, all sides shared the sa goal.
Rei naturally cooperated with the necessary promotions.
Congratulatory video recordings, impromptu autograph sessions, press conferences, celebratory banquets.
They followed one after another.
As for the Japanese dia, they summarized Hunter × Hunter’s ascent to the top of the average per-volu sales charts with just a few striking words: A New King Arrives!
In popularity, performance, reputation, across every asurable dinsion, Hunter × Hunter had beco the undisputed No. 1 manga in Japan.
Historically, it now ranked sixth in average per-volu sales and twenty-seventh in total tankōbon sales across the entire Japanese manga industry.
Vocational University.
At noon, Rei and Miyu t for lunch in the campus cafeteria.
Both wore expressions of unmistakable exhaustion.
Dressed in a light green floral skirt, Miyu slowly lifted the small portion of food on her tray to her mouth, yet her gaze never left Rei.
"Touch of Glass ani did fairly well last quarter," she said. "The group plans to launch the second season next January, and the production team invited to the company to help with character designs and other miscellaneous work..."
Faint dark circles were visible beneath her eyes.
"My manga serialization has been badly affected. I stayed up all night drawing just to barely et the deadline."
"I’m about the sa," Rei said with a sigh. "Ever since Hunter × Hunter topped the sales charts, a whole bunch of partners and advertisers connected to Hoshimori Group have co knocking... honestly, it’s exhausting."
"I was already busy enough."
"By the way..." Miyu hesitated. "When is your new ani supposed to air? It’s called Demon... Demon sothing..."
"January next year."
The mont Rei answered, both of them fell silent.
"You really know how to pick your timing," Miyu said helplessly, her beautiful face full of exasperation. "When the first season of Touch of Glass, your first season of Arcane aired. Now that my second season is coming out, you’ve got another new work again."
"There are only four quarters in a year," Rei replied lightly. "A one-in-four chance isn’t exactly low. I’m definitely not targeting you on purpose."
He paused, then added casually, "So... how are your talks with Hoshimori Group going?"
"Well," Rei shrugged, "that CEO of group is definitely furious. But there’s nothing he can really do to . I’ve already prepared myself ntally to stop drawing manga for four years if needed, so none of his pressure tactics work."
"He’ll agree to my terms in the end. Probably within half a month. I’ll be signing a new cooperation contract with Hoshimori Group soon."
His tone was utterly nonchalant.
"So this is what it ans to be the No. 1 active manga artist in Japan..." Miyu said, a hint of envy in her voice.
"You pulled it off so easily. Congratulations. I honestly thought you were about to get blacklisted. I didn’t expect that CEO, who looked so imposing, to turn into a pushover the mont he ran into you."
"It wasn’t easy," Rei laughed. "But yeah... I can officially call myself the No. 1 active manga artist in Japan now."
As for the CEO of Hoshimori Group, Rei chose not to comnt further.
"Keep working hard, Miyu," he continued. "In the Japanese manga world, the person I support the most is obviously myself. After that, it’s you. I’ll be number one, you’ll be number two. Two great masters coming from the sa middle school... that’d make a pretty good story."
"Forget it," Miyu snorted. "Touch of Glass only averages 3.5 million copies per volu. That’s six or seven tis less than Echoes of the End. I don’t see myself becoming ’number two’ anyti soon. As for the long term..."
She trailed off, sighed, and, out of habit, pushed the at and chicken drumsticks from her tray onto Rei’s.
"What’s wrong?" Rei asked, accepting them without hesitation. "No appetite?"
"I had one," Miyu said irritably. "But eating with you and comparing results just ruins my mood."
"I even entered the manga industry two years earlier than you."
"Cheer up," Rei replied with a grin. "Even though the gap between us is already huge this year, next year, you’ll realize this is the smallest that gap will be for the next ten years."
They both laughed as they continued eating in the cafeteria.
Around them, a circle of students whispered and stole glances.
Vocational University had no shortage of wealthy second-generation heirs, but students who could balance their studies while earning hundreds of millions a year were extrely rare.
Miyu was one of them.
As for Rei, soone who earned hundreds of millions annually, had built an industrial chain worth tens of billions worldwide, and commanded tens of millions of fans globally, there was only one.
On campus, the two of them were treated like giant pandas in a zoo.
They had long since grown used to it.
Ti passed quickly.
Two days later, it was Sunday.
The broadcast day of Arcane Season 2, Episode 5.
Over the past month, Rei had barely promoted the ani under his own na.
But today was an exception.
"I hope all Arcane fans will try their best to watch tonight’s episode as soon as it airs. This will be the best single episode since the show began."
The mont Rei posted the ssage on his personal account, the entire Arcane fanbase erupted.
’The best single episode?’
Could it really surpass Episode 9 of the first season.
The episode where Jinx was born... and Powder died?
...
Read 50 Chapters ahead @/Ashnoir
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