As August arrived, the last stretch of Rei's second-year summer vacation quietly slipped away.
Even though it was technically still vacation, a faint, indescribable pressure had already begun seeping into the classroom.
This Japan's high schools didn't allow cram schools like in Rei's previous life, but students feeling the weight of the coming year had already started self-study marathons.
The countdown to the university entrance exams had silently begun.
But for Rei and Miyu, that pressure felt distant.
Both had excellent grades, and Miyu especially, barring any accidents, was basically guaranteed a spot in one of top ten universities.
But the truth was, neither of them cared particularly about college entrance rankings.
Both had already chosen a completely different future.
They were going to be professional manga artists.
And for Miyu, this summer vacation finally brought her long-awaited breakthrough.
Her Sakura Rain topped Ametsukage Journal's popularity rankings for the very first time.
Ametsukage Journal's official website even put up a celebratory announcement that morning, bold fonts, special graphics, and a direct push notification to readers.
Hoshimori Group had tasted success with the "genius Shirogane."Rei had become a well-known national High School Student manga prodigy, and Hikaru no Go was climbing wildly in influence, not just in the industry, but even in academic and cultural circles thanks to official Go-association support.
Naturally, after that result, Hoshimori Group doubled down on raising another prodigy under their wing: Saki.
A company with one genius wants two.
Why stop at one when both show promise?
They poured resources on her with a momentum even more intense than when Rei first topped Ametsukage.
Meanwhile, Hikaru no Go had settled into a stable position.
Its ranking had climbed, paused, then climbed again, and now it sat firmly at #5.
And as of chapter 29, the story had finally entered the stage fans had been waiting for:
The Pro Qualification Tournament – Qualifiers.
The system was brutal. Candidates drew random lots.
Five games in five days.
Win three to advance, lose three and go home.
And then came the chaos.
In Hikaru's first match, he ran into a terrifying examinee, a tall, heavy-bearded guy who was only seventeen but looked like someone who had walked out of a noir film.
He arrived exactly on time every day, made strange throat noises, tried to psych Hikaru out during the sealed-move ritual, and muttered bizarre superstitions about noodles and losing streaks…
Hikaru, who had the social experience of a baby deer, was absolutely destroyed.
He lost the first match.
Shaken, he lost the second one too.
In the third game, with his back against the wall, Hikaru faced a familiar opponent from the dojo, someone he usually defeated.
That single victory was enough to steady his breathing and pull him back from the brink.
He won the third.
He won the fourth.
And in the fifth round? A bye.
With three wins, Hikaru officially entered the main tournament.
And the fandom exploded.
Komi_is_crying: "Bro, the qualifiers nearly killed me. My heart stopped three times."
GobanWarrior: "That bearded dude is horrifying. HOW is he only seventeen?! He looks like a villain in a gambling manga."
SaiSamaSavedMe: "Honestly thought Shirogane-sensei was gonna make Hikaru fail this year and retry next year. I was trembling."
SeriousTesuji: "Hikaru's skill is fine, but his mentality is TRASH. This boy collapses if someone sneezes behind him."
AkiraDefenseForce: "Meanwhile Akira got bullied by Kaio Middle School's Go club, BEGGED the teacher to let him play, and still crushed everyone. Mindset difference is unreal."
LateArrivalHell: "Hikaru literally arrived JUST on time every day because he was scared of running into the beard-man. Then the moment he saw the guy, he'd short-circuit and misread everything. I was laughing and crying."
PunishThatBeard: "He made it to the main bracket too. Shirogane-sensei, PLEASE set up a revenge match later. Hikaru needs to avenge our collective trauma."
And then the conversation shifted abruptly.
TengenRumors: "Anyway, it's already late August… isn't the Hikaru no Go drama supposed to air in October? Do we have a broadcast station or timeslot yet?"
CastingInsider: "Announcements should be coming in the next week or two. But I DID hear something crazy…"
BlackStoneDealer: "Oh? Spill."
CastingInsider: "Word is, aside from being a consultant, Shirogane-sensei actually worked on the MUSIC for the TV drama."
ForumGoban: "?? What does that mean?!"
CastingInsider: "Well, I have a friend whose relative is a gaffer on the hikaru no go production team. He told my friend that one day, the senior management of the production team decided to replace all the pre-scheduled opening and ending themes for hikaru no go with original songs by an unknown musician. And that unknown musician… is named Rei."
MapleLeaf: "Rei? What's wrong with Rei?"
BlackStone_19: "You idiot, Shirogane's real name is Rei! As a hikaru no go fan, you don't even know this?"
IdleCloud: "It should be a namesake, right? There are so many people in Japan...Hmm…How many people named Rei are there, Pfft… Something's not right! How many people named Rei can you find in all of Japan? They all ended up in the hikaru no go production team?"
OldKeyboard: "Haha, don't believe these inexplicable messages online. Teacher Shirogane is a student and has to draw so many manga manuscript pages, and also serve as a consultant for the hikaru no go production team. If he also understood music and could compose songs, I'd eat this keyboard I'm typing on right now."
CastingInsider: "What do you mean? Do you think I'm bragging? I'll save this post, and I'll come back to remind you to eat your keyboard then."
CloudTea: "Shirogane, you've worked hard. You're so busy, yet I've taken up half a day of your time."
Inside a recording studio, Seiya, the director of the hikaru no go TV series, said with a grateful expression to Rei beside him.
The hikaru no go TV series started actor auditions in July, began filming in mid-July, and now at the end of August, honestly, the progress has exceeded expectations. After all, while hikaru no go's plot is exciting, the actual filming difficulty is not high.
As long as the actors for the protagonist Hikaru, the second male lead Akira, and the only true god of the entire series, Sai, are chosen well, and they also have some acting skills, it's enough.
More than 60% of the plot of this drama is either playing Go or on the way to play Go, so sometimes the location doesn't even need to be changed; naturally, the progress is extremely fast.
It's just that at this point, the music and other post-production materials for the hikaru no go TV series must be ready.
The original songs planned by the director naturally paled in comparison after Rei brought out songs like "Sai's Adventure" and Get Over.
The production team quickly hired professional musicians to write lyrics and arrange music based on the plot and rhythm. Today, the songs were completed in the recording studio, and then Director Seiya invited Rei to listen together and offer suggestions.
"I never expected, Teacher Shirogane, that besides being such a good manga artist, you also have such accomplishments in music. Compared to you, the so-called geniuses I've seen before truly pale in comparison."
"Director, you're too kind." Rei smiled faintly, not paying too much attention to the flattery.
Actually, Rei's definition of himself as a consultant for the hikaru no go production team was to ensure the baseline quality of the finished TV series, overseeing the music, actors, and script. However, the upper limit of this series still depended on Director Seiya.
"Oh, by the way, the hikaru no go TV series will premiere on Capital Television Station on October 3rd, Friday night at 9 PM. I only received this information this morning, so I'm letting you know."
"Capital Television Station, Friday night…?"
Rei was stunned by the news.
Even if he didn't pay much attention to the TV industry, he understood that Friday night, nine o'clock, this time slot was definitely a golden one.
Moreover, Capital Television Station had considerable influence; from a ratings perspective alone, it ranked among the top four TV stations. The investment in hikaru no go wasn't even that large, it was only a medium-scale production. He hadn't expected it to receive such a good broadcast platform and schedule.
"The broadcast schedule is that good?"
"Yes." Seiya nodded and smiled.
"After all, the hikaru no go TV series' invisible investors are actually quite powerful."
Invisible investors… Rei immediately understood.
On the surface, the investors of the hikaru no go TV series were a listed film and television company in Japan. But behind it, there was also the support of the Go Association.
These semi-official associations usually seemed useless, but when it came to matters like this, the power they could unleash was indeed considerable.
"Towards the end of September, before the hikaru no go TV series premieres, we might need you to spare some time to participate in a media interview and a press conference."
Seiya finally stated his main purpose.
Rei agreed to everything.
That evening, after returning home, fatigue showed clearly on Rei's face.
If possible, he truly just wanted to draw manga.
These non-manga-related tasks were mentally exhausting.
"But to maximize the influence of these manga works, as the original author, I can't be absent," Rei sighed softly.
"Otherwise, how would manga fans enter the TV series at the first opportunity?"
"October 3rd…"
"Just over a month left."
Rei opened his phone and looked at the latest rankings of Dream Comic that Misaki had sent him a few days earlier.
Source War Chronicle - 823,561 votes
The Wanderer - 707,415 votes
Fist Armor - 611,235 votes
The top three rankings had remained unchanged for two years.
Especially Source War Chronicle, over 800,000 votes, meaning roughly one in every twenty readers voted for it. An astonishing ratio.
The fourth-ranked work, Love Prism, only had just over 400,000 votes.
As for hikaru no go, even though it ranked fifth, its total votes hovered around 380,000.
The top three works had formed a dimensionality-reduction strike through years of serialization, anime, and game adaptations.
For hikaru no go to challenge them, it would either need time, or explosive momentum from the TV series and animation.
"One month."
Rei clenched his fists.