Just the chapter title alone was enough to make Hikaru no Go fans' blood boil.
The main plot of this chapter revolved around Akira's father collapsing from illness and being hospitalized.
However, he was about to participate in a title defense match and could not simply remain in the hospital waiting for his condition to improve.
Thus, introduced by his trusted disciple Ogata, Toya Koyo gradually turned his attention to online Go.
Hikaru, who came to visit Toya Koyo, noticed this as well.
After careful consideration, and only after the other visitors had left, Hikaru finally spoke, asking Toya Koyo about online Go.
"Although I don't play online Go myself… I have a friend who loves it very much. And that person really hopes to play against you, Teacher Toya Koyo."
"His online name is Sai."
These were Hikaru's words.
Toya Koyo responded with a sharp gaze and a serious expression.
"I know this person. Ogata once arranged a match between Akira and him. Sai… is he your friend?"
From this moment on, the conversation became subtly charged.
Toya Koyo made it clear that he disliked playing against opponents who hid their identities and hoped Hikaru would bring this "Sai" to play in person. He also stated plainly that even if Sai possessed some skill, he would definitely win.
But Sai could not accept such words.
He desperately hoped that Toya Koyo would treat this game with absolute seriousness.
And then, Hikaru spoke the most crucial line of the chapter.
"Teacher Toya Koyo… I still hope you'll take this game seriously.Because I don't want you to use not playing seriously as an excuse when you lose."
Toya Koyo's eyes narrowed.
"Are you saying I will lose?"
"I'm just hypothesizing."
"Hypothesizing?"
"I will never lose. If I do, I will retire from professional Go."
"Please don't say that, we don't want that!"
"It seems you really think I might lose."
"Very well. If I truly lose this game, I will retire from the professional Go world."
The final page of the chapter froze on that moment.
Toya Koyo sitting upright on the hospital bed, staring intently at Hikaru.
Beside Hikaru, Sai's gaze was even sharper, fixed firmly on Toya Koyo.
The tension between the two sides felt as if it might burst straight through the page.
This chapter completely ignited the passion of Hikaru no Go fans across Japan.
"Finally… after fifty chapters of waiting, I finally get to see this scene."
"This is it. An unreserved match between Sai and Toya Koyo, the current number one."
"I've got goosebumps. I'm actually shaking."
"Who said the story after Hikaru became a professional was boring?This is the most exciting arc in the entire series!"
"Sai vs. Toya Koyo, what kind of divine setup is this?! So this is where Shirogane-sensei's early foreshadowing was leading!"
"Amazing. Shirogane-sensei is amazing. Sai is amazing. Toya Koyo is amazing."
"Hikaru, I apologize. A few weeks ago I called you selfish. I was blind. I didn't expect you to bring up online Go the moment you heard about it."
"I never realized online Go could be this important. This is truly one of humanity's greatest inventions."
"So the next chapter is a direct confrontation?"
"Putting his entire career on the line, Toya Koyo is too cool."
"It's been years since I've seen a Go player this imposing in a manga."
"Can Sai really beat Toya Koyo?"
"Ask Toya Koyo if he'll be embarrassed after talking so big. If Sai wins, will he really retire?"
While the readers were burning with excitement, Inside the Hoshimori Group's backend, the statisticians felt something was off.
For the first time, they saw that from the very start of the day,Hikaru no Go's popularity votes had steadily surpassed The Wanderer. And were even rapidly closing the gap with Source War Chronicle.
In truth, after seeing the daytime voting curve, many of them already had a feeling.
'Could it be…Will the rankings change this very week?'
That evening, Misaki stared at the overwhelming praise flooding the internet for the latest chapter.
She let out a quiet sigh.
Two full weeks had passed.
And Rei still showed no intention whatsoever of changing the future direction of Hikaru no Go.
Since that was the case, late that night, bent over her desk, Misaki began writing something.
The next morning, when she stepped into the Hoshimori Group editorial department, she immediately sensed that the atmosphere had changed.
Especially among the other nineteen editors responsible for works in Dream Comic.
Almost all of them looked at Misaki at the same time.
Editors didn't rely solely on the statistics department to judge trends.
Everyone already knew.
Last week, Hikaru no Go's votes had been dangerously close to The Wanderer, ranked second.
And this week, with such a universally acclaimed chapter that pushed the story into a full-blown climax, the outcome was obvious.
Popularity votes were tightly bound to the plot itself.
And this chapter was, without exaggeration, the biggest highlight since serialization began.
At that moment, Akito, the editor in charge of The Wanderer, could only sigh repeatedly.
There was nothing he could do.
Even if he could foresee certain things, he could not stop them.
The Wanderer had accumulated four years of fans, along with a TV drama, anime, games, and cross-industry collaborations.
Its popularity in Japan was already enormous.
But facing Hikaru no Go's relentless advance, there was simply no answer.
Even though The Wanderer had also entered a recent plot climax and was receiving widespread praise from manga readers, there was still a clear difference.
"This is really uncanny…"
Akito muttered uneasily.
"That Shirogane kid, he really debuted just over a year ago?"
Deep down, Akito already knew the answer.
Hikaru no Go was almost certain to surpass The Wanderer in the rankings this week.
Still, a sliver of hope lingered.
What if his judgment was wrong? What if some kind of accident happened?
But in reality, there was no accident.
At 9:30 a.m., the results email arrived in every editor's inbox.
When the editors opened it, all they could do was sigh.
1. Source War Chronicle - 841,356 votes
2. Hikaru no Go - 761,358 votes
3. The Wanderer - 701,998 votes
4. Fist Armor - 61,325 votes
Across the twenty serialized works in Dream Comic, most series fluctuated within a predictable range, usually no more than ten thousand votes up or down.
Only Hikaru no Go was different.
Akito had expected it to overtake The Wanderer.
But surpassing it by nearly sixty thousand votes?
That was beyond anything he had anticipated.
Just last week, Hikaru no Go's total votes had barely crossed seven hundred thousand.
Could a single, well-executed chapter really boost popularity by this much?
Some things were hard to accept, but facts were facts.
According to the unwritten customs of the editorial department, Akito still took the initiative to congratulate Misaki.
After that, he turned his gaze to Shin, the middle-aged editor in his forties responsible for Source War Chronicle.
Last year, both of them had attended the Dream Comic serialization meeting, and both had supported Hikaru no Go's launch.
Reality had proven their judgment correct.
And yet, In some sense, they had also misunderstood the manga.
At the time, they had believed Hikaru no Go would be a high-quality but niche work, something that might struggle into the top ten.
The plot was excellent, yes, but its subject matter would surely limit it.
But now?
Hikaru no Go had become the biggest dark horse in the Japanese manga industry over the past three years.
Its theme limited its commercial IP ceiling.
Even now, despite ranking second in popularity in Dream Comic, its overall IP value might not even place it in the journal's top six.
But, Popularity was not measured purely by commercial value.
Readers didn't care how many games a manga was adapted into.They didn't care whether it was ideal for merchandise.
If it was suitable, they'd buy it. If not, it didn't affect how they judged the work itself.
No one thought The Wanderer was more classic than Hikaru no Go just because it had a few game adaptations.
Those things only mattered to publishing groups.
In the eyes of readers, a manga's status depended on just two things: Was it interesting? Did it move them?
And by every metric that mattered to fans, Popularity, reputation, fanbase size, per-volume sales, critical evaluation, Hikaru no Go was already a first-tier manga.
And even among first-tier works, it stood at the very top.
If it continued serializing at this pace, it would undoubtedly leave a mark in the history of the Japanese manga industry.
Lost in thought, Akito walked over to Shin and let out a bitter smile.
"You and Kousuke better keep your guard up."
"Don't let the number one spot in Dream Comic be snatched away by the combination of our editorial department's youngest editor… and the group's youngest contracted minor manga artist."
Shin smiled calmly at his long-time rival.
"What are you worrying about?" he replied confidently.
"We've competed for years, and your Wanderer still couldn't cross the mountain that is Source War Chronicle."
"For that so-called genius Shirogane, reaching second place on Dream Comic during his first serialization is already his limit."
"If he treats Source War Chronicle as an opponent, he'll only despair."
"Relax," Shin said lightly.
"If Hikaru no Go wants to surpass Source War Chronicle, wait until his next life."
Akito froze for a moment.
He knew Shin, despite being over forty, was still childish, someone who even cosplayed characters from Source War Chronicle at conventions.
But even so, saying something like this now?
'You've been an editor for so many years…Don't you realize that saying things like this is exactly how cannon-fodder characters get flagged and crushed by protagonists in manga?'
While the two were talking, editors throughout the department began congratulating Misaki.
"Congratulations, Misaki."
"Misaki, you're incredible!"
"This year's Best Editor award is definitely yours."
Misaki listened to the praise with her usual professional smile, thanking everyone politely.
Yet anyone paying attention could tell, she wasn't in the mood to talk.
After the crowd dispersed, she took a deep breath, picked up the printed report in her hands, stood from her chair.
And under the puzzled gazes of the surrounding editors, she walked straight to Editor-in-Chief Han's office and pushed the door open.
"Oh, Misaki, what brings you here?"
Han smiled when he saw Misaki.
In his original expectations, although he had wanted to strongly support the young manga artist Shirogane, he believed it would take two or three years for the boy to achieve any real success.
Yet Hikaru no Go had reached this level in less than a year.
This far exceeded not only his personal expectations, but the expectations of the entire group.
Strictly speaking, the commercial value of Hikaru no Go was not particularly high.
But the reputation value that the "genius manga artist Shirogane" brought to Dream Comic was something almost impossible to quantify.
Nowadays, when manga fans across Japan talked about a "manga prodigy," the first name that came to mind was no longer the veteran artist from Story Journal, but Dream Comic's Shirogane.
That kind of brand impression was priceless for a manga group.
If Shirogane could grow into a first-tier manga artist at Dream Comic in less than two years, then why couldn't they?
This line of thinking had taken root among many young creators. As a result, among the six major manga groups, Dream Comic now received the highest proportion of submissions from talented new artists.
On top of that, in the capital market, Hoshimori Group's reputation for cultivating young talent had significantly boosted investor confidence, driving the stock price up by a noticeable margin.
"I came to discuss something with you, Editor-in-Chief," Misaki said.
"It's about the manga I'm responsible for, Hikaru no Go."
"There's a major divergence in plot direction, and the creator, Shirogane… has expressed his intention to bring the manga to an early conclusion."
The moment Misaki finished speaking, Han's expression changed.
For an instant, he almost thought he had misheard.
After confirming it several times in his mind, a heavy feeling sank into his chest.
Popular manga running into problems in their mid-to-late stages was nothing new.
At such times, experienced editors rarely relied solely on their own judgment. Instead, they reported the situation upward, seeking a more comprehensive evaluation.
Throughout Han's career, he had seen too many popular works suffer simultaneous collapses in reputation and popularity,
either because the creator lacked narrative control, or because they clung stubbornly to so-called "artistic integrity," refusing advice and producing storylines that alienated readers.
One of the most classic examples was from three years ago: a manga ranked fourth in Story Journal, where the female lead suddenly fell in love with the male lead's brother.
Within three months, the series' popularity had plummeted straight to the cancellation line.
Seeing Misaki's serious expression, Han felt his unease deepen.
He quickly took the document from her hands and began reading.
The report outlined the future plot trajectory of Hikaru no Go, as well as Shirogane's plan to wrap up the series within a few months.
When Han reached the key section, his brows slowly furrowed.
Sai, the most popular character in the series, would find The Hand of God, and then disappear.
After that, the manga would conclude once the protagonist Hikaru resolved his inner conflict and chose how to walk forward alone.
From the perspective of a professional editor, honestly speaking, Han felt that this ending was… quite good.
From a purely personal standpoint, as an old editor, he had never liked excessively dragged-out manga.
If Hikaru no Go were serialized until Hikaru became a three-dan, five-dan, or nine-danchampion, its reputation would almost certainly collapse in the later stages.
And historically speaking, many manga reached a point where extension was no longer a choice, no matter how popular the work was.
If The Prince of Tennis had continued indefinitely, it would have devolved into absurd "killing tennis."
If Bleach had not ended when it did, forcibly stretching into arcs like Fullbring and introducing characters like Yhwach, it would have become a punchline among its own fans.
As for Sai, Han understood the problem very clearly.
If Sai was not allowed to play Go, readers would accuse the protagonist of being selfish.
If Sai was allowed to play Go, then Hikaru's role as the protagonist would inevitably be undermined.
When Hikaru was a child, readers were more forgiving.
But once he became a professional Go player, continuing in that manner would raise uncomfortable questions.
Was he relying on a spirit to win? Was he seeking fame through unfair means?
What kind of protagonist could withstand such accusations?
...
Read 50+ chapters ahead @[email protected]/Ashnoir