Compared to the release of Five Centimeters per Second, the launch of Tonight's first volume was on an entirely different level.
The sales channels were larger, the promotion was stronger, and Shirogane, still a High School Student, already had national attention.
On Sunday, the release day, major bookstores across the cities displayed huge posters of Tonight.
Critics and media tied to Hoshimori Group began pushing nonstop articles about the new volume.
"Shirogane, the genius behind Five Centimeters per Second, releases the Tonight volume, will sales surpass her debut work?"
"Everyone expected this year's New Manga Artist Award to be a battle between Ren and Minami, but High School Student manga artist Shirogane has suddenly become a real contender."
"Veteran artist Hoshizaki Aira praised Tonight again, calling it the second-best romance of the year."
"What kind of numbers will Tonight's first volume pull on its debut week?"
"Who is Shirogane really? Why do her works always attract love and hate? Is she a 'manufactured genius,' or is the talent real?"
The questions were everywhere.
Normally, a volume from Ametsukage Weekly wouldn't produce this level of noise. But with the info the industry already had, everyone could see the signs.
Shirogane was clearly being groomed as Hoshimori Group's next major talent.
If she won Best New Manga Artist, then passed the Dream Comic serialization meeting, and if her third work also exploded…
That would be the true "genius rise template."
Even more dramatic than Aira's rise years ago.
Her debut year? She only placed second. First and third place from that year disappeared into obscurity.
Only Aira fought her way to first-tier status.
Historically, most New Artist winners fade away. Second and third place?
Those are the ones who climb to greatness.
So the industry's intentions were clear.
And as expected, Tonight's first volume instantly became a bestseller.
There are too many weekly magazines in Japan. Most readers buy only one or two each week.
If a story looks promising, they wait for the volume release.
And Tonight had dominated conversation online for weeks. Naturally, tons of new readers picked it up out of curiosity.
Volume sales are calculated weekly, so everyone would have to wait until the next Sunday for the first official numbers.
A new week began.
Rei attended class and went home like usual.
But recently, he hadn't been drawing at night, he was deep into researching this world's history instead.
Meanwhile, Miyu dragged herself to school with dark circles,barely speaking to Yui or Hana anymore.
The reason was simple: her new series would replace Tonight in Ametsukage Weekly.
It wasn't serialized yet, but printing had already begun.
So Miyu was back to full-blown manga-artist mode: late nights, no sleep, constant revisions, and endless anxiety.
If her ranking dropped, she'd be tortured with self-doubt.
If it rose, she'd celebrate for two days, then immediately panic about the next week.
Most manga artists lived under crushing pressure.
Constant deadlines, constant fear, and the endless stream of insults online.
Miyu glanced at Rei by the window.
He was calmly watching the students on the field, looking relaxed, almost peaceful.
She had observed him many times like this, yet no matter how she looked, she never saw anxiety, stress, or panic on his face.
Even last week, when Tonight lost to Labyrinth Detective Agencyby only a few dozen votes…he didn't care.
Was this the difference between them? A difference in mindset?
A difference in how they carried pressure?
Friday morning.
A new issue of Ametsukage Weekly hit the shelves.
Chapter 10 of Tonight picked up immediately after last week's emotional blow.
Even though Hino had forgotten Tōru, she was still chasing the faint clues he left behind. Seeing this, Izumi finally broke down.
Hino's condition had begun to improve, the amnesia weakening, just like the foreshadowing in chapter one.
So Izumi, unable to bear it anymore, told Hino the truth with tears in her eyes.
After learning everything, Hino still collapsed emotionally, but this time, only once.
Because this time, her memories stayed.
The chapter centered on Hino receiving her old diary and old phone, slowly uncovering her "lost" past, piece by piece.
The manga alternated between present-time scenes and handwritten diary entries from the past, revealing feelings she herself never remembered having.
The first confession.
"After he confessed, I thought, why not try accepting it? Maybe someone like me could step into a new world."
The three rules:
'1. Don't talk to me before school ends.' Because she needed time to reorganize her memories.
'2. Keep messages short.' Because long messages would expose the truth she was hiding.
'3. Don't fall in love.' Because she couldn't store memories, so she believed she couldn't love.
The day she fell asleep during their date, and woke up with everything gone.
Her diary from that night read:
"But he knew about my amnesia, and he pretended not to know. He gave me a brilliant, brand-new day because I couldn't keep yesterday."
"Even if I can't carry memories into tomorrow, I found new meaning in life because of him."
Page after page, the manga showed diary lines readers had never seen before, all the feelings hidden out of sight.
And then…the final line of chapter 10.
The sentence that shattered every reader who thought they were finally emotionally stable again.
"Please, God, engrave the time we spent together into my heart."
If her mind cannot hold memories of Tōru, then may her heartnever forget him.
...
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