It had been almost four months since Hikaru no Go began serialization.
However, due to Rei's now industry-famous drawing speed, producing an enormous weekly page count, the manga's story progress was already equivalent to what many artists managed in half a year.
And this huge serialization volume created extremely strong fan loyalty.
Early in the morning, in various bookstores across the country, many Hikaru no Go fans got up early to buy the new issue of Dream Comic.
One of them was Zen.
Originally, he was just a personal fan of Rika, a professional Go player. Although he understood Go, his own skill wasn't high. He watched professional Go leagues but only cared about Rika's matches.
If not for Rika, he never would have paid attention to the manga Hikaru no Go.
But… he came to support Rika at first, and somehow ended up addicted to the manga itself.
He found the new issue of Dream Comic easily and also picked up Monogatari Comic, released two days earlier.
As for other journals on display like, he wasn't interested at all.
Everyone has limited time. No manga reader can keep up with the hundreds of serialized works across the six major journals. Most people only follow five or six series in one or two journals. Whatever else looks good later, they'll buy the tankōbon volumes to catch up.
After paying, Zen went home and first checked the latest news about Ruka.
Her professional results were more or less the same not top-tier, but respectable. His attention toward her was like a sports fan following their favorite athlete.
But since her collaboration with Shirogane to create Hikaru no Go, Rika appeared in the news far more frequently. A huge number of new Hikaru no Go fans had begun following her because of the manga.
With arrangements through the Go Association, she even held regular Go lecture streams through official and personal accounts, and viewership numbers were extremely high.
In interview after interview, she heavily praised Hikaru no Go and its author Rei.
Not only Zen, many manga readers felt that because of Hikaru no Go, the entire Go scene of the country was becoming revitalized.
"I wonder what will happen if this manga continues being serialized?" Zen smiled.
Then he opened this week's issue of Dream Comic.
The seventeenth chapter continued directly from last week.
Because the mysterious online player Sai remained undefeated, professional players from around the world challenged him.
But whether they were amateur masters or world-famous pros, they suffered crushing defeats.
Sai's extraordinary strength even made many suspect that he might be able to contend with, or surpass, the current #1 in the world Go rankings.
Under these circumstances, Akira, his senior Seiji Ogata, and a group of other pros finally managed to secure a chance to play Sai through a special arranged account.
And the other player in this online match was Akira.
Akira deliberately replayed the same opening moves as the first game he had once played against Sai, to test whether Sai was really Hikaru.
Sai, with perfect memory, recognized the pattern immediately.
Hikaru, panicking that Akira might figure out Sai's identity and cause trouble, begged him:
"Don't continue with the same game!"
And so, after about a dozen identical moves, Sai stopped the replication.
Akira became half-convinced, half-skeptical. The match couldn't continue for various reasons, so Akira typed in the chat, asking Sai for another game next Sunday at 10 a.m.
Hikaru, perhaps out of guilt for having once ruined Akira's chance to play Sai, also agreed.
That unfinished confrontation kept Zen on edge for an entire week.
It kept all fans on edge.
This week's chapter opened with Akira sitting alone at home, staring at his computer, waiting for 10 a.m.
It was raining heavily across the city.
Hikaru walked through the rain with an umbrella toward the internet café.
Akira sat with the same serious posture he had held during their second game, and their third game in the school team competition.
Fated rivals always meet again.
Even if Akira didn't fully believe Sai was really Hikaru, the instinctive fear, the trauma etched into his very soul, still rose within him.
When the time came, both logged into the Go server.
Akira had Black. Hikaru (acting as Sai) had White.
Zen inhaled deeply as he read, suddenly nervous himself.
On the manga page, their avatars sat across from each other as if at the same table.
Two years had passed.
Akira's skill had grown enormously.
But against Sai, he was still pushed to the brink.
"So strong. He feels even stronger than when I played Hikaru."
"He's not Hikaru…"
Zen chuckled.
Too bad. You guessed wrong.
You're not the only one who can get stronger, Akira.
Although Sai was an ancient Go saint, after staying in the modern world for so long, how could he not have improved?
And yes, Sai was stronger than before.
But a player's style? That was nearly impossible to change.
Even though Akira had only played Sai twice, he had developed a deep, instinctive sensitivity toward Sai's style.
In the middle game, as Sai placed a stone…
Akira's eyes widened.
"This move… this feeling.
Could it be… him?"
He didn't want to believe it, but something in his bones, in that old trauma etched into his very soul, whispered, "It's Hikaru… from back then."
At this time, professional Go masters worldwide were spectating the match from the online room.
"I can keep playing, but there's no way for me to win."
Akira's expression grew tense again.
Zen, reading the manga, felt strangely satisfied.
He had honestly thought Akira might catch up to Sai after only two years, but no, not yet. Not even close.
In real Go history, the youngest age at which anyone ever won a world championship was eighteen.
If Sai's strength in the manga was comparable to, or even slightly above, a world champion…
Then how could a fourteen-year-old Akira possibly stand on equal footing?
Go back. Train for another five years.
Then challenge Sai again.
From this perspective, Zen felt Shirogane-sensei was doing the right thing.
At least he wasn't pulling the usual shōnen-manga nonsense, "child genius beats pros instantly", "decades of mastery defeated by a kid after three weeks of training", "villains with centuries of experience lose to 'hard work' speeches"
Readers aren't blind.
This was a manga grounded in reality.
The match ended with Akira resigning mid-game.
But Sai's expression turned incredibly serious.
"It is Akira," he said with certainty.
Hikaru grinned.
"Has Akira gotten stronger?"
But Sai's eyes sharpened.
"The one who has truly gotten stronger, is me."
No narration, just a single panel.
And Zen understood.
Sai no longer saw Akira as "just a child," like during their first meeting.
Akira's moves had forced Sai to acknowledge him.
Akira lost this match, but his heart was trembling.
He kept wondering, 'Is Sai really Hikaru?'
Zen laughed.
"I wonder when the manga will finally reveal Sai's identity!"
He thought the match was the highlight.
But then came the twist.
The next day, Akira returned to the Go club where he had once been crushed by Hikaru.
There, he heard an older club member casually say: "I saw that kid who beat you years ago at the internet café nearby. Wonder what he's doing there every day."
Akira's expression changed instantly.
Zen froze.
No way, Is the manga revealing it now?
Hikaru wasn't relying on Sai to pretend to be a master anymore. If Akira discovered Sai's identity right now, it would be too early!
Akira, already suspicious, bolted out of the club and sprinted toward the internet café.
"Hikaru, Is it you?"
"Hikaru… Sai… are you the same?"
Akira rushed inside, searching every row.
And then, he found Hikaru. Sitting in front of a monitor.
Focused intensely.
Zen's heartbeat sped up.
If Hikaru was online playing as Sai, that would be it.
Identity exposed.
Akira ran up, grabbed Hikaru's shoulder, and shoved him slightly aside, and what he saw on the screen was…
A mini-game website.
Hikaru wasn't playing Go.
He was playing a silly online minigame, eyes glued to the screen, clicking furiously.
Zen burst out laughing.
"Shirogane-sensei, you absolute troll. You hyped up the tension for pages. Akira sprinting in the rain like a lunatic, only for him to find Hikaru playing some dumb minigame!"
Hikaru's game interrupted, he looked thoroughly annoyed, slammed the mouse down, logged off the computer, and walked straight out of the internet café.
Akira chased after him.
And as Zen turned the page, he could feel it, the manga's atmosphere had suddenly sharpened.
The summer heat, the shadows of the setting sun stretching long. Everything more detailed than before.
Hikaru spun around, frustrated.
"Why do you always show up out of nowhere? What do you want from me?"
Akira didn't waste time.
"Hikaru, have you ever played Go online?"
Hikaru, of course, wouldn't admit it.
He rambled, dodged, bluffed, even joked that Akira only suspected him because Hikaru had beaten him once.
The more Akira listened, the angrier he got.
"Stop joking! If you really had Sai's strength, you'd already be a pro and have several world titles by now!"
"Thanks for saying what I wanted to say."
Hikaru's faint smile stabbed deeper.
Zen suddenly understood.
This was that infuriating line Hikaru had said years ago, the one that had exploded inside Akira's heart, the insult he thought mocked every professional player.
But maybe, Akira had accepted the truth of that line long ago.
Akira lowered his head.
"It's not you. Sai, it absolutely can't be you."
Then he turned away.
"I'm sorry. I won't appear in front of you again."
His silhouette stretched long under the orange light.
Lonely. Defeated.
Hurting in a way that made Zen's throat tighten.
Did Akira want Hikaru to be Sai? Or did he desperately hope he wasn't?
How must it feel, for the towering goal you'd chased for years, to crumble instantly?
Hikaru clenched his fists.
"Wait, Akira!"
And then, the line, that hit Zen like lightning.
"If you keep chasing my illusion, then one day, the real me will catch up to your steps!"
Akira turned.
Hikaru stood, fists trembling.
The sunset wrapped them in gold.
A scene that carved itself directly into the reader's heart.
A good manga doesn't need every chapter to be perfect. It just needs one moment that becomes eternal.
For Zen, this was that moment.
A manga with no villains. No schemes. No cheap tricks.
Just passion, Defeat, Pursuit, Growth.
A rivalry that was a kind of destiny.
Akira exhaled.
"No need to wait. Let's play right now!"
But Hikaru hesitated.
Akira said nothing more and walked away.
Hikaru didn't call him back.
He knew he wasn't yet qualified, he still had far to go before standing as Akira's equal.
But the seed of unwillingness, of burning frustration, was planted deep within him.
And also within Zen, who suddenly wanted to throw away the magazine and study Go again.
He turned the page.
And saw only: "Hikaru no go- Chapter 18 END."
A heavy emptiness hit him.
Every week he felt this, but today it was stronger. Hikaru no go had shown him a world he could never reach, the world of true prodigies.
Manga fans were overflowing with emotion.
"Shirogane-sensei is too good at character arcs. Until now Akira was chasing Sai, now Hikaru wants to chase Akira. Destiny flipped!"
"Everything Akira felt before, Hikaru will taste one by one now."
"This chapter made me tear up. It's so beautiful."
"In real life it's rare to find someone who can grow with you for a lifetime, but Hikaru and Akira found each other. That's romance."
"No villains. Just rivalry. Just pure Go. This hits deeper than any battle manga."
"Bro I'm taking Go lessons. My teacher is killing me. How do these middle-schoolers understand this?!"
"I think this is the best chapter so far."
"No, chapter 2 was best. Watching Akira get crushed by Sai destroyed me."
"Stop arguing, everyone vote! Hikaru no go has been stuck at rank 7 for two weeks. Push it up!"
There were no complaints. No nitpicking.
Just pure emotion.
Fans who never voted suddenly voted. Fans who never commented wrote long posts.
People genuinely loved the chapter.
And the backend numbers at Hoshimori Group reflected it, Hikaru no go's votes this week were far higher than last week.
...
Bonus@ 800 PS
Read 50 chapters ahead @[email protected]/Ashnoir