Since early morning, the Hoshimori Group's official website had been flooded nonstop by fans.
"Can you hurry up and release the Hikaru no Go extra stories already?"
"Isn't there a Hikaru no Go conclusion press conference tomorrow? Can't Hoshimori Group pressure Shirogane-sensei into announcing Hikaru no Go Part 2?"
"This is the first time in my life I've wished capitalists would be useful. I used to hate manga artists being exploited by capital, but now I hope Hoshimori Group squeezes Shirogane dry. He's way too lazy!"
"Undeniably a masterpiece. Before, I doubted how Hikaru no Go could possibly end in just six chapters. But now, even if you asked me to design an ending myself, I couldn't come up with one that leaves people wanting more."
"That final chapter stabbed me straight in the heart. Sai silently handing over the folding fan was absolutely brutal."
"Is that really the last time Sai and Hikaru ever meet?"
"So where did Sai go after disappearing?"
"And Akira and Hikaru never even told us who won their match!"
"Didn't you read the title? It's called Eternal Rivals!"
"Ugh… my heart feels empty. I hate this feeling. Now I'm back to a manga drought. Can Shirogane-sensei hurry up and start a new work already?"
"I can't take it anymore. I'm going to block Shirogane-sensei on his way to school tomorrow!"
"Are you dumb? Didn't they say there's a conclusion press conference tomorrow afternoon? Who are you blocking? Just go to the venue!"
"I'm so uncomfortable… I really want to see what happens next."
"Forget it. Just wait for the extra volume."
"Instead of whining, hurry up and vote for Hikaru no Go. And honestly, I hope Shirogane's next manga flops hard. People need setbacks to appreciate what they've had. If his new work fails, maybe he'll come back and draw Hikaru no Go Part 2!"
"Exactly! Everyone vote like crazy for Hikaru no Go, then fiercely boycott Shirogane's new work. Only when his next manga fails will he think about relying on his old masterpiece!"
"I heard Hikaru no Go is Shirogane's third manga. I'm bored anyway, I'm going to buy the tankōbon of his first two works."
"Five Centimeters per Second and Tonight? Be warned, both are absolutely soul-crushing."
"Can they really be more tear-jerking than Hikaru no Go? Heh…"
Rei barely slept the entire night, scrolling through the endless comments about Hikaru no Go online.
The next morning, Misaki's car was already waiting downstairs.
After all, the Hikaru no Go conclusion press conference was scheduled for 2 p.m., and Rei needed to arrive at Hoshimori Group early for makeup, wardrobe changes, and rehearsal of his speech.
"By the way, Editor Misaki," Rei asked from the passenger seat, "the manga replacing Hikaru no Go next week is an isekai battle series, right?"
"That's right…" Misaki sighed.
"Miyu's new manga is also in that genre, but unfortunately, out of the nineteen finalists at the serialization meeting, it only ranked third. She missed the slot."
"She's been in a bad mood lately. I can tell," Rei said after a pause, sighing softly. "I just hope it doesn't affect her college entrance exams."
Even geniuses like Oda in his previous life, who debuted at sixteen or seventeen, only got their first serialization at twenty-two.
Miyu's experience was actually normal for a manga prodigy.
Being able to submit a work to Ametsukage Comic at seventeen already qualified her as a rare genius. Rei, passing on his first attempt, was the true anomaly.
"She doesn't care about the college entrance exam," Misaki replied. "If I hadn't forbidden it, she even considered skipping university entirely to become a full-time manga artist."
"But even if she stopped studying now, she'd still get into a top-ten university with ease. How could I possibly agree to that?"
She glanced at Rei. "What about you? If you don't get into a top-tier university, are you still planning to attend?"
"Me?" Rei smiled. "I'm not at Miyu's level, but I'm confident I can get into a top thirty university."
"Don't worry, Editor Misaki. University is much more relaxed than high school. I won't give up manga just because I'm studying."
"Then what major are you planning to choose?"
Rei thought for a moment.
"These universities don't really have proper manga majors. Even if they did, I wouldn't need them. Most of those theory professors probably aren't as professionally experienced as I am."
He chuckled lightly.
"I'm thinking of studying something related to animation."
"Manga, anime, and games are all interconnected. I already understand the manga industry, so I want to learn more about animation. That way, when my works are adapted in the future and I serve as a supervisor, I won't just be a figurehead who can't contribute anything useful."
Misaki nodded.
She understood. Rei had participated in the Hikaru no Go animation project largely as a symbolic presence and had clearly realized his own shortcomings.
That was a good thing.
Soon, the car arrived at the base of the Hoshimori Group building.
Rei rarely came here, so everything felt fresh. He looked around curiously as they entered.
He even paused for quite a while in the lobby, staring at the life-sized Hikaru no Go character display.
However, while Rei wandered casually, the Hoshimori Group staff were anything but relaxed.
The moment they spotted him, eyes lit up everywhere.
People hurried over.
"Good morning, Shirogane-sensei!"
"Shirogane-sensei, could I get an autograph?"
"Shirogane-sensei..."
Even within Hoshimori Group, Shirogane's name carried enormous weight.
With Hikaru no Go dominating the industry this year, combined with Rei's youthful age and striking appearance, it was only natural that many people wanted to get close to him.
Eventually, Misaki guided Rei through the editorial department. Under the editors' complicated gazes, she brought him straight to the editor-in-chief's office.
Han was waiting inside.
At Rei's current status, he was more than qualified to speak with the editor-in-chief directly.
Of course, a meeting between the two was never going to produce any concrete outcomes.
However, Rei did learn one important piece of news from Han.
Thanks to the overwhelming popularity of Hikaru no Go, the film copyrights for Rei's two earlier works under the pen name Shirogane, Five Centimeters per Second and Tonight, had been purchased by a film production company for a total of twelve million. The contract signing and official announcement would take place within the next three days, and there was even a chance that live-action adaptations of both works could be released as early as next year.
Rei was momentarily stunned by the news.
When he had first debuted, he had been completely unknown. He had never expected those two works to have any opportunity for adaptation, whether animated or live-action. And yet now, years later, they had been given a second chance.
Naturally, Han also discussed matters regarding the Hikaru no Go extra-volume tankōbon.
The Group hoped to collaborate with familiar film production companies to adapt parts of the extra story, such as the Hokuto Cup mentioned in the manga, into one or two live-action films.
Although Hikaru no Go was a Go-themed manga with limited merchandise potential, live-action adaptation was still a viable option.
From the Group's perspective, this was about capitalizing on lingering fan sentiment.
Rei had no objections to the proposal. He only made one point clear: he would not accept any substandard production teams for the adaptation.
The two reached a preliminary consensus.
Soon after, Rei left Han's office.
Outside, the editors in the editorial department watched him walk out with complicated expressions, envy, jealousy, and quiet melancholy flickering across their faces.
Misaki was the one who finally stepped forward and explained the situation to Rei.
"The ranking results for the final chapter of Hikaru no Go were just announced," she said.
"The total votes for the final chapter reached 1,001,693. It ranked first again this week. It's also the first manga in Dream Comic's history to break one million votes in a single issue, and only the fifth manga in Japan to ever achieve this."
Online voting was a system that had only emerged in the past decade across Japan's major manga magazines.
It was fast, convenient, and far more accessible than the old method of mailing physical ballots. As a result, reader participation had increased significantly.
Even so, one million votes remained a nearly insurmountable threshold.
That Hikaru no Go reached it, if only in its final chapter, was proof of the manga's status in readers' hearts.
It also delighted Hoshimori Group's operations department.
Among the six major manga groups, only five manga had ever surpassed one million votes in a single issue. This alone showed how rare such popularity truly was.
In fact, only three magazines had ever produced manga capable of achieving such numbers.
Japan's top-selling manga magazine, Monogatari Comic, which had averaged a weekly circulation of 25 million copies last year, ranked first nationwide.
The three manga that consistently dominated its top three serialization slots regularly exceeded one million votes each week.
Yet from fourth place onward, vote counts dropped sharply, often hovering between five and six hundred thousand.
It was a magazine with extreme polarization, reader attention was almost entirely monopolized by its top three titles.
Aira, the manga artist behind Zero-Type Contract, once hailed as the number-one young genius before Rei's rise, had long remained stuck between fourth and sixth place in that magazine.
Japan's second-best-selling magazine, Red Pin Manga, with a weekly circulation of 19 million, had also produced million-vote titles. However, those works could not maintain such numbers consistently. When the plot resonated strongly, votes surpassed one million; when it faltered, totals dropped back to around nine hundred thousand.
As for Hoshimori Comic, which sold 17 million copies weekly and ranked fourth nationwide, achieving this milestone with Hikaru no Go was unprecedented.
No wonder the Group's leadership was ecstatic.
Even the Hikaru no Go finale press conference scheduled for that afternoon was revised at the last minute to heavily promote this achievement.
Of course, envy inevitably followed.
Some editors couldn't help but think bitterly to themselves.
What was so special about it?
It was just a Go manga. A niche genre with limited commercial upside.
Even if Hikaru no Go ranked first in popularity and surpassed one million votes, its commercial value was still far inferior to works like Source War Chronicle, which had been adapted into films, games, and anime.
At best, it brought prestige, not profit.
Naturally, these thoughts were never spoken aloud.
Rei himself was completely unaware of the undercurrents within the editorial department.
He didn't know how many people secretly envied Misaki, the young, wealthy editor favored by Han, who had successfully signed two of Hoshimori Group's greatest manga prodigies: Shirogane and Saki.
Some even hoped Hikaru no Go would crash spectacularly, its sales plummeting into a cautionary tale for the industry.
But none of that mattered.
Hikaru no Go had already concluded, and in its final chapter, it achieved its best serialization result ever.
From beginning to end, there was nothing substantial to criticize about the manga.
Even media outlets that thrived on controversy found no fault worth exploiting that week.
At the finale press conference that afternoon, Rei made a rare appearance before the cameras. The entire event was livestreamed nationwide.
He answered several questions from the audience.
"Where did Sai go?" one fan asked.
Rei smiled faintly.
"He fulfilled his wish… and went where he was meant to go."
Some things didn't need to be explained too clearly.
Fans needed room for their own imagination.
Whether Sai reincarnated, ascended, or truly vanished was something each reader could decide for themselves.
Any definitive answer would only invite endless debate, and millions of voices.
When another fan asked, "What will Hikaru no Go do after it concludes?"
Rei's expression brightened slightly.
"Of course, I will fully prepare for the college entrance examination two months from now."
It was a perfectly standard answer, exactly what everyone expected.
After all, Rei was still a student.
But his next words detonated like a bomb, sending shockwaves through the entire venue.
"In fact, I already have a concept for a new manga."
The moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere froze.
"During the period leading up to the college entrance examination, I plan to further refine this concept," Rei continued calmly, his gaze sweeping across the rows of media cameras.
"And after the college entrance examination…"
He paused briefly.
"I will begin serializing it. I am confident that this will be an outstanding work, one that can surpass Hikaru no Go."
The venue erupted.
Not only were the fans and reporters stunned, even the staff of Hoshimori Group present were completely caught off guard.
Misaki's expression froze in disbelief.
In the Hoshimori Group president's office, Han, who was watching the livestream, spat out a mouthful of cold tea straight onto his computer screen.
He stared blankly at the broadcast.
'Rei… if you had news like this, why didn't you tell me when we spoke this morning? If I'd known, I would've had the entire event rebranded as a "Hikaru no Go Finale and New Manga Launch Press Conference"!'
Once the initial shock passed, Han felt a sharp jolt of unease.
Rei had just put himself on the spot.
A new work better than Hikaru no Go?
How could he say something like that so lightly?
What if it failed to live up to expectations?
What if it fell flat?
Wouldn't he instantly become a laughingstock, a brash young genius who talked big but couldn't deliver, leaving a permanent blemish on his career?
And this wasn't said behind closed doors.
It was livestreamed.
Across the internet, fans who had been immersed in sorrow and nostalgia over the ending of Hikaru no Go were collectively struck dumb.
'Shirogane… are you messing with us?'
We thought you ended Hikaru no Go out of respect for the story, for its integrity, for Hikaru's completed growth arc.
So what is this now?
From the outside, it suddenly looked like you'd lost interest because you already had a new idea!
Online comments exploded.
"So… you found a new love and abandoned the old one?"
"What genre is the new work? Another sports manga?"
"This is insane. There are only two months until the college entrance exam, and he says the new manga will start after that? Is that even possible?"
"There's always the possibility of delays, you know."
"What about the Hikaru no Go extra chapters? Will he still draw them if he's serializing something new?"
"How is this guy even built? He hasn't stopped since debuting!"
"Three manga back-to-back. Hikaru no Go alone has more than ten volumes, most authors take two or three years to reach that!"
"Fast updates, high quality, zero breaks, and he's still in high school? Is he even human?"
"I can't take this anymore."
"I was heartbroken five minutes ago. Now I'm just confused."
But amid the chaos, some voices steadied.
"Honestly, I'm looking forward to it."
"No matter what happens next, Hikaru no Go is already a masterpiece. It ended perfectly. We don't have to worry about it collapsing later."
"Instead, we get to look forward to Shirogane's future."
"That's true… but he's setting the bar ridiculously high."
"The final chapter just broke one million votes."
"Hikaru no Go only achieved it once. Is his next work going to defy the logic again?"
"That's arrogance, isn't it?"
"He's a genius, what's wrong with being confident?"
"If you don't dare to think big, how do you ever reach the top?"
"Even if he fails, at least he dared to aim high."
"I just hope the college entrance exam comes quickly. Let him finish it and fully focus on manga!"
"Has Japan ever had a manga genius this active?"
"Honestly? Every step he's taken so far has already become history."
"Now it's just a question of whether his next work will set new records… or crash spectacularly."
"In front of her computer screen, Miyu slowly exhaled, watching the Hikaru no Go finale press conference come to an end, right after Rei's explosive announcement.
"If Rei is working this hard," she murmured, clenching her fists,"then I can't afford to slack off either."
"So what if my last submission was rejected? I'll come up with a new concept."
"And I'll submit again."