At night, Rei worked on the original manuscript for Hunter x Hunter while simultaneously dealing with matters from his other projects.
"The TV station wants to invite me onto their variety show?"
"Reject it directly. I'm already drowning in my own work, where would I find time to help them boost their ratings?"
"A large comic convention wants me as the finale guest? Forget it. I don't have time for nonessential commercial activities. If I had that time, fans would probably rather I draw two more pages of manuscript."
As he drew, Rei handled messages from various collaborators on his phone.
After a long stretch of work, Rei finally finished the main portion of today's manuscript and let out a long breath. Of course, the work wasn't completely finished, some mechanical, low-skill tasks would later be handed off to his assistants.
Only then did he finally have the leisure to check the messages left by fans on his creator account.
As expected, the comments were filled with furious complaints about Capital TV Station's recap episodes.
Rei thought for a moment, then selectively replied to a few comments.
After that, he paused briefly and began editing a post.
The general message was simple: asking everyone to support One-Punch Man Season Three, which would premiere next Friday, and expressing his confidence in the content of the upcoming season.
In truth, the most exciting part of One-Punch Man in his previous life had been the conflict between the Hero Association and the Monster Association.
The dozen-plus S-Class Heroes, who previously existed only in the imagination of manga readers, would almost all shine brilliantly in this arc, receiving rich character development.
Especially King.
His performance during this arc would generate an endless supply of classic memes.
Rei himself was full of anticipation for the third season of the anime, which would officially kick off this storyline.
With his current popularity and influence in Japan, even such a casual post triggered a massive reaction. Overnight, it accumulated more than a hundred thousand comments and was reposted and reported by numerous media outlets.
Then, early Sunday morning, Rei received another piece of news from his editor.
"The first-week sales of Hunter x Hunter Volume Five reached 3,50,00,00 copies!"
Even Rei found it hard to remain calm after reading the message.
Although the series' average sales per volume had not yet broken the fourteen-million mark, the first-week sales alone had already reached a level comparable to Echoes of the End, the current top-selling manga in Japan.
And Rei wasn't the only one to receive this news.
Before long, Hoshimori Group officially announced it on their website.
The news sent shockwaves through Japan's manga industry.
Could it really be this outrageous?
Could the first-week sales of Hunter x Hunter Volume Five really reach such an absurd figure?
From that afternoon onward, Hoshimori Group wasted no time, immediately spending money to hire online promoters to flood major anime forums and websites with the news.
By evening, anime media across Japan were widely reporting on it.
The news ignited heated discussions among fan communities.
So… how long would it take before Hunter x Hunter's average volume sales reached the top five? The top three? Or even first place?
Would Monogatari Comic's long-standing dominance truly be shaken by Shirogane?
These questions became frequent discussion topics among Rei's fanbase.
However, by the time Friday of the second week of April arrived;
From daytime onward, Rei's fans had largely stopped discussing Hunter x Hunter.
Instead, attention rapidly shifted to news about the One-Punch Man anime.
"So… will Garou still get a lot of screen time in Season Three? Teacher Shirogane, please consider cutting him back and focusing more on the S-Class Heroes and the Monster Association!"
"It airs at 8 p.m. tonight, we'll know everything soon!"
"Garou really got a bit excessive. Season Two spent so much time building him up, only for him to still lose to Genos. That was hilarious! Genos was getting wrecked by random monsters in the first episode!"
"I hope Season Three introduces a villain like Boros. To this day, Saitama vs. Boros in Episode Twelve of Season One is still the peak of this anime."
"Yeah, the Monster Association feels pretty weak. If Boros were still alive, he could probably wipe them out by himself."
"The villains in Season Two really did feel weak. Now all we can do is look forward to what Season Three brings…"
"I hope Season Three of One-Punch Man surpasses Season Two in ratings and sets a new record."
"This season, I'll watch One-Punch Man first. In July, there's also the Hunter × Hunter anime premiere, plus the live-action adaptation of Tonight during summer break… I feel like my entire life is going to be surrounded by Teacher Shirogane's works!"
A few minutes before the premiere of One-Punch Man Season Three, the once-noisy discussion forums suddenly went quiet.
Across Japan, anime fans were sitting at home, waiting in front of their televisions for the new season to begin. Under these circumstances, Capital TV Station's viewership ratings continued to climb steadily.
Finally, at exactly eight o'clock, Capital TV Station aired the first episode of One-Punch Man Season Three right on schedule.
A brand-new opening song.
Brand-new opening visuals.
Rei was never the kind of creator who spoiled key characters outright.
But even subtle hints were enough to drive fans wild with curiosity.
In the opening, several Dragon-level Monsters from the Monster Association appeared, Black Sperm, Evil Natural Water, Garou, Orochi, Gums, Gyoro Gyoro, Homeless Emperor…
Rei deliberately presented these major figures as blurred silhouettes.
Their exact appearances were unclear, yet their distinctive outlines were unmistakable.
Then, the opening ended with Saitama's iconic one-punch.
It could be said that even the opening sequence alone, if watched carefully, revealed an enormous amount of information.
As for the episode itself, the plot directly followed the ending of the previous season.
Centipede Elder of the Monster Association had attacked a group of heroes and was ultimately "killed" by the arrival of King.
Although the audience knew perfectly well that it was Saitama who delivered the finishing blow…
From the Hero Association's perspective, the one who obliterated Centipede Elder could only be King, without question.
The first episode briefly revisited these events.
Then, it quickly shifted into the core storyline of the new arc.
The heavily injured Garou was taken to the Monster Association's headquarters. As a human who hunted heroes, his "Hero Hunter" identity intrigued the Monster Association, and they sought to recruit him.
Meanwhile, on the other side…
Late in Season Two, the wealthy second-generation individual protected by Metal Bat had been revealed as the son of the Hero Association's primary financial sponsor.
The Monster Association's chaos in the previous season had been orchestrated largely to kidnap this young man, to threaten his father and pressure the Hero Association.
And from this point, the central conflict of Season Three fully emerged.
Naturally, the Hero Association could not ignore the sponsor's son.
Its upper ranks swiftly began preparations, assembling a group of heroes to rescue him, and, in the process, launch a full-scale extermination of the Monster Association.
When the first episode of Season Three ended, viewers hadn't actually seen much of Saitama in action.
Yet surprisingly, there were few complaints.
Because one thing was unmistakably clear to every One-Punch Man fan;
The war between the Monster Association and the Hero Association, foreshadowed throughout the entirety of Season Two, was about to erupt.
This would be the largest, most intense arc since the series began.
Although the opening episode lacked overwhelming battle scenes…
Countless questions were already forming in fans' minds.
With more than a dozen S-Class Heroes acting together, could the Monster Association possibly withstand them?
What role would Garou ultimately play in this conflict?
Carrying these thoughts, anticipation, and excitement, the first episode of One-Punch Man Season Three came to a close.