After walking Xia Jing out of the complex, Su Qingxiao finally went back home.
As soon as she stepped through the door, she heard her sister on the phone with someone.
"Mm, that's right. Cancel the romance series Azure Dream I was planning to submit for the serialization meeting the day after tomorrow. I'll be submitting a different manga instead… Estimated length? Five chapters, it's a short series. Yes, that's right…"
It was a while before Su Mingxi finally hung up with the editorial department staffer.
"You're really putting your back into promoting Xia Jing's manga, huh. Worried the paperwork won't be processed in time tomorrow, so you're bothering your coworker this late just to warn them in advance?"
Seeing this, Su Qingxiao narrowed her eyes in amusement. The heaviness in her chest from 5 Centimeters per Second's ending eased without her noticing.
After all, Xia Jing was her friend—and she was the one who'd introduced him to her sister. Seeing him taken seriously made her genuinely happy too.
"Your friend…" Su Mingxi glanced at her and said quietly, "He has a lot of potential."
"I can see that for myself," Su Qingxiao replied.
"Just five chapters—and he can make something that emotionally powerful. Of course he's got potential."
"In the last few years, all the major manga publishers have been trying hard to push younger creators," Su Mingxi continued. "Illusion Dream Group is the same. Everyone in the editorial department has been told to actively look for fresh talent. Compared to before, it's much easier now for new mangaka to get a break."
"Qingxiao, I actually have high hopes for you," she added. "I figured it might only be a few years before you could get a series onto Illusion Dream Comic. But you'll have to keep working hard, or else…"
She smiled faintly.
"…you might get overtaken by your friend."
"Heh… Sis, you're overthinking it. Tales of Sorrow has been running for half a year—I've already built up a solid fanbase. No matter how good 5 Centimeters per Second is, it's only going to run for five weeks. How wild can it get? It's way too early for him to surpass me." Su Qingxiao laughed, unconcerned.
…
The next day.
As soon as Xia Jing walked into the classroom, he noticed everyone looking at him with strange expressions.
The reason wasn't hard to guess. Plenty of people must've seen him leave in a taxi with Su Qingxiao yesterday.
Forget it. Since she didn't care, he wasn't going to stress about it either. Let the gossip run its course—school rumors always died out with time anyway.
Ever since he'd transmigrated, he'd actually been pretty busy every day with his manga work. But now that 5 Centimeters per Second was finished and all he could do was wait for tomorrow's serialization meeting, he suddenly felt oddly idle.
At noon, he still went up to the rooftop out of habit—not to draw this time, just to feel the wind.
He didn't run into Su Qingxiao today.
Which made sense. She had her own series running; for all he knew, she might be holed up in some other hidden corner of the school working on her deadlines.
…
Another day passed.
Xia Jing went to school as usual. And at nine in the morning…
In the heart of Shanghai, inside a commercial high-rise—
This was the headquarters of Illusion Dream Group, one of the six biggest manga companies in Xia.
On the nineteenth floor was the editorial department of this nationally famous publisher.
Illusion Dream Group oversaw dozens of different magazines, each with its own dedicated editorial team.
The editorial floor was a busy hive of activity, with different teams focused on their own work.
The editors responsible for Sakura Weekly were gathered together in a meeting room, waiting for their director to arrive.
"Serialization meeting" sounded grand, but in reality this was just the internal serialization meeting for the editorial team in charge of Sakura Weekly.
A magazine like Sakura Weekly, with weekly sales in the several-hundred-thousand range, wasn't "big" enough to warrant the editor-in-chief of the entire company showing up. That level of higher-up only attended serialization meetings when a series was being added or replaced in Illusion Dream Comic, the flagship weekly that sold over ten million copies.
So the person chairing today's meeting was one of the editorial department's seven team directors: Huang Yan.
Each editor and manager present had a neatly stacked pile of manuscripts placed beside them in order.
Su Mingxi was seated in the first seat to the left of the director's chair.
From the seating arrangement alone, you could tell her track record in the Sakura Weekly team ranked in the top two.
Directly across from her sat a tall, thin man in his thirties: Gao Dian.
He watched his greatest rival in the Sakura Weekly editorial team—Su Mingxi—with a confident, almost predatory look.
Although Su Mingxi was ten years younger than he was, her ability as an editor was unquestionable. In just two years she'd discovered several successful mangaka.
Especially that high school girl "Shui Xi."
The latest issue's ranking for Tales of Sorrow had come out—its popularity had risen to second place, only a little over a hundred votes short of surpassing his own series, High Score Love.
Traditionally, every few years, whichever editor performed best on Sakura Weekly would gain a small chance to be reassigned to Illusion Dream Comic, taking charge of series serialized there.
Of course, it wasn't guaranteed—they would still have to compete with standout editors from other well-performing magazines under the same group.
But it was a chance.
Judging from the timing, upper management was probably already starting to think about personnel reshuffles.
Otherwise, Gao Dian wouldn't be this worked up about today's meeting.
This year's timing really was special.
If he could get transferred to handle series on Illusion Dream Comic, his salary would easily jump seven or eight times, and his standing in the industry would skyrocket.
After all, every manga serialized there had tankōbon averaging over a million copies sold. Even a tiny share of royalties for the editor would mean hundreds of thousands, even millions of yuan a year.
That woman, Su Mingxi, was indeed very capable. Sooner or later, she was bound to reach that level and become a central pillar of the editorial department. But right now…
One thing at a time, Gao Dian thought.
Seniority matters. If anyone deserves that spot, it should be someone like me, who has slogged it out here for over a decade—not a rookie editor who's only been here two years.
He had a lot of confidence in the works he'd submitted for this serialization meeting.
But even a lion used full strength to hunt a rabbit. If you want to stop your rival from continuing to build momentum, the best way is to limit how many "pieces" she has on the board at the serialization stage.
There were two open slots today.
He fully intended to claim both.
"Alright… let's begin," Director Huang Yan said as he pushed open the conference room door and went straight to his seat.
As soon as he sat down, he got right to the point.
"We have two open serialization slots this time. But there are twenty-one submitted works. Competition is pretty fierce. Let's start with the first entry on the table: Love Like Fireworks!"
At his words, Su Mingxi picked up the neatly collated batch of manuscripts in front of her.
Normally, submissions brought into a serialization meeting consisted of about two to three chapters' worth of material.
Editors at the table didn't read every page in full detail—if they tried to read all dozens of submissions that way, the meeting would last a day and a night.
They were pros. They knew what to look at.
Art, story, pacing, dialogue…
This is really good, she thought a few minutes later, having skimmed through the three chapters.
But unfortunately… not quite enough.
From across the table, Gao Dian watched her expression and frowned.
That calm? Don't tell me one of the two works she submitted is actually stronger than this?
The other editors began sharing their thoughts.
"Very solid."
"Nice! That plot twist."
"I think it's pretty interesting."
"A very good manga," Su Mingxi added.
"Since the reaction is positive, we'll keep this one under consideration for now," Director Huang Yan said, putting the manuscript down.
"Next, please open the second submission for today's meeting: the copied manuscript of 5 Centimeters per Second."
Hearing that, Gao Dian casually picked up the stack in front of him—and immediately frowned.
"Why is it so thick?" he asked aloud.
"Because all five chapters are in there," Su Mingxi replied, glancing at him.
"It's my submission—a short series by a new mangaka. So we brought the full thing in for everyone to read."
"Short series? New mangaka?"
At that, everyone in the room exchanged looks, their thoughts beginning to run.
Sakura Weekly didn't reject short series on principle, but they were certainly less valuable commercially. It was harder to build up popularity with so few chapters, and a five-chapter run could only fill a single volume in book form.
So, naturally, short series had a much tougher time passing a serialization meeting than mid- or long-form ones. And a newcomer's work would be scrutinized even more.
Hearing this, Gao Dian was secretly delighted.
If that's the case, how are you supposed to compete with me?
The two works he was submitting today—Love Like Fireworks! and Moonlit Glass—were both high-quality series created by fairly well-known mangaka.
There was no way they'd lose to a short story by some unknown newbie.
It was in the bag.
Gao Dian opened 5 Centimeters per Second with a faint smile on his face.