Great Mangaka

Time rewinds to Friday afternoon.

"I'm back."

After two days of exams, Takumi arrived home feeling a little tired.

"Why are you so late?"

Aika asked, coming out with a scarf tied.

"After the exam, there was a traffic jam outside the school...". Takumi gave a simple answer, and Aika immediately looked back at him and said with a smile: "Oh, Shiori, you haven't been here for the past two weeks! I thought you and Takumi had fought!"

Shiori bent down, changed her shoes, and smiled: "Aika-san, I've been busy with classes and voice acting these past two weeks, and I really haven't had time to come."

"Takumi said you wanted first place in the exam, how did you do this time?"

"Good, if Takumi hadn't gone all out, I would have been able to keep first place."

The two women chatted. Takumi ignored them, changed his shoes, and entered the house. He was a little stunned as he entered and was surprised to find someone: "Alice? What are you doing here?"

The blonde editor was sitting on the sofa, drinking water while flipping through the report in her hand.

"I'll give you some tea leaves, but first...". Alice looked back at Takumi and smiled: "How was the exam at school?"

"Good." Takumi sat beside her before leaving. He didn't pay much attention to the tea leaves on the table. Instead, he reached out, took the report, and looked at it: "Did Weekly Shōnen sales in Osaka exceed 1.2 million?"

He read it in surprise. The documents Alice was consulting were survey forms, which included data for this issue of Weekly Shōnen, reader votes, and some comments for improvement...

"Yes." Alice laughed: "How about that! What a pleasant surprise!"

Takumi nodded. He was a little surprised. This data exceeded expectations. Although Haibara Ai appeared in this issue of Weekly Shōnen. But this character's positioning is different from Kaito Kid. She can exert more power in later stages. When readers learn her identity and story, they will become more obsessed with her.

"What about total sales?"

he asked. After the surprise, Takumi frowned again. Although sales in Osaka City are not far from Kanto Manga Company's, total sales are the most important indicator.

"There's no way to calculate it yet, but it definitely exceeds half of Weekly Boutique's. Perhaps it's close to two-thirds." Alice smiled and said: "This proportion is very good. If there's no accident with your next manga, you can practically secure victory."

Two-thirds of Weekly Boutique!

Takumi's eyes widened. Previously, Weekly Shōnen sales were less than half of Diario Kanto's. And Weekly Boutique's serialization was based on Diario Kanto's popular manga, and its sales volume was almost double that of the latter!

Weekly Shōnen's sales volume reached two-thirds of Weekly Boutique's. What does this mean? This concept means that this issue of Weekly Shōnen could surpass Diario Kanto, which is a miracle for Takumi!

"How can it increase so much?"

he was stunned. This is simply a step to heaven. Takumi thought Haibara Ai would take several weeks to appear to achieve this.

"Because Sakura Books... By the way, I forgot to say." Alice smiled bitterly. At that moment, she remembered that she hadn't explained the Sakura Books bookstore chain to Takumi, so she told him again.

Sakura Books Bookstore is the second largest bookstore chain after Kanto. Upon hearing this title, Takumi was relieved.

"It turns out we also have channel advantages here."

Alice didn't describe Sakura Books Bookstore in much detail, which led to some misunderstandings for Takumi. He attributed Weekly Shōnen's sales growth to Sakura Books Bookstore and underestimated the emotional impact on readers.

Also because of this misunderstanding, when Shiori told him that a reader had put up a sign in front of Kanto Manga Company, he didn't pay too much attention.

"A reader? Did something happen?"

he asked. Shiori, more sensitive to the news, searched online and found that nothing had happened.

"The sign was quickly taken down. The reader... well, he seemed to have no problems, but he was kicked out."

After answering this sentence, the two young people put the matter aside and went to the cinema. After the trip, Shiori found a new way to get along with Takumi. Except for the occasional explicit display of affection, the rest of the time was normal. Takumi seemed to have returned to the past.

But they didn't realize that the sign at Kanto Manga Company's entrance was no coincidence.

That day, the media announced Weekly Shōnen's sales, and Kanto Manga Company published a statement on its official website to congratulate Hinotori Publishing. The content said:

"Congratulations to Weekly Shōnen for surpassing 1.2 million sales in Osaka City. After our Weekly Boutique, Japanese manga has become the second weekly magazine to surpass one million sales in a single city. This announces the beginning of a great manga era. We hope Hinotori Publishing...".

At the same time, some media also published reports:

"The great mangaka Aika congratulated Mirai-sensei on his increased sales and wished him continued hard work and good results...".

"Weekly Shōnen sales in Osaka reached 1.2 million. Kanto Manga Company and the new god Aika congratulated each other in unison. Mirai-sensei was defeated, but he still gained honor...".

Although there were no obvious insults in these headlines or content, the blatant arrogance and irony made many readers who saw the news tremble with anger.

"Does Mirai-sensei need to come and congratulate him?"

"Pretending, there's nothing more disgusting than this!"

Online, Mirai-sensei's home forum readers commented on it. Most knew the power of Kanto's capital. Whatever the media said, it was easy to distinguish who was right and who was wrong. However, Mirai-sensei had never complained, so his readers, naturally, had nothing to say.

They did not express their displeasure, but Kanto pressured them again and again, not only creating a huge media stir, but also ruthlessly using a newcomer to belittle Mirai-sensei. Time and again, that day, some readers could not stand it anymore.

Kanto's propaganda offensive very effectively influenced ordinary people, but in the eyes of Mirai-sensei's fans, it was blatant hegemony.

Why does Mirai-sensei need your support?

What qualifications does that new mangaka have to comment on Mirai-sensei from such a high position?

Is he powerful? Two to one, how funny, it's obviously an excuse to exaggerate. To promote their own mangaka, Kanto Manga Company treated Mirai-sensei like this! How hateful, how hateful!

For a whole day, there were furious comments everywhere online.

"I want to send a bomb to Kanto Manga Company!"

"I'm so furious, Mirai-sensei is pitiful!"

"Wow, I can't accept it! Weekly Shōnen sales this time are so good, many of us took the initiative to help, but we still lost to Kanto. In fact, they mocked us like this, Mirai-sensei, he's always the target of others, I'm so sorry..."

"Mirai-sensei is sixteen years old, and that newcomer is over twenty! What a joke!"

Readers gathered in the virtual world, using keyboards to express their discontent.

"The master has always insisted on original manga and has manipulated Kanto Manga Company's reputation. Don't they understand? Kanto Manga Company wants to crack down on original manga. Look, they've never allowed Master Mirai-sensei's works to appear on their channels!"

"How despicable!"

"I can't stand it! I want to demand justice for Mirai-sensei, I want to protest!"

That night, a young radical reader placed a sarcastic sign at Kanto Manga Company's entrance. Of course, security guards quickly removed it, and the sign was broken. However, the guards didn't realize that it actually contained a photo of Mirai-sensei.

Finally, the sign's text split into two columns, and the photo was trampled several times, which was truly regrettable. The furious reader posted the photo online. Now, not even the most hot-tempered readers could stand still.

"Ah, a photo of Mirai-sensei!"

"How dare they treat our idol like that? Men tolerate it, and women don't! Brothers and sisters, tomorrow we'll smash that damn company's door!"

"Oh, oh, oh!"

Thus, on Saturday, an incident occurred that shocked Osaka: Kanto Manga Company's door was smashed by hundreds of Mirai-sensei's fans.

- - - - - - - - - -

Hello everyone!

Thanks for reading this chapter.

This week, we'll have 3 daily chapters for you to enjoy. This is possible thanks to all your support with Power Stones.

To keep increasing our chapters, I'm asking for your support. For every 150 Power Stones we collect across all novels this week, I'll add an extra daily chapter for next week.

If you want to catch up and read even more, you can find over 150 advanced chapters of my novels on my Patreon.

Your comments and Power Stones are what make this possible. Thanks!

@Patreon/iLikeeMikee