Chapter 122: The Release

Chapter 122: Chapter 122: The Release

Chapter Thirty released at 8:00 AM.

Haruki was not supposed to check the response until 2:00 PM.

That was the agreement.

A direct order from Mizuno.

A recommendation from Suzune.

A warning from the system.

---

At 8:03 AM, he checked.

---

At 8:07 AM, he checked again.

---

At 8:11 AM, he remembered he was an idiot.

---

A useful realization.

---

Not a new one.

---

The comment section loaded.

---

Hundreds of responses.

---

Thousands of views.

---

The first comment read:

---

Finally. Someone stayed angry.

---

Haruki blinked.

---

Scrolled.

---

Another.

---

Miyu feels like a real person again.

---

Another.

---

Ren deserved that.

---

Another.

---

Best Chapter since the rewrite disaster.

---

That one hurt.

---

Fairly.

---

Painfully.

---

Fairly.

---

Haruki closed the page.

---

Immediately.

---

Not because the comments were bad.

---

Because they weren’t.

---

The temptation remained dangerous.

---

Very dangerous.

---

At 9:30, he arrived at Yamashita Publishing.

---

The editorial floor looked slightly less chaotic than last week.

---

Only slightly.

---

A junior editor sprinted past carrying four binders and what appeared to be emotional damage.

---

Publishing remained healthy.

---

Haruki entered a conference room.

---

Mizuno already waited.

---

Coffee.

Red pen.

Disappointment.

---

The standard equipment.

---

Suzune sat beside her.

---

Laptop open.

---

Several charts covered the screen.

---

Analytics.

---

Haruki became suspicious immediately.

---

Mizuno pointed toward the chair.

---

"Sit."

---

Dangerous opening.

---

Traditional opening.

---

Haruki obeyed.

---

Suzune turned the laptop.

---

Reader retention metrics.

---

Discussion volume.

---

Completion rates.

---

The graphs climbed.

---

Not dramatically.

---

Steadily.

---

A healthier kind of growth.

---

The assistant editor tapped one chart.

---

"Chapter Thirty retained more readers than the previous five Chapters."

---

Haruki looked closer.

---

The increase wasn’t huge.

---

Meaningful.

---

Real.

---

Earned.

---

Mizuno leaned back.

---

"Do you know why?"

---

A test.

---

Clearly a test.

---

Haruki considered the answer.

---

Then:

---

"Because I didn’t fix everything."

---

Silence.

---

Suzune smiled.

---

Mizuno nodded once.

---

The editor equivalent of fireworks.

---

"Correct."

---

A pause.

---

"Readers trust consequences more than speeches."

---

The statement settled into the room.

---

No dramatic lesson followed.

---

Because it didn’t need one.

---

At noon, Haruki received another surprise.

---

A visitor.

---

Unexpected.

---

Dangerous.

---

Potentially expensive.

---

Rika arrived carrying a designer handbag that probably cost more than his monthly rent.

---

The heiress entered the conference room without hesitation.

---

As though buildings naturally belonged to her.

---

An increasingly believable theory.

---

Rika placed a folder on the table.

---

"Opportunity."

---

One word.

---

A worrying word.

---

Haruki opened the folder.

---

Then froze.

---

A creator collaboration project.

---

Several rising manga creators.

---

Industry sponsorship.

---

Media coverage.

---

A six-month cross-promotional initiative.

---

Big.

---

Very big.

---

Names filled the first page.

---

Aoi Fujimura.

Sora Tachibana.

Hoshino Arata.

---

Then—

---

Aoi Kisaragi.

---

The female creator.

---

The one still missing from the center of the story.

---

Not anymore.

---

Rika watched his reaction carefully.

---

Then smiled.

---

A dangerous smile.

---

The sort wealthy people developed when they knew something useful.

---

"This would help your public image."

---

A pause.

---

"It would also force you to work with people."

---

Haruki immediately disliked the proposal.

---

Which probably meant he needed it.

---

The realization annoyed him.

---

A lot.

---

At three o’clock, another problem arrived.

---

The system.

---

Without warning.

---

Without permission.

---

As usual.

---

Hidden Quest Updated

Previous Objective:

Recover Reader Trust

Status:

Incomplete

---

New Objective:

Build Industry Trust

---

Difficulty:

A-Rank

---

Failure Penalty:

Lost Opportunity Growth

---

Reward:

???

---

Haruki stared.

---

Then reread it.

---

Industry trust.

---

Not reader trust.

---

Different battlefield.

---

Different challenge.

---

Different weakness.

---

For the first time in weeks, the system wasn’t asking him to create better pages.

---

It was asking him to become someone others could rely on.

---

An uncomfortable objective.

---

Precisely because it targeted a weakness.

---

That evening, Haruki attended a planning session for the collaboration project.

---

The room contained twelve creators.

---

Chaos followed naturally.

---

No.

---

Automatically.

---

Better.

---

Arguments began within ten minutes.

---

One creator wanted more visibility.

Another wanted more creative freedom.

A third hated the proposed schedule.

---

The discussion spiraled.

---

Predictably.

---

Haruki watched.

---

Then noticed something.

---

Hoshino Arata wasn’t leading.

---

Interesting.

---

No.

---

Still banned.

---

He wasn’t leading.

---

He was connecting.

---

Subtle difference.

---

Whenever tension rose, Arata redirected it.

---

Whenever people talked over each other, he found common ground.

---

Whenever frustration appeared, he translated complaints into solutions.

---

Not flashy.

---

Effective.

---

Dangerously effective.

---

Across the room, Aoi Kisaragi noticed the same thing.

---

Their eyes met briefly.

---

Both understanding the same thing.

---

Arata’s greatest strength wasn’t popularity.

---

It was stability.

---

The realization felt uncomfortable.

---

Because Haruki suddenly understood why people followed him.

---

Not charisma.

---

Trust.

---

The meeting ended after two exhausting hours.

---

No final decisions.

---

Several arguments remained unresolved.

---

Good.

---

Real projects worked that way.

---

Outside, night settled across Tokyo.

---

Streetlights reflected on wet pavement from an earlier rain.

---

The city looked alive.

---

Busy.

---

Unfinished.

---

Haruki’s phone buzzed.

---

Yui.

---

Simple message.

---

Can we meet Saturday?

---

A pause.

---

Then another message.

---

I think we need to talk about what happens next.

---

The words sat on the screen.

---

Heavy.

---

Not threatening.

---

Important.

---

Haruki looked up.

---

Traffic moved through the intersection.

People crossed streets.

Life continued.

---

As always.

---

The collaboration project waited.

The hidden quest waited.

The contract waited.

The rankings waited.

---

Now the future waited too.

---

For the first time since the confession, a real answer would eventually be required.

---

And unlike manga deadlines...

---

There was no editor who could rewrite this one.