Chapter 75: The Margin

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: The Margin

Haruki lost the lead at 2:17 PM.

He discovered this because Takeda sent a screenshot accompanied by profanity.

A lot of profanity.

The numbers were simple.

Haruki Amamiya: 49.2%

Kenji Watanabe: 50.8%

The lead wasn’t gone by much.

Gone was still gone.

Haruki stared at the screen for several seconds.

Then closed it.

No panic.

No dramatic reaction.

No crisis.

Just work.

Because the vote would remain open for another thirty hours.

Panic accomplished very little.

Chapter Nineteen accomplished more.

He returned to the manuscript.

For approximately twelve minutes.

Then checked the standings again.

A mistake.

The numbers remained almost identical.

Haruki closed the page harder this time.

Outside the apartment window, rain drifted across Tokyo.

Light rain.

Persistent rain.

The annoying kind.

The city looked gray.

His mood followed.

Not because he was losing.

Because he hated waiting.

Waiting felt powerless.

Drawing didn’t.

Writing didn’t.

Creating didn’t.

Waiting did.

His phone buzzed.

Aoi.

Of course.

The message contained one sentence.

Stop refreshing and finish your Chapter.

Haruki immediately typed back.

How do you know I’m refreshing?

The reply arrived ten seconds later.

Because everyone does.

Annoyingly reasonable.

Very annoyingly reasonable.

The conversation ended there.

Which somehow made it worse.

By late afternoon, Haruki finally forced himself into a café without internet access.

Not intentionally.

The Wi-Fi simply didn’t work.

An unexpected blessing.

Chapter Nineteen finally moved forward.

Ren and his group infiltrated a local records archive searching for original Bureau files.

Not because they expected success.

Because every other lead had failed.

Failure accumulated naturally.

The investigation wasn’t progressing smoothly.

The public wasn’t suddenly believing them.

The Bureau wasn’t collapsing.

Good.

The consequences felt heavier this way.

More believable.

The Chapter gained momentum.

Ren argued with Miyu.

Not a philosophical discussion.

Not a meaningful debate.

An actual argument.

Messy.

Emotional.

Incomplete.

Neither character won.

The scene worked better because of it.

Haruki noticed.

Then continued writing instead of analyzing.

Progress.

At 6:31 PM, someone sat across from him.

Haruki looked up.

Akari.

Holding a coffee.

Looking annoyed.

Her natural state.

"What happened?"

Akari placed her phone on the table.

Tournament standings.

Aoi: 51%

Akari: 49%

Close.

Very close.

"You’re stalking me now?"

Akari rolled her eyes.

"The café is attached to the station."

Fair.

The two creators sat in silence for a moment.

Then simultaneously checked tournament standings.

Both noticed.

Both immediately looked away.

That made them laugh.

A little.

The tension eased.

"Kenji is terrifying."

Akari said it casually.

Haruki nodded.

"Agreed."

"No social media."

"Yep."

"No interviews."

"Yep."

"No drama."

"Yep."

Another pause.

"He just releases good Chapters."

That was the scary part.

The conversation drifted toward creators.

Then editors.

Then Aoi.

Eventually Akari shook her head.

"You know what’s unfair?"

Haruki already knew where this was going.

"What?"

"Aoi actually enjoys this."

That was true.

Painfully true.

Most creators experienced competition like stress.

Aoi experienced competition like a hobby.

The thought irritated both of them.

Which improved the conversation considerably.

When Akari finally left, Haruki felt better.

Not because anything changed.

Because shared pressure felt lighter.

A useful human trait.

At 8:12 PM, another message arrived.

Mizuno.

The editor sent a single screenshot.

Industry Observation Ranking

Aoi Fujimura

Haruki Amamiya

Kenji Watanabe

Akari Sato

Beneath it:

Stop looking at reader votes.

Industry interest matters more long term.

Haruki stared.

Then at the semifinal standings.

Then back at Mizuno’s message.

For once, he listened.

The browser tab closed.

The Chapter reopened.

An hour later, the system appeared.

Creator Assessment

Current Issue:

Attention Fragmentation

Time Lost This Week:

7.3 Hours

Cause:

Tournament monitoring

Suggestion:

Create instead of observe.

The screen vanished.

Haruki hated how accurate it was.

Because seven hours mattered.

Seven hours was nearly an entire Chapter.

A backup Chapter.

A revised storyboard.

A better future.

The debt notification followed immediately.

Tournament Progress Reward Pending

Potential Reward:

300 CP

Potential Debt Deduction:

120 CP

There it was.

Another reminder.

Even victory would arrive partially claimed.

Near midnight, the latest unofficial numbers leaked.

Kenji: 50.1%

Haruki: 49.9%

A difference of almost nothing.

A margin smaller than some comment sections.

Haruki looked at the numbers.

Then closed them.

No refresh.

No panic.

No analysis.

Just work.

Chapter Nineteen reached completion at 1:43 AM.

A small victory.

A real victory.

Outside, rain continued falling across Tokyo.

Inside, the semifinal remained undecided.

The debt remained active.

The industry continued watching.

And somewhere else in the city, Kenji Watanabe was probably doing exactly what made him dangerous.

Ignoring the tournament.

And writing another Chapter.