Throughout the day, both Rei and Miyu were a little absent-minded. When morning came, they both woke up early despite barely sleeping.
"Morning!"
"Morning."
Rei caught the dark circles under her eyes and felt the weight of his own exhaustion. He had only fallen asleep at four in the morning.
The two sat at the dining table eating breakfast, but neither of them was really thinking about food. Rei kept refreshing web pages, scanning fan discussions about the various works released in this week's issue of Dream Comic Journal.
Miyu let out a quiet sigh.
"A bit nervous, aren't you?" Rei looked over at her.
He didn't say it outright, but Miyu knew exactly what kind of nervousness he meant.
"Yeah," she answered softly.
"Don't panic. Your ranking will definitely overtake them this week. And even if it doesn't happen this week, it definitely will next week."
"Don't jinx it. What do you mean 'if it doesn't happen this week'? This week, it definitely will."
The words came out confidently enough, but her expression told a different story. She looked at Rei for a moment, then finally said, "You're still the impressive one. Years ago, you locked in first place at Dream Comic. Ever since, as long as your work is serialized in the journal, it's always number one."
Rei said nothing.
"After all, I'm the man who's going to be your husband. I have to be at least a little impressive to be worthy of you," he said with a grin.
"Who said I'm marrying you?" Miyu's ears went red. She picked up a boiled egg with her chopsticks, dipped it in sauce, and took a bite.
"Too late to back out now," Rei said.
"You're so annoying! You always say embarrassing things while we're eating. Have you ever heard of subtlety?"
"No."
Miyu looked up to find him watching her with that beaming smile of his, and she lost all will to argue.
"You know," she said after a moment, "over all these years, plenty of girls must have approached you. Why did you ultimately choose me?"
She looked at him steadily.
Strictly speaking, Miyu wasn't the type to feel inferior. She was cheerful by nature. It was simply that Rei's achievements were so dazzling that even she felt a quiet insecurity sometimes when she was with him.
The reason she had set that condition, reaching second place in Dream Comic before getting married, wasn't to prove her worth to Rei. It was to prove something to herself. That in all of Japan, she had only ever lost to Rei. And if Rei was going to choose someone from the manga world to spend his life with, no one was more suited for it than her.
"What about you, then? Aren't you the same?" Rei said. "There's a line from a manga I like: there's no particular reason why a special person is special. It's just that by the time you notice, she already is."
"That line? I don't recognize it, and I'm pretty sure I've read every romance manga in Japan worth reading." This time, it wasn't just Miyu's ears that turned red. Her cheeks flushed too.
"It's from a romance anime I might put out in the future. You'll figure out the title later," Rei laughed. "Anyway, don't put too much pressure on yourself. If it doesn't work this week, then next week. If not next week, then next month. I've known you for eight years. I don't mind waiting another eight for you to reach second place."
"Only eight years?" Miyu caught the gap in his words immediately.
"I can wait longer. I'm just not sure I'll make it to a hundred."
They joked about it a while longer, and then both fell into silence.
Neither of them was in the mood to work. After breakfast, Rei suggested they play games together. The two-player co-op market in Japan had no shortage of good options. They sat shoulder to shoulder in the living room, controllers in hand, working through levels together.
Then, around noon, the Hoshimori Group sent the week's voting rankings to their emails.
Both their phones chimed at almost the exact same moment. The smiles in their eyes vanished instantly, replaced by tension.
Rei didn't hesitate. He picked up his phone and opened the notification.
Miyu's heart climbed into her throat. But when she saw Rei look up at her with a completely blank expression, it sank.
"Still third place?"
Rei said nothing.
"It didn't drop to fourth, did it?"
"Well..." Rei hesitated, his face twisting into an exaggerated look of pain. "It's actually first."
Then he burst out laughing, held up his phone, and snapped a photo of her face.
"Got you."
Miyu stared at her boyfriend's completely childish behavior without a word.
But after a moment, she found herself laughing too. The joy of the news was simply bigger than any annoyance at being teased.
"Alright," Rei said.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small ring box. He didn't bother asking if she was willing. At a moment like this, what was there to ask? He took the ring out and, before she could react, slipped it onto the ring finger of her left hand.
"There. That settles it. We'll go get the marriage certificate on Monday, then arrange the wedding. Miyu, you can start thinking about how you want the ceremony to look and when you want it held. And if you can't decide, don't worry. I already have a date in mind. You can just leave it to me," he said with a smile.
Miyu looked at the ring on her finger. Her mind went blank for a moment, and then she threw herself at Rei and kissed him.
For the entire weekend, neither of them did a single stroke of work. The neglected manga manuscripts and schedules could wait. Both were known as dedicated professionals in Japan's anime industry, but even dedicated professionals took leave.
On Monday morning, the two rushed to the municipal office and had their marriage certificate in hand before noon. Only then did something finally settle in their chests.
When they broke the news to Misaki over lunch, she sat there in a daze, watching Rei become her brother-in-law at record speed.
Was this how young people operated these days? Getting married without consulting her even once?
What followed were the practical arrangements: confirming the wedding date, then a joint announcement released by Shirogane Animation and Illumination Animation, two of Japan's major anime industry companies, confirming the wedding date of Shirogane and mangaka Saki.
The schedule was tight. It was currently August, and the wedding was set for September 1st. As a result, Saki's manga Reincarnation would go on a one-month hiatus. As for Attack on Titan, Rei had a large enough manuscript backlog that serialization would continue without interruption through both the wedding and honeymoon.
The news sent shockwaves through the industry.
Until that morning, the biggest topic across Japan's anime community had been how and when Gabi would die. By afternoon, every major anime and entertainment forum had a new number one trending topic.
Shirogane's Marriage.
Yaggamy: "Holy crap. This is too ridiculous! Shirogane-sensei is just getting married like that?"
Boyoboy7: "I'm a bit dizzy. He's only 24, right?"
axl625: "Eight years, over a dozen anime works, high school graduation, university, music, film adaptations, all at the same time, and he still had the bandwidth to date someone and get married without a hitch. I'm genuinely impressed. A genius really does make it look easy."
ParticularCod6: "Saki? Her real name is Miyu, right? Younger sister of Shirogane Animation's CEO Misaki, the school beauty from Shirogane-sensei's high school, department beauty of the Finance and Management department at Vocational University. She only graduated a year ago and they're already married?"
UnPhayzable: "Miyu is the one truly soaring. Marrying Shirogane-sensei at the peak of his fame is a direct leap in social standing."
jasta85: "What leap in social standing? She was already from a wealthy family. Just on her mother's estate alone her net worth is in the hundreds of millions. She's also the mangaka behind Reincarnation, currently holding second place in Dream Comic Journal, and her previous work averaged eleven million copies per volume with a combined annual income in the hundreds of millions.
There's obviously a massive gap compared to Shirogane-sensei, but in all of Japan you'd be hard-pressed to find another woman in her twenties who is both this talented and this accomplished."
InvaderDJ: "Her ranking is only because of Shirogane-sensei's support, isn't it?"
Korasuka: "Do you really think the readers who spend real money on these journals are that easy to manipulate?
If Shirogane-sensei could produce this kind of effect with a casual word, and ten-million-copy manga sales were that simple to manufacture, why would he bother making anime at all?
He could just sit at home and remotely direct his fanbase to hand him money. Give people some credit."
PainStorm14: "Some people just refuse to think before they type. Even if you're jealous of someone's achievements, there's a limit."
OMGwronghole: "Anyway, congratulations first and foremost."
Yaggamy: "Congratulations!"
Boyoboy7: "I'm genuinely salty. Shirogane-sensei is rich, his wife is rich, and they're both absurdly good-looking. Someone once said that wealth, talent, and looks couldn't all exist in one person. Here we have two people who tick every box, and they're marrying each other."
axl625: "There's nothing to do but be envious."
ParticularCod6: "Wedding's on September 1st, right? Are there fan invitation slots?"
UnPhayzable: "I heard there are, but no word yet on how many!"
...
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