Across various cities and prefectures, Shroud Line had a loyal and steadily growing readership.
Some readers already recognized the name Mizushiro from past works, but for many, this was their first time encountering it.
The Aurora Manga Award was respected in the industry, but few readers paid it much mind—like how people watch movies without caring who wins awards.
So when three new serializations were announced in the latest issue of Shroud Line, most readers approached them with cautious curiosity. They flipped through the pages out of interest, not urgency.
Long-running titles had their devoted fans. For everyone else, it was a matter of skimming and seeing what stuck.
The three new series?
The Thousand Stars Secret Realm.
Natsume's Book of Friends.
Thousand Stars and Star Jumper Mouse made a decent first impression—solid starts, maybe even promising—but didn't immediately hook readers. The first chapters were more setup than spark.
But Natsume's Book of Friends...
After reading the two chapters, many paused before moving on. Some even flipped back to reread the quieter scenes they'd skimmed at first.
It wasn't flashy. No big fights, no cliffhangers. Just something simple—and affecting.
Names like Natsume, Madara, Reiko, and Hishigaki stayed with them. The story didn't shout, but it left a mark. You couldn't quite explain why—but it felt like something.
The manga's tone made its episodic nature clear. But by the end of chapter two, readers weren't just interested—they were already waiting for the next issue. Not out of habit, but because they wanted to feel that warmth again.
In Osaka, where Mizushiro had his strongest base, Shroud Line saw a noticeable spike in sales.
Some readers picked it up out of loyalty—especially fans of Rurouni Kenshin: Remembrance—but didn't expect much. They assumed his new series wouldn't match the emotional weight of his earlier work.
Then they read Natsume's Book of Friends—and got pulled in all over again.
Online chatter started building. Not loud, but steady. Comments were overwhelmingly positive. The quiet melancholy of Natsume struck a chord, especially with readers who hadn't expected to be moved.
Soon, a reader poll ranking the issue's most popular series started circulating. Quietly but unmistakably, Natsume's Book of Friends began climbing the list.
With internet integration now standard across major publishers, online voting had replaced the old mail-in system. Reader support could be tracked in real time.
New series usually land somewhere in the middle—not last, but rarely near the top. Shroud Line featured some of the country's biggest names. Competing with them on day one? Nearly impossible.
So when the latest issue launched, Echo Shroud's analytics team expected business as usual.
Star Jumper Mouse debuted at 17th. Thousand Stars at 16th. No surprises.
But Natsume's Book of Friends—only two chapters in—had surged to 11th.
Echo Shroud's internal system updated live. Editors could watch rankings shift hour by hour. Even those who'd believed in Natsume didn't expect this.
Word of the data spread quickly through Tokyo's manga circles.
Some shrugged. "It's just a few spots above the others," they said.
But in terms of votes, Natsume had more than double the support.
Same debut window. Same magazine. But the gap was staggering.
What made it stranger: the other two authors were veteran Tokyo-based creators with name recognition and loyal fans. Haruki, by comparison, was still a newcomer.
And yet this was the result.
Critics who had dismissed the series before release fell silent.
Some media outlets had prepared snide pieces about the new titles. Quietly, those drafts disappeared overnight.
At home, Haruki had been refreshing the rankings page almost hourly.
By afternoon, he'd stopped.
"Two chapters in... of course it's not enough—yet," he murmured.
He wasn't frustrated. He knew the top ten were packed with long-running national hits. Natsume might have been beloved in another world, but there were no shortcuts here. He'd need time—and consistency.
So he turned back to his manuscript. The wasn't going to draw itself.
"Eleventh place..." Haruka leaned back in her chair, still watching the live rankings after hours.
Honestly, she'd been bracing for 15th.
Coming this close to the top ten? That wasn't just promising—it was rare.
But Haruka wasn't celebrating yet. The real test was ahead. Would the momentum hold?
She needed to see the next few chapters before calling it a hit.
Shout out to Tanay Srivastava for joining my p-atreon! your support means everything to me.
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