"Attack on Titan, three chapters in total, seventy-two pages."
"Such a shame—just eight more pages and it could've qualified for the priority display section."
After uploading the work to the website, mother and daughter noticed that the contest homepage had a priority display section. This section featured over forty manga works—submissions that were eighty pages or longer, or completed a full volume.
In Japan, aside from serialized magazines, manga was typically published by the volume. One volume usually contained four chapters, each around twenty to twenty-five pages. A complete volume typically totaled eighty to a hundred pages. Only works that completed a volume could be considered fully published, meeting the conditions for potential print publication.
Because of this, the contest gave priority to such works, placing them in the spotlight. If a work in the priority section gained enough popularity, the magazine could sign the author and publish the work.
Eriri submitted Attack on Titan, but it was placed in the regular display section. The homepage for the regular section contained all submissions outside of the priority area.
Scrolling to the very bottom, Eriri finally spotted Attack on Titan—listed last among over six hundred entries.
"This far back… we're way too low," she muttered.
According to the contest rules, works were initially sorted by submission time. Voting would only start tomorrow, and popularity rankings would then determine placement.
Seeing the work at the bottom, Eriri also glanced at the total number of submissions—over seven hundred. She frowned. Japan was a manga powerhouse; there were countless creators. Moreover, this was a nationwide contest run by one of the most prestigious magazines, attracting creators even from overseas. Every author wanted to make a splash and secure their debut.
"To stand out among so many works… it won't be easy," Sayuri sighed, patting Eriri's shoulder.
Eriri understood her mother. Earlier submissions in the regular section had been visible for days, accruing initial exposure and votes. When the contest began, these works had an advantage. Readers familiar with them would likely cast votes first.
Eriri clicked one of the top ten works in the regular section. It had over 200,000 views and hundreds of reader comments. Scrolling back down to Attack on Titan, it had only a single view—her own click.
Tomorrow, the voting would begin. The voting period lasted only three days. Because of its late submission, Attack on Titan was buried at the bottom, without the same early exposure as other works. The results could be grim. After all, even the best work can struggle if nobody sees it early.
Eriri frowned.
"Don't worry, Eriri," Sayuri encouraged. "I'll ask my friends to help promote it. A work as brilliant as Attack on Titan will shine!"
"Yeah, I'll help spread it too!" Eriri said. She had an account under her pen name, "Eriri Kashiwagi," with several tens of thousands of followers. Once voting began, she intended to use her account to promote Attack on Titan.
After submitting the manga and confirming everything was in order, Eriri exhaled with relief and closed the computer. Then she returned to her daily routine—drawing.
Even geniuses must work hard. Talent alone wasn't enough; practice was essential. As the saying went, "If you don't advance, you fall behind." Only by constantly pushing boundaries could talent be honed into skill, capable of stable output.
Eriri was competitive. Ever since seeing Youichi's exceptional skills, she felt a spark of ambition—to catch up, to improve, to match him.
At the hospital, in his room, Youichi was awakened by the nurse. It was already evening.
After finishing his IV infusion, he lay in bed, feeling dazed as he thought over the events of the past two days. It all seemed surreal, like a dream.
Yet the pain in his body reminded him relentlessly that this was reality.
Clearing his mind, Youichi felt a twinge of boredom and reached to check his manga. His hand found only a mechanical pencil.
Only then did he remember—he had given the manuscripts to Eriri to handle the publication.
"I wonder what she's doing right now?"
Thinking of her, a faint smile appeared on his lips.
After dinner, Eriri soaked in the bathtub, her mind consumed by thoughts of Youichi.
"If he weren't sick, with his skills, he'd be the star of the art club," she mused.
"We'd get along so well… and together, we'd conquer this year's National High School Blackboard Art Championship, taking first place!"
The National High School Blackboard Art Championship was a tiered nationwide competition, much like the baseball Koshien. Her school's art club had been lacking talent. Apart from Eriri, the rest were amateurs. Last year, due to weaker teammates, the club was eliminated early.
In school, Eriri sometimes felt isolated, rare in her admiration for others. The only person she had previously respected was her senior, Utaha Kasumigaoka. A brilliant, beautiful, top student—outstanding in every way.
Yet she felt their personalities wouldn't mesh and gave up trying to befriend her.
Now, there was someone else she truly admired—Youichi Nagumo.
Half an hour later, Eriri finished her bath, dried her hair, and grabbed her phone to check the Weekly Shonen Magazine website.
"What the… only twelve views?!"
Attack on Titan had been online for half a day, and yet it had only twelve views. Eriri's frustration grew.
Eriri logged into her social media account under her pen name, "Eriri Kashiwagi," and posted a tweet:
"My friend, Teacher Nagumo's manga—Attack on Titan—is now participating in the Weekly Shonen Magazine online submission contest. This is an incredibly outstanding work. I hope everyone can take a look. Voting begins tomorrow, so please help boost its popularity with your votes. Thank you in advance! PS: I drew this cover myself..."
The tweet included the cover image and a link to the submission.
After posting, Eriri waited for a minute but saw barely any comments. Frustrated, she put on her pajamas and went to her room to do her homework.
Late at night, in Chiba City, several dozen kilometers from Tokyo, Yoshiteru Zaimokuza lay on his sofa after finishing a light novel.
"Another isekai… Why do these toilet-paper-level light novels sell so well?"
Zaimokuza, a chūnibyō teenager, aspired to become a light novel author. Though currently an obscure, unsuccessful one, he believed he was destined to write great works.
After skimming through several poorly written novels, he grew bored and decided to do something else to pass the time.
"Maybe I'll look at some manga… I heard Weekly Shonen Magazine is holding an online contest..."
The online manga contest had been the hot topic in his school recently. Zaimokuza remembered that some of his classmates at Sōbu High had entered. One had even brought their work to the club for advice, only to be mercilessly torn apart by the blunt club president, Yukino Yukinoshita.
He opened his computer, visited the magazine's website, and found the contest page.
The screen was full of manga submissions, and instantly, Zaimokuza perked up. He was currently brainstorming for his novel and figured he might glean—if not outright borrow—some inspiration from these latest works.
He glanced at the priority display section. Of the forty or so works, almost all were overpowered isekai adventures. Only two or three were school romance, and one was a classic shōnen battle manga.
School romance didn't interest him. Shōnen battle manga was outdated, a relic of the previous century. He couldn't bring himself to care.
He clicked through some isekai works and found their plots all alarmingly similar: summoned to another world, becomes the hero, embarks on an adventure, builds a harem, defeats the demon king, saves the world…
"The same trash that's ruining light novels is rampant in manga too? Ridiculous!"
Seeing some poorly written isekai manga with over 500,000 views, Zaimokuza's blood boiled.
"So good works can't get noticed?"
Recalling how his own brilliant light novels had been dismissed—and that Yukino had called them trash—he was fuming.
After scanning the priority display section and finding nothing appealing, he clicked over to the regular display section. There were hundreds of works—far too many to check one by one. Fortunately, there was a filter option by genre: adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, supernatural, historical, military…
Zaimokuza went through page by page and eventually found a few decent works. However, they only had about twenty chapters each—too short to satisfy him.
Just as he was about to stop, he noticed a "horror" category he hadn't selected. Horror had a smaller audience, making it far less popular than mainstream isekai adventures, so it was listed last.
Zaimokuza was usually scared of ghosts and avoided horror, but curiosity got the better of him.
"Fine, let's just take a look…"
He clicked the horror filter. Only about twenty works appeared: Slit-Mouthed Woman Urban Legends, Aomori High Horror Stories Collection, Weird Tales from Hokkaido… titles filled with terrifying monsters and grotesque images.
Zaimokuza skimmed them and felt a shiver run down his spine, instantly regretting it.
Then his eyes lit up.
A manga titled Attack on Titan caught his attention. The cover showed a young boy in strange gear, swinging dual blades at a massive humanoid monster atop a city wall. The scene was enormous and overwhelming, immediately giving a sense of weight and grandeur. Just the cover alone felt like a masterpiece.
He could only imagine how impressive the interior would be. Unlike typical horror, this giant humanoid wasn't grotesque in the same way.
Curious, he clicked in to read the full work.
Once he started, he couldn't stop. The impact was unlike anything he had ever experienced in manga: unique art style, tightly wound and dynamic plot, characters with distinct, memorable personalities…
Simply put, it was brilliant.
After finishing, he was deeply shaken. Once his excitement subsided a bit, he read it again. Then again. Over and over.
All three chapters, seventy-two pages, were read four or five times. He desperately wanted to know what would happen next, but the author had only drawn three chapters.
Frustrated, he searched for information about the creator.
"Nagumo? Never heard of them… must not be a newbie, right?"
Finding nothing, he left a comment in the work's comment section:
"Teacher Nagumo, I have read your manga. It is truly brilliant—calling it great would not be an exaggeration. Voting opens tomorrow; I will cast my vote for it. May this work become a massive hit! Respectfully, light novel author—Swordmaster Shogun."
After shutting his computer, Zaimokuza, still thrilled, immediately called a friend.
"Hey, Hachiman, I found an incredible manga—"
But the friend hung up before he could finish his sentence.
The next day—Sunday—Eriri woke up but didn't get out of bed immediately. She picked up her phone and opened the contest website.
The voting phase of the submission contest had already begun.
The next three days would determine whether Attack on Titan could truly shine.
Eriri noticed that the priority display section had now been moved to a secondary page, just like the regular display. In its place was a popularity ranking.
The ranking listed 100 manga works, sorted by the total number of votes they had received.
Eriri casually scanned the list and found that the top-ranked works already had enormous vote counts. The top three were:
"Reincarnated as an Invincible Hero, I Build a Harem in Another World", by Watanabe Stalone; Views: 428,943; Votes: 10,931; Rank: 1/722
"I Save Elf Slaves and Build a Super Farm in Another World", by Moriya Hajime; Views: 478,103; Votes: 9,106; Rank: 2/722
"Reincarnated as a Beautiful Girl, Adventuring with Them", by Neko Sakura; Views: 358,103; Votes: 8,809; Rank: 3/722
All of these works had previously appeared in the priority display section and exceeded 80 pages in length. The first two had even completed a full volume.
Just from their titles, Eriri could guess the content: more tired, overused isekai clichés—nothing in the same league as Nagumo's Attack on Titan.
However, during the early phase of the contest, these works had gained massive exposure in the priority display section, giving them a huge head start in votes.
It would indeed be difficult for Attack on Titan to catch up…
Seeing those staggering numbers made Eriri anxious. She quickly navigated to the regular display section to check Nagumo's work.
The small phone screen made scrolling through hundreds of works tedious, so she typed the title directly into the search bar.
Her heart sank instantly.
"Attack on Titan," by Nagumo; Views: 178; Votes: 132; Rank: 532/722
"Only this many?!"
Compared to the works on the top chart, these numbers were negligible.
Eriri wondered if she had made a mistake.
"I posted on social media! Did it not go through? Or maybe my followers aren't interested in this kind of genre?"
Flustered, she immediately cast a vote using her own account and then hurried to her social media.
She saw her tweet was properly posted, and dozens of comments had appeared below it.
Reading the latest comments, she finally realized the problem.
User A: We have to support Teacher Kashiwagi's friend's work! Wait, the link isn't working…
User B: Wow, did Teacher Kashiwagi draw the cover? Amazing! Such a new style! Though I still prefer the teacher's doujin H works, haha… By the way, the link really doesn't work. Teacher, please repost it—I'll vote for sure!
User C: Not really my usual type, horror's not my favorite, but I voted anyway! Waiting for the correct link…
Ah, it was the link!
Eriri quickly tested the link attached to her tweet. Sure enough, it redirected to a blank page.
She guessed that since voting went live today, the organizers had updated the website last night, causing her shared link to break.
"Magazine websites really aren't reliable!" she muttered, then immediately reposted the tweet with the correct link.
"Sorry, the link sent last night is invalid. Here's the latest link—please go vote and help boost its popularity!"
After posting, she tested the link—it worked. Eriri breathed a sigh of relief.
After a short while, she posted another tweet:
"To thank everyone for your support, I'll be posting a new Isuzu-san doujin in a couple of days! The one you've all been waiting for…"
Isuzu—no, Chitose Isuzu—was the heroine of a certain popular anime, extremely beautiful and widely beloved. Her doujin works were famous among fans, earning her the titles "Workaholic" and "Doujin Queen."
The comment section immediately exploded.
User A: For Isuzu-san, I'll support it no matter what!
User B: Haven't read the manga yet, but I already voted! Teacher Kashiwagi, hurry, I can't wait!
User C: Wow, Isuzu-san! But sorry, Teacher Kashiwagi, each account can only vote for five works, and I've already used my votes. Next time for sure!
Most of Eriri's followers were otaku who liked H doujin works. They weren't particularly interested in Attack on Titan's horror genre.
Still, she found a few comments that made her happy:
User D: I searched for this work last night when Teacher Kashiwagi tweeted it—so shocking! I voted!
User E: Nagumo is really talented! I suspect this is a secret new work from a manga master. Teacher Kashiwagi, can you spill the beans?
User F: Read it, so good! Looking forward to the continuation! Of course, I'm even more excited for Teacher Kashiwagi's Isuzu-san!
Eriri smiled, then closed her phone, brushed her teeth, washed up, and went downstairs for breakfast.
After eating, she returned to her room, opened her computer, and checked the website again.
"Works like magic!"
"Attack on Titan," by Nagumo; Views: 1,288; Votes: 592; Rank: 342/722
Her tweets had brought over a thousand new views and more than 400 votes, pushing the work up nearly 200 ranks.
The comment section below also filled with new readers:
Swordmaster Shogun: Nagumo-sensei, I've read your manga. It's brilliant! I'll vote tomorrow—may this work become a massive hit!
Reader A: So thrilling! Story and art are both top-notch, voted!
Reader B: Nagumo… never heard the pen name. A newbie? Genius ideas though!
Reader C: From Teacher Kashiwagi! I suspect this Nagumo-sensei is a hidden manga master, voted for one chapter, will read the rest later…
Reader D: Voted! Hope the teacher gets signed and releases the rest soon. I'll buy a copy when it publishes!
Reader E: Same, I'll support Nagumo-sensei!
Reader F: Excellent work, pity horror isn't that popular nowadays. Everyone loves isekai…
Reader G: From Teacher Kashiwagi! +1, voted for Isuzu-san!
The overwhelmingly positive feedback thrilled Eriri.
Closing her computer, she turned to her drawing board, ready to work on the doujin she had promised her fans.