Parallel world Manga Artist-Chapter 231: A Single Moment

In December, every corner of Japan's manga market was flooded with news about Hunter x Hunter and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.

Across Tokyo, subway stations, bus stops, and the sides of buses were plastered with posters for the Demon Slayer anime and manga.

Part of this was thanks to Rei pouring in massive promotional funds, but it was also a spontaneous push by Hoshimori Group themselves.

With Hunter x Hunter about to go on hiatus, their only hope of keeping Dream Comic's sales stable lay in Rei's new title, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Even without holding the IP rights directly, they weren't about to quibble over that now.

As long as Demon Slayer could prop up circulation after its launch, everything else was worth it.

As for Rei, he began showing up at every commercial appearance and offline event imaginable.

The hiatus of Hunter x Hunter needed publicity, and so did the premiere of Demon Slayer. Rei deliberately tied the two properties together. By now, almost every die-hard Hunter x Hunter fan had shifted at least some attention toward the Demon Slayer anime.

Major media outlets likewise pivoted their coverage from Hunter x Hunter to Demon Slayer.

"Shirogane's new anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba premieres Thursday, January 4th, at 8 p.m. on Ion TV Station. Will it become another phenomenon?"

"Shirogane's new series is hugely anticipated, but can it really live up to expectations and rival Hunter x Hunter?"

"There's no sun that never sets. Shirogane can't expect every title to win the market. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is generating buzz now, yet once serialization starts, it may only disappoint fans."

"Shirogane tells the press he's confident Demon Slayer will surpass Hunter x Hunter and reshape Japan's anime ecosystem."

"From his first year of high school to his third year of college, Shirogane's creative journey enters its sixth year. Will his seventh work keep him on the industry's global pedestal?"

"January 4th. Let's ring in the year's first anime carnival!"

"A Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba film is locked in for next summer. If the series lands with a thud, the movie will become an industry joke. With more than five billion yen already invested, it could become the country's biggest money-loser ever."

Rei's meteoric rise had eaten into many people's market share. Seeing him launch something new, plenty of industry players were making quiet moves behind the scenes.

A series that hadn't even debuted was already being smeared by trolls and negative press.

Most of Rei's fans, however, just scoffed at the noise.

Whether Demon Slayer was good or bad, you'd only know after watching it.

And if it turned out mediocre? Those same fans wouldn't spare their wrath. They'd curse Shirogane awake and drag him back to drawing Hunter x Hunter.

And so, time quietly slipped into late December.

For two straight weeks, the Hunter x Hunter manga storyline focused on one thing only.

The Ant King recovering the memories he'd lost when Netero's Poor Man's Rose detonated.

Across two full chapters, Meruem, while Shaiapouf deliberately kept him in the dark, finally extracted the key clue from a defecting Squadron Leader ant: "Komugi!"

A name known to nearly every high-ranking ant. The girl who had captivated the King through their games of Gungi. And hearing it ignited his memories in an instant.

He remembered her.

Then... he unclenched the fist he had raised to execute the traitor.

Even when that Squadron Leader found the courage to shout to his face that his true king was no longer Meruem...

The Ant King merely replied, calm and unhurried: "Is that so? If possible, I wish you could live as a human."

Those two short chapters devoted almost every page to portraying the King.

The once-cruel tyrant, after his battle with Netero, had shed his fury. He forgave rebellion. He no longer raged at Shaiapouf's deception.

Thinking only of Komugi, he set out with steady steps toward the hidden underground shelter where he believed she waited.

The brutality of his first appearance... and the mercy he now showed human and ant alike moved every reader who had followed the Chimera Ant arc from the beginning.

The Chimera Ant arc showed how protagonists like Gon and Netero, driven by duty and vengeance, became beasts consumed by desire and hatred...

Yet it also showed how Meruem, once a beast born to devour, grew into something profoundly human through his time with Komugi.

These same two chapters also revealed the ultimate weapon the protagonists would unknowingly wield against the King.

Netero's Poor Man's Rose was never meant to kill Meruem through the blast alone. Its deadliest feature was the poison it spread to every living thing caught within its range.

Lethal. And contagious.

Once that detail dropped, fans across Japan realized immediately: Shirogane called it "poison," but it was obviously radiation.

Survive the initial explosion, and you still faced the slow, inescapable aftermath.

Which confirmed what everyone had suspected. The Poor Man's Rose was, in truth, a renamed nuclear weapon.

On a Friday in late December, the day Dream Comic hit the stands, the Hunter x Hunter anime forums were already buzzing by early morning.

"Last week the Hunter x Hunter anime hit 6.93 percent ratings. Breaking seven percent feels inevitable!"

"If it cracks seven, that'll be Shirogane-sensei's third series to do it."

"Manga tankōbon sales are sitting at 26.9 million. Just a step away from twenty-seven million."

"This year Hunter x Hunter tankōbon should break a hundred million total, right?"

"Two straight years over a hundred million, and by a huge margin. If Shirogane-sensei kept the series going, yearly sales could hit two hundred million!"

"He updates so fast we get multiple tankōbon a year. A mangaka who can move more than twenty billion yen in tankōbon annually is rare in our country's history. Wonder how much he's actually pocketed."

"He only gets eight percent royalties. Retailers, distributors, and Hoshimori Group all take their cut. You think that pile of cash is all his?"

"Still, tens of thousands of people across Japan make their living off the Hunter x Hunter industry chain... so much yearly value, and he ends it on a whim. That's capricious, honestly. Who knows how many household incomes just got pulled out from under them."

"But after Hunter x Hunter went on hiatus, the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba industry chain surged. My cousin's figure factory just landed orders for Demon Slayer character models, and they're already in production. Honestly, I prefer the Demon Slayer figure designs over Hunter x Hunter's. Heh heh... as long as Shirogane-sensei doesn't earn enough to retire, the domestic industry won't take a big hit. One series rests, another rises."

"Only if Demon Slayer is actually good, though."

Early that morning, Yuma queued up to pay while scrolling through the flood of Hunter x Hunter and Demon Slayer chatter online. He exhaled in frustration.

He studied the copy of Dream Comic in his hand.

For three straight weeks the cover had been a Hunter x Hunter and Demon Slayer crossover illustration.

Yet no one even knew what genre Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba belonged to... Shifting his gaze from the oddly dressed, scarred boy on one half of the cover, Yuma met the calm, fathomless stare of the Ant King on the other.

He took a deep breath, hurried home, and flipped to page one.

Title: "This Day, This Moment."

Hunter x Hunter chapter titles never made sense at first glance. Yuma skimmed past it.

The first panel showed the Ant King descending into an underground bunker. With his overwhelming power, he effortlessly located the hidden Palm.

"You have won. The war is over," the Ant King said quietly.

The manga never once stated outright that the Ant King knew he was poisoned.

But with Menthuthuyoupi dead and Shaiapouf coughing blood, a being as intelligent as the Ant King could hardly have missed the fact that he had been checkmated.

The instant he abandoned his Royal Guards and agreed to fight Netero alone to protect Komugi, he had already been defeated.

An Ant King born only forty days ago could not fathom how humanity had survived for millennia.

A monarch still bound by chivalry and royal pride could never outmaneuver Netero's ruthless self-destruction.

Yuma seethed.

He could accept the Ant King's loss. But not like this.

Netero, the Extermination Team, all of them had exploited Komugi, the King's only weakness.

Compared with the composed, gracious loser the Ant King proved to be, they were nothing but petty cowards. Yuma sighed.

Though the humans had "won," he felt no joy.

In truth, he too had fallen under the Ant King's spell.

He read on.

"My reason for coming is simple. I want to see Komugi. Only that. I understand my present and my future. I merely wish to spend what time remains with her."

The Ant King spoke these words to the hidden Palm.

Tears sprang to Yuma's eyes.

That was the King's final wish.

But Palm refused to believe him, suspecting some ploy.

To prove his sincerity, the Ant King prepared to kneel before her.

Such was his resolve. His honesty.

And Palm, now a Chimera Ant herself, could neither accept nor refuse.

In the colony, a King simply did not bow.

Yet at the end of his life, he conquered that instinct.

Palm finally revealed Komugi's hiding place.

Deep in the bunker, saved by Neferpitou's Doctor Blythe, Komugi mumbled Gungi moves in her sleep.

Seeing her, the Ant King simply smiled.

"Wake up, Komugi. Let's play."

Yuma swallowed hard and read on.

The poison carried by the Poor Man's Rose began spreading through the Ant King's body, wiping out those closest to him. Shaiapouf was already among the fallen.

Deep underground, Meruem set up the Gungi board and gently woke the silver-haired girl.

"Once, you asked my name," he said.

"My name is Meruem."

"My name is Komugi, Meruem-sama."

"Drop the title. If I beat you at Gungi, you must call me simply Meruem."

Their words were ordinary. Their weight was heartbreaking.

Yuma still couldn't follow the intricacies of the game.

Just as the Ant King was about to claim victory, Komugi played a transcendent move.

Her fingers seemed to glow against the board.

A position that had looked dead sprang back to life.

The killing intent Meruem had reserved for his final strike vanished.

But he did not yield. The battle simply resumed.

When he looked up, he saw tears streaming down her face.

"Why are you crying?"

"I... I... Am I allowed to be this happy? Someone like me?"

Komugi sobbed.

Yuma wept with her.

She had found her equal.

She wept for the sheer joy of meeting a Gungi partner like Meruem.

A game needs two players.

A masterpiece requires two equals.

Sai's famous words from Hikaru no Go echoed unbidden in Yuma's mind.

Moved by her tears, the Ant King confessed.

"I'm poisoned. I won't live much longer. I wanted to spend my last days here with you... but if you stay, you'll catch the toxin too. You will die."

She answered only by placing her next stone.

"Let me stay beside you, foolish as I am," Komugi said, smiling.

In the dim bunker, the two of them seemed to glow.

Meruem gazed at her.

"I... was born for this day."

"And I was born for this moment."

Both thought the same words.

Tears blurred Yuma's sight. Their blissful faces swam on the page.

Everyone spends their life searching for its meaning.

In these panels, both had found theirs.

Not world domination. Not the summit of evolution.

For Meruem, forty short days had been enough.

For Komugi, all her years of lonely study and solitary championships had been waiting for the day Meruem was born.

Long or brief, their lives converged here. On this board. In this game.

...

STONES ???

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