"But I already had four this week, If Mahiru finds out, she'll be upset."
"Then let's just keep it a secret from Mahiru," Akifumi said with a mischievous smile.
"Alright," Mashiro answered playing along with his plan.
Akifumi playfully pinched her nose. "You better not end up a little piggy from eating all those cakes. It won't be cute!"
Mashiro glanced down at her body "Just one more wouldn't hurt."
Her earnest expression made both Akifumi and Yor laugh.
"Mashiro-san, you're really adorable," Yor commented with a warm smile.
The two left the house, and Mashiro quietly returned to her work, her expression calm as usual.
Not long after, the door opened, and Mahiru returned from shopping, her eyes scanning the room in confusion.
"Huh? Where is everyone? It's just you, Mashiro?"
Mashiro paused for a moment before replying in her usual monotone voice, "Akifumi asked Yor to teach him how to become an adult."
Mahiru froze. "H-How to become an adult...?"
Her face flushed bright red as her mind wandered to... well, more inappropriate thoughts.
Mashiro tilted her head slightly, noticing Mahiru's reaction. "Mahiru, are you feeling unwell? Your face is red." Mashiro asked, worried, reaching up to check her forehead.
"I'm fine!" Mahiru waved her hand dismissively, though her cheeks were still flushed.
"Mashiro please explain more clearly."
"Akifumi said that every boy, before becoming an adult, naturally becomes interested in fighting. So he asked Yor to teach him." Mashiro's answer while her focus still on her tablet.
"..."
Mahiru blinked in disbelief, her face still burning from her earlier misunderstanding. She shook her head in disbelief. "How did it turn into that? What you said makes it sound so different!"
"Of course, it's Mashiro's way of interpreting things!" Mahiru muttered to herself.
She was always amazed by the girl's unique thinking.
Speaking of which...
"It's already December," Mahiru said absently.
Mashiro tilted her head in confusion. "What's so special about December?"
"December means the New Year's coming up!" Mahiru said, smiling as she ruffled Mashiro's hair, though her expression was shadowed with a hint of something more complex.
"The New Year...," Mahiru repeated softly.
Mashiro's eyes lit up. "So, does that mean we can have more of that layer cake than usual?"
"Yes, indeed," Mahiru nodded with a smile. "For the New Year, I'll let you have five cakes in one week!"
"Five?!" Mashiro's eyes sparkled with excitement.
She started mentally counting, adding the ones Akifumi would give her.
"So, with his help, I could have over seven in a week?"
Her face lit up with a pure, innocent smile.
Mahiru, meanwhile, was lost in thought.
"I've known Mugiho-kun for half a year now..." she mused.
"It all started with that heavy rain... but even though I've been trying to keep my distance, it feels like we've grown even more apart over time."
The last time they communicated was because of Mashiro.
"Even during the New Year holiday... I doubt he'll reach out," Mahiru thought sadly.
The two of them were thinking about completely different things, each lost in their own thoughts.
Two hours later, Akifumi and Yor came back from the gym, both showing different expressions.
"Yor-san, you really went easy on me!" Akifumi laughed, rubbing his sore arm from where she had thrown him.
"I'm glad you held back," he added with a little chuckle. "If you hadn't, I'd probably be in the hospital by now."
Yor apologized, looking guilty. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so serious."
Akifumi laughed, shaking his head. "No, it's fine. Honestly, I think it's a good thing. If I'd learned some power techniques, I might have even won."
Yor raised an eyebrow, clearly amused by his compliment. "You think you could beat me? With no training?"
Akifumi, remembering her original strength, couldn't help but roll his eyes in private.
'In this world, you'd definitely be a force to reckon with, right?' he thought.
"It's funny though, hearing you say that, even if it's just to comfort me," he said aloud, his voice light-hearted.
"Comfort?" Yor thought to herself, a little confused.
Akifumi smiled and added, "Can you continue teaching me? I'm serious about learning."
"As long as you're interested. Mas— Mugiho-kun" Yor replied, she was a bit surprised by how earnest he sounded and almost called him young master.
"Then I'll rely on you," he said, smiling.
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[133] The Truth is Out! No More Hiding! The Girls' Thoughts!!
A few days passed, and the sales of WorldEnd skyrocketed, reaching a remarkable 60,000 copies.
If this number were made public, both industry professionals and the general public would be stunned, calling it a "monster" achievement.
Despite this success, the online rumors still hadn't stopped.
No matter how much the fans tried to defend it, the haters continued claiming, "This success is faked."
Without any official statement from the publisher or the author, the fans felt frustrated and helpless.
They couldn't outright oppose the haters, but they were still worried.
"If this is really all fake from the beginning... what do we do then?"
"Shadow-sensei, it's almost time," Machida said, sounding a little irritated. "We've waited long enough, it's about to backfire."
Akifumi smiled. "Don't worry. I'm about to make a little mistake."
"A mistake?" Machida's curiosity piqued.
Akifumi took out his phone, logged into his SNS account, and posted two updates.
The first one read:
"About the rumors online, I've asked a friend to gather relevant information. I'll be suing them soon to protect my rights and reputation! I'll show them that the internet isn't a lawless place!"
The second update was:
"Hey, everyone! The manga adaptation of 'WorldEnd' is now published in Weekly Shonen Jump! Hope you all like it! Also, my next new work will start serialization in two weeks... I'm sure you're all used to me releasing two series at once, right?"
At first glance, everything seemed fine, but the names of the senders were completely opposite.
"That should do it."
Looking at his handiwork, Akifumi nodded in satisfaction.
Instead of explaining things outright, he preferred to guide his fans toward discovering the truth themselves.
If he explained things directly, fans might wonder if it was a trick, if there was some hidden agenda.
But if they uncovered the truth on their own, they would never doubt it.
Instead, they would be thrilled at the moment of realization!
"Now, let's just sit back and let things unfold."
He turned his attention away from the computer screen and got back to workhis top priority being the script for Steins;Gate.
Meanwhile, the internet was abuzz due to the two recent posts Akifumi had just made.
One was posted under the account Warrior of Love and Hope-sensei, and the other under Shadow-sensei.
The discrepancy made both posts seem oddly misplaced. The content itself wasn't strange, but the context felt completely off, making them look hilariously out of place.
Some fans were instantly confused.
Comments under Warrior of Love and Hope's post:
"?? Can someone explain what the heck does sensei means by this post?"
"I understand every word individually, but put after putting it up together, I have no idea what's going on!"
"Confused +1! Has someone been slandering sensei online?"
"No clue. Haven't heard a thing about it!"
"Is there any context to this? If sensei is preparing to sue someone, shouldn't we have at least heard a rumor or two?"
"Sure, sensei often breaks our hearts with tragic storylines, but that's just for the plot! If someone is actually slandering him, I won't stand for it!"
"Agreed! We support sensei taking legal action to defend his rights!"
Meanwhile, under Shadow's post, a different discussion was taking place:
"So WorldEnd is now serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump? That I knewit was mentioned in Volume 3's afterword. But the real question is since when that this author have double serialization!?"
"And hold upanother new manga series is starting? Isn't sensei a light novel author?"
"Has dealing with internet drama finally made him lose it?!"
"This post's tone feels completely different than usual. Could it be?"
"I don't care about any of thatI just want to ask: Is Shadow a real person and not just some pseudonym cooked up by Fujimi Publishing? Please, sensei, give us a clear answer!"
"We all want to believe in sensei, but we also need him to address these rumors directly so we can have confidence in him!"
As time passed, fans who followed both accounts started putting the pieces together.
"Wait a minute doesn't this post sound just like something Warrior of Love and Hope-sensei would write? And sensei often juggles multiple projects. If he's launching a new series in Jump, that's not out of character at all."
"Speaking of online drama, Shadow-sensei has been caught in a lot of controversy lately, right?"
"Now look at Warrior of Love and Hope-sensei postit totally matches Shadow-sensei usual writing style, doesn't it?!"
"No way?!"
"Could it be?!"
"This is insane!"
"But given how sensei always works on multiple projects at once, maybe it's not impossible?!"
"No, no, nodouble serialization is one thing. This is on a whole other level! Maybe they just accidentally swapped phones?"
"Honestly, I'd rather believe that it's the same person."
"Wait, what are you guys even talking about? I don't get it at all!"
"Go check out Warrior of Love and Hope's recent post. The timestamps on both posts are less than two minutes apart."
"This is crazy! Could someone actually be this talented at everything?!"
"Just gonna sayI'm a former classmate of sensei. He was always the top student in our grade. Even if he had aimed for the University of Tokyo's hardest science programs, he would've had no trouble getting in."
"The University of Tokyo's science department?! Are you serious?!"
"Stop it! How does someone like this even exist?!"
"This is too insane! I need to take a cold shower to process this!"
At first, it was just a handful of fans discussing things. But as more people joined in, the realization spread like wildfire.
The two posts, once stripped of their mismatched usernames, made perfect sense.
And the mention of a new series in Jump? It was too much of a coincidence to ignore.
Then there was the line: 'I'm sure you're all used to me releasing two series at once, right?'
That was practically a dead giveaway.
Sharp-eyed fans pieced everything together and came to an inevitable conclusion.
Within just an hour of the posts going live, the comments section of both accounts was flooded with identical reactions:
"Sensei, next time, double-check which account you're posting from! "
"I didn't expect you to be this adorable! My respect for you just skyrocketed!"
"Having multiple accounts really is a hassle. I once accidentally texted my girlfriend using my alt account."
"Sensei, why did you try to hide this from us? Even if you told us you were writing a light novel, the worst we'd do is complain a little!"
"Warrior of Love and Hope: If each of you complains just a little, that still adds up to a lot."
"Sensei, you really have no sense of priority!"
"Warrior of Love and Hope-sensei: There are too many manga serialized in magazines already. If I want to write, light novels are my best bet."
"Now that I think about it, sensei is probably the only one who keeps serializing manga even after the tankobon (collected volume) is finished!"
"I never expected him to be this good at writing light novels! The tragic atmosphere in WorldEnd is absolutely gripping!"
"Now that I think about it, Shadow-sensei was probably meant to represent sensei's own 'shadow' all along!"
"I wonder what the editor's reaction was when he first said he wanted to write light novels!"
"Wait, if sensei is now serializing two new series in Jump, what's gonna happen to WorldEnd?! Will the light novel be put on hold?!"
"Nooooo!! I'll die without it! That series is my lifeline!"
"Everyone, have a little faith in sensei's speed. Maybe he won't be able to release a new volume every month anymore, but every two or three months should be doable, right?"
"Exactly! Plus, one of the new manga is literally WorldEnd. How's he supposed to draw it without writing the novel?! "
"Good point. But seriously, how is he managing to ace his studies while creating all these masterpieces?!"
"Because he's a monster?"
"A genius's world is beyond our comprehension!"
"Faced with a talent like this, the only logical response is to give up and accept our own mediocrity!"
"Everyone, I have a questionhow is it possible to serialize two manga series while also writing a light novel? No matter how you look at it, that's just insane!
"Most manga artists are already exhausted just keeping up with a weekly serialization. But when people found out that it was Love and Hope Warrior behind it all, not only were they not surprised, but they actually found it completely natural. Why is that?"
"Anyone asking that question clearly hasn't read sensei's works."
"Whether it's Madoka Magica or Anohana, these top-tier worksdo you really think anyone would just sell them off?"
"If you could create even one of these, the benefits would far outweigh selling the rights to someone else."
"I can't believe there are still people who don't understand something this simple..."
"I can't wait to see sensei's reaction when he realizes his secret identity has been exposed tomorrow!"
"If it weren't for sensei's own slip-up, we probably wouldn't have found out the truth for a long time!"
The discussion quickly took social media by storm, trending at the top spot almost instantly.
Even those who personally knew Akifumi caught wind of the news right away.
"This guy he's really hopeless," Hiratsuka Shizuka sighed, half amused, as she looked at the trending post on her phone.
"I never expected that not only could he draw such amazing manga, but his writing skills were also top-notch enough to produce something like this."
She still vividly remembered the first time she read his work
The overwhelming sorrow in its storytelling had moved even her to tears.
