Chapter 83: Hayato’s Question

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Hayato’s Question

Haruki met Hayato Kanzaki by accident.

At least officially.

Unofficially, nothing about the entertainment industry felt accidental anymore.

The meeting happened after a publisher networking event.

Haruki had spent three hours smiling.

Three hours introducing himself.

Three hours pretending he understood contract language.

A form of psychological warfare.

The event finally ended around eight.

Haruki escaped immediately.

Fresh air.

Silence.

Freedom.

Then he spotted Hayato standing outside the building.

The rival looked exactly as unimpressed as usual.

Which somehow made him easier to recognize.

"Networking?"

Hayato glanced over.

"Survived."

Fair answer.

The city lights reflected off nearby office windows.

Traffic rolled through the streets.

People hurried home.

Neither creator moved immediately.

An awkward situation.

Not friends.

Not enemies.

Something stranger.

Hayato finally broke the silence.

"You lost."

Straight to the point.

Haruki appreciated that.

Mostly.

"Yeah."

No excuse followed.

No explanation.

The result existed.

Hayato nodded.

Then asked:

"Are you happy?"

The question arrived so suddenly that Haruki nearly missed it.

"What?"

Hayato looked toward the city.

"The tournament."

A pause.

"The publishers."

Another.

"The attention."

Then:

"Are you happy?"

The question irritated Haruki immediately.

Because it wasn’t about rankings.

It wasn’t about success.

It was about something harder.

Several seconds passed.

Traffic moved below.

A train rattled somewhere in the distance.

Someone laughed near a crosswalk.

Tokyo continued existing.

Eventually Haruki answered.

"I think so."

Hayato frowned.

The reaction annoyed him.

"What?"

"You think so?"

Haruki folded his arms.

"I don’t know."

The answer sounded weak.

Unfortunately, it was also true.

Six months ago success looked simple.

Readers.

Growth.

Recognition.

Now?

Success looked complicated.

Publishers.

Contracts.

Money.

Expectations.

Deadlines.

The finish line kept moving.

Hayato nodded slowly.

Then surprised him.

"Good."

Haruki blinked.

"What?"

The rival creator leaned against the railing.

"People who know exactly what success looks like usually stop growing."

Silence.

Not meaningful silence.

Not dramatic silence.

Thinking silence.

A rarer thing.

Hayato continued.

"My father knows exactly what success looks like."

There was no bitterness in his voice.

That made the statement worse.

"He built an empire."

A pause.

"He also spends every day chasing a larger one."

Haruki listened.

Because Hayato rarely talked about himself.

When he did, it mattered.

"I don’t want that."

The confession arrived quietly.

No grand speech.

No emotional breakdown.

Just honesty.

Haruki looked at him.

Then asked:

"So why compete?"

For the first time all evening, Hayato smiled.

Small.

Brief.

Real.

"Because I like creating things."

Simple answer.

The best ones usually were.

The conversation shifted afterward.

Not toward philosophy.

Toward manga.

Actual manga.

Story structure.

Characters.

Reader retention.

The things creators understood best.

At some point, Hayato mentioned Chapter Twenty.

The latest Threadless Gate release.

"You fixed Ren."

The statement caught Haruki off guard.

"What?"

"Earlier Chapters."

Hayato gestured vaguely.

"Things happened around him."

A pause.

"Now things happen because of him."

Haruki stared.

Because that was exactly the problem.

The exact problem.

The one readers noticed.

The one Kuroda noticed.

The one he spent months correcting.

Hayato continued.

"Good adjustment."

Then:

"Late."

There it was.

The criticism.

Necessary.

Expected.

Haruki laughed.

"You couldn’t stop at good adjustment?"

"No."

Fair.

Very fair.

The conversation lasted another thirty minutes.

Then Hayato checked the time.

"Meeting tomorrow."

A tragedy.

The creator sighed dramatically.

"Professional responsibilities."

Haruki nearly laughed.

The reaction felt wrong coming from Hayato.

Which made it funnier.

Before leaving, Hayato stopped.

Then asked one final question.

"What do you want now?"

Haruki opened his mouth.

Stopped.

Thought.

The answer took longer this time.

Not because he didn’t know.

Because he finally did.

"I want Threadless Gate to matter."

No mention of tournaments.

No mention of publishers.

No mention of rankings.

Just the manga.

Hayato nodded.

Satisfied.

Then walked away.

The conversation should have ended there.

It didn’t.

Because ten minutes later Haruki received a message.

From Hayato.

One sentence.

That’s a better goal.

No explanation.

No elaboration.

Just that.

Haruki stared at the screen.

Then laughed.

Because apparently even Hayato had started giving advice now.

The city stretched endlessly beyond him.

Publishers competed.

Creators competed.

The industry moved.

Yet somehow the most important thing remained unchanged.

Tomorrow he would wake up.

Open Chapter Twenty-One.

And continue the story.

Everything else came afterward.