Late August was sweltering.
The summer theatrical season, which had run for over a month, reached its closing period. The various films that had competed across those weeks arrived at their final settlement point.
Even for Demon Slayer, with its structural dependence on the existing anime fan base as its primary audience, the remaining theatrical revenue had largely been collected.
The media produced their closing assessments as the summer screening window ended.
"Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba's total domestic box office has exceeded 68 billion yen, with overseas box office exceeding 34 billion yen. Its combined global total currently ranks first among Japanese films released this year."
"A 6 billion yen investment yielding a 100 billion yen global box office. Shirogane-sensei is confirmed as the decisive winner of Japan's film industry this year."
"Driven by the film's promotional reach, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba's average sales per volume across the top three tankōbon have exceeded 28 million copies, ranking second in Japan's manga history. The upward momentum shows no signs of stopping."
"Demon Slayer has achieved legendary status. Whatever controversies surrounded its early serialisation, the current Demon Slayer is moving steadily toward becoming the highest-selling manga in Japanese history."
"Mangaka Rei's position in Japan's anime and manga world is now beyond any reasonable dispute. Seven works in six years, every one of them an undisputed masterpiece."
"The Mugen Train arc may be only the beginning. The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle arc, scheduled to premiere during the spring holiday season next February, may bring even greater growth. Industry analysts estimate that at the current trajectory, the Infinity Castle arc's global box office could exceed 140 billion yen."
"The success of the Mugen Train arc has brought the Demon Slayer IP valuation above 500 billion yen. Japan's largest anime and manga IP of the past decade is about to be formally established."
"Looking back from the current situation, Shirogane-sensei's decision to withstand the pressure and retain the Demon Slayer copyrights rather than ceding them to Hoshimori Group was a stroke of genuine strategic intelligence.
This young mangaka may become one of the wealthiest individuals in the anime and manga world, with a personal net worth approaching 200 billion yen from the Demon Slayer IP alone."
"200 billion yen. With all that money, why is his house so empty?"
On Saturday, Rei had invited both sisters to his villa for a barbecue.
The Demon Slayer film was in its final weeks. The Entertainment District arc animation had been completed well in advance of its September premiere, leaving Rei with an unusually open schedule.
The manga serialisation at the Hoshimori editorial department had been paused during the film's release window, but he had not been idle during that time.
Miyu arrived in a red knee-length dress, her dark hair down against her shoulders, and immediately upon seeing the interior of Rei's four-storey villa, could not entirely suppress her reaction.
The villa was not furnished. He had purchased it with the basic interior completed and had done essentially nothing with the space beyond that. The study where he drew manga was carefully arranged. The bedroom had what it needed. Every other room in the building was an echo chamber.
"Living alone, there is genuinely no need to decorate. The simpler the better," Rei said, without any sign of feeling defensive about this.
"This level of emptiness where you can hear yourself think after saying a sentence is a different situation from simple. Doesn't it feel strange being, ouch."
Miyu had taken a bite of a lamb skewer at full temperature without waiting for it to cool and experienced the predictable result.
"You might want to focus on the immediate problem," Rei said, and laughed.
Misaki handed her sister a glass of water without comment, then looked at Rei.
"Did you actually invite us here just for the barbecue?"
"No. Not entirely." Rei looked at Misaki. "I wanted to discuss something with both of you."
He told them about Shirogane Animation, the company he had recently established.
"I have placed the operational rights for all the copyrights in my hands into this company. The current manager is a professional I hired on a temporary basis," he said. "After the Demon Slayer television anime concludes next February, the Infinity Castle arc will have three films released successively over the following five years."
He continued.
"Starting next month, I begin production on a new anime. Attack on Titan. Alongside that, production begins on a new theatrical film. Your Name. From October, the company starts hiring to produce several romance and fantasy series in parallel. Some of the major projects will still have manga versions serialised with Hoshimori Group. But the copyrights, as with Demon Slayer, stay in my hands."
Miyu had been working through the barbecue at a comfortable pace. She stopped.
"Are you actually human?"
In the space of that summary she had heard Attack on Titan, Your Name, No Game No Life, and references to further projects she had not caught fully. Demon Slayer was not even finished yet.
"So you understand the situation clearly," Rei said, looking at Misaki. "With that volume of creative work as my responsibility, I cannot also manage IP operations. And I do not have confidence that the professional manager I found as a temporary measure is working with full commitment on my behalf."
He paused.
"Would you be willing to resign from Hoshimori and serve as CEO of Shirogane Animation?"
"Huh?" Miyu's expression became extremely specific. She ate two more skewers in rapid succession. "My sister is going to help you? She is my manga editor. And you, you usually call her Editor Misaki when you need nothing, but the moment you want something it becomes a different level of address entirely."
"That is exactly why I called you both here to discuss it," Rei said, laughing. "As for a manga editor, even if Misaki leaves the editorial role, Hoshimori can find a replacement for the day-to-day work.
Besides, I remember Misaki mentioning before that she entered this industry because she genuinely loves anime and manga, and because she wanted to be directly involved in developing something exceptional with her own hands."
"Moving from Hoshimori to my company is the same thing at a larger scale. Building IPs from the ground up, with full operational authority, instead of working under the layer of management at Hoshimori. Is that not considerably more interesting?"
Miyu looked at her sister. Misaki was frowning slightly, but her expression was not dismissive. Miyu found, considering it herself, that Rei's proposal was genuinely reasonable.
The CEO position at Shirogane Animation was not a comparable role to an editorial position at Hoshimori Group. It was not even in the same category.
The silence that followed had a different quality from an impasse.
Rei moved to fill it before it settled into something uncomfortable.
"There is no need for an answer now. Take whatever time you need. A month is fine. Three months, five months, fine. Whenever you decide to come, I will remove the current manager immediately.
Every day he sends me reports full of terminology I do not understand and cannot verify, and while I have no evidence and no time to investigate the company's operations, something about the situation consistently feels wrong to me."
"That feeling may not be wrong," Misaki said, after a brief pause.
"Himari from Illumination Production Company was my university classmate. I know her character, which is why I felt comfortable introducing her to you.
The reason your cooperation with her has gone smoothly is that she does not treat you like a child and can account clearly for every yen you give her."
Misaki looked at Rei.
"Shirogane Animation is a different situation."
She understood what he was describing. A company managing copyrights for IP properties valued in the hundreds of billions of yen, with the actual owner too occupied with creative work to watch it closely. The opportunities for quiet misappropriation in that arrangement were not difficult to imagine.
"I will think about it," Misaki said.
She could see that Rei had given this considerable thought before raising it. And from her own position, the proposal was genuinely compelling.
Both paths kept her in the anime industry, but managing the IP development of Rei's works directly was a different order of responsibility and opportunity from reviewing manga adaptations as an editor. Anyone looking at the two options clearly could see which one had more to offer.
"Then I will leave it with you," Rei said.
August ended. September arrived.