With the production of the Edgerunners animation gradually settling into its schedule groove, Aoyama took a light hands-off approach.
He provided the necessary sheet music tracks for the score and stepped back, letting Trigger Animation's professional workstations handle the remaining execution.
Instead, Aoyama returned his focus to the panels of Chainsaw Man and Fire Punch, occasionally offering optimization patches for Cyberpunk 2077 whenever Keisuke Watanabe's team hit a compiling wall.
Gradually, his local daily routine returned to a peaceful state.
When the second chapter of Chainsaw Man hit public boards, readers formally learned the name of the lady in black: Makima.
The name structure felt slightly unique, but it satisfied the setting perfectly.
Simultaneously, the narrative left no ambiguity: the protagonist Denji explicitly stated that he liked Makima.
This confirmed readers' initial belief that Makima held the position of the female lead.
However, differing fully from traditional leads, she treated Denji like a canine pet.
But when Denji asked, "What kind of guys does Miss Makima like?"
Makima offered an answer that felt almost bordering on science fiction: "Someone like Denji, I suppose."
Sweet! Way too sweet!
But beneath that sugar, it felt almost impossibly fantastical.
Stating she liked him during their first encounter?
This wasn't science fiction anymore; it was mythology.
But readers didn't overanalyze the pacing. It was a comic, after all.
If it leaned into the fantastical, so be it; they loved looking at it.
Akane, upon reading this specific panel sequence, used both hands to cover her burning cheeks.
'Clearly, Denji... no, Aoyama, is confessing his interest toward her.'
And Aoyama had gathered that she harboured those exact feelings toward him as well.
Otherwise, why would this scene be framed this way?
While Akane believed her deduction to be correct, she felt a trace of quiet hesitation creeping into her bones.
'It is still slightly too early. Let's wait for the future... wait a bit longer...'
'Or... wait for Aoyama to make the first move.'
Akane's beautiful eyes sparkled with quiet anticipation thinking about the future.
---
"Congratulations to Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners for securing the Gold Prize in this session's Manga World New Creator Grand Prix!"
On the stage of the awards ceremony, Editor-in-Chief Hiroshi Oumi announced the result with booming volume.
"We invite the author of Edgerunners,Aoyama-sensei,to ascend the stage to receive his trophy!"
Tsuruki Junsei sat positioned in the auditorium, clapping along with the surrounding industry crowd.
Sitting in a corner where no attention was directed, he watched Aoyama ascend into the blinding stage lights and camera flashes.
Aoyama accepted the symbolic glass trophy with a polite smile, cementing his status as the Rookie King.
Tsuruki's internal gauge felt incredibly heavy with a mix of index values: admiration, fitful jealousy, and a trace of underlying bitterness.
'If only the one standing on that stage was me.'
But the standing tally didn't support the wish.
Of the four titles participating in the evaluation cycle over the last year, one had been axe-checked early due to failing rating layouts, while the remaining three had concluded serializations.
Edgerunners had wrapped up its execution cycle early, mostly due to its high-tempo weekly release pacing after overtaking previous vacancies.
Tsuruki's original title and the third entry had also wrapped up recent sequences.
While Tsuruki harboured a level of bitterness over the ranking...
Inside his own logic, he knew bridging the distance to Aoyama was impossible right now.
A genius with unhinged talent capable of building a peak setting like Edgerunners wasn't someone a person following standard pacing could easily rival.
Standing next to that blinding light, any average creator felt their individual value looking dull and gray.
However...
A sudden, hot rush of inside competitive drive ignited inside Tsuruki's soul.
'I am not going to lose again. I'm going to prove that I am a monster destined to make this world roar!'
He felt as though a lion was waking up behind his pupils.
His next heavy investment, The Divine Race, was guaranteed to achieve success on the charts!
On the stage above, Aoyama remained completely unaware of the heavy internal monologues playing out in the seats below.
He simply accepted the award, delivered a brief, standard-rate speech of gratitude, and descended back down.
He returned to the side of Ayumi and the supporting Akane, looking to share the exact victory with them.
Watching Aoyama laughing and talking with Akane from a distance, Tsuruki felt another slight prickle of jealousy in his core.
'Aoyama even managed to lock down a beautiful girlfriend sitting inside that tier...'
'Well... when I achieve full fame, gorgeous girls will notice me too.'
With that concluding thought, the remaining consolation prizes were distributed to Tsuruki and the other finalist, bringing this session's New Creator cycle into full conclusion.
Standing in the wings, the fresh batch of creators ready to participate in the coming year watched Aoyama with quiet anticipation.
They dreamed of repeating his breakthrough path,clearing charts in a single run.
---
The award win and title announcement were mere minor background benchmarks.
For Aoyama's current standing, a rookie title held little weight compared to his sales.
If anything, the New Creator Grand Prix relied heavily on Edgerunners to validate its own corporate prestige metric.
While Chainsaw Man sustained its reading momentum, Tsuruki's second series, The Divine Race, officially launched its serialization onto the boards.
Simultaneously, Chapter Three of Chainsaw Man made its debut.
The sequence introduced a character destined to become highly popular inside readers' index tables,Aki Hayakawa.
The initial interaction between Denji and Aki was anything but friendly.
Since Aki was highly attracted to Miss Makima, he immediately registered an automatic aversion status toward Denji's presence.
And Denji's baseline behavior, acting like a street thug, didn't sit well with Aki's rigid, professional standards.
When Makima ordered Denji assigned directly beneath Aki's supervision crew, Aki immediately dragged the boy into a deserted alleyway and gave him a heavy beating.
After executing the thrashing, Aki lit a cigarette, flicking the lit ember onto Denji's shirt with indifference.
"Submit your resignation files," Aki ordered coldly. "If I catch you showing up here tomorrow, I am going to thrash you again."
But just as Aki assumed the instruction was fully resolved...
Crack,!
To the dropped jaws of readers, Denji delivered a lethal low blow from behind!
Denji's knee drove with extreme force directly into Aki's groin cavity.
It was the definition of a strike that triggered phantom pain in any man looking directly at it.
Even for a battle-hardened Devil Hunter like Aki, encountering direct action against the male critical points was devastating.
He collapsed onto the concrete, folding inward.
Denji offered zero regards for combat ethics, shouting over the fallen senpai:
"Senpai, you might be a kind, sweet-spirited person inside!"
"But!"
"When! I! Fight! Men! I! Only! Aim! For! The! Groin!"
He repeatedly drove his boots into Aki's groin cavity with high tempo, applying the definition of a street-brawler,strictly attacking the lower regions.
Aki struggled back to his feet, brawling with Denji inside the dirt.
Little did the two of them know that in the future, they would eventually stand together as the closest of companions.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]
Hey, im back, as promised, 2 bonus chapter for you guys, im uploaded all these chapter rn js in case i dont forgot to do it tonight, last week and this week chapter already uploaded, as usual if u find any msitake, let me know, ill fix asap. if you want to leave review or two, please do so, dont be scared, write anything good or bad, but please make it makes sense, these review help a lot.