Time flies, like a fleeting like the wind, vanishing in an instant.
Seven days are but a short, and insignificant moment in the grand scheme of the years.
Last Monday's sick leave was hardly worth noticing.
At least for the students at Toyogasaki High, with thousands student in the school, there are always at least ten to twenty students taking a sick day, and probably hundreds on any given day.
In the wider world of Japan—or even the world in general—the number of people calling in sick expands exponentially.
Aside from a few familiar faces who might chat about the student who was absent, no one else really cares.
But for the manga industry, those seven days would be anything but calm.
And the cause of this storm? A simple sick day, which is as common as can be, not only in Japan but around the globe.
...
Under the morning sun, Akifumi Mugiho walked down the school path, surrounded by other students in the same school uniform.
Boys and girls were gathered in small groups, chatting about their weekend, TV shows, gossip, or the latest anime, all smiles and carefree.
Even though Akifumi walked alone and had no one to share the little details of his life with, his smile was just as bright as the others around him.
In fact, he'd been smiling since he woke up this morning.
Why?
'By noon today, I'll be getting my royalty payments for the manga volumes, my prize money from the Tezuka Award, and the fees from the first chapter of 'Madoka Magica' being serialized! Everything will be in my account!'
Akifumi had learned all of this from Otosuna Mihari last night.
At first, he was calm about it, but then he did the math.
The price for the first volume of "Madoka Magica" was set at 740 yen, based on the number of pages and production costs.
With a 12% royalty rate, Akifumi would earn 88.8 yen per copy sold.
After meetings and discussions, the initial print run was set at 30,000 copies! Whether the sales are a hit or miss, that print run would guarantee Akifumi 2.664 million yen in royalties!
Add in the Tezuka Award prize money, and Akifumi's total earnings would reach 3.664 million yen!!
[TL Note – 3.6 million yen is about 23 thousand dollars]
And then, there were the payments for his serialized manga in Shonen Jump.
With 30,000 yen per original page, 20 pages would earn him 600,000 yen!
Even the smallest earnings matter now—especially when the rate has increased significantly from before.
"3.664 million yen!"
Of course, after taxes, this would drop to around 3 million yen, but even then, it's an enormous sum of money, especially in his current situation.
And if the manga goes for more print runs, the money will just keep coming in.
Earning more money than 3 million yen isn't a distant dream—it's becoming a reality!
Akifumi couldn't help but get more and more excited.
Even now, he was feeling pumped!
As for what to do with all that money, Akifumi hadn't really thought that far ahead.
The idea of simply earning it was enough to send his spirits soaring.
"Wait, speaking of which, I've been hearing a lot about that magical girl manga, Mahou Shoujo Madoka... is it really releasing its first volume today?!"
The voices of three younger students caught Akifumi's attention as they passed by, each wearing the Toyogasaki uniform.
It was no surprise to see other Toyogasaki students around here; it was the usual thing.
One of the boys, who was in the middle, turned to answer with confidence:
"Seriously? Who would joke about something like this? You think they'd announce something this big if it wasn't true?"
"The promotional costs alone are massive, and if they didn't have something to release, imagine the backlash."
The boy who had been silent shivered in fear, realizing what the consequences would be.
The other two exchanged knowing smiles.
"The power of the online community is seriously off the charts now!"
"Right, that Magical Girl manga…"
"Ah! Mahou Shoujo Madoka."
"Yes, that's it! So the first volume is really coming out today, right? Are you guys buying it?"
"Ugh, I don't have money for that," one of them said, shaking his head.
"I've got several other series I want to get, and my allowance is already tight this month. No extra for that one."
"No way, no way. You can't be serious, right? Who's actually interested in magical girl stuff? Tell me it's not you, Tanaka?"
"Idiot! We're in high school now, we're guys! Who'd care about that kind of thing?"
"So why did you ask us about buying it?"
"Well, it's a Tezuka Award winner, so I thought you guys might be curious."
"Who wouldn't be interested in a manga that just won an award, and only to release the volume barely a week later? There's got to be something fishy about it!"
"Yeah, think about it. Normally, it takes about two months of weekly releases to put together a volume, and they're releasing one volume after just a week? Something's up!"
Akifumi didn't stick around to hear more.
By this time, he was already at the school building, heading in the opposite direction.
'People aren't holding back their opinions, huh?'
He mused, but it didn't bother him in the slightest.
For the past week, Madoka Magica had been trending online with predictions, discussions, and more.
In today's world, news usually doesn't stick around for long, but the momentum of Madoka Magica had been relentless.
Every time it seemed like it might die down, there was a new announcement to keep it going.
"Strongest rookie in the history of Shueisha!"
"100% talent, 200% hard work, the strongest debut ever!"
"Madoka Magica Volume 1 releasing Monday!"
With so many bombshells from Shueisha, Madoka Magica had stayed on top, and the discussions around it never stopped.
If anyone in the online community heard those students' comments, they would probably call them out as "outsiders" or "haters."
As for Akifumi, if he bothered with such trivial things, he'd probably be in a counseling room right now, not heading to school.
'I wonder when I'll get the first reprint...'
Every time there's a new reprint, more money rolls in...
"I can't wait!"