The sales of CLANNAD and Akame ga Kill continued to grow steadily.
Unlike Akame ga Kill, which had a minor climax in its latest chapter, the first volume of CLANNAD remained relatively calm.
But that was to be expected.
Not only was this volume just the beginning of the story, but as a slice-of-life work, its pacing was naturally slower, requiring ample groundwork to be laid.
Shounen battle manga dominate the mainstream precisely because they build tension until reaching a climactic moment where emotions explode in an intense, cathartic release.
Such climaxes can take many forms—
The protagonist leveling up, defeating a formidable enemy in a desperate battle, or an epic and visually stunning fight scene...
Slice-of-life stories, however, lack these flashy elements.
Instead, they rely on the buildup of narrative conflicts and emotional tension to create an impact on the reader.
Because of this, writing battle manga is often considered easier than writing slice-of-life stories.
The same principle applies to novels.
If you're writing an action story and run out of ideas, you can simply introduce a stronger enemy and have the protagonist power up to defeat them.
But with slice-of-life, things are much more complex.
Of course, battle stories have their own challenges— Keeping the story fresh and engaging is a difficult task.
That said, slice-of-life is still generally harder to write.
Even so, CLANNAD was selling better than Akame ga Kill.
The reason was simple—
It had broken into the mainstream.
Its audience wasn't limited to anime fans; it had also drawn in movie and drama enthusiasts.
Many people had stepped out of their comfort zones, attracted by its compelling story.
And in this world, no matter where you go, movie and TV drama audiences far outnumber anime fans.
As a result, CLANNAD was on track to become Akifumi's best-selling work to date.
Of course, that was a discussion for another time.
Right now, it had only been two days since CLANNAD was released.
The magazine issue featuring it had just come out and hadn't even reached most bookstores yet.
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At Akifumi's Home
"They're announcing the rankings at 8 PM tonight, right?" At the dinner table, Mahiru asked curiously.
"Yeah." Akifumi nodded in confirmation.
"With CLANNAD's popularity, it should easily rank in the top three," Eriri said with a proud smirk.
It was almost as if she were the one receiving the award.
Well, from another perspective, that wasn't entirely wrong.
Just like how men conquer the world, and women win over the men who conquer the world...
"Honestly, even first place isn't out of the question!"
Hearing this, Akifumi chuckled helplessly.
"I'm not too concerned about rankings," he said.
"I just joined this contest to see how far I could go under a set theme."
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Eriri responded half-heartedly, nodding dismissively.
She clearly wasn't taking his words seriously.
It was like when a billionaire says, 'I'm not interested in money.'
No one actually believes that.
Mashiro glanced at them, then silently lowered her head again, puffing her cheeks slightly as she focused on eating—
She looked like a little squirrel nibbling on her food.
7:50 PM
Eriri and Mahiru had already pulled up the contest's official website, refreshing it repeatedly.
The announcement said rankings would be revealed at 8 PM.
But just like how game updates never finish exactly on time and often get deployed a few minutes early, there was always a chance the rankings would be released ahead of schedule.
Some games even had servers scheduled to open at noon but ended up launching silently at 8 AM.
If the contest did something similar and they missed CLANNAD's ranking in real time—
That would be unacceptable!
Meanwhile, in one of the Warrior of Love and Hope fan groups, discussions were heating up.
Akifumi's fans were eagerly debating.
———————————————————————
"I wonder what ranking CLANNAD will get in the preliminaries!"
"I've read some of the other highly-rated scripts. They're decent, but they all feel like they're missing something."
"For a story about life, their perspectives seem too shallow."
"Does that mean CLANNAD could take first place?"
"First place might be a stretch, but top ten for sure!"
"Why not first? If it's the best, shouldn't it win?"
"Let's just say... those who know, know. If you don't, there's no point explaining. The competition involves more than just quality. There are... other factors at play. I'll leave it at that."
"Basically, winning isn't just about being the best."
"Either way, as long as CLANNAD ranks in the top ten, the haters won't have anything to say!"
———————————————————————
8:00 PM
The rankings were not announced early.
In fact, the sudden surge in website traffic completely crashed the site!
"The contest organizers seriously need to upgrade their servers!"
"The prize money for this competition is huge! Don't tell me they can't afford proper website maintenance!?"
"Hurry up! It's already 8 PM! Let us in!!"
Even Eriri groaned in frustration as she stared at the unresponsive page.
"Do they have to mess this up every time?" she grumbled.
"Every single year, the site crashes when the preliminary rankings are released! Have they learned nothing?!"
Akifumi chuckled, reaching out to gently pat her head.
"Relax," he said.
"We're already here. At most, we just wait a few more minutes."
Eriri rolled her eyes— But she didn't resist his touch.
Instead, she softened, quietly enjoying the head pats.
———————————————————————
8:05 PM
The site was finally back online.
Eriri's eyes lit up as she quickly navigated to the bright red "Top 128" ranking list and clicked in without hesitation.
And then—
There was no need to search.
The moment the page loaded, the most glaringly obvious and familiar name was right there—
CLANNAD
And next to it, in bold, unmistakable letters—
1st Place!