Chapter 69

Saturday, just after midnight.

On the Aurora Manga Award site, Chapter 11 of Rurouni Kenshin: Remembrance quietly went live.

Across the country, devoted fans sprang awake, refreshing the page as soon as it updated.

Shō Miyazaki, a high school senior from Yamashiro Prefecture, clicked in right after finishing his evening study session. He navigated to Rurouni Kenshin: Remembrance and opened Chapter 11.

Like every entry on the Awards site, each page featured its own comment thread—already buzzing with dozens of messages:

"It's live!"

"A whole week of waiting—finally!"

"My eyes are starving for more Kenshin and Tomoe."

"Last time Tomoe walked away… is Mizushiro going to break our hearts again?"

"Don't worry—this author's never cruel for drama's sake. I bet they'll give us a happy ending."

"If Kenshin and Tomoe don't end up together, I'm fundraising to fly to Osaka and demand a rewrite!"

Shō grinned as he scrolled, but by the time he reached the climactic ambush—Kenshin, blinded and bleeding, hunting for Tomoe only to be betrayed—his smile had faded.

The panels were brutal and beautiful: Kenshin's ears ringing from an explosion; Tomoe's true motives snapping into focus; the ghost of her fiancé's death haunting every stroke. Even as fellow readers joked and argued, Shō felt a knot tighten in his chest.

If this chapter simply celebrated Kenshin's determination, it would be powerful enough. But the way each frame captured his guilt—and Tomoe's quiet courage—hinted at something darker yet to come.

Shō shook his head. Maybe I'm reading too much into it…

Still, he'd stayed up all night for this. He scrolled back up, braced himself, and tapped into the next page, hoping against hope for a moment of peace between Kenshin and Tomoe.

In his heart, he prayed for a gentle resolution—after so much blood and sorrow, that their story would finally find its dawning.

That same night, the update drew not only fans but fellow manga creators. Among them was Renji , the author of Blazing Feather.

In recent days, Renji Takeda had been going through a rough patch.

It all began with a social media post he made before Remembrance took off. Having never bothered to read it, he'd dismissed the series as overhyped and hinted that its 9.8 rating was artificially inflated.

At the time, he thought it harmless—what did it matter if a little-known title flopped?

But Rurouni Kenshin exploded overnight. His offhand post became a rallying point for fans, and soon both camps flooded each other's comment sections with outrage.

Still, Renji's Blazing Feather boasted a much larger fanbase, so his supporters dominated the discourse. Yet, after the dust settled, he found himself compelled to read Remembrance firsthand. Moved—then chastened—he quietly deleted his earlier post.

Deleting the original tweet didn't erase the tension between the two fandoms. But when Renji logged on that night, his motivation was clear: he felt… threatened.

Looking at Remembrance—over 100,000 ratings at 9.8—while Blazing Feather's average had dipped to 8.8, he couldn't ignore the looming shadow of Mizushiro-sensei's work.

And with the Award moving into its second round—judged by industry professionals—fan support would soon give way to quality alone.

Deep down, Renji knew Remembrance was a masterpiece. Though it ranked tenth in fan votes now, its momentum marked it as the contest's dark horse. Even Renji, whose series led the pack with over 400,000 fans, could feel his position growing precarious.

The top nine authors must have felt it too.

Time passed, and then, in Chapter 12 of Rurouni Kenshin, a bold announcement appeared on the first page:

"This series will conclude in two issues—Chapters 14 and 15 will be published together."

As soon as the news broke, the entire Osaka manga community erupted.

Fans frantically shared the update—some in disbelief, others in heartbreak. Fifteen words:

…It's over?

Not just readers but industry veterans were stunned. The series was at its peak: Osaka's hottest manga, now sitting in the top eight of the Aurora Award fan rankings.

Why end it now, at the height of its success?

What was Mizushiro-sensei thinking?

Haruki, Sora, and Kotone exchanged tense glances. The gamble to drop the final two chapters together was all the more dramatic now—and the manga world watched, breath held, as Rurouni Kenshin: Remembrance prepared for its final act.

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