After weeks of momentum building and word spreading, every major city across the prefecture had its own sizable pocket of loyal Blue Spring Ride readers.
The series had reached its eighth installment, and the story had finally arrived at a critical point for the whole work.
Futaba had to choose.
Friendship… or love?
No matter how badly readers wished the plot would not go there, reality was reality.
The story had already stepped onto that stage.
So when it came to the eighth installment, you could say every single Shiori fan in the prefecture was on maximum alert.
Starting Thursday, the die-hard readers spent their days in a miserable tug-of-war.
They wanted to see what happened next more than anything. But they were also terrified the story would collapse in one badly handled paragraph.
If the author slipped even once, Futaba would instantly get branded with the worst labels imaginable.
Selfish, or saintly in the most infuriating way.
And because Blue Spring Ride leaned so heavily into the heroine's inner monologue, it was even more dangerous. One wrong line could become "proof" that Futaba was secretly dark on the inside.
Finally, Sunday arrived.
Release day for installment eight.
At seven in the morning, Aoi Kisaragi was already up. She went for a light run, ate breakfast, got herself dressed neatly, and headed straight for the bookstore.
Most magazine readers were not like her. Most people did not wake up at dawn just to buy the new issue the moment it hit shelves.
Normally, she was not this intense either. But the way chapter seven had left her hanging for days had been cruel. She could not take waiting any longer.
The moment she stepped into the store, she spotted it immediately. Fleeting Blossoms was stacked in a tall, proud column right beside Crimson Maple. The cover featured an illustration from Blue Spring Ride. Soft, elegant linework, and characters drawn with that clean, beautiful charm that practically screamed "shōjo."
The second she got home, Aoi ripped the plastic wrap open and flipped straight to the table of contents, hunting down Blue Spring Ride like it was a matter of life and death.
The first line she saw hit her like a punch.
"To be honest… I've thought he was pretty great for a long time."
Yuri's cheeks were flushed as she smiled gently, her voice low and shy.
"And then I really fell for him… in that forest. When he held my hand and helped me cross the stream. He was so kind. It made me feel safe."
An opening critical hit.
Futaba's best friend was talking about Kou, the boy she liked, right beside her.
And Futaba could only sit there, pretending to be supportive, pretending to be happy for her, offering blessings she did not mean.
It was painful to read.
But was Yuri wrong?
She had fallen for a single boy who was not taken, a boy who had helped her when she needed it most.
The story stayed in its usual rhythm.
Daily life, gentle daily life.
Pages and pages of Yuri and Futaba talking endlessly, sharing secrets, pouring their hearts out, laughing the way best friends do.
Their friendship was written as something genuinely beautiful.
If they were not both in love with the same boy, this would have been warm and comforting.
But because they were, every sweet line landed like a knife. Futaba listened as her best friend confessed her feelings for Kou, and she still had to smile, still had to encourage her, still had to tell her to do her best.
"This is awful," Aoi muttered, already in a bad mood.
After school, Futaba and Kou were kept behind by a teacher. As class reps, they had to stay and handle leftover chores and paperwork for their homeroom.
A perfectly timed assist from the teacher, creating a situation where the two of them could be alone.
Futaba gripped her pen so hard her knuckles almost went white.
'Every time he looks at me through that gap in his bangs… even just a little… it makes my heart panic.'
Her expression darkened with sadness.
'No, I can't keep thinking like this. He's the one Yuri likes!'
"But he's also the one you like!" Aoi blurted out before she could stop herself. Before you learn to love someone else, you should learn to love yourself. That after-school classroom scene took its time, devoting a lot of space to the heroine's inner turmoil.
Her spiraling thoughts.
Kou's quiet, half-hidden concern for her, always there and yet never stated outright.
'What do I do? Every time my heart skips because of Kou… Yuri's face pops into my mind.'
Futaba was struggling.
When the classroom chores were finally finished, Futaba reached her limit.
'If I stay with Kou any longer… I can't.'
'Kou, I'll take the report to the teacher.'