Looking down again.
At this point, Keisuke Takahashi was still frustrated his high-powered FD had been caught in the corners by that damn 86.
Meanwhile, Takumi seemed... focused, but not in the way people expected.
"I can't call it a win if I don't pass him."
"I'll use it. Even with a full tank... should be fine."
No shouting. Just cold focus behind the wheel.
But for the readers?
The legendary pride of the Akagi REDSUNS on the line, Keisuke's FD tearing through every corner
And Takumi's thinking about fuel weight?
There's Keisuke, pushing to the limit like every second counts
Meanwhile, Takumi's eyes are calm, his hands steady, reading the road like it's second nature.
Some readers rolled their eyes.
Really? Thinking about a full tank in the middle of a race like this?
But sharp-eyed fans picked up on it right away.
"That move?"
What move?
Curiosity soared.
The AE86 had been trailing the FD the whole time. It kept up in corners, but on the straights, it was left behind. There's no way it could overtake right?
Or… was Takumi still hiding something?
They turned the page.
Takumi's expression grew more focused in the next panel.
"It starts… at the five consecutive hairpins coming up."
He definitely had a trump card!
Readers were fired up.
And then… they turned the next page
And that was it.
That was the end.
Gone. Again.
Just like getting whacked over the head with a steel pipe.
For readers still riding the high of that intense, edge-of-your-seat battle, the emotional whiplash was brutal.
The more they loved Initial D, the more they wanted to strangle the person behind it—Mizushiro.
Some reactions were immediate and theatrical.
"Why is he like this? What happened to basic human decency?"
"Mizushiro is a menace. Who ends a chapter there?!"
"I swear if someone has his home address, I'll send him a hundred angry postcards!"
"I don't know where he lives, but the publisher's address is printed on the back of Shroud Line!"
"This is the seventh time. I've had it. He always cuts it off right there! I'm gonna riot!"
"Let's all file formal complaints to Echo Shroud. This is emotional abuse!"
"Look, I spent like 800 yen on this issue. What's another 100 yen to send him a hate letter?"
The group chat for intial D fans went from cheerful chatter to full-on pitchforks and torches.
People who hadn't even read the chapter yet were now desperate to see it. Even those still stuck at work or school were itching with anticipation. They knew how bad Mizushiro's cliffhangers could be and that only meant the chapter must be incredible.
So, during lunch break, many of them snuck off, bought the new issue of Shroud Line, read Initial D…
…and joined the angry mob online.
Forums, websites, Line chats, even social media and the Echo Shroud comment board were flooded with outrage over the cliffhanger, and only the cliffhanger.
Mizushiro's personal social media was completely overrun.
A strange phenomenon unfolded: Mizushiro was undeniably drawing one of the most thrilling manga on shelves and getting roasted alive by his own fans.
On the day Chapter 7 dropped, the Echo Shroud editorial office received an unusual volume of angry reader letters.
Most weren't complaints in the traditional sense. They were demands.
"Give Initial D more pages!"
"I'll pay extra for longer chapters!"
"Please just let the race finish in one go next time!"
Of course, increasing page counts comes with production costs, so the answer was a firm "no." But still the sheer volume of letters was shocking. Especially considering most came from one region, with more likely on the way from others.
It was clear to everyone: this kind of reader reaction didn't happen unless a manga really struck a nerve.
From the start, everyone at Echo Shroud expected Initial D to be popular.
But no one expected it to explode like this.
That evening, the popularity vote results were released and the whole editorial team just stared at the numbers.
Even though most online chatter was complaints and memes dragging Mizushiro… people still voted. In fact, they voted hard.
This week's votes for Initial D surged by over 300,000, reaching 1.1 million total a huge jump from last issue.
It didn't just surpass Natsume's book of friends.
It overtook Ryūkon by nearly 100,000 votes.
Now Initial D ranked second in the entire magazine.
The only title ahead of it?
A Dream World by Airi.
Even fans new to Initial D drawn in by the buzz started checking out Mizushiro's other series, like Natsume's. Its character-driven theme made it easy to jump in mid-story.
Meanwhile, Rinseki, author of Ryūkon, still reeling from being passed by Initial D, now felt Natsume breathing down his neck.
Since Ashes of Tomorrow ended, his momentum had stalled.
Once seen as a quiet pillar of the magazine, he now found himself slipping and everyone could see it.
And now, Initial D was just one step away from the peak something Haruki had dreamed of since joining Echo Shroud.
Back at the serialization meeting two months ago, no one could've imagined this trajectory.
Even a year ago, during the debut of Natsume, Haruki was still struggling to get a foot in the door.
Now, he was within reach of the summit.
To outsiders, it all seemed absurd. It took Airi four years to build up to her current status.
Haruki?
It had only been two years since his first manga.
If Initial D overtook Dream World, Airi's title as the most talented mangaka in Tokyo would quietly pass to Haruki.
Of course, while others were stunned, Haruki wasn't losing his head over it.
He was happy, sure but also realistic.
This massive vote spike didn't mean he had a million new fans overnight. It meant the story had struck a chord, stirring even silent readers to finally speak up.
He still had a long way to go before matching Airi's reputation across the manga industry.
But if he kept this up, word of mouth would carry him far and fast.
"Climb to the top of Shroud Line…?"
Haruki let a rare smile creep across his face.
"There's still a gap between me and Dream World. I'll need time to close it. But once I do…"
"…I hope the system rewards me properly."
After all, winning the Aurora Award had earned him an S-tier system reward. If he reached the top of Shroud Line that had to be worth something even better.
Either way, with a strong series already serialized and an anime pipeline secured thanks to his ties with Kazuya, Haruki wasn't worried about what came next.
(TL:- if you want even more content, check out p-atreon.com/Alioth23 for 55+ advanced chapters)