Dominic had submitted the final draft of Gojo’s Heartbreak Loverboy Crybaby on the last day of November, just before the selection process for Mugen Monthly Starline’s January batch began. Renji Sato’s speech that day had energized the editorial team, every editor had something ready to submit, but Dominic was still the last to turn in his story.

When the results came in, Dominic called Gojo to break the news to him.

Dominic: Hey kiddo… you got selected.

Gojo blinked, a mix of excitement and disbelief on his face.

Gojo: Wait, really? Are you serious?

Dominic: Completely. Heartbreak Loverboy Crybaby is releasing in the Mugen Monthly Starline January batch. You did it.

Gojo’s lips twitched into a small smile. 

Gojo: Huh... I don't know what to say...

Dominic: I know that this must be shocking for you but if you were planning on celebrating, don't do that yet. You don’t want to get ahead of myself right now. 

Gojo: (scratching his head) Right, right. 

****

January arrived a few weeks after and while everyone was engrossed in wishing everyone a happy new year, Gojo downloaded the Mugen Plus app in anticipation to see his work being published. 

Eventually, the release day came, and he found his one shot listed among the New Releases section of the app. 

His stomach did a small flip once he saw his work with his pen name on it , but when he checked, the view count was only thirty thousand, and there was no ranking yet.

Gojo: That’s… not too bad, I guess. What matters is that people read it. 

However, two weeks later, something began to change. 

Gojo opened the app one morning after it's continuos buzzing woke him up and he nearly dropped his phone after seeing what he saw. 

Gojo: Seven hundred thousand views?! 

His eyes widened as he saw Heartbreak Loverboy Crybaby had reached Gold rank.

He immediately called Dominic who was in the process of calling him before he did.

Dominic: Yeah it's not just you. Most of the one shots are entering the silver rank and the Gold rank. I guess people are really resonating with these batch. From what I see, you're going to get more opportunities so keep that in mind, okay? 

Gojo laughed nervously. 

Dominic: In the meantime, celebrate. Use the money you got from the one shot and get yourself somewhere nice. You're doing well. 

Gojo: Yeah, I will.

After Gojo ended the call, he thought about what Dominic said. Indeed he had gotten paid for the one shot but he hadn't thought of spending the money. 

Gojo: Maybe I'll go get ice cream. But... It's no fun to go alone. 

Just then, Emilia flashed in his mind and then he immediately knew who to call. 

******

A few hours later, Emilia and Gojo were at an ice cream store ordering a large bowl of ice cream. Emilia's eyes shone in surprise at the large bowl of ice cream in front of her. 

Emilia: Are you I can eat this? 

Gojo: I mean, I've been dying to try this and I couldn't eat it all by myself. So sure, feel free. 

Emilia: (stary eyes) Really?? 

Gojo: Yeah... Dig in. 

Emilia immediately began to pull down the large bowl of ice cream in front of her with Gojo smiling and eating his own ide of the ice cream. 

Unfortunately Emilia ended up eating too much and she ended up having brain freeze and throwing up on their way back home. 

Emilia then sat down on the swings in the old amusement park while Gojo rushed to the store to get her a bottle of water. After Gojo got back, they both sat on the swings in silence for a while before Emilia broke it.

Emilia: Thanks for bringing out today. I didn't have anything doing at home, so this felt nice.

Gojo: Yeah... I'm happy to help.

Emilia looked at Gojo who had his eyes on the ground and smiled. 

Emilia: I know I'm really late on this but... Congratulations on your manga ranking, Gojo. You did well. I finally read it yesterday and I loved it. 

Gojo blushed on hearing this and didn't look up at Emilia's face so she wouldn't see how embarrassed he was. 

Gojo: Yeah... Thanks.

Emilia: I mean maybe other loved it because of how different the story is but I lovwd it because of that and the fact that I could tell where this story came from.

Gojo, for the same time in a while thought about the idea behind HLC and then Reggie's face flashed in his mind. 

Gojo: Yeah... But I've gotten over it. So it really doesn't matter anymore.

Emilia: I guess so... 

Gojo thought again for a while and then he suddenly looked up and turned to Emilia.

Gojo: Emilia...

Emilia: Yeah... What is it?

Gojo: I've been doing a saying this a lot to people for the last few days. My mom, my Dad, Mr Dominic, so I just thought it'll be fair if I told you this told you this too.

Emilia: (puzzled) Well...? What is it you want to tell...

Gojo: THANK YOU. 

Emilia: Eh...?

Gojo: I want to thank you for coming to see me that day, and for checking up on me every single day. You're about the only friend I have left and I really really thank you for staying with me after the whole mess with Reggie. 

Gojo was fully locked in on her right now their eyes met as he spoke his next words.

Gojo: So Emilia, THANK YOU. 

Emilia stared at Gojo for a while and then she felt all the heat of the sun gathering in her head as her face turned red. She immediately covered her face and his her face in-between her laps which confused Gojo. 

Gojo: Emilia, are you okay? Is it something I said?

Emilia: (muffled voice) Yeah, I am. It's just that the sun is too hot right now. 

Gojo: Really? Do you need another bottle of water? 

Emilia nodded her head and Gojo stood up and began walking to the store across the street while Emilia watched him as he walk with her face still red. 

*******

Within days, it happened again. Gojo watched, slack-jawed, as the view count rolled past a million like it was nothing, and the one shot climbed straight into Diamond rank, the first one shot ever to hit that tier.

Fans on Twibbler treated it like some kind of small phenomenon; every time he refreshed, there were new posts, new threads, new reactions.

Fanart started popping up everywhere, from quick doodles to full-color illustrations that looked like they belonged in an artbook. Memes spread like wildfire. Readers were quoting their favorite lines, making edits, tagging friends and telling them they “had to read this immediately.”

Gojo kept trying to stay on top of the notifications, but they were coming in faster than he could even tap. His phone felt like it had developed a heartbeat of its own.

And it didn’t stop there.

Over the course of the month, the views and fan engagement on the one shot kept climbing. By the end of January, the momentum finally slowed, but not before settling at around six million views, just a few digits shy of Platinum rank.

Gojo was staring at that number, still trying to process the whole thing, when his phone buzzed with a call from Dominic.

He picked up, and Dominic didn’t even bother with a hello.

Dominic: Congratulations kiddo. You're doing exceptionally well. 

Gojo: (scratches his head) Thanks.... Everything's been happening so fast that it feels surreal. 

Dominic: Well, you might wanna sit down for this. I've got some good news. 

Gojo's heart skipped at beat. 

Gojo: Good news? 

Dominic: I'm coming out of the meeting and HLC is getting a physical print. It's going to be out in February and....

Gojo smiled and the screamed for joy not even allowing Dominic to finish his sentences. After his celebration of joy had died down, Gojo remembered that Dominic was still on the phone.

Gojo: I'm sorry. I'm just really happy that everything's happening so quickly.

Dominic smiled at the other end of the phone.

Dominic: I'm really happy for ya, kid. 

Gojo: So things are going to be different now huh? 

Dominic: Yeah, along with the release of the physical print, you also have to draw bonus pages and art illustration for the release. You might end up drawing a whole new cover for the print. You'll get paid of course, so you better get busy. 

Gojo: Right. I'll get to it right away.

Dominic: And there's one more thing. Senji Noda read your manga. 

Gojo's eyes shone in shock. 

Gojo: He did?!

Dominic: Yeah he did. He’s giving you an author recommendation when HLC releases next month. And...

Gojo: (puzzled) And?

Dominic: He said he wants to have a word with you.