Although the visuals in Natsume's Book of Friends weren't as polished as some high-budget series, the original background music personally selected and arranged by Haruki had drawn widespread praise from anime fans. And since Natsume wasn't an action-heavy series, the animation quality didn't interfere with the viewing experience.

Among the crowded lineup of April releases ranging from saccharine romcoms to formulaic isekai and yet another overpowered-dragon series Natsume's Book of Friends quietly stood out. Its subtle tone and sincere direction were a breath of fresh air. Its rapid rise wasn't due to luck it was inevitable.

Because of this, the manga's popularity also soared. Thanks to the anime, Natsume's Book of Friends was now on par with Initial D and Dream world in Shroud Line magazine's rankings. The gap between them was narrowing by the day.

Sales of the Natsume manga volumes spiked in bookstores, too.

Haruki could only marvel. So this is the power of anime. No wonder so many manga artists fought for adaptations.

By the end of April, another industry milestone arrived: 5 Centimeters per Second and Voices of a Distant Star had both completed their three-month post-airing window. As per standard publishing policy, the official pricing on the streaming platforms dropped and their final performance data was now public.

In the anime world, what truly mattered was this three-month window. Those figures pre-discount and pre-archive defined a series' reputation. No one bothered counting the lifetime streams years down the line. If they did, every classic would have numbers in the tens of billions.

5 Centimeters per Second closed with 38.56 million views across three episodes.

Voices of a Distant Star finished with 12.11 million.

The combined revenue from digital distribution was staggering. After the earnings were split between Haruki and Kazuya Mori, Haruki alone cleared over 400 million yen in pre-tax income. Kazuya earned more than 140 million.

When the funds hit their accounts in early May, neither of them quite believed it.

Just a few years ago, Haruki had been living off ramen and barely scraping by. Now, between the two anime, royalties, and boosted manga sales, he had nearly 500 million yen in cash on hand.

As for Kazuya, who had put in a modest investment mostly out of faith in Haruki… he had just earned the equivalent of ten years' salary in one project. Between this and his family's estate, he now had over 200 million yen in net worth excluding real estate.

It left both of them stunned.

According to Kazuya's own life plan, it would've taken another ten or fifteen years two promotions at Kazanami Studio to reach this kind of stability.

And that was just the streaming income.

There was still the merchandising revenue, overseas licensing deals, and Blu-ray sales. Industry estimates projected that post-streaming profits would account for another 60 to 70% of the total.

All told, Haruki stood to earn another 100 to 300 million yen over the coming months.

With Initial D's manga volumes hitting shelves in June and the continued surge of the Natsume anime, it wouldn't be surprising if Haruki's 500 million doubled by summer.

Even though he'd known anime could be profitable… the actual numbers still left him in disbelief.

"You really went from broke college student to millionaire in less than a year," Kazuya laughed, patting him on the back. "You thinking of investing? Starting something new?"

Haruki exhaled. "Nah. I wouldn't even know where to begin. I'd rather keep it in savings. The interest alone could cover my lifestyle for a few years."

For someone who claimed to want to "do nothing," Haruki was now shockingly well-positioned to do exactly that.

He thought about Airi for a moment… and finally understood her "lazy" philosophy a little better.

Kazuya raised an eyebrow. "You're not even gonna buy a place? You're still renting that tiny apartment?"

"I'm near campus. I'll wait until after I graduate."

They parted ways after a short walk, and the next day, Kazuya gathered everyone at the studio for a celebratory dinner. He and Haruki each handed out generous bonuses, thanking the team for their hard work. They weren't a formal company just a group of friends who had come together to make something and with the projects done, it was natural to go their separate ways for now.

At the end of the night, Kazuya clapped Haruki on the shoulder.

"If you ever have another idea… you know where to find me."

Haruki nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

If the system ever gave him a strong enough project again, Haruki was open to another collaboration. He didn't want to form a company just yet animation work was expensive and constant. Without a guaranteed project lined up, covering salaries during downtime would be a burden.

A flexible studio model made more sense. Big enough to build something great. Small enough to shut down between jobs.

Besides, the system hadn't opened all its resources to him. He still needed to earn his way toward unlocking new works. So for now, he'd wait.

But the money problem was solved. He had Kazuya for production. Everything else was just a matter of time.

"Maybe inspiration will hit me someday," Haruki said casually.

Kazuya smiled. "If it's you, I'm sure it won't take long."

They stood by the window in silence, staring out into the city lights. The air was crisp and quiet.

And then it happened.

A familiar voice echoed in Haruki's mind.

"Congratulations, host. 5 Centimeters per Second has ranked first in the 2020 Spring Anime Popularity Rankings. You are awarded an A-tier lottery draw."

Haruki froze.

After almost a year of silence, the system finally responded.

An A-tier reward… same as when Anohana won Spring's top spot. If the system was giving out an A-tier prize for seasonal #1, what would it give for anime of the year?

At 12.8 million average views, 5cm might actually have a shot.

A pity that Voices had to settle for second place no reward for that.

Still, if the system had issued the prize early, it probably meant it had already analyzed the competition and deemed 5cm unbeatable.

Without hesitation, Haruki slipped into the system's interface.

"Use A-tier draw," he said calmly.

Back in the real world, Kazuya noticed that Haruki had been staring into space for over ten minutes.

He figured Haruki was just processing everything the money, the success, the future.

No doubt he was torn between being lazy for two years… or going all-in and staying lazy for life.

Kazuya had wrestled with the same dilemma earlier, but he knew better than to jump into anything blindly. He'd seen too many stories of wealthy people burning out and losing everything.

He was about to gently suggest Haruki take things slow

but Haruki turned to him with a glint in his eye.

"Kazuya?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember what I said? That if inspiration struck, we might be working together again sooner than you think?"

"Sure… why?"

Haruki's expression changed.

"I just got inspired."

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