Editor Takanori Asada nodded. "That's exactly what's happening."
On the television screen, Ichiro Fujima was grinning with smug satisfaction. At the same time, a reporter captured footage at the entrance of the interview room, where the victims' families were holding portraits of the deceased and weeping openly.
The contrast between the two sides was unbearable. Society could hardly tolerate Fujima's existence any longer.
Families sitting in front of their televisions across the country were fuming, lamenting that monsters were allowed to walk free.
"I really don't understand it."
Toga shook his head as he watched.
"Just anyone can become a writer now."
Kai felt like he'd been caught in the crossfire, so he explained.
"These days, attention is everything. The Fujima case caused a massive stir. A lot of people want to know more details, and nobody has more details than the criminal himself."
"On top of that, there might be a cult pulling strings behind the scenes, getting young people to read Fujima's book to cultivate a potential following."
Toga asked in disbelief. "The government doesn't do anything about it?"
"They're all in on it together." Kai shook his head. The whole system was rotten.
"Truly..." Toga clicked his tongue, the frustration of a man who'd spent his whole life far from the city's ugliness.
"Everyone will understand my struggles after reading I Am a Murderer. I didn't actually want to get blood on my hands."
Holding up his book, Fujima put on a pained expression.
The reporter looked at him in surprise. This wasn't in the script.
But digging into Fujima's inner world meant more viewers, so the reporter was practically begging him to say something shocking.
"Why is that? I heard the scene was extremely bloody at the time." She prodded.
"Because my technique wasn't good, even though I had practiced beforehand..."
At that point, Fujima's expression shifted. He turned his face away and muttered.
"Blood is really hard to wash out. It bothered me a lot. That was the most precious piece of clothing from my youth. My mother also happened to pass away from illness around that time, and there was nobody to help me with the laundry, so I ended up having to burn it."
The reporter's pupils dilated. She was catching a glimpse into Fujima's inner world, a dark abyss that normal people could neither understand nor relate to.
"So I was thinking, if only there were a notebook where the person would die the moment their name was written in it. That would be so convenient."
Fujima said it with a grin.
Heishi, who had been about to walk away from the screen, froze when he heard those words. A terrible thought began forming in his mind.
He turned back, eyes locked on the TV.
...
Editorial department meeting room.
Hisashi Sasaki, who was chairing the meeting, pulled out the storyboard for Death Note.
"This is a work managed by Yoshihisa Heishi, titled Death Note."
"The serialization content is vastly different from the one-shot. New protagonist. New story."
"It's a battle of wits between Light Yagami, Japan's top high school student who possesses the Death Note, and L, a detective ranked among the top three in the world who can command police forces globally..."
"Alright, alright, Sasaki." An editor waved his hand, cutting him off. He looked around the room. "Everyone's already read this, right? It's brilliant. Hard to believe this is a newcomer's debut work."
Everyone nodded.
Someone crossed their arms. "I haven't seen an opening this strong in years."
Someone else flipped through the photocopied storyboards. "Kanzaki's drawing skills have improved too. They still hold the story back a bit, but it's a huge leap from the one-shot. Reminds me of Togashi-sensei."
It was during the serialization of Yu Yu Hakusho that Yoshihiro Togashi's art had made its biggest jump.
He grew from a manga artist who relied on clever concepts into a well-rounded, national-level master with excellent art, outstanding storyboarding, and brilliant plotting.
"You can tell he's actively working on his biggest weakness. That kind of mindset is exactly what you want to see."
Someone nodded in agreement.
Another editor spoke up. "Beyond that, the plot of Death Note is even more impressive than I expected. I thought it was going to be a gimmick-driven manga, but the reasoning sections are actually better than the Death Note premise itself."
By this point, the room was in agreement.
All eyes turned to Editor-in-Chief Torishima for his final word.
"Since that's the case," Torishima raised his hand, "it's approved..."
"Editor-in-Chief!" An editor burst through the door. "Something's happened!"
...
Fujin family home.
Rika stared at the television, frozen.
"He... he... what did he just say?"
Kai looked at the notebook in Fujima's hand. On the cover, written in bold letters, was "Death Note." Inside, the name "Ichiro Fujima" was scrawled over and over, and the words "Die! Die!" were scratched across the pages in red ink.
He answered calmly. "Someone handed me this notebook. On the envelope, there was a note that read: Anyone whose name is written in this notebook will die of a heart attack. Killing people really is easy. But if I wanted to kill someone, it would have been just like that. The same thoughts I had as a child."
"This is terrible! Big bro!"
In her panic, Rika forgot everything else.
"With this happening, your Death Note definitely can't get serialized now!"
"Huh?" Toga, who had been completely lost, jolted upright. "Could it be..."
"That's right." Kai nodded. "It has to be one of my readers who mailed a Death Note to Fujima."
Someone's overflowing resentment had been poured into a childish, play-like curse notebook.
There was nothing Kai could do to change that now.
Even if he panicked, it wouldn't help.
He could only wait quietly for the editorial department's response.
Over there, things had to be just as chaotic right now.
...
Kazuhiko Torishima walked quickly out of the meeting room and stared at the television, where Fujima was still talking.
"People die when they are killed. The owner of a notebook that curses others to death certainly wouldn't have any problem actually killing someone."
He was spouting a slippery slope fallacy.
"I also looked into this 'Death Note.' Turns out, it's the setting of a manga that won an award in Weekly Shonen Jump."
"That's really going too far, isn't it? Teaching people to think like that."
"I'm truly saddened."
The reporter chimed in with a few words of agreement.
Torishima's expression grew darker by the second.
The situation had blown up.
This live broadcast was going to spark a firestorm of public debate.
"Editor-in-Chief?" Sasaki asked how he wanted to handle it.
"Heishi!" Torishima called out.
"Yes." Heishi appeared at his side immediately. His expression was grim. He'd been agonizing over how to break the news to Kai.
"Contact Fujin right away. Tell him to stay calm and not let the outside noise get to him."
They were just words. Hearing them might provide a sliver of comfort, but they wouldn't make anyone breathe easy or feel truly reassured.
"Also," Torishima took a deep breath and continued. "Tell him that Death Note has passed the serialization meeting, and prepare for weekly serialization."
_______________________
Get 1 Bonus Chapter for every 333 Power Stones and earn up to 3 Bonus Chapters every week!
Support me at patreon.com/CulturedOne and read 50 Advanced Chapters