After Taki posted his review of Clannad, many other bloggers posted their reactions too. A lot of them even skipped the sponsorship money altogether and went on Twitter to complain at full volume.
Plenty of them broke down after finishing Clannad, and the moms among them had it worst. Ushio's story hit them right where they lived.
A TikTok blogger with 1.5 million followers, a mother of two girls, posted a video at a little past nine that night. Her face was full of grief as she went after Oikawa for what he'd done.
[I don't care if they make me pay damages for what I'm about to say. I have to get this out, or I'll never get over it. Seriously, it's just a light novel. Why does it have to be this sad?! Copycat-san, you're still a student, right? How does someone so young write something this sad?]
[What did Nagisa Furukawa ever do to you? Doesn't your heart hurt? Why would you kill her off? And why did you make Tomoya abandon Ushio? Do you even have a heart? Do you know how much it hurts to see what happened to Ushio when you're a parent? To all you sisters out there, think twice, then think again before you buy Clannad. It is a SUPER sad, I'm not kidding.]
One stone, and the whole pond rippled.
With someone leading the charge, posts and videos trashing Clannad and its author started popping up like mushrooms after rain.
A beauty blogger on Twitter, 1.6 million followers, handle "Sweetie Has Big Tummy":
[I thought this would be a fun promo event, and I'd get to read Copycat-sensei's new book early. I was so excited. I even took a bath and spent over an hour on my makeup just to look cute. But halfway through the preview copy, I knew something was off. Once they leave school, it's one stab after another, and every single one goes straight into my heart. I cried so hard my makeup was ruined. You couldn't even look at me.]
[And I used to call him 'Mr. Copycat' every chance I got. I even fought the haters on my alt account for him. Now? Ugh, no thanks. Old scoundrel Copycat... Bastard Copycat, you old DOG!!!]
...
A singer-blogger on Instagram, 3.59 million followers, handle "Forever Airhead":
[I've put Full-Drive Bunko on my collab blacklist. If there's ever another promo event like this, please spare me. I cried the whole afternoon.]
[I'd been doing pretty well lately and hadn't felt emo in ages, but Clannad dragged me right back down. And the worst part?! I cried my voice hoarse. So the new song I planned to release this month has to be pushed to next month.]
[Copycat, what are you going to pay me back with?]
..
More and more bloggers piled on the second volume of Clannad.
Within hours, the internet was one big witch hunt.
Oikawa's Twitter comments were also a disaster zone.
His readers couldn't accept Nagisa's death, or that Tomoya, such a good guy, had suddenly turned into a terrible father. It felt like raising a good kid for twenty years and then finding out he'd committed murder. They just couldn't process it.
But one person's misery is another's joy.
Watching the internet tear into him, one little group hiding in a corner was absolutely delighted. They had only twenty-odd members, but their chat was moving at lightning speed.
In the "Fan Club" group chat—
[Justice Bringer]: "wait what's going on?? Why is everyone suddenly roasting our bastard like that? I'm so lost. I left ONE comment, 'aren't Copycat's books always depressing?', and got dogpiled with like a hundred replies"
[Hades]: "Looks like his promo campaign totally backfired. A bunch of bloggers couldn't handle how sad Clannad is"
[Justice Bringer]: "Copycat really knows how to stir up trouble. Guess we don't even need to make a move? Saw a rumor on the forums that Clannad is a total tearjerker. If he's getting cursed out for it, I'm cheering. We haven't even done anything yet and Copycat's already down? lmao"
The twenty-odd members who'd been itching for revenge all felt a little deflated. They'd planned for so long, and now it was all for nothing?
It was like chasing a girl for ages, running every move in the book, and then, just as you finally make your play, someone else gets her first. It was frustrating, to say the least.
Kentaro had no idea whether the others felt the same, but he sure did.
No way. He wasn't letting this play out like this.
After a moment of thought, Kentaro finally spoke up. He couldn't let this play out the way it was going.
[Kentaro (Admin)]: "Guys, listen up! We've been planning this for ages, all so we could get back at Copycat and finally let off some steam. We can't hand this opportunity to somebody else. Otherwise, what was all that prep work for?"
His words got a lot of responses.
[Sleepless Cat]: "Damn right. You know how I spent the last two weeks?"
[Hades]: "I'm a terrible student, and I taught myself three languages just so I could recommend Clannad to girls. Do you know how hard that was?!"
[Habibi Struggles]: "Respect, man. I only learned Arabic, and it's driving me insane every single day. It's so freaking hard."
[Sleepless Cat]: "Hmm... is it possible Arabic is just that hard? And why did you pick it in the first place? Better learn Russian so you can hit on beautiful girls there."
[Justice Bringer]: "Kentaro you are right. The more I think about it, the angrier I get. I've put in more effort than I ever did for my own girlfriend. There's no way I'm letting it go to waste. We can't let anyone else take our revenge on Copycat."
Seeing the group fired up, Kentaro pressed on.
[Kentaro (Admin)]: "We need to take the initiative. I've got an idea. Tell me what you think."
[Kentaro (Admin)]: "Going head-on right now is a bad move. We've all seen what those women, especially the moms, are capable of. So we have to come at this from the side.From what I've been studying lately, most of these women respond to sympathy, not pressure. They're especially helpless against tragic characters. The reason this blew up so badly is Ushio in Clannad."
[Kentaro (Admin)]: "Here's my plan. We give Copycat a tragic backstory. His parents are divorced and don't care about him, he lives alone with his grandmother, and she paid his tuition by collecting scrap. And that's not all. At school, he gets bullied and everyone is disgusted by his presence. That's why all his work is so depressing. It's also why he posts those weird things on Twitter. He grew up never knowing what love feels like, so everything he does is just to get people's attention."
[Kentaro (Admin)]: "So... what do you guys think?"
A brief silence.
Then the messages came crashing in like a tidal wave. It was a group of just twenty-odd people, but it felt like two hundred were typing at once.
[Habibi Struggles]: "Holy crap, genius!"
[Sleepless Cat]: "Admin, you dog. It's a waste that you're not writing novels."
[Justice Bringer]: "Honestly, I think this works!"
...
Then the entire chat group went into brainstorming mode, each trying to make Copycat's life sound sadder than the last.
Before long, version after version of his tragic backstory was posted, torn apart, and rewritten.
Finally, one ultimate version came out that satisfied everyone.
Kentaro's eyes shone with excitement. This time, he was sure he could stir up another storm. The feeling was intoxicating.
They settled on a plan that very night and got to work immediately.
So their comments wouldn't get buried in the ocean of the internet, they went to smaller niche forums to stir up more momentum. Some even hopped over to social apps in other countries.
Soon, all kinds of posts about Copycat's tragic past were popping up online.
On one women's light novel forum, a thread was in full swing, ripping into him so hard that people were practically cursing his ancestors.
Then one comment appeared.
[Hades-chan]: Sigh~ I just heard this myself, but Copycat actually had it pretty rough. He grew up with parents who abandoned him, and the only family he had left, his grandmother, passed away last year. Maybe he wrote such a sad story just to get people's attention.
After a short silence, a flood of worried replies came in.
[Really? His background is that sad?]
[Now that you mention it, I think my editor at Full-Drive Bunko told me Copycat-sensei signed his contract on his own. No guardian.]
[Sleepless Catgirl]: "EXACTLY! Copycat-sensei is an orphan. Kaori in Your Lie in April was based on a girl who grew up beside him, but she died of illness a few years ago. And that's not all! I heard he was bullied at the orphanage as a kid. Poor thing."
It was happening in more than one place.
Bit by bit, more and more people learned about Oikawa's "past," and the mood flipped fast, from anger to sympathy.
Sure, Clannad had left plenty of mothers heartbroken, but they knew it was only a made-up story. What had happened to "Copycat," on the other hand, was a real tragedy.
Sometimes it only takes a moment for people to switch sides.
Chris Yamada didn't find out until the next morning, when the editor-in-chief called him first thing. A bunch of bloggers had leaked details from Clannad.
Handing out preview copies had basically meant accepting that some of the story would get out. But he never expected the bloggers to react so violently, or to start calling on everyone else to boycott Clannad.
When he heard, Chris was frantic. He drove like his life depended on it, nearly hitting a hundred, just to get to the office sooner.
The whole way, he kept turning it over in his head, trying to figure out how to handle this.
The moment he arrived, he ran straight to the editor-in-chief's office to discuss damage control.
But when he walked in, the chief greeted him with a big smile and said, clearly pleased, "Editor Yamada, this was excellent work! When I called this morning, I thought you really had no idea. Turns out you already had a countermeasure ready. Not bad."
Chris froze.
"Chief, what are you talking about?" he asked blankly.
"Still playing dumb with me?" The chief shook his head helplessly and handed over his phone. "The sob story angle. That was your idea, wasn't it? It's working beautifully."
"The comments on Full-Drive Bunko's official account are almost completely one-sided now. So many people feel for Copycat-sensei and what he's been through."
"Those bloggers who posted videos and statuses telling people to boycott Clannad are all apologizing, and they're promising to promote it for free. You sly dog, you've got some tricks!"
Chris numbly took the phone and scrolled through the comments.
Then he got even more confused.
He hadn't done this. Could Oikawa have hired a PR team himself...?
...
Meanwhile, Oikawa was just as lost.
First thing that morning, he got a message from Utaha.
[Utaha]: Oikawa! Who is Kaori, really? Was she the girl who grew up with you? Did the person she's based on actually die?
When Oikawa read that, his brain short-circuited.
Kaori was a girl who grew up with him?
What was this nonsense?
「What are you talking about?」 He yawned and typed back. 「Kaori's just a character I made up. What do you mean, based on someone?」
[Utaha]: It's all over the internet. They're saying Kaori is so heartbreaking because you had a love that was burned into your soul. (image)
Oikawa stared at the screenshot Utaha had sent, wearing the exact face of the confused-guy meme.
What the hell?
What were these people even saying? Okay, the part about having no parents was true. But this post claimed his parents died saving the girl Kaori was based on during an earthquake. That was way too much!
Ridiculous didn't even begin to cover it. It was ridiculous squared.
[Utaha]: Senpai, are you sure there's no real Kaori?
Seeing Utaha's follow-up message, Oikawa shook his head with a helpless sigh. 「I'm sure! my dear kouhai, don't tell me you're jealous? Don't worry. The one I love is you. If I ever do create a really tragic character, I'll build her around your image and personality, nobody else's.」
Utaha was in the middle of eating when his message came in. She froze, and then a sweet smile spread across her face.
Her mother, sitting nearby, saw it and quietly nudged her husband. "Dear, do you think Utaha's been seeing someone lately?"
"Hm? I don't think so."
He kept his eyes on his newspaper and frowned in disagreement. Mrs. Kasumigaoka rolled her eyes at him.
Meanwhile, with no further reply from Utaha, Oikawa opened Twitter and checked his comments.
Sure enough, everyone was going on about how miserable "Copycat-sensei" was. Some of the stories were obviously fake, and people still believed them.
Oikawa frowned.
Then a name suddenly came to mind.
.
.
.