"Huh? What I meant just now wasn't..."
Ayumi Ito froze for a moment. It only took a second for her to realize that she hadn't been clear enough. She'd assumed Aoyama would wait for the official credentials, but his "initiative" had moved faster than the legal department's bureaucracy.
A wave of self-reproach washed over her. "I am so sorry, Sensei. It was my fault for not being explicit about the procedure."
"It's fine," Aoyama said, his voice cheerful and entirely unbothered. "I've already got it all set up. This works too, doesn't it?"
"But... Sensei, your account doesn't have the official verification badge. Our corporate account isn't following it yet, either. It looks... well, it looks like a fake," Ayumi explained with professional earnestness. "It would be much better if you deactivated that one and used the official credentials I just sent over. It's better for the brand's integrity."
Aoyama thought about it. He wasn't particularly attached to the handle, and he certainly wasn't a stubborn man when it came to practical matters.
"Alright, that's fair. But I'm not going to delete the other one. I'll just... give it to someone else."
Ayumi didn't think much of it. "That works for me. I'm sending the username and password to your secure terminal now."
After hanging up, Aoyama received the credentials for the official 'Aoyama' account.
The profile was immaculate. The avatar was a high-resolution, officially licensed screenshot of David Martinez from the magazine's promotional spread. The display name was a simple, professional 'Aoyama.'
Best of all, it carried the 'Official Verification' badge: Author of Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners.
And as Ayumi had promised, the account was already in a mutual follow with the Manga World Publishers official corporate page. The credibility was absolute.
'Ah... no wonder that Mike guy didn't believe me,' Aoyama realized. 'I didn't have the fancy blue checkmark.'
With a mischievous glint in his eyes, Aoyama logged into the official account and immediately followed his "fake" account.
He then logged back into the initial account and changed the handle to '@NochangeNoel.'
He updated the bio with a single, absurd sentence: "Hello everyone. My name is Noel Nochange. I am a three-year-old puppy. I created this account because I love 'Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners' and its author, Aoyama. Thank you for your support."
Satisfied with his "official" secondary account, he switched back to the verified 'Aoyama' profile and began drafting a long, detailed thread explaining the thematic necessity of Maine's descent into cyberpsychosis.
What he failed to notice, however, was that on the account now known as '@NochangeNoel,' the "Flying" video was already beginning to spread like wildfire.
The internet, after all, never lacked for people looking for a good laugh.
---
As Aoyama was typing his first official greeting to his international fans, the notification bell on his thread began to ring incessantly. Fans were excited, flooding his replies with questions about the plot, the characters, and the "tragedy" they were all anticipating.
But it didn't take long for the more eagle-eyed users to notice something strange. The verified 'Aoyama' account was only following two pages: Manga World Publishers and... '@NochangeNoel.'
It was a bizarre association.
The '@NochangeNoel' profile was even stranger. A bio claiming to be a three-year-old dog? Even if a dog lived to be a hundred, it wouldn't know how to use a smartphone, let alone navigate the complexities of international social media. It was an obvious, albeit weird, joke.
But why was the official, prestigious author following a "dog"?
Was the author... a mental patient?
Mike, who had been "trolling" Aoyama earlier, stared at his screen in disbelief. He saw the verified author follow the account of the guy he'd just called a lunatic.
"No way..." Mike's jaw dropped. "Why would Aoyama-sensei follow a crazy person like this? Unless..."
'Unless that 'crazy person' really was him?!'
Across the world, thousands of other fans were making the same connection. They found the "Flying" video. They saw the absurd "I can fly" claim in the previous thread. They looked at the timing of the name changes.
The conclusion was inescapable. '@NochangeNoel' was Aoyama's private, personal account.
And by extension, the author of Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners was, quite literally, not playing with a full deck of cards.
"Is he... actually insane?"
James, the California-based scanlator who had started the whole "Racism" controversy, stared at the video of the strikingly handsome man slamming into his own floor.
Realization dawned on him with the force of a tidal wave. "No wonder the story is so unhinged... the author is a literal madman. Or... is he a genius? Is there a difference?"
The video began to circulate at an exponential rate. Within days, it had moved beyond the manga niche and into the broader "weird internet" culture. The "Aoyama Levitation Fail" was the meme of the week.
And eventually, the news and the video found their way back to the Federation.
In the Federation's most active social media circles, specifically the "Metropolitan Sci-Fi Enthusiasts" group on Penguin Chat, the reaction was instantaneous.
{ScienceGeek99: Holy crap... it turns out the author of Edgerunners really *is* mentally unstable.}
{ForceKing: What are you talking about?}
{BunnyBun: Why would you say that?}
{ScienceGeek99: Didn't you hear? There was a huge protest about the Maine plotline on international social media. Aoyama-sensei opened an account to explain himself.}
{ScienceGeek99: But before the official account was verified, he opened a private one. He claimed he could fly. Someone called him a liar, so he posted a video... of himself trying to jump into the air to prove it.}
ScienceGeek99 uploaded the video of Aoyama's "flight" into the chat.
{ScienceGeek99: And if that wasn't enough, he renamed the account and claimed he's a three-year-old dog. Look at the follow-list on his official account. It's him. You're telling me this is the behavior of a sane man?}
The group members, hailing from all corners of the Federation, watched the video. The silence in the chat was palpable for about ten seconds.
Then, the floodgates opened.
{GalacticEmpire_Private: I called it... I said he was a psycho from the start. I just didn't expect him to be this kind of psycho.}
{BunnyBun: Even if he's a patient... he's a brilliant one. The talent is undeniable.}
{WorkSucks: Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin. The ancients did not deceive us.}
{ForceKing: Yeah... the Sensei might be a bit... eccentric. But he's a genius. No doubt about it.}
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]