Ever since 'Your Lie in April' began airing, Su Xiaoxiao had gradually come to realize something.
The story was essentially divided into three main parts.
The music competition arc.
The campus daily life arc.
And then the flashback segments that appeared in almost every episode.
The main storyline was clearly the music competitions and the emotional progression between the male lead and Kaori Miyazono.
The side plot, meanwhile, focused on the unrequited love that the female supporting character, Tsubaki Sawabe, harbored for Arima Kousei during their school-life scenes.
As for the flashbacks, they served as background supplements to both threads.
Up to this point, what had made Su Xiaoxiao feel the most uncomfortable wasn't Kaori's illness—
It was Tsubaki's storyline.
Secretly loving Arima Kousei.
I want him to return to the world of music.
Yet in the end, she had to accept the painful truth—
The one who truly pulled Arima Kousei back onto the musical stage wasn't her, but her own classmate, Kaori Miyazono.
And even worse, during that process, Arima Kousei fell hopelessly in love with Kaori.
As for her…
She knew all of this clearly.
Yet she couldn't let go.
She couldn't move on.
She couldn't bring herself to become a "bad woman" and snatch him away before Kaori.
But she was also unwilling to watch her childhood friend slowly draw closer to someone else.
In Xia Nation's dramas, it was rare to portray the inner world of a "losing heroine."
More often than not, the second female lead in romance dramas was written as a villain—someone who did bad things and earned no sympathy from viewers.
But 'Your Lie in April' was different.
From the very beginning, Tsubaki Sawabe's suffering felt so real that it made Su Xiaoxiao want to cry.
Longing for something she couldn't have, yet unwilling to give up.
Believing that perseverance might bring hope—
even though deep down she knew it was nothing but self-deception.
By the opening of episode eight,
She had clearly resolved to give up her feelings for Arima Kousei and accepted a confession from an upperclassman.
But in the end, she realized she simply couldn't forget him—
And that continuing like this was unfair to the senior, who genuinely liked her.
Their brief relationship stopped at the stage of walking to and from school together.
When Su Xiaoxiao saw the scene of Tsubaki covering her face in pain after the breakup,
Her nose tingled.
Tsubaki wasn't heartbroken because of the breakup itself.
She was devastated because she couldn't forget Arima Kousei—
and because she had hurt someone else in the process.
She was angry at herself for being like this.
"There's nothing you can do… your opponent is Kaori Miyazono," Su Xiaoxiao thought bitterly.
"If it were Emi Igawa competing with her, maybe you'd stand a chance. But you don't understand music at all—how could you possibly squeeze into Arima Kousei's musical world?"
The story continued to move forward.
Arima Kousei decided to fully return to music—
practice, competitions, studying—he didn't neglect any of it.
At the same time, while juggling schoolwork and competitions,
The plot introduced a new character: Aiza Takeshi's younger sister, Aiza Nagi.
Though she was introduced in episode eight, she only briefly appeared.
By the midpoint of the episode, Arima Kousei finally spoke with Kaori Miyazono on the phone.
From her hospitalization last episode until now,
The story hadn't explained her illness, nor when she'd be discharged.
Only through her cheerful voice on the call did Su Xiaoxiao feel that—
She seemed fine.
But it was only seeming.
After hanging up, Kaori hummed happily in the hospital corridor.
The very next second, her legs suddenly gave out, and she collapsed to her knees.
No strength.
No matter how she struggled, she couldn't stand up.
She clung to the railing in the hallway, trying desperately—
but failed.
"Stand up… you're my legs, aren't you? Stand up!"
In the dimly lit hospital corridor late at night,
Kaori cried as she pounded her own legs again and again.
The contrast with her lively phone call just a minute earlier
hit like a knife.
Since her first appearance, Kaori Miyazono had always been cheerful—
as if dreams would come true as long as she wanted them badly enough.
But this was the first time the drama showed her alone in the hospital,
sick, helpless, emotionally shattered.
It felt like a needle piercing straight into Su Xiaoxiao's heart.
She could already feel the pain.
The background music turned somber.
Arima Kousei and Kaori Miyazono had met during the season when cherry blossoms bloomed in April.
But when Kaori was discharged and appeared before him again,
It was autumn, when crimson maple leaves drifted through the air.
Leaves fell gently from the sky.
The girl still wore a smile as she waited on the road Arima Kousei passed every day on his way home.
She hid every trace of fear and sadness.
With nothing more than a casual smile, she brushed away his worries about her illness.
"Hey, where's Watari-kun? I was waiting here just for him, you know!"
Kaori said with a smile.
But…
That was a lie.
Su Xiaoxiao could feel it—
Kaori Miyazono was waiting right there for Arima Kousei.
Anyone paying attention would understand:
She definitely wasn't in love with Arima Kousei's friend.
So why lie?
"He's probably still in the classroom," Arima Kousei replied.
"Then you'll do as a substitute. You're fine too."
Kaori smiled at him.
They'd had a similar exchange before.
Back then, Su Xiaoxiao had truly believed Kaori was waiting for Watari Ryota.
Now it was obvious—
It was just an excuse.
Once again, they went shopping together.
Ate delicious food.
Bought stuffed toys.
But in the middle of their fun, Kaori suddenly couldn't even hold onto her juice bottle.
It slipped from her fingers and shattered on the ground.
That night, the boy rode his bicycle with the girl sitting behind him.
Under a sky full of stars,
The silent tears Kaori shed against his back
pierced the hearts of countless 'Your Lie in April' fans—including Su Xiaoxiao.
[Hey… Su Yan, what is this atmosphere supposed to mean?] Su Xiaoxiao panicked.
To judge whether a drama would turn tragic,
You had to look for emotional flags before the final blow.
People about to die often try to see loved ones,
to experience things they cherish one last time.
Kaori sneaking out of the hospital,
dragging Arima Kousei away from piano lessons
just so he'd shop with her, wander around, and ride bicycles at night—
Would she really be that selfish, knowing how important music was to him?
Unless…
She already knew this was the only time she could be selfish.
If she didn't do these things now,
There might never be another chance to do what she loved with the person she loved.
"No, no, no… don't overthink it," Su Xiaoxiao took a deep breath.
"Su Yan knows what he's doing. Maybe all these theories are just another smokescreen."
But the plot kept advancing.
In the hospital, Kaori tried to pick up her beloved violin—
only to realize her fingers couldn't even grip the bow anymore.
She covered her face and cried silently on the bed.
The next day, she greeted Arima Kousei with a smile as if nothing had happened.
But after learning that he hadn't practiced properly for days because he was worried about her,
She completely lost control of her emotions again.
Then came the episode's biggest climax.
That night, the hospital grew quiet once more.
Pale moonlight streamed into the room.
Kaori stared blankly out the window.
At that moment, Arima Kousei pushed the door open and entered.
He was deeply uneasy.
Before his mother died of illness, she had been just like this—
gentle at times, volatile at others.
"No… she's nothing like my mother. Not at all."
He desperately reassured himself.
But when he saw the look in Kaori's eyes—
The image of his dying mother resurfaced.
"You're such a strange person," Kaori said softly.
"You come to visit a patient, yet you don't say a word."
She stopped forcing a smile.
Her eyes locked onto the anxious, silent boy standing in the darkness.
Then she said the line that shattered Su Xiaoxiao—
and countless viewers across the Xia Nation.
"Would you… die with me?"
The ending theme suddenly played.
Su Xiaoxiao's sweaty hands lost their grip on the remote, and it fell to the floor.
She sat there, stunned for several seconds.
Die together?
What did Kaori Miyazono mean by that?
Was she directly admitting that her illness had reached the point of death?
Hey—don't do this.
Su Yan, what kind of direction is this?
Is life and death really something you can treat so casually?
Kaori Miyazono might be fictional—
But shouldn't she at least be alive in your heart first?
What kind of monster are you?!
From start to finish, 'Your Lie in April' never explained Kaori's illness.
Weak limbs and loss of motor control could point to countless diseases.
Many viewers with medical knowledge were already frantically searching for possible diagnoses during the broadcast.
Some were mild and treatable.
Others were terminal—death sentences.
Panic spread.
Before episode eight aired, everyone had hoped Su Yan would simply wave his "creator's hand" and cure Kaori effortlessly.
But if the illness turned out to be one of those incurable ones,
Then the ending was obvious—pure tragedy.
In Su Yan's previous life, he'd searched endlessly for Kaori's illness, too.
Even after the story ended, the original author never revealed it.
That ambiguity was deliberate—
leaving Kaori's fate uncertain until the very end.
And it was precisely because of this that Su Yan dared to tell Shinozaki Ikumi they could shoot a second, happy ending.
He and Shinozaki Ikumi held the full picture.
They had confidence.
But the fans didn't.
They were terrified.
Who could watch up to episode eight without being healed by Kaori Miyazono?
And now the writer was throwing around words like "die together"?
Who could accept that?
["Su Yan, you've gone too far."]
["I can't do this anymore. I'm dropping the show."]
["Please, Su Yan—let Kaori recover in episode nine. I'm begging you."]
["Yeah! Let them perform together again! Arima Kousei can play now—how can you make Kaori too sick to play the violin?"]
["That 'die together' line was brutal. I'm scared to imagine how depressing this will get."]
["Su Yan said everyone would get a satisfying ending. That's the only hope left."]
["After episode eight, I'm questioning life. Does Su Yan even love his own characters?"]
["No one's died yet—don't jump to conclusions!"]
["If Kaori dies, my heart dies with her. I'll become Xia Nation's #1 Su Yan hater forever!"]
A drama without major twists would normally plateau in ratings.
But 'Your Lie in April' delivered a major turn at nearly every stage.
Foreshadowing from episode two exploded in episode seven,
And episode eight completely detonated the emotional bomb.
After episode eight aired, the internet erupted with curses aimed at Su Yan once more.
But the next day, Aozora TV released the real numbers.
4.53%
After last week's 4.4%,
'Your Lie in April' climbed yet another step.
Viewership hadn't dropped—it had increased.
The drama remained firmly in second place.
Online, there was endless wailing and outrage.
In reality, ratings rose week after week.
This strange phenomenon was happening right before everyone's eyes.
This was dancing on the edge of a blade.
One misstep in depressing themes, and a show could be cursed into oblivion.
Most writers would never dare to do this repeatedly.
But Su Yan did—every single time.
And he always kept the story balanced right at the limit of what audiences could endure.
Writers across the Xia Nation watched in stunned silence.
Su Yan, you're insane.
What they didn't understand was that in Su Yan's past life,
countless "depressing" works had failed spectacularly.
Just like in Xia Nation, dancing on a knife's edge often meant mass abandonment.
But 'Your Lie in April' had already been tested by the market.
Others thought Su Yan was reckless.
In reality, every work he brought out had survived brutal competition and earned legendary status.
Su Yan knew this clearly—
Most of the viewers cursing him online wouldn't drop the show without seeing the ending.
And the controversy stirred by episode eight
was, in a way, free advertising generated by the audience themselves.
Aozora TV's support for ratings had its limits.
If 'Your Lie in April' truly wanted to claim the top spot this season,
It needed fans to spread its influence and break through that ceiling.
"Let it blow up even more,"
Su Yan thought as he shut down his computer late at night.