One week passed.
Xia Nation's media quickly rolled out reports focused on the premiere performance of 'Tokyo Love Story'.
A 5.02% debut—essentially on par with the premiere ratings of 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners'.
And everyone had seen what kind of ratings 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' ultimately achieved.
Both were Su Yan's works. With a debut like this, it was hard not to draw comparisons.
This week, Sakura TV was practically going insane.
'Tokyo Love Story's' explosive premiere completely shattered Akasaka Yoshitoki's mentality.
In his entire career as a producer, he had never encountered a freak like Su Yan.
No matter how great a screenwriter was, at the very least, they'd have one work with mediocre results, right?
Fine—I can accept that you, Su Yan, are a genius.
But even geniuses have limits!
The student who always ranks first in class still occasionally has an off day and gets second place—doesn't that make sense?
So why is it that every single work you've released since your debut has been this outrageous?
Where's the decline after reaching the peak?
Where's the burnout?
There wasn't even the slightest sign of it.
Online, the paid trolls hired by Akasaka Yoshitoki were frantically spreading rumors and smearing Su Yan.
But at this point—what was the point?
Xia Nation's drama fans weren't idiots. And compared to Su Yan's fanbase, this handful of trolls was negligible.
With baseless slander like this—
They couldn't even stir up momentum anymore.
Another Friday arrived, and 'Blood Route' aired its second episode.
The second episode—upon which Akasaka Yoshitoki had pinned great hopes—recorded a 4.98% rating.
Just a hair's breadth away from breaking the 5% mark.
An unfortunate number.
But for a drama that was, strictly speaking, still within the A-tier category—
This result could be called a massive hit.
Still, no matter how good your results were—
Who remembered second place?
With 'Blood Route' episode two still failing to surpass the premiere of 'Tokyo Love Story', many insiders in the Xia Nation television industry already had their answer.
Su Yan's works had always been low-rise, high-rise.
No one had ever seen one that peaked early and declined.
But—there was still a chance.
By the weekend, Akasaka Yoshitoki was at home, at the office, cursing 'Tokyo Love Story's' second-episode ratings to flop at every waking moment.
He could already feel a cold wind brushing the back of his neck.
Over the past quarter, because Su Yan was simultaneously producing two large-scale works—'Tokyo Love Story' and 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'—Akasaka Yoshitoki had also rushed two projects of the same tier into production to counter him.
If 'Tokyo Love Story' still outperformed 'Blood Route' this quarter—
His position as department head would be in danger.
And if, during the quarter when 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' aired, he still couldn't suppress Su Yan's momentum and salvage Sakura TV's pride—
Then Ogata Aya would have a more than ninety-percent chance of directly replacing him.
On Sunday afternoon, after getting off work, Akasaka Yoshitoki returned home. Sitting in the villa's living room, staring at Zhongxia TV's broadcast with a dark expression, he made his wife afraid to even speak.
As for his nephew Kiyota Sanji—the source of his conflict with Su Yan—
Akasaka Yoshitoki had all but cut off contact with him.
That night—
Li Xuan stayed home, eyes fixed on the television, waiting for the second episode of 'Tokyo Love Story'.
Some works, to some people, were merely interesting.
To others, they were excellent.
And to some—
They were masterpieces.
To Li Xuan, 'Tokyo Love Story' was a masterpiece.
Even though only one episode had aired, the female lead, Akana Rika, had lingered in his mind for an entire week.
He'd prepared snacks in advance—late-night food, desserts, treats.
His anticipation steadily heated up.
At exactly eight o'clock, the theme song of 'Tokyo Love Story' played.
That slightly melancholic melody stirred Li Xuan's emotions.
The story once again opened from Nagao Kanji's perspective.
After they parted that night, the relationship between the two seemed to have taken a step forward—
And yet, at the same time, nothing appeared to have changed.
Although Rika had kissed Kanji on the cheek, she didn't push any further. Instead, she cautiously continued interacting with him as a colleague.
"Huh? Is this how people from the Sakura Island are?" Li Xuan grew puzzled as he watched.
If a girl kissed him, that would definitely mean a confession.
But the next day, Rika acted as if it were no big deal.
She still treated him as a coworker—maybe a bit closer, but never crossing the line.
It left him confused.
"My Valentine's Day is open all year."
"Are you pitying me? Because you saw Sekiguchi and Satomi like that and felt sorry for me?"
"I'd get angry."
"Then why?"
"The reason would take three days and three nights to explain."
When Akana Rika said this with a smile, Li Xuan accepted it naturally.
Even though this view of love felt bold and unbelievable to him—
coming from Rika, it just… made sense.
But then—
"Nagao Kanji, are you an idiot? Rika obviously likes you. She just doesn't want to pressure you, so she isn't pushing things further. Why are you overthinking and comforting yourself like this?"
Li Xuan now had opinions about the male lead.
The following plot briefly introduced Rika's relationship with a department head at the company.
Though only subtly implied, Li Xuan still caught on—
Rika seemed to have had some emotional entanglement with this superior in the past.
And now—
They were broken up.
…Well.
Uncomfortable as it was, Li Xuan had to accept it.
After all, a workplace drama couldn't be like a campus romance where everyone was inexperienced in love.
The plot continued to move at high speed.
Because of that kiss with Kenichi, Sekiguchi Satomi became distracted, unable to focus on work.
Akana Rika, meanwhile, kept finding opportunities to spend time alone with Nagao Kanji.
Kenichi and Kanji also developed tension due to what happened that night.
Then came a one-on-one conversation between the two emotional masters of the series—
Kenichi Kenichi and Akana Rika.
In this drama, Mikami Kenichi was a classic male playboy. Any girl he took an interest in could be easily charmed, yet his scenes never felt awkward to the audience.
Rika, on the other hand, was also an emotional expert—but unlike Kenichi, she was devoted.
She could see through everyone's feelings, but she never exploited emotional vulnerabilities the way Kenichi did.
This was clear in her conversation with him.
Kenichi easily saw that she liked Nagao Kanji—and also pointed out that Nagao liked Satomi.
These things—
even though Nagao had never said them once—
Kenichi just knew.
And Rika didn't care at all. She simply replied—
"So what?"
That single line nearly crashed Li Xuan's brain.
A normal person, upon learning that the person they liked loved someone else, would at least feel a bit dejected.
But Rika wouldn't.
She didn't care.
Her feelings were her own business.
Later on, Rika, Kanji, and Satomi even went to watch an ice hockey game together, then had a meal.
A situation that would normally be a battlefield in a romance drama—
It was as harmonious as three close friends dining together.
It wasn't that Rika was suppressing herself.
She liked Kanji—true.
Kanji liked Satomi—also true.
But Rika didn't develop hostility toward Satomi because of it. She even intended to become friends with her.
"What kind of celestial girl is this?" Li Xuan was shocked once again by Rika's character.
Her views on love and values were unquestionably unconventional—
yet irresistibly likable.
The story pressed on.
Distracted by rumors circulating at work about Rika's past affair with her superior, Kanji finally worked up the courage to ask her about it.
And Rika boldly admitted it.
Every step of the plot exceeded Li Xuan's expectations.
In a typical romance, a girl would hide such things from the man she liked.
Especially something like a past affair with a married superior.
But Rika admitted it outright.
"So as long as you like someone, you can sleep with anyone?"
When Nagao Kanji said this—
Li Xuan's gaze sharpened.
That was too much.
He knew it was normal for the male lead to say something like this, that Kanji's values were technically correct—
but still—
"Bro, are you stupid? Don't you know how Rika feels about you? Saying that is way too hurtful!"
Sure enough, in the following scene, Rika splashed tea straight into his face.
She didn't lower her own bottom line just because she liked Nagao Kanji.
"Then tell me—how am I supposed to stop liking someone?"
When Rika said this with anger on her face, Li Xuan's heart shook.
She knew the other party had a wife—
Yet she still fell in love.
And in the end, because of that, she broke things off with the department head.
At this moment, many viewers in the Xia Nation finally understood her essence.
She knew right from wrong—
But she loved too fiercely, hated too fiercely, and disregarded worldly judgment.
That past affair.
Her current pursuit of Nagao Kanji.
Both were the same.
People whom normal individuals would avoid—
Once she had confirmed her feelings, she would charge forward like a moth to the flame, without hesitation.
Li Xuan opened his mouth.
Normally, he should have disliked a woman with such values.
Too shocking. Too unconventional.
But Akana Rika—
He couldn't bring himself to hate her.
It was strange.
He knew her values were wrong—
Yet he couldn't dislike her.
Li Xuan understood what that meant.
"Am I… captivated by her?"
People only accept flaws—
when they've already fallen for someone.
Akana Rika was full of contradictions, yet Li Xuan didn't want to criticize her.
That was the only explanation he could think of.
At the same time, countless viewers across the Xia Nation felt the same way.
They knew Nagao Kanji's values were correct—
But they all stood firmly on Akana Rika's side.
Male lead, you might be right in theory—
But I don't want logic.
I'm blindly backing Akana Rika.
You made her angry? Then hurry up and get lost.
At that very moment—
Su Yan received a massive surge of negative emotional value from Xia Nation viewers directed straight at him.
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Hi everyone 👋
Translator note here.
Due to real-life and time constraints, updates will be reduced from 5 chapters to 2 chapters, and they may not be daily. Please don't be surprised if there isn't a release every day, but I'll do my best to keep updates as consistent as possible.
Thanks for your understanding and continued support 🙏✨