"There have always been people like Tachibana throughout history," Kai said. "Individuals who reached a breaking point and decided that one decisive act was the only answer. It's not new. It's as old as civilization itself."
"That's true," Heishi nodded. "Tachibana hesitated multiple times, worried about hurting bystanders, keeping his anger contained until the very end. There's something almost tragic about it."
"But it does conflict with the purpose of Jump's event. The goal is to ease the social atmosphere, and 'Kenji Tachibana' is more likely to sharpen the tension..."
Heishi frowned for a moment, but his expression cleared quickly.
"Then again, who cares? As long as it's interesting. Interesting manga can get serialized."
As Kai's editor, he supported him.
"Framing the root cause as cults and institutional failure... it seems like Fujima really did leave a shadow on you. It's probably good to vent it through something like this."
"It's got nothing to do with Fujima. I've already forgotten who he is."
Heishi chuckled, assuming he was just being stubborn.
...
In mid-October, news of the Death Note anime adaptation finally appeared in Weekly Shonen Jump.
It would meet the audience the following April.
Readers were ecstatic, eagerly anticipating the manga's arrival on television.
Sasaki was paying the closest attention to the anime's progress. Even more than Kai himself.
During Japan's rapid growth in the sixties and seventies, a baby boom had fueled the expansion of the manga industry.
The reader base grew daily. In 1993, Jump's circulation had surpassed six million, an unprecedented peak.
But now, after economic downturns and shifting social priorities, fewer people were having children.
The boom years would pass. The manga industry was likely heading into a frozen period.
Sasaki had always been thinking long-term. His vision was to push Japanese manga into the global market. Only a vast international audience could keep Jump on top.
Within the cultural sphere, East and Southeast Asia had embraced Jump's manga quickly. Slam Dunk was a hit across the region, driving sales everywhere it reached.
But cracking Europe and America was a different story.
He needed a flagship work to break the ice in the Western market.
Now, it seemed, that work was Death Note.
The manga was a natural fit for Western tastes. Dark, rebellious, defiant, built on deduction. It already had a decent reputation among Western readers.
But without promotion, it was still circulating within a small niche and hadn't reached a wider audience.
Nothing had wider reach than television.
If the anime was strong enough, kids who watched it would inevitably seek out the original manga.
'It's all riding on you, Kanzaki-sensei.'
As a supporter of Oda, Sasaki's expectations for Kai had now surpassed even Torishima's.
...
Not long ago, at the invitation of Takahashi, Kai had participated in an event organized by the Japan Manga Association.
The event was called "Future City." Each participant would draw a piece based on the theme, and the finished works would be displayed in an exhibition.
Through joint recommendations from Takahashi and Togashi, Kai had been a member of the Manga Association for a while, but he'd rarely attended events due to his schedule.
This time, unable to refuse the invitation, he'd reluctantly spent a day on a drawing.
Now that the exhibition had opened, Kai and Takahashi arrived at the venue together.
Not all of the Association's thousand-plus members had participated. Only a few dozen pieces were on display.
Kai's attention was drawn to a masterwork hanging beside his own entry.
He could see the diligence of the artist. The lines were fine and numerous, distributed across the piece in meticulous, regular patterns.
Chimneys spewing exhaust. A sea choked with wastewater. Dead fish floating to the surface. And yet the city itself was full of feasting and celebration.
It was an apocalyptic vision interwoven with a gleaming future city. Painted from an environmentalist perspective.
The concept itself was straightforward, but the craftsmanship was stunning. The composition alone was worth studying.
"This drawing is incredible."
It was like a textbook laid open in front of him, and Kai was completely absorbed.
"Oh? You're looking at my piece?"
An aged voice spoke up.
Kai turned. The man wore a beret and had a graying beard, but his eyes were sharp and full of energy.
"You must be Honten-sensei." Kai shook his hand. "This is truly excellent work. I'm moved."
The man's hands trembled slightly, yet he had used an enormous amount of ink to create this piece.
Kai could picture him fighting through the tremor, painstakingly drawing for days on end.
Thinking of his own half-hearted effort, Kai felt a pang of regret. He should have taken it more seriously.
"Sensei, is this meant to promote environmental awareness?"
"Yes," Honten nodded. "More than ten years ago, I read Shinichi Hoshi's 'He-y, Come on Ou-t!' and it shook me to my core. Nature's counterattack against humanity is sudden and merciless. 'Reaping what you sow,' 'digging your own grave.' Those phrases lodged in my mind, and I've been paying attention ever since."
"I see." Kai nodded.
In the future, the weather would become increasingly extreme. Forest fires, typhoons, droughts, floods, one disaster after another.
Environmental awareness really did matter.
"I've learned a lot from your piece."
His own drawing didn't touch on any of that. It focused purely on the city.
Driverless cars. Full-screen smartphones. AR glasses.
Honten was studying Kai's drawing too.
"Kanzaki?" He frowned. "So this is his work."
There was a note of disapproval in his voice.
"Do you not like his manga?" Kai asked, curious.
"Manga should educate children and bring them joy. But Kanzaki has gone to extremes, using shock value to grab attention. It'll end up like Harenchi Gakuen, pulling manga away from its original purpose." Honten explained.
Kai understood his perspective.
It was the mindset of a traditionalist.
Plenty of manga artists felt the same way.
"Cars that drive themselves, phones that are basically computers with screens, machines that put you inside the experience..."
Honten examined Kai's drawing closely. He didn't criticize the draftsmanship. He focused on the content.
"How fascinating. It makes me want to travel to the future." He paused. "Kanzaki is talented, but he's not using it the right way."
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