Just after stepping into the manga industry, Kai had run straight into his future ultimate rival.
The strongest manga artist in Japan of the new century, the long-reigning number one in the Weekly Shonen Jump rankings, and the creator of the beloved One Piece: Eiichiro Oda.
The man didn't notice Kai's stare and strolled into the reception room, following his editor.
'One Piece was rejected at the serialization meeting…'
Kai thought he heard Oda's editor say something along those lines, and it caught him off guard. He hadn't expected that even the legendary One Piece had gone through something so rough, getting turned down at the submission stage.
'What about Death Note, then? Is it in the same kind of situation as One Piece? It's an unconventional work, after all. A manga with a villain as the protagonist has basically never been done before.'
'Can an anti-social, anti-human character like Light Yagami be accepted by the Weekly Shonen Jump of this era?'
'That really is the question.'
Plagiarizing Death Note hadn't been the easy choice.
The series was packed with headache-inducing schemes and plot twists, and as a mystery work, the sheer volume of detail was enormous. As an ordinary reader, it had been a struggle for Kai to recall every plot point clearly. He'd had to rack his brain the entire time he was drawing.
It wouldn't have been nearly as painful as copying something like One Punch Man.
But Kai had still chosen Death Note.
Because the success of Death Note was simply too staggering. Very few manga could compare to it, and even One Punch Man fell far short.
The manga volume that broke one million in sales in the shortest amount of time was Death Note.
It held that almost unbelievable record among countless classic works.
"Phew..."
Kai looked up at the cherry blossom petals drifting down from above and let out a long, slow breath of relief.
Ever since he'd committed to becoming a manga artist, he had been working part-time while drawing, without a single day of slacking off. He'd given it everything he had, so there was nothing to regret. All he could do now was wait calmly for the results.
The scent of cherry blossoms filled the air, and he felt relaxed and refreshed, like a man reborn.
"Ah... ah... ACHOO!"
It would've been even better without all the damn pollen.
...
In the morning, he'd gone to Shueisha in Chiyoda Ward to submit his manga. In the afternoon, Kai had to head to a restaurant in Shibuya for his part-time shift.
Work was work. Bills didn't pay themselves.
The original Kai was from Aomori. His parents were farmers scraping by on meager plots of land. They weren't wealthy by any stretch, and no matter how hard they worked themselves to the bone, they could barely save anything. What little savings they had were buried in a local bank that had gone under.
His family was flat broke, and Kai could only rely on himself.
He couldn't leave Tokyo and crawl back to the countryside, a place that felt like it was several eras behind the rest of the country. Going back would mean being completely abandoned by the times.
Having crossed over from America in 2024 to Japan in 1997, Kai had not made that journey just to fade into obscurity.
Because of that, he carried a stubbornness and drive that other people found hard to understand.
...
When Kai got back to the restaurant, it was already two in the afternoon.
There wasn't a single customer in the shop. The floor had just been mopped and was so clean the overhead lights reflected off of it, and the whole place had a quiet, peaceful feel to it.
"Welcome..." Someone came to the door with an enthusiastic greeting, but the moment they saw who it was, their whole body deflated. They slouched into a nearby chair. "Oh. It's just you, Fujin. I thought it was a customer with a reservation."
"Good afternoon, Nozaki-senpai." Kai nodded, used to this by now, and headed straight for the break room.
"Afternoon." Nozaki waved a hand lazily.
He was a veteran employee at the Ryuka restaurant, stuck doing the same tedious work every day: helping in the kitchen, greeting customers, wiping down tables. The monotony had ground his fighting spirit down to nothing a long time ago.
With no path for promotion and nothing to look forward to, he'd adopted a simple philosophy. Once the shift was over, do whatever felt comfortable. Seize the day and don't think too hard.
He was actually pretty uncomfortable around people who were full of energy.
People like Kai, for example.
The guy had only worked half a day, had just walked in and changed into his work uniform, and instead of sitting down to rest, he was already hunched over a table, writing and sketching intently in a notebook like some kind of novelist.
The pencil made a soft scratching sound against the paper. The way Kai frowned in concentration, then suddenly looked up with a spark of understanding after thinking something through, was genuinely blinding to watch.
Nozaki couldn't help himself. "Where'd you go today?"
Kai had the eraser end of his pencil resting against his cheek, completely lost in his own world. He didn't move.
"Hey. Fujin." Nozaki raised his voice.
"Hm... huh?" Kai looked up, blinked at Nozaki, and asked, "What's up, Nozaki-senpai?"
"You were off today. What were you so busy with?"
Nozaki rarely saw the guy take an actual break, so he was curious.
Kai didn't socialize. He had no hobbies outside of manga. He did nothing but work and draw. What kind of errand could have possibly pulled him away?
"Oh, that." Kai pulled his gaze back, glanced down at the Ryuk he'd just sketched in his notebook, and answered without really focusing. "I went to Shueisha."
"What?!" Nozaki nearly jumped out of his seat. "And then what happened?!"
Kai, who couldn't seem to capture the essence of Ryuk no matter how many times he drew it and was already itching to get his hands on those reference books, answered in a distracted voice. "Submitted a manga to Weekly Shonen Jump..."
Nozaki couldn't believe it. "Seriously?"
"Of course." Kai nodded.
"What did they say?" Nozaki sat up straight without even realizing it, his body leaning forward, his full attention locked on Kai.
Kai's tone was flat, like it didn't really matter, the same way you'd react to a customer complimenting your service. "The editor seemed to think pretty highly of it. But that's to be expected."
After all, he was drawing Death Note.
The moment Kai finished speaking, Nozaki shot to his feet, crossed the room in a few quick strides, and stammered out, "You... doesn't that mean you're actually going to become a manga artist?!"
"Probably." Kai answered with complete seriousness. "It's still a long way from a serialization, but it might happen."
"How is that possible?"
Nozaki couldn't wrap his head around it.
They were both high school graduates. They both worked at the same restaurant. How had the other guy suddenly decided to jump class lines and actually chase his dream?
"You're messing with me, right?"
Nozaki obviously knew what Weekly Shonen Jump was. It was the biggest shonen manga magazine in the country, and Slam Dunk was his all-time favorite series.
In a magazine packed with masters, was there really a place for Kai Fujin?
"There's no way..."
But even as the words left his mouth, his eyes drifted to Kai's notebook, and his voice trailed off on its own.
"How did you suddenly get this good?"
The last time he'd seen Kai's manga, the characters had oversized heads, the backgrounds were barely there, and the whole thing looked like a child's doodle.
Now it had turned into something with depth and life, the kind of art you'd actually see printed in a real manga volume.
An amateur had turned into a professional overnight?
"It wasn't sudden," Kai said.
"Right. Not sudden." Nozaki caught himself. He thought back and realized that during every rare quiet moment at the restaurant, every lull between customers, Kai had always been sitting somewhere with that notebook, drawing.
The guy almost never rested.
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