Tsuruki Junsei sat back in his chair, the latest chapter of Edgerunners still open on his tablet. He leaned his head against the cool wall of his studio, trying to process what he'd just read.
Aoyama was breaking the cardinal rule of shonen manga: Don't kill the favorites.
Gloria and Pilar had been shocks, certainly. But they were foundational deaths, sacrifices made to jump-start the narrative and establish the stakes. The readers hadn't spent enough time with them to feel a deep, personal loss.
But Maine?
Maine had been there since the beginning of David's journey. He was the anchor of the group, the legendary 'Aniki' who had given David a home when he had nothing. For fifteen chapters, he'd played the role of the mentor, the protector, and the comic relief. He was the series' moral compass, even if that compass was calibrated for a den of thieves.
In the world of mainstream hits, killing off a character of Maine's stature would be unthinkable. It would be like Oda killing off Zoro in the middle of a major arc, or Kishimoto letting Kakashi die during the Chuunin Exams. It was a move that invited a mutiny from the fanbase.
"Is he really going to do it?" Tsuruki whispered. "Is he going to let Maine become a cyberpsycho?"
In the lore of Night City, there was no cure for the madness. To fall was to die. If Maine truly was slipping, he was effectively a walking corpse.
---
Across the Metropolis, Han Fumito was having an emotional breakdown.
The teenager sat in his bedroom, his laptop glowing with the harsh white light of the Manga World official forums. He couldn't believe his eyes. He'd followed Edgerunners since its first release, pitching it to everyone who would listen. He saw himself in David, and he saw a father figure in Maine.
"No way," Han muttered, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. "Not Maine. Anyone but Maine."
He suddenly remembered the small, seemingly insignificant detail from a few chapters back: a moment during the fight with the scavengers where Maine's arm cannon had misfired. Most readers had dismissed it as a simple mechanical failure. But now, with the revelation of the "erosion," it felt like a cold, calculated setup. Aoyama had been planning this for months.
He felt a surge of righteous indignation. He couldn't let it happen. If he sat back and did nothing, he was complicit in the death of a legend.
He began to type, his movements frantic and determined.
SUBJECT: PROTEST AGAINST THE FATE OF MAINE-SENSEI
To the Manga World Editorial Board and Aoyama-sensei:
Maine-sensei is the soul of this series. He is the reliable big brother we all wish we had. To have him die as a mindless, malfunctioning cyberpsycho is a cruel and unnecessary insult to the character and the fans. We demand a rewrite! Give him a hero's death if you must, but don't take away his dignity!
He hit the 'Post' button and watched as the thread immediately populated with a dozen "I agree!" and "Save the Aniki!" comments.
Within an hour, the protest had grown into a wildfire. It wasn't just on the official forums; the sci-fi interest groups on Penguin, the 'Manga-Leaks' boards, even the small niche communities on micro-blogging sites were and screams of outrage.
"If the Big Brother dies, I'm dropping this series for good!" one user wrote.
"Aoyama, you insane bastard! Did you escape from the Aoyama Psychiatric Hospital just to torture us?" another shouted.
The nickname stuck. "The Madman of Aoyama" became the de-facto handle for the author in the darker corners of the web.
But while the internet burned with anger, Aoyama remained silent.
In a high-rise office at LightSpeed Interactive, Ryo Shien watched the forum numbers tick up with a twisted, admiring grin. He'd already seen the layouts for the next three chapters. He knew the protests were useless. The 'Madman' had already decided his course, and the only thing left for the fans was to watch the crash.
"Let them scream," Ryo whispered to the empty office. "It only makes the silence after the explosion that much deeper."
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]