Chapter 314 - 313: Conversations and Progress

Chapter 314: Chapter 313: Conversations and Progress

As Code Geass entered its second season, the first few episodes actually induced a certain level of frustration among the fanbase. The reason was quite simple.

Throughout the first season, viewers had watched Lelouch evolve from an ordinary high school student, growing step by step until, by the season’s end, he had become the de facto ruler of half of Japan, standing on the very precipice of driving the Britannian Imperial Army out of the country entirely.

However, at the start of the second season, because Lelouch had abandoned his post at the end of the first season to save Nunnally, he had been lured to Kamine Island, captured by Suzaku in a one-on-one confrontation, and brought before his father, the Emperor.

His father then utilized his own Geass ability to overwrite Lelouch’s memories, causing him to forget his true identity. He was then placed back into a fabricated life with a fake younger brother named Rolo acting as a spy and warden by his side. Most importantly, his status had been reset once again to that of a mere ordinary high school student.

Consequently, many viewers felt an immense sense of stifling indignation. It was as if they had spent half a year watching the first season just to see Lelouch finally gain the strength to challenge the Britannian Empire, only to now be forced to watch him start from zero all over again. They had to witness a "comeback" arc from square one. This experience was quite jarring and unpleasant.

However, after the first episode laid out the new premise, the second episode saw Lelouch reclaim his memories through C.C.’s planning and the assistance of the Black Knights’ remnants. Yet, for the sake of Nunnally’s safety, he was forced to adopt the role of a "sleeper agent," continuing to feign his memory loss while engaging in a double life of deception with his fake brother Rolo and his rival Suzaku.

Was this new Zero merely a puppet pushed forward by the Black Knights? Or was the Lelouch living under Suzaku’s watchful eye truly in possession of his memories while orchestrating these elaborate schemes?

This brand of espionage and counter-espionage, combined with Lelouch’s increasingly thick dramatic flair and his arrogant, grandiloquent speeches that seemed to worsen with every episode, hit the mark perfectly. Yes, this was the flavor the fans craved! This was exactly it!

Despite the initial feeling of being reset, Lelouch’s sense of shameless, dramatic grandiosity far surpassed that of the first season. As a result, after the first three episodes of the second season aired, the viewership ratings remained stable above the 6% mark. Although the second episode dipped slightly to 6.23%, the third episode climbed back up to 6.30%.

It seemed the fans’ dissatisfaction was limited to the opening two episodes; as time went on, they essentially accepted the new status quo and continued to follow the series with enthusiasm.

However, this performance for Code Geass was truly staggering to the animation industry. Works like Madoka Magica or Cyberpunk: Edgerunners only reached popularity levels above 6% toward their grand finales. Yet, if nothing went wrong with the second season of Lelouch, it was highly probable that every single episode for the entire quarter would maintain this elite viewership record.

What kind of concept was this? Many industry professionals felt a chill run down their spines upon closer inspection. This was the inherent advantage of a long-form series. Only when a series is sufficiently long can it maintain enough endurance to let its popularity truly ferment.

Modern masterpiece anime might have higher absolute peaks of quality in short bursts, but if you looked at their internet search indices during their peak serialization periods, they couldn’t even reach half of what the long-running titans achieved.

This was one reason why Haruto placed such heavy importance on Code Geass. While it didn’t lose out to Madoka in terms of quality, its length was greater, which exponentially increased its commercial value.

However, as the calendar turned to October, Haruto only paid a moderate amount of attention to the viewership data and didn’t interfere much in the process. He knew very well that the second season was far more powerful than the first.

The first season reached the threshold of being a masterpiece, but the second season would carry the work deep into that legendary territory. With the popularity built by the first season as a foundation, it wouldn’t be long before the viewership record held by Madoka in Japan was shattered. Naturally, he didn’t have much anxiety regarding the early episodes of the second season.

Instead, his attention was focused on several original animation projects within his company. Two of these works were already being prepared for a January broadcast next year. However, after reviewing the pilot footage for these two series, Haruto couldn’t help but let out a long, heavy sigh.

The screenwriting teams Haru-Yuki Animation had recruited were actually veteran animators with plenty of industry experience; they certainly had a high functional floor. However, when the finished animation was actually produced, the imitation scent was quite strong. Or perhaps, one couldn’t really blame them. Ever since Haruto’s meteoric rise, the entire ACG industry had been led astray by his success.

In the novel sphere, the market had been flooded in the last two years with dozens of prominent titles centered around virtual reality games like Sword Art Online. In the manga world, while works like Hunter x Hunter were too difficult to imitate and hadn’t seen many clones yet, there were already dozens of racing manga serializing that desperately tried to copy the vibe of Initial D. The animation field was even worse. Everyone was trying to capture the lightning in a bottle that Haruto, the Warrior of Love, seemed to command at will.

Three years ago, before Madoka Magica rose to prominence, the industry was saturated with other-world cute-girl fluff. After Madoka created a commercial and viewership miracle, the magical girl genre saw a sudden resurgence, and the evil witch setting became a standard trope.

Unfortunately, these clones captured the form but not the soul, and they were generally met with negative reviews from fans.

Yet, what was truly bizarre was that while the fans cursed these shows, they still spent cold, hard cash to buy the Blu-rays. They would complain loudly, but they would still follow the show and support it financially.

The state of Cyberpunk themed animation was much the same. Following the trends set by Haruto’s works had become the ultimate traffic cheat code for the industry. While riding the hype didn’t guarantee a fortune, it almost certainly guaranteed that a studio wouldn’t lose money.

Naturally, once Code Geass became a massive hit, a crowd of screenwriters in the animation world began to follow suit. Unfortunately, how exactly does one imitate a show like Code Geass? Although everyone complained about its plot holes and how the protagonist’s enemies acted as if they were under a stupidity aura being played like dogs by Lelouch, when these writers tried to create similar works, they realized they couldn’t even portray a protagonist that felt intelligent, let alone a convincing villain.

Consequently, the animation currently on the market failed to capture Lelouch’s genuine cleverness or the brutal geopolitical atmosphere of the show.

The original projects at Haruto’s company suffered from this exact issue. In an Other World, Sword and Sorcery anime, the moment the protagonist appeared, his facial expressions, his tone of voice, and his style of smirking while resting his chin on one hand gave off a heavy sense of Lelouch deja vu, but the actual plot was incredibly weak and foolish.

"Chairman, is there an issue?" the head of the animation department asked nervously, noticing Haruto’s expression.

"Uh, no... no problem," Haruto replied, not wanting to dampen the spirits of the original production team too much.

Although the imitation was strong, it felt perhaps a tiny bit better than the other trendy trash on the market. He could only hope they would work harder in the future.

However, Haruto’s fantasy of simply building a company platform, recruiting industry geniuses from across Japan, and letting them expand his commercial empire while he sat back was temporarily shattered.

Once these works aired, they might maintain the company’s daily expenses and turn a small profit, but expecting them to rake in billions like Code Geass or Madoka was mere wishful thinking.

Now, Haruto saw two paths before him. One was to simply "lie down" and retire after graduation; having earned several billion yen, he had enough to last a lifetime with moderate work. The other path was to truly commit to turning his company into a top-tier entity, a company that held massive intellectual properties with worldwide influence.

To achieve that, he estimated he would have to work himself to the bone for another decade, or perhaps even longer.

"Alright, you all can head out," Haruto said with a wave of his hand.

He watched the sample footage alone in his office for a while longer before eventually shaking his head.

Yukino was away on a business trip today to a neighboring city to negotiate cooperation details with a partner, so Haruto headed home by himself after work. He intentionally chose not to drive his car; instead, he took the bicycle he kept at the company, put on a face mask, and pedaled through the streets and alleys of Tokyo alone. He passed through a bustling street market, bought some specialty cooked meats, and then finally returned home.

At that moment, Reina happened to be returning as well, pulling into the driveway in her car. She was dressed in a long, black-and-white patterned dress that accentuated her slender, straight legs, with her rounded ankles visible above her high heels. Her long hair was tied back with a green silk ribbon, making her look both beautiful and intellectual.

As a senior in university, Reina retained the bright, youthful aura of her high school days, but her figure had filled out, and she was certainly no longer petite.

"You’re back quite early...?" Reina asked after a moment of hesitation.

She had indeed failed in her confession to Haruto and had been gently rejected, but her friendship with Yukino and Shizuru remained intact.

Furthermore, she possessed a remarkable ability to adjust her own mental state; when she saw Haruto nowadays, she was able to keep her complicated inner emotions under control.

Of course, the performance of her new novel, currently serializing with Kiyozawa Library, was undeniably excellent. Haruto’s assessment of her had been entirely correct. If Haruto didn’t exist in Japan, Reina would be the queen of the literary world. Based on the opening performance of her latest work, she had already outperformed all the other young and middle-aged authors at rival publishers.

Unfortunately, compared to Sword Art Online, which had been serializing for two years, she was still trailing behind. Haruto’s popularity was in a league of its own. Following the conclusion of SAO’s former competitors, Sword Art Online remained the only active novel on the market with a per-volume average exceeding 20 million copies. In fact, it was incredibly close to the 26-million-copy mark. It had effectively swept the entire market, leaving it without a single rival.

Furthermore, buoyed by the popularity of SAO, the Kiyozawa magazine had now firmly secured its place as the number one magazine in Japan.

"All the projects I’m responsible for have entered a stable track, so there’s no need for me to provide nanny-style oversight like I did before. I’ve taken the initiative to lower my own workload," Haruto said with a smile. He then lifted the bags of cooked food he had purchased and asked, "Want to eat together?"

Haruto was just being casually polite. For people at the level of Haruto and Reina, their daily meals usually consisted of high-end restaurant cuisine.

Cooking for themselves was nearly impossible; the time spent doing so would be worth over 100,000 yen if spent on work, making the opportunity cost far too high. Haruto had only bought these on a whim today, assuming that someone like Reina, who grew up wealthy, wouldn’t be interested in such things.

"Sure!" Reina replied. She paused for a moment and then took a deep breath.

"..." Haruto.

At the dining table, Reina looked with curiosity at the items Haruto had bought. "What is this...?"

"Beef intestine."

"..."

"And this one?"

"Pork kidney."

Haruto’s expression turned quite strange as he spoke. If you’re going to eat it, just eat it. Why ask? This is getting awkward.

She looked at Haruto’s face and, within a few seconds, she had guessed exactly what it was. Her fingers holding the chopsticks suddenly stiffened.

With Yukino away and Shizuru busy at a promotional event, there were only the two of them in the house, making the atmosphere slightly uncomfortable.

"Do you... eat these things on a regular basis? Have you and Yukino reached a point where you need to eat these frequently...?" Reina trailed off, but her meaning was clear.

Haruto took a deep breath and gave an awkward laugh. "I was just bored today and bought them on a whim. Hahaha..."

The atmosphere became even more strained.

After all, sitting across from him was a girl he had recently rejected. Discussing such topics was definitely crossing a line.

"You don’t need to be so nervous," Reina said, noticing his expression, a faint smile appearing on her face. "My confession failed, that’s all. You can just treat the words I said that day as if they don’t exist." She took a sip of her tea.

Since that event months ago, Haruto hadn’t really had an opportunity to be alone with her like this. Perhaps this was a chance to clear the air. Haruto blinked.

"It’s for the best that you can move on. I’m not even that great; I just got lucky, made a bit of a splash in the industry, and earned a limited amount of profit. If you set all that aside, there are plenty of people in Tokyo more handsome than me. As for being humorous or charming, I don’t possess those traits at all. I’m actually quite an ordinary person."

Reina looked at him, her gaze becoming peculiar. "Haruto, what are you talking about? I didn’t like you because you’re handsome or wealthy. Why are you putting yourself down like that?"

"Well... of course. I know you aren’t that shallow. What I meant was..." Haruto said with a superficial smile, while his mind raced with confusion.

You couldn’t possibly tell me you like my interesting soul, could you?

"I liked you... because..." Reina looked at Haruto’s face as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.

She was silent for a while before saying, "Because of admiration, I think."

"Admiration?" Haruto’s curiosity was piqued.

"You fulfilled all of my dreams," Reina said after a moment of thought. "The version of myself I dreamed of becoming is exactly what you are now. Every step, every decision, every stage of your life, you did it better than my ideal self ever could. So... I was attracted to that. I became obsessed, and eventually..." She smiled. "Having watched you for so long, I simply fell in love with who you are."

Haruto suddenly felt calm. Even though they were discussing such a topic, the more they talked, the more he felt the awkwardness dissipate.

He could feel that Reina was speaking to him with a peaceful mindset. It wasn’t just that he wanted to repair their slightly damaged friendship; Reina, too, didn’t want to drift away from him.

"What if... and I’m just saying ’if’... what if I wasn’t as good as you imagine? What if I just got incredibly lucky and that’s the only reason I achieved these results? How would you look at me then?" Haruto remained silent for a moment before speaking.

"What do you mean?" Reina asked.

"Well, let’s just make a hypothesis. What if my inspiration was just dropped from the sky? Like, I found the Madoka script on a Monday, the Edgerunners script on a Tuesday, and the Code Geass script on a Wednesday? What would you think?"

"Isn’t everyone like that?" Reina laughed. "I’ve heard from Yukino that your inspiration often comes from dreams. Who can control their dreams? If I were in your position, I would probably also feel as if I didn’t have a sense of actual creation for works that appeared in a dream. But regardless of whether it is talent, luck, or something else... that is simply who you are."

"The person who finds scripts on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday is the person named Haruto. Whether it is luck or something else, it is a component of your life. It is the same for me. I was born into a wealthy family, which gave me excellent educational conditions and helped cultivate my intelligence and learning ability. I inherited good genes from my parents and applied those talents to writing novels. If I hadn’t been born into such a family, would I still have achieved these things? I’ve thought about it, and the answer is... probably not."

She looked directly at Haruto. "But so what? Luck is also a part of our strength."

"You are Haruto, and I am Reina. You are the number one in the industry, you realized all of my dreams, and you are the only male I have ever truly loved. Those things will never change."

Haruto stared at her blankly. He let out a long breath. "Wait a second. What do you mean by ’only one’ and ’never change’?" Haruto asked, suddenly dazed as he processed her words.

"Exactly what I said," Reina replied, looking at him. "I already know you don’t like me back. But that doesn’t mean I have to give up on my own feelings, does it?"

What kind of logic is this?

Haruto felt as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning. He had assumed she had moved on from the pain of rejection, but her tone sounded all wrong!

"Doesn’t that... make you feel miserable and pained?" Haruto asked, taking a deep breath.

"It’s painful..." Reina nodded. "But I can endure it. Because I am Reina Fujimoto, someone who can easily do so."

Haruto’s mouth hung open. He had intended to have a friends’ talk with her to untie the knot in their relationship. He never expected that she didn’t have a knot at all.

Looking at her calm attitude and expression, it was clear she hadn’t given up on her feelings for him. Couples break up, and married people get divorced; who could say for sure that Haruto and Yukino would last until the end?

If one looked at things with total rationality, one could guess Reina’s current mindset. This girl is too smart for her own good. Her worldview is completely different from ordinary people. Is this the inner world of a true genius?

"I can’t understand it," Haruto said.

"So what? Until today, I couldn’t understand people who ate this, either," Reina said, looking at the vitality platter Haruto had brought home.

After hesitating for a moment, she picked up her chopsticks and took a bite. "But both you and I can try to understand these things, can’t we?"

Who wants to understand each other with you like that? That would be a direct betrayal of Yukino. As a firm believer in the pure love path, Haruto instinctively rejected that kind of development.

Reina took a deep breath and didn’t say anything more.

Just as she had said, she could only control herself; she couldn’t decide what Haruto would do. However, after speaking her mind openly, she felt much more relaxed. After the meal, the two of them sat at opposite ends of the sofa in the living room, watching a rerun of the third episode of Code Geass. However, their minds were not on the screen at all.

By late October, while the fever for Code Geass was still burning hot, another work in the industry finally began to make its voice heard. Because in the latest Chapter of Hunter x Hunter... the most essential and interesting setting of the work, Nen, was revealed for the first time in the Heavens Arena arc.

The manga fans who had been following the series for over a year had assumed this was a straightforward, hot-blooded story about ordinary human combat. However, in the latest Chapter, once the concept of Nen appeared, everyone was completely stunned.

"What is this?" "The power system for this series?" "Are you kidding me? You’re only bringing this out after dozens of Chapters?"

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