Chapter 266: Chapter 265: The Edge of Sanity
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Haruto’s college life was far more grueling than that of any of his peers. He bore the weight of being Japan’s top mangaka, a star novelist, and the Chairman of Haru-Yuki Animation. On campus, his celebrity status was so overwhelming that security personnel were frequently stationed outside his lecture halls just to prevent swarms of fans from disrupting his classes with photo requests.
His massive industry influence had an unintended side effect on his academic career. The faculty and administration were incredibly lenient with him. While Haruto’s work schedule forced him to neglect his studies more often than he liked, he never once failed an exam. The professors followed a sort of unspoken "balancing act" with his grades, if his written exam scores were a bit lackluster due to exhaustion, they would bolster his grade with generous marks for participation and real-world contribution.
Now that he had entered his third year, his course load had lightened significantly, which provided some much-needed breathing room.
While a "Distinguished Graduate" award was probably out of reach given his attendance record, simply graduating with his degree was no longer a concern.
On the first day of the new semester, Haruto felt remarkably refreshed. However, the incoming freshmen were a different story; they were incredibly enthusiastic. Many of them had spent their entire three years of high school following Haruto’s rise, and they were eager to see the legend in the flesh. The campus security team stood no chance against the tide of starry-eyed first-years. Haruto found himself cornered and ended up spending an entire afternoon being paraded around by faculty acquaintances to interact with the newcomers.
After that frantic Friday, Saturday ushered in the first weekend of the new term. As the industry braced for the latest numbers, the ratings for Haruto’s three rivals in the animation market, now on their eighth episodes, were released. Just like the previous week, they remained locked in a stalemate, with all three shows hovering between the 4.4% and 4.5% marks.
The quality of these works was undeniable.
Being adaptations of blockbuster manga and light novels, their story foundations were ironclad and their pacing was professional.
However, everyone could see that they had hit their ceiling. In any other year, a 4.5% rating would have practically guaranteed a "Seasonal Champion" title.
The fact that three such heavy hitters were airing simultaneously was already a statistical anomaly, yet they all lived in the shadow of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
By the time episode seven had concluded the previous week, Edgerunners had climbed to a staggering 4.9%. The question on everyone’s lips as Sunday evening approached was simple.
Would it finally break the 5.0% barrier tonight?
By 7:00 PM on Sunday, Haruto’s fan groups were already a hive of activity.
"Go, go, go! Everyone to your TVs tonight!"
"We need to push Edgerunners past that 5.0% line. Let’s make history!"
"Think about it. In the last decade, how many shows have actually broken 5.0% for a single episode? Including Madoka Magica, there have only been a few, right? If Cyberpunk pulls this off, Haruto’s position as the undisputed King of Animation is set in stone."
"The statistics are even wilder than that."
"Only five shows hit 5% in the last ten years, and only eleven in the last twenty. But breaking the 6.0% barrier? Only two shows have managed that in two decades. One of them is Madoka Magica!"
"Haruto is already in a league of his own. Even if Edgerunners doesn’t hit 5%, is there anyone in Japan who can honestly claim to be better than him? Madoka alone is enough to invalidate every other creator’s resume. But if Edgerunners explodes this season too, it proves he isn’t a one-hit wonder. It proves he has the deepest creative well in the country."
"Does he really need to prove that? Madoka Magica, To the Moon, Initial D, Sword Art Online, Anohana... his track record is already a mountain of evidence!"
Rangiku sat at her computer, her fingers flying across the keyboard as she "lurked" and posted in various fan groups in the minutes leading up to the 8:00 PM broadcast. As a long-time follower of Haruto, this routine of theorizing and hyping his latest works had become a fundamental part of her daily life.
"Things are looking good," Rangiku murmured, letting out a long breath. Edgerunners had claimed the top spot for three consecutive weeks. Only episodes eight, nine, and ten remained.
As the clock struck the hour, the screen on Tokyo TV1 flickered.
Rangiku leaned in, her heart rate accelerating as the familiar opening theme played. The episode didn’t waste a heartbeat before diving into the main plot. The scene opened inside a sterile facility where a General Manager and a female employee were engaged in a brief, cold exchange.
"I’m so sorry, sir, but may I leave on time today? I... I have an important personal matter tonight," the young woman stammered, her voice small and submissive.
"Am I expected to keep track of your social calendar now?" the manager replied, his tone dripping with disdain.
"It’s just... I wanted to celebrate with my son. He just got into his dream school," she pleaded.
"Get me the samples from the lab, then get out of my sight," the manager barked.
In just a few lines of dialogue, the dynamic of the heartless corporate world was established. The woman followed her orders and returned to the office with the samples, only to find the manager’s head had been vaporized by a high-caliber round.
Standing over the corpse was a teenage boy in a yellow jacket, clutching a firearm.
The woman’s terrified scream snapped David out of his trance. For a split second, he leveled his gun at her, his finger tensing on the trigger. Then, the scene cut away, and David was shown quietly leaving the facility. Waiting for him outside were his comrades.
Rebecca and Kiwi.
While the sequence was brief, Rangiku noticed a subtle shift in the animation.
David’s eyes were unfocused. There was a lack of stability in his gaze that hadn’t been there before.
The perspective then shifted to Faraday, the shadowy fixer David’s crew worked for. He was currently in the middle of a crisis with his Arasaka handlers. In Night City, cyberpunks are the deniable assets used by fixers for assassinations, corporate sabotage, and theft. But because David’s crew had botched the Tanaka kidnapping, Faraday’s masters were beginning to doubt his competence.
However, a window of opportunity had opened for him. Because the details surrounding Tanaka’s death were so anomalous, Arasaka offered Faraday a deal. If he handed over the netrunner who had breached Tanaka’s mind, they would grant him a permanent position within the corporation, the ultimate dream for a street-level fixer.
Rangiku felt a surge of protective fury. That snake Faraday is going to sell out Lucy!
But as the episode progressed, a more disturbing development took center stage. During a high-stakes firefight, David suddenly froze. He stood in the middle of the battlefield, his eyes wide with a primal terror, while bullets whizzed past his head.
He looked more helpless than a recruit. A casual viewer might have dismissed it as a momentary lapse in courage. But Rangiku, having paid close attention to the earlier world-building, felt a chill of realization.
David’s symptoms were identical to Maine’s.
’Wait... he’s the protagonist!’ she thought, her heart sinking.
’Is he actually succumbing to Cyberpsychosis?’
