Once the company secured its funding, the staff began scheduling meetings with the executives at the major TV networks in Tokyo who held the power to greenlight broadcasts.
During that time, the serialization of Parasyte was hitting its stride.
The story had zero filler overall.
After Shinichi dealt with the parasite that had taken over his mother's body, Chapters Nine and Ten shifted the focus to the growing rift between him and the female lead, Satomi.
Under Migi's influence, Shinichi's personality had grown increasingly cold. His sense of justice was still there, but he no longer let anger cloud his judgment like before. He could now look at human death and the existence of parasites with calm, rational eyes.
Yet there was still one person who could stir what was left of his emotions, and that was the girl he had always loved, Satomi.
Of course, the way she stirred them was deeply painful.
When Satomi told him he had become a different person, cold and heartless, and demanded to know whether he was even the real Shinichi anymore or whether something had replaced him entirely...
"Just stop!"
That was when Shinichi finally snapped.
The school was invaded again.
A student-parasite had gone berserk and was slaughtering everyone in sight.
Even then, Shinichi's first thought was to protect Satomi. He carried her to safety first, and only then did he go back to fight.
After the battle, the government finally acknowledged the terrifying reality that parasites existed within human society and began mounting a formal response.
With the story reaching this point, the world of Parasyte had been fully laid open.
At its core, the series used the lens of these absolutely rational creatures to mock human foolishness. The things that truly endangered humanity were never the parasites. It was always humans themselves.
The story constantly explored the humanity that emerged when parasites merged with human bodies, while also digging into the nobler side of actual people. It kept returning to its central theme of "the meaning of life," and while a single work of fiction could never give a definitive answer to something that grand, the fact that it made readers think was proof enough of its quality.
The same deep reflection that had swept through fans in that parallel world was now repeating itself here.
While most light novel comment sections were filled with debates about which character was the hottest or who would win in a fight, the Kiyozawa Library forums for Parasyte looked completely different.
"These last two chapters hurt so much. Is there really no way for humans and parasites to coexist?"
"What if the parasites and their absolute rationality are actually the next stage of human evolution?"
"Are the humans in this story really superior to the parasites?"
"Shinichi fought all this time for his father, his mother, and for Satomi, and she still told him he changed. That just hurts."
"That part wrecked me. Shinichi's biggest fear is losing himself to the parasite's cold nature, and then Satomi hits him with the worst line possible: 'The Shinichi I used to know is gone.' That's a critical hit."
"On the other hand, that girl Kana is pretty great. She can sense Shinichi's presence from far away, and from the way the story describes it, she seems drawn to him too."
"I hope Shinichi ends up with Kana. I really like her."
"I wonder where the plot goes from here. Full-scale war between humans and parasites?"
"Honestly, I can't even say the parasites are wrong. They're just trying to survive."
"There's no right or wrong here. It's just eat or be eaten. Once a parasite takes a human body, it needs human flesh to live. There's no solving that."
"All I can say is that the author built a pretty cruel world."
"The thing is, every time I finish a chapter, I start thinking about these huge existential topics. For a second I actually thought I was about to start caring about the fate of humanity. Then I wake up the next morning and realize I don't have that luxury."
After Chapters Nine and Ten went out, Kana had been quietly gaining fans. At this point, her popularity had actually surpassed the real female lead, Satomi.
By the time the tenth chapter was published, Parasyte had climbed to fifth place in the reader rankings for Azure Kiyozawa magazine. The series had accumulated over 351,000 total votes, and its rating had shot to the top of the charts at 9.2 out of 10.
Those numbers were more than enough. Critics and media outlets across the industry began mentioning the series with growing frequency.
As the serialization kept building momentum, another year quietly slipped by.
Over the past year, Haruto had taken the university entrance exams, claimed the top spot as the number-one newcomer, started a new serialization with Kiyozawa Library, and founded his own small animation studio. His career as a creator was just getting started, but it was already showing a strong upward trajectory.
In January, heavy snow fell across Tokyo. The campus was blanketed in white, and large flakes danced through the biting wind.
Haruto was walking toward the lecture hall under his umbrella when he spotted a slender figure up ahead. He paused, then quickly walked over and fell into step beside Reina.
"How come you don't have an umbrella?"
"It stopped snowing when I left, so I got lazy and didn't bring one. Didn't expect it to start up again halfway here."
Reina glanced at the umbrella he was holding over her head as she brushed the snow off her shoulders and hair.
"You missed a spot."
He noticed a few remaining flakes on the very top of her head and gently brushed them off.
The sudden gesture made Reina freeze, and she tripped over her own feet. Haruto reacted fast, catching her arm with his free hand.
"Th-thanks." Once she had her footing, a faint blush crept onto her cheeks. Her clear eyes flickered toward him for just a second before looking away.
"No problem."
Haruto could tell his move had been a bit too sudden, and he laughed awkwardly to cover it.
"Oh, by the way, I haven't heard anything about your new novel in a while. Still working on it?" he asked.
"The first few chapters are pretty much done. I'm planning to submit them in a few days."
"Which publisher are you going with?" His interest was piqued.
"Same as you. Kiyozawa Library." Reina's voice was soft and even. "The other two were exactly like you warned me. Once I went in and talked to them, the internal politics were a mess."
"Though the editors at Kiyozawa don't value me the same way they value you," she continued. "They wanted to sign you for ten years on the spot. For me, they only offered five. After a lot of back and forth, I got them down to three, which basically covers my university years."
"You didn't want to sign longer?" Haruto asked, curious. "Kiyozawa is a top-tier publisher. Five years wouldn't have been a bad deal."
"Then what about you?" Reina turned to him with a small smile. "Why did you take such a big risk just to avoid a long-term contract?"
She held his gaze. "If you think your talent would be held back by a binding contract down the line, then I think exactly the same about mine. Don't underestimate me."
As they walked through the entrance of the lecture building, plenty of students watched the two campus celebrities strolling in together.
One was the new star of the literature department and one of the top newcomers in the light novel world. The other was the genius novelist with a loyal fanbase and the undisputed number-one new author of the past two years.
The simple sight of them sharing an umbrella and walking to class together was enough to set the entire campus talking.
Both Haruto and Reina had plenty of admirers at the university. Once someone snapped a photo of them chatting under the umbrella with smiles on their faces and posted it to the school forum, the comment section caught fire.
"Well, she's been claimed. But at least the guy who got her isn't some nobody. He's practically a mythical creature. Still hurts to see, though."
"Hurts for me too, but think about it. They debuted from the same publisher, they're at the same university, one got in on special recruitment while the other was top of her class, and they've basically been rivals since high school. Half childhood friends, half destined opponents, full classmates. When you put it all together, this kind of development is pretty normal."
"It's NOT normal. I refuse to accept this."
"Nobody asked you, dude. Your approval means nothing."
"So this is what other people's youth looks like? Debuted in the light novel world during high school, became the number-one newcomer by graduation, started university with a cute girl from his old school in the same class, young, handsome, talented, and worth millions. And here I am, thinking back on my three years of nonstop studying. Even with a degree from this university, the average starting salary for our graduates is only about seventy thousand yen a month. The gap is honestly soul-crushing."
"Give me a break. You're jealous of Haruto? His parents are both gone. His dad went bankrupt and died when he was in second year of high school. You envy that? The wealth he has now, you might get there someday. But the normal family life you have? He'll never get that back."
"Exactly. Don't just look at how bright he shines now. If you could go through that kind of tragedy at his age and still fight your way out by writing light novels, then go ahead and be bitter."
"But still, I really want to hit him. How did he get this close to Reina without anyone noticing? She's rejected over a hundred love letters since the semester started, always right to their faces, cold as ice every time. But she's all warm and smiling around him? How?"
"That's what they call the advantage of proximity. If you could consistently outperform Reina in the light novel world all the way through university, she'd probably notice you too."
The school forum was basically just a gossip hub. Haruto was normally too busy for that sort of thing, but after his afternoon classes let out, he casually scrolled through it.
And found himself as the main topic.
Reading through all the wild theories made him laugh.
"These people really let their imaginations run wild. They've already decided Reina and I are a thing." He shook his head. "Is it really that hard to believe a guy and a girl can just be friends? All I did was share an umbrella with her, and it turned into this."
His eyes drifted over to Reina sitting at the desk in front of him, head bowed over her phone. The back of her neck was bright red.
"Hey, what are you looking at?"
He walked over and spoke up suddenly. Reina flinched, and her phone slipped from her hands and clattered to the floor.
Haruto's gaze followed it down, but a look of fierce resolve flashed across Reina's face. She brought her black leather shoe down hard and stomped directly on her own screen, shattering it into a web of cracks.
"What are you doing?" Haruto stared at her, completely baffled.
Only then did he notice how flushed her face was and how stiff her expression looked. He connected the dots with her reaction.
He was not stupid. He had a pretty good guess. What kind of website would make her face turn that red and drive her to destroy her own phone rather than let him see the screen?
"I-it's nothing." Reina scooped up the phone in a hurry.
"Your screen, though..." Haruto hesitated.
"I just didn't have a good grip on it. It's not your problem." Her voice was weak and unconvincing, but her eyes carried a sharpness that shut him down before he could offer to pay for it.
"Alright. Well, class is over, so I'm heading home. Be careful on your way back."
Haruto decided not to dig into her secret and left after a few parting words.
Only after he was gone did Reina pull out the cracked phone again. Through the shattered screen, the page she had been so desperate to hide was still faintly visible. It was the university's official forum.
"There are just too many bored people in this world who love sticking their noses into other people's business." Her cheeks were still flushed, but now that Haruto was gone, her eyes had turned cool and sharp.
She silently cursed out every last one of her nosy classmates, grabbed her bag, and hurried out of the classroom.