After getting Kai's autograph, Oda didn't spare Torishima a single glance and walked out looking like a man on a mission.
Kai greeted Furuta first, then walked over to Torishima with a smile. "Editor-in-Chief, I think you might be in trouble."
"Hm?" Torishima looked at him, puzzled. "You think highly of Oda?"
"Very highly," Kai said bluntly.
Even someone with the sharpest instincts couldn't predict the future of a manga from just a few chapters.
But Kai was someone from another world.
He had future vision.
"It's possible that One Piece will top the Jump rankings for twenty consecutive years, and that Oda-sensei will become the most influential manga artist of the next era."
It was an outrageously bold claim.
Torishima stared at him in surprise.
"I think your apology to Oda is inevitable, Editor-in-Chief."
"Hmm." Torishima nodded calmly. "If that really happens, it would be a wonderful thing."
"But I think you're overestimating him, Kanzaki-sensei."
Kai tilted his head. "Why's that?"
"Because," Torishima looked him straight in the eye, his voice steady, "Jump still has you."
"Me?"
...
Before stepping into the elevator, Torishima glanced at Furuta.
"Do you know that gentleman, Kanzaki-sensei?"
"I do," Kai replied. "Furuta is my high school classmate. A good friend."
"Oh." Torishima nodded. "I see."
What exactly did he "see"?
The elevator stopped at the second floor. The doors opened, and Kai immediately spotted the Light Yagami standee.
It was set up as a Shueisha display, standing front and center among a lineup of manga protagonists.
'When did they put that up?'
He walked down the corridor and into the editorial department.
The noise never let up.
At desks buried in manuscripts and files, editors were working at full throttle. Most of them didn't even look up to see who had walked in.
"Togashi-sensei, any ideas for a new manga yet?"
"It's Monday, Takahashi-san. Where's your storyboard? Even Kanzaki-sensei, as young as he is, already handed his in early."
"Hello, Akimoto-sensei. No, no, I'm not calling about the manuscript. You've always been punctual, Sensei, there's no need for me to chase you. It's just that Jump has a short story event coming up, and I wanted to ask if you'd be interested in participating."
Torishima ignored the commotion entirely and led Kai through the department. The two of them walked into his office.
The door clicked shut, and the room went quiet.
"Have a seat, Fujin."
He stepped out to pour two glasses of water, then sat down beside Kai to talk business.
"I had Heishi contact you because there's something I wanted to discuss in person."
"Please, go ahead."
"Let's start with the sales of Death Note's first collected volume." Torishima looked at a report, then handed it to Kai. "It's been on sale for over three weeks. Time to let you see the numbers."
Kai picked up the report and started reading. He skipped the individual breakdowns and went straight to the final summary.
"Seven hundred thousand?" He looked at Torishima in disbelief.
Seven hundred thousand copies in three weeks. A number without precedent.
No manga's first volume had ever put up results like this.
Not Slam Dunk. Not Yu Yu Hakusho.
Across the entire history of Japanese manga, Death Note was the first.
It had made history.
Kai's mind went blank for a moment. He understood that Death Note was a phenomenon, but these numbers clearly surpassed what the original Ohba and Obata duo had achieved.
'An average of a million per volume within two months?'
A month and a half would be enough at this pace.
His thoughts raced through the possible reasons. His own drawing skills certainly weren't on the level of Obata Takeshi, one of the top five illustrators in Japan.
And he hadn't improved on the plot either. Ohba Tsugumi had already made it perfect.
The only real difference was timing.
Right now, Jump still had four million readers. When Death Note was serialized in the original timeline, that number had dropped to two million. And that era had One Piece and Naruto competing for attention. It was the golden age of Jump.
In this timeline, Death Note was the undisputed number one. It had no real competition.
And then there was Fujima, who had handed Kai a publicity boost on a silver platter.
The right moment. The right conditions. The right people. Death Note had created a record that could never be broken.
Not even by Kai's own future work.
"It really is an absurd number." Torishima watched Kai's expression with satisfaction. He wasn't going to judge. He'd barely kept his own composure when he first saw the report.
"Congratulations, Kanzaki-sensei."
"Congratulations to you too." Kai grinned.
'How much money is that?'
Torishima's expression turned serious. "It would be great if there was another Fujima."
Kai gave him a strange look.
'Does he have a grudge against me?'
Torishima explained. "When drawing Death Note, it's better if the creator isn't too happy. It affects the atmosphere of the work."
Kai's mood was already plenty dark. There was no need for Fujima to provoke him. Torishima alone was doing a fine job of that.
"Kanzaki-sensei," Torishima said. "A lot of animation companies have been reaching out to you recently, haven't they?"
"Yes. They mentioned that you're considering an anime adaptation for Death Note, but I wasn't sure what was real and what wasn't. It's been confusing."
"I'm telling you now, officially. It's happening."
Torishima leaned forward. "Out of all the companies that have approached you, which one impressed you the most?"
"Hmm." Kai leaned back in his chair, putting some distance between them. He crossed his legs and thought it over. "Kyoto Animation was the first to reach out, but they don't have the track record, and they're far from Tokyo. That makes coordination difficult."
"The others all have their own issues. Some are understaffed and outsource too much of their workload. Some treat their employees so poorly that everything they produce feels hollow."
When it came to the anime adaptation, Kai was picky.
He'd once heard about a manga artist who took her own life because her work had been mangled beyond recognition in its adaptation.
At the time, the story had shocked him. He hadn't understood how someone could be driven to that.
Now, he did.
Having your intentions twisted and your hard work tainted was a devastating blow to any creator, especially a sensitive one.
Even as someone adapting another creator's work, Kai had poured everything into Death Note. Twelve hours a day, seven days a week, just to keep the manga going.
Grinding through storyboards until his head throbbed, producing an endless stream of manuscript pages until his hair started thinning.
If the anime stripped out the intellectual battles and turned Death Note into some meditation on good and evil, he'd be furious.
"Torishima-san, we can discuss the other details later. But on the plot, please hold the animation company to the highest standard. I need that from you."
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