After three rounds, just as Kai was hitting his stride, Togashi said he couldn't go on anymore.
He put down the controller, and though Kai was reluctant, the gaming session was over.
"Is Death Note getting an anime adaptation?" Togashi asked, lying on the floor and rubbing his lower back.
"The animation studios seem to think so, but the editors haven't told me anything officially," Kai replied, still absent-mindedly clicking the controller buttons.
"Then it's happening," Togashi said. "Animation studios have way more information channels than we do."
"Oh."
"So, have you thought about which company you'll go with?"
"That's not really our call to make."
"We have some say. Not a lot, but some."
Togashi thought of his own Yu Yu Hakusho and how heavily it had been altered. A moment of gloom crossed his face. Then he offered Kai some consolation. "Anime and the original work aren't the same thing to begin with. Don't get too hung up on the anime's content."
Kai thought of the live-action Death Note movie and nodded. "As long as it's interesting enough."
"Exactly."
Togashi stayed at the Fujin home a while longer, but when he heard that people from an animation studio were coming over, he got ready to leave.
Before stepping out the door, he asked, "Which company?"
Kai walked him out. "A producer named Satoshi Watanabe from Studio Pierrot, and the director Noriyuki Abe."
Hearing that, Togashi pulled back the foot he'd just stepped outside with.
"Noriyuki Abe?"
His expression went dark.
Noriyuki Abe was the director of the Yu Yu Hakusho anime. The guy who had recklessly adapted his manga and forced him to compromise.
...
"Make sure you make things really difficult for them!"
Looking at his two guests, Kai thought of Togashi's parting request and felt a headache coming on.
"Please, come in."
He kept it short and led the way inside. His manner was notably perfunctory.
Watanabe and Abe exchanged a glance.
"Is this the 'one hundred percent' you were talking about?" Abe whispered in a low voice.
Facing the doubt, Watanabe didn't flinch. "I meant we must have the conviction that we will one hundred percent succeed."
Abe shook his head. "You always have an excuse."
They followed Kai into the living room.
Looking at the empty coffee table, Watanabe's eyelid twitched. Something felt wrong.
'Not even tea? Kanzaki-sensei really doesn't want us here. Could he have already reached an agreement with the Kyoto studio?'
Despite the chaos in his head, Watanabe kept a warm smile plastered on.
He nudged Abe with his elbow.
Abe understood. He took out a Death Note volume and handed it to Kai.
"Kanzaki-sensei, would you mind giving me an autograph first?"
Kai took it, signed his name, and then asked, "Has Director Abe read Death Note?"
"Of course." Abe said it without hesitation. "I've already read the latest chapter."
Worried that Kai might not believe him, he launched into it.
"Naomi Misora's mother couldn't reach her daughter, so she called the police. L obtained this information and combined it with clues he'd already gathered. He concluded that Kira is most likely among the people Raye was investigating."
"Since Kira has close ties to the police, L narrowed the scope further and decided to monitor the homes of the two police families Raye had been looking into."
"One of them is the Yagami household."
"Light Yagami isn't far from being found out."
Getting fired up, Abe began sharing his analysis.
"Light Yagami is extremely clever. He's played elite agents like puppets."
"But he's too greedy."
"To become the god of a new world, he actively exposed his own existence."
"If he truly just wanted to purify the world, he could have killed criminals silently. No matter how brilliant L is, he'd never find him."
"Then, to drive a wedge between the police and L, he gave L the clue that he had access to police data."
"After killing Raye, he exposed himself even further."
"Light Yagami seems to have everything under control. Every scheme succeeds. But he's too conceited. He underestimated L, and with each move, he's been shrinking his own space for survival."
"By now, he's practically sitting right under L's nose."
"It really makes you think."
Kai nodded. With an analysis that detailed, Abe was clearly reading Death Note closely.
He had a thorough grasp of the story's progression.
Abe held Kai in high regard.
"Kanzaki-sensei's construction is practically flawless. Light Yagami is a genius. If he were caught because of a careless mistake or a plot hole, the character's entire credibility would collapse instantly."
"It's only because of his pride, using himself as bait and taking the initiative to attack, that the plot achieves this escalating tension."
"Every thread connects to the next. The story advances step by step. The reasoning is written with attention to every detail, and it's deeply persuasive. Death Note completely deserves its success."
"It's been years since I've read a manga this satisfying."
Watanabe looked at Abe, who was talking nonstop in praise of Kai, and silently gave him a thumbs up.
The man usually looked a bit out of it, but he was surprisingly reliable when it mattered.
Kai felt embarrassed by the praise. "Please, have a seat. I'll go pour some tea."
Watching Kai head toward the kitchen, Watanabe leaned over to Abe. "Great job. Keep it up."
"Huh?" Abe looked confused. "What did I do?"
"So it was just a fluke." Watanabe sighed. "Just stay in the zone you were in a moment ago."
"Okay." Abe sat up straight, ready to give it everything he had.
Kai came back with tea and sat down across from them.
"Please, help yourselves."
Then he got straight to the point. "I have a pretty good idea of why you're here. It's about the Death Note anime adaptation, right? The thing is, the editorial department hasn't notified me officially yet, and I don't have the authority to make that decision."
"Kanzaki-sensei," Watanabe said after a sip of tea. "Death Note is performing brilliantly. An anime adaptation is inevitable. It's only a matter of time."
"I can tell that Editor-in-Chief Torishima is already making moves. Otherwise, the information wouldn't have leaked out."
"As for who has the final say, Kanzaki-sensei, you are the creator of Death Note. Your opinion naturally carries the most weight. There's no question about that."
Watanabe looked at Abe, signaling him to speak.
"Of course," Abe followed up. "But when it actually gets adapted, since anime and the source material are fundamentally different mediums, some parts of the plot will inevitably need to be adjusted. I'm sure you can understand that, Sensei."
Watanabe's eyes went wide. He stared at Abe in disbelief.
'Now is the time to talk about changing the plot? I told you to perform well, not to go looking for trouble!'
Kai's expression soured.
"Director Abe certainly has a lot of ideas."
Abe nodded earnestly. "After reading Death Note, I've had so many ideas. It's just that Kanzaki-sensei's execution is so strong that it leaves me no room to touch the plot. I could only adjust some of the pacing, pacing that's better suited to the art of animation."
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