"Tsukasa?"
The next day, after hours at the drafting desk, Kai looked up and spotted Rin.
He didn't know when she'd arrived. She was tucking her hair behind her ear, leaning over to help Rika with schoolwork.
Her form-fitting sweater outlined her slender waist, and her pale neck caught Kai's gaze. The scene reminded him of a cozy slice-of-life anime come to life.
"Ah, Ka..." She glanced down at Rika, then smiled brightly. "Fujin, I hope I'm not in the way?"
"Not at all." Kai blinked in surprise. "You're tutoring Rika?"
"Mm-hm." Rin straightened up. "I did graduate from Keio University."
"Brother," Rika said, annoyed. "Stop bothering us."
"Alright." Kai had no choice but to shut up.
It seemed Rika was putting in the effort too.
She wasn't just waiting for her brother to handle everything. Good kid.
He should thank Tsukasa properly.
...
Kai stepped away from his desk and went to the supermarket.
With New Year's, Jump was on break, and manga artists got a breather too, though they'd have to draw extra content for the upcoming combined issue.
He picked through the produce and bought a selection of fresh vegetables. Back home, he headed straight for the kitchen.
Scrambled eggs, stir-fried greens, shredded cabbage, and the main attraction: braised pork belly.
Two hours later, the smell had filled the living room. A simple home-cooked meal, nothing fancy, but done right.
Right at noon, Kai carried the dishes to the table and called the two over.
"You made this?" Rika hadn't even tasted anything yet, but the colors and the aroma told her everything she needed to know.
"Yeah. Picked up the basics while working part-time," Kai said.
He had Chief Arata to thank for that. Working at Ryuka Cuisine, the man had taught him more than just ramen. Kai had picked up a decent grasp of Japanese home cooking along the way. The gap in his repertoire was embarrassing though. He still couldn't make a proper miso soup to save his life.
"You had it rough in Tokyo, brother. Back home, you were always buried in your manga. You never cooked at all." Rika sighed.
In truth, Kai simply couldn't be bothered. First, he had no time. Second, he had no mood.
Stuck in that depressing, cramped apartment, the most he'd ever managed was boiling a pack of instant noodles.
After becoming a manga artist, the weekly deadlines nearly crushed him. Where would he find the energy to cook?
Rin clasped her hands together. "Thank you for the food."
She picked up a small bite of scrambled eggs, brought it to her mouth, and chewed.
"Delicious."
The standard praise after tasting food. Kai tried a bite himself and found it just ordinary.
He hadn't cooked in so long that his skills had gotten rusty.
...
After New Year's, winter break ended.
Rika went home.
She was reluctant to leave, while some people could only feel excitement and happiness.
After two weeks, they could finally read Weekly Shonen Jump again.
This issue's cover featured Misa Amane. Light Yagami's obsessive fan. The Second Kira. Golden twin tails. Delicate features. Like an idol brought to life.
Petite and graceful, she gave off a sense of fragile dependence. Her brown eyes were mysterious. Her outfit was Gothic Lolita, layered with lace and ribbons.
She made people want to scoop her up and hold her tight.
Crazy yet cute. The character design was pure Death Note.
Readers dove into the chapter immediately. The combined issue's full thirty pages left them thoroughly satisfied.
The content mainly explained how to kill a Shinigami.
The Shinigami Gelus had fallen in love with a human girl. One day, a stalker, rejected by the girl, tried to kill her in a murder-suicide.
Gelus wrote the stalker's name in the Death Note. And then Gelus himself vanished into the wind.
From this, the Shinigami Rem learned the rule: if a Shinigami kills a human to save another human's life, the Shinigami dies.
After all, a Shinigami's purpose is to take human lives. Not extend them.
Afterward, Rem brought Gelus's notebook to the human world and gave it to the girl. That girl was the Second Kira. Misa Amane.
Because Misa was reckless, L actually found it harder to predict her moves.
In truth, Misa wasn't completely stupid. She hid the real information inside her broadcasts, encoding it so only Kira could understand, and used it to arrange a meeting with Light.
Light volunteered to go to Aoyama to meet her.
Of course, Detective Matsuda would be there too. If Light's identity was exposed, he had already resolved to kill everyone present.
Those who possessed the Shinigami Eyes couldn't see the remaining lifespan of a Death Note holder. Wearing glasses to conceal her eyes, Misa discovered Light's identity first.
The chapter ended there.
"Because Light refused the Shinigami Eyes, he missed this detail. He walked right into a disadvantage. That's the price of his arrogance."
"But Misa Amane is so cute! Even though she kills without blinking, she's really, really cute!"
Takumi, a high school student from Oumi Town, set down the manga, satisfied, and reached for the reader survey.
"Wait..." He noticed another manga released by Kanzaki, titled "Kenji Tachibana." The title alone told him nothing about what it was.
...
A rainy day. A speech venue.
Bang.
A gunshot. Smoke in the air.
The speaker turned and saw the young man who had been clapping along with the audience moments ago.
He was holding a crude weapon, looking at the politician with a calm, steady expression.
Another bang.
The politician clutched his chest and fell.
The assassin's name was Kenji Tachibana.
He had been a quiet, capable young man once. Good grades. A future ahead of him. Then his family fell apart.
His father died. His mother, grieving and vulnerable, was pulled into a cult. They became her world. She emptied the family's savings into their coffers, donation after donation, until there was nothing left.
Tachibana and his siblings were dragged into poverty. No matter how hard he worked, every paycheck was funneled away. His mother wouldn't stop. The cult had its hooks too deep.
He tried to fight back through proper channels. Petitions. Reports. Legal complaints. None of it went anywhere. The cult had protection at the highest levels. Politicians took their money and spoke on their behalf. The system that was supposed to help his family was the same one shielding the people who destroyed it.
Over the years, everything he tried to build was torn down. Every path forward was a dead end. He reached a point so low he nearly didn't come back from it.
And then, one day, he stopped asking for help.
He built a weapon with his own hands and walked into a crowd.
Takumi found himself gripping the pages.
Was it his mother's fault?
Or was it society's?
______________________
Bonus chapter at 500 Power stones
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