Once the company finally secured its funding, the staff mbers began scheduling formal etings with the key decision-makers at the major television networks in Tokyo.
They were determined to get their foot in the door with the executives who held the power to greenlight broadcasts. While those high-stakes negotiations were happening behind the scenes, the serialization of the Parasyte was reaching a fever pitch. Generally speaking, the story moved at a breakneck pace with absolutely no filler.
After the protagonist, Shinichi, dealt with the parasite that had claid his mother's body, the narrative shifted its focus in chapters nine and ten toward the deepening emotional rift between him and the female lead, Satomi.
Because of the influence of Migi, Shinichi's personality had grown increasingly detached.
While his sense of justice remained intact, he was no longer the impulsive boy who was easily blinded by rage. He could now view human death and the existence of the parasites with a cold, analytical gaze.
However, there was still one person who could stir the fading embers of his emotions, and that was the girl he had always loved, Satomi.
Unfortunately, the way those emotions were stirred was deeply tragic. Satomi confronted him, telling him that he had beco a completely different person, soone heartless and cold.
She questioned if he was even the sa Shinichi she used to know or if his very soul had been replaced by sothing else. It was only then that Shinichi finally snapped, shouting for her to be quiet as his composure crumbled.
The tension escalated when the school was once again invaded by a student-hostile parasite. A mindless slaughter began within the halls of the academy.
In that mont of chaos, Shinichi's first instinct was to protect Satomi. Only after he had carried her to safety did he return to the school to engage in the life-or-death struggle. Following this incident, the governnt authorities were finally forced to acknowledge the terrifying reality that these creatures existed within human society, and they began to formulate a formal response.
By the ti the story reached this point, the worldview of Parasyte had been fully established.
The series essentially used the perspective of the parasites, creatures of absolute logic, to hold up a mirror to the foolishness of humanity. It suggested that the things that truly put humanity at risk were often not external monsters, but rather the flaws within humans themselves.
Throughout the work, the author constantly explored the concept of humanity as it erged within the parasites, while simultaneously digging into the shining, noble aspects of real people. It was a deep dive into the aning of life, and while a piece of fiction could never provide a definitive answer to such a grand philosophical question, the fact that it made readers stop and think was proof of its excellence.
The sa wave of deep reflection that had swept through fans in that world was now repeating itself.
While the comnt sections for most light novels were filled with debates about which character was the cutest or who would win in a fight, the official Kiyozawa Library forums for Parasyte looked very different.
Readers were posting about how painful the recent chapters were and questioning if humans and parasites could ever truly coexist. So wondered if the absolute rationality of the parasites was actually the next stage of human evolution, while others felt for Shinichi, who had fought so hard for his father, his mother, and Satomi, only to be told by the girl he loved that the person she once knew was gone.
Interestingly, a girl nad Kana was starting to gain a lot of traction among the fans. She was a beautiful high school student with long black hair who possessed a mysterious ability to sense Shinichi's presence from a distance.
Many readers found themselves rooting for her over the actual female lead, Satomi, hoping that Shinichi might find so peace with her instead.
They were left wondering if the story would eventually lead to an all-out war between the two species.
Many felt that the parasites weren't necessarily evil; they were simply trying to survive in a world where their only source of food happened to be humans.
It was a tragic, unsolvable conflict.
By the ti the tenth chapter was released, Parasyte had climbed to the fifth spot in the reader rankings for the Azure Kiyozawa magazine.
It had amassed over three hundred and fifty thousand votes, and its overall rating had reached a staggering 9.2 out of 10, putting it at the very top of the charts. This level of success was more than enough to grab the attention of the wider industry. Critics and dia outlets began ntioning the series with increasing frequency.
As the serialization continued, another year drew to a close. It had been a monuntal year for Haruto.
He had navigated the entrance exams, won the top prize for newcors, started his serialization with Kiyozawa Library, and founded his own small animation studio, Haru-Yuki Animation. His career as a creator was just getting started, but it was already showing an incredibly promising trajectory.
In January, a heavy blanket of snow fell over, covering the school grounds in white.
Large snowflakes danced through the air, carried by a biting wind. While walking toward the lecture hall under his umbrella, Haruto spotted a familiar, slender figure up ahead. It was Reina, walking alone through the snow without any protection.
He quickly caught up to her and held his umbrella over her head. When he asked why she didn't have an umbrella, she explained that it wasn't snowing when she left her house, so she had decided to travel light, only to be caught off guard halfway through her commute.
As she brushed the snow off her hair and shoulders, Haruto noticed a few stray flakes on the very top of her head. He reached out and gently brushed them away.
The sudden gesture made her freeze in place, and she montarily lost her footing, stumbling forward. Haruto was quick to react, reaching out with his free hand to steady her by the arm. A soft blush crept onto her cheeks as she regained her balance, and her clear eyes flickered toward him for a brief second before she thanked him.
Feeling a bit awkward, Haruto cleared his throat and changed the subject. He asked if she was still working on her new novel, noting that he hadn't heard any news about it for a while. She told him that she had finished the first few chapters and was planning to submit them formally in a few days. When he asked which publisher she had chosen, she revealed that she was following in his footsteps and going with Kiyozawa Library.
She admitted that he had been right about the other major houses; after eting with them, she realized their internal politics were far too complicated for her liking.
She noted, however, that the editors at Kiyozawa didn't value her quite as highly as they did him. While they had wanted to sign him for ten years, they had only offered her a five-year contract.
After so back-and-forth negotiations, she had managed to get them to agree to a three-year term, which would cover the remainder of her ti at university.
Haruto was curious why she didn't want a longer commitnt, pointing out that Kiyozawa was one of the top publishers in the country. She looked at him with a small, knowing smile and asked why he had taken such a huge risk by refusing a long-term deal himself. She told him that if he felt a long-term contract would eventually stifle his potential as a professional, then she felt exactly the sa way. She told him not to underestimate her.
As they walked toward the building, many students watched them. They were well-known figures on campus. One was the rising star of the literature departnt and a top newcor in the industry, while the other was a genius novelist with a massive fanbase and the number one ranking among all recent debuts.
The sight of the two of them sharing an umbrella and chatting comfortably sparked an imdiate wave of gossip. Photos of them together were quickly posted to the university's online forums, leading to a flood of comnts ranging from genuine admiration to bitter jealousy.
There were those who lanted the gap between their own lives and Haruto's, noting that while they were struggling through their studies for a modest starting salary, he was already a wealthy and famous creator at such a young age.
However, others pointed out that his success had co at a heavy price, reminding people that he had lost both his parents and had fought his way up from his father's bankruptcy.
They argued that before anyone felt too much envy, they should ask themselves if they could have handled that kind of tragedy and still managed to carve out such a successful path.
Despite the logic of those argunts, many students were still frustrated by how close he seed to be with the notoriously cold and distant Reina.
She was known for rejecting hundreds of love letters without a second thought, yet she was always gentle and smiling when she was around him. People grumbled that if they wanted her attention, they would have to find a way to surpass her in the light novel world, which was an impossible task.
Haruto, who was usually too busy to care about such things, happened to browse the school forums after his afternoon classes. He ended up finding himself in the middle of a massive gossip thread.
The various theories about his relationship with Reina made him laugh.
He thought it was ridiculous that people couldn't believe in a simple friendship between a man and a woman. He looked over at Reina, who was sitting at the desk in front of him with her head down, looking at her phone. He noticed that the back of her neck was bright red.
He walked over and asked her what she was looking at so intently.
The suddenness of his voice made her jump, and her phone slipped from her hand and fell to the floor. Before Haruto could see the screen, she made a desperate, split-second decision. She stomped down hard with her black leather shoe, crushing the screen of her own phone. The glass shattered into a web of cracks.
Haruto was completely stunned by her reaction.
He saw her flushed face and her extrely agitated expression, and he began to suspect the truth. He wondered what kind of website she could possibly have been looking at that would make her choose to destroy her own phone rather than let him see it.
She quickly scooped up the broken device, claiming it was her own fault for being clumsy. Haruto started to offer to pay for the repairs, but her sharp, non-negotiable gaze stopped him in his tracks. He decided not to push the issue and simply told her to get ho safely before he left the classroom.
Once he was gone, Reina looked at her ruined phone.
Through the cracks in the screen, the webpage she had been browsing was still visible. It was the university's official gossip forum. She felt a wave of frustration at how many bored people there were in the world who loved to judge others.
Although her face was still burning, her eyes grew cold as she packed her bag and hurried out of the room.
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