I, Hiroshi Nohara, the star of Japanese cinema!

"Although the ratings in the early hours of Saturday morning may be a little inflated because everyone is not working the next day, this is definitely the greatest affirmation of us by the station!" Hase Rokuya said excitedly.

Everyone's face was filled with a heartfelt joy of finally getting what they had sown after so much hardship. They looked towards the young man in the corner, who had been quietly drawing something from beginning to end, their eyes filled with almost fanatical admiration and trust.

Suzuki Seito also looked at Nohara Hiroshi. His eyes were filled with inquiry and a hint of dependence that he himself was not even aware of.

It seems that as long as this young man is there, they have a backbone and the confidence to face all challenges.

Hiroshi Nohara put down his writing and pulled out a thick stack of drawings from under the table.

He gently placed the stack of drawings on the table, and that action looked like he was setting up a chess game that had been prepared long ago and was sure to win.

"The seven episodes for the second week are all here." His voice was calm, yet it held a reassuring power. "'The Umbrella God,' 'The Haunting,' 'The Moon,' 'The Videotape,' 'Tomoya-kun,' and the finale, 'Pain'."

He raised his head and glanced at everyone. His clear eyes sparkled with wisdom that saw through everything.

"Everyone, our snowball has just started rolling. What we need to do next is to make it roll bigger and bigger, until it eventually forms an avalanche powerful enough to drown everything."

"oh--!"

Thunderous cheers erupted in the office again.

Everyone seemed to be injected with the most powerful stimulant. They took the brand new drawings, and every shot and every line seemed to contain some kind of magic, making them eager to turn them into reality.

They know that they are participating in more than just the production of an animation.

They are creating a legend belonging to this era, called "Anzhiju".

-

Sunday night quietly descended into this tense atmosphere. Tokyo, like a weary beast, finally retracted its daytime talons after a week of hustle and bustle, crouched down, leaving only countless tiny, scaly lights flickering stubbornly across its black fur.

The light carries the last bit of laziness of the weekend as it draws to a close, as well as the thin, thin sadness of Monday approaching.

However, in this vast sea of ​​stars composed of countless window panes, a considerable amount of light did not choose to sleep.

They gather into small, bright spots of light, stubbornly waiting for a moment to come.

In the university dormitory in Setagaya, the air was filled with a slightly sour smell mixed with cheap beer and youthful hormones.

A few boys who had just returned from a fraternity party did not turn on their game consoles for the first time. Instead, they gathered around a small TV, as if they were around a bonfire, preparing to perform a secret ceremony of courage that belonged to men.

In Shinjuku's late-night restaurant, the L-shaped bar is packed.

The guests barely touched the food and wine in front of them. The aroma of food that comforted loneliness late at night was now overwhelmed by a stronger, tense atmosphere called "expectation".

Shui Shangxiang was quietly wiping the cup, but his eyes couldn't help but fall on the old TV in the corner.

Countless corners like this, countless pairs of eyes like this, chose to go on a date with fear at the cost of sleep on this night.

12:20 AM.

The familiar nursery rhymes and drum sounds arrived as promised.

The masked man drew back the curtain, and his hoarse voice seemed to come from a dry well, carrying the echo of an ancient age.

【Anzhiju·Contradiction】

The story begins in an ordinary, warmly lit bachelor apartment, where a young girl is getting ready for bed.

The phone suddenly rang.

It was her friend, Mayumi.

"Save me... Save me..." The voice on the other end of the phone was filled with extreme panic and trembling.

The girl's heart instantly rose to her throat.

Mayumi narrated intermittently that she and her boyfriend Che went to explore an abandoned hospital tonight.

"...As soon as I entered, I felt something was wrong. It was... too cold, and there were strange noises everywhere..."

"...But Ah Che, he was like possessed, he kept walking inside, no matter how I called him, he wouldn't listen..."

"...Then, he walked into a ward, and the door...closed by itself. I was scared, so I...I ran out first..."

"I'm downstairs in your house now. I'm so scared. Can you...can you let me in?"

The girl agreed without hesitation. But at this moment, Mayumi's voice on the other end of the phone suddenly became extremely strange.

She began to talk to herself in a dreamy, emotionless tone.

“…Ache…Ache came out…He found me…He…He was smiling at me…”

"...His face is so white... Hehe... Hehe..."

When the girl heard the strange laughter on the phone, her blood seemed to freeze.

at this time.

"Dong dong dong."

There was a knock on her apartment door.

The girl trembled as she moved step by step to the door and looked out through the peephole.

Standing outside the door was a man in a jacket.

It’s Ache.

He was looking up at the cat's eye, with an extremely bright yet extremely stiff smile on his face.

The girl was so frightened that she stepped back suddenly and the phone in her hand fell to the ground.

But the phone was not hung up.

From the receiver, Mayumi's strange laughter, as if coming from the depths of hell, could still be heard.

"Hehe...hehehe...open the door..."

"Let us... go in..."

"Ding-dong-"

The doorbell and the laughter on the phone overlapped at this moment.

The picture stopped abruptly.

End of the play.

……

"what--!!!"

In the university dormitory, there was an earth-shaking cry of fear and extreme excitement.

There was a dead silence in the late-night restaurant, with only the crisp sounds of a few chopsticks falling to the ground.

In this episode of "Anzhiju", there are no sudden ghost faces and no bloody scenes.

It plays with pure, soul-piercing logical sophistry.

It makes you think frantically between two seemingly contradictory options, trying to find a safe and reasonable explanation. But when you immerse yourself in it, it tells you that both options are doors to hell.

It’s an intellectual, crushing terror.

It makes you feel an indescribable chill rising from your tailbone the moment you understand the truth!

Chapter 35: Number One!

When Monday morning light, like a stern monarch, knocked open the sleepy eyelids of the huge city of Tokyo with its cold and fair scepter, last night's ceremony dedicated to darkness seemed to have disappeared without a trace.

The roar of the subway, the footsteps of pedestrians, the monotonous sound of the coffee machine in the office building, everything returned to its original order.

However, some things, once planted, will grow like the most stubborn vines, wildly in the invisible depths of the soil.

In Suzuki's classroom, everyone was present, yet it seemed as if no one was there.

They sat in their seats, their bodies in working postures, but their souls seemed to be suspended in mid-air, waiting for the last feather to decide whether to fly or fall.

The door was pushed open at this time.

Hashijitachi walked in, still holding the thin report in his hand, which seemed to carry the fate of the entire classroom.

But today, his face no longer had the ecstasy and madness of the past few days. Instead, there was a kind of dullness that was almost numb, which was unique after being repeatedly washed away by a huge sense of happiness.

He walked to the table and put the paper down, his movements as gentle as if he were placing a piece of fragile porcelain.

Everyone gathered around, their eyes fixed on him.

"Late-night animation "Anzhiju", seventh episode rating: 4.22%."

"Ratings – Top-notch! (Note: Record-breaking, number one in the early morning slot.)"

4.22%.

some!

This number, this word, is no longer a drop of boiling oil, nor is it a loud thunder.

It was like a silent holy light that descended from the sky, gently but irrefutably enveloping this small office.

No one cheered, no one shed tears.

Nancun Xing just slowly sat back in his chair and let out a long, long breath. That breath seemed to take away all the depression and anxiety that had accumulated in his life for more than twenty years.

Changgu Lu walked to the window and looked at the pedestrians downstairs who were still as small as ants. For the first time, he felt that he and they might not be in the same dimension anymore.

Beichuan Yao stared at the number infatuatedly, the corners of her mouth curled up unconsciously. That smile was as pure as a child who got the sweetest candy in the world.

The taste of victory is like strong liquor when you first taste it, and like aged wine when you taste it again. But when it is extremely strong, it will return to its original state and turn into a cup of warm tea, silently soaking into your internal organs, making you feel relaxed and happy.

4.22%.

some!

Suzuki Seito looked at the two marks, and all the wrinkles on his old face stretched out, like a chrysanthemum that finally bloomed in the morning sun after the wind and rain.

He knew that from today on, when he walked in the corridor of this TV station again, the glances that were once cast at him with sympathy and contempt would turn into awe and admiration.

In this world where ratings are everything, 4.22% is his scepter and No. is his crown.

The one who gave him all this was the young man who was sitting quietly in the corner, as if oblivious to all the glory and noise in the outside world.

……

At the same time, in Jimbocho, known as the heart of neon comics, a storm of paper and ink is quietly brewing in Shueisha's gray fortress-like building.