Before anyone could pinpoint exactly when it had started, the attitude of Clannad fans toward the anime had quietly changed.
Those who had watched the latest episode still refused to believe that Sora would truly dare to sacrifice Nagisa Furukawa, the most beloved heroine in the series. And yet, no matter how much they tried to convince themselves otherwise, a heavy unease remained lodged in their chests.
After all, was this some kind of joke?
Nagisa was not merely the most popular character in AD at this stage. She was, at that very moment, the number-one female lead in popularity across the entire Japanese anime industry. Even if Sora did not care about Southern Alliance TV's ratings, he still had to consider Clannad Blu-ray sales.
If Nagisa really died from that illness, there would still be nearly two months of episodes left to air. What would the series even show after that? Wouldn't the entire work collapse on the spot?
It was precisely because viewers were relying on years of experience with romance anime, with their familiar turns and implicit promises of a happy ending, that they clung stubbornly to their assumptions. Even though Clannad plot was practically spelling out that Nagisa's fate would not be kind, Japanese fans chose to ignore the signs.
Inside the company, Sora read the discussions online and let out a bitter smile.
"So? Feeling the pressure now?" Yumi was also in the office at the time. Seeing the look on Sora's face, she did not bother hiding her amusement. "In four days, when episode sixteen of Clannad second season airs, I'd love to see how you explain yourself to those millions of fans."
"There's nothing to explain. They'll understand me," Sora said, though his voice carried an obvious trace of guilt.
"Are you really that naive? Stop lying to yourself, Sora." Yumi chuckled and turned toward Sumire, who was quietly drawing storyboards beside them. "Sumire, tell me something. If you were an ordinary viewer and saw the plot of Clannad sixteenth episode, what would your first impulse be?"
Sumire raised her eyes, glanced at Sora, and replied softly, "I would block him. And I would never watch anything he made again for the rest of my life."
"But at least the ending is happy," Sora argued.
"The problem is that your viewers still have to wait two months before they can see the perfect ending you spent nearly fifty episodes building. During those two months, Sora, your own fans are probably going to tear you apart." As she thought about it, a faint smile curved at the corner of Sumire's lips. "Until AD ends, you'd better wear a mask when you go outside. Otherwise, some fan might actually hit you."
Sora fell silent.
For a moment, he remembered his previous life, when he had played the AD visual novel and slammed his keyboard furiously after seeing Nagisa die, cursing the writer without restraint.
In the end, Sumire's warning truly sank into his heart.
"What worries me," Yumi said, now with a real trace of concern in her expression, "is whether the ratings for episode seventeen will crash if episode sixteen really develops like that."
"They won't," Sora answered with absolute certainty.
"Even if Nagisa leaves the stage, Ushio Takasaki, a character every bit as charming as her, will appear. According to my estimate, Clannad ratings not only won't fall, they'll continue to rise."
"Your estimate?" Yumi narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I've always wanted to ask you this. Sora, how are you so accurate when judging the market? What method are you using?"
"Intuition."
Without changing expression, Sora took a sip of water.
After all, he could not exactly say that he was predicting the market based on each episode's popularity and reputation from his previous life.
Another Sunday arrived.
The day Clannad sixteenth episode would air.
Major Japanese forums had already begun to stir early in the day. Naturally, most of the fans' posts were dedicated to complaining about Sora.
The afternoon passed, and night settled over the city.
Yua turned on the television at the usual time and switched the channel to Southern Alliance TV. At that moment, the station was airing a promotional spot for Shingeki no Kyojin, which was scheduled to premiere the following April.
After a passionate, grandiose introduction, Yua felt as if she had watched a whole lot of nothing. The advertisement had revealed almost no concrete information.
By contrast, the teaser for Your Name that aired afterward was much more interesting.
A high school student from metropolitan Tokyo and a girl from a remote town in Japan exchanging bodies.
It was a pity the promotion only used a few original illustrations instead of an actual animated PV.
Yua shook her head, but she still remembered the titles of both works.
Time passed little by little.
Soon, it was time for AD to begin.
The television image shifted, and the opening of the episode once again showed the girl from the illusionary world and the robot that could move on its own.
Yua watched those scenes carefully.
In anime, this type of technique was not especially common. But in manga, before the main chapter began, many artists liked to draw one or two opening pages. And often, those seemingly isolated scenes ended up having a huge impact on the main story.
"Orbs of light, a lonely world, a girl and a robot... Nagisa's illness... and all those glowing orbs drifting through the sky of that world..."
Yua blinked slowly.
"Could all of this be connected?"
She did not have much time to think. The scene of the girl in the lonely world ended, and the opening song began.
Episode sixteen started with Nagisa Furukawa, her belly already noticeably large, standing by the door to see her husband, Takasaki, off to work.
"Her stomach is already that big..."
Yua's gaze fixed on the screen.
"So that means Nagisa is probably going to give birth in this episode or the next one."
The timeline was advancing far too quickly.
The closer the due date came, the more tense Takasaki, Nagisa's parents, and everyone around them became. Because of Nagisa's own wishes, the family had agreed to call a doctor to the house when the time came for her to give birth.
Everyone was worried about the risk of a sick, bedridden woman going through childbirth in that condition.
Yua was worried too.
Logically speaking, she did not believe Sora would stand against so many fans and write Nagisa's death. Even so, the tension that should have been there was unavoidable, tightening around her throat.
Even Takasaki began to show a faint sense of regret.
For Nagisa, had meeting him truly been a good thing?
If she had never become involved with him, at least she would not have had to give birth while her body was in such fragile condition.
But Nagisa had become pregnant first. Her illness had worsened only afterward. By the time her family truly realized the scale of the danger, it was already too late.
In the first two minutes of the sixteenth episode, the conversation between Takasaki and his mother-in-law was heavy, almost suffocating. After that, however, both the storyboards and the color palette shifted into warmer tones. Nagisa was even able to get out of bed with a smile and talk to her parents.
Seeing that, Yua relaxed a little.
The following scenes showed Nagisa being visited by a group of friends from her and Takasaki's high school days.
Then winter arrived.
Snow began falling endlessly. And in that white, silent world, Nagisa went into labor.
Was this serious?
Yua's eyes widened.
Was the anime really going this hard?
They were actually depicting the childbirth scene directly.
Her heart began to pound.
Even though she knew she was only watching an anime, Yua still became completely tense. Takasaki held Nagisa's hand tightly, praying deep in his heart that nothing would happen to his wife.
Then, suddenly, a clear infant's cry tore through the silence of the anime.
In that instant, Yua's eyes filled with tears.
A soft, beautiful piece of background music began to play.
Nagisa lay on the bed, exhausted. Takasaki held their newborn daughter in his arms and urgently called his wife's name.
Nagisa.
Nagisa.
Yua's heart clenched.
Wake up.
Please, wake up.
Thankfully, after only a few calls, Nagisa opened her eyes.
At that moment, in front of televisions all across Japan, countless AD fans let out cries of relief.
As expected, Kantoku Sora had only been trying to fool everyone.
She was fine, wasn't she?
In the end, illness or childbirth risks were nothing more than the Kantoku's decision. Inside that anime, he was the god who controlled everyone's fate. If he wanted Nagisa to live, then nothing would happen to her.
The instrumental version of Dango Daikazoku slowly began to play.
"It's a girl. A healthy girl," Takasaki told his wife, his voice choked with emotion.
"Yes... I'm so glad I was able to give birth to her... I just feel sorry for making little Ushio suffer so much," Nagisa replied weakly, smiling.
"You were amazing. Truly."
Tears glistened in Takasaki's eyes.
"But... I'm a little tired. Let me rest for a while."
The moment Nagisa said those words, the hearts of millions of anime fans across Japan dropped all at once.
Yua's eyes widened.
Rest for a while?
What did that mean?
Why?
Why would Kantoku Sora use such an ambiguous line at a moment like this?
Wasn't that practically raising a death flag?
Only characters who were about to die said things like that at a time like this.
"It's a coincidence, right, Kantoku Sora?"
Yua forced a smile.
The image of Sora, that harmless-looking young man, surfaced in her mind. She tried to suppress the unease growing in her chest.
"Let me rest for a while," Nagisa asked her husband.
It was over.
Yua's heart sank completely.
In the anime's narration, there was the doctor's urgent voice giving instructions, mixed with the cries and shouts of Nagisa's parents. But in the scene that followed, it felt as if the entire world had disappeared, leaving only Takasaki holding his daughter and Nagisa lying on the bed, gazing at the two of them with tenderness.
The snow had blocked the roads.
They could not get to the hospital.
That was the cruelest part of the blizzard.
And Takasaki, tears in his eyes, used the gentlest voice he could to try to keep his wife there.
"Wait just a little longer, Nagisa. Just a little longer. Don't fall asleep. Let's talk a little more, okay? You only need to listen to me."
In that instant, Yua broke down in tears.
"Look... this is our child. Her face is so tiny. She looks like a little monkey. She's really so small. I'll call her name again, okay? Ushio... Ushio, this is your mom. See? Ushio isn't even paying attention to me. She'll definitely grow up fast. You and I will be there with her. The three of us, together, as a family..."
The music of Dango Daikazoku reached its peak.
And then Nagisa's arm fell limply.
The vivid animated scene, the gentle music that sounded like a happy memory, the baby's cries, and the husband's sobs all intertwined into a single unbearable pain.
And at the center of it all was the wife who seemed merely to have fallen asleep.
At that moment, every Japanese fan watching the scene felt their heart turn cold.
Then just stab me already.
What kind of plot was this?
Kantoku Sora, have you completely lost your mind?