On Friday, the fourth episode of Steins;Gate aired.
As usual, the story still felt loose, almost scattered, moving forward at an unhurried pace.
The purpose of the old computer was finally beginning to take shape. It would be used to crack the code of SERN's website, the organization that, according to the rumors left behind by "John," the self-proclaimed time traveler, would supposedly rule the world twenty years later. If they managed to break into that system, they might be able to obtain confidential information hidden in the present era.
After that, the episode drifted into the daily interactions between Rintaro Okabe and the rest of the cast. There was Feyris, the wealthy young heiress; Luka, the delicate boy who dressed like a girl and harbored feelings for Okabe; Moeka, the melancholic older woman; Suzuha, the new part-time worker hired by the landlord downstairs; and Kurisu Makise, the red-haired scientist whom the protagonist stubbornly insisted on calling "Christina."
Through these conversations, the episode revealed that the old IBN 5100 computer had once appeared during Feyris's childhood and had, for a time, been in the possession of her wealthy father.
Later, however, the machine had been sent to a certain temple.
In practical terms, the entire fourth episode revolved around those interactions with the cast, all for the sake of reaching that one piece of information.
It was still the same old weakness common to GAGA's visual novel adaptations.
Because there were too many characters, and because each of them held a fragment necessary to reach the complete ending of the story, every character had to appear and interact in nearly every episode. The result, naturally, was an uneven viewing experience. To the audience, the plot felt fragmented, as though every scene belonged to a different route and had been stitched together in a hurry.
In truth, playing the Steins;Gate visual novel directly would probably offer a much better experience than watching the anime.
Unfortunately, Sora had no interest in GAGA's game industry.
Still, the final scene of the episode left behind an important clue. Okabe found the temple and, from the people there, learned a crucial piece of information.
The person who had left the computer in their care had said that, one day, a young man would come to claim it.
And then, ten years later, Okabe really did appear.
He received the old IBN 5100 for free, as though everything had been prepared for him from the very beginning.
No matter which way one looked at it, the arrangement smelled like a conspiracy.
Okabe needed that computer to uncover the secrets hidden in SERN's website in the present era, but ten years earlier, someone had already prepared it for him, leaving it stored at a nearby temple where he could obtain it with relative ease.
When that was connected to the anime's setting, with its timelines and time machines, the implication became even stronger.
After the episode aired, it sparked quite a bit of debate among the fans.
However, Steins;Gate's ratings had already fallen below the five-percent range. In practice, the series was almost completely out of the race for the title of the season's dominant anime. Because of that, within the broader anime community, its plot developments and foreshadowing did not become especially hot topics.
The next day, the ratings for Steins;Gate episode four came out.
4.86%.
Basically, it remained around the same level as episode three. That meant that, barring anything unexpected, the anime would likely stay within that range until the story ended, sustained only by Sora's popularity and accumulated fanbase.
Even so, that number was still lower than the third episode of Liar Game, which had aired the previous week.
If Liar Game managed to maintain last week's ratings this week, or even rise a little further, then Steins;Gate would become Sora's worst-performing work of the season.
And when the investment behind each project was taken into account, the situation became even more delicate.
Steins;Gate had received 98 million yen in investment. AD had received 95 million. Liar Game, on the other hand, had required no direct investment from Sora at all. He had only provided the script, while still securing a ten-percent share of the television drama's revenue.
Judging by its current performance, Steins;Gate had a very real chance of becoming the first project to fail to turn a profit - or even lose money - since Sora took over Yume Animation.
No matter how much he promoted the anime in front of the media, claiming that the story would undergo a powerful reversal in the later stages and that it was an even stronger work than Re:Zero, the market as a whole still did not trust Steins;Gate.
By comparison, the fourth episode of AD, which aired on Saturday, entered the more interesting part of Fuuko's arc and saw a small increase in ratings, reaching 5.25%.
Even so, compared with the fourth episode of The Magus of Time, the number-one anime of the season, which had scored 5.43%, the gap was already becoming difficult to ignore.
Then Sunday arrived.
By that point, Sora's fans had collectively entered a state of excitement and anticipation.
For many of them, Steins;Gate was like bland food: not enjoyable enough to savor, but too much of a waste to throw away.
AD, based on its current performance, was worth following, but that was all.
The work that truly drew the expectations of Sora's anime fans was Liar Game.
After a week of fermentation in online discussions, the drama had already built a considerable reputation among television viewers. The fact that it could achieve such results on a platform with weak drama programming like Kōchi Alliance TV, combined with its high premiere score, had attracted the attention of many viewers who usually watched the four major national networks.
During that week, Akiho finally managed to watch the first three episodes of Liar Game by catching Kōchi Alliance TV's reruns at different times.
The question that had troubled her for two whole days was the same one setting the forums on fire: what exactly was the worst-case scenario that Shinichi, the male lead, had mentioned? Was it really, as the fans claimed, the existence of two separate eight-person groups?
As the broadcast time approached, the drama fans within Yume Animation's community became active.
More and more viewers were convinced that the two-team theory from the previous week would be the core of the fourth episode.
After reading through the comments one last time, Akiho turned off her phone.
On television, an advertisement was currently airing for the release of Re:Zero merchandise. After that came commercials for Steins;Gate and AD, along with previews announcing the release dates for the first Blu-ray volumes of both anime.
The next advertisement promoted the high-definition disc release and merchandise for Five Centimeters per Second.
"As expected of someone who owns shares in Kōchi Alliance TV… Being able to run ads like this really is something."
Akiho murmured to herself with a complicated expression.
Of course, the advertising fees would definitely be paid according to the station's standard rates. Even so, securing so many consecutive advertising slots during prime time required more than money. It required connections.
Once the long string of advertisements for Sora's works finally ended, Liar Game's opening theme began to play.
On the screen, Shiori, the female lead, and Shinichi, the male lead, appeared in elegant outfits dominated by black and crimson. The opening, filled with costume changes, sensuality, and tension, carried an almost vulgar allure as the two stared at one another, each gaze seeming to conceal a trap.
Honestly, the opening had flavor.
The story continued directly from the third episode.
In the Minority Game, the ten people in the first round had won.
Without delay, the plot moved into the second round of voting.
To ensure that no one within the group betrayed the others, everyone had to sign an agreement. That agreement was recognized and protected by the organizers of the game, meaning it could not be violated.
Because of that, even the eliminated participants were not worried that the final winner would go back on their word.
There was, however, one exception.
From the very beginning of the Minority Game, it had been stated that Madam X, the person who possessed a sort of immunity token and had deceived someone else out of a ten-million-yen check before entering the game, still had not had her true identity revealed.
"So this X really might be the founder of the other team people online keep speculating about…"
Watching a drama while actually using her brain was exhausting. Akiho thought for several minutes, but the more she considered it, the more confused she became.
In the drama, before the second vote, Shinichi thought for a long time and decided to exchange voting results with Shiori.
The question for that round was whether to choose S or M.
Because they exchanged their results, Shinichi remained in the minority and advanced to the third round.
Shiori, on the other hand, ended up in the majority.
And was eliminated.
"Why did he exchange the voting result?"
Akiho immediately sensed that something was wrong.
That meant Shinichi knew that, if he did not exchange results with Shiori, he would become part of the majority and be eliminated.
But how did he know?
The eight-person group guaranteed that, in the end, at least one of its members would win.
But before the voting results were revealed, no one could know who that person would be.
How did Shinichi know?
Even if there was a second organized group, he still had no way of knowing how the others would vote, nor which side would become the minority in the second round.
And yet, by coincidence, the result of the second vote really had been four to six.
At this point, even the slowest viewer could tell.
In this Minority Game, aside from Shinichi, there was another force manipulating the voting process.
In Shinichi's group, only he and a mushroom-haired man remained.
Among the other two winners of the second round, one was a mature woman dressed in white, and the other was a man wearing leopard-print clothing.
"So the woman in white is X, the person who deceived another participant into entering the game."
At that moment, Akiho felt as if a piece had finally clicked into place.
They had finally found that dangerous woman - the one holding a ten-million-yen check, the one unafraid of being eliminated.
But would the plot really end so simply?
If the internet's theory was correct and there were two teams of eight people, then the woman in white and the leopard-print man were definitely teammates.
Shinichi and the mushroom-haired man would belong to the other team.
With only four people remaining in the Minority Game, each person would avoid voting the same way as their own ally. Otherwise, their team would lose the chance to win. But if everyone thought that way, then it would not matter whether they held ten thousand votes or a hundred million.
The result would always be two to two.
If the third vote ended in a two-to-two tie, it would prove that the internet's deduction was correct.
So would the man known as the most famous genius in Japan's television drama industry over the past two years really allow the audience to predict his narrative design so easily?
The third round of voting began.
At that moment, countless drama fans across Japan stared at their television screens without blinking.
"Wait… That's not right. The leopard-print man and the woman in white voted on the same side."
Seeing that, Akiho's mind sharpened at once.
Because if there really was another eight-person group and those two were teammates, they would never vote for the same option. Each of them would have placed their vote on a different side.
But since they had voted together, that meant the two of them…
Were not allies.
This was the reversal Akiho had been waiting for.
At that moment, some viewers who liked watching dramas while browsing forums had already started typing on their phones.
"No way, right? If those two aren't teammates, then how did the first round end ten to twelve and the second round four to six? Can there really be such a coincidence? They just happened to hit a one-in-fifty-five probability?"
"I'm starting to smell bad writing. Kantoku Kamakawa, please don't make us think we're on the second layer while you're actually on the first. If the plot turns out to be that simple, all the atmosphere built up in the early episodes will collapse."
"Then who exactly is X? This person deceived someone, got a ten-million-yen check, entered the game, and still hasn't made any move. What was the point of setting up this character from the beginning?"
While a group of viewers complained about the plot online, the drama airing on television delivered yet another reversal.
The change came suddenly.
When the announcer revealed the mushroom-haired man's vote, the score became one to two.
If Shinichi voted according to the original agreement between the two of them, the final result would become one to three. The mushroom-haired man would win and take the 2.2-billion-yen prize.
It was precisely because the fans realized that, without a second eight-person group, the story would end there without any twists or waves that they could not help but start complaining online.
But then the number three member of Shinichi's group, the mushroom-haired man, began to act.
First, he arrogantly declared that he had already won.
Then, with an expression full of smug satisfaction, he openly revealed the truth.
He was Madam X.
The person who, before the game began, had deceived another participant, taken a ten-million-yen check from them, and used it to enter the game.
Akiho froze completely.
Madam?
But the story immediately revealed the explanation.
The reason the victim had believed X was a woman was simple: when he carried out the deception, he had worn a mask. On top of that, he had trained his voice and could naturally produce a feminine falsetto, misleading the victim completely.
And the most important point was something else.
He had not only deceived someone to obtain a ten-million-yen check.
Even his right to participate in the game had been obtained through fraud.
Of course, the contract he had signed with Shinichi's eight-person group had also been registered under a false name.
Now, all that remained was for Shinichi's vote to be revealed. With a score of one to three, he would win the game alone, take the 2.2 billion yen for himself, and not have to share the prize with anyone.
Akiho held her breath.
What kind of plot was this?
X was not someone who had yet to appear.
From the very beginning, X had been the traitor within the team.
Because the victim had said that X was a woman, Shinichi had formed an eight-person group consisting only of men, aside from Shiori, believing that this would make them safe.
Who could have imagined that the mushroom-haired man had disguised himself as a woman from the start to deceive someone, take the ten-million-yen check, steal a slot in the Minority Game, and, on top of that, use a fake name to deceive Shinichi's entire team?
"He lied to everyone from beginning to end… Disgusting. No one in this series says a single honest word."
Akiho felt a chill in her chest as she watched.
If she had been the one participating in that game, she would probably have been deceived over and over until nothing remained.
Wasn't this plot far more desperate and thrilling than the so-called two-team development that drama fans online had deduced by themselves?
It was a dead end.
But why?
How could the mushroom-haired man be one hundred percent certain that he would reach the final third round?
That question rose again in Akiho's mind.
He had signed the contracts under false names. If he had failed to reach the final stage, everything would have been for nothing. Not only would he have lost the chance to take the 2.2 billion yen, he also would not have received any share of the prize promised in the contracts.
But reaching the final depended on luck.
An eight-person alliance could guarantee that someone from the group would become the final winner, but it could not guarantee who that person would be.
So had he really made it this far relying purely on luck?
No.
It was not luck.
On the screen, the arrogant mushroom-haired man looked straight into the camera and gave all the viewers in front of their televisions a smile so infuriating that it made them want to punch him.
He had made so many preparations to obtain the 2.2 billion yen.
If, in the end, he still had to rely on luck to reach the third round of the Minority Game, wouldn't that be nothing more than a joke?
___________________________________________________________________________________
Additionally, more chapters exclusive content are available on Patreon: https://patreon.com/ImmortalEmperor?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
- CHRONICLES OF THE ICE SOVEREIGN
-PLAYING ANIME LEGENDS
-THE OTHER WORLD'S ANIMATOR
Join now and help shape the future of the story while enjoying special rewards!