On January 4th, the staff of L.S Production returned to the office after their holiday break and resumed work.
Production of the Death Note anime continued.
Lin Zhiyan remained busy with his duties as Animation Director, Animation Supervisor, and Chief Animation Director, while also turning his attention to another matter: investing in the doujin circle Type-Moon.
Previously, he had said that he would decide whether to invest after playing the game thoroughly. In reality, Lin Zhiyan had already played Tsukihime long ago.
He was fully aware of Type-Moon's potential as a doujin circle and had no intention of not investing.
If someone else had proposed investing in Type-Moon, Takeuchi Takashi and Nasu Kinoko might not have been willing. After all, Tsukihime had already become a hit at Comic Market, and with its established popularity, securing the funds for commercialization through normal channels would have been relatively easy.
Accepting Lin Zhiyan's investment was irresistible for several reasons. Not only would they gain access to his resources, but he was offering an exorbitant sum in exchange for a surprisingly small stake in the company. Moreover, he explicitly stated that unless extraordinary circumstances arose, he would not interfere with their company's development.
Under such conditions, refusal was simply not an option.
With Lin Zhiyan's funding, Type-Moon could undoubtedly accelerate its commercialization efforts. This might even allow them to produce the ultimate bishōjo game, Fate/stay night, sooner than expected.
It's also worth noting that Makoto Shinkai, at Lin Zhiyan's urging, had resigned from game company Falcom several months prior. As a result, his animations would likely be released earlier than in the original timeline.
However, Shinkai ultimately chose the path of an independent animator rather than joining Lin Zhiyan's company. One could only wonder if his time as a corporate drone at the game company had left him with some lingering psychological scars.
Regardless, the future had been altered to some degree.
As weeks passed, episodes of the Death Note anime aired one after another on television.
Inside the show, the intellectual battle between the male lead Yagami Light and L grew increasingly intense.
In the second episode, the two simply clashed briefly, ending with the Male Lead's defeat. The third episode gave the Male Lead an advantage: a father who was the Chief of Police. Meanwhile, L dispatched FBI agents to Neon to conduct surveillance on numerous suspects, including the Male Lead.
Yet, in just two episodes, the Male Lead used his cunning to completely uproot the FBI agents, deterring them from sending anyone else and forcing L to reveal himself and cooperate with the Neon police.
Following faint clues, L deduced that Kira might be someone from the Yagami family or Deputy Director Kitamura's household. He proposed installing surveillance cameras in both residences, but the Male Lead proved exceptionally cautious, leaving no trace of evidence. Ultimately, L had the cameras removed.
Despite finding no concrete proof, L remained suspicious of Yagami Light. When the Male Lead took the entrance exam for To-Oh University, L also took it, scoring a perfect score like the Male Lead. At the freshman orientation ceremony, L directly revealed his identity to the Male Lead, nearly causing him to panic.
Fortunately, the Male Lead was quite the actor and quickly composed himself, successfully navigating the situation.
After confirming he was facing the real L, the Male Lead tried to join the investigation headquarters to gather information detrimental to his plans and find an opportunity to eliminate L. However, L effortlessly shut down his arguments, leaving him speechless.
Soon, another Death Note user emerged: Misa Amane, the Female Lead.
Misa Amane was a popular idol and magazine model. A Shinigami had been watching her daily and developed feelings for her. When she found herself in danger, that Shinigami wrote the attacker's name in his Death Note, saving her life, and was reduced to dust in the process.
Rem, another Shinigami present at the scene, picked up the deceased Shinigami's Death Note, came to the human world, and gave it to Misa Amane.
Misa Amane's parents had been murdered by an attacker. After a long legal battle, she was unable to bring the culprit to justice. It was only when Kira's Death Note killed the attacker that Misa Amane came to idolize Kira.
She pretended to be Kira by threatening TV station personnel, but L saw through her act immediately.
To find and capture the Second Kira, L invited the Male Lead to join the investigation headquarters. He then instructed the Male Lead, who was already Kira, to impersonate Kira again and issue a statement claiming the previous TV declaration was fake.
Misa Amane, as the Second Kira, immediately confessed and demanded to meet Kira.
L dispatched the investigation team and secretly monitored the Male Lead, aiming to capture the Second Kira. The Male Lead, however, needed to find Misa before the team did. Unsure what she looked like, he brought a large group of people to the meeting place to blend in.
What he didn't anticipate was that she possessed the Shinigami Eyes. These eyes could see a person's name and lifespan, but not the lifespan of another Death Note holder. Thus, the Male Lead was easily identified.
Misa Amane didn't meet him at the location. Instead, she waited until nightfall and went directly to his home, revealed her identity, and declared her love for him.
When the Male Lead heard this, he felt confident. All he needed to do was arrange for Misa Amane to meet L, discover L's true name, and L would be dead without a doubt. However, he never anticipated that evidence of the Second Kira would be found at Misa's home. L even took the initiative to appear, meeting with the Male Lead and Misa. Before the Male Lead could learn L's real name from Misa, she was apprehended.
L had long suspected the Male Lead was Kira. Since Misa had only recently appeared by the Male Lead's side, and knowing that the Second Kira had already connected with Kira, proving Misa was the Second Kira would likely confirm the Male Lead's identity as Kira.
Unable to bear the torture, Misa developed a will to die. Rem wanted to help her escape, but she refused, fearing it would confirm her identity as the Second Kira and implicate the Male Lead. Reluctantly, Rem was forced to make her relinquish ownership of the Death Note.
Giving up ownership would erase her memories of the Death Note, but it would preserve her feelings for the Male Lead, Yagami Light. With this condition, Misa agreed.
Rem, carrying Misa Amane's Death Note, went to the Male Lead and asked him to find a way to save her.
After some consideration, the Male Lead devised a plan: he had Rem take the Death Note and leave, while he himself found a place to bury his own Death Note.
Having lost her memories of the Death Note, Misa Amane began acting strangely, baffling L and the others. However, this didn't mean they would let her go, nor did it dispel their suspicions about the Male Lead.
At this point, the Male Lead arrived at the investigation headquarters and publicly declared that he might indeed be Kira, having unconsciously killed many people. He asked L to imprison him to clear his name, a move that stunned everyone present.
L couldn't fathom the Male Lead's motives but ultimately agreed to the request.
After being imprisoned for a while, the Male Lead decided it was time and voluntarily renounced all ownership of his Death Note.
Having lost his memories related to it, he began acting as strangely as Misa had before, leaving L completely baffled as he didn't understand the underlying principles.
Then, half a month after the Male Lead's imprisonment, Kira "resurfaced" after two weeks of silence, and a large number of people died of heart attacks.
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