The interview form only had three questions on it, which made sense; it wasn't a dedicated sit-down interview, just the standard one-page reader Q&A column where two or three questions were posed to the featured mangaka.
Still, even getting featured at all was a mark of popularity. The reason Aoyama made the cut this time was simple: Edgerunners had just ranked first among all four debut-competition entries for the first time.
Akane read the first question.
"Aoyama-sensei, what exactly does 'cyberpunk' mean?"
She already knew the answer to that one. He'd explained it to her some time ago.
But other readers wouldn't.
"Cyberpunk" was a word that had never appeared in this world before, not a native term, but a direct phonetic transcription from English. Everyone could parse 2077 (a story set in the year 2077), and the word Edgerunners was plain enough. But cyberpunk? That one left most readers scratching their heads, especially since it was right there in the title.
She moved to the second question.
"Aoyama-sensei, what was your creative philosophy behind Edgerunners?"
She glanced up at Aoyama as she read it aloud, as if directing the question at him directly. Beside her, Ayumi's eyes lit with genuine curiosity and she looked over too.
Edgerunners had a clear sci-fi flavor, but anyone reading closely could feel there was something more to it, a deep vein of humanist concern running through the story. The work touched on how accelerated technology might reshape society, on the yawning gap between the privileged and the destitute under late capitalism, on what mechanization does to the human body and human identity. Not all of it was explicit, but it was there.
That undercurrent gave Ayumi a quiet, uneasy feeling. Edgerunners had the emotional texture of a tragedy waiting to happen.
Especially after the sudden death of the protagonist David's mother, Gloria, in the early chapters, that particular scene had stayed with her.
But then she remembered what Aoyama had told her before: the story was about David getting a powerful implant, joining a crew, finding his footing, meeting the girl, and rising to the top. That had settled her nerves somewhat. He didn't strike her as the kind of writer who'd wallow in misery. Surely he wouldn't turn Edgerunners into a tragedy.
"Hm?" Aoyama looked up from the stove, a little caught off guard by the question.
He didn't have some grand creative manifesto. He'd picked this story to copy because he thought it'd sell. But he could at least explain why he'd chosen it.
"Mostly it came from looking at what's out there," he said, wiping his hands on a towel. "Most sci-fi is obsessed with showcasing how impressive future technology is and how exploring the stars is all upside. But nobody seems to stop and ask: what happens to the ordinary person at the bottom when technology races ahead like that?"
He set the ladle down and leaned against the counter. "So the cyberpunk world I'm drawing is one possible answer: the worst-case scenario. Technology, wealth, and knowledge have all been monopolized by the elite and the megacorporations. They launched the Third and Fourth World Wars, carved up the planet between themselves, and left the rest of us with nothing."
"The poor and the individual become fully disposable, just raw material to be burned through. And the same surge of technology and material abundance that made it happen hollows out the spiritual and the human. There's no room left for anything that isn't useful to the system."
"Cyber psychosis isn't just about augmentation overload breaking down the nervous system," he continued. "At its core, it's the pressure of the environment, a society that grinds people down until their inner world cracks, and the augmentation just tips it over the edge."
He trailed off, realizing he'd been talking for a while.
When he looked up, Ayumi was staring at him with wide eyes, equal parts surprise and something that looked like admiration. Akane's gaze was sharp and intent, a quiet fire behind it.
"Aoyama," Akane said, with complete conviction, "this work is going to leave a mark on manga history."
"Sensei's story..." Ayumi was shaking her head slowly, looking almost overwhelmed. "I had no idea it ran this deep. It reads almost like philosophy."
"Ha..." Aoyama laughed, scratching the back of his neck. "I mean, it's... not that deep."
"Anyway, let's finish eating before I fill in the form." He grabbed the lime and mint leaves and retreated to the kitchen. "I made Thai curry crab tonight, and cold clam salad, and satay beef. Trust me, you're going to want to try it before it gets cold!"
He called back over his shoulder, "Sit and chat for a bit! There's cola in the fridge!"
"Sure," the two of them said in unison, settling back.
Aoyama disappeared into the kitchen, but both Akane and Ayumi drifted to the doorway within a few minutes, drawn in by the smell and by simple curiosity. The man knew what he was doing; that much was obvious. The seafood, the crab, the clams, he handled with the ease of someone who'd done it ten thousand times.
This wasn't system-granted ability. It was just years of cooking for himself in a previous life. Not a professional chef, but a genuine food enthusiast, and eight or nine years of practice didn't lie.
Partway through, he pulled Colonel's Nuggets from the freezer, fried them up, and served them with satay dipping sauce as a starter to keep his guests from going hungry while the main dishes finished.
An hour and a half later, everything came out.
Both Akane and Ayumi took one bite and went very still.
"Oh, this is incredible!" Ayumi gasped, slipping into the exaggerated foodie register that was second nature to her. Back home, that kind of dramatic praise was practically table manners; even mediocre food got treated like a royal banquet. But Aoyama could tell this time the enthusiasm was completely real.
"Your cooking is genuinely good, Aoyama," Akane said with a quiet, warm smile.
"Of course it is!"
He gave a satisfied thump on his chest.
They spent the rest of the evening like that, three people and a dog, a perfectly ordinary weekend.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]