Monday.
Akifumi Mugiho shuffled out of his room, yawning loudly as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
He glanced at his reflection in the hallway mirror and frowned at the dark circles under his eyes.
"Creativity is slowly killing me…"
He sighed dramatically, stretching as he mumbled, "Alright. No more late nights starting today."
Of course, even someone as disciplined as Akifumi wasn't immune to the holiday blues.
The long break had dulled his rhythm, and naturally, his work pace had slowed with it.
But this morning was different.
What pulled him out of bed so early wasn't duty, nor a schedule.
It was an unfinished story idea, something left unresolved from the last writing competition.
The concept of "Unnatural" had been nagging at the back of his mind for days, refusing to fade, like a whisper he couldn't ignore.
So, despite it being 8 a.m. which for him was technically sleeping in he was up with a rare sense of purpose.
After finishing Mahiru's breakfast, his phone rang—almost as if it had been waiting for the exact moment.
Seeing the caller ID, a faint smile crept across Akifumi's lips.
He answered the call and spoke before the other side could.
"Now this is rare, Machida-san calling me this early in the morning?"
"You must be in a good mood today, Akifumi-sensei," came Machida's light-hearted voice through the receiver.
"Personally, I'd rather not bother you this early, but the company's breathing down my neck. I had no choice."
"The company?" Akifumi raised an eyebrow.
As someone who never missed deadlines and often handed in fully drawn chapters before the editor even had to remind him, he couldn't quite wrap his head around what she meant.
Machida sighed, the exhaustion clear in her voice. "Unnatural."
"...Huh?"
Akifumi blinked in confusion. "Machida-san, doesn't the company have nothing to do with TV productions?"
"Oh, but it does," she replied firmly. "Don't you know Toho's largest shareholder is the parent company?"
Toho?
"You mean that Toho!?"
"Yes, that Toho," Machida confirmed casually, though her tone left Akifumi a bit stunned.
Toho Co., Ltd.
If you're not in the industry, you might not pay much attention to studio names.
Most people focus on the actors, voice actors, or writers.
But Toho?
Put it this way—Doraemon, Crayon Shin-chan, Pokémon, Naruto. Ring any bells now?
While this world's version of Toho wasn't exactly the same as the one from Akifumi's past life and some titles didn't even exist here, it was still an industry titan with just as much influence.
Films, TV shows, anime, tokusatsu…
One of the top five entertainment giants in the business.
"If it's Toho, I guess it makes sense they'd be interested in Unnatural."
"Still…" Akifumi couldn't help but quip, "What's SHAFT doing in a conglomerate like that?"
Unfazed, Machida replied calmly, "SHAFT is fully owned by the parent group. Toho only holds a 36% stake."
Impressive.
That little "only" was doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Full marks for phrasing!
Akifumi decided to drop the sarcasm and asked thoughtfully, "So, Machida-san, what's your stance on all this?"
"My job was just to deliver the message. Mission accomplished."
He nodded in understanding, then grinned brightly.
"In that case, I won't hold back."
"Toho has deep pockets. There's no need to be shy, Akifumi-sensei."
"The quality of Unnatural Death speaks for itself, so I'll just lay out my conditions…"
He then went on to list out his demands in full.
"I'll pass your conditions along. As for the rest…"
Before she could finish, Akifumi cut in, "Thanks, Machida-san. If they find any of this too difficult to accept, I'd appreciate it if you could apologize on my behalf."
"After all, I've released quite a few successful works."
"I've got some spare cash lying around. Even though I don't have any resources myself, I could probably fund a small production of the series on my own."
To this, Machida replied simply but firmly:
"I understand."
Once the call ended, Akifumi tossed the matter to the back of his mind.
There was no way he was actually going to make a drama.
Not because he couldn't but because it was just too much trouble.
He'd only said that to gain a bit of leverage in negotiations.
Besides, he didn't think his demands were unreasonable.
Given the buzz around the series, the other side probably wouldn't reject them.
"Toho's got money to burn. Surely they won't make a fuss over a little creator like me."
With that final thought, Akifumi set the whole affair aside.
Whether it happened or not didn't really matter to him.
"Oh, right…"
"Let's check if there are any standout entries in the contest!"
Just thinking about it made his eyes sparkle with anticipation.
He was excited at the possibility that a new work might actually surpass Unnatural.
The idea of discovering something better than his own work thrilled him to the core.
Opening the contest website, he found the relevant link and clicked in.
Right away, he saw Unnatural comfortably sitting at number one with a huge lead.
Even though he'd expected it, the stark reality of that "1.1" ranking still made him sigh.
"No surprises at all, huh…"
"Well, let's just see the others. Maybe I'll stumble on a hidden gem?"
With that in mind, Akifumi opened the entry ranked second.
A short while later, he closed the browser tab.
"Well, it does have something going for it."
…Just not much.
Then he moved on to the third, fourth…
Before long, he had gone through the entire top ten.
And finally, he let out a heavy sigh.
"Not a single one worth my time."
Then, he fell into deep thought.
"So… if this is the best everyone's got, why am I even bothering to compete?"
Is this what they mean by dimensional dominance?