Kana flipped to the second page of the manga.
Here, a flashback sequence was inserted.
Tonight, the original work had always troubled Rei most because of the male protagonist's abrupt character shift midway through the story.
Although the work had hinted at a tragic ending from the very beginning—evident in its title.
Even in his previous life, when he first read it, Rei had found the mid-story twist too sudden, lacking nuance.
So, in the Japanese version of the manga, he had repeatedly emphasized from the start that the male protagonist, Kamiya Toru, had lost his mother to congenital heart disease.
A condition often hereditary.
This point was explicitly clarified in the flashback sequence spanning the next three pages.
In reality, for anime readers from Rei's previous life, even mentioning a family history of congenital heart disease within three generations would immediately make them suspect the protagonist or a major character.
However, tragic romance anime were relatively rare in Japan, and audiences weren't particularly attuned to such critical details. So when Kana saw this explanation, she was completely stunned.
Rei felt that the best part of Tonight was that, despite the original author's intention to portray the male lead's fate from the beginning, there were none of those drawn-out flashbacks of his life before death, nor any melodramatic scenes of the male and female leads weeping over each other's impending separation.
Essentially, everyone was tired of those tropes. The author's primary focus was on the female lead, Hino Maori.
The first three pages of the manga showed the male lead's memories, revealing that he had inherited his mother's congenital heart disease.
On the fourth page, Hino Maori's friend Izumi received a call from Kamiya Toru's sister, the literary author known as Nishikawa.
"My brother had a hereditary heart condition. Last night, his heart rhythm became irregular, and he collapsed in the bathroom. Despite all efforts to revive him, he died."
The sudden twist left Kana's mind reeling.
What kind of plot is this?
"Kamiya Toru is dead?"
"No, no, this can't be happening! He's the male lead!"
"Shirogane Sensei, what are you doing? People have been criticizing you as a rookie mangaka, saying you can't handle a long-running series and that the plot will collapse by chapter 20. I've been defending you online all this time! Don't do this! It's only chapter 8!"
Kana's heart began to race. She took a deep breath and flipped to the next page of the manga.
In truth, Hino Maori had always been the protagonist of this manga.
The entire story revolved around her growth as someone who lost her memories every day.
Kamiya Toru was dead. What would Hino Maori do now?
She had finally found someone to rely on in life. Now, what was she supposed to do?
Suddenly, Kana remembered why Izumi had hidden Hino Maori's diary in the first chapter.
Why she had erased Kamiya Toru from Hino Maori's life.
Because as Hino Maori's closest friend, she couldn't bear to see her wake up every morning, read her diary, and discover that she had once deeply loved a man—a man who had vanished from her life.
The most tragic part was that the future Hino Maori wouldn't even be able to recall the dead man's face.
The afternoon they first pretended to confess to each other.
The time they fell asleep on the grass during their first date.
The moment they watched fireworks together in chapter seven, and the kiss Kamiya Toru and Hino Maori shared as the fireworks exploded.
If only Hino Maori had forgotten these memories, at least one person in the world would still remember them.
Now Kamiya Toru was dead too.
A wave of grief washed over Kana from the depths of her heart.
Her fingers turned to the next page of the manga.
It showed Hino Maori, completely unaware of what had happened, arriving at Kamiya Toru's funeral with Izumi by her side.
At the funeral, a smiling photograph of Kamiya Toru hung high above the altar.
As Hino Maori's memory reset every day, she didn't recognize Kamiya Toru at all. She had only come out of curiosity sparked by her diary entries.
But the moment she reached the entrance of the funeral hall, her expression changed.
Gazing at the unfamiliar man's photograph hanging above the altar, tears streamed uncontrollably down her face, and she stumbled backward, her sobs rising uncontrollably.
"This is... this is so strange. I... I don't remember him at all. But this is too strange." Hino Maori knelt on the ground, clutching her shoulders as she burst into tears.
Kana, already on the verge of collapse, lost all control of her emotions.
The answer surfaced in her mind:
For Hino Maori, her body had recognized Kamiya Toru before her memory could.
Even if your brain forgets...
Even if your mind forgets how to ride a bicycle, your body remembers.
Even if your brain forgets Kamiya Toru, your body will remember that you once loved him.
Hino Maori's breakdown was uncontrollable. Izumi helped her out of the funeral, but even back home, she couldn't regain her composure. Every morning, when she woke up and saw the diary filled with memories of Kamiya Toru, she would collapse into tears again, even though she couldn't fully remember him.
In this desperate situation, Izumi sought help from Kamiya Toru's older sister, a novelist.
Here, the narrative flashes back to the past once more.
It turns out that Kamiya Toru had known about his unpredictable illness while he was still alive. During his time with Hino Maori, he had repeatedly pondered what she would do if he died suddenly, like his mother had.
Previously, two chapters of the manga had depicted his father's emotional collapse after his mother's sudden death. Overwhelmed by grief, he had neglected young Kamiya Toru and his sister, lost interest in work, and retreated into writing literary works at home—though he lacked the courage to submit them for publication. It wasn't until chapters five and six that the family's emotional wounds finally began to heal.
Given this past trauma, it was only natural for Kamiya Toru to have such concerns.
Therefore, Kamiya Toru had left behind his final words while he was still alive. His answer was:
If I don't appear in her diary, then to her, I never existed. If that time ever comes, please erase me from Hino Maori's life!
End of Episode 8.
Seeing those cold, four words, Kana felt a numbness creep into her heart.
Kamiya Toru, you thought of everything, you considered every possibility, so why couldn't you overcome your heart disease?!
It was only then that Kana snapped out of her immersion in the story.
She was now certain that this plot twist wasn't just a whim of the author, Shirogane.
The first episode had already hinted at Kamiya Toru's death.
But most readers would never have made that connection.
A male lead dying in a romance manga? What a niche trope! Who would have seen that coming?
But the truth was...
Shirogane, as the author, you were essentially the creator god of this story.
Whether Kamiya Toru lived or died depended entirely on your whim, didn't it?
I admit, you portrayed Kamiya Toru as deeply moving in this arc.
But Shirogane...
You are undoubtedly the architect of this story's tragedy.
Fueled by anger, Kana grabbed her phone and navigated to the official website of Ametsukage Weekly.
The moment she clicked through, Kana froze in shock.
The entire website was flooded with posts denouncing the mangaka Shirogane.
The sheer volume was overwhelming, and the vitriol far harsher and more relentless than Kana had initially imagined.