Weeks passed one after another, and Code Geass aired episode after episode along with them.
As the story unfolded, the show gradually transformed from a pure power fantasy into one laced with heartbreak, and the heartbreak only kept getting worse.
Take episode seventeen, for example. The protagonist Lelouch had originally planned to entrust his sister Nunnally to his best friend Suzaku, asking Suzaku to look after her. But during a rescue operation, he discovered that the mech called "Lancelot" that had been opposing him all along was piloted by none other than Suzaku himself.
The revelation hit Lelouch like a truck.
Then there was episode nineteen, where the protagonist Zero's identity was discovered by Third Princess Euphemia. However, Euphemia chose not to tell anyone.
In episode twenty-one, Euphemia even went so far as to publicly announce the establishment of a Special Administrative Zone and invited Lelouch, as Zero, along with the Black Knights to join, hoping to save both Lelouch and Nunnally.
She had no idea that her decision would put Lelouch in an impossible position.
In episode twenty-two, at the ceremony for the Special Administrative Zone's founding, Lelouch appeared as Zero and requested a private conversation with Euphemia.
Because she knew that Zero was really Lelouch, Euphemia agreed.
To defuse the crisis the Special Administrative Zone posed to the Black Knights, Lelouch made a decision. He would have Euphemia publicly shoot him. But Euphemia brought up Nunnally to try and talk him down.
Lelouch was successfully persuaded. But right at that moment, his Geass suddenly spiraled out of control, and he accidentally issued Euphemia the command to "kill all the Japanese."
Euphemia, who had always been kind and compassionate, began a mass slaughter of the Japanese people under the influence of that command.
Lelouch was stunned.
Left with no other choice, he had to issue an order to the Black Knights through his tears: find Euphemia and kill her.
In the end, he even shot Euphemia with his own hand.
Though he was consumed with guilt, Lelouch still resolved to use the Euphemia incident to rally support for himself and the Black Knights, and he launched an assault on Tokyo.
However, during the decisive battle in Tokyo, Nunnally was captured.
Lelouch had no choice but to drop everything and go rescue his sister. But before he could find her, Suzaku and Kallen arrived.
Suzaku fired a shot at Zero, and Lelouch's helmet fell away, exposing his true identity.
Kallen was devastated. Suzaku, on the other hand, did not seem all that surprised.
In the very final scene, Lelouch and Suzaku both had their guns pointed at each other.
A gunshot rang out, and an image of Nunnally flashed across the screen.
The ED rolled in, and episode twenty-five came to an end, marking the conclusion of season one.
...
Inside the president's office at Starfall.
Yuta sipped his coffee while scrolling through the online reactions to Code Geass.
A lot of people said they had been emotionally wrecked. Even more were desperate to know what the ending meant. Was it Lelouch who got hit, or Suzaku? What happened to Nunnally? Was she in danger?
Of course, there were other voices too, such as:
"The show just kept getting more painful, and somehow I still watched the whole thing."
"He lured us in first and then crushed us. That bastard Shido is the worst."
"Seriously though, we've all been through the wringer. Has nobody sent razor blades to Shido yet?"
"I've already sent several boxes, but they don't seem to be doing any good."
"We should really just grab him. That's the only way he'll learn."
"Speaking of which, when Euphemia died, me and a few friends actually staked out the Starfall building. We camped out there for days and never saw that bastard."
"That bastard is something else. He's a master at making people suffer and just as skilled at hiding. Who knows where he's holed up."
"Back when Clannad started getting brutal, the entire internet put out a wanted notice and still couldn't find him. I bet it's not going to be any easier this time."
...
Staking out the Starfall building to find me?
Yuta shook his head slightly.
He had been living at the office since January 3rd. While he did occasionally have to go out, he was always extremely careful about it. There was no way anyone was going to find him that easily.
Not this time, and not ever.
Knock knock.
Someone rapped on the door.
The door was open.
Yuta looked up and saw that Aoi had arrived.
"Aoi, perfect timing. I've already finished the proposal for Code Geass season two," Yuta said, standing up and handing her the document he had already printed out.
"That fast?"
Aoi was genuinely surprised, but she quickly took the proposal and began flipping through it in silence.
It was technically a proposal, but in practice it was more of a rough draft. Just like the draft proposal for Clannad season two, the Code Geass season two proposal was extremely bare-bones, with a lot of details left vague.
However, the one thing Aoi cared about most was clearly spelled out: whether or not the protagonist ultimately succeeded in his revenge.
He did succeed, but the truth turned out to be far less simple than he had imagined.
After reading through the entire draft, Aoi let out a sigh. "Shido, this is the kind of proposal I'd only greenlight because it came from you. If someone else handed me something like this, I wouldn't necessarily invest."
"Aoi, this isn't the first time you've said that," Yuta quipped.
"Is that so?" Aoi blinked.
Yuta nodded, then continued, "Even if it were someone else, I think you'd still invest. After all, Code Geass season one averaged over fifty thousand in sales."
Only the first four DVD volumes had been released so far, and the average sales had indeed crossed the fifty-thousand mark.
To be more precise, the number was 50,669, which was over five thousand more than the initial sales figures for the original Code Geass in the other world.
There were still five more volumes to come, and whether the average would go up or down remained to be seen. But staying in the ballpark of fifty thousand should not be a problem.
Under those circumstances, anyone would invest in a season two proposal. The idea that a different writer's proposal would get rejected was nonsense.
Aoi had only said it out of habit, really.
She set the proposal down and said, "Send me a digital copy of this. I'll take it back and clean it up, fill in the missing information, and then present it at the production committee meeting for everyone to review. It shouldn't be an issue, though, so you can go ahead and start production on your end."
"Great. Thank you, Aoi," Yuta said, immediately copying the file onto a USB drive for her.
After Aoi left, Yuta logged into the official Starfall account on social media and posted an announcement about the decision to produce Code Geass season two.
Of course, this was just a preliminary announcement to let everyone know the story was not over yet and that there was still plenty of suffering to come... plenty of exciting story to come.
No matter what, there was no way season two could air in April.
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