My Name is Hiroshi Nohara, Star of Neon Film and Television!

Chapter 122: Turn Japan Upside Down! The Birth of Fandom!

Osaka Prefecture, Sakai City, inside a typical Showa-era "culture house."

The patriarch of the Tanaka family, Tanaka Genichi—an old worker who had labored his entire life at the nearby steel mill—sat stiffly upright. His large hands, rough from year-round contact with steel, rested nervously on his knees, like a prisoner about to receive judgment.

Sitting opposite him was a young man wearing the yellow uniform of Kanto TV, a professional and friendly smile hanging on his face.

The young man's name was Watanabe Jun. He had been meticulously selected by Suzuki Kiyoto from within Kanto Station, exclusively responsible as the "Offline Audience Relationship Maintenance" Commissioner for the Kasou Taishou Audition Version.

Of course, this was just a nice-sounding euphemism.

Using Nohara Hiroshi's exact words from the internal training manual, their job was "Public Opinion Instigators" and "Fan Instructors."

"Tanaka-san, the performance of your esteemed son in the auditions left a deep impression on all of us." Watanabe Jun's voice was gentle yet carried an undeniable professionalism. He pushed an exquisitely printed promotional brochure over: "That 'Life of a Vending Machine' was truly too creative! The leadership at the station looks very favorably upon him, believing he has the strength to represent our entire Osaka and go to Tokyo to fight for the ultimate championship!"

"Really?!" Tanaka Genichi's eyes instantly lit up. An unbelievable, wild joy surfaced on his weather-beaten face.

"Of course." Watanabe Jun smiled, yet the topic of conversation subtly shifted in a delicate direction: "However... Tanaka-san, you also know that we Japanese place the most emphasis on 'support.' For a contestant, strength alone isn't enough;

he also needs momentum! Only with the elders of his hometown backing him up can he stand straighter and walk further on the stage."

He paused. Under the confused gaze of that old worker, like the most patiently guiding mentor, he began his true "teaching.""For example, the slogan. Just shouting 'Tanaka, do your best' is too thin. You must open up your scope." He picked up a pen and wrote a line of vigorous, powerful large characters on the paper—[Soul of Naniwa, Light of Sakai City! Tanaka Taro, Dominate Tokyo!]

"You see, doesn't this carry much more momentum?"

Tanaka Genichi stared blankly at that line of words, feeling an uncontrollable rush of hot blood surge from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head!

"Also, the establishment of the Cheering Squad. You cannot just rely on your neighbors. You must mobilize every force that can be mobilized."

Watanabe Jun's voice was like a grandmaster imparting a supreme secret art, full of demagogic magic: "Your labor union at the steel mill, your wife's women's federation at the shopping street, your son's alumni association, your daughter's schoolmate groups... these are all your most solid strongholds! Mobilize all of them! Tell them this isn't cheering for Tanaka Taro alone;

this is fighting for the honor of our entire Sakai City, our entire Osaka!"

"Honor...?" Tanaka Genichi muttered to himself. In his cloudy eyes ignited a raging inferno named "local pride."

"Correct, honor!" Watanabe Jun nodded heavily. From his briefcase, he pulled out another document. Strikingly displayed on it was the information for the representative of the Kyoto region auditions.

"You see, this is the representative chosen by Kyoto, a university student named 'Furukawa Masato.' Over on their side, they have already begun building momentum among the populace, saying things like, 'How can the heritage of a thousand-year-old ancient capital be compared to the petty civilians of Osaka?' Tanaka-san, can you tolerate these words?"

"Bakayaro (Fool)!" Tanaka Genichi viciously slammed the table, the massive sound making the entire culture house tremble: "That bunch of guys from Kyoto with their eyes fixed higher than the tops of their heads! What the hell do they know about creativity! Besides fiddling with those flowers and grasses, what else can they do?!"

"Therefore, we cannot lose!" Striking While Hot, Watanabe Jun pushed over a detailed "Cheering Squad Action Guide." On it, everything was labeled extremely clearly—from unified clothing in Osaka's representative bright yellow, to the font for the support banners, to how to engage in "friendly" slogan confrontations with "hostile" Cheering Squads during offline events.

This was simply an introductory textbook on modern Fandom warfare.

"This is... these look like they actually have a lot of power! This will also bring glory to my hometown!" Looking at that guide, Tanaka Genichi's simple heart felt the anticipation of drawing the attention of millions for the very first time.

After all, no one would refuse the gimmick of being able to represent a certain region in battle.

Even if it was just a variety show.

"Of course." Watanabe Jun shook his head, a profound smile surfacing on his face: "Aren't you representing exactly your hometown?"

...

This raging fire named "regional confrontation"—personally ignited by Nohara Hiroshi and quietly fanned from behind by countless "Watanabe Juns"—burned across the entire Kansai region with unrivaled prairie-fire momentum within a few short weeks.

Beneath the Glico sign in Dotonbori, Osaka.

Two distinctly divided phalanxes were currently engaging in a "friendly exchange" full of the smell of gunpowder.

On one side was the "Osaka Soul of Naniwa" Cheering Squad, wearing unified bright yellow T-shirts and wearing "Certain Victory" hachimaki (headbands).

On the other side was the "Kyoto Millennium Elegance" Cheering Squad, wearing purple happi coats symbolizing the ancient charm of Kyoto and holding uchiwa (round fans) printed with the words "Heian-kyo."

"Soul of Naniwa, numbers one in the world! Soft-legged shrimp of Kyoto, scram back to your hometown!"

"Petty civilians, not knowing what you're saying! Millennium elegance, how can you be allowed to desecrate it!"

"Our creativity comes from life! Your creativity comes from textbooks!"

"Our idol brings glory to Osaka! Your idol only knows how to strike poses flirtatiously!"

The slogans grew louder and louder, the atmosphere surging higher and higher.

Passersby gathered around to watch. That scene was far more... explosive than any street performer's show!

And behind this seemingly spontaneous civilian conflict, the Video Cameras for the Kasou Taishou Audition Version were hidden within the crowd, quietly recording every single moment full of dramatic tension.

All of these would become the golden material for the next episode of the program—the material most capable of detonating Buzz Creation and stimulating Viewership Ratings.

...

TV Tokyo, seventeenth floor.

Nohara Hiroshi calmly watched the public opinion reports from the Kansai region being spat out one by one from the Fax Machine.

The reports detailed the scale and slogans of the Cheering Squads in various regions, as well as the "friction" incidents between them that were full of dark humor.

They even attached Dumbfounded record files issued by the local police regarding "mediating verbal disputes among the masses."

"Department Manager... is... is this playing a bit too big?"

Standing to the side, Tanaka Kei looked at those reports, unease surfacing on his face.

He felt like he was witnessing the birth of a massive vortex capable of churning up all of Japan.

Yet the man standing at the center of the vortex was merely calmly sipping his already somewhat weak black tea.

"Is it big?"

Nohara Hiroshi set down his teacup. In his clear eyes, there was only indifference: "Section Chief Tanaka, do you know why during the Sengoku period, those daimyo always liked to give their armies names full of regional color? Things like the 'Tiger of Kai,' or the 'Dragon of Echigo'."

"Is... is that to... to cohere the morale of the army?" Tanaka Kei tentatively answered.

"Yes, but not entirely."

Nohara Hiroshi stood up and walked to the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking the steel metropolis beneath his feet where undercurrents were surging due to his stirring.

"It is even more so to create enemies."

His voice was calm, yet struck Tanaka Kei's heart fiercely like a sledgehammer.

"When a person is slapped with the label of 'an Osakan', he is no longer himself. What he represents is the honor of all of Osaka. His enemies are no longer specific individuals, but all 'outsiders' who pose a threat to his hometown's honor."

"What I have done is nothing more than provide a stage for them to vent these emotions."

He turned around, looking at that subordinate who had long been shocked beyond compare by him. A confident curve hooked the corners of his lips.

"Traffic is war. War needs soldiers, and it needs enemies even more."

"Now, my soldiers have already finished assembling. My enemies have also been established."

"Next, let us see, when this regional fire suppressed for hundreds of years is thoroughly ignited, just how gorgeous the Viewership Ratings it can contribute to this grand performance of ours will be!"

...

A few hours later, inside the Deputy Bureau Chief of Production's office.

Suzuki Kiyoto, the Deputy Director of the Directors Group at Kanto TV, currently sat stiffly upright on the sofa in the office. A smile was worn on his face, and his expression was extremely excited.

In those eyes that had once been worn somewhat turbid by the passage of time, there was even more fanatical fervor.

Also in the office were Asumi and Nohara Hiroshi.

"Deputy Bureau Chief Asumi, Hiroshi-kun... I... I really don't know what to say anymore." His voice carried an irrepressible excitement, and an unnatural flush rose on his face.

He carefully placed that Viewership Ratings report printed with "16.3%" onto that massive mahogany desk, like holding a peerless treasure.

"This number... to the current Kanto Station, is simply... a miracle."

His voice carried desolation and bitterness: "To speak words I'm not afraid of you two laughing at, ever since our Kanto Station was merged into TV Tokyo... we haven't seen double-digit Viewership Ratings in nearly five years."

These words were spoken bitterly, like cold ripples stirring in a winter lake.

The smile on Asumi's face quietly restrained itself by a few degrees.

He picked up that cup of green tea. The amber liquid lightly sloshed within the cup, reflecting the complex light at the bottom of his eyes.

"Kiyoto, this... doesn't blame you." His voice was low, carrying a bit of helplessness: "This is a method of last resort. It looks like TV Tokyo is suppressing Kanto Station, but in reality, it's a different matter."

"No, this isn't just competition between television stations."

Asumi slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. Within that breath, there was a trace of reverence toward higher-level forces: "This is... National Policy."

"National Policy?" Astonishment surfaced on Suzuki Kiyoto's face.

"Correct."

Asumi nodded. Those eyes that always sparkled with a shrewd light gazed out the window toward the vast, boundless Tokyo sky: "The Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area plan, you must have heard of it, right? The will of the government is to thoroughly integrate the entire Kanto region into this massive melting pot called Tokyo. Economy, transportation, culture... everything must be integrated. Under such a background, do you think the government would allow two different 'mouthpieces' to appear within this future super metropolitan area?"

These words were like a basin of ice water poured over his head, thoroughly dousing the flame that had ignited in Suzuki Kiyoto's heart due to the skyrocketing Viewership Ratings.

He fell silent.

And understood that what he was facing wasn't simple commercial competition, but an irresistible torrent of the era originating from the national level.

A long silence fell upon the office.

Only the expensive Swiss clock on the wall "ticked" away, as if conducting a ruthless countdown for the drawing of the curtain on an era.

"However..."

A long while later, Asumi finally broke this dead silence. On his refined face re-bloomed a confident smile like an old fox: "That was then, this is now. Our Kanto Faction, now... can finally be considered to have endured until the clouds parted."

His gaze fell upon the young man who from beginning to end had merely quietly drunk his black tea. In that gaze was full of undisguised appreciation and pride.

"Hiroshi-kun, you are not just the ace of our Kanto Faction now." Asumi set down his wine glass. His voice was resonant, full of an affirmation that left No Room for Interference: "You, are the future of our entire Kanto Faction."

He spoke these words with absolute certainty.

Suzuki Kiyoto, who was present, was not the slightest bit surprised.

Because this had long been the consensus of everyone within the entire Kanto Faction.

From the moment that young man used Tales of the Unusual to rescue them from the suppression of Takada Toshihide;

from the moment he used Kasou Taishou to push the prestige of the entire faction to the peak;

from the moment he used the "Independent Production Department" to re-cohere countless veterans of the Kanto Faction together...

Nohara Hiroshi, this name, had already become the synonym for "hope."

Asumi had even, half-jokingly and half-seriously, referred to Nohara Hiroshi as his "successor" at several private high-level cocktail parties.

And regarding this, not a single elder of the Kanto Faction had raised any objections.

Because this was exactly as it should be.

"Deputy Bureau Chief Asumi, you heap too much praise upon me."

Nohara Hiroshi set down his teacup and still smiled calmly: "The success of the Audition Version is merely a beginning. It proved a hypothesis of mine—what the audience wants to see is not just flawless performances. They want to see even more the most genuine, clumsy cuteness of ordinary people like themselves when chasing after dreams."

"And next, what I need to do is turn this 'cuteness' into the sharpest weapon in our hands."

He didn't want to continue chatting about political topics.

So he stood up and walked to the portable blackboard placed in Asumi's office. Picking up a marker, he wrote on the board two terms capable of making both Asumi and Suzuki Kiyoto feel unfamiliar—

[Fan Economy] and [Buzz Creation].

"Fans?" Asumi furrowed his brows, "Are you talking about those... fanatical hobbyists who write letters to stars and chase after them for autographs?"

"Correct, but not entirely." The corners of Nohara Hiroshi's lips hooked into a confident curve: "What I want are not fans in the traditional sense. What I want are 'warriors'."

"Warriors?" Suzuki Kiyoto's face was written full of confusion.

"Look here." Nohara Hiroshi drew a simplified map of Japan on the whiteboard, and then used a red marker to heavily draw circles on several core cities like Osaka, Tokyo, Fukuoka, and Sapporo.

"Kasou Taishou Season Two is a regional confrontation tournament. Audience members in Osaka will cheer for the Osaka team;

audience members in Tokyo will shout for the Tokyo team. This is the most primal sense of regional belonging. And what we must do is provide a battlefield where this sense of belonging can be vented."

He paused. Under the astonished gazes of the two men, he slowly tossed out that ultimate killer weapon capable of subverting the rules of the entire Japanese television industry.

"Starting from next week, we will officially open on the program—the telephone voting channel."

"Every viewer can cast a precious vote for the team they support by calling our designated premium-rate telephone lines. Every single vote will directly affect their final ranking and the ownership of that one hundred million yen!"

"Boom——!"

This decision, like a true atomic bomb, boomed and detonated in the minds of Asumi and Suzuki Kiyoto!

"Premium... premium-rate telephones?!" Asumi's voice changed pitch, "Hiroshi-kun, you... are you... making the audience spend money to buy Viewership Ratings?!"

"No." Nohara Hiroshi shook his head. His gaze, like a god overlooking the wars of mortals, was full of tranquility and apathy: "I am not buying Viewership Ratings. I am selling a 'Sense of Participation'."

"I want to make every single viewer produce the illusion that 'my choice can change the outcome of the competition'. I want to turn them from passive 'spectators' into active 'participants'. They will canvass for votes, argue, and establish their own 'Cheering Squads' for the team they support."

"Fans from Osaka will look down on Tokyo's creativity, feeling it's flashy without substance;

Tokyo's fans will mock Osaka's performances, calling them incredibly vulgar. In the letters-to-the-editor sections of newspapers, on the bulletin boards of various communities, they will argue until the heavens are turned upside down to defend the honor of their hometowns."

"And these arguments, these conflicts, these seemingly negative 'anti-fan' remarks..."

Nohara Hiroshi turned around. Looking at the two men who had long been shocked beyond compare by his highly advanced theory, his lips hooked into a cold smile as precise as a scalpel.

"...Are exactly the free Traffic that we want the most."

Silence.

Deathly silence.

Asumi and Suzuki Kiyoto stared blankly at the young man before them. They felt that their brains—two professional brains full of traditional television "ironclad rules" and "experience"—were thoroughly pulverized into dust in this moment by an even more primal, even purer, powerful force called "human nature"!

They finally understood that this young man, he simply wasn't producing a program.

He was directing an unprecedented, massive social experiment taking the entirety of Japan as the stage and one hundred and twenty million citizens as actors!

And they didn't even have the qualifications to be chess pieces in his hands.

They were merely mortals fortunate enough to stand on the sidelines and witness miracles.

"Haha... hahahahaha!"

A long while later, Asumi finally recovered from that massive astonishment. He let out a hearty laugh of wild joy and excitement that had been suppressed for far too long.

"Good! What a 'Fan Economy'! What a 'Buzz Creation'!"

He slammed the table fiercely. On his refined face, all the shock had faded, leaving only a madness of Breaking the Cauldrons and Sinking the Boats!

"We'll do exactly as you say! Hiroshi-kun! From today onward, you are the sole Commander-in-Chief of our Kanto Faction!"

"Turn all of Japan upside down for me!"