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Mar 19, 2026
To:Reader01
So yes, a "conclusion but available to continue" was my goal, much like a "Vol1" for a typical LN these days. Hypothetically, if it did continue, it would be Kyosuke working for the Ikemoto organization against Akito running the criminal organization. If that actually happened, I'd definitely try and crank up the action quotient.
My original idea had the notion of a lot more gun fights, but every bit of research basically put the kibosh on this. This story being a much more grounded story than most, I felt kind of constrained to try and keep it reasonably close to how Tokyo actually is (or at close as Google could tell me) and the fact is, all out violence is extremely rare (the highway chase was pushing it). I tried to make up for it with a little bit of comedy about food, but yeah, I'll admit more a whimper than a bang.
So as you can obviously tell, we're coming to an end. Fun fact; right around this time, I posted a poll out to Honeyfeed asking people's opinion about what was the preferred type of ending for "Spotlight Romance": Happy, Ambivalent, Tragic so I could head that direction, and no surprise, "Happy" won out overwhelmingly.
So, the Kimiko interrupting "the moment" was my clumsy attempt at comedy (ie, that person who always cock-blocks without meaning to). But yes, we're setting up for the final closeout and reunion w/ the Ikemoto family and conclusion.
Looking back at all my works, I've come to realize I really like playing with timelines, so maybe it's a tendency of mine. And yeah, I like to make sure past connects to the present.
So Kimiko was meant to represent my interpretation of all our "social media" frenzy of gossip, click-first, phenomenon where news objectivity often takes a backseat to trends and buzz. That's why early on I referred to her as a journalist in air-quotes, which clashes hard to Yoriyoshi's much more grounded hard take on the real world (a very blue-collar profession who has connections to various street groups).
So the inspiration for this scene of course was the classic Mexican standoff though of course there's only 2 instead of 3 sides (unless you count the smartphone). There's also the slight clue (that will be followed up on) that Kyosuke did work for Ryo but is now turning his back on him and that part of his life (more on that later).
The notion of the "code phrase" is based on the idea that a former special-ops military man prepares for any eventuality. "Lima Romeo Hotel" stands for Last Resort Hideout", basically a bug-out place he had prepared, knowing that as someone who worked with organized crime, he knew that one day things might go into the crapper and he kept a place ready to hide and escape under an assumed name.
So this twist I don't think was in my original draft back when this was going to be a political drama, but it came about when it became a crime syndicate one. Basically I needed a, as you put it a "side boss" and economy of characters dictated it to be him (well, it was him or Kimiko and no one was going to buy that).
So, my habit of starting scenes with full names is as much to "remind" the reader that name as much as anything from time to time. Yes, I might overdo it, and that's on me. My intent for this chapter was mostly to get all 3 players together so when the confrontation (that's coming up) occurs, things are kept simpler.
So, fun fact, this scene (and others) was going to originally going to involve more gunfire (the whole plot was inspired by K-dramas, which use plenty of guns), but some research in current Japan kind of put the kibosh on that with even most criminal gangs rarely having a ton of guns (mostly they don't) so almost all the action/fighting is done with melee weapons (which I did confirm does occur with the local criminal element).
OK, so world building wasn't that much a challenge per say (it's Tokyo) compared to other genres like isekai or the other genre currently running (urban fantasy) other than just needing to pick which streets/neighborhoods. Cast size though was a another matter; this plot actually got scaled down from my original intent/outline because I was getting bogged down with too many players and it was getting unwieldly, especially with the constraints I had (time and WC). The original idea was going to be more political office candidacy but that would have needed a lot more outside players, so I reverted back to just street criminal organizations.
Akito's motivations are... something to watch as will be apparent fairly soon. Kyosuke/Kyoko's relationship (if one can call it that) obviously just took a hard right turn and remains to be seen where it goes from here, since obviously things just changed dramatically.
So, the reporter's nosy attitude is building to something is all I can say, and as it's clear, Kyoko isn't in for a good time.
Tnak you for your comment! So yes, the intent of this is definitely to be a transition in pace; we're about to shift from slice-of-life to chasing and running pretty much from here forward. Kyosuke and Ryo are meant to be very tense as one would be as street criminals.
Thank you for your comment! As you can see, information is beginning to trickle out thanks to the social media reporter snooping around. Kyoko arguably is being a tad irresponsible just trusting a stranger she just met, but that's kind of her character for someone who was basically raised in a vacuum.
