Chapter 337: The Truth

Sunday.

The fans of Haruto had grown accustomed to the inevitable surge of adrenaline that accompanied this specific day of the week. Unlike many other creators, Haruto’s creative output seemed to be accelerating rather than slowing down. It was perfectly normal for a top-tier creator to release a single project every three to five years.

A creator like Haruto, who was on track to release four major projects in a single year, was unheard of. Furthermore, because of his long-standing partnership with Tokyo TV1’s primary channel, his works were almost exclusively broadcast during the prime-time slot at eight o’clock on Sunday evenings. Over the last two years, the audience had developed a conditioned reflex. Much like a tradition, the vast majority of anime enthusiasts would consciously clear their schedules for Sunday nights.

Currently, Fullmetal Alchemist had aired five episodes. The viewership ratings had consistently hovered above 6%, making it the highest-rated program across all television stations and genres at the moment.

Haru-Yuki Animation had worked in tandem with Tokyo TV1 to market the show aggressively.

The television station utilized its decades of industry dominance to launch a massive online promotional blitz, while the animation studio flooded the physical world, anime conventions, major shopping districts, and transit hubs, with advertisements. In the span of just one month, any anime fan visiting a local hangout would be greeted by a sea of Fullmetal Alchemist posters, slogans, and digital billboards.

As six o’clock in the evening passed, the anime community became active online.

“Sunday is finally here. I feel like I’ve been waiting an eternity.”

“Last week’s episode with the State Alchemist exam was insane. The way Edward used alchemy without a transmutation circle was so cool. Is that just protagonist plot armor, though? Why is he the only one who can do that?”

“It probably has something to do with the fact that both Edward and Alphonse came into contact with the Truth at the Gate, right? Honestly, this anime has so many foreshadowing threads right now. The Gate, the Philosopher’s Stone, Human Transmutation… plus, what happened to that creature the brothers transmuted back then, and where is their father?”

“Now that the childhood flashbacks are over, we should finally be getting into the meat of the main story this week.”

“But what even is the main story? Is it really just the two of them looking for a way to get their bodies back?”

“Who cares? We’ll find out when we watch it. Don’t bother trying to predict the plot with the Warrior of Love.”

“You’ll never get it right. Remember when Code Geass was airing? Who could have guessed he would kill off so many beloved characters and end it with the protagonist’s death?”

“Don’t even mention that. My stomach still hurts just thinking about that ending. And those movies they released later? The author was a total clickbaiter; the protagonist wasn’t even Lelouch. They weren’t good at all.”

“Haha, that’s just how movies are.”

“You can’t expect every film to be a masterpiece like Madoka Magica: Rebellion.”

Megumi nibbled on snacks as he pulled his gaze away from the discussion threads on his computer. Beside his monitor, a second screen was connected to his television tuner, displaying the Tokyo TV1 broadcast.

Before Haruto’s works took over the eight o’clock slot, the station usually aired weather reports or news briefs at this time. But ever since the Haruto effect turned this time slot into a gold mine, the twenty minutes leading up to the show were packed with high-priced advertisements.

Megumi watched the commercials with a bored expression, counting down the minutes.

“Honestly, I wonder when these anime series will start premiering directly on streaming platforms. Television broadcasts are such a hassle, especially with the way Tokyo TV1 handles product placement. A twenty-minute episode interrupted twice by forced five-second ads is just obnoxious.”

Megumi shook his head. He knew, however, that the situation wasn’t as simple as he wished. While video streaming sites were rising, animation studios were hesitant to partner with them too early. If everyone could watch it online for free, who would buy the expensive Blu-ray sets? Unless streaming revenue could one day cover the massive losses in physical media sales, the status quo would remain.

As these thoughts drifted through his mind, time slipped away.

Finally, the sixth episode of Fullmetal Alchemist began. The timeline had shifted from the previous episodes. Edward had already passed the State Alchemist exam, received his official certification, and he and Alphonse had settled into their roles as Dogs of the Military.

The episode began with Edward and Alphonse arriving at the home of another State Alchemist, a man named Shou Tucker, whom they had been introduced to by a major supporting character, Roy Mustang. There, they met Tucker’s family: his young daughter, Nina, and their large white dog, Alexander.

The beginning of the episode was relatively lighthearted.

The focus was on Edward and Alphonse playing with Nina and Alexander, interspersed with scenes showing Tucker’s research. His field of expertise was biological transmutation, the creation of Chimeras, hybrid creatures capable of understanding human speech. Even Megumi could see the immense value in such research. If one could create high-intelligence animals that understood human language, they could assist in or even replace humans in various labor-intensive fields.

However, the annual State Alchemist assessment was fast approaching. Every year, alchemists had to pass this review to maintain their status and the generous funding that came with it. It was clear that if Tucker wanted to pass this year, he needed to present a significant breakthrough in his Chimera research.

The Elric brothers quickly became good friends with Tucker and formed a deep bond with Nina.

“Hmm, the story has slowed down a bit.”

“Is this just a slice-of-life episode?”

“Probably. It’s like Code Geass. Even while he was conquering the world, he still had to deal with school exams and hang out with friends. It looks like Fullmetal is following that rhythm: a few battle episodes followed by a breather.”

“The interactions between Ed and Nina’s family are actually quite sweet, though.”

“Nina is adorable.”

“But her life seems a bit sad. Didn’t the mom leave them because they were poor before Tucker became a State Alchemist?”

“If Tucker fails the assessment this time, they’ll fall back into poverty. It’s a weird setting. Do State Alchemists really struggle with money that much?”

“Edward is a special case. Most alchemists don’t have that kind of combat power. Most of them are basically just high-level research chemists. Nina’s father is likely an expert in biology who could probably work as a skilled surgeon, but that’s about it. Poverty exists everywhere, even in this world.”

“The talent gap between the protagonist and everyone else is depressing. Nina’s father didn’t become a State Alchemist until his late thirties. If his research doesn’t pan out, he loses everything. Meanwhile, Edward is a combat alchemist; as long as he stays strong, he has nothing to worry about.”

“But combat alchemists have to go to the front lines. They could die at any moment.”

On the fan forums, viewers were multitasking, discussing the show as it aired. This has become the standard way to consume media for this generation. Megumi was no different, switching his focus between his laptop and the TV, occasionally typing out a response in his group chats.

At this point, he didn’t feel anything was particularly wrong.

The first half of the episode was simply about the bond between Edward and Tucker’s family, providing a deeper look into the daily lives of State Alchemists.

The episode also introduced a mysterious, muscular man named Scar, who had a prominent scar on his face and strange alchemical tattoos on his arms. With his appearance, the main plot of the series truly began to move.

The animation flickered between slice-of-life moments and mystery-solving exploration: military investigations, Scar’s unknown motives, and the introduction of military personnel like Maes Hughes.

However, starting from the second half of the episode, everything changed. The atmosphere shifted, and the background music took on a haunting tone.

The military investigation was hitting roadblocks. Nina’s father, Tucker, was under immense pressure from the higher-ups to produce results for his “human-comprehending Chimera” within forty-eight hours.

When Megumi saw this, a slight sense of unease began to stir in his chest. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what was wrong, but he felt an inexplicable tension.

The seemingly ordinary storyline took a dark turn when Edward and Alphonse returned to Tucker’s home to check on his progress as the Sewing-Life Alchemist. Upon entering the house, they found him standing in the shadows with a new creature: a large, white, dog-like being with long hair and melancholy eyes.

A thought flashed through Megumi’s mind. He suddenly remembered the final shot from the promotional trailer released the previous month. Wasn’t this the same creature? At the time, a large group of fans had speculated that this beast might be a major boss in the series. Now, it appeared it was just a creature from a single chapter. Tucker, a man who seemed relatively unremarkable, had spent a few days and produced a dog-like Alchemical Beast.

But Megumi felt a growing sense of dread. The lighting of the scene, the somber score, and the vacant expression on Tucker’s face were all suffocating.

“Look closely. That person over there is Edward,” Tucker said with a chilling smile, gesturing toward his masterpiece, the Chimera that could understand human speech.

“Ed… ward?” the dog-like creature muttered, looking toward the brothers.

“Sigh, I barely made it in time for the assessment. Now I won’t have to worry about my research funding anymore,” Tucker said to the brothers with an exhausted laugh.

Alphonse was genuinely happy that their friend had achieved a breakthrough. Only Edward, upon seeing the beast, had eyes filled with sudden, sharp pain. He walked over to the creature, knelt down, and looked it straight in the eyes.

“Edward… Edward… Big… Brother…”

The words spoken by the white creature in the animation sent a wave of cold through Megumi, traveling from his toes to his scalp.

‘Edward? Big Brother? Wasn’t that what Tucker’s daughter, Nina, called Edward? No way. There was no way.’

The darkness of the implication made Megumi feel physically ill.

The cruelty was almost unbearable.

The fan groups were exploding in real-time.

“Wait, is the author really doing this?”

“The way this is framed… it looks like Tucker transmuted his own daughter and the family dog into a single, deformed monster.”

“Is this Human Transmutation?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No, not Nina. Please, no.”

“Damn it, Tucker didn’t seem like an evil person. How could he do that to his own child?”

“A Chimera that understands human intelligence? Is this just a human brain transplanted into an animal body? Did he use alchemy to stop the organ rejection?”

“Stop talking. I’m actually feeling nauseous. This is too much.”

“If this is true, the story just went to a very dark place.”

The chat rooms were in an uproar. On the television screen, the story continued its relentless march. The truth was exactly as the audience feared.

“When did your wife leave you?” Edward asked, his head lowered as he spoke to Tucker.

“Two years ago.”

“And when was it that you passed the State Alchemist exam with your first Chimera?” Edward asked again.

“Two years ago,” Tucker replied.

His expression shifted. The gentle, weary smile vanished, replaced by a cold void.

Megumi swallowed hard. The contrast between the happy moments of the first half of the episode and the suffocating confrontation between Edward and Tucker was jarring.

“Your daughter Nina… and your dog Alexander… where are they?” Edward roared, his voice trembling with grief and rage.

“Sigh… I really hate kids with sharp intuition like yours.”

That single sigh from Tucker made Megumi’s heart sink to the bottom of his stomach. It was true.

Tucker had turned his daughter and his dog into a monster. And based on the dialogue, it wasn’t hard to guess that his wife hadn’t left him because he was poor; he had transmuted her to become a State Alchemist in the first place. Now, to save his title and his comfortable life, he had picked up the knife and turned it on his daughter.

This was haunting. What kind of person could do this? Megumi shivered.

“Are you kidding me? Toying with human lives like this!” Edward grabbed Tucker by the collar, his eyes ablaze with fury.

“Human lives? Is that what you say? Weren’t the state of your body and your brother’s the result of you two toying with human life as well?”

Megumi felt a jolt of shock.

He finally understood why Haruto had written this arc. He understood why, in the world of alchemy, Human Transmutation was the ultimate taboo. As viewers, it was often difficult to feel the weight of the rules in a fictional world. But in this moment, every single fan understood the horror of what it meant.

“Even knowing it’s a taboo, we can’t help but want to try. You and I are the same,” Tucker said with a twisted smile.

Those words resonated with Megumi in a strange, uncomfortable way. Though they were directed at Edward, they made him reflect on the darker impulses of human nature.

But the scene that shook him to his core was what happened next.

Edward, consumed by rage, began to beat Tucker senseless. However, Nina, in her monstrous dog form, crawled over and shielded her father. She blocked Edward from landing another blow. Looking at her father, who was bleeding on the ground, she spoke.

“Daddy… does it… hurt?”

“Daddy… does it… hurt?”

The music turned into a mournful dirge. Nina touched her father with her paw, her eyes filled only with concern for the man who had destroyed her.

Megumi’s eyes welled up with tears.

‘What the hell is this, Haruto? Why would you do this? Why would you write something like this?

If you are the god of your own story, couldn’t you have given these characters a better ending?’