For all intents and purposes, it was nothing more than a simple hunch, but I could no longer have any doubt about its accuracy. We might as well call the idea a divine revelation. It wouldn’t even be an exaggeration to call this enlightenment.

However, hm… My prior familiarity with N.H.K. came to mind. Thinking about it, I remembered that when I was little, I had liked N.H.K. In elementary school, I saw Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water.[7] It was such an interesting anime.

Huh. Anime…

Mentioning anime brings up images of otaku.[8] When it comes to otaku, they tend to be poor at human contact. People who are poor at human contact tend to become hikikomori.

Really?

I see! At this point, the direct connection between N.H.K. and hikikomori finally should be obvious to everyone. In short, by broadcasting such interesting anime, N.H.K. mass-produced anime otaku, thereby essentially creating hikikomori on a large scale. Dammit! What a dirty thing to do!

However, now I had stumbled upon their conspiracy. Having come this far, I was only a step away from the perfect solution to the mystery. Resting my head on the kotatsu, I devoted myself to thought.

Thanks to the drugs, my field of vision was spinning. All the furniture in my room cheered for me in unison.

Right! With the help of my furniture friends, no one could stop me. It wasn’t as though the cowardly interference operatives would pursue me forever and ever. This is the time to counterattack. I’ll make you all regret having mocked me.

Only one more step…

I’m this close to solving all these mysteries. TV, kotatsu, computer, please lend me your strength!

And then, at that moment, I had a divine revelation. Specifically, it was sent directly to my brain in the form of a proverb: “The name says it all.”[9]

Basically, the very name N.H.K. should reveal the reality of the organization. N.H.K. stands for “Nippon Housou Kyoukai”,[10] but that couldn’t be all it meant. Another meaning, a secret double-meaning, had to exist.

N.H.K., N.H.K., N.H.K… I kept mumbling these three letters to myself, over and over again.

N stands for Nippon. If that’s so, then H must be…

I understood! It was all so simple! The mystery was finally solved. I had discovered the truth behind everything. H stood for Hikikomori! In other words, N.H.K. represented “Nippon Hikikomori Kyoukai”![11]

My battle began that day.

While I was tripping on hallucinogens, I failed to realize that the reason my apartment door wouldn’t open was due to nothing more than the fact that I had locked it. That was just the tiniest of issues at hand, though.