The Fable (Japanese: ザ・ファブル, Hepburn: Za Faburu) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Katsuhisa Minami [ja]. It was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Magazine from November 2014 to November 2019, with its chapters collected in 22 tankōbon volumes. A sequel series, titled The Fable: The Second Contact, ran in Weekly Young Magazine from July 2021 to July 2023.
A live-action film adaptation premiered in Japan in June 2019 and a sequel premiered in June 2021. An anime television series adaptation produced by Tezuka Productions aired from April to September 2024.
By June 2024, the manga had over 25 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series. In 2017, The Fable won the 41st Kodansha Manga Award for the General category.
Plot
Equipped with his favorite weapon, an anthracite-colored Nighthawk pistol, "Fable" is a professional killer feared by all the Japanese underworld, politicians, mobsters and public figures. This assassination genius can send any of his targets six feet under and in six seconds, if his heart tells him. One day, his sponsor orders him to put everything on hold and lead the life of an ordinary citizen, in the hideout of a yakuza clan in Osaka, banned from killing or attacking anyone for an entire year. For this human weapon with an unpredictable temperament, surrounded by trigger-happy criminals, the hardest contract begins.
He is a quietly spoken but highly skilled hitman, known only as "Fable". He has had a female assistant and driver for the past year and knows nothing about her or her name. They are ordered to lay low for a year and he is given the name and identity of Akira Sato and his assistant will act as his sister, Yoko.
A woman with long brown hair and a photographic memory who acts as Fable's assistant and driver. She is ordered to lay low with him for a year, acting as his sister and given the name Yoko Sato.
A woman who lives alone in an apartment near where Fable and his assistant stay in Osaka. She works multiple jobs to repay her father's debts, but she is blackmailed into agreeing to become a call girl by Kojima when he learns of her former career as a gravure idol.
Captain in the Maguro clan, Ebihara is unhappy about the arrangement to shelter Fable and his assistant. He is suspicious of Fable's motives, but after suffering a heart attack he involves Akira in his operations.
Middle-ranking member of the Maguro clan who has spent the last few years in prison. Upon his release, he decides to advance his career within the clan and encroaches on Sunagawa's territory.
Middle-ranking member of the Maguro clan who runs a call girl business and who sees Kojima as a threat. He secretly plans to move up in the Maguro clan.
A middle-aged man whose left eye is always half-closed. He appears to be the owner of a snack bar, but he works in corpse disposal, smuggling, and is an information broker.
A man who uses the Taihei Detective Agency as a cover to commits fraud, blackmail, kidnapping, and murder for money. His real name is Koichi Kawahira (川平 浩一, Kawahira Kōichi).
She witnessed an assassination by Fable, but is now confined to a wheelchair after her legs were damaged in a car crash. Utsubo killed her parents and blamed Fable so he can keep her as a sex slave while promising to avenge her parents. She is commonly referred to as "Hina" (ヒナ).
A sequel, titled The Fable: The Second Contact (ザ・ファブル The second contact), ran in Weekly Young Magazine from July 19, 2021,[16] to July 10, 2023.[17] Kodansha collected its chapters in nine tankōbon volumes, released from November 5, 2021,[18] to November 6, 2023.[19]
A spin-off, also titled The Fable, but written in hiragana (ざ・ふぁぶる) instead of katakana, was published on Comic Days [ja] online platform from March 6, 2018,[20] to February 26, 2019.[21] A collected tankōbon, which also includes other stories by Minami, was published on June 5, 2020.[22][23]
In March 2022, Kodansha USA announced it had licensed the series for English digital publication;[24] in October 2023, it was announced that the manga would be published in print, with the first volume released on April 9, 2024.[25][1]
Live-action films
A live-action film adaptation directed by Kan Eguchi premiered in Japan on June 21, 2019. The film stars Junichi Okada as Fable.[26][27]
A sequel film, titled The Fable: A Hitman Who Doesn’t Kill (ザ・ファブル 殺さない殺し屋, Za Faburu Korosanai Koroshiya), was originally announced to premiere on February 5, 2021; however, a month prior to the planned release date, it was announced that the film would be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[28] and it eventually premiered on June 18 of that same year.[29][30]
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced on July 10, 2023. It was animated by Tezuka Productions and directed by Ryōsuke Takahashi, with scripts supervised by Yūya Takashima and co-written by Mayumi Morita, character designs handled by Kyuma Oshita, Saki Hasegawa and Junichi Hayama, and music composed by Shuichiro Fukuhiro.[31] The series aired from April 7 to September 29, 2024, on Nippon TV and its affiliates.[3][b] The first opening theme song is "Professionalism feat. Hannya" (Professionalism feat. 般若), performed by ALI, while the first ending theme song is "Odd Numbers", performed by Umeda Cypher [ja].[33][34] The second opening theme song is "Switch" (スイッチ, Suitchi), performed by Umeda Cypher, while the second ending theme song is "Beyond feat. Mari", performed by ALI.[9] The adaptation was announced to be produced under Disney's partnership with Kodansha, streaming on Disney+ worldwide and Hulu in the United States.[35]
"Moving" Transliteration: "O Hikkoshi" (Japanese: お引っ越し)
Shintaro Matsui
Yūya Takashima
Takashi Kamei
April 7, 2024 (2024-04-07)
After Fable finishes a job, killing a minor boss and his henchmen, he and his female assistant share grilled fish with his boss, who informs him that this will be the last job for a year. They both must spend a year laying low in Osaka with the Maguro clan and not kill anyone during that time. He is given the name and identity of Akira Sato and his assistant will act as his sister, Yoko. On their way there, Yoko stops for a coffee and while waiting, Akira is accosted by two minor thugs. Acting on instinct, he almost kills them when one touches him and he realizes laying low may be more difficult than he thought. They arrive in Osaka and Akira throws his internal "switch" and changes to speaking with an Osaka dialect. Meanwhile, only Chief Hamada and Captain Ebihara of the Maguro clan know of the arrangement.
2
"A Wonderful Night" Transliteration: "Subarashī Yoru" (Japanese: 素晴らしい夜)
Hiromichi Matano
Yūya Takashima
Kazuo Terada
April 14, 2024 (2024-04-14)
Akira and Yoko meet Hamada and Ebihara dressed as holidaymakers and appear quite ordinary, although Akira's eye for detail upsets Ebihara. Ebihara allocates them two nearby apartments and warns them not to damage his vintage Hakosuka car. Akira quickly removes all the hidden surveillance cameras in his apartment to avoid surveillance, and also because he walks around naked indoors. Outside, Ebihara tells his underling Takahashi that he wants to get rid of them. When Yoko invites Akira out for drinks, Takahashi hires a local kickboxer to hassle Akira. He challenges Akira outside the bar, but rather than fight back, Akira feigns weakness while accepting a few blows to avoid a serious confrontation. He is offered a handkerchief for his bloody nose by a female neighbor that he noticed earlier in the day.
Ebihara is surprised when Takahashi reports that Akira took a beating and seemed cowered. Boss sends a message recommending that the Satos each get a pet. Akira decides on a black-headed parrot from Brazil, which he later names it "Captain", and Yoko selects a hamster. While at the pet store, Akira sees the kickboxer from the previous night and takes off pretending to be frightened, outrunning the kickboxer and jumping from a high overhead bridge to escape. Ebihara gives some money to Takahashi to invite Yoko out for the evening and get background information on Akira, while Ebihara invites Akira out for the night. Ebihara takes Akira to a secluded spot and asks him to kill a strong local thug who owes the clan money. He expects Akira to win in six seconds to prove he really is the killer he is supposed to be and not an imposter. Akira touches his forehead to throw his internal "switch", dons a two-hole balaclava, and races out of the car towards his opponent.
4
"Chatting About Life" Transliteration: "Inochi no Hanashi......" (Japanese: 命の話......)
Noriyuki Nomata
Mayumi Morita
Kazuo Terada
April 28, 2024 (2024-04-28)
Akira races towards the thug, but instead of hitting him he leaps over his head, pulling him down by his hair and disabling him within about three seconds, but leaving him still alive. Ebihara is impressed as is Kuroshio, one of the Maguro group. However, Akira refuses to kill him even when Ebihara threatens to shoot him. In an ensuing discussion, Akira explains that he is just doing his job and emotion plays no part in it. Ebihara kills the thug and orders Kuroshio to dispose of the body and tell no-one what he saw. They stop for a meal, and Ebihara suggests that Akira get a job to avoid becoming a recluse. Meanwhile, Takahashi has taken Yoko out for the night, but she gets them both incredibly drunk so when they return to her apartment, he passes out.
5
"You Listening to Me?!" Transliteration: "Kīton no ka Kora‼" (Japanese: 聞いとんのかコラ‼)
Daisuke Nakajima
Yūya Takashima
Daisuke Nakajima
May 5, 2024 (2024-05-05)
Hamada reprimands Ebihara for threatening Akira, which could bring retribution down on the clan. He then warns Ebihara that Kojima will be released from prison in the coming week and to keep him out of trouble. Meanwhile, Akira's boss calls him to say that Jackal Tomioka has an acting role in a new TV soap opera, which Akira finds surprising but watches it anyway. Akira later unsuccessfully applies for some delivery driver jobs. However, after meeting with Misaki in the street, she takes him to her workplace, Octopus, where they need a driver. Misaki's boss, Kenjiro Takoda, offers Akira a deliver job for a low salary and he surprisingly accepts. Akira dutifully tells Ebihara about the job, but Ebihara is horrified that Akira has struck up a friendship with a local citizen.
Ebihara welcomes Kojima back following his release from prison, but the latter suggests the Maguro clan has gone soft. Elsewhere, Akira carries out his first delivery and returns in half the time, much to everyone's surprise. Takoda takes the staff out for a meal and they are surprised when Akira eats the entirety of the food, including the shells, which he explains by saying he had a tough upbringing. A co-worker, Etsuji Kainuma, offers to walk Misaki to her night job but secretly steals her keys. Meanwhile, Takoda takes Akira to a bar where Kuroshio soon enters with an associate and he tries to impress Akira, who just ignores him. Kainuma later explores Misaki's apartment, puts on her underwear, and discovers she is a former gravure idol. Misaki arrives home without her keys and calls Akira for help. Although he could easily enter her apartment, he says he cannot help and offers that she can stay with him and Yoko. When she reluctantly agrees, they wake up an intoxicated Yoko.
Misaki leaves the next morning and Akira apologizes for Yoko's drunken behavior the previous night. Meanwhile, Takahashi visits Kojima who still behaves like an aggressive prisoner, randomly hitting Takahashi and disparaging the Maguro clan. When they discover Ebihara has suffered a heart attack and is hospitalized, Kojima asks Hamada if he can borrow Takahashi. Kojima later pulls a knife on Akira at his apartment and demands that both the latter and Yoko give him 50,000 yen a month, which Akira agrees. Kojima then buys a gun and takes Takahashi along to start collecting old debts, but he kills the first of his debtors just for the adrenaline rush. Elsewhere, Kuroshio offers to become Akira's disciple and make a name for himself but Akira discourages him.
Yoko decides to go out drinking while Akira prefers to stay home and watch the TV series featuring Jackal. She again visits Bar Buffalo and spends the evening coquettishly toying with a young man named Yuki Kawai before she leaves with his phone number. Elsewhere, Kojima proposes starting a call girl business to Ebihara, who forbids it because it will create a conflict with Sunagawa. Kojima proceeds with his plan anyway and asks Kuroshio to recruit the girls. During the meeting, Kuroshio informs Kojima about Misaki. Meanwhile at work, Misaki is unhappy about a design she has made. However, when Akira makes a childish attempt at some drawings, she and her boss agree that they suit the project and he gets a raise. Later in Taihei, Sunagawa angrily reacts to the news that Kojima is encroaching on his territory.
9
"You Mean a Hitman...?" Transliteration: "Moshi ka Shite Koroshiya....." (Japanese: もしかして殺し屋.....)
Hiromichi Matano
Mayumi Morita
Yuzo Sato
June 2, 2024 (2024-06-02)
Kojima turns up at Misaki's apartment and pressures her into working for him as a call girl, also claiming that Kuroshio injured his leg protecting her. He threatens to cause trouble for her friends and at her workplace, demanding her answer in 24 hours. Misaki later invites Akira out for dinner to thank him for helping at work, but when she presses him about his wilderness survival skills, he senses something is wrong. The next day, Misaki learns that her boss was attacked and the business is temporarily closed, but she still tells Kojima that she will not work for him. Elsewhere, Ebihara asks Akira to look into Kojima's activities and he reports that Kojima is planning a call girl business and has recently shot someone in the warehouse. Ebihara then offers his precious car to Akira to help him deal with Kojima. Meanwhile, Sunagawa hires a hooded hitman to kill Kojima.
10
"The Phantom of the Balcony" Transliteration: "Beranda no Kaijin......" (Japanese: ベランダの怪人......)
Shintaro Matsui
Yūya Takashima
Shintaro Matsui
June 9, 2024 (2024-06-09)
Sunagawa gives his hitman two targets, Kojima and someone else. Elsewhere, Akira takes Ebihara's car to Kojima's apartment to retrieve a gun, and installs surveillance cameras. He only just manages to escape over the balcony before being detected. Takoda is later beaten up by Kojima's men. As a result, Misaki reluctantly agrees to work for Kojima under contract for three months to avoid further trouble. Meanwhile, Akira has discerned her predicament and prepares to rescue her without being detected. He arranges for Yoko to give Takahashi a watch with a GPS tracker and fashions a rudimentary gun from hardware supplies and scrap metal.
11
"The Fated Day" Transliteration: "Unmei no Tsuitachi Desu♪" (Japanese: 運命の一日です♪)
Ryuta Yamamoto
Yūya Takashima
Kazuo Terada
June 16, 2024 (2024-06-16)
Misaki calls Akira and asks him to tell their boss she is ill and will not be in for work the next day. Akira agrees and thanks her for her kindness and tells her not to worry about anything. Sunagawa and Kojima both prepare for their meeting, each one making arrangements to eliminate the other. To protect Misaki, and with Yoko's help, Akira makes his own plans to appear at the meeting by using the tracker to follow Takahashi. Meanwhile, a man Ebihara does not know visits him in hospital and questions him about involving Akira in his operations. Elsewhere, as the meeting begins, Sunagawa has one of his men take Misaki aside to "initiate" her into the call girl business. The man strips off Misaki's clothing, but Akira enters the building and silently renders him unconscious with a series of powerful blows to his body.
12
"There's Always Someone Better" Transliteration: "Ue ni wa Ue" (Japanese: 上には上──。)
Tōru Yoshida
Yūya Takashima
Daisuke Nakajima
June 23, 2024 (2024-06-23)
Akira tells one of Kojima's wounded men, the kickboxer, to take Misaki home when he gives the signal. He then proceeds to neutralize the tense situation, wounding Sunagawa's hitman and abducting Kojima. Sunagawa's group suspect that he is Fable. Meanwhile, Boss warns Ebihara not to involve Akira any further in his affairs. Akira and Yoko drive off with Kojima locked in the trunk of the car, while Akira tries to quell Yoko's fears that he may have killed someone. The kickboxer takes Misaki home and offers to protect her if required. Back at the warehouse, Sunagawa calls off any further action against Kojima, hoping to avoid any repercussions within the Maguro clan.
Akira takes Kojima back to the apartment's garage and delivers him to Ebihara, who is briefly out of hospital. Ebihara decides that even though Kojima is like a brother to him, the latter is a liability and kills him. He then calls Matsu to clean up and bury Kojima's body. Meanwhile, a cold and distraught Misaki asks Yoko for shelter for the night. After Misaki faints in the bath, the very drunk Yoko has to get Akira to help lift her naked body out of the bathtub. Before returning to the hospital, Ebihara tells Sunagawa that the Kojima matter is closed and warns him to stay away from Misaki. He later gives the same advice to Kuroshio and to keep quiet about Akira's real purpose. However, Kuroshio is secretly still obsessed about becoming an apprentice to the man he believes is Fable.
14
"I Love You, Nii-san!" Transliteration: "Suki Desu Ani-san!!" (Japanese: 好きです兄さん!!)
Takashi Kamei
Mayumi Morita
Daisuke Nakajima
July 7, 2024 (2024-07-07)
Sunagawa tries to bribe Matsu to divulge details about Fable. However, he reminds Sunagawa that information in the organization is only made available on a need-to-know basis. Meanwhile, Akira plans a three day wilderness camping trip to maintain his survival skills because he suspects that he is losing his edge, and reluctantly agrees to allow Kuroshio to accompany him. Yoko drops them off as dawn approaches and although Kuroshio becomes apprehensive when Akira has only a knife and basic survival tools, he nevertheless follows his nii-san[e] into the woods, carrying the bare minimum of camping gear.
15
"Survival Training?" Transliteration: "Moshi ka Shite Sabaibaru.....。" (Japanese: もしかしてサバイバル.....。)
Shotaro Kamiyama
Yūya Takashima
Kazuo Terada
July 14, 2024 (2024-07-14)
Kuroshio struggles to keep up with Akira, who leads him through the forest to a clearing where they make camp for the night. Akira cooks a snake he killed earlier in the day and Kuroshio has to overcome his biases to eat it. The next day, Kuroshio is confronted by a black bear at their camp but Akira arrives back in time to scare it off. Kuroshio slowly becomes awed by Akira's intensity and practical survival skills such as cooking and eating frogs and grasshoppers to keep up his strength. Meanwhile, Yoko plans another night out drinking and calls up the man she met at Bar Buffalo, Yuki Kawai.
16
"Mountaineer Man" Transliteration: "Gezan no Otoko.....。" (Japanese: 下山の男.....。)
Michinosuke Nakamura
Yūya Takashima
Michinosuke Nakamura
July 21, 2024 (2024-07-21)
While Akira prepares to fight off the bear who attacked them earlier, Yoko goes to Bar Buffalo to engage in a drinking session with Kawai. Akira creates a lance with a branch and his knife, which he coats with venom from a snake he previously caught. When the bear attacks and Kuroshio trembles in fear, Akira calmly fights it off and stabs it with the lance to teach it to be wary of humans in the future. Meanwhile, Yoko goes head-to-head in a drinking session with Kawai drinking shots of tequila, each planning to score a conquest over the other. Yoko ultimately wins, with Kawai retching in the bathroom from his excessive consumption of alcohol, and eventually collapsing from alcohol poisoning. The next morning, Yoko picks up Akira and Kuroshio. Akira is grateful that he has not lost his edge, while Kuroshio is more impressed than ever by Akira's skills and understanding of the mechanics of defeating an adversary.
At the Taihei Detective Agency, Rei Utsubo, his associate Tsutomu Isaki and the wheelchair bound Hinako Saba reveal their main activity is intimidating and kidnapping the spoiled children of monster parents. Utsubo later buries alive a young man who has squandered his parents' money and from whom were extorted 10 million yen. Utsubo adds an assassin, Hiroshi Suzuki, to his small team and confides in him that he is concerned about the possible existence of Fable, who may be a threat to their business. That evening in a park, Akira and Hinako appear to recognize each other from one of his earlier assassination assignments. Meanwhile, Utsubo asks Isaki to get information from Kuroshio on Sanagawa's relationship with Ebihara, but Kuroshio is uncooperative. Utsubo later asks Isaki and Suzuki to get information on their next target, Itsuji Kainuma. Elsewhere, Akira asks Yoko to look into details of a murder four years ago in Tokyo. At work, Kainuma is becoming more obsessive about Misaki and when she mentions she will be working late that night at a new job, he plans to enter her apartment again.
18
"Cheerio" Transliteration: "Kanpai no Pai......。" (Japanese: カンパイのパイ......。)
Takashi Kamei
Mayumi Morita
Takashi Kamei
August 4, 2024 (2024-08-04)
From Yoko's research, Akira connects Hinako to his assassination of a man involved in prostitution. Meanwhile, Kainuma discovers the lock on Misaki's apartment has been changed. He is then seen there by Isaki, who realizes that Kainuma is stalking Misaki. Elsewhere, the hooded assassin arranges a meeting with Suzuki to share information about Fable, but things go wrong and Suzuki kills him and his associate. While Akira waits to see Hinako again later on, Suzuki intercepts and warns him to stay away from his "sister". Under the pretext of offering free checks for hidden cameras, Utsubo and Isaki enter Misaki's apartment. They find the camera planted by Kainuma while installing some of their own.
19
"Lies and Falsehoods" Transliteration: "Uso to Uso.....。" (Japanese: ウソと噓.....。)
At Octopus, Takoda gives Akira the task of drawing a Christmas card although he knows little about Santa Claus or the tradition. When Akira delivers some business cards to the Taihei Detective Agency, he sees Hinako but also recognizes Utsubo as the third of his three targets four years earlier when he first saw Hinako. That night, Utsubo tells Suzuki how he built a prostitution ring consisting of underage girls who were either runways or kidnapped. As a result, his associates were soon assassinated. One of them, Kawahira, was with Hinako prior to the accident that injured her. After laying low for about a year, Utsubo visited her at the hospital posing as a detective. Upon learning about how terrified she was of Fable, he killed Hinako's parents so she would become dependent on him. Utsubo later invites Kainuma and his mother to his office where he exposes Kainuma's interest in Miaski.
Utsubo and Isaki combine to implicate Kainuma in stalking Misaki and solicit a payment of 60 million yen from his mother using footage from the cameras they placed in her apartment. Meanwhile, Akira again meets Hinako in the park and encourages her to visualize her legs working. When Suzuki hears Kainuma threatening to kill Misaki via a bug planted in his apartment, Utsubo instructs him to kidnap Kainuma for the next phase of his operation. Hinako overhears their discussion and calls Misaki at work to warn her just as Kainuma lunges towards her with a knife. Akira reacts instinctively and quickly disables him. Kainuma later tries to flee to avoid questioning, but he is kidnapped by Suzuki, which is witnessed by Akira. Isaki drives off with Kainuma, but Akira gives Suzuki 24 hours to return him unharmed. Suzuki gets Akira's address from Isaki and visits the apartment only to find Yoko. When he threatens her, she cleverly disarms him. Elsewhere in the forest, Kainuma escapes from Isaki.
21
"The ABCs of Villainy" Transliteration: "Akutō-tachi no ABC" (Japanese: 悪党たちのABC)
Akira arrives home to find Suzuki tied up after Yoko beat him up in a fight. Akira again demands the return of Kainuma but when Suzuki calls Isaki, he is told that Kainuma fell down a cliff and died. Akira then lets Suzuki leave after he and Yoko had demoralized him with their superior skills. Suzuki updates Utsubo of his encounter with the Satos, surmising that they are part of Fable and he demands to know why Utsubo is hunting Fable. Utsubo explains that his brother, Kawahira, was the one who Akira killed four years ago while Hinako was sitting in the car. Suzuki agrees to work with Utsubo to kill Akira, stressing that they must do it without drawing attention from the Maguro clan. Utsubo devises a plan to trap the Satos using Hinako as bait.
22
"Doorstep Man" Transliteration: "Doa Mae no Otoko......。" (Japanese: ドア前の男......。)
Suzuki visits Matsu to buy a silencer in preparation for the assault on Akira, but also to prepare an escape route overseas if the attempt fails. Akira learns about the murder of Hinako's parents from Yoko. Meanwhile, Utsubo tells Hinako that Akira killed her parents and she asks to be involved in Utsubo's attempt to kill Akira. The three leave the apartment after Suzuki sets a booby trap behind the door linked to a hand grenade. Utsubo and Hinako leave town and Utsubo calls Akira and arranges to meet at his apartment. Akira suspects a trap and after he opens the door, he easily avoids the exploding hand grenade while Suzuki watches on from a distance.
After the failed attempt to kill Akira with a hand grenade, Akira sees Suzuki leave and he asks Yoko to follow him. Suzuki meets up with Utsubo and Hinako in the forest where he captures Yoko and ties her to a tree. Meanwhile, Akira has Kuroshio bring him a fast car and they arrive there a short time later. Akira gets Kuroshio to sound the car's horn to create a noisy distraction while he approaches Utsubo's group. Hinako attempts to shoot Utsubo because she deduced that he killed her parents, not Akira. When she shakily stands to get a better shot, Suzuki reveals that she has stepped on an anti-personnel mine planted by Utsubo to trap Akira. As she fires and staggers backwards, Akira rushes from the bushes to stop her from falling.
24
"Starry Sky Lullaby" Transliteration: "Hoshizora no Rarabai.....。" (Japanese: 星空のララバイ.....。)
Shuma Kanikubo
Yūya Takashima
Kazuo Terada
September 22, 2024 (2024-09-22)
Under a starry sky, Akira supports Hinako as she shakily stands on the mine. Utsubo reaches for his gun but Akira shoots and wounds him, although Utsubo manages to throw a hand grenade. Akira shields Hinako from the blast with his body. Suzuki decides to help save Hinako, releasing Yoko who then holds a gun on Utsubo. Akira arranges for Suzuki to use the forked bucket of an excavator to partially shield Hinako while he pulls her off the mine. While they survive, Akira is wounded. Frustrated at the failure of his plans, Utsubo throws another hand grenade prompting Suzuki to shoot him in the head, killing him. They then bury his body before Hinako gratefully thanks Akira as he leaves, realizing she will never see him again. Back home, after Yoko patches Akira's wound, he immediately goes back to sketching Christmas card images for Takoda.
The Taihei police find Kainuma's body in a river. Suzuki gets Kuroshio to take him to meet Isaki, whom he then kills because he considered him to be a liability. He gives Isaki's money to Kuroshio and a letter from Hinako for Akira. Suzuki warns him to forget about becoming an assassin because he would never be a match for Akira or Yoko. Akira's Christmas card design is a success and Takoda suggests they invite Yoko and celebrate Christmas together, hoping that Akira and Misaki will hook up. Akira reads Hinako's heartfelt letter in which she thanks him for everything he has done for her. He then burns it per her request.
Video game
In September 2024, Kodansha Game Creators' Lab announced that Mono Entertainment was developing a roguelike deck-building video game, titled The Fable: Manga Build Roguelike (ザ・ファブル Manga Build Roguelike), which is set to be released for Windows and Nintendo Switch in 2025.[41] The game will be available in Japanese, English, and traditional/simplified Chinese.[42] A demo of the game was displayed at the Kodansha Game Creators' Lab booth at Tokyo Game Show 2024.[43][44]
Reception
By January 2021, the manga had eight million copies in circulation;[28] 15 million copies in circulation by March 2022;[45] over 20 million copies in circulation by October 2022;[46] and over 25 million copies in circulation by June 2024.[47]
