Akinari Asakura is a novelist whose previous works include the mysteries Ore de wa nai Enjou (I'm Not the One Being Flamed), Kyoushitsu ga, Hitori ni naru made (Until I'm Alone in the Classroom), Noir Revenant , and the critically acclaimed Rokunin no Usotsuki na Daigakusei (Six Lying College Students). This is his first full-length work as a manga writer. Takeshi Obata was born in 1969 in Niigata, Japan, and first achieved international recognition as the artist of the wildly popular Shonen Jump title Hikaru no Go , which won the 2003 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize: Shinsei "New Hope" Award and the 2000 Shogakukan Manga Award. He went on to illustrate the smash hit Death Note as well as the hugely successful manga Bakuman and All You Need Is Kill.