Amegakure Village's Angel: You mean she's not cute?
Curly-haired Guy: If we're using demons as a standard, then yeah, I guess she's cute.
Amegakure Village's Angel: I'm mad now! How dare you call such a cute girl a demon? Anzen-san, help me teach him a lesson!
[System: Curly-haired Guy has been muted by the group owner for 10 minutes]
Skirt-Flipping Maniac: Mercy! (emoji: trembling in fear)
Doujin Artist: Spare me! (emoji: trembling in fear)
Amegakure Village's Angel: She just hasn't fully transformed into an Arrancar yet. If she shows her real face, you'll all be shocked!
Doujin Artist: No matter how cute she is, she can't be cuter than Konan sis.
Skirt-Flipping Maniac: Yeah, no way she beats Konan.
Scarlet Lotus Fairy: You two are such bootlickers.
Just to avoid getting muted, they were trying so hard to suck up to Konan. Li Mochou figured this must be what they always call a simp, right?
Clever Blade Girl: Konan sis, you're still staying by Aizen's side? Be careful.
Katsura Kotonoha had just caught up with the Naruto and Bleach storylines, so she had a rough idea about Konan's situation. But because Aizen had deleted the part where he revealed his real identity, she still didn't know the group owner was actually Aizen.
Skirt-Flipping Maniac: Yeah, Konan sis, always be on guard.
Doujin Artist: When you're alone with Aizen, make sure you've got protection.
Skirt-Flipping Maniac: Airi-chan... why does that sound kinda off? Is that the kind of "protection" I think it is?
Doujin Artist: What else would it be? Geez, your brain is full of dirty thoughts! Konan sis likes Anzen-san, there's no way she'd do anything like that with Aizen. Get your mind out of the gutter, Ruiko-chan.
Skirt-Flipping Maniac: ...
Saten Ruiko twitched at the corner of her mouth. Why did she suddenly feel like punching someone?
Clever Blade Girl: Being undercover must be really hard, huh?
Amegakure Village's Angel: Nah, it's actually kinda fun.
Clever Blade Girl: Fun?
Kotonoha didn't get it. Living next to the big bad guy, always watching your words—how is that "fun"? Shouldn't it be stressful and miserable?
Amegakure Village's Angel: Yeah. If you ever have time, you should try it.
Clever Blade Girl: Konan sis, are you being serious?
Kotonoha's face turned pale.
Sure, she had daydreamed about doing something exciting now and then, but this was way too much. She was just a regular middle school girl—how could she be an undercover agent?
Doujin Artist: Uh, Konan sis... that's kind of ridiculous. Kotonoha-chan hasn't had any real training. She wouldn't make it.
Skirt-Flipping Maniac: Yeah, she'd probably blow her cover right away.
Cleaver Girl: Professional training?
Shark-Faced Guy: To put it simply, it's acting training.
Scarlet Lotus Fairy: Pretty much everyone in this group has had some level of training. Anzen, our group leader, was actually our coach.
Li Mochou's words clearly had a deeper meaning.
Cleaver Girl: I see. So that's why the group leader is called "The Actor."
Skirt-Flipping Maniac: He's not just any actor, though. Anzen is a true master! Back then, all of us were fooled by his amazing acting.
Cleaver Girl: The group leader tricked you guys?
Doujin Artist: Ahem, what Ruiko means is that his acting was so real, so perfect, that no one could tell!
Cleaver Girl: I get it now. That's incredible! Everyone in this group seems really skilled... not like me... I can't do anything.
Scarlet Lotus Fairy: It's fine. Just watch and learn. We were all beginners too at first.
Doujin Artist: Yeah, yeah, just start with the basics of acting.
And the most basic part of acting... is being the victim. Pretty much everyone in this group was tricked by Aizen's flawless performance.
Of course, Kotonoha didn't know the truth and replied very seriously: Got it! I'll do my best!
Skirt-Flipping Maniac: *cough cough*
Scarlet Lotus Fairy: You guys keep chatting. I'm going out for a bit.
Seeing such an innocent girl about to fall into the trap, Li Mochou suddenly felt a little bad.
Doujin Artist: Actually... it's okay even if you don't try that hard.
Even Eriri felt this was going a bit too far. Kotonoha was just way too easy to trick—so easy that it didn't even feel satisfying.
Cleaver Girl: I want a fresh start! I don't want to give up halfway!
Skirt-Flipping Maniac: Wanting a new life is understandable, but what does that have to do with working on your acting? Are you planning to become an actress or something?
Cleaver Girl: No, I'm going to get revenge on Makoto Itou! The plan is to follow the original plot—let him slowly get close to me, and then drag him down into the abyss!
At this point, Kotonoha had already changed into her gym clothes and was on the school field. She'd made up her mind: this would be the first step toward changing her life.
Amegakure Village's Angel: Revenge on Makoto Itou?
Doujin Artist: It's great that you have this determination, but... Makoto Itou is already dead.
Cleaver Girl: Eh? He's dead?
Skirt-Flipping Maniac: You didn't know? He died in your school's storage room. It was a huge deal—how did the school even manage to cover it up?
Doujin Artist: If it involved some kind of supernatural force, I guess it's possible. That kind of thing would cause mass panic if people found out.
Cleaver Girl: No, Makoto Itou isn't dead. [Image] Look.
Amegakure Village's Angel: ?
Doujin Artist: Wait, what's going on here?
The picture showed a skinny boy in a grey-blue school uniform, sitting in the bleachers by the field.
His eyes were dull and lifeless, staring blankly ahead. His face was pale. Even through the screen, he looked like someone completely drained, like he'd gone way overboard with pleasure and was now totally empty inside.
But without a doubt, it was definitely Makoto Itou.