Chapter 193: The Aftermath of the Storm (and a New, Terrible Idea)

The green room is silent. Utterly, profoundly silent. The only sound is the distant, muffled roar of the crowd cheering for Ichigo, who is, at this very moment, probably charming them with witty anecdotes, completely oblivious (or, more likely, deliberately oblivious) to the emotional wreckage he/she just left behind.

Rina, Haruka, and Aiwa are frozen, standing in a small triangle of mutual shock. Their faces are pale, their minds clearly trying to compute the sheer volume of data they just received. Izumi is Ichigo. Izumi knows about Rina's trackers. Izumi knows about Haruka's drone. Izumi knows about Aiwa's childhood promise. And Izumi's final, devastatingly intimate comment ("Do not keep a lady waiting, okay?") was directed at me. It was a confession, a challenge, and a confirmation, all wrapped in one infuriatingly charming package.

Miki is the first to move. She slowly, deliberately, pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose, her expression unreadable, though I can see a muscle twitching in her jaw. She looks at the three stunned goddesses. She looks at me (still trying to merge with the wall, my heart hammering like a trapped bird). She looks at Kenji, who is still blissfully comatose on the pile of costume bags, a faint, happy smile on his face, probably dreaming of mecha and idols.

"Well," Miki says, her voice unnervingly calm, like a surgeon assessing a multi-car pileup before they start amputating. "That was… informative. It seems our 'Ichigo Threat Assessment' was woefully incomplete. We were analyzing a chess player, while she was playing 4D poker."

"She… she knew," Haruka whispers, her voice hoarse, her usual cool, analytical facade completely shattered. "The drone. She knew. She let me 'observe' her. She was feeding me data." She looks physically ill. "She was toying with me. With all of us." The idea that she, Haruka Ito, the master strategist, was someone else's pawn is clearly a reality-bending horror for her. She looks violated.

"The trackers," Rina mutters, her hands clenched into fists, her face pale with a mixture of rage and humiliation. "The lint ball! The hoodie! She knew about the lint ball! How could she know about the lint ball?! Did you tell her?!" she suddenly shrieks, whirling on me, her primary scapegoat.

"No!" I protest, my hands raised in surrender. "I did not even know about the lint ball until she did! I swear! I am just as confused as you are! Probably more!"

"And… and my promise," Aiwa whispers, her voice trembling, tears welling up in her eyes. "She knew about the park. She knew it was Rui-kun. She… she was listening to us. All this time." The betrayal of her deepest, most personal secret, the one she had only just shared with our group, seems to hit her the hardest. The fact that Izumi knew, and used it, even playfully, feels like a deep violation.

"She called him 'Rui'," Rina says, her voice dangerously quiet, the pieces clicking into place in her head with terrifying speed. "She did not call him 'handler-kun' at the end. She called him 'Rui'. Just like she did at the supermarket. And she said, 'Do not keep a lady waiting'." Her gaze snaps to me, sharp and full of a new, terrifying suspicion that combines all her previous fears. "How long have you known? How long have you been lying to us? How long have you been… her friend?"

"I- I just found out!" I stammer, which is technically true, if "just found out" means "had my suspicions violently confirmed in the most confusing way possible." "At the cybercafe! And the ramen shop! She was dropping hints! I was not sure until right now! I swear! She is just this confusing, trolling gamer girl!"

"LIES!" Rina accuses, her voice rising. "You had secret dates! You ate ramen! You played games! While I was worried sick about you being abducted!"

"They were not dates!" I protest weakly. "It was… competitive eating! And collaborative monster-slaying! It was research!"

"This is counter-productive," Miki cuts in, her voice sharp as steel, stopping Rina's impending meltdown. "Recriminations can wait. We have a panel to survive."

"A panel?" Haruka scoffs, looking like she would rather be anywhere else on Earth. "You want us to go out on stage and sit next to her after that?! After she just metaphorically pantsed us in front of Rui-kun?!"

"Yes," Miki says firmly, her gaze unwavering. "Because if you do not, she wins. Completely. She gets the stage all to herself, the press wonders where you are, and she controls the entire narrative. You will look like cowards who ran away from a single, (admittedly very skilled) troll."

Miki's cold, pragmatic logic is undeniable. It is a poisoned pill, but we have to swallow it. Rina, Haruka, and Aiwa exchange looks. They are furious, humiliated, and deeply confused. But more than any of that, they are rivals. And they will not, under any circumstances, let Ichigo/Izumi win by default.

"Fine," Rina grits out, her expression hardening into the icy, professional mask of Ectiqa. Her fingers are still trembling slightly, but her resolve is back. "Let's go. I have a few… questions of my own for 'Ichigo-sama'."

"Indeed," Haruka agrees, her Hime-Hime persona snapping back into place like a suit of armor. Her voice is cold and precise again, but her eyes are still processing the drone revelation. "A public forum seems like an excellent opportunity for… clarification."

Aiwa just nods, wiping her eyes furiously. She takes a deep, shuddering breath, and the heartbroken Aiwa recedes, replaced by the cool, serene, and now deeply, chillingly sad LUNA.

"Good," Miki says. "Hana, fix Rina's eyeliner, she has rage-smudged it. Rui, wake up Kenji. We need our baggage carrier, and he is currently a fire hazard on those costume bags."

"Wait, I have to wake him up?" I ask, looking at Kenji's blissfully peaceful, drooling face.

Miki just gives me a look that says, 'You are the cause of all this, you deal with the unconscious sidekick.' I sigh, walking over to Kenji.

"Hey, Kenji," I say, nudging him, perhaps a bit more forcefully than necessary. "Wake up. The show is about to start. Time to face the consequences of our terrible life choices."

Kenji groans, his eyes fluttering open. "Wha…? Did I miss it? Did Ichigo-sama ascend to a higher plane of existence after revealing his true, trollish nature?" (He was conscious for that part?)

"Close," I mutter. "He/she just declared war on all of us, and now we have to go sit next to her and pretend to be friends for an hour. Come on."

"Awesome!" Kenji gasps, scrambling to his feet, instantly energized by the promise of more drama.

The stage door opens. The host's voice booms. "And now, please welcome our other incredible guests! The queens of cosplay! Ectiqa, Hime-Hime, and LUNA!"

The three of them, now in full, terrifying performance mode, glide onto the stage to a roar of applause. Ichigo is already seated, looking infuriatingly charming, and he/she smirks at them as they sit down, pointedly leaving an empty chair between himself/herself and Rina.

I am watching from the wings, my heart pounding, holding my breath. This is not a Q&A panel. This is a powder keg with a microphone.