Aunt Xiangzi, how did you manage to live?

The mirror reflected the girl's pretty and energetic face, but the words she murmured were somewhat insincere.

Okay, actually, even Banami isn't that carefree.

The memory of witnessing Kazama and Hatsuka stargazing together at the planetarium while she had to quietly withdraw still lingers in her mind.

However, she only became the host of the Kazama Akatsuki system by chance, and had no other relationship with him.

Of course, she had no reason to pry into other people's privacy, did she?

What exactly is his relationship with Su Shi, Chu Hua, and Li Xi, etc.? In the end, it's all about their own responsibilities and boundaries.

"Hmm... I guess having this kind of mentality is the root of being a loser."

As Banami carefully examined the girl in the mirror who still saw herself as an outsider, she felt for the first time that her appearance was somewhat unfamiliar.

Forget it, there's no point in thinking about it anymore. I'd better go back and read my novel.

But just as she was about to head home, that voice in her head rang out again, at an inopportune moment—

[Warning: The system has detected signs that your identity is about to be revealed. If this continues unchecked, the system will repeat the previous steps and try to resolve the timeline conflict in its own way.]

"………What?"

Banami was a little dizzy from the shrill system sound, but even if she covered her ears with her hands, she couldn't get rid of the sound that originated from inside her brain.

What worldline contradictions... what leaking of true identity?

Completely baffled by what the system was saying, Banami hadn't caused any trouble lately—even when surfing the internet to watch videos or logging into novel apps to follow updates, she was a paid, legitimate user.

However, since this thing is bound to Kazama, it can at least be said that the person it is referring to as "revealing his identity" is Kazama.

If there's any possibility that this guy's identity might be revealed...

In a very short time, Banami thought of that photo.

Although Nagasaki Motoyo seems completely unaware, and she herself was traumatized by this photo... no matter how you look at it, Kazama's secret must be related to her.

"Hmm... I can't figure it out."

Unfortunately, Ms. Hanami's intelligence is not yet sufficient for her to deduce the truth of the matter.

Compared to a certain detective with sharp ears and quick wit, Ms. Banami's intelligence and intuition skills are basically all invested in her appetite, so no matter how hard she racks her brains, she can't come up with a reasonable truth.

"Forget it, this isn't something I should worry about. Oh well, let that guy worry about it himself. I can just remind him when I get back?"

After a brief moment of thought, she decided to put this troublesome matter aside for the time being. After washing her hands and drying them with a tissue, she walked out of the bathroom feeling refreshed.

However, when she calmly and composedly walked out of the restroom, the outside world was completely different from when she had just gone in.

"What are you guys doing there...?"

She immediately spotted Su Shi, the most etiquette-conscious member of the team, sitting in her seat, leaning her head against her phone with a very unladylike manner.

Chihaya Aine, not to be outdone, squeezed her head in as well, and the two of them remained locked in a stalemate, staring intently at the phone screen as if it were Pandora's box drawing their attention.

"What are you two doing?!"

Suddenly feeling a tightness in her chest, Yaiba's earlier relaxation vanished. A strange unease crept over her, and she quickly walked to Suze and Aine, snatching her phone back.

Only then did she realize that the video playing on the screen was one she had never seen before.

A woman with short, snow-white hair and heterochromatic eyes like a cat is teaching a naive and inexperienced boy how to play the simplest guitar chords.

"This is……"

Seeing that Aine and Suze's expressions were already blank, Banai realized that her own expression was no better.

The delicate and youthful boy still looked ten or even nine parts similar to a certain absent boy, and the casual white-haired woman also looked very much like Lenai, whom she had met before.

—What the heck is this now?!

How did this video, which appeared out of nowhere, end up on her phone while she was just using the restroom?!

"……How is this going?"

Su Shi muttered to herself, still staring intently at the phone screen that Banami had placed aside, as she was struck by a series of shocks.

"Hey... was that video of Kazama-sensei when he was a child? The picture quality is so good... even my embarrassing childhood videos aren't this high definition."

Aine's focus was a bit off, but she quickly realized what was going on.

"Wait a minute—that white-haired girl looks so much like Rakuna! Is she a relative of Rakuna? Rakuna's family is actually related to Kazama-sensei?!"

The reasoning and speculation were very conventional, but that alone was not enough to convince Nagasaki Motoyo, who had witnessed the strange occurrences one after another.

"Why did this video end up on my phone...?"

Banami exited the video interface in utter confusion, only then noticing that the video was sent from a private account on an SNS platform.

In that instant, she suddenly remembered the "warning" the system had given her in the restroom—

Banami twitched the corner of her mouth.

It's certain that this was the system's doing.

Chapter 18 Cat Lena or Aunt Lena?

First, a strange photo appeared in her bag, and then a nonsensical video was sent to her private message window by a private account.

Hanami Anna is now really in a situation where she can't clear her name even if she jumps into the Yellow River.

"What exactly is going on... I think we need to sit down and have a serious talk, Anzu-san."

Nagasaki Motoyo was already suspicious, but after the previous photo incident, she had become much more composed, which is why she was able to patiently sit down and demand an explanation from Hanami.

"Huh? Should we find out who's behind this prank video? This is so much fun!"

Aine, on the other hand, was completely out of sorts. The cheerful girl thought that Suze was just making a mountain out of a molehill by clinging to Banami.

"Uh... if I still say that I really don't know anything, will you believe me?"

Banami twitched the corners of her mouth and sat obediently in her seat, feeling extremely uncomfortable, like a prisoner being interrogated and not daring to look directly into Su Shi's sharp and piercing eyes.

"I've heard Anzu say something like that before!"

Su Shi, unlike her usual gentle and considerate self, frowned and held on to this matter tightly, her tone now sounding somewhat aggressive.

"Huh...before? What before? Why does Soyorin's expression suddenly become so serious..."

Aine, belatedly realizing the tense atmosphere, felt at a loss. As the group's little sun, she naturally wanted to speak up and mediate—but unfortunately, she couldn't stop Sue, who was already so suspicious that she wanted to get to the bottom of things.

You don't understand this.

"I...I don't understand...If you don't explain what's going on, of course I won't understand!"

Only then did Aine realize that the two actually had a past connection, and she felt a little uncomfortable.

Actually, she doesn't really mind having some little secrets among her friends and companions; after all, girls are such complex creatures.

However, their "connection" was closely related to her teacher, Kazama, and the two of them tacitly kept it from her—which inevitably made Aine feel a little wronged.

"Well……"

Su Shi also realized that there were indeed things she did that were difficult to explain to Aine, so she stopped facing Banami's incessant questioning and simply shut her mouth, feeling a little guilty.

"Well, this situation is the same as before, I have absolutely no idea what's going on..."

When Banami lies, she always stammers a bit to appear serious, but since Suze herself was at a loss for words due to Aine's relentless questioning, she was able to straighten her back and regain some composure.

"Besides, you all saw it, right? It was this private account that sent it to me without my permission. I hadn't even followed this account before—shouldn't we grab this guy and get to the bottom of this? And isn't it a bit too impolite to just snatch someone else's phone and watch videos like that?"

Having regained some confidence, she quickly seized upon the fact that Su Shi and Ai Yin had grabbed her phone to watch videos in a moment of panic to turn the tables on them—no, to clear herself of suspicion.

"This...it was just because the video was already playing automatically, and we did it out of curiosity..."

As expected, Su Shi, who knew she was in the wrong, was immediately distracted and began to defend her behavior.

This is exactly the kind of development that Banami wanted.

"Even if you want to see it, you have to get my permission first! Or at the very least, you have to wait until I get back!"

"Hmm...you're right, Anzu. I really do have to apologize to you about this."

Su Shi solemnly bowed his head to her and sincerely expressed his apology.

"But please understand... I was just a little too excited just now..."

Hmph, it seems she doesn't need to worry about Su Shi, who is naturally suspicious, digging up the fact that she has a system, for the time being.

"It's okay... I'm also a little unsure where this video came from."

Having pulled herself out of the vortex of doubt, Banami waved her hand dismissively at Suze, then turned her gaze to Aine, who was forcing a smile.

Although the pink-haired girl tried her best to appear indifferent and calm without saying a word, she was clearly hurt by Su Shi's attitude of treating her as an outsider whose secrets she couldn't reveal.

"Oh, if you're interested, go ahead and watch! It's no big deal, anyway, I didn't create it in the first place!"

Wanting to offer comfort but unsure of what to say, Banami simply placed her phone on the table and replayed the video that had captivated the two girls.

"Anyway, let me make this clear first: I have absolutely no idea how this ended up on my phone."

Banami solemnly raised four fingers and made the most solemn oath of her life.

"If I'm lying, may I spend my whole life choking on fast food hamburgers, gaining 20 pounds from eating dessert every time, finding cockroaches in discounted rice balls and not being able to claim compensation from the owner! In short, may I never be able to eat to my heart's content!"

"You're being too hard on yourself, Apricot Sauce!"

Her words successfully dispelled Aine's previous dejection, causing her to immediately abandon her nonsensical emotions and have her attention diverted by her solemn oath.

Phew, that's great. If even Little Sun were to become discouraged, she would feel uneasy, overwhelmed by a strange sense of responsibility.

However, after changing the subject, new difficulties arrived as expected.

"So the people in this video are really Kazama-sensei from when I was a kid... and a woman who looks a lot like Rakuna-chan, right?"

When Aine first started playing the detective game, she was clearly not as perceptive as Hatsuka. She could only match the boy's identity to the two people in the video based on their physical characteristics and the conversation between them, but she couldn't convince herself to accept the fact that the other woman was Rana.

"Uh...could it be that Renai-chan's heterochromia is actually a family trait?"

Fortunately, Hatsuka wasn't there, otherwise she would probably have just smiled and thought that Aine's reasoning ability was only so-so.

As a normal person whose thinking cannot deviate from common sense, Aine still dared not boldly guess that this person was the real Kaname Rakuna.

"........."

Su Shi, whose gaze was still wandering, was already somewhat wavering.

"Xiaojun has been busy planning with Xiangzi and the others' band these past few days, so she probably can't get away. In that case..."

Having made up her mind, she looked up and fixed her gaze on the chair in RiNG's beverage shop, which was being used as a personal base by a stray cat.

"Then let's ask the other party involved."

Target locked, cat Lenai.

Chapter Nineteen: A Seamless Cat-Teasing Game

"Well."

At RiNG's beverage shop, a girl with short, snow-white hair, caught between three girls, looked around in a dilemma. Seeing that escape was impossible, she could only fix her gaze on the phone screen in front of her.

"Lenai, does this scene look familiar to you...?"

Su Shi maintained her gentle demeanor, smiling at Le Nai. However, the seemingly soft hand resting on Le Nai's shoulder would instantly pin her down the moment the girl slipped out of her grasp.

Nagasaki Motoyo came up with a plan to get Wildcat Girl, Yoru Nakamoto, to come out.

Asking her out is easy. Just type "Rakuna-chan, come to RiNG! I'll treat you to matcha parfait this afternoon" in Miss Wildcat's chat box. Even if Rakuna doesn't reply, it doesn't matter. You can then sit there calmly and wait for the fish... no, I mean, for the cat to take the bait.

And just as Su Shi had predicted, even though Le Nai didn't know how to use social media at all, as long as she saw the words "Matcha Parfait" in the chat box, she would automatically lock onto the destination and then automatically navigate to the RiNG store at the fastest speed.

The simplest way to get someone to take the bait is often to throw out the most basic bait—although doing so might seem like scheming against Miss Wildcat, Su Shi doesn't care whether her hands are clean or not.

"Sorry, Renai-chan, we just wanted you to watch this video out of curiosity... Please don't think of Soyorin as some kind of cruel person who tortures people!"

Aine was clearly not quite in the zone yet, still maintaining a friendly attitude, hoping everyone could speak politely. This was understandable, given that she wasn't particularly fixated on uncovering the secrets hidden behind the video.

What she longs for most is to see Kazama again and perform on stage together once more.

"Waaah... No matter how you look at it, it seems a bit like bullying small animals."