Just then, a loud and long sound came from the area of her stomach, sounding exceptionally clear in the quiet classroom.
"!"
Reina's body froze instantly.
"Oh, no...!"
She had refused too quickly and too earnestly just now, completely forgetting that when she left the house this morning, her mother had been in a rush because of an emergency and hadn't had time to prepare a bento for her!
What now?
Go to the cafeteria? This option had barely popped into her head before Reina dismissed it herself.
That was impossible! She had just righteously used the excuse of having a bento made with love by her mother to reject Rin. If they were to bump into each other in the cafeteria...
The scene...
"Eek...!"
Just thinking about it made her feel mortified.
Then, the remaining option was...
Reina cast her gaze out the window with tragic resolve.
"...I guess I'll go to the school store and see if there are any yakisoba buns left!"
————————
After leaving the classroom, the sound of Yukishiro Rin's footsteps echoed in the slightly empty corridor during the lunch break, unhurried and steady.
She did not, as she had told Reina just now, head straight for the cafeteria in another building, which must be bustling with people by now.
Instead, after walking out of the corridor where Class B was located and turning a quiet corner, the young girl stopped without warning.
She leaned her back against the cold wall tiles, tilted her head slightly, and rested the back of her head gently against the wall.
The afternoon light slanted in from the window at the end of the corridor, creating a boundary of light and shadow across her delicate profile.
Although her face still maintained that indifferent expression, the subtle irritation and gloom revealed in the depths of her azure eyes showed that the young girl's mood was anything but calm.
So annoying.
Really... This isn't what we agreed upon... The script shouldn't have been like this at all!
Shouldn't you have teleported me to before the plot began?
Then I could have used my knowledge of the plot to take it step by step, and just as the show kicked off, I could have encountered the protagonist, Reina Tojo, in the most perfect way, leaving an impeccable first impression on the audience!
Then, just like all excellent character development depicts, I would slowly expand the depth of the character Yukishiro Rin, design a few small subplots, and properly showcase my personal charm!
Finally, among a crowd of candidates with different styles, relying on my unique charm, delicate emotional performance, and carefully designed highlight moments, I would successfully stand out and make you viewers produce my number one popularity ending CG!
How could you tell me, just as I arrived, "The plot has already entered the middle-to-late stages"? "The main character relationship network is basically stable"? "Audience retention and discussion rates are starting to show a downward trend"?
My performance and trainee career shouldn't be like this!
I—refuse—to—accept—this—!!!
[There's nothing that can be done about that. The entry point for native script characters is random, influenced by fluctuations in the original world line, the strength of the character's own presence, and some complex factors that even we find hard to fully analyze.]
The voice belonging to the large ball of light rang in her mind again, its tone seemingly carrying a hint of helpless apology.
[However, generally speaking, there are indeed very few cases like you, trainee, arriving late... hmm, arriving at such an opportune moment. I really don't know whether to say you're too lucky or just too unique.]
"Stop teasing me... Please, shouldn't this count as a performance mishap?" Yukishiro Rin complained in her consciousness, almost going crazy.
"Can't you... use some kind of admin privilege to adjust the plot back to the beginning and do it all over again? How am I supposed to act like this! The audience is almost all gone; am I supposed to act for the air?!"
[That won't work.] The other party's answer left no room for negotiation.
[Once a show begins recording and broadcasting, the already-aired plot forms a relatively stable record. This part of the record cannot be directly tampered with or reset; otherwise, it will trigger world-line logic conflicts and observer paradoxes. This is one of the most basic rules.]
It paused, its tone softening slightly, [However, perhaps I could try to apply to the higher-ups to give you some additional resource compensation or preferential treatment in your next script mission?]
"...Why does it sound like you've already accepted that I'm completely finished this time, and have even started discussing the next script?" Yukishiro Rin felt even more depressed.
[Then, do you have any other ideas, trainee?]
"I do have some..." Yukishiro Rin's gaze fell outside the window, "But... it might be a bit radical."
"I don't really understand what the composition of this so-called audience group is, how high their tolerance threshold is, or what their specific taste preferences are... so I was originally more inclined to play it safe."
"But now time is up, and attention is slipping away..." She mused, "If I follow the original script's path where the protagonist keeps running away, as a newcomer like Yukishiro Rin, if I just follow the steps, I'm afraid I won't even make a splash before I silently end along with the plot."
[So?]
"So, let's try a different approach."
"Since the steady, step-by-step path is blocked, let's go big." A flash of determination crossed Yukishiro Rin's eyes.
"Anyway, the situation couldn't get any worse, so why not just throw caution to the wind... No, that's not right. It's more like trying to save a dead horse, taking a gamble."
[The risk is very high. If the audience doesn't accept it, it might invite resentment and disgust, causing you to lose even your current baseline.] It reminded her objectively.
"You don't need to tell me that; I know it myself." Yukishiro Rin took a deep breath, "But I still want to... try."
[Is that so? Trainee, do you need me to turn on the bullet comments to help you analyze the situation?]
"There's a bullet comment feature?!" Yukishiro Rin couldn't help but shout in her heart. This was a bit unexpected, but it also strangely... fit the "show" setting very well.
[Yes. To make it easier for actors to confirm the effect of their performance, we provide all signed actors with a real-time bullet comment access feature.] It explained.
[Considering that this is your first time acting, to avoid poor performance states like stage fright, nervousness, or over-pandering caused by a large amount of instant feedback, I did not enable this feature by default for you in the initial stage.]
"Turn it on, turn it on right now!"
[Understood. By the way, a reminder: the bullet comment content is only a sample presentation of real-time audience feedback and may contain subjective, emotional, or even conflicting remarks. Please refer to it rationally.]
As soon as the prompt sound ended, translucent, flowing text began to appear at the edge of Yukishiro Rin's vision.
[So boring... Is this episode just spinning its wheels again?]
[It's the last few episodes, writer, please be a decent human being. You're not really going to leave it for a second season that we don't even know exists, are you?]
[I doubt it. The pacing of this plot is hopeless.]
[Sigh, what a waste of such good character designs and art style; the story is told in a fragmented mess.]
[Shiori, my wife, hasn't officially appeared for two episodes. I miss her.]
[Even Misaki's energy can't save this dragging plot...]
[Am I the only one who thinks this new character, Yukishiro Rin, is kind of interesting? Her temperament is very unique.]
[Ms. Yukishiro Rin is so cute! Even though she doesn't have much screen time, that cold yet slightly dazed feeling is so erotic!]
Yukishiro Rin scanned these flowing words with a calm expression, though her heartbeat seemed to speed up a little.
The tone, word choice, and focus of these bullet comments... were surprisingly not much different from the commenting style of viewers chasing shows on the internet in her previous life.
Complaining about the plot dragging, yearning for character interactions, being sensitive to character designs, easily developing feelings for specific tropes... It seems that even if the worlds are different, the underlying logic of the audience is the same.
This put her mind at ease; at least she wasn't performing for a group of alien viewers she couldn't understand at all.
The direction for breaking the deadlock seemed to have vaguely taken shape.
[How is it, trainee? Is the plan feasible?]
"Pretty much... Also, don't call me trainee anymore. Call me host, and I'll call you System. How about that?"
"I'm more used to these two terms, and they also have more of a... hmm, sense of being in the same boat, don't they?"
Mainly because it sounded more like the protagonist setup in certain novels, which could give her a subtle psychological hint and a sense of confidence.
[Understood, host.] The System followed suit and immediately changed the address.
Hmm, feels good. This title has some weight to it.
"Then," Yukishiro Rin straightened her body and left the wall she was leaning against.
"Let's begin."
"In Yukishiro Rin's way... No, in my way."
"Let's bring this pool of tepid water, which is about to freeze over, to a full boil."