I'll post an extra chapter every 300 Power Stones. Good luck with that!
Goal for the next extra chapter: 155/300
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POV: Third Person
Noriko, sitting at home with a glass of wine in her hand, smiled as she read the latest tweet posted by the author Aoi Haruki—well, Kyo Evans. She found it amusing and felt like a winner.
But at what cost?
Why was it so important for her to reveal the identity of the author Aoi Haruki?
Even she wasn't sure.
She just felt like she had to do it. After being ignored so many times by the publisher that worked with Aoi Haruki, she felt challenged. And now, she had "won" that challenge she had created in her own mind.
"This feels so good." She smiled and placed the wine glass on the table beside her armchair. Then she glanced at her phone, which was receiving multiple messages. She caught a glimpse of a message from her superior.
She didn't even need to read it to be sure of one thing:
She was fired.
But she didn't care, because she already had another job lined up—with the same salary.
She wouldn't have to deal with any consequences.
Then her phone rang.
She looked at it and saw a call from an unknown number. She was surprised. At first, she thought about not answering, but decided to pick up. She answered with a wide, almost forced smile.
"Hello? Who is this?"
"Is this Noriko?"
"Yes, that's right."
"I'm sorry, but we won't be able to move forward with the job offer. After carefully reviewing the situation, we've decided not to proceed."
The woman's voice on the other end of the line was calm.
Noriko heard those words and her smile disappeared.
"What did you just say?"
"The job offer is no longer available. Thank you for your interest."
"Wait, but you promised!" Noriko shouted, but the woman had already hung up. Startled, Noriko sent a message to the man who had secured her position at the new company.
But her number had been blocked.
"That son of a bitch!" she shouted, throwing her wine glass across the room. It hit the thin wall of her apartment.
"Hey, what the hell was that!?" a man shouted from the other side of the wall. "Do you want me to call the landlord? Keep it down, damn it!"
"Damn it!" Noriko yelled and kicked the armchair. Then she grabbed her phone and called her friend. As soon as her friend answered, she spoke.
"Everything went wrong. That job offer is gone. I'm screwed."
"Noriko…"
"What!?"
"They found out I was the one feeding you information."
"What? How?"
"I don't know either. I think it was Asuna—she must have figured it out. Maybe the agency contacted her because of the audio I recorded, and then they investigated what happened."
"In such a short time…"
"We're talking about Amuse Inc! Do you have any idea how big that company is? What am I supposed to do now, Noriko? I lost my job too!"
Before her friend could say anything else, Noriko hung up and threw her phone against the wall.
"That's enough! This has gone too far!" the man shouted from the other side.
"Just shut up, you useless fat idiot! Can't you see I'm going through something here!?"
"What did you call me?" The man slammed against the wall from the other side.
Noriko ignored him and grabbed her own hair.
She picked up her phone—now with a cracked screen—and opened her messages. Then she read the messages from her superior.
Her superior was furious.
What caught her attention the most was the last message.
It said that Noriko would be sued for everything she had caused—especially for invasion of privacy.
She had accessed private emails, leaked them, and recorded a private meeting without permission.
At that moment, Noriko realized that this had been the worst decision she had ever made in her life.
"Damn it… what have I done?" Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Her previous smile turned into a look of pure despair. The image of Kyo Evans appeared in her mind instantly.
"That bastard. This is all his fault!"
Noriko decided to take revenge on Kyo Evans for ruining her life.
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POV: Kyo
The next day arrived, and I woke up to go to school. I thought it might not be a good idea to go today, but I decided to go anyway. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about what would happen.
During breakfast, I picked up my phone to check how things were going.
My latest Twitter post had surpassed 200,000 likes. It had even broken records!
'This is scary… I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before—not even in my previous world. Especially for a Japanese author.'
"What is it?"
"I'm a bit overwhelmed by the number of comments and likes my last post received. I didn't think it would reach this level."
"You really have no idea how famous you are. You say you understand, but you don't. When you get to school, you'll understand."
"What do you mean?"
"I got a call from your principal. She said it would be better if you didn't go to school today. I told her you wanted to go anyway, and she said that's fine. But you need to be careful."
"Is it really that bad?"
"Yes, it is. So be very careful."
"Don't worry, I will."
"Oh, before you go, take this." My mother tossed a mask to me—a black cloth mask. It looked like the kind I used during the pandemic in my previous world.
"It won't help much at school. Everyone will know it's me."
She also threw a cap at me and said, "But you need to stay hidden until you get inside."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You'll see." My mother laughed.
I left the house, and Daiki was waiting for me outside in the car. As soon as I got in, he said:
"Are you ready?"
"Yes, I am."
The car started moving through the streets, and I kept the windows closed.
As soon as we got close to the school, I understood why my mother told me to bring a mask and a cap.
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Next Chapters: Chapter 77 - I will get my revenge! / Chapter 78 - This has gone too far. / Chapter 79 - Tiresome. / Chapter 80 - Kyo would never date a girl like me. / Chapter 81 - Unpleasant Conversation. / Chapter 82 - I was more nervous than I expected. / Chapter 83 - Press conference.