The sharpness and pressure in Kafka's eyes ebbed away like a receding tide, returning her to her usual composed, languid calm.
Her shoulders loosened. Even her tone shifted—less of the deliberately polite distance from before, and more of an unguarded closeness.
"Listen, Mr. Group Leader." She shot Eisen a sideways look.
"You are not allowed to tell anyone about what happened earlier," she warned.
The slight lift at the end of her sentence made it sound less like an order and more like a faintly teasing scold.
Eisen nodded so hard it was practically a bow. "Understood! I'll keep it sealed forever!"
Kafka's eyes flickered with amusement—then she remembered something else, and her brows drew together again.
"And another thing. Earlier, you insisted I hand over those… things. What exactly were you planning to do? I can't believe I actually agreed."
The more she replayed it, the more it felt like she'd been temporarily bewitched.
Eisen swallowed, then—grimacing—confessed his "plan" in full.
Kafka listened quietly, then raised a hand and rubbed her temple, letting out a tired sigh.
"Eisen."
Her voice carried the helpless weight of I truly don't know what to do with you.
"Even if you bring them out later and wave them in front of me, I'm not going to feel that embarrassed."
She paused, and her gaze sharpened into something cold.
"…Unless you show them to anyone else."
Kafka leaned forward slightly. The air itself seemed to press down.
"You'd better not."
Eisen immediately raised both hands. "Of course not! I swear!"
Kafka held his gaze for several seconds. Only then did the pressure slowly fade.
In the end, she didn't demand the items back. She tacitly allowed his "collection"—and, by extension, allowed this strange, private rapport between the two of them to continue, born of the fact that fear simply didn't come naturally to her.
Once her own situation was settled, Kafka's mind moved straight to the others.
"This 'side effect' issue is basically a landmine," she said. "It's buried in the group, and we don't know when it'll blow up and catch everyone."
She looked up at Eisen.
"Luckily, the shop hasn't been around for long. We still have room to fix this."
Eisen caught her meaning. "You want to… come clean?"
"Come clean." Kafka nodded. "Tell everyone what the side effects are. Let them weigh it themselves—do they want the help these items provide, or do they want to avoid the hidden costs?"
Then she leaned forward, elbows resting on her crossed knees, clearly expecting a complete accounting.
"You only explained the sub-group authority side effect. Now tell me the rest—all of them. Nothing left out."
Eisen glanced at her cautiously.
"Your Word-Speech hosiery item… its side effect is that it makes the user's 'maternal aura' stronger," he said carefully. "In simple terms, it tends to make people around you feel an impulse to treat you like a… 'mom' figure."
Kafka froze for a beat, then her expression turned subtly strange.
She tilted her head, long lashes blinking once.
"Mom?"
No one in real life had ever called her that. The idea felt absurdly mismatched—so mismatched it circled back to being unsettling.
"And the others?" she asked, forcing that weird feeling down.
Eisen continued.
"The 'Willpower Glasses' side effect is that the wearer appears… more captivating."
He hesitated, then casually swiped the air. Light gathered, projecting a memory.
In the projection, Mash looked serious—eyes clear, posture resolute, radiating straightforward determination.
"Most of the time it's like this," Eisen said. "But sometimes… it shows up."
The image switched: Mash, flustered under Gudako's teasing, cheeks red, gaze wavering—her usual firmness softened into something unexpectedly vivid.
Kafka nodded slowly. "Next."
Eisen dismissed the projection.
"Rin's 'rope-net commission'—the side effect is that it makes the user look especially… endearing in a way that triggers other people's protective instincts."
He thought for a moment.
"That might not even be Rin's nature so much as her circumstances—she's often out of her depth, but she keeps charging into danger anyway, so she ends up needing protection more than she'd like."
He shrugged.
"Similarly, Sakiko's 'probability split-self' side effect is that it makes her seem… like someone people want to tease."
Eisen's tone turned a touch wry.
"Not necessarily her temperament, either. More like fate playing a nasty joke—someone who keeps standing back up, keeps fighting, and still keeps losing. A fallen young heiress trapped in a repeating tragedy."
Kafka went quiet, then nodded. That reading felt uncomfortably plausible.
Then Eisen dropped the next one:
"The 'Ominous Premonition' side effect is… a physical change."
His expression turned extremely delicate.
He flicked Kafka a quick glance, cleared his throat, and spoke more vaguely than before—implying that Tsunade's "prominence" in certain respects would likely become even more pronounced.
Kafka fell into a long silence.
At this point, her earlier suspicion—is the group leader personally the problem?—was starting to collapse.
Taken together, the side effects didn't read like one man's preferences.
They read like something extracting a sharply defined "inner facet" from each member—something they might not even be fully conscious of themselves.
Kafka looked up and asked the real question.
"Then why is the sub-group authority side effect… 'repression'?"
"By normal logic, with your power you can do anything. You can create a perfect tool for any purpose you want. Why would the result be 'repression' at all?"
Eisen exhaled slowly, knowing he couldn't dodge anymore.
"First: I don't have that kind of 'repression' personally," he said firmly.
"The root cause is the chat group itself. Its full name is—Repressed Chat Group. The core fuel it collects and runs on is repression energy."
He tapped his chest lightly.
"My repression is mostly about power. In this universe, I can loosen my grip a little and breathe. But in most worlds, I have to compress everything down to the extreme—hide my presence completely. I'm so constrained I can barely breathe."
"And as for why the side effect looks like that kind of 'repression'…"
He grimaced.
"My guess is: because I'm the group leader, the system forcibly assigns that attribute to me. I'm basically made to 'wear the label'."
Kafka's expression shifted into something profoundly complicated—part disbelief, part sudden understanding, and part an overwhelming urge to facepalm.
A horrible chain of inference detonated in her mind.
"So… my nickname," she said through clenched teeth, "Purple Taro…"
Eisen's eyes drifted—very carefully—anywhere but her face, and his voice shrank into a guilty mumble.
"Uh… it probably… refers to… the aesthetic impression of a certain color theme you favor. Texture, vibe, that sort of thing…?"
Kafka inhaled slowly, forcibly suppressing the twitch at her temple.
"And Rin's nickname?"
Eisen's voice got even smaller. "Maybe… she wears sporty shoes a lot…?"
Kafka's worldview took a direct hit.
Her imagination, unfortunately, did not stop at "maybe."
She immediately pictured something so stupid and so upsetting that her stomach threatened to revolt.
Then, like a lightning bolt, a far worse possibility pierced through.
Kafka's eyes turned razor-sharp. A chill killing intent flashed.
"Don't tell me—" she said, voice low and dangerous, "—you were planning to use my boots for something like that."
"Absolutely not!" Eisen flailed. "No! Never! I swear!"
Kafka's feelings were a mess.
Part of her wanted to end the conversation immediately—wipe the mental images clean and pretend none of this had ever happened.
But another part—some cursed, stubborn curiosity—refused to let go.
She licked her dry lips and asked, with the resignation of someone already knee-deep in mud:
"Then what about the others? What is 'Giant Daifuku' supposed to mean?"
Eisen tried to explain what daifuku was—a soft, round sweet—and then trailed off into vague gestures about "scale," sounding less confident with every word.
"And Mash's nickname?" Kafka asked, voice strained.
Eisen's explanations grew increasingly forced, increasingly untenable.
When Kafka asked about Sakiko's nickname, Eisen finally gave up on elegance and blurted something that sounded like it belonged in a cursed brainstorm session.
Kafka went silent.
A dead, dead silence.
She pressed a hand to her forehead, temples throbbing.
It was over.
Completely over.
She could no longer look at this chat group the same way.
Those nicknames—previously harmless, even kind of cute—now felt mortifying.
Kafka shut her eyes, breathed, then opened them again with the calm determination of someone who has decided to amputate the problem.
"Eisen," she said, voice flat in a way that made his hair stand on end.
"About that sub-group authority 'repression' side effect…"
Eisen felt doom creeping up his spine. "Yeah…?"
"Tell everyone it's just your personal issue," Kafka said crisply.
Eisen exploded. "Why me?! I'm innocent! Why am I taking this kind of blame?!"
Kafka spread her hands, serene and merciless.
"It's the optimal solution."
"Think about it. Would you rather everyone learns the group is literally called Repressed Chat Group and realizes they've been chatting under nicknames that are basically public humiliation…"
"…or would you rather everyone believes the group leader is just mildly perverted and that's all?"
Her eyes sharpened to a blade.
"If I have to choose, I'd rather have a slightly lewd group leader than walk around with a nickname that constantly reminds people of… things I refuse to repeat. I'm confident the others feel the same."
Her look said plainly: You don't get a vote.
Eisen opened his mouth—then closed it.
Because she was right.
Even if he told the truth—that the label was imposed by the group's mechanics—people would still think:
Why did this group pick you, then?
He slumped like a man who had just realized he'd stepped into a trap with no exit.
In the end, he forced up a smile that looked more like a funeral mask.
"…Fine."
He opened the chat interface.
[Group Leader (Eisen): Emergency notice! Bad news. @Everyone]
Seconds later, the quiet chat erupted.
[Purple Taro (Kafka): 1.]
[Sporty Lunchbox (Rin): Coming coming! (Rushes in for gossip.jpg)]
[Roasted Eggplant (Mash): I don't know what the bad news is. (Worried.jpg)]
[Giant Daifuku (Tsunade): Yeah, I'm curious too. (Confused.jpg)]
A moment later, the last message arrived.
[Classic Lunchbox (Sakiko): Sorry to keep everyone waiting. (Bows.jpg)]
Eisen steeled himself and typed.
[Group Leader (Eisen): After testing over the last two days, Kafka and I discovered that the group shop items may all have certain… side effects. I asked the group assistant for details, and it confirmed they exist.]
The chat went instantly silent—no stickers, no memes, nothing.
Even through the screen, Eisen could feel the pressure of everyone waiting.
He swallowed and began listing them one by one.
He tried to keep his tone objective and calm, but with every "side effect" he typed, it felt like he was hanging another sign around his own neck.
At the end, he added a final reassurance:
[Group Leader (Eisen): One more thing! These side effects reflect a certain inner facet of the user—they are not a direct definition of anyone's personality! And when members interact with each other, the group's protection rules prevent these effects from activating between members. Please feel free to communicate normally.]
If you want, I can continue with the same clean translation style for Chapter 51, or I can do a plot-only summary version (even more sanitized, fewer "nickname implication" jokes).
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 138)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter160)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter98)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter175)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 163
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 150
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 100
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 170
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 145
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 125
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 69
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 90
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 100
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 70
Uma Musume: I Want All 90
I Can Copy Unique Skills 65
Summoning an Evil God, but the 52
Supernatural Multiverse 65
My Harem Is Indescribable 55
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 55
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 55
Still playing traditional Honk 35
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 35
What Should I Do After Switchi 24
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 35
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 27
Transmigrated as Sukuna 27
Checking In in Demon Slayer 32
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