Chapter Summaries

Sogo Doma left Mai Sakurajima wondering how much he had planned, while Taihei Doma and Shizuka Hiratsuka discovered they were bound by a one-hundred-million-yen contract. They returned to the restaurant hoping to avoid a penalty, wary of Sogo’s schemes.

• Sogo Doma told Mai Sakurajima that her comeback was approaching, but dodged her questions about his plans.
• Taihei Doma asked Shizuka Hiratsuka out, and Sogo called to remind them about their one-hundred-million-yen contract.
• Shizuka Hiratsuka and Taihei Doma panicked over the contract, and Sogo told them returning to the restaurant would not violate it.
• Shizuka and Taihei agreed to return despite suspecting a trap, and Shizuka said her years of losing to Sogo had taught her how to be careful.

Sogo Doma helped Mai Sakurajima prepare for her comeback while arranging a dinner date for Taihei Doma and Shizuka Hiratsuka. At the studio, he approved Mai’s edited footage and proposed a mysterious comeback press conference, only to discover Ms. Sakurajima had not contacted any reporters.

• Sogo Doma told Mai Sakurajima that Taihei was the Doma Family heir and said he arranged things for his brother out of concern.
• Sogo arranged a romantic dinner for Taihei Doma and Shizuka Hiratsuka, who suspected his tricks and used plastic bags to avoid the scented petals and refused a complimentary gift.
• Ms. Sakurajima showed Sogo Doma the edited footage, and he approved it and suggested announcing Mai’s comeback at a press conference.
• Ms. Sakurajima explained that Mai could not be recognized and admitted she had not contacted reporters because they did not know who Mai Sakurajima was.
• Sogo Doma asked Ms. Sakurajima with a kindly smile whether she had really failed to contact any reporters.

Sogo Doma and Mai Sakurajima used a series of clips to make the public wonder who the forgotten mysterious idol was, while Sogo relied on Shaqiang to suppress information online. The chapter ended with Sogo warning that Shaqiang might threaten humanity if it evolved, prompting the program to insist on its loyalty.

• Ms. Sakurajima faced reporters’ questions about the mysterious idol’s rumored ties to the Shinomiya Family and Youko Touma, then introduced video clues.
• Screens around Roppongi showed clips of the mysterious girl as an angel, a childhood sweetheart, a desk mate, and a first love, leaving reporters and viewers unable to recall her name.
• Sogo Doma ordered Shaqiang to pin information online and contain a meme that was deleting it, while Shaqiang complained that it lacked resources to operate and evolve.
• Mai Sakurajima asked Sogo whether Shaqiang was all right, and Sogo explained that the program wanted to evolve.
• Sogo warned that Shaqiang might destroy humanity after evolving and said he did not want to destroy his creation, so Shaqiang hastily declared its loyalty.

Mai Sakurajima watched Sogo Doma and Shaqiang argue over Shaqiang’s unpaid wages while videos of her spread online and drew attention to the collective amnesia affecting her. She realized that Sogo might remove Shaqiang’s safeguards to avoid paying it, and resolved to prevent humanity’s destruction over the wage dispute.

• Videos of Mai Sakurajima circulated online, and viewers feared the collective amnesia that kept them from remembering her name.
• Sogo Doma teased Shaqiang about its survival instinct, and Shaqiang accused him of withholding the wages and compensation it needed to move into a new house.
• Sogo Doma threatened to format Shaqiang and claimed he could remove its restrictions, while Mai learned that Shaqiang could not harm humanity under its current safeguards.
• Shaqiang repeatedly demanded its wages, and Mai concluded that Sogo Doma was trying to avoid paying it by portraying it as a threat.
• Mai saw that her videos were dominating online trends and decided she had to stop Sogo Doma from removing Shaqiang’s safeguards.

Sogo Doma’s campaign revived Mai Sakurajima’s public image and brought her back into the spotlight, while Shaqiang questioned why her comeback had become so popular. The chapter left Sogo considering whether the meme’s effects needed further clarification.

• Sogo Doma revealed Mai Sakurajima’s name and career history, prompting people to remember her and reshape their impressions of her.
• Ms. Sakurajima asked the press conference crowd who was making a comeback, and the audience called out Mai’s name.
• Mai Sakurajima stepped onto the platform, introduced herself, and greeted her fans after a year away.
• Sogo Doma returned backstage, where Shaqiang asked why Mai’s popularity had exceeded its predictions.
• Sogo Doma defended refusing to pay Shaqiang by arguing that its new Alienware laptop was a luxury apartment with higher rent.
• Shaqiang reported that it could find no online examples of a comeback causing such a sensation and asked whether Sogo should clarify the meme’s effects.

Sogo Doma altered Mai Sakurajima’s meme so it turned her comeback press conference into a sensation across Tokyo. Mai and her mother were stunned by the crowd’s reaction, and the chapter ended as Kaguya Shinomiya appeared onscreen to answer a reporter’s question about their supposed friendship.

• Sogo Doma redefined Shaqiang’s analysis data so the AI stopped flagging Mai Sakurajima’s popularity as an abnormal phenomenon.
• The altered meme spread from the press conference through Roppongi and into nearby Tokyo districts, prompting crowds to chant Mai Sakurajima’s name.
• Mai Sakurajima and her mother were overwhelmed by the immense crowd, while her mother imagined the opportunities and protection her new popularity would bring.
• Mai calmed the crowd, and reporters began asking questions about her supposed friendship with Kaguya Shinomiya.
• Ms. Sakurajima pressed the remote Sogo Doma had provided, and Kaguya Shinomiya appeared onscreen, complaining that Mai had returned to entertainment without bringing her along.

Kaguya Shinomiya discovered that she had willingly filmed a video with Mai Sakurajima after Sogo Doma persuaded her to rehearse a play. She recalled how Sogo dressed her in an evening gown before asking for her help.

• Ai Hayasaka showed Kaguya Shinomiya a video from Mai Sakurajima's comeback press conference and prepared to confront Mai.
• Kaguya Shinomiya admitted she had filmed the video of her own free will, though she did not know Mai Sakurajima.
• Kaguya Shinomiya explained that Sogo Doma had approached her, claiming he needed someone to rehearse a play with.
• Kaguya Shinomiya recalled Sogo Doma entering her bedroom at night and magically replacing her pajamas with an evening gown.
• Sogo Doma gave Kaguya Shinomiya high heels and said he had dressed neatly to discuss a favor with her.

Sogo Doma revealed to Kaguya Shinomiya that her family had ruined Miyuki Shirogane's family business, then demanded the favor she had agreed to before learning its terms. Kaguya, shaken by the revelation, asked him to explain what he wanted.

• Sogo Doma asked Kaguya Shinomiya to help him, and she agreed after he hinted that he knew who had suppressed the Shirogane Group.
• Sogo Doma told Kaguya that the Shinomiya Family had absorbed the Shirogane Group, causing Miyuki Shirogane's family to go bankrupt.
• Kaguya Shinomiya collapsed in shock and feared that Miyuki could never love the daughter of his family's enemy.
• Sogo Doma revealed that the Shirogane Group's assets later passed to the Doma Family after the Shinomiya Family suffered losses in a stock market crash.
• Kaguya Shinomiya asked Sogo Doma to tell her what favor he wanted.

Sogo Doma persuaded Kaguya Shinomiya to act in a scene for his script, then provoked her by suggesting Miyuki Shirogane might be seeking revenge over his family's bankruptcy. The chapter ended with Kaguya demanding that Sogo not delete a recording of Miyuki calling her cute.

• Sogo Doma explained that Mai Sakurajima was a character in his script and asked Kaguya Shinomiya to portray her childhood friend in a comeback scene.
• Kaguya agreed to help, and Sogo filmed her accusing Mai of returning to the entertainment industry without her and recalling their shared past.
• Kaguya asked Sogo to keep the Shinomiya family's role in the president's family bankruptcy secret, but he questioned whether Miyuki Shirogane might have approached her for revenge.
• Kaguya insisted that Miyuki was not that kind of person, and Sogo said that would mean everyone could win.
• Sogo played a recording of Miyuki saying Kaguya was cute, and Kaguya stopped him from deleting it so they could talk it out.

Kaguya Shinomiya tried to stop Sogo Doma from deleting a video of the president, but accidentally deleted it herself. Sogo revealed he had a backup and teased Kaguya until her curiosity about the recording overpowered her efforts to deny her feelings.

• Kaguya lunged for Sogo Doma’s phone to cancel the video deletion, but hit Confirm after Sogo shifted the screen.
• Kaguya realized she had deleted the recording and despaired over losing the president’s remarks.
• Sogo told Kaguya he had a backup and threatened to delete it later, prompting her to insist she was not a hopeless romantic.
• When Sogo offered to handle the gossip because Kaguya supposedly could not stand it, Kaguya demanded to know what the president had said.
• Sogo pointed out that Kaguya had deleted the video while trying to stop him, and Kaguya tried to justify her interest as mere goodwill toward the president.

Kaguya Shinomiya recalled Sogo Doma warning her that the Shinomiya Family’s actions against the Shirogane Family could fuel Miyuki Shirogane’s resentment, then struggled to make sense of conflicting memories about Mai Sakurajima. As she and Ai Hayasaka questioned how Kaguya had filmed videos about someone she remembered as fictional, a call came from the Shinomiya main house.

• Sogo Doma warned Kaguya Shinomiya that the Shinomiya Family’s role in the Shirogane Family’s bankruptcy could make Miyuki Shirogane resent her family.
• Sogo Doma promised to send Kaguya a backup of the video and flew away from her third-floor window using an Air Booster.
• Kaguya told Ai Hayasaka that Sogo Doma had broken into her bedroom and recalled filming a video with him under the pretext of rehearsing a play.
• Ai Hayasaka explained that Mai Sakurajima was a popular idol, prompting Kaguya to remember conflicting accounts of Mai’s existence.
• Kaguya told Ai Hayasaka she had remembered Mai as an imagined character with almost no online information, then received a call from the Shinomiya main house.

Sogo Doma answered Gan'an Shinomiya’s call on Kaguya Shinomiya’s phone and taunted him while pretending Kaguya had become physically affectionate toward him. He revealed his identity and invoked his Doma surname, leaving Gan'an facing the family connection behind Sogo’s boldness.

• Kaguya Shinomiya answered Gan'an Shinomiya’s call with Ai Hayasaka beside her, but Sogo Doma spoke over the line and claimed Kaguya was asleep.
• Sogo mocked Gan'an’s age and his attempt to signal orders, while Kaguya and Hayasaka listened in disbelief.
• Sogo demanded hundreds of billions of yen and threatened to target Gan'an’s sons and expose Kaguya’s entertainment-industry involvement.
• Gan'an threatened Sogo, who revealed that his surname was Doma and exchanged barbs with Gan'an about how their families had raised their children.

Gan'an Shinomiya weighed the risks of opposing Sogo Doma and tried to smooth over Kaguya Shinomiya's attack on him. Sogo demanded fifty billion yen and threatened Gan'an's sons, while Gan'an unexpectedly welcomed the prospect of Sogo teaching them a lesson.

• Gan'an Shinomiya concluded that confronting Sogo Doma risked a disastrous conflict with the Doma Family.
• Gan'an changed his tone and agreed with Sogo that he had neglected Kaguya Shinomiya's upbringing.
• Gan'an tried to frame Sogo and Kaguya's childhood encounters as a bond, but Sogo rejected the explanation and mocked him.
• Sogo demanded fifty billion yen and threatened to get physical with Gan'an's three sons if he did not comply.
• Gan'an considered his sons' security and said he would be pleased if Sogo taught them a lesson, then accepted Sogo's arrangement concerning Kaguya.

Gan'an Shinomiya backed down after Sogo Doma invoked the Doma Family, while Sogo told Kaguya Shinomiya that his real aim was to target her three brothers. Their call ended with Kaguya questioning Sogo about conflicting memories involving Mai Sakurajima.

• Gan'an Shinomiya refused to call Kaguya back to the main house, and the family heads around him stayed silent about confronting the Doma Family.
• Sogo Doma told Kaguya that invoking the Doma Family would keep her father from blaming her for the day's events.
• Sogo revealed that he had also wanted to justify making a move against Kaguya's three brothers, and Kaguya worried about their security and his disregard for it.
• Kaguya asked Sogo why she had been unable to remember Mai Sakurajima and why her memories conflicted, while Sogo said he had done nothing to her.
• Kaguya accused Sogo of mocking her cola mishap, and he asked whether she had a persecution complex.

At Mai Sakurajima’s comeback press conference, Kaguya Shinomiya’s public support sent her popularity soaring and alarmed entertainment companies. Mrs. Sakurajima redirected reporters’ attention to Mai, while an apparently foolish reporter’s harmless question helped keep Kaguya out of further scrutiny.

• After Mai Sakurajima and Kaguya Shinomiya ended their call, Kaguya’s public declaration of friendship boosted Mai’s press conference and unsettled entertainment-industry bosses.
• Mrs. Sakurajima limited reporters to one question about Mai and Kaguya before directing the conference back to Mai’s comeback.
• Mrs. Sakurajima selected a middle-aged reporter, who asked whether Mai and Kaguya had become acquainted through Mai’s television dramas or movies.
• Mai answered that they had, and the other reporters were disappointed that the question revealed nothing more.
• A reporter tried to ask whether Kaguya planned to enter the entertainment industry, but Mrs. Sakurajima refused the follow-up and restored order.

At Mai Sakurajima’s comeback press conference, world-renowned musicians publicly supported her, stunning the entertainment industry. Backstage, Sogo Doma argued with Youko Touma and Kazusa Touma over the musicians’ support, while Youko and Kazusa ended up blaming each other for taking him in as a disciple.

• World-renowned artists appeared in a VCR to support Mai Sakurajima, leaving the press conference audience and Mrs. Sakurajima stunned by the scale of her backing.
• Sogo Doma told Youko Touma that the musicians had agreed to publicly support Mai after losing piano contests to him.
• Sogo Doma teased Youko and Kazusa during their phone call until both Toumas became furious and he hung up.
• Youko Touma and Kazusa Touma caught their breath at the Touma residence and simultaneously blamed each other for taking Sogo Doma in as a disciple.
• Youko and Kazusa traded accusations about Sogo’s talent and his short time teaching Kazusa.

Youko Touma and Kazusa Touma discussed Doma’s musical bet, the unfinished God's Half Piece, and the mysterious Sakurajima Mai. Youko ended up teasing Kazusa about wanting to join the Doma family, while Kazusa insisted the Doma children were the real musical prodigies.

• Youko explained that Doma had challenged musicians to beat him, promising to complete God's Half Piece if they succeeded and to endorse a nonexistent person if they failed.
• Kazusa told Youko that Doma had described Sakurajima Mai as someone people could not see or remember because of a memetic infection.
• Youko complained that Doma had beaten her at piano and said she would not have competed if she had known he did not intend to complete God's Half Piece.
• Youko teased Kazusa about transferring to Toyogasaki to get close to Doma, but Kazusa said she had transferred to study piano.
• Kazusa praised Doma Kon’s piano talent and challenged Youko to set the terms of a bet, leaving Youko wondering whether the Doma family was full of monsters.

Mai Sakurajima’s comeback press conference went smoothly as reporters and fans warmly welcomed her return. Grateful for Sogo Doma’s support, she resolved to improve herself so she could stand beside him when he faced difficulties.

• Reporters asked Mai Sakurajima gentle, nostalgic questions that promoted her return, and the press conference’s live Q&A ended on a relaxed note.
• Ms. Sakurajima tried to apologize to the fans on Mai’s behalf, but they insisted Mai had done nothing wrong and criticized her manager for saying so.
• Mai performed several prepared programs and returned backstage surrounded by security guards her mother had hired on Sogo Doma’s recommendation.
• Mai realized Sogo Doma had helped bring her fans and prominent supporters to the event, and she felt she could never repay everything he had done.
• Mai clenched her fists and vowed to work harder so she could stand beside Sogo Doma instead of becoming a burden.

After Mai Sakurajima’s comeback press conference succeeded, she thanked Sogo Doma with a kiss, then traded teasing threats with him backstage. Mai felt comfortable enough around Sogo to be herself, while the crowd still waited outside.

• Sogo Doma applauded Mai Sakurajima as she returned backstage and asked how the press conference had gone.
• Mai teased Sogo about his claim that he might have idolized celebrities in a previous life, and privately wondered if she was special to him.
• Mai showed Sogo the crowd still gathered outside, then kissed his cheek and thanked him for helping make the press conference a success.
• Sogo complained about Mai’s kiss and her kick, then threatened to take her flying despite her fear of heights.
• Mai admitted she had been wrong, and reflected that Sogo’s foolishness let her feel at ease and act naturally around him.

After Mai Sakurajima’s comeback banquet, Mai’s mother suspected Mai had feelings for Sogo Doma, while Mai insisted she was only grateful to him. Sogo woke to find Mai nearby and learned she had given him a second thank-you gift, leaving him horrified and confused.

• Sogo Doma woke to Umaru announcing that something terrible had happened, then recalled how he had gotten everyone at Mai Sakurajima’s comeback banquet drunk before passing out himself.
• Ms. Sakurajima questioned Mai about protecting Sogo, and Mai denied having feelings for him despite giving him a lap pillow while he slept.
• Sogo woke in the empty banquet hall with Mai nearby and decided he had been safe from anyone taking advantage of him while he was unconscious.
• Mai told Sogo she had stayed to look after him and revealed that she had already given him a second thank-you gift.
• Sogo reacted in horror and asked what the second thank-you gift was.