Summary
Misa and her friends are on their way home when she suggests they stop by the subway to get more photo stickers. Noriko agrees and brings up how much Misa likes this location, but Eiko, their other friend claims the frames are too old-fashioned and recalls that there was a new spot built in front of the station. Noriko thinks it could be fun to try there and neither of them notice how aggravated Misa is.
The second she gets home Misa throws aside her bag and immediately runs to her bedroom to hop onto the school forum. She's so annoyed with how often Eiko complains and ruins her fun; but at least here she can openly say that with no repercussions. After starting a topic Misa finds herself engaged in conversation until her mother shows up to scold her for wasting so much time on the computer. She demands that Misa begin focusing on her studies more and storms off. Misa doesn't understand why it's such a big deal though; she doesn't have any other means of venting.
She resumes browsing until she finds a topic about someone named Tamura Misa, and curiously takes a look at it. She doesn't think it could be about her, but she is alarmed to find over seven-hundred responses talking about her. Some of them say she's horrible, and how she should die- one even claims she faked illness to get out of clean-up duty earlier. Misa rationalizes that this must be someone else because she didn't fake any illness, she did get an excuse to leave due to a stomachache though. Called for dinner, she forces herself to get off.
However, Misa finds herself still on edge the following day at school. She asks her friends if there might be a celebrity or someone else with the name Tamura Misa, but they assume she's making a joke, since it's her name. Misa decides to pay the restroom a visit but she finds herself too anxious after her phone alerts her of an update to the topic. She looks to see someone just posted about how full of herself she is for thinking she could be a celebrity, and to her uneasiness she sees they put up her address and phone number. As she returns she wonders if one of her friends could be responsible since nobody else other than them know her personal information. Eiko joins them and Misa notes that she is the most suspicious since she's probably aware of how often she complains about her. Misa is overwhelmed with paranoia and she comes to the conclusion that they can't be trusted anymore.
After school she glues herself to the laptop to stalk the thread. She can't understand who would be capable of doing something like this when she notices the username, something else suspicious considering the name belongs to a girl who disappeared from her class a few weeks ago. She moves on when a point of interest arouses concern: an offline meeting is going to be held soon. Misa writes down the date and time in hopes of finally catching the group in the act to see if her friends are involved.
On the day of the meeting she puts on a disguise and heads to the eatery they said they would meet up at and she takes a seat, deciding to place an order since she has time to kill and to avoid looking suspicious. However, it occurs to her that if her friends are involved she needs to figure out how she'll handle it.
Hours pass and to her disappointment the group never shows up. When she realizes how late it is she returns home and gets back onto the forum to see if anything was posted, initially assuming that they might have canceled or caught her. She is shook seeing that several photos have been taken and uploaded of her at the eatery, along with various responses making fun of her.
They were there the whole time.
In a panic Misa attempts to determine how they could have possibly taken those pictures without her notice and she throws aside her laptop, frightened after she notes her friends couldn't have done this because she would have seen them. She is overcome with anxiety and the next morning she stays home from school, saying she isn't feeling well. Her mother is fairly disgruntled but tells Misa to take care of herself before leaving for work. Misa remains beneath her blanket, wishing more than anything that she could have told her mother the truth; but considering she discovered the broken laptop she didn't have any proof to show her and she was really mad.
With nothing else to do, Misa spends time in bed resting and gets up to have lunch, heading to the kitchen to locate the food her mother prepared. But she gets distracted after noticing a nearby newspaper, and looks to find an article about a classmate by the name of Miruka Saitou, who had been found slumped over her notebook. Authorities deduced it was a sudden heart attack but the exact cause is unknown. Seeing that this article is two weeks old confuses Misa, but recalling that Miruka was one of the posters in the topic, she decides it couldn't possibly have been the same girl.
She returns to her room, only to get startled upon discovering her laptop still works. Still on the forum topic, she is frightened when she sees more responses revealing she stayed home from school and how they plan on confronting her. She looks over the usernames and realizes they sync up with other girls who previously rampaged on the forum and vanished recently, and finding out they are getting closer she hurriedly runs to the front door to make sure it's locked.
While awaiting for something to happen Misa wonders if these girls fell victim to something, but the second that her door handle begins to move she retreats back to her bedroom to find her laptop turned off again.
Her reflection is shown from the screen, surrounding Misa are a group of ghosts that resemble the missing girls from school.
Time passes by, and one day Eiko, Noriko, and Ryo are out grabbing a bite to eat when they make conversation about the recent complaints about Eiko as of late. She's sure Misa is responsible for them, but they wonder if someone quiet like her would really do it until Eiko rationalizes that some people can't be read that easily and how different they can be on the inside. Noriko becomes anxious, a bit worried Eiko realized it was actually her doing and she whips out her phone to check the topic- only to discover a topic about her.
One started by Misa Tamura...
Tropes:
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Both Misa and her friend Noriko are very light versions. They look innocent and friendly but they use the forum to badmouth Eiko; especially Misa, who doesn't even hide her disdain. But she justifies it as being a healthy way to vent without openly speaking and thinks "it's not like I can vent my stress on my mom. Since I'm such a dear!"
- Continuity Nod: During Yomi's epilogue she is shown chatting on a computer with Mio, protagonist from The Devil's Game, and Anna, protagonist from The Kind Mama's House.
- Downer Ending: After spending most of the chapter paranoid and frightened, and unable to tell anyone Misa refuses to leave her home, where she should be safe. But just as she starts calming down she finds out that they have her surrounded and she's confronted by a group of ghosts who plan to make her one of them...
- It gets worse when you realize she targeted a friend afterwards and it's implied that this will continue as long as there are other girls who rampage on the forums.
- Dead All Along: Misa's harassers are the ghosts of girls who "died mysteriously".
- Education Mama: Misa's mother is worried that she neglects her studies because of how often she spends time on the computer and demands that she starts focusing more.
- Here We Go Again!: The chapter ends with Noriko finding a topic about her.
- Hypocrite: "She just complains all the time!" - said by Misa regarding Eiko, ignoring the fact she spent most of the chapter complaining.
- Poor Communication Kills: If Misa was more upfront or honest about how she felt, she wouldn't spend so much (if any) time on that forum and wouldn't have become a victim.
