The person with the adorable Eromanga Sensei avatar had the ID “Autumn Wind Rises.”

Ye Zhibai usually called them “Xiao Qiu.”

They were the owner of this little group. As it happened, Ye Zhibai had even been honorably appointed a moderator.

Holy crap! So the usernames of us hopeless anime nerds really are more artsy than the next!

Ye Zhibai was still wryly smiling to herself when another @ came in.

“Yezi? I’ve been calling you since this morning. Why aren’t you answering? Don’t play all cold and aloof with me! I’ll kick you out of the group!”

It was followed by a sticker of a little cat going “nyaa,” looking super fierce.

Trying to use your admin privileges to threaten me again!

Like I’m scared! I… Okay, fine. The group owner’s the boss. Whatever the group owner says goes.

What was that damn group owner saying just now?

A review of yesterday’s new anime?

What review?! You’re all happily watching anime, while I got hit by a truck in real life!

Can you even understand the agony of tracing a graceful parabola through the air?!

Ye Zhibai was about to reply with a couple of lines like usual, but she typed slowly. Xiao Qiu had already roused the other group members.

Cold Night: “Well, damn. Another ‘I’ll kick you out’ warning! The poor mod’s shaking in their boots.”

Gentle Breeze Awaits Cute Girls: “Here we go, here we go. Qiu-chan’s at it with Yezi again. Threatening to kick her out on the surface, but really, she probably hasn’t gotten a reply all afternoon and got jealous? Sigh, she asks for our thoughts on the anime, but never @s any of us—only Yezi. That really hurts.”

Scummy Member Waiting for the Group Owner to Cross-Dress: “Damn Yezi hasn’t replied in three hours. There’s no saving her—cross-dress and apologize!”

“!”

You, you scummy member! You’re always going on about cross-dressing. Why don’t you lead by example and give us all a good laugh?

Easy for you to say...

If I looked good in women’s clothes, that’d be one thing. But I’m pretty average, so I’d be an eyesore dressed like that... Wait, no.

Ye Zhibai lowered her head and looked at her dress again, then at her figure—curvy where it should be, and with a nice little curve at the back.

If I cross-dressed now... I’d be absolutely flawless, wouldn’t I?

I’m already cross-dressing?

Oh. Then never mind.

Still, I’m not letting you guys see.

Ye Zhibai had just finished typing her reply. She gave it a quick glance, then sent it.

A White Leaf: “I’m here, I’m here. I slept through my nap, Xiao Qiu. What are you freaking out about now? Every episode of that new anime has been a banger! Don’t act so surprised, like you’ve never seen the world.”

The group chat went quiet for a few seconds.

Then someone finally sent a message.

Kaguya-hime Eats the Moon: “It’s over. Rest in peace, Yezi. There’s no saving you.”

Cold Night: “It’s over. Rest in peace, Yezi. There’s no saving you.”

I’ll Always Love Sora: “......+1”

The copy-pasting began...

There were only a dozen or so people in the group, and the “+1” messages got repeated a dozen times.

The essence of humanity is being a copy machine... Guess that saying really is true.

Maybe the group owner saw the messages a little later, because their reply came a little late too.

Xiao Qiu, the group owner, first sent a sticker of a shark holding a knife and ready to chop someone up. Then, with astonishing speed, they fired off a long string of messages!

Autumn Wind Rises: “You little brat, Yezi!! What the hell! We’re sharing how moved we were by the anime, and you think you can do whatever you want just because you’ve watched a ton of anime? Fine! I’ll show you what ‘doing whatever you want’ really means!”

—A White Leaf has been muted for one hour.

Your tolerance is smaller than a pinhole, seriously!

Ye Zhibai picked up her phone, her blood pressure rising.

Sure enough, the group members loved gloating at times like this.

“Hahaha, called it! I knew Yezi was in trouble!”

“See you in an hour, Yezi. Let me know if the slammer’s nice and cool.”

“Xiao Qiu absolutely wrecked her!”

The group owner even graciously wrapped things up with a summary.

Autumn Wind Rises (Group Owner): “Heh heh. This is what happens when you challenge the group owner. After this, I’m sure Yezi understands who’s in charge and who isn’t.”

Gentle Breeze Awaits Cute Girls: “Well, damn... Xiao Qiu even added parentheses to clarify that they’re the group owner. But it’s only a one-hour mute! As expected, Xiao Qiu loves Yezi. Sob, another wonderful day shipping this couple. Long live!”

—Gentle Breeze Awaits Cute Girls has been muted for five days.

Qingfeng!!!

Some people are alive, but they’re already dead. Some people are dead, but they still live on.

And Qingfeng, for the most part, was probably well and truly dead.

After that, nobody in the group dared to act up anymore.

Being muted left Ye Zhibai with no way to explain herself.

Sigh... Every day, someone in this little group seemed to ship her with the group owner, Xiao Qiu. Joking around online was fine, but when she thought about it too much, it made her uncomfortable.

In a group for anime fans like this, the owner behind the screen was surely some otaku with a whole desk full of figures, right?

The kind who was painfully shy at home outside the screen, but constantly asking for hugs and lewd pics online!

Just like Ye Zhibai in her previous life... except back then, she couldn’t afford any figures.

So joking around online was one thing~ Shipping people was just for fun. It wasn’t as if chatting online could actually lead you to a cute girl in real life!

Yeah, impossible. Real life wasn’t a fairy tale.

When Ye Zhibai looked at the screen again, it seemed they’d already finished talking about that.

Xiao Qiu sent another sticker of an anime girl with her hands on her hips, making it clear that the mute had been a powerful deterrent.

Autumn Wind Rises: “All right, I’ve got stuff to do, so I’m out. One hour on mute should give Yezi plenty of time to reflect. When she gets out of the slammer, she’d better tell me what she thought of the anime! Later!”

Pfft... They watched anime and still had to write a review? In a way, this group owner was pretty serious about being an anime fan.

The group owner logged off, the moderator was muted, and after teasing each other a little more, the group went quiet.

Ye Zhibai slowly closed QQ too, then shut her eyes and sank into thought.

She’d just checked the map. The apartment she’d rented in her previous life was still in East City.

Ye Zhibai had just been wondering whether she should go back and pick up anything that might still be useful.

She’d saved up to buy all those pots, pans, and other kitchen things. It’d be such a waste to leave them behind.

But...

Wouldn’t it be kind of weird for me to go pick up pots and pans looking like this?

Weird in every sense of the word.

Besides... I probably wouldn’t need any of that stuff now, would I?

Ugh, but I still don’t want to just leave it all behind!

Because the most important thing wasn’t any of those pots and pans.

There was one thing at home that Ye Zhibai absolutely had to get back.

It was something very important.

At least, it was important to Ye Zhibai.

That’s how people are. Ye Zhibai had just wondered whether, with this new life beginning, she should cut ties with everything from her previous life and start over.

But clearly... people can let go of most things, but some things can’t simply be ignored when the memories are still there.

Even Ye Zhibai had things from her previous life that were important to her... So she had to get them back.

Having made up her mind, Ye Zhibai suddenly felt something strange.

Huh...?

She unconsciously pressed her thighs together.

Uh...

What was this feeling?

It was like a waterfall wanting to plunge three thousand feet down, only for a huge rock across the cliff to force the water to a halt. That trapped, frustrated feeling!

Just now! I drank too much water! I need to go to the bathroom!