152 She Had No Idea What She Was Doing 

"Phew… I'm exhausted."

After finishing the sparring session, Miyamizu Mitsuha slumped against the wall, taking a break at the edge of the dojo.

It wasn't her body that was tired, Hojou Kyousuke's monstrous physique didn't feel even a hint of exhaustion.

But mentally, she was completely drained.

Her nerves had been on edge the entire time, and now, she didn't want to move a single muscle.

She was the only one resting like this.

That's because she had been standing in the center of the dojo from start to finish.

Even Kisaki Tetta was still training, while the others who had tired out simply sat on the sidelines, casually scrolling through their phones.

With the National Middle School Kendo Tournament at the end of July, Kisaki was also set to compete.

As the right-hand man of the boss, there was no way he could afford to embarrass him!

'Beep, beep. Beep, beep. Beep, beep~'

A continuous notification sound rang out from nearby.

Mitsuha followed the noise and spotted Kisaki's phone buzzing.

She was about to look away when a certain phrase caught her eye.

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"I actually landed two hits on the Boss today!"

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Boss = Hojou Kyousuke = Miyamizu Mitsuha.

Wait… Who hit me twice?

Thinking back for a second, Mitsuha quickly recalled—it was Onizuka!

That idiot had been ridiculously excited after landing a hit on her, and the second time, he had charged in with even more force, like a complete fool.

Was this some kind of Rampaging Angels group chat?

Mitsuha took out Kyousuke's phone to check, but no, the main chatroom with all the Rampaging Angels members only had a few people discussing their evening plans.

Kisaki Tetta's phone, however, kept buzzing.

Curiosity got the better of Mitsuha, and she glanced at it again.

Sure enough, the message she had seen earlier had come from Onizuka.

The chat also had names like Sagara Takeshi and Kanahara Takao, all boasting about their sparring results against her.

Lifting her head, Mitsuha looked around the dojo.

Sure enough, all the names she had just seen in the chat were sitting on the wooden floor, heads down, busy tapping away on their phones.

'Did these guys really create a secret chatroom behind Hojou Kyousuke's back?'

With a girl's natural intuition, Mitsuha immediately suspected that was the case.

"Ah, sorry, I forgot to mute it," Kisaki suddenly said, jogging over, drenched in sweat.

He had also heard the non-stop notifications and, seeing his boss staring at his phone, assumed the noise had been annoying.

"Kisaki, is that a chatroom without Hojou in it?" Mitsuha didn't bother hiding the fact that she had peeked and asked directly.

"Uh…"

Crap.

Thinking about all the overly devoted fanboy nonsense in that chat, Kisaki froze for a moment.

But his sharp mind quickly regained control.

Wait, the one asking him wasn't really his big bro—it was just his big bro's other personality.

Oh, thank god. Thank god Boss has a split personality.

"N-no, you must've misread it," Kisaki replied in the most monotone, neutral voice possible while swiftly silencing his phone and tucking it into his bag.

"Don't lie—I saw it. Onizuka and the others were talking about sparring with me just now! If you try to fool me, I'll tell Kyousuke!"

'This is so weird.'

The boss's split personality threatening to snitch on the main personality…

Kisaki wasn't sure if he should be happy that his boss's two personalities got along so well or worried that their secret chatroom had just been exposed.

"Fine, see for yourself. It's just a chatroom the guys made to improve themselves and give back to the Boss, nothing shady about it."

Kisaki unlocked his phone and handed it to Mitsuha.

Honestly, letting this personality see was still fine.

But if the real boss saw all the cringeworthy fan content in there, he'd probably force them into an all-night training session as punishment.

Mitsuha took the phone.

"The Boss's Support Squad."

That was the chatroom's name.

She tapped in and saw countless messages about where people had spotted Hojou Kyousuke, along with an entire library of photos and videos of him.

Slowly, she looked up at Kisaki Tetta, her expression unreadable.

'You, of all people? With those thick eyebrows and serious face? And you say there's 'nothing shady' about this?'

If Kyousuke—who freaked out whenever he heard people call him "The Armless Demon"—ever found out about this chat, these guys would probably be doing laps in Meguro River for the rest of their lives.

But…

"I'm joining this chat!"

Without hesitation, Mitsuha pulled out her phone, opened LINE, and used Kisaki's phone to invite herself into the group.

"Wait… I can't join using Kyousuke's account!"

Realizing her mistake immediately after, she swiftly exited the group and used Kisaki's admin privileges to erase any traces of her failed attempt.

This function had been designed for shy or socially anxious users in Japan, so they wouldn't feel pressured by their join notifications.

Logging out of Kyousuke's account, Mitsuha switched to another one.

This account had only three friends: Yamauchi Sakura, Nishimiya Shouko, and Ueno Naoka.

Naoka had told her to make it during the Sakura Festival.

It was where they stored all the embarrassing photos of Kyousuke they had taken together.

She hadn't used her own main account because, like her phone number, it was inaccessible now.

For a brief moment, she thought about messaging her friends, maybe asking them to go shopping later that night.

But right now, the secret chatroom was far more tempting.

She added Kisaki as a friend, then, with practiced ease, used his phone to invite her "Sayuka" account into the group.

"You… have your own account?" Kisaki stared at her, dumbfounded.

"And? What's weird about that?" Mitsuha handed his phone back, eagerly opening the chat. A whole new world unfolded before her eyes.

Kisaki silently put his phone away.

He didn't know how this would play out, but if the real Boss ever found out and got mad, it'd definitely be Eikichi Onizuka who slipped up.

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In the meantime, somewhere in Hikari City…

A black-haired, red-eyed girl wearing a white headband sat in the back of the drama club's practice room, watching the younger students rehearse with a bored expression.

Even though she had personally written the script… Even though the students were rehearsing with passion… she was barely staying awake.

Last night, she had spent hours lurking in the chatroom, gathering every bit of information she could about Hojou-kun's manga.

She never considered asking Eikichi Onizuka directly about the details.

As a writer herself, she understood the seriousness of such matters and even felt a bit uneasy about Hojou Kyousuke leaking his own work like this.

So, all she could do was carefully piece together the scattered, illogical, and often contradictory messages his subordinates posted in the chatroom, trying to make sense of them.

Only then did she finally grasp the premise of Hojou-kun's manga—One Punch Man.

An invincible protagonist named Saitama… and she herself was living in Saitama.

What a strange coincidence.

She was supposed to be overseeing the drama club's rehearsal, but all she wanted to do was keep an eye on the chat, absorbing every bit of information about this manga.

She was curious, what kind of story would someone like Hojou-kun create?

Earlier, right after school, the group's admin and strategist, Kisaki Tetta, had shared some exciting news in the chatroom:

Hojou-kun's manga had officially signed with Weekly Shonen High, and if everything went smoothly, it would be available in bookstores by next Saturday.

So slow…

She couldn't help but grumble.

How did magazines even survive at such a sluggish pace?

Why couldn't they work as fast as gossip tabloids?

A quick glance at the chat proved she wasn't the only one who thought so.

The group's focus had shifted to a guy named Shimomura Masao, whose father happened to be the chief editor of the magazine.

Everyone was begging him to convince his dad to speed up the release so they could buy it this week instead.

With one eye on the chat, another on her script, and a third (figuratively speaking) correcting the drama club's actors, the girl found herself slowly drifting off to sleep.

Then, suddenly—

She spotted a familiar ID entering the chat.

It was only there for a brief moment before vanishing, and the entry log was erased immediately.

But she had seen that ID countless times—she could never mistake it.

'Hojou-kun!'

Had he finally discovered this chatroom? But if so, why did he leave so quickly?

Before she could even process it, another account joined the group—a user named "Sayuka."

Hojou-kun's account had disappeared less than two seconds before this new one popped up.

If she still couldn't put two and two together, then she'd seriously need to check if something was wrong with her brain.

'So… Hojou-kun doesn't want anyone to recognize him?'

A playful idea sparked in her mind.

If he wanted to stay hidden, maybe she could pretend not to notice?

Her heart pounded with excitement and mischief as she opened "Sayuka's" profile and sent a friend request.