It was the night after Atsumu finished filming the Asterisk music video.
In Mutsuki's room.
"Prrrrrr, Prrrrrr"
An electronic ringtone echoed through the dark space.
"Uh... Sena... who is it?"
Mutsuki woke up to the sound of her smartphone, already in a terrible mood.
It was normal for her to wake up irritated.
"Mutsuki-san! You've finally come online! Something terrible has happened!"
The caller was Rima Harima, the new manager.
Her voice sounded extremely panicked.
"Huh? You're the rookie. What's wrong with you? Someone was sleeping comfortably."
"What?! You just woke up? It's already night! Did you sleep all day...?"
"So what?"
After being freed from Atsumu, Mutsuki had drunk alcohol for the first time in a while and slept the entire day afterward.
Naturally, she had skipped school.
"No, no... it's nothing... I'm off work anyway... But more importantly, the photo you posted on Photogram yesterday has turned into online news!! And that's what's scary!!"
"Oh! Seriously?! You did it!"
"That's not what I mean..."
Mutsuki hung up, ignoring Rima who was trying to keep talking.
"Great! If it made internet news, it must have gone viral! I guess the photo I chose was perfect after all. It was stupid to leave it to that useless piece of trash."
Yesterday she had posted a selfie, and hearing it became a news topic made her want to see the article with her own eyes before listening to Rima.
She regretted ever letting Atsumu manage her account and mentally scolded him.
"Let's see... teaser video for Asterisk's PV released? Ashiya Asuka is just too cute, isn't she?"
When Mutsuki opened an online news site, what caught her eye was a roundup of reactions to Asterisk's teaser video.
"It's more polished than usual, and I'm looking forward to the full version. The always-perfect Ashiya Asuka shows a natural, shy smile for the first time, which is impressive. What!? Huh?"
Mutsuki, who aimed to be the number one idol, saw Asterisk as an enemy she had to crush.
Especially toward Asuka, the center, she harbored extraordinary jealousy.
"Even that smile is calculated! Damn it!"
She slammed her phone onto the bed, clearly annoyed that Asuka was receiving praise.
"Well, whatever. Who cares about her right now? I'm the one buzzing!! ...Huh?"
She picked up her phone again and glanced at the news.
What she saw was the complete opposite of what she expected.
Prism Prison's Amagasaki Mutsuki, underage drinking?
The headline read exactly that.
The article pointed out that an empty beer can was visible in the background of the selfie Mutsuki posted yesterday.
Atsumu had always known Mutsuki had terrible crisis management skills. If he left social media completely in her hands, there was a high chance something would explode.
He had been extremely careful to prevent that.
Now that Atsumu was gone, Mutsuki's poor judgment was exposed to the public in the worst possible way.
"I thought I hid it. It must have reflected in the mirror. I was drunk and didn't notice the details... This is bad. I have to delete it quickly..."
In her impatience and half-awake state, Mutsuki immediately deleted the photo.
"Phew, good."
Then Rima called again. Mutsuki answered.
"Please don't hang up! I need to know what you're going to do about the photo you posted yesterday being featured in online news..."
"Oh, that? I already deleted it."
"What?! You deleted it?! That's the worst thing you could do! Deleting it without any statement will look like you're admitting guilt!"
"...Ah!"
By the time she realized, it was too late.
There were probably many better ways to handle it, but she had chosen the absolute worst option.
At that moment, what had been mere speculation turned into confirmed fact.
Beep... Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep beep beep
"What is this..."
The notification sound never stopped.
Comments flooded in like an avalanche.
- Deleting it means you admit it, right?
- Underage drinking is stupid
- I thought she was just playing the bad girl role, never thought she'd actually done it... I'm disillusioned
- There was an idol drinking underage lol
- Mutsuki-chan, you're lying, right? My idol life is over
- Are all the Amagasaki sisters like this?
- What's going on with their education?
- Drinking idols are insane
- I took screenshots so deleting won't help
- If you're an idol, at least let me dream
- You can't survive in the industry without drinking anyway
- Is the idol world really this bad? lol
- Quit being an idol
- I was rooting for you...
- I feel betrayed
She usually kept notifications off and hadn't opened the app until now, so she hadn't seen any of it.
But once the app was open, even with notifications silenced, the comments kept pouring in.
Every previous post was now buried under accusations of underage drinking.
"What the hell?! What's going on?!?!?!?!"
Waves of disappointment, malice, and hatred crashed directly into Mutsuki.
Until now, Mutsuki had never been caught in this kind of online firestorm or slander.
Because Atsumu had always acted to prevent it. He would step in, apologize to higher-ups on her behalf, and handle damage control.
"Ha, seriously, stop messing with me! I'm not some ordinary person. I should be allowed to do whatever I want, right? Right..."
No matter how important someone is, they shouldn't break the law.
That's common sense.
But Mutsuki's sense of normalcy had become so warped that she could no longer feel it.
"Stop it!! Stop it!!"
Even as she screamed, the comments kept coming.
"Stop it... please stop..."
Though Mutsuki was extremely sociable on the surface, she had almost no experience being harshly criticized by others.
"Why do I have to go through this..."
In the room filled with endless notification sounds, Mutsuki sat alone, hugging her knees, covering her ears, and eventually became unable to move at all.