Summary
Miki and Shio are dying to know what went on between Asami and Hiroto the other day, and they approach her in hopes of getting answers. Asami claims it was nothing, she was too nervous to do anything. Miki jealously teases her by pointing out how nice it is for her to be going out with their popular senpai, and on top of that all the boys in class like her too. Shio insists it can't be helped because Asami is so nice and cute. Asami is flustered, but very happy to have such good friends. She admires how brightly everyone surrounding them shines, looking forward to new experiences as first-year middle school students. Their future, falling in love and romance.
Suddenly, several drawings flutter out of a nearby opened window, and a girl desperately tries to reclaim them as the bell starts ringing. She and Asami exchange glances, and Asami finds herself observing Nanaya during class while listening to complaints that she is troublesome. Nobody is surprised by her lack of friends either, due to how gloomy she is; she keeps to herself and all she ever does is draw manga. Unwilling to listen to this any longer, Asami quickly changes the subject by bringing up that she asked Hiroto if Shio and Miki could hang out with them the next time they get together, and he agreed. This makes the duo very happy. Asami observes Nanaya get up and wonders why she acts the way she does. She watches as she bumps into another girl on her way to the exit and considers the Roles people get in life. Some are assigned to be loved, some to give, and others are hated.
Some classmates arrive with a special chart known as the Hell's Divination. You put a coin on it and place your finger over it, then the one known as Yomi-sama will move the coin to spell out an answer after being asked a question. While everyone is excited to try it due to hearing it has a high accuracy rate, Asami seems anxious when one girl suggests they use it to see what her future with Hiroto will be like. Just then he shows up and asks to speak to Asami in private.
In another room Asami informs Hiroto of what happened and he expresses surprise that first years could have managed to get the Hell's Divination, going on to warn her that there is a rumor it will curse people to death if they fail to follow its rules. Asami thanks him but her formal way of doing so causes him to gently remind her that as they're dating its unnecessary. She admits to not being used to it yet and compliments his maturity, bringing up that her friends -and several others- deeply admire him. He finds this amusing as he points out being her first boyfriend, and he brings up hearing other third years discussing a cute girl frequently. He is very glad to have confessed before someone else could, then he gently grabs her and kisses her.
Asami is left in a daze after he takes off, wondering with excitement if she should tell the others what happened. She decides that as her friends, she owes them that much and heads back to class. Her good fortune is celebrated, until a girl begins to poke fun at Nanaya and suggests they use the board to determine who has the worst personality in class, pretty sure it would be her. Asami is about to stop them but everyone is stunned when the board spells out her name instead. This causes everyone to chatter with shock until Miki spots Asami and quickly tries assuring her that Yomi-sama probably makes mistakes now and then, despite the 120% success rate.
Asami tries to believe that, but noticing everyone start to avoid her gaze causes her to fear the worst. One girl points out that the reading could be right, because you can't tell what someone really thinks regardless of their outer-personality. This brings Asami to tears when some girls start to accuse her of faking her kindness and acting humble when in reality she's probably looking down on them. Asami denies such things, and to her shock, even her own friends don't want anything to do with her.
Soon word began to spread, and in a short time Asami became known as a girl who acts cute but backstabs other girls by talking cruelly about them. She makes fun of them and has a bad personality. Asami is further heartbroken when Hiroto asks to speak in privacy again, this time to dump her. It's hard being with her because of what is going on now, and the other third-years have been singling him out for being with a girl like her, and he's sure she was affected by it too. He wouldn't have confessed to her if he knew what she was really like.
Asami begins to weep as she recalls their kiss from that morning. She is violently thrown to the floor by a volleyball and cowers from the older group of girls responsible. They pick on her until Nanaya shows up and throws the volleyball at them to scare them away, then she remarks that Asami is like a Tragic Heroine. Wallowing in self-pity isn't going to help anything though. Asami is surprised Nanaya came to her defense when she sees that someone wrote Disgusting Otaku Girl on her book. She is touched by her kindness, even if she doesn't understand why Nananya di it. She worries that the divination may have seen her hidden shallowness, because when she was with her friends she picked on her a little too, but she never openly said anything, nor did she want Hiroto to think poorly of her. She would try to hurry up and change the subject to avoid contributing.
Nanaya claims it's not a big deal, assuming Asami forgot about a past incident that she decided to pay her back for. On the day of their entrance ceremony she dropped some manga she was working on and other girls started to make fun of her. But Asami came to her side to help her, then complimented how cute they looked and genuinely seemed interested in her Mangaka aspirations. Asami's kindness and compliments surprised her. Nanaya goes on to say that she doesn't believe the readings from the divination, but its up to Asami to decide if she will or not. She prepares to leave but Asami stops her, asking if she could read her manga some time. Nanaya is surprised, but she agrees with a smile that deeply touches Asami.
The next day Asami approaches class while wondering what everyone is going to think about her and Nanaya being together. She doesn't really care though, but before she can step inside she overhears her classmates; one of whom asks if they really cheated during the reading the prior day. To Asami's horror she peeks through the window to discover it was Miki and Shio. They confirm that they did, the coin wouldn't have moved to their desired spot naturally so they had no choice. They mock Asami and call her annoying as she stands in silence.
Nanaya joins her, and the girls observe the others prepare for another reading. This time looking to see which girl would become famous in the future; and this time it moves on its own to spell out N-a-n-a-y-a. The girls note that she likes drawing manga, so if she really can become a Mangaka in the future now would be a great time to get on her good side. Maybe even get some autographs. They see Nanaya by the door and eagerly shower her with praise and compliments, and to Asami's shock she pulls away from her and heads into the room.
In the hallway, Asami collapses in grief as she realizes that she truly was alone. Everyone lied to her; her friends claimed they loved her, Hiroto said he was glad to have confessed, even Nanaya...
Asami observes her precision cutter fall out of her pencil case and picks it up. She rises and draws the blade while walking back to her classroom.
Who's the one with the worst personality?
Tropes:
- All of the Other Reindeer: Nanaya and later Asami.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Everyone was led to believe that about Asami because of the reading claiming she had a bad personality. She admits that she has unpleasant thoughts some times and would side with her friends when they badmouthed Nanaya, but she would never openly say anything hurtful and she genuinely seems to be a Nice Girl.
- Break the Cutie: Like other protagonists in two-parters before her, Asami is getting put through the ringer. In one chapter she's experienced everyone in class -and school- turning on her, her boyfriend -who just kissed her for the first time- dumps her after he's convinced she's deceptive, she was attacked by girls older than her, and lastly, the one person still on her side abandons her when her ex-friends begin kissing up to her.
- Sanity Slippage: In her grief-induced state Asami seems to lapse into this at the end of the chapter.
- The Power of Friendship: It starts to show in this part, when Nanaya defends Asami from the group of girls bullying her. Asami realizes she isn't as bad as the others made her out to be and asks if she could read her manga some day, earning a genuine smile from the stoic Nanaya.
- Then its subverted, when Nanaya seems to choose those girls over Asami after they start sucking up to her.
- With Friends Like These...: Miki and Shio are revealed to be this, in that they purposely botched the reading out of jealousy and spite.
