Summary
Kanna is a ridiculously average twelve year old, from her unremarkable personality to her average test scores, she has never once stood out. In comparison to her friends -Mai being very smart and Midori skilled with sports- it's painfully obvious that she lacks the admiration they receive from classmates. After comparing their scores, Mai brings up that Mika Mika Blog' has updated and the girls head to the computer room to check it out. Mika is a blogger who writes about her daily life and her interests, like manga, anime, movies, sweets, and fashion.
As of late blogs are the popular trend, and Mika's blog has been ranked #1 on a top blog listing for sometime. It's considered to be a Blog of God.
The girls admire some cakes Mika recently made and posted and observe the several comments she received from the post, causing Kanna to remark upon how nice it is to be noticed like this. Mai suggests that Kanna try to make a blog too but she quickly refutes under the belief nobody would be interested in her handmade plush toys, but Mai and Midori still think it would be worth a shot. She can run the blog under a secret alias for the time being, and she might even become really popular through it.
Eventually convinced, Kanna brings the girls home to help her set the blog up. They decide to call it Kan-chan's Blog and for her first official post, she uploads a picture of a plush elephant she made and writes:
"Hello, I'm Kanchan. I've started a blog. My hobby is handicrafts. I make stuff like this."
After viewing her first post Kanna worries it isn't very interesting but the girls assure her its fine, promising to check it out every day. Just then, Kanna gets a message from someone asking if this is her first blog, then they compliment her stuffed animal. Realizing the message is coming directly from Mika Mika surprises the girls, and she sends another message requesting to be friends- she'll even put a link to her blog on hers. Kanna accepts and realizing the time, Mai and Midori decide to head home and Kanna calls it a day on her PC.
The next morning, Kanna tries determining what to post about next when she notices her visitor count has reached 11,502! She rushes to school to inform the girls of the news, which catches the attention of several classmates as she shows them, and they look to see that Mika followed through with her offer. While it was mostly Mika's doing, the girls congratulate Kanna. They look over the various 208 comments she has gotten since yesterday and two in particular stick out, both of which come from Mika:
"Kan-chan, you can become popular. I think you have the talent for it. I'll teach you lots, so let's become popular blogger friends!"
"Rather than just being popular at school, you will have the whole world's attention this way! Let's do our best together!"
Since this morning, Kanna sees that her views count has surpassed 15,000 and she begins to wonder if maybe she is good at running a blog. But overhearing Mai and Midori express interest in trying it out themselves, she shuts the PC down and hurriedly leaves, saying her mom asked her to do some shopping on the way home. She rushes back to her place while wondering what would happen if someone like her was to become popular, and she sends Mika a message to ask for some tips. Mika responds, suggesting Kanna focus on easily understood articles and things people can emphasize with so that its fun to read.
Kanna's life as a professional Blogger continues to rise over time. Besides posting her new creations and writing passionately about how much fun she has, she also discusses manga she likes. She also responds to every comment she gets and becomes increasingly disappointed whenever realizing its a new morning and she must get off.
One day she discovers her blog has hit the #12 spot on the popular blog listing. She can't understand how a simple blog like hers could be that popular, especially when she compares it to blogs run an idol group and a comedian. She checks Mika Mika blog to see has posted a special message for Kanna:
"My friend has entered the rankings! I'm so happy! Everybody, please send your best wishes to her blog!"
Kanna's confidence has raised in this time, and her friends are still very supportive for her and happy to see her progress. But after its suggested she post about them tying multiple times in a three person game of rock-paper-scissors, Kanna refuses under the belief it won't amount to much. She explains how posts should be interesting and decides to head home to focus on her next article. Midori and Mai express concern as they recall her hesitation beginning a blog.
Her ego continues inflating as Kanna returns home to view her new comments. Not only do they love her plush, but her blog has even become a must-read for an entire family. She begins to think about how much time she wastes attending school when a new comment appears:
"I love Kan-chan's blog, way more than Mika Mika!"
Could she possibly overtake Mika Mika? For one to do that they must be ranked #1 multiple times.
Kanna decides to stay home from school the next couple of days in order to make an attempt. The time wasted there could be time spent to improving her blog. She writes about a recent trip she took, and her opinions of a movie, and eventually her views surpass 20,000. She's also noticed that for some strange reason, Mika hasn't posted anything the past few days, which is unlike her.
Just then, Mai calls up Kanna in hopes of expressing the concern she and Midori have. Kanna is in a poor mood as they disrupted her, and she doesn't seem interested in the call until the girls bring up a rumor they saw on 3CH about Mika Mika. Nobody has ever seen her before, its theorized that she is a ghost of a girl who killed herself over her internet addiction. For a moment Kanna seems concerned, but then she hangs up after telling them this isn't worthy of an article and asks them to leave her alone.
By now, her views have reached 53, 871, effectively placing her ahead of Mika Mika blog. Kanna delightfully stands up in disbelief and admires the thousands of congratulatory messages she has been receiving. This joy is short-lived when the news comes on television to announce the death of a young girl this morning. This girl was a popular blogger whose corpse was discovered beneath her desk in her bedroom around 11:00am. Kanna is horrified upon discovering this girl was Mika Mika, and she stands in silence as the reporter on the scene discusses possible cause of death, ranging from a murder to suicide.
Just then the power shuts off in Kanna's house, but for some reason her PC remains active. She observes the mouse cursor moving on its own, along with a sudden increase in comments, with a particularly disturbing one standing out:
"after Mika Mika, it's Kan-chan's role now."
Kanna can barely react when she begins to see ghosts slowly appearing from her computer, and they tell her that until she dies she must entertain them now. Slowly everything begins to sink in. The ghost was not Mika Mika like the rumor suggests, but entities forcing her to keep writing once she became popular; the only reason she reached out to her was to pass on the role to someone else. Realizing her popularity was never her own doing, Kanna desperately reaches for her phone and calls her friends. She begs them to help her, but hurt over her cold attitude earlier, they tell her not to speak to them and hang up.
Kanna weeps in despair as the ghosts surround her.
- - - -
Years have passed since this day.
A couple of women walk by the home of a shut-in while making conversation about the poor girl. They feel remorse that her parents were unable to help her leave her bedroom, and they tried everything. They wonder what she could possibly be doing in there.
In her room, the older, frail Kanna continues typing away.
Tropes
- And I Must Scream: For the price of popularity and remaining on top of the Blog Chart, Kanna will be forced to keep posting until she either dies of old age, kills herself, or is killed by her Ghost Followers.
- Dead All Along: A large amount of Followers on the blogs are ghosts.
- It was also originally a rumor that Mika Mika was too.
- Dead Person Conversation: Technically speaking, as the blogger can reply to the Ghost Followers comments.
- Death of a Child: Mika is discovered dead in her room crushed beneath her desk, and the news reporter theorizes it was either suicide or murder.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Kanna enjoys making them, and these were the focus of her blog originally.
- I Just Want to Be Special: In comparison to one friend who is gifted academically and the other at sports, Kanna sees herself as plain and uninteresting. Initially she wasn't sure how the Blog would go, but as it began growing in views she started becoming overwhelmed with remaining on the popularity charts and didn't want to share the spotlight with her friends.
- Lack of Empathy: The Ghost Followers
- Ungrateful Bastard: Kanna grows into this over time. She abandons the friends who encouraged her and genuinely wanted her to do well, insults their ideas, and even tells them to stop talking to her because they're making her waste time. She was also anticipating surpassing the blogger she was a big fan of and helped her get started in the first place. It all came back to bite her later.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: After discovering Mika is dead, it finally dawns on Kanna that none of her popularity was any of her doing. Mika was using her as a scapegoat to break free from her Ghostly Followers, who reveal themselves and tell her that she must entertain them until her death. She tries to reach out to her friends but they don't want to hear it, and Kanna resigns herself to her fate.
