Midori Kurenai, the leader of a famous acting troupe, is attending a formal party with her adopted daughter, Ayaka. They meet Kaoruko Kurushima, a television actress who is excited to see a play that the troupe is going to perform soon. Ayaka tries to comment, but Midori tells her to focus on preparing for the performance. Later, Midori berates Ayaka for falling over while practicing for the role of a weeping willow tree for the play and Ayaka goes to the Hell Correspondence to enter Midori's name. Ai appears and hands Wanyuudo's straw doll to Ayaka, laying out the terms of the deal and using a vision of fire to warn Ayaka of the consequences of taking her up on it. Ayaka says she'll consider the deal. She goes to a playground where she reflects that Midori adopted her due to her potential at acting. Ayaka meets two young men who often come to her for money and decides to ask them for a favor in exchange since they won't ask for her soul. The two young men attack Midori as she returns home, pretending to be masked robbers and Ayaka drives them away threatening to call the police. Ayaka asks Midori if she's all right and goes to call the police as Ichimoku Ren and Hone Onna look on, but Midori asks if Ayaka knows the young men. Ayaka makes up a story about them being blackmailers, but Midori doesn't seem to buy it. Ren and Hone Onna go to report back to Ai.
The next day, Ai herself shows up at the acting troupe's studio to ask some questions about Ayaka and Midori and finds out that "Lady Detective," the upcoming play, was also the play that made Midori famous. The person she talks to also says that Ayaka is most likely to get the lead role and that Midori intends to retire after the production, leaving Ayaka in charge. Ai questions if that is what's best for the troupe, but one of the other troupe members comes in and says that Midori has an announcement. Midori announces that she has chosen someone to act opposite her. Ayaka expects that she will get the role since she has been waiting for it for a long time, but Midori calls Kaoruko instead which surprises the other actors and enrages Ayaka. Ayaka demands to know why she wasn't chosen and Midori says that it's because she's unconvincing because she's not fully committed to her roles. Midori also reveals that she knows Ayaka staged the attempted robbery the previous night. Ayaka, suspicious that the two young men from the previous night ratted her out, walks by the room where Kaoruko is practicing and decides to prevent her from acting in the play. When she calls the two the next day, she finds that they didn't say a word and when they ask to be paid, she says she'll pay them double if they do her another favor. When Kaoruko finds tacks in her shoes, Ayaka demands to know who put them there as Ai watches from the window. Ayaka pretends to befriend Kaoruko and takes her to lunch while Ren and Hone Onna watch. When the two young men show up Ayaka leaves Kaoruko at their mercy and they force-feed her a chemical that destroys her voice.
The next day, the rest of the troupe is discussing how Kaoruko lost her voice, and Ayaka is called to Midori's office. Midori gathers the entire troupe to say that the production is being canceled and the troupe disbanded. Ai watches as Midori also says that she is not finalizing Ayaka's adoption because she knows that Ayaka was responsible for Kaoruko losing her voice. Ayaka tries to feign innocence again but Midori pushes her away. Ayaka then begins to hurl insults at Midori, who says that if Ayaka is willing to own up to what she did, she can be set up with another troupe. Ayaka refuses, saying that she only wants fame and fortune, and then walks away from a heartbroken Midori to pull the straw doll's thread... and finds it replaced with an ordinary straw doll with no thread. Ai says that someone else pulled the string first. Kaoruko accessed the Hell Correspondence the previous night and has just untied the thread. Ayaka finds herself onstage and Wanyuudo shines a spotlight on her, telling her to confess what she's done. Ayaka refuses at first, but Wanyuudo tells her she'll go to Hell if she doesn't own up. Ayaka tries to apologize, but another voice responds with "Fuck that, old man!" A mask of Ayaka's face appears on the back of her head and denies every apology Ayaka tries to make, saying that it's the real Ayaka and biting her when she tries to remove it. Ichimoku Ren heckles her saying that she's chewing the scenery while Hone Onna criticizes her "performance," wondering just what they're watching. Ayaka says that she can do better, but two stage hands appear and she is suddenly dressed in a costume. The stagehands tear her arms off, causing her to scream. The stage "resets" with Ayaka completely intact and Ren and Hone Onna come up on stage, telling Ayaka that they want to hear what she really thinks. Ayaka tries to apologize again, but Wanyuudo says that he just doesn't believe it. Ayaka then admits that she's just using acting as a means to an end and that she can pretend to be anyone. Hone Onna asks if there's a real Ayaka under all that and Ai rises from a trapdoor in the stage to claim Ayaka's soul. While Ayaka is being ferried to Hell, Ai says that it was a moment that any actor would die for, but that changes nothing.
Midori walks out of the studio, which is being closed and Kaoruko lies in bed staring at Hell's seal. A candle with Kaoruko's name is lit.
This episode contains examples of:
- Ambition Is Evil: Ayaka just wants fame and fortune. She's a lot like Hanagasa in that regard.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Hone Onna delivers one to Ayaka.Hone Onna: So... is there a real you inside there?
- Be Careful What You Wish For: A subtle example: Midori suspects Ayaka of wrongdoing from the very beginning and demands throughout the episode that she drop the pitiful act. When Ayaka finally does, the resulting Motive Rant described below leaves Midori heartbroken.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Ayaka could give Riho Kaifu a run for her money.
- Bittersweet Ending: Verging on a Downer Ending. Ayaka gets her due punishment, but not without inflicting lasting damage on those around her - namely Midori, who's left wondering what to do with herself after the disbandment of the troupe, and Kaoruko, whose genuine aspirations as an actress have been dashed and whose soul now belongs to Hell.
- Caustic Critic: Ren and Hone Onna pretend to be these during the Hell banishment.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Off the stage, Ayaka swears like a sailor.
- Cold Flames: A couple of will-o'-the-wisps appear next to Ayaka at the beginning of the Hell banishment. They're clearly on strings but are still clearly actual flames.
- Crippling the Competition: Ayaka gets her thug buddies to force feed Kaoruko a chemical that permanently destroys her voice.
- Environmental Symbolism: The background on the stage during the banishment scene shows a stylized rendition of a dock with Ai's boat leading to Hell's gate. It's positioned so that the dock and the gate are at center stage, right behind where Ayaka is standing.
- Face Death with Dignity: Ayaka remains calm while being ferried to Hell, satisfied after being told that her last performance was her best.
- False Friend: Ayaka pretends to strike up a friendship with Kaoruko, planning all the while to sabotage her. Unfortunately for Kaoruko, she never realizes it's an act until it's too late.
- Girlish Pigtails: Kaoruko wears her hair like this when in casual attire, perfectly highlighting her innocence.
- Hitodama Light: Two of them are visible on strings at the beginning of the Hell banishment, which is appropriate since this episode's Afterlife Antechamber is a stage.
- Hope Spot: Ai tells Ayaka that the Hell banishment was a moment that any actor would die for. Boy, did she ever.Ai: It was a captivating performance, one of those shining moments an actor would die for... but this is vengeance and so I'm to ferry you to Hell.
- I Have No Son!: Midori plans to disown Ayaka after learning that she crippled Kaoruko.
- It's All About Me: Ayaka sure thinks so. She had her rival permanently injured to try to get the main part in a play, and is only interested in getting her hands on her would-be adoptive mother's fame and money.
- Informed Ability: Ayaka is said to have great potential as an actress, but all of her acting in the episode is terrible and easily seen through, even after presumably training for years under Midori.
- Large Ham: Judging by the voice acting, the reason Ayaka was never able to convince Midori that she was innocent was that she laid it on too thickly.
- Living Lie Detector: Midori sees right through Ayaka. It's likely justified in that she's a theater coach, and familiar with Ayaka's acting style.
- Mind Rape: Before Ayaka is sent to hell, she's given a punishment befitting her misdeeds: she is placed in a stage play, with herself as the lead actress, and her role is to apologize for how she treated Kaoruko. So Ayaka, ever the actress, tries to play her part, but every time she tries to apologize, a demon with Ayaka's face erupts from Ayaka's body and speaks Ayaka's true feelings, and Ayaka believes Kaoruko deserved it. Ren is in the audience, playing the part of a critic, and he berates Ayaka's performance, claiming he's not really feeling the performance, and it won't be a good one until Ayaka says what's in her heart. Meanwhile, Hone Onna is in the audience as well, playing the part of a bored and disgruntled play-goer, wondering what bad performance she's forced to be watching. Then the stagehands appear and break Ayaka's arms, and all the while, Ayaka still refuses to own up to her true nature as a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing until she starts getting fed up with Ai's minions and starts ranting about how she really feels, using acting as a means of putting a face on to appear as sweet or as seductive as she wants to be, molding her image into anything she wants. Hone Onna promptly tears that view apart, asking Ayaka if there's even a real her underneath all of that, and is then sent to hell right afterwards.
- Motive Rant: Ayaka launches a vicious one at Midori once she finally drops her pretense of innocence, saying in no uncertain terms that she doesn't "give a shit" about Midori and only sees acting as a way to get fame and fortune.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The trailer for the episode makes it sound like Ayaka is the wronged party. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is actually hinted at since at the end of each trailer, the narrator says that "your grievance shall be avenged." At the end of the trailer for this episode, he simply sighs thoughtfully, as if not entirely believing Ayaka's story.
- Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics: Ayaka puts thumbtacks in Kaoruko's shoes, then causes a big scene pretending to be angry on her behalf when she "finds" them.
- Technician vs. Performer: Ayaka hits all the marks and says all the lines while acting, but her adoptive mother Midori is unsatisfied with her lack of passion, as it results in a flat, emotionless performance that is easily seen through.Midori: You're hugely mistaken if you think acting is all about vocal and facial expressions. It won't be acting until you give it your all, up to the tips of your fingernails.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Ayaka's primary goal is getting Midori's fame and fortune, but it's implied that on some level she also wants her adoptive mother's love and approval.
- You Are Too Late: After being disowned by Midori, Ayaka runs to her locker to retrieve the straw doll and send her to Hell, but she finds the string is missing, as she herself has already been condemned to Hell by Kaoruko.
