The First Villain

In the evening, on the streets of Shibuya in summer, many beautiful women dressed in cool clothing were strolling about.

After saying goodbye to Sound Director Arashima, Kazakami Ritsu led the two away from the recording studio.

Kazakami Ritsu felt that the atmosphere between the three of them seemed a bit strange. The blonde, who was usually quite overly familiar, appeared unusually silent today.

To avoid being tortured by this strange atmosphere any longer, Kazakami Ritsu took the initiative to throw out a topic.

“What do you guys plan to eat? If we talk about food that all three of us can accept… how about ramen?”

She carefully recalled the information she had collected and finally made a suggestion that was ninety percent sure to work.

Sano Nana nodded without hesitation; actually, there were very few foods she couldn’t accept.

However, Teraoin Hane was somewhat surprised, meeting Kazakami Ritsu’s gaze with astonishment.

But before Kazakami Ritsu could speak, the blonde, who seemed to have recovered some of her mood, explained for her.

“Don’t be so surprised. This guy is the type who understands others’ preferences in advance to make people feel comfortable getting along.”

However, hearing this explanation, Teraoin Hane appeared even more amazed instead.

Kazakami Ritsu glared at the blonde who blabbed everything, coughed twice, and added a sentence to make up for it.

“I do indeed do that, but not for everyone…”

‘That is to say, I count as special?’

Sano Nana’s eyes flickered upon hearing this, seeming to imagine some strange things herself.

Teraoin Hane lowered her head, her expression unclear.

The atmosphere became silent again, only this time it was even weirder than before.

‘Forget it, let it be destroyed.’

Feeling that she had said the wrong thing, Kazakami Ritsu decided to give up. She directly led the two into a ramen shop on the street side.

The ramen shop owner was a robust uncle who greeted them spiritedly after they entered.

“Welcome! What can I get for you?”

Kazakami Ritsu looked at the wooden plaque menu hanging on the wall, pondered for a moment, and finally chose Tonkotsu ramen.

Thus, the ramen shop owner began making three portions of Tonkotsu ramen with a face full of emotion.

‘Young people nowadays really have good relationships. Do they have to have the exact same thing no matter what?’

After finding an empty corner to sit down, Kazakami Ritsu lay on the table as usual and started being a salted fish.

Teraoin Hane looked at Kazakami Ritsu in front of her, who was completely different from when she was recording, and was quite interested in this contrast.

“Kazakami-san… do you really live like in the radio program normally?”

Hearing the words “radio program,” Sano Nana seemed to receive some radio waves, and a smile that instilled fear appeared on her face.

Sano Nana reached out and poked the arm of Kazakami Ritsu, whose art style seemed to have changed.

“This guy is like this. When she has nothing to do usually, besides studying related courses, she just watches some funny programs, claiming she is learning program effects.”

Kazakami Ritsu, being pawed at by her roommate, looked disgusted. She silently turned her head and changed to a different lying position.

‘The mindset of the strong—what does this blonde know?’

Thinking carefully, becoming a funny woman like Takahashi Rie seemed pretty good too; at least she wouldn’t be hated by fans.

Teraoin Hane watched the actions of the two, a trace of envy flashing quickly through her eyes.

“I think Kazakami-san’s life is quite good… I usually study related content. Speaking of which, will there be a radio drama for the animated movie?”

Speaking of this topic, Teraoin Hane revealed a somewhat expectant expression.

Kazakami Ritsu pondered for a moment and shook her head.

“There is no radio drama, but there seem to be other promotional activities. Anyway, Producer Kurau should mention it in advance when the time comes.”

Hearing this answer, Teraoin Hane immediately lowered her head somewhat disappointedly.

She was actually looking forward to participating in a radio program with Kazakami Ritsu. After all, she had listened to the first episode of the Tales of the Ten Thousand Blades radio drama over and over again recently.

Regarding her partner’s performance in the radio program, she really had a feeling similar to Akira seeing Shu—like seeing her ideal self.

Sano Nana, who also thought radio programs were interesting, spread her hands and sighed with a face full of regret.

“It’s a pity that a certain someone is an unimportant character. If it were a character with a bit more screen time, maybe there would be a chance to become a regular guest on a radio program.”

Hearing the words “regular guest,” Kazakami Ritsu shook her head with black lines over her head.

This kind of job where one could make money just by sitting and talking like a stand-up comedian was certainly good, but for now, it was better for her to continue maintaining the cool and powerful persona like Meihime.

“Meihime should be Kazakami-san’s first role, right? Is there no other work recently?”

Thinking of Meihime’s less than 5 minutes of screen time in the show, Teraoin Hane also felt somewhat regretful in her heart.

Clearly, with Kazakami-san’s strength, she should be able to get roles with more screen time.

Regarding this, Kazakami Ritsu didn’t really care much.

As long as there was work, it didn’t matter whether there was a name or not, or whether there was much screen time.

“Recently, Big Sister Tooru seems to be negotiating a suitable role for me… It seems to be a villain role in a manga adaptation work.”

‘What? A new role!’

Hearing this news, Teraoin Hane and Sano Nana cast inquiring gazes at her in unison.

After the shop owner brought the ramen for the three of them one after another, Kazakami Ritsu slowly began to introduce her future new role.

“The audition is said to be tomorrow afternoon. I plan to catch up on the first few volumes of the manga after going back.”

Currently, there were already many manga and light novel adaptations in the industry. It was just that the original work of that manga was a game-type Isekai work.

Works of this genre were mostly called “toilet paper” by picky audiences.

However… this work was said to have quite a good reputation.

Sano Nana couldn’t hold back the curiosity in her heart and started asking for detailed information in a hurry.

“What is the name of that work? What is your character’s name? Is there a lot of screen time?”

‘This blonde, why does she seem to care more about this role than I do?’

Kazakami Ritsu slandered in her heart and responded very straightforwardly in a lowered voice.

“If I remember correctly, the work’s name seems to be Legend of the Raging Wind… I play the final villain of the first season, a classmate who transmigrated to the other world together with the protagonist.”

After stating the general content, Kazakami Ritsu began to recall the name of that character.

‘What was the name of that character who was bullied by classmates in reality, continued to be bullied by classmates in the other world, and finally blackened and nearly wiped out the protagonist team?’

After pondering for a moment, a smile that made people feel very uncomfortable appeared on Kazakami Ritsu’s face.

“If I remember correctly, that character seems to be called… Sahara Chisaki?”