Uneasy daily life

Until [Baiying's Acting Wonderland], someone gradually developed a mental illness, pointing fingers and criticizing the group members every day, commenting on how inferior some people's acting was, how many mistakes they made that day, and how they should have acted if it were the real person. After that, they would launch into a character analysis, precisely exposing their inner thoughts, to the point that the group chat was in chaos...

Take Yukinoshita, who wishes to remain anonymous, as an example: Mai Sakurajima's acting skills are lacking. Today, she gave Hiratsuka-sensei a smile, which made Hiratsuka-sensei very surprised and mistakenly thought that Yukinoshita was in love, causing the sugar content to rise and melt. If it were Yukinoshita Yukino, she would generally not smile, especially during work. She would only smile if she was really in the mood, rather than habitually smiling before speaking. Why is that?

Let's start by defining why people laugh.

Yukino Yukinoshita rubbed her forehead, sensing something—it was probably because Shiro-kun hadn't been swapped into a body and was resentful, so he was bullying the four of them in the group chat all day long!

Tonight, there's been no news from [Bai Ying's Acting Wonderland], it's been very quiet...

Ding dong——!

I temporarily took my eyes off my university textbooks and glanced at my phone.

【The Amazing Acting Room Without White Shadows】

[Sakurajima Mai: Everyone, be careful lately. The anti-fan has come up with another wicked idea. He plans to pretend to have puberty syndrome and have his body swapped... In short, he'll probably try to impersonate one of us, like pretending to be Yukinoshita's body or something.]

[Yukinoshita: ?]

Chapter Thirty: I must have a serious illness!

【Not just Kazuha: It really sounds like an idea a jerk would come up with. It sounds kind of fun, waaaaah... I want to go back to Chiba, I want to move, I want to come play with everyone~】

[Yukinoshita: Sister, you shouldn't go back to Chiba, but to Tokyo to continue your studies. Besides, Haku-kun's idea is impractical. Not only did he bring up the truth, but he also forced himself to pretend. How could he possibly fool anyone?]

[Toyohama Kazuka: ...]

[Yukinoshita: You've already been fooled?]

[Toyohama Kazuka: It was just a moment of carelessness!]

[Sakurajima Mai: Perhaps it's because I helped the hater out a bit, for certain reasons.]

[Under the Snow: Some?]

[Sakurajima Mai: Some.]

[Under the Snow: Which Ones?]

[Sakurajima Mai: Things I Don't Want to Tell You.]

So what are they? What did you do with my body and appearance? Did you just easily capture me, leaving Bai Jun helpless and waiting to die?!

Yukino Yukinoshita glanced at the calendar. Taking leave from university is relatively easy... otherwise her older sister wouldn't show up in Chiba every now and then, testing her patience. But getting into Soubu High School is a problem. She should look for her older sister's student ID from back then.

[Not just Kazuha: If I were in Chiba, I'd pretend to switch bodies with that jerk and see who can act better. Or maybe I'd skip school, quit my job, and run away from home all at once?]

[Toyohama Kazuka: Hey! Don't cause trouble!]

[That's not Japanese: I think this is very Japanese.]

[Toyohama Kazuka: At most, I've run away from home; I've never skipped school or work!]

[Under the Snow: This isn't even considered a grammatically incorrect sentence.]

[It's not about Kazuha: Kazuha-chan is fun, I mean, amazing, right?]

[Toyohama Kazuka: What's the point of pretending to let something slip and then changing your story in an online chat?!]

[It's not just about Kazuha: Kazuha-chan asking me what the significance is is significant in itself.]

[Toyohama Kazuka: Climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing!]

[Yukinoshita: Sister, stop joking around, @Sakurajima Mai, did Haku-kun pretend to switch bodies with you to fool Toyohama?]

[Sakurajima Mai: After all, due to puberty syndrome, appearance cannot be used as a standard for recognizing people.]

[It's not that simple, is it? A scoundrel wouldn't use oaths or swear contracts to lie, nor would he cast a wide net to fool just one person at a time. Besides, he has a notorious reputation. Kazuha-chan has been fooled so many times; she's not that easily fooled. So the reason she was deceived is probably because she thought the scoundrel was her older sister?]

[Toyohama Kazuka: No.]

[It's not just about flowers: So that means it's about pregnancy. What does the real older sister think about this?]

[Sakurajima Mai: Although I know that Kazuha misunderstood some things, the hater still sees things more clearly.]

[That's not Kazuha: You rascal playing 'My Sister' is even more like a sister than the real one! Kazuha-chan, you can be my little sister from now on, I promise I'll be even more like the sister you've always imagined.]

[Toyohama Kazuka: No, I'm not your sister!]

[Under the Snow: Should we agree on a secret code to avoid being tricked by Haku-kun?]

[Sakurajima Mai: This will only make it easier for the haters to deceive you. For example, your sister might reveal the code to the haters out of fun or to watch the show.]

[Yukinoshita: That's true too.]

[Not at all, Hua: I'm the group admin! Why would I aid the enemy? You have to believe me!]

No one answered.

The three had ample reason to suspect that the group administrator was an undercover agent.

Perhaps the person chatting on the other end of the internet using that account isn't Yukino Yukinoshita, but Shirokage.

Yukino Yukinoshita put down her studies and rummaged through her rented room, finding her university textbooks, guitar, sheet music, clothes...

It seems I'll have to ask my sister.

Yukino Yukinoshita dialed the phone.

"Sister, where is your high school student ID?"

Are you planning to go back to Soubu High School for the sports festival?

One-third correct.

Yukino Yukinoshita thought to herself, then calmly said, "Graduates returning to campus for events shouldn't be a problem, right?"

“Yukino-chan, the sports festival is not open to the public in principle. As a graduate, you don’t have the right to visit the sports festival.” Toyohama Kazuka (Yono) chuckled twice. “Since you’ve inherited your sister’s body, you might as well inherit her elder’s relationship as well.”

"This isn't inheritance, and relationships can't be inherited either. Aren't all our elders from the same generation?"

After making a few sarcastic remarks, Yukino Yukinoshita realized, "You mean Hiratsuka-sensei?"

"Yes, I swear on my heart that I will take care of her in her old age."

"..."

"Don't be polite with her, just order her around. Don't be afraid of making things difficult for her; it's better than making things difficult for yourself, right?"

Where is your high school diploma?

“Mother must have put them away,” said Toyohama Kazuka (Yono). “Mother keeps all the documents, contracts and certificates in the house. You know that, right… Oh, Yukino-chan probably really doesn’t know, after all, she ascended the throne hastily and is unfamiliar with the court.”

"Don't imitate Bai Jun's way of speaking, or you'll easily become strange."

"Hehe~ This is a common rhetorical device in society, like when Yukino-chan fills out a self-evaluation and writes things like 'has a unique understanding of interpersonal relationships,' 'is good at discovering the differences in others,' 'is good at guiding classmates, and is happy to help others,' and so on..."

"I never wrote that, sister, don't make things up out of confusion."

"I didn't make this up. From Yukino-chan's perspective, isn't this just self-evaluation?"

"I'm hanging up now, goodnight."

"Wait, Yukino-chan inherited her older sister's elders, and she also inherited her older sister's boyfriend..."

beep.

In name only, devoid of emotion, a defective product, it doesn't count, it's not rare.

Yukino Yukinoshita hung up the phone in a huff.

I should definitely tell Hiratsuka-sensei, so that we won't be unable to get into the school for the sports festival.

As for Bai Jun's attempt to force himself to play someone, it would indeed be difficult to discern the truth if such a situation were to actually occur.

For example, Toyohama Kazuka, he definitely played "Sakurajima Mai in Toyohama Kazuka's mind", not the real Sakurajima Mai. Given Toyohama's straightforward nature, it would be hard not to be fooled.

But it's not a big problem; it can be easily broken.

Yukino looked at her hands and calmed down.

My older sister's hands are larger, with well-proportioned bones and flesh, neatly trimmed nails, fair skin, and faint blue veins. When slightly clenched, her slender bones are clearly visible...

It's better to be yourself.

cough.

Hands are only used to make Bai Jun lose his armor and reveal his true colors. Bai Jun will not go around deceiving people to satisfy his hand addiction. I don't want to be loved because of my beautiful hands. So I should take Bai Jun's beautiful hands rankings in stride and not care. People will get old and hands will become ugly. They can be used but not held onto. I can't get into the sense of superiority that comes from comparison... Stop!

Yukino Yukinoshita patted her cheeks, interrupting the strange thoughts that were spreading in her mind. If she continued to think about it, she felt that something embarrassing would come up.

Ding dong——!

The phone rang.

[Bai Ying's Acting Skills Corner]

[Bai Ying: Acting is deception, and acting skills are the techniques of deception. No matter how beautiful the words, they cannot conceal this fact.]

[Sakurajima Mai: It's like the logic of archaeology being nothing more than tomb raiding.]

[Yukinoshita: Logically speaking, everyone knows this is fake, so objectively there is no deception, therefore it's not considered deception.]

[Bai Ying: There are three kinds of deception: deception to establish trust, deception to create hardship, and deception to please the heart.]

[Bai Ying: The Deception of Trust, involving oaths and promises, using reputation, authority, and experience as bargaining chips; the larger the chips, the greater the chance of success.]

[White Shadow: I should mention to the brave warrior here, don't believe I'll do good deeds, I'm not a good person.]

[Under the Snow: As a microorganism, the white fungus lacks self-awareness.]

[Toyohama Kazuka: What's gotten into you so late at night?]

[Bai Ying: Don't interrupt, I'm giving you a lecture on fraud prevention. Listen carefully, there will be a test.]

[Not just Kazuha: Who's the examiner? A jerk?]

[Bai Ying: Bai Yinghua, she just called me and said she wants to come visit me.]

The four people, scattered in different places, were stunned for a moment. Bai Yinghua... they knew a little about her.

Putting everything else aside, the label of being a member of the Scarlet Troupe speaks volumes. From what we know so far, it seems to be a peculiar group that treats deception as an art form.

The Yukinoshita sisters were inexplicably taught strange identification techniques by the prop master.

[Bai Ying: The Deception of Adversity: For every desire, there is a loss; desire breeds adversity, and loss breeds misfortune! Seize industry pain points, understand customer needs, and strike precisely to intensify the pain.]

[White Shadow: I should mention to the brave warrior here, don't believe my promises, I'm not a person who keeps their word.]

[Under the Snow: ...]

[Bai Ying: The Deception of the Heart, this is the general principle of deception. People must have a heart; with a heart, there will be things to believe. And with belief comes deception. As the saying goes, "When fellow villagers meet, they stab each other in the back." The elder is right, turn around and kneel in the hall.]

[Bai Ying: No matter how skillful my words and disguise are, if you don't believe me, you won't be fooled. If you believe me and then get fooled, it's not me who fooled you, but you who fooled yourself. Therefore, people never fool others; they only fool themselves.]

[White Shadow: I need to mention you, Brave One, don't create a mental image of me. The image you have isn't me; it's just a prerequisite for you to be fooled.]

[Under the Snow: Am I really that easily deceived in Shirogane's eyes?]

[Bai Ying: Mainly because there's no one to bicker with lately, so I'm bored and spend all my time rubbing stick figures. You must have been like this before, but I'm not sure about now. I'll have to meet some people to see things clearly. After all, a true hero doesn't want to be the kind of person who presumes to expect things from others, but rather someone who earnestly seeks to understand things clearly.]

[Yukinoshita: Hmph.]

[White Shadow: Did you believe it? If you did, you've been fooled.]

[Under the Snow: White! Fungus!]

[White Shadow: It seems she believes it.]

[White Shadow: A true hero kills through the internet, hehehehehehe!]

I don't know why, but the chat in the group suddenly became quiet.

The three people, silently watching from behind a screen, could almost hear the sound of their teeth grinding together as they made a deep mental commitment.

That bastard is really not afraid of getting beaten up by Yukinoshita.

Sakurajima Mai (Waka) made a comment, then glanced at the outline of the deception a few more times, and couldn't help but think of what happened that afternoon.

I was not fooled because I was stupid, but because this guy acted so well. In addition, I had just been exposed for not being a real sister at all. I was upset and depressed, which is why I fell into the trap.

That jerk acted just like... just like the older sister I admire.

Understanding and considerate of one's own feelings; intelligent and wise; able to comprehend one's own troubles; gentle and perfect; able to find a way out of difficulties.

Just like when she was in battle, her older sister comforted her, and she became an idol who was even more perfect after seeing her in person.