Month: November 2025

Kusunoki Publishing announced that it would be absorbed by the IT company Interneo to form a new joint company. Upon learning that “Camphor NEWS” may have been used to facilitate the merger, Ririko sought out Executive Director Niwa to confirm the truth, but he was absent. Meanwhile, Makoto met with college student Mio Mukai, who claimed that she was assaulted by a Kusunoki Publishing Sales Department employee while job hunting. After hearing the full details of the incident, Makoto returned to the company and handed out materials summarizing Mio’s case to Ririko, Nezu, and the other editorial department members during a story meeting. Suddenly, however, an employee from the General Affairs Department appeared with movers who began carrying the editorial department’s belongings outside. They explained that they had come to clean up after receiving notice that “Camphor NEWS” would be shut down by the end of the week.

After achieving her goal of 50 million page views, Ririko receives two new investigative assignments from Executive Director Niwa. One concerns the suspicion of a rigged award at the “Eito New Writers Literary Award,” hosted by Eito Publishing. The grand prize winner was former TV personality Tomo Ando. However, there was a possibility that Gen Yuuki, the popular author and de facto decision-maker as the chair of the judging committee, had accepted bribes from Kunio Amano, the president of Ando’s talent agency. The other story involved suspicions of a scam by an employee at the IT company Interneo.
Ririko arranged an interview with Yuuki and visited his home. His wife, Minami, answered the door. While waiting for Yuuki, who was writing, Ririko suddenly brought up the bribery allegations after Minami said she would answer any questions. Minami then suddenly started laughing and said, “Niwa sent you here, didn’t he?” It turned out that Minami was Niwa’s ex-wife.

Ririko receives a love confession from Sasame. She then pulls out her favorite dictionary and starts looking up the meaning of ‘like’. Sasame tells her, “I’ve always liked you. Please trust my words, not the dictionary.” Nezu overhears their conversation. The next day, Shimouma reveals a major scoop at the story meeting: rumours of a love affair involving the popular novelist Atsushi Kusakawa, who currently enjoys overwhelming support. Shimouma claims that he happened to witness Kusakawa meeting a woman in a semi-private room at a restaurant, and that he took photos with his phone. However, Naoya Ibuse, the head of the book editorial department, suddenly arrives with his staff and orders Ririko and the others, “Don’t publish the article on Kusakawa!” In fact, all of Kusakawa’s novels had been published by Kusunoki Publishing, and Ibuse had been his editor. As Ririko and Ibuse clash, each asserting their position, another incident occurs. Among the delivered mail is a large quantity of secretly taken photos of Ririko and the others. Inside is a letter stating, “This is what you people always do. You will all pay for this.”

Nezu is confessed to by his ex-girlfriend, Akutsu Mai, who works for a newspaper company. “Should we give it another try?” Nezu is taken aback by the suddenness of it. Around that time, he receives photos from her showing a secret meeting between Hisashi Joujima, the president of a bike-sharing venture called Renchari, and a young woman. She claims that the newspaper company was tipped off about the photos. At a story meeting, Nezu shared the Joujima scoop with Ririko and the others. The editorial staff were excited about the big story. However, Nezu questioned, “Is there any point in doing affair stories?” Moments earlier, Mai had asked him, “Can you really achieve that dream of being a reporter who exposes the dark side of society while working for a gossip site?” Then Ririko declared that if Nezu wouldn’t do it, she would cover the story herself. When Ririko confronted Joujima directly, he suddenly snapped and said, “If it’s about my son, I have nothing to do with it!” and stormed off. Puzzled, Ririko and the others discovered online posts suggesting suspicions of backdoor admissions for Joujima’s son, Kyohei, who had passed the entrance exam for Rittou University. However, the president of Rittou University was Nezu’s father, Michizane.