?2:00 AM. The pale blue light of a smartphone flickers in the cramped six-tatami room of the run-down apartment.

  Hikari is exhausted, sleeping like a log. This is our only window of opportunity.

  ?I set up an improvised tripod on the low table: Hikari’s old selfie stick, stabilized with scraps of duct tape and a stack of paperback books. Then, I mounted the phone I’d carried over in my mouth.

  ?(Mya. Alright... Password 0310... Unlock.)

  ?The touch sensitivity of the screen against my paw pads is abysmal. But, fueled by the obsession I cultivated during my days as a writer, I managed to launch the camera app.

  ?(Mya, mya-mya. Hey, Kira. Stand by. Get to the center.)

  ?I nudged Kira, who was rubbing her sleepy eyes, toward a "relic" sitting in the corner of the room. It was an old mini-keyboard with several missing keys—something Hikari used to play for fun.

  ?(Mya? ...Wait, Hige. Don't tell me... do I... have to take my clothes off for this?)

  ?Kira shrank back anxiously. I instinctively covered my face with a paw.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  ?(Myaa, myaa. Sis... Don't make me repeat myself. We’re cats. We’re just hairy; we’ve been stark naked since the day we were born.)

  (Mya? ...Oh, come to think of it, you’re right. I'm convinced.)

  ?Exasperated by her usual airheadedness, I laid out the Strategy.

  ?(Mya. Listen, Kira. Nobody watches a video just because a cat is cute. Your crippled leg... that handicap will become a "story" on these keys. Dissonance is fine. Just strike the notes of your survival.)

  ?I tapped the record button. Click.

  Kira timidly climbed onto the keyboard, dragging her leg behind her.

  ?—Plink.

  ?A hollow note pierced the silence.

  Then, every time Kira lost her balance and stumbled, a layer of discordant sounds built up.

  I lined up beside her and deliberately thrust my "thief-mustache"—the face that had plunged me into despair in the mirror—right into the camera lens for a close-up.

  ?(MYAAAAAAARGH!! Strike it! Strike it!!)

  ?The beautiful Kira striking keys with her disabled leg, and the Thief-Stache beside her, providing a desperate "screaming" chorus.

  It was surreal, it was ridiculous, but there was something heart-wrenching about the image.

  My "Inspiration" was taking shape.

  ?This was our debut work—the plan to steal that hopeless sum of ten million yen.

  Just before dawn, the upload finished.

  We launched our tiny paper boat into the great golden river of the internet.

  ?[Next Time: Chapter 6 Preview]

  ?The view count: exactly "12."

  (...Was my strategy wrong?)

  As Hige panics, a new trial looms.

  The announcement of layoffs at Hikari's workplace.

  What is the truth behind "going viral" that Hige discovers?!

  ?Would you like me to proceed with the translation of Chapter 6, or should we refine the "Producer Hige" persona further?