And Then「そして, Soshite?」 is the one hundred and sixty-fifth and penultimate chapter of Oshi no Ko manga series. It is written by Aka Akasaka and illustrated by Mengo Yokoyari. It was released in Weekly Young Jump on November 7, 2024.
Summary[]
Akane continues to summarize the events following Aqua and Hikaru's murder-suicide. Nino turned herself in, leading to an investigation that discovered that there were even more proxy murderers and victims than they were aware of; no incriminating evidence on Hikaru was found other than being the instigator. Akane planned on playing decoy but believes that Aqua would not have allowed her to put herself in danger. When wishing he at least have left behind a note, she imagines his response: that doing so would have drawn suspicion. Still, she believes that it would have helped those he left behind sort out their feelings, especially Kana.
Aqua's funeral is overseen by Miyako and attended by casts and crews of productions he was involved in, namely Sweet Today, LoveforReal, Tokyo Blade, and The 15 Year Lie, as well as schoolmates from Youtou High. During the open-casket portion of the proceedings, instead of laying a flower, Kana causes a commotion by slapping Aqua's corpse, prompting a furious Miyako to slap her in turn. However, Kana does not react and instead tells Aqua that she kept her promise to "slap his corpse" before having a breakdown, begging him to come back since she never confessed to him, forcing Akane to pull her away from the casket.
The belief that Hikaru killed Aqua over his portrayal of him in The 15 Year Lie also caused the staff to reconsider releasing the film. However, Gotanda argued he would not let his late apprentice's work be shelved, even threatening to release it online, and Kaburagi ultimately made the deciding vote to still release it, claiming he would take full responsibility for any potential incidents; thus, thanks to publicity from the incident, The 15 Year Lie released to critical acclaim and became the 6th most watched movie of the year.
As for Ruby, the one Akane thinks Aqua would be most worried about, she has not left her house since receiving the news of his passing. Seeing her talk to herself about how she always loses those important to her, Akane initially believed Ruby would never be able to perform again. However, as she surmises Aqua had already predicted, both she and Kana are stronger than they appear.
Characters[]
Trivia[]
- With twenty-nine characters in this chapter, it has the most characters appearing in a single chapter.