Kagerou Daze II -a headphone actor-

Kagerou Daze II  -a headphone actor- (カゲロウデイズII -a headphone actor-) is the second light novel volume.

Headphone Actor I (ヘッドフォンアクターI Heddofon Akutā I)

 * The chapter begins with Takane overhearing a radio broadcast; curious from what it is about, she puts on her headphones to listen. It turns out to be a news interview with a country's president announcing the world was to end that day. Once the president has announced that, she hears many screams and shouts in a language she does not understand. She looks out the red-stained window, observing the crescent moon in the deep purple sky obscured by a flock of birds. Takane removes her headphones, goes back into her room and looks around. She glances at a half-finished game and mountain of textbooks.


 * She tries to persuade herself that what was occuring was merely a joke, but the sight she sees outside proves otherwise. As the noise increases, she starts quivering. She puts on her headphones to block out the noise, however only static is heard. As she despairs about the situation, she hears a voice. Listening more closely, she realizes it is her own voice speaking to her. The voice tells her to get over a hill, inquiring if she wants to survive. The chapter ends with Takane making the resolve to run to the hill as the voice guided her.

Yuukei Yesterday I (夕景イエスタデイI Yūkei Iesutadei I)

 * Takane wakes up, tired and grumpy. Realizing that there was school that day, she tries to devise various plans to avoid going to school. Despite her efforts, she was forced to get out of bed and go to school.


 * At the school, she regards the preparations for the upcoming cultural festival with disdain. As she enters the school building, instead of heading to the normal classes, she walks in the opposite direction of the masses and heads toward the science storage classroom where the "special" class was located. As she opens the door, she sees her classmate, Haruka Kokonose, clad only in his boxers due to getting wet. Panicked, Takane tries to force his clothes on him, but her teacher, Mr. Tateyama, walks in. Their teacher, misunderstanding, tries to escape, but Takane threatens him and forces him to help her.


 * After Takane and a wet Haruka settle down, Mr. Tateyama explains that he tried to suck up to the administrator and got the class cornered into making a booth for the festival. To make it worse, he had spent the festival budget on a taxidermy specimen of a rare fish, which left the small class that was already low on manpower deprived of any resources. Haruka speaks up and expresses his wish to build a shooting gallery, to which Takane reluctantly agrees.


 * During their self-study period, Takane and Haruka think about how they were going to get their booth set up, despite their unfavorable circumstances. As they discuss their ideas with Mr Tateyama, he reveals that he could program things. Takane, noting this, decides that they could make a game by using Haruka's artistic abilities and Mr. Tateyama's programming skills. She explains that the game would use a point system and the player would face off against her to get the prize. Haruka, anxious about her ability to win, questions her confidence, but Mr. Tateyama explains that Takane had placed second in a national tournament for a popular FPS game, Dead Bullet -1989-. Takane, anticipating a negative reaction from Haruka, winces, but Haruka is awed by Takane's online popularity and gaming skills. Haruka, with renewed hopes after learning about their seemingly hopeless situation, gives a fist-forward pose in his excitement, and Takane smiles, noting how she was coming to enjoy the cultural festival despite her earlier aversion to it.

Headphone Actor II (ヘッドフォンアクターII Heddofon Akutā II)

 * Takane runs through the ever-changing scenery, forcing herself to ignore all those around her. The voice from her headphones urge her on and direct her through the streets, giving her the amount of time left as she runs. As she runs, she thinks about how often she ran so hard, reminiscing about her past. The voice from her headphones grows more urgent as time goes on, and Takane grows more and more tired. She runs, pushed on by the feeling that something important was waiting for her, and reaches the hill.

Yuukei Yesterday II (夕景イエスタデイII Yūkei Iesutadei II)

 * The chapter starts in darkened science storage room during the cultural festival, with Takane's fans from the online community crowding around her. As she cries due to her embarrassment, she questions how she ended up there.


 * Cut to a few hours before the festival: Takane sits before the finished product of Haruka and Mr. Tateyama's efforts, Headphone Actor. As Haruka and Takane alternate between Takane's criticisms and Haruka's apologies Takane plays the game. When the festival's opening draws near, Takane and Haruka grow gradually nervous, with Takane reassuring Haruka and herself. When the PA system announces the festival's beginning, Haruka steps outside the classroom to advertise.


 * After Haruka leaves, Takane thinks about possible, pessimistic scenarios, but her thoughts are interrupted by two men, one of them entering to play. As she recites the booth explanation, the man and his friend start provoking her by insulting both her and the game. Angered, she starts the game on the hardest difficulty, according to the customer's demand, and proceeds to decimate him in game. After the match comes to an end, the man inquires if Takane was 'Dancing Flash Ene', to which Takane desperately denies. She hurriedly pushes the man and his friend out of the room. Realizing that they might spread that she was 'Dancing Flash Ene', Takane starts conjuring up many different types of pessimistic scenarios and mutters to herself. Unbeknownst to her, Haruka had heard from the two men of Takane's online name when they left. When Takane finds out, she is incredibly embarrassed, even though Haruka doesn't show any sort of negative reaction.


 * When another visitor calls, Haruka promptly exits the room, and addresses the customer. The visitor, a boy around 13 years of age, talks to her before turning to a girl that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The girl, Kido, plays against Takane, and uses her abilities to cause the enemies on Takane's screen to be invisible. Takane, unaware of Kido's eye power, panics, thinking the game has a bug, and barely manages to win. The boy gives a quick explanation of what had occurred, confusing Takane, and leaves with Kido, surprising Haruka on the way out.


 * After taking a break and eating lunch, they reopen the booth to find a low amount of customers appearing due to an event by the Student Council. Takane, conversing outside the unoccupied booth with Haruka, notices a group wearing military-like uniforms. When the group approaches them, the group notes that Takane was 'Dancing Flash Ene', so Takane promptly shuts the door in their faces. However, a larger crowd forms, so they are forced to let them in.


 * 2 hours and 45 participants later, Takane wallows in self-pity at her situation. As she was lost in thought, a young teen boy sits next to her. The boy provokes her, but instead of insulting the game itself like the first pair did, he criticizes her skills. Takane, riled up, sets the game to the hardest difficulty, regarded with indifference by the boy. When the match finishes, Takane, despite achieving her highest score, had lost to the boy who achieved a perfect score. After the boy leaves, Haruka follows him to give him the prize. A girl apologizes to Takane about the boy's behavior before leaving.


 * After the festival ends, Takane relaxes, waiting for Haruka to return. As time passes, Takane remember's Haruka's illness which could take his life, she starts panicking and runs out the room, crashing into Haruka. Takane, angry at Haruka for making her worry, flies into a rage.

Headphone Actor III (ヘッドフォンアクターIII Heddofon Akutā III)

 * Takane makes it to the top of the hill, but finds only a massive sky and a massive wall. Feeling a sense of discomfort, she realized that she was not here. As Takane listens to the voice from the headphones, which was giving up, she notes how it spoke for her mind. As the voice and Takane give up, Takane comes to realize that she realized where her feelings laid, and says, "I'm sorry... Takane." Takane looks at the program burning itself away then loses unconsciousness.

Yuukei Yesterday III (夕景イエスタデイIII Yūkei Iesutadei III)

 * During summer school, Haruka and Takane are taking lessons. Haruka, a smart student, speeds through the worksheets and brings out his laptop to play Dead Bullet -1989-. Takane notices his game and gets distracted from her assignments, then remembers when Haruka first got interested in the game.


 * After the school festival finished, Mr. Tateyama, Haruka, and Takane are eating dinner together. Mr. Tateyama teases Takane by calling her 'Ene', which embarasses Takane. Haruka, thinking the name was cool, notes how 'Ene' was taken from Takane's full name, and creates the name 'Konoha' from his own name. Takane indifferently calls Haruka 'Konoha', which causes Haruka to want to spread his new name.


 * Cut back to the present: Haruka ends up playing his game despite Takane's complaints. Takane notes how Haruka only ended up in summer school due to attendance problems caused by more frequent attacks, starting from his birthday. As Haruka keeps playing his game, Takane becomes annoyed that he isn't paying attention to her and chooses to ignore him and puts her headphones on to get Haruka's attention. She faces away from Haruka, and ignores him for 20 minutes before giving up. When she turns around, she sees Haruka collapsed on his desk. Panicking, she calls for help, and Mr. Tateyama comes in the room and picks up Haruka.


 * In the hospital, Takane cries, comforted by Mr. Tateyama. After the doctor reveals that Haruka's life had been saved, Takane tells Mr. Tateyama that she would return to the school to get Haruka's things and requests that Mr. Tateyama stay by Haruka's side. She leaves the hospital facility, running away from her guilt.


 * When she reaches the school, she meets Ayano, the girl from the school festival. After they talk about school and Shintaro, the boy who defeated Takane in the game, Takane tells Ayano that Haruka was in the hospital. Ayano, apologizes for taking up her time, but Takane, reassures her, saying that she'd only get in the way at the hospital. Ayano, realizing Takane's feelings, rebukes Takane's actions and tells Takane that she should tell Haruka how she really felt, then parts with Takane. Takane, heads to the science storage room, and as she opens the door, she remember's Haruka's usual greeting. Takane, realizing that she did have something to tell Haruka, turns around to run back to the hospital, but she collapses. While losing consciousness, she notices a familiar figure standing in front of her. Right before she loses her consciousness, she utters, "Haruka, I love you."

Headphone Actor IV (ヘッドフォンアクターIV Heddofon Akutā IV)

 * The chapter starts off with Takane wondering if her last words made it through. She then notes that she felt as if she was suspended or was floating, having no feeling of fatigue in her body. She then wonders if she had died, then while trying to make sense of her situation, cries out. Realizing she has a voice, she checks the rest of her body. She then remembers the dramatic memories of a city in chaos, her voice in the headphones, etc., but couldn't remember anything after she had fallen unconscious in the hallway at the school, and notes that she often falls asleep like that with no memory of when she dropped off.


 * Frustrated, she calls out for others, and a screen-like box appears. She examines the screen, and in it, she sees a laboratory-like room with monitors in it. Although the darkness rendered it impossible to see much, she noticed someone speaking. As she hears more of the voice, she realizes that the voice belonged to Mr. Tateyama. As she examines more of the room, she notices a body in a large device. Realizing the body was hers, she is shocked, but comes to accept it. Once again, she looks into the room, and this time, she sees Konoha, Haruka's online persona, in a large tank. Unable to process these things, she tries to gather her thoughts, only to be interrupted by Mr. Tateyama's voice saying it could now open up the 'Kagerou Daze' and mentioning Konoha. However, before she could hear the rest, she was cut off by the screen. Confused, she touches the screen, but then her body starts crumbling away, and darkness envelopes her.


 * She "converses" with another being who tells her to open her eyes. Before she could figure out who the being was, a flash of lightning crashed upon the darkness, and she opens her eyes to a login screen. After logging in, she dives into a sea of text with a sky of ones and zeroes. This starts her journey as Ene in the world of computers.

Retrospect Forest (Tsuisou Forest) (追想フォレスト Tsuisō Foresuto)

 * On August 15, after the being involved in a terrorist attack and being rescued by the Mekakushi Dan, Shintaro reminisces about how he was forced into the Mekakushi Dan. Momo, his sister, interrupts his thoughts by insulting him. In the subsequent argument, Seto while carrying Marry, interrupts, but this appearance only brings more fuel tot the argument. After the argument between the siblings calms down, they keep walking.


 * It is revealed that the four were walking down a road toward an amusement park due to Ene's desire to visit one after the terrorist attack on the department store rendered the amusement park on the roof of the store closed. At the amusement park, they group up with Kido and Kano, who happened to be running late. After they group up, they enter the park.


 * Later, Shintaro, rendered incapable of standing by a roller coaster, sits on a bench with Seto and Kano. After conversing for a bit, Seto leaves to buy a drink. Alone with Kano, he decides to think alone instead of talking, before being surprised by Seto, who had quickly returned. After complaining a bit to Seto, Shintaro comes to the realization that since Ene was enjoying the park in Momo's phone, he had all the time to himself. He leaves Seto and Kano to stroll through the park by himself, until he encountered Marry. Marry, wanting to go to a pair's only attraction, gets Shintaro to accompany her.


 * After giving up on the attraction due to its cold temperatures, Shintaro encounters a panicked Kido. Explaining that Momo was in trouble, she brings him to a haunted house attraction. Shintaro questions Kido's bravery, but Kido stubbornly refuses to admit her fear. When they were walking through the attraction, the duo were scared multiple times by the actors and props. When they finally met Momo in the attraction, Momo had scary makeup and a matching prop on her head, which caused Kido to faint in surprise. After cleaning up her makeup, Momo shakes Kido awake and starts to exit the house. Shintaro, realizing that Ene might've been with him during his time with Momo, asks Momo about Ene, who reveals that Ene returned to Shintaro after the first roller coaster.


 * On a bench in the amusement park, Shintaro laments to himself while Ene mocks him with a custom-made soundboard of Shintaro's screams she had created when she was hiding in his phone when he was unaware of her presence. Ene then blackmails Shintaro into going around the park with her. The book ends with Ene leading the way and Shintaro wondering how much fun they could have before sunset.

Afterword: Too Terrible to Look At (~あとがき『目もあてられない話』~)

 * To be added.

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