

So let’s summarize the new plan:
1. fake letter to Hiroki
2. fake letter to Youichi
3. vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
4. VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
5. climax
I know it’s a cheap trick, but it was really the only thing I could do. Some Exposition on steps 1 and 2 was necessary, but obviously anything beyond that needs to come as a surprise later. Drowning out Akane’s speech with external noise is a good solution to that – it would even be an elegant solution, if it hadn’t been done so often already.
And it’s worth the effort – Akane’s plan must be a real good one, because she strikes the Gendo pose while pontificating about it, and even gets a pair of intransparent glasses from Megumi to fully look the part. Obviously I wouldn’t have allowed her to do that if her plan was bad or inconsequential.
The source of external noise is a rocket ship – on very similar, indeed, to the brand frequently used by Snuka’s old nemesis, his is-he-or-isn’t-he-evil-twin, Akuns. But don’t worry, I’m not bringing him back for this chapter…although he was in the running throughout its early development. So, yeah, the ship is there for the noise only, and has no further bearing on the plot. The fact that it isn’t being piloted by Akuns can also be readily deduced from the fact that it isn’t crashing.
More on Monday.
P.S.: Fun anecdote: As I was preparing this strip for publication, I noticed I had written “Youichi looks particularly cool with his short off”…and since I had drawn the strip much earlier, I was really left wondering whether I had meant to write “with his shirt off” or “with his shorts off”. But I concluded I was going for the first, since the latter would probably be a bit too forward at this point in a proto-relationship…