White Roses「白薔薇, Shirobara?」 is the ninety-sixth chapter of the Oshi no Ko manga series. It is written by Aka Akasaka and illustrated by Mengo Yokoyari. It was released in Weekly Young Jump on October 6, 2022.[1]
Summary[]
Aqua and Akane are talking through a phone call, discussing her appearance at the Japan Film Awards ceremony, and her nervousness about being one of the winners of the New Actors Award, and the event being a red carpet pressured her further. Akane wonders if Aqua could meet her that night after the ceremony, but Aqua said he couldn't meet anyone in his current state, after just figuring out that his father might be alive after all. Akane assures him that if he is in trouble, he can always rely on her. Aqua thanked her; the call went silent for a bit.
Akane starts thinking about how Aqua has been brighter and cheerful recently, even though he used to be gloomy and dark. The change that Akane deduces happens after Ai Hoshino's death. She thinks about how that event would remain with him forever as if it were a curse but noticed that after he was free from it, he slowly became his normal self, his guilt fading away. Akane silently hopes that he never notices the loophole which she already noticed so he can live the rest of his life peacefully.
Akane's highlight reels in various films and series are shown, as a presentation for her acceptance of the New Actors Award in the Japan Film Awards. As she passes by a hall where the events took place with her manager, she passes by someone whom she mistakes for Aqua. Akane then sees the flower arrangements that are sent by her agency, noting how big it is. She also notices the flower arrangement sent by Lala Lai Theatrical Company, politely pointing out how small it is compared to her agency's flowers. Toshirou Kindaichi reasons that theater companies don't have money these days to procure something bigger.
Akane also sees a massive white rose arrangement to congratulate her on winning the awards, and Kindaichi relayed about the sender being a Lala Lai graduate who has his own agency and sends flowers every chance he gets. Akane smiles as she notices how many people are congratulating her, and asks her manager to thank every single one of them.
Afterward, Akane can be seen eating dinner in a Chinese restaurant with her manager, her agency's president, and Kindaichi. Akane was commended as her career took off, and she thanked Kindaichi's training for it. Kindaichi deflected his role and talked about how talented she is, and how impressive she has become ever since she took part in We're About to Fall in Love for Real. Her agency's president noted how her eyes now leave a strong impression, and Kindaichi talked about meeting people who have those eyes that can make lies look like truths once in a while.
He then reveals that the Lala Lai graduate also has those eyes, and he was their best performer. Akane gets interested and asks if she can see videos of his performance. Kindaichi went silent for a bit but then pointed Akane to a private rehearsal playlist that Lala Lai had.
Later on, Akane checked out the playlist and noticed how eerily similar the Lala Lai graduate looked to Aqua. She then starts connecting the dots, starting from how Aqua suspects that his father is from Lala Lai, to how Taiki's biological father might be Aqua's father, and then finally to how Ai's acting style is similar to this person. She goes further and tied the white rose that he gave Akane to the white rose that Ryosuke Sugano brought, reasoning that he might be the one who provoked Ryosuke into killing Ai by revealing her whereabouts through that same rose.
Akane finally had an epiphany, figuring out that Aqua's father, and the person responsible for Ai's death, is Hikaru Kamiki, who was 15 years old student when Ai was pregnant with the twins.
Characters[]
