After scrolling through the danmaku, Hanabi shifted her attention to the comments section.
[Thank the scriptwriter for their boundless mercy—they didn't kill Hikari off]
[For real, I was this close to thinking Hikari was going to become an idealized lost love. Thank god nothing happened]
[I actually thought Hanabi was the one who was going to die. You know the type—rescue someone, give them warmth, then up and die on your own terms.]
[I legit thought Hanabi was done for this time. Then I remembered—oh right, she's the protagonist. She probably can't die.]
[LOL, what if it's a parallel world? She'd die right in front of you anyway]
[Insulated Stormbound—the heroine literally died before the anime even started]
In the OVA, Hanabi was a character who walked the knife's edge of fan-favorite-turned-sacrificial-lamb. Put her in any other production and the writers would've killed her off for the tears.
Hanabi thought so too. But unfortunately for the tropes, she was the protagonist.
She'd also noticed the risks of using alternate identities earlier on.
The character Kushina Yuki was also played by Hanabi, and the popularity points still went to her—but in the audience's perception, Kushina Yuki was still Kushina Yuki, and Hanabi was still Hanabi.
So at the very least, within the same production, Hanabi had decided not to use that kind of disguise to advance the main storyline anymore.
"When does the pay get settled?"
[Compensation will be calculated based on first-week BD/DVD sales and other licensing revenue]
Although the OVA was part of the "Ninja's Path" series, it was categorized as Hanabi's own story, so compensation was handled independently by the Stage.
A self-financed project, responsible for its own profits and losses.
"But man, the protagonist treatment really is something else..."
Hanabi had originally expected to earn maybe thirty to fifty thousand popularity points at best.
But the protagonist-tier treatment was far more generous than she'd imagined.
Those hundred-thousand-plus popularity points just shot up like nothing—even the stock market isn't this wild.
And beyond that, from Hanabi's perspective, all of her "cheats" had now been fully "legitimized."
In other words, from here on out, Hanabi could openly use Ice Style in front of the audience, and even summon the Jingliu Puppet.
She could even transform into her white-haired form—even the white-haired, red-eyed form wouldn't be a problem. She might even ride the wave for another popularity boost.
"I fused the evil god's power into a ninja tool, turning it into Zhuixia. Zhuixia became a physical manifestation of the evil god's curse, locked onto my body, and it won't allow me to die either... Perfect~"
"Rationalization" was essential.
Both within the story's own logic and from the audience's perspective.
And now, she'd completed the "rationalization" of her cheats—transforming them into a power source the audience could accept.
And most importantly, now that everything was rationalized, she could openly deliver fanservice to the audience~
"Phew, the whole day just passed like that."
It was already evening. Tomorrow, everyone would be heading back to Konoha.
Hinata and Neji were still outside training.
"Oh my, is that you, Hikari?" Hanabi heard movement outside the door. It was Hikari Uchiha, standing at the entrance—but hesitating, as if she couldn't decide whether to come in.
"Um, well..."
Hanabi opened the door almost immediately and found Hikari outside, wavering between wanting to enter and wanting to flee.
"I—because of the price you pay, I was worried someone might see you like that. I was concerned..."
Since Hanabi was completely restrained and defenseless while paying the price, Hikari was worried about her.
Hanabi couldn't help but laugh. "Well, having learned my lesson, I'll obviously wait until I'm somewhere safe before paying up. The price can be deferred a little—that's not a problem."
A bit of endurance was manageable.
The real issue was that while "in debt," she couldn't take Zhuixia off.
"Um." Hikari spoke up. "Is there any way I could help Hanabi get rid of this price?"
"I'm afraid not."
Hanabi gestured for Hikari to come inside, and they both sat down.
"The truth is, this is the power of an evil god. I was already chosen by the evil god some time ago."
Having addressed the plausibility for the real-world audience, it was now time for in-story rationality.
"An evil god..." Hikari's mind immediately went to that terrifying ice-crystal puppet.
The puppet's raw power was clearly inferior to hers, yet it had suppressed her through sheer technique alone.
Terrifying.
To be fair, Hikari was already remarkably strong for her age. Mangekyō Sharingan techniques at her fingertips, Fire Style was child's play, and Yachihoko was a fearsome jutsu in its own right—yet even so, she'd been intimidated by that thing.
"Is it because of me..." Hikari fell back into self-blame.
"No, it's not. I was just careless. But it's not all bad," Hanabi said. "For example, no matter how badly I'm injured, I won't die. The evil god won't allow me to die. Well, I do have to pay a certain price for it, of course. And this ability can be applied to others too."
"I see... Wait, then Hanabi—your eyes—"
Hikari caught on instantly.
Hanabi always wore an blindfold or kept her eyes closed, as if she couldn't see at all.
Then...
Hanabi smiled, then raised a finger to her lips in a hushing gesture.
Then she removed the blindfold and opened both eyes.
"They're so beautiful... like pearls..."
Those pure-white irises were utterly crystalline.
"I'm only showing you because it's you, Hikari." Hanabi closed her eyes again and replaced the blindfold. "Please keep this little secret for me, just for now~"
"Yes! I absolutely won't tell anyone!" Hikari nodded with complete seriousness.
Knowing that the evil god's power resided in Hanabi, Hikari also recalled Hanabi's use of Ice Style during their earlier fight—the same ice techniques the evil god's avatar had employed.
In hindsight, that must have been a manifestation of the evil god's power.
According to Hanabi, the restraints on her body were the evil god's prison... She'd been enduring this suffering all along.
"Doesn't it hurt?" Hikari asked, her heart aching.
"Not at all. Actually, once I got used to it, I find it quite comfortable. I rather enjoy the feeling of my body being tightly bound."
It feels... comfortable?
Hikari's head buzzed.
"And this curse can actually be turned to my advantage," Hanabi continued. "Normally, the curse generates massive resistance, limiting me to ordinary human-level strength. During my downtime, it restrains me completely. But under those conditions, my training speed skyrockets—as long as I maintain this state, my chakra and physique keep improving. In that sense, it's kind of a lazy shortcut for training~"
Unfortunately, Shadow Clones couldn't train this way. Shadow Clones could drill ninjutsu, build chakra, and practice technique—but physical conditioning was fundamentally about the body repairing itself.
For that, Shadow Clones were useless. They'd only pile on fatigue.
"Then..." Hikari pressed on. "Can I share some of Hanabi's burden? Even a little would be fine—I want to bear some of that price for you."