Honestly, even if "Cancer of the Earth" hadn't spoken…
Based on nicknames, avatars, and the like, Baiye—being a transmigrator—could already guess who they were.
Member "Cancer of the Earth": Chika Fujiwara, from the manga Kaguya-sama: Love Is War and its related works.
Member "Kasumigaoka Utaha": Utaha Kasumigaoka, from the light novel Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend and its related works.
Member "Esdeath": Esdeath, from the manga Akame ga Kill! and its related works.
Besides those three, there was also one member who hadn't spoken when Baiye joined:
"Youkai Sage"—the youkai named Yukari Yakumo, from the bullet-hell game series Touhou Project and its related works.
Thanks to the internet age, Baiye hadn't memorized every detail of every series involving them, but identifying their origins was easy enough.
As for why he agreed to let Chika "introduce" them even though he'd already recognized everyone…
On one hand, blurting out "I've read stories about you"—or worse, "I read those stories before I transmigrated into this world"—seemed like a terrible idea.
Letting them define themselves would provide a far safer "entry point" into mutual familiarity.
On the other hand…
Even if he had "special intel," it came from fiction. Who knew how accurately it matched the real versions of these people?
And even if it matched perfectly, what fiction portrayed was only a slice of someone—not their full reality.
Chika's introduction still had value.
Once Chika finished making the rounds, Baiye uploaded an avatar and shared his real name.
"Cancer of the Earth": Baiye-san?
"Cancer of the Earth": So the group pulls in men too…
"Newbie": …
"Cancer of the Earth": Uh—sorry, sorry! I didn't mean anything bad about you. It's just… you can see it, right? Before you, all of us were women, so I kind of assumed that was a requirement.
"Newbie": No harm done.
"Cancer of the Earth": Okay~ back to business, back to business.
"Cancer of the Earth": Since you don't seem confused by the whole "we're linked across dimensions" thing, let's fast-forward.
"Cancer of the Earth": About the group's functions—do you want a broad overview, or should I explain them one by one while you check?
"Newbie": I already poked around. The system descriptions are clear enough—red packets, sign-in, live streaming, that kind of thing.
"Newbie": I really just have one question.
"Newbie": Right now, is this group only good for chatting like this?
"Cancer of the Earth": Uh… honestly? Yes.
"Cancer of the Earth": But you can still look forward to it "having a bright future," okay?
"Cancer of the Earth": For example, there's a daily sign-in: once every 24 hours, 1 point each time. But there's nowhere to spend points in the function list—other than sending them via red packets. That's obviously weird.
"Cancer of the Earth": Also, the existing functions like [Sign-In] and [Red Packet] have a little [+] icon behind them. That screams "more features not yet unlocked." That probably ties into "a place to spend points."
"Newbie": Speaking of that [+]… have you tried upgrading to the full version?
"Newbie": The prompt only lists "member count" as a prerequisite—and you clearly meet it. So is there some hidden condition?
"Cancer of the Earth": ?
"Esdeath": ?
"Kasumigaoka Utaha": …Could you explain what you mean by "upgrade to the full version," Baiye-san?
"Newbie": Huh? None of you noticed?
"Newbie": If you tap the last [+] in the function list nine times in a row, a prompt pops up: if the group has at least 3 members, then with unanimous consent it can be upgraded to the full version, unlocking more functions.
"Kasumigaoka Utaha": …
"Cancer of the Earth": …
"Esdeath": …
Following Baiye's instructions, the three tried it—and sure enough, the prompt appeared.
So for the past year-and-a-bit / half-year-and-a-bit, the group had only been "a chatroom" because they simply hadn't discovered an upgrade option that had apparently been available the whole time.
"Cancer of the Earth": I know this is going to sound like I'm dodging blame, but I genuinely have to ask…
"Cancer of the Earth": Why did the system hide something that important so deeply—and why did you find it in under ten minutes after joining?
"Newbie": Probably because I've seen "hidden dev options" before. Like "tap the version number 7 times to enable developer mode."
"Newbie": Honestly, I also tried tapping other blank areas to see if anything else was hidden. Only the [+] gave feedback.
"Cancer of the Earth": Emmmm…
"Cancer of the Earth": On How the Newbie Is Too Competent and Makes Us Veterans Look Like Useless Trash
"Kasumigaoka Utaha": On How Someone Gets Brutal Enough to Roast Even Themselves and Thinks Quotation Marks Make It Cute
"Cancer of the Earth": On How Someone Is Also in the Useless Category but Thinks They Can Act Innocent and Start Critiquing to Escape Accountability
"Esdeath": So—are we upgrading today or not?
"Cancer of the Earth": Yes! Of course!
"Cancer of the Earth": Yukari-san, stop sleeping—@Youkai Sage
"Youkai Sage": ?
"Kasumigaoka Utaha": Read the chat log.
"Youkai Sage": Oh. A newcomer, huh…
"Youkai Sage": Hm? With just three members we can upgrade to the full version?
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