Raon had fought villains, toppled remix beasts, and survived the existential terror of Shion organizing her bedroom…
But nothing—NOTHING—prepared her for the chaos of a photoshoot gone feral.
The studio was supposed to be peaceful.
Supposed to be.
Instead, it looked like an apocalypse directed by someone with too much caffeine.
Camera drones zig-zagged wildly like confused insects. Spotlights flickered like they were auditioning for a horror movie. The floor was littered with glitter, confetti, foam blocks, props, and (for some reason) fifty inflatable ducks.
Raon stared at the destruction, hands on hips.
"Okay. Who exploded the glitter cannon AGAIN?"
Everyone turned to look at Shion, who froze mid-step like a deer caught in divine headlights.
"I swear," Shion said defensively, "I only tapped it."
Yuno corrected her without looking up from adjusting her hairstyle, "You drop-kicked it, Shion."
Shion gasped a scandalized gasp.
"I slipped!"
Meanwhile, Maestro Dome floated horizontally on a drone, arms crossed, looking dramatically betrayed by gravity.
"This is why I prefer studio silence," he intoned. "Silence never betrays you with glitter."
---
The Official Cover Shoot That Refused to Be Normal
The director, a tiny man with the soul of someone who had seen too much, clapped rapidly.
"Positions! Let's try this AGAIN! Raon—hero pose! Shion—support stance! Yuno—pop-star dynamic! Maestro—glare less like you're judging the sun! ONE… TWO… THREE—"
BOOM.
The left spotlight detonated in a shower of sparks.
Raon didn't flinch. She'd seen worse.
Shion, however, shrieked and ducked behind her like a terrified cat.
Silence.
Then—
A duck bounced off Raon's head.
Raon stared at the duck. The duck stared back.
The director slowly sank to his knees.
---
Enter: The Chaos Trio
The door burst open.
Standing there in perfect idiotic glory—
The Pitchfork Trio.
All three wore sunglasses. All three held ice-cream cones. All three spoke in unison:
"We heard there's a photoshoot. We have arrived to model."
"No," Raon said.
"Yes," they insisted.
Before anyone could stop them, they strutted into frame, doing exaggerated modeling poses as if their bones were made of noodles.
The drones, confused by unregistered new faces, began circling them, scanning.
Maestro Dome groaned, "Why are they like this."
Yuno pinched the bridge of her nose. "Because fate hates us."
And then—
The absolute worst happened.
The scanning lasers hit a reflective duck.
The duck reflected the laser.
The laser hit the backup generator.
The generator overloaded.
The entire room plunged into darkness.
A mechanical hum rose.
And then—
The emergency disco mode activated.
---
THE DISCO APOCALYPSE
Colored lights exploded across the room.
Music blared—something funky, chaotic, and entirely too danceable.
Shion froze.
Raon froze.
The Pitchfork Trio did NOT freeze.
"Oh heck yeah," the trio yelled. "IT'S OUR TIME!"
They began dancing like three caffeinated lightning bolts.
Drones whirled wildly.
Spotlights flashed like a nightclub run by goblins.
Yuno, trapped in the strobe, whispered, "I didn't sign up for this…"
Raon tried to escape.
A disco ball descended from the ceiling.
Shion's eyes widened.
"That wasn't here before."
"WHY IS THIS EVEN INSTALLED?!" Raon screamed.
Then the director's voice echoed from under a collapsing foam block:
"KEEP GOING! THIS IS GOLD! NATURAL ENERGY!!"
---
The Moment Raon Snaps
A drone skimmed past Raon's head, leaving her hair floating from static electricity.
Shion tripped over a duck and face-planted into Raon's back.
Someone turned on a fog machine.
Someone else turned on THREE fog machines.
Yuno disappeared into the mist like an ancient spirit.
The Pitchfork Trio moonwalked into chaos.
And Raon…
Raon finally lost it.
"OKAY!" she shouted. "EVERYONE. STOP. MOVING."
The room froze.
Even the music seemed to pause.
Raon pointed at the director.
"You. Turn off disco hell."
"Yes ma'am—"
She pointed at the trio.
"You three. Sit. On. The. FLOOR."
They sat instantly.
She pointed at Shion.
"You. Stop touching ANYTHING."
Shion raised her hands. "I didn't touch anything this time!"
"You breathed near something that broke," Raon corrected.
Shion wilted.
Finally, Raon lifted one finger and jabbed toward the ceiling.
"And SOMEONE get that disco ball OUT OF MY DESTINY."
The ceiling immediately groaned.
The disco ball detached.
It fell.
Raon caught it with one hand.
She threw it across the room.
It bounced harmlessly into a pile of ducks.
Everyone stared.
Even the drones hovered in awe.
---
The Shot of the Century
The director, trembling, whispered:
"…Raon… hold that pose again…"
Raon blinked.
"What? This?" She re-did the stance—fist out, hair wild, eyes blazing with battle fury, foot planted atop a defeated disco ball.
Shion stood behind her, wide-eyed admiration glowing.
Yuno finally emerged from the fog like a majestic disaster.
Maestro Dome floated over dramatically.
The drones aligned in flawless formation.
The lights stabilized.
FLASH.
FLASH.
FLASH.
The director wept.
"That… THAT… is the cover."
Raon looked around at the disaster, the smoke, the glitter, the ducks.
"That's the cover?"
"It's PERFECT," he whispered.
---
End of Chapter 66 — The Cover Mayhem Continues