Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle Episode 4

Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle Episode 4: The Charade of the Empty Seat The Plot Teaser: The Price of a Promise The glass slipper of high school popularity is about to shatter.

In the relentless, cutthroat world of Shirotose Academy, where Saku Chitose reigns as the effortlessly charismatic social king, a simple act of secret kindness turns into a calculated social ambush.

A promise made in quiet secrecy must now be defended in the harsh glare of public scrutiny.

When a new, academically focused rival weaponizes the annual Class Council elections to enforce a brutal measure of meritocracy, Chitose is trapped.

He must either sacrifice the reputation he built or betray the one person who desperately needs his protection a student who exists entirely outside his dazzling social orbit.

The question isn't whether Chitose can win, but whether his victory will cost him his conscience.

The Heart of the Conflict The battleground is the mandatory Community Outreach Project, the final hurdle before the Class Representative Council vote.

The conflict centers on a rigid, newly introduced Team Synergy criterion championed by Kenta Yamazaki.

This criterion is designed to expose and punish any student deemed to be a social outlier or a dead weight in the collaborative environment.

Chitose finds himself in direct opposition, not because he fears the challenge, but because he has already committed to safeguarding Yuuko Kujou, a shy, isolated student whose poor social skills threaten to cause her to fail the assignment entirely.

Yamazaki, sensing a weakness in Chitose’s armor of charm, forces a public project audit, deliberately maneuvering Chitose into a lose-lose situation: either name the hidden member and expose a vulnerability, or face disciplinary action and tank his own group's perfect standing.

Important Characters, Roles, and Motivations Character Role Motivation Saku Chitose The Protagonist, Class Idol To maintain his social supremacy and perfect facade while fulfilling his hidden promise to protect a vulnerable classmate, proving his charisma is backed by genuine decency.

Kenta Yamazaki The Academic Challenger, Classmate To dismantle Chitose's social pyramid by exposing the superficiality of popularity.

He is motivated by a cold, unwavering belief that merit and hard work should define leadership, not charm.

Yuuko Kujou The Hidden Vulnerability The socially invisible student who represents the bottom of the social ladder.

Her motivation is simply to survive the project unnoticed and pass the class, desperate to avoid any attention whatsoever.

Haru Kishi Chitose's Loyalist Friend The sharp-witted strategist and Chitose's most reliable inner circle member.

His motivation is unwavering loyalty; he tries to find a tactical solution to protect Saku without compromising the group.

Nanami Touka The Unseen Player, Childhood Friend One of the Five-T elite girls and Saku's astute childhood companion.

Her role is initially mysterious; she appears to be absent but is revealed to be the key to the entire conflict.

Her motivation is to test Saku's true character and loyalty when his carefully constructed world is threatened.

The Important Scenes in Sequence Scene 1: The New Rule's Gauntlet The episode opens in a tense, airless classroom meeting.

Kenta Yamazaki, utilizing the platform of the Class Council candidacy, proposes a stunning, immediate change to the grading criteria.

He uses precise, technical language to introduce the Peer-Reviewed Synergy Score (PRSS), which includes a mandatory, unscheduled public audit of all project teams to verify member contribution.

The room buzzes with anxiety; the rule is designed to force accountability but also threatens any student working outside the main social structure.

Chitose, leaning back with a deceptive smirk, immediately grasps the trap: Yamazaki isn't targeting the slackers; he’s targeting him and his secret commitment to Yuuko.

Scene 2: The Evasive Maneuver Chitose convenes an emergency meeting with Haru Kishi.

Haru, understanding the gravity, notes that Chitose’s promise to integrate Yuuko's work silently into their group of four leaves them with an unexplainable empty fifth slot a perfect target for Yamazaki's audit.

Chitose dismisses Haru's tactical solutions, insisting that the promise to Yuuko is non-negotiable.

He is determined to bluff his way through, relying on his reputation to make the audit meaningless, but the quiet desperation in his eyes reveals the unprecedented pressure he’s under.

Scene 3: The Public Showdown The audit begins, a staged public event where Yamazaki meticulously tears apart group submissions.

When Chitose’s group is finally called, Yamazaki performs his cold-blooded maneuver.

He ignores the stellar quality of their submitted work and focuses purely on the roster.

Your project covers five distinct community sectors, Yamazaki states, his voice ringing with smug certainty.

Yet, only four members are present.

I demand to know the identity of the required fifth collaborator.

If the team cannot produce the fifth member, or justify their absence with verifiable evidence, the entire submission is deemed fraudulent and receives an automatic zero.

The room falls silent, the social hierarchy paused, anticipating Chitose's move.

Scene 4: The Moment of Sacrifice Chitose realizes there is no diplomatic exit.

Naming Yuuko would expose her to the cruelty of the class and destroy her fragile academic standing.

Failing his popular friends would mean alienating his base and ceding the election.

He makes the decision to sacrifice his own flawless reputation.

He steps forward, his usual careless charm replaced by a serious intensity.

He starts to confess, The fifth member does not exist.

The fault is mine; I took on the extra sector myself to He intends to claim the failure and the resulting disciplinary action, maintaining Yuuko's anonymity at his own expense.

Scene 5: The Sudden Interruption and Defense Before Chitose can complete his confession, a voice cuts through the tension.

Apologies, but the fifth member is, in fact, present, a crisp, unexpected voice declares from the back of the room.

Nanami Touka, who had been scheduled to be on a family trip out of the city and was explicitly listed as absent for the entire week, steps forward.

She is immaculate, composed, and utterly authoritative.

She walks up to the table and presents a digital tablet, revealing a highly complex, interconnected digital framework that links the four main sectors.

My name is Nanami Touka.

Saku utilized my skill set for the remote, data-integration framework necessary for the fifth sector's analysis, as I was scheduled for off-campus commitments.

He was merely protecting our operational security.

She then flawlessly recites the details of the fifth sector a sector that was actually Yuuko's contribution, re-contextualized by Nanami as an abstract, technical necessity.

Yamazaki is left speechless, his perfect trap dismantled by a contingency he couldn't have predicted.

The class erupts in a relieved buzz, completely missing the subtlety of the save.

The Dramatic Ending and Twist The project is accepted, and Chitose’s group maintains their perfect score.

Yamazaki is left staring at the polished, brilliant Nanami Touka, realizing he had not merely been outmaneuvered by Chitose, but by someone far more calculating.

Later that evening, under the moonlit campus clock tower, Chitose finds Nanami.

He asks her why she intervened, knowing she risked lying to the council.

Nanami, who was never truly absent, looks at him, her expression complex.

I didn't save you, Saku.

I saved her, she replies, referring to Yuuko.

I also needed to see how far you would go.

When you were willing to destroy your own flawless image just to keep a simple promise to someone who could offer you nothing in return that's when I knew your character hadn't rotted.

THE TWIST: Nanami then reveals the ultimate manipulation.