Shounen no Abyss — Chapter 2

Shounen no Abyss Chapter 2 centers on a painfully honest conversation between Reiji Kurose and his idol Nagi Aoe as he lays out the dead end he sees ahead of him. He explains that after high school he will likely become a contractor at an acquaintance's family company because he cannot leave his city, and when Nagi asks if that is what he wants, he admits he is not good at anything like she is. He tells her he is opening up precisely because she definitely will not stay here, making her a safe stranger to confess to. The talk shifts when Shounen no Abyss Chapter 2 turns to the town legend of Lover's Abyss, the story of lovers who jumped into the river and inspired the characters of a book. Nagi calls the story unpleasant, yet Reiji confesses he felt kind of jealous of them, and she agrees by calling it the happiest way to die. That bleak agreement leads to her blunt judgment that his life isn't going anywhere, followed by her shocking proposal that an idol and a high schooler committing double suicide together would trend on social media for at least a whole day. Shounen no Abyss Chapter 2 ends with Nagi insisting she is serious because she is confident she will not accomplish anything by continuing to live. She questions Reiji about his inexperience with women, then frames dying with Nagi Aoe the idol as something that might finally make him feel at least a little glad he got to be alive, leaving him stunned by how casually she offers death as comfort.