Chapter 57: Tendou’s “Exclusive Funeral Scene”

Chapter 57: Tendou’s “Exclusive Funeral Scene”

With the broadcast of the latest episode of Stellaris: Embers, featuring Tendou’s new flashback sequence, the show’s popularity on Crustyroll visibly shot up several levels.

After all, Tendou is without a doubt the most popular and most handsome character in the entire Stellaris series—a true fan-favorite who singlehandedly carries most of the audience’s affection.

Even viewers who aren’t necessarily fans of Tendou don’t really dislike him either. After all, while Tendou in the anime often acts like an arrogant show-off who just wants to look cool all the time, he always turns out to be incredibly dependable when it really counts.

For example, during the final exam, Tendou took on most of the pressure from the second-order Starbeast, Terravaran, all by himself.

Or, when Chen Kong was ambushed in the supermarket, Tendou not only appeared right on time but even crushed the enemies and helped Chen Kong reclaim his dignity in overwhelming fashion.

Moments like these—combined with the production team’s deliberate emphasis—have gradually turned Tendou from a super strong teenager into the very symbol of invincibility in the hearts of the audience.

This “invincible” doesn’t necessarily mean his strength is absurdly overpowered.

It’s more about how viewers have come to accept one simple truth: no matter how desperate or impossible a situation may seem, as long as Tendou shows up, everything will definitely be resolved perfectly in the end—giving everyone a deep sense of reassurance.

But now, this ultra-popular character, this “emotional anchor” of the Stellaris series... was being hinted by the production team to face a death flag.

Some viewers believe that Tendou’s “death” will most likely be a fake one—that he’ll surely be revived later on.

But no one dares to bet on it.

What if the Stellaris production team really is that unpredictable—deliberately trying to stir things up because Tendou’s popularity has overshadowed the main character?

What if the “fake death” plot isn’t handled well and ends up ruining Tendou’s character?

Tendou’s fans don’t want to gamble. And they can’t.

With those worries in mind, not long after the latest episode of Stellaris: Embers aired, the show’s official Crustyroll account was immediately flooded by an angry wave of Tendou fans.

Among them were clearly some “strategic organizers”—people who knew how to rally support.

Even though the protest was about Tendou’s possible death, the slogan they pushed was:

“If Tendou can be maliciously written off today, then any Stellaris character could be next.”

Of course, this was a calculated move meant to draw in fans of other characters—but as the saying goes, “Once the seed of doubt is planted, the great tower of trust begins to quietly crumble.”

And so, after a wave of deliberate publicity by Tendou’s fanbase, the rest of the Stellaris fandom inevitably began to feel uneasy—each group now worrying that their own favorite might be the next to fall.

Even the usually laid-back Liuli fans—who prided themselves on “just chilling” and never getting involved in any online drama—uncharacteristically joined the fray this time, taking part in the all-out assault on the Stellaris official account.

[Top Comment #1]: “If they dare to kill off Tendou today, they’ll kill Chen Xing tomorrow—and the day after that, even Liuli won’t be safe!”—98k likes

[Top Comment #2]: “Proposal: let’s crowdfund and buy the rights ourselves. We’ll make Stellaris: Embers – The Legend of Tendou!”—72k likes

[Top Comment #3]: “Already reported to the Consumer Association for false advertising. You said this was a passionate coming-of-age story!”—65k likes

The Stellaris production team had anticipated some public backlash before airing this episode.

But when they actually saw the flood of furious, one-sided condemnation under their official account, they were still caught completely off guard.

At that moment, they realized something terrifying: if things kept going like this, they might not even get the chance to “kill off” Tendou—because Tendou’s fans would “kill” them first!

Still, while the production team was understandably nervous, the situation wasn’t entirely hopeless. The episodes had been completed long in advance, and they knew full well that Tendou wasn’t actually going to die.

So, after weighing the pros and cons, they decided to take the ostrich approach—pretend to be dead and do absolutely nothing.

Their core strategy was no explanation, no clarification, no response.

While this “Three-No Policy” did somewhat reduce the immediate uproar, it also had an unintended consequence—it further convinced the fans that Tendou’s death flag was real and imminent.

As anxiety and mixed emotions spread, fans began expressing their feelings in other ways—leading to a massive surge of Tendou-themed fan creations on Crustyroll.

Among them, one particular video went insanely viral—a fan-made “funeral tribute” for Tendou.

In the video, a Tendou fan was shown attending an anime convention.

She had brought with her a black-and-white portrait of Tendou, which she carefully placed in a corner of the hallway.

In front of it, she thoughtfully set up a small incense burner and stuck a few unlit incense sticks into it.

Other Stellaris fans who passed by instantly understood the scene—and began to bow in mock prayer before the portrait.

Some even added their own “offerings” beside Tendou’s photo—small tributes like cookies, bottled water, and candies, as if paying respects to a departed soul.

This hilarious display naturally caught the attention of the local trolls and meme enjoyers—after all, no matter the world or fandom, wherever there’s fun, there will always be fun-seekers.

The act of making a funeral for a fictional anime character was pure gold to them—a perfect blend of absurdity and humor.

And so, even people who had never watched a single episode of Stellaris joined in the “Tendou memorial ritual,” causing the crowd around his portrait to grow larger and larger throughout the convention.

The viral “tribute” video didn’t just blow up—it also gave birth to a new fandom-wide meme:

“Tendou’s Exclusive Funeral Scene.”

The term quickly became a shorthand for any popular character who gets killed off by the plot but remains beloved by fans.

However, once the fun-seekers finished binge-watching Stellaris: Embers out of curiosity, they soon noticed something odd—a glaring blind spot in the outrage.

Yes, the production team had hinted that Tendou might soon face a death scene... but that was all it was—a possibility, not an established fact.

And holding a cyber memorial service for a character who hasn’t even been killed off yet… Aren’t you all even a little worried that what could’ve been turned around—a potentially bad ending—might actually become reality because of your stunt?

I mean, seriously—after hyping the atmosphere up this much, if Tendou doesn’t actually die later, it’s going to be really hard for the story to wrap things up properly!

. . .

Meanwhile, in the Stellaris world—inside Tendou’s private room.

“Wait, what the hell? I’m not even dead yet! Why are people already making my funeral for me?!”

Tendou stared at the dimensional screen in front of him, where a fan-made video titled “Rest in Peace, Tendou (🕯️)” was playing, looking both exasperated and amused.

He had expected that his intentionally emotional performance would cause quite a stir among his fans—but he hadn’t imagined it would go this far.

He wasn’t even dead, and yet his funeral was already being held online!

Although the situation left him with mixed feelings, when he glanced at his rapidly skyrocketing popularity stats on his dashboard, Tendou just couldn’t resist giving in to his inner troll.

He quietly sent a live comment (danmaku) into the video himself:

“Rest in peace, Tendou.”

And honestly, this whole act of paying cyber respects to himself… was kinda fun!

After that bit of self-entertainment, Tendou turned toward the calendar beside him.

According to the date, it was already Sunday.

That meant there was only one day left before Caroline’s birthday on Wednesday.

Technically, the moment Tuesday hit midnight, it would officially become her birthday—which meant Tuesday was the day they had planned out all her birthday events.

According to their carefully prepared “Caroline Birthday Master Plan,” if they wanted her to go through everything on her wishlist and enjoy a happy day without getting suspicious, Tendou would have to pull a few subtle tricks.

After all, if Caroline ever found out they were taking a day off from such an important mission just to celebrate her birthday, given her personality, it would be obvious that she’d refuse without hesitation.

So the best way to make her “take the bait”... was to disguise the whole thing as a mission.

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