Dark Ruby or Ai, who did we get to see in Oshi No Ko chapter 136?

In the latest chapter of Oshi no Ko manga, Gotanda shot the scene where Nino confronts Ai. According to the script, the scene ends after Nino exits the room. Despite that, Gotanda asks his crew to keep shooting and ends up capturing Ruby’s reaction to the confrontation. Ruby, who is playing Ai, throws something at the door out of anger. 

At first glance, it seems like Ai must have felt the same way when Nino confronted her but Ruby’s reaction might have been her feelings. So was it Ai that Ruby was playing in that scene or did we get a glimpse of Dark Ruby? 

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Are Dark Ruby and Ai the same?

The Ruby we’ve seen so far always had people looking out for her. She was trusting of people until she realized what happened with Goro and after Aqua’s betrayal. She still had Kana who she considered a friend. Except for the appearance, she was extremely different from Ai. She never had to use lies as a way to protect or project herself in a certain way.

But things have started to change, at present Ruby is experiencing Ai’s reality which was plagued with loneliness and negativity for the most part. Ruby is improving as an actor but whatever she’s undergoing to bring out this talent is making her angrier and bitter. Is she giving in to the darkness? 

Dark Ruby or Ai: Who did we get to see? 

Kana’s decision to tell Ruby her true feelings and then reiterating the same things as Nino brought out an aggressive reaction from Ruby. This reaction was an outcome of everything she had been going through ever since the filming started. She has been more isolated than ever before. Before the movie, we saw Ruby trying her best to be everywhere. She always had a packed schedule and was juggling a lot of things at the same time including acting. 

All this hard work has always been visible to those around her, which includes Kana. While Kana’s feelings are understandable, the way she put them into words was horrible. As Nino, she took it a step further by asking Ai/Ruby to die. For an inexperienced actor like Ruby, separating her reality from this extremely familiar experience isn’t something innate.

At that moment, these two realities must have merged in her head. The altercation with Kana made this situation more personal to Ruby than it should’ve been. Instead of confiding in someone, Ruby has been on her own lately. All the hate she’s receiving despite trying her hardest is bringing out her emotions in the form of anger.

We have already seen that Ruby has a dark side to her which came out for the first time when she discovered how Goro died. The Kana situation bringing out the same emotions can be the manifestation of Dark Ruby. 

Ai was in a similar situation, it’s quite natural to assume that this is how she must have felt when this happened to her. So it’s fair to assume that in that moment Ruby was as much Ai as she was herself. At the same time, there’s no way to know the real Ai, it’s just an assumption on everyone’s part including the characters that this must be how Ai had felt.

So to bring out Ai, Ruby is being put in situations where she gets more and more in touch with her darker side. A side of her that wants to avenge her mother by killing the culprit. 

Conclusion 

Dark Ruby and Ai might as well be the same person, maybe under the shining persona Ai was just bitter towards everyone who misunderstood her. After all, she was trying her best in a world that was full of dark secrets. The only clues we have about who Ai was are Hikaru and the DVD she left behind. There’s also a possibility that Ai will forever remain a mystery, as she has always been.