So I reread the Phatom Thief event story, and it made me feel like Kaoru should/might know that Misaki is Michelle?

First off, Kaoru, despite the way she acts, is very perceptive. One instance is during the wedding event story, where it’s suggested that Kaoru noticed how nervous Saaya is for the photo shoot, so she acted silly to make her relax. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Kaoru may have noticed that Misaki and Michelle are the same person, and this is where the Phantom Thief story comes in.

At the end of the event story, Kaoru and Misaki share a chat, where the latter reveals that she knew it was Kaoru all along. It struck me as kinda weird how Kaoru wouldn’t know that Michelle is someone in disguise, given that Kaoru herself has bamboozled Kokoro and Hagumi with her own disguise. And given the fact that Kaoru is perceptive, she should have caught on to Misaki and Michelle always acting funny when Kokoro and Hagumi are like “where’s Misaki/Michelle?”

IF Kaoru actually does know that Michelle and Misaki are the same person, maybe she’s acting like she doesn’t know because of her theatrical background? Like, maybe she has the idea of Misaki “staying in character” as Michelle, so Kaoru acts like Misaki is Misaki, and Michelle is Michelle, as though they are two separate characters. So it’d be like, if Kaoru is playing the Thief, then at that moment, she IS the Thief, and not Kaoru. Her acting like Michelle is a separate person from Misaki is maybe her way of letting Misaki stay in character?

Or maybe I’m just over analyzing everything lmao