Chapter Fifty-Three: With Our Friendship on the Line

With Our Friendship on the Line (私たちの友情に懸けて, Watashitachi no Yūjō ni Kakete) is the fifty-third chapter of Dengeki Daisy. It is the fourth chapter published in volume eleven.

Synopsis
While studying in Kurosaki's apartment, Teru receives an email from Rena informing her and Haruka that she is going to break off her engagement with Kazuki Morizono, thanking her friends for their encouragement, and that she will email them again when she is done. Teru and Kurosaki discuss what they know about Morizono, though Teru is distracted by the fact that Kurosaki has just finished taking a shower. Meanwhile, Rena has overheard the entirety of Morizono's plans to hold an auction for a new version of the Jack Frost computer virus and that he became engaged to Rena for the sole purpose of being able to hold the auction at their engagement party. When Rena makes herself know, Morizono attempts to dismiss her presence as wayward behavior. However, Rena makes it clear that she wants to break off the engagement, being aware of what Jack Frost is and that she will tell her father everything. Her plan is thwarted when Morizono hits her and threatens her to infect her father's company with Jack Frost.

When Rena does not attend school the following day, Rena's friends learn from her stepmother Chiemi that Rena had not returned since she went to see Morizono. When Rena's only response was a email stating that she wanted to stay in a hotel with Morizono until the engagement party, Chiemi became worried and tried to call Rena. Rena had passed the phone to Morizono, who assured Chiemi that he would take care of Rena. With Rena's father away on business, Chiemi could not oppose Morizono and was not sure herself of Rena's wishes. At the hotel, Morizono has Rena under house arrest and tells her that she is allowed to write a letter to her friends stating that she wants to cut off ties to them. While Morizono leaves her alone, Rena becomes upset with how she has pushed away her family and how helpless she is. However, she remembers how her friends promised to support her no matter what; when Morizono returns, she tells him that she wants some fresh lemon juice while she is writing her letter.

Kiyoshi runs errands with Kurosaki, while Teru and Haruka put their efforts into looking for Rena. When Teru is confronted by Morizono, she sets the alarm on her phone to alert Kurosaki. After Morizono delivers a letter from Rena, Teru warns him not to hurt Rena, which frightens him off just as Kiyoshi arrives. Kurosaki takes Kiyoshi and the agitated Teru back to the Ohanabatake, where everyone attempts to decipher Rena's letter. Though almost everyone suspects that Rena must have encoded her message somehow, Teru succeeds in discovering that Rena has written a secret message on the back of her letter using lemon juice as invisible ink.

Rena reveals in her letter Morizono's plans to auction off Jack Frost, her location, apologizes for lying to her stepmother, asks them to inform her father about what has transpired and to stop Morizono, and finally, that she loves and trusts her friends. Knowing Rena's true feelings, Teru, Kiyoshi, and Haruka resolve to save her.