Classroom of the Elite, but It's a Diary Style 18

Shame, anger, annoyance... a mixture of emotions welled up in her chest. Her pretty face flushed with a scorching heat in an instant, and the corners of her eyes felt as if they were about to overflow with pathetic tears.

But in front of her brother, she could not cry.

She had said that she was no longer the useless person she used to be.

She had grown!

She had to grow.

If she cried in front of her brother, wouldn't that just prove that she hadn't changed at all?!

"...No, it's nothing..." Gripping her left arm tightly with her right hand, Horikita Suzune lowered her head: "I didn't say anything."

Watching his younger sister in silence, Horikita Manabu didn't intend to press for the name. Instead, he silently noted it in his heart, deciding to investigate it a little later. He said quietly: "...I heard you were placed in Class D."

How did it end up like this?

Why did it turn out this way?

He had intended to use the reason of Horikita Suzune being in Class D to order her to withdraw from the school, but as the words reached his lips, he remembered that today was only the second day of school.

Suzune didn't know the rules for class placement yet, nor had she seen through the true nature of this school.

Even when facing his own sister, as the student council president, he was not permitted to proactively disclose information.

"Class D... is there something wrong with that?" Horikita Suzune, who knew nothing, raised her head.

"..." Horikita Manabu pressed his hand against his throbbing temple and rubbed it gently: "No, it's nothing."

"Since you have nothing else to say, we'll end it here."

"I still have student council work to do," he said.

If he had known it would be like this, he should have let that guy stay earlier.

...Come to think of it, I still don't know his name.

"Ah, then... I won't disturb you any further, Brother." With her head bowed and biting her lower lip, Horikita Suzune said in a low voice.

"Mm." Horikita Manabu turned around. Before leaving, his footsteps paused slightly: "Also, the reason for buying the recorder was just to make him stop playing that recording."

"You had no reason to buy his recorder."

Having said that, Horikita Manabu left decisively.

Horikita Suzune stood frozen in place:

"Eh?"

Does that mean... I did something wrong?

Looking up at Horikita Manabu's departing back, she reached into her pocket and took out the recorder that had been, for all intents and purposes, forced upon her by Asakusa Toru.

A blinking light flickered on the screen.

This recorder was currently in recording mode.

"Click." Not caring why the recorder sold to her would be recording, Horikita Suzune gently pressed the stop button. She then searched for a moment and found the option to delete the recording.

It was probably just pressed by accident; she just needed to delete it.

...Sigh.

If only life could be like this, where one could delete their own dark history.

She really wanted to delete the past where she had taken the so-called Trial seriously and sought out her brother for an answer.

She swore that from now on, no matter what she saw in the Diary, she would never give it even a shred of trust!

The credibility of the Diary's author had been completely wiped clean in her eyes!

Asakusa Toru didn't care whether Horikita Suzune believed him or not.

He only knew one thing.

It was a success.

As mentioned before, the main recorder in his hand was capable of copying recordings from the duplicate recorders.

Although there was a limitation that the duplicate needed to be within a certain distance from the main unit—meaning he couldn't steal other people's recordings without limit—in a sense, this was also part of the filtering process, preventing a large amount of junk audio from interfering with his precise copying.

Therefore, as long as he stayed in this vicinity, he would definitely be able to accurately copy the recording captured by the only recorder sold to Horikita Suzune.

The only problem was the risk of exposure.

His actions were actually unexpectedly flashy; it wouldn't be impossible for someone to deduce it was him if they judged by his level of activity.

However, Asakusa Toru had no intention of toning down his actions at all.

He had already given himself the codename Recorder Bro; wasn't it normal to do some eccentric things?

There were so many eccentrics in the Advanced Nurturing High School; one more wouldn't make a difference, and one less wouldn't matter.

Even if Horikita Suzune discovered the recorder was recording...

Without knowing the effect of the recorder, who would ever imagine that such a simple device could share recordings?

Even if she were to specifically dismantle the Infinite Voice Recorder, she wouldn't find a single clue; the replica of the Infinite Voice Recorder would look like nothing more than an ordinary recorder from every angle.

It has no networking chip and cannot upload to the cloud.

Even if—even if her intuition were maxed out, and she noticed the recording had started, and a sliver of suspicion arose in her heart, causing her to turn it off early, Asakusa Toru wouldn't care.

The recorder is merely the most convenient tool; even if it didn't come in handy, he could still pry something out of Horikita Manabu.

The existence of the Diary cannot be told to others. If Horikita Suzune is truly a reader of the Diary, the only things she could possibly discuss with Horikita Manabu are the "Trial" and the "Pseudo-human."

All she can do is try to confirm the answer to the Trial with Horikita Manabu, hoping to gain her brother's approval through it.

Therefore, although it seems to carry a bit of risk, compared to the potential results, it is nothing at all.

The screen of the recorder in his hand clearly displayed the most recently saved recording. Asakusa Toru swiped his fingertip to lower the volume, adjusting it to a level where it could only be heard at close range, then tapped replay.

"I have already found the answer to the Trial."

"It's Yamauchi Haruki, right?"

Horikita Suzune's cold, clear voice echoed in his ears.

"Win!"

He had won his gamble.

The first reader to have their identity exposed was Horikita Suzune.

Chapter 31: Asakusa Toru Doesn't Want to Bite a Lighter

The filter of his perception shattered. If Asakusa Toru could see Horikita Suzune right now, he would probably see a diary trailing behind her, flapping its pages, aiming for every moment her hand felt like opening it, ready to spring into her grasp.

Just kidding, the Diary doesn't have such low standards.

Even if he were to watch with his own eyes, he would probably only see the Diary suddenly refresh by her side the moment she blinked.

Setting aside the rules of how the Diary refreshes, back to Asakusa Toru—he was in a fantastic mood.

Finding a reader of the Diary on the second day of school was a massive, massive win.

I have to say, this Horikita Suzune is quite interesting. Although she is a bit too pure, it's precisely that purity that makes her great!

If she weren't pure, he wouldn't bother playing with her.

People like this are the most interesting to mess with. Just looking at yesterday's diary entries, he managed to fleece a White Room membership card out of her. Although the plot index bonus played a part, Asakusa Toru felt that Horikita Suzune's emotional fluctuations were also key.

However, he didn't intend to fleece Horikita Suzune again today.

Fleecing the same person consecutively is a bit too much; fluctuating emotions need a buffer period, and the efficiency drops if you keep hitting the same target.

"Hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm~"

Tossing the recorder up and down in his hand, Asakusa Toru wasn't in any rush to return to the dormitory to write in the diary.

Although he admitted that his hands were itching and he desperately wanted to write in the diary at noon, after Horikita Suzune put on such a good show for him, he wasn't in such a hurry anymore.

...Actually, it was because he had just checked today's diary plot index.

'C'.

So low.

Honestly, he was a bit disappointed.

Even though Asakusa Toru knew the plot index couldn't stay high forever, the speed of this devaluation was just too fast, wasn't it?

...Is it because there wasn't any key plot today?

I refuse to accept that. How is the Club Orientation not considered a key plot?

Although I personally felt it was boring, you could have treated it as a key plot!

I wouldn't have complained if the index were a bit higher!

Even though there isn't much difference between B and C, the gap feels much larger than the one between A and B.

However...

"The day before school starts is better than the day it starts, and the second day of school is worse than the day before..."

The Diary clearly has its own logic for judging whether a day's plot is critical.

Although the sample size is small right now, if he were to make a bold guess and hypothesis...

Perhaps this 'C' that he looks down upon now will be the final peak of this month.

The reason is simple.

Nothing really happens during the first month at Advanced Nurturing!

Running through the plot in his mind, Asakusa Toru suddenly realized this fact.

After all, high school lasts for three full years. If something happened every single day, high school life would be way too exciting.

Aside from special exams and holidays, students spend the vast majority of their time simply attending classes.

Attending classes is truly boring, let alone having any plot developments.

...The plot index later on wouldn't be lower than C, would it?

Asakusa Toru suddenly had a bad premonition.

No, no, no, that shouldn't be the case, right?

Believe, just believe first, then believe some more, and finally, just keep believing.

Believing requires no reason!

Calming down slightly, Asakusa Toru first went to the cafeteria to replenish his energy, preparing for his later entry into the White Room.

Only then did he stroll slowly back to his dormitory and take out his Diary.

Anyway, let's think about what to write first.

The day before yesterday he picked Kushida, yesterday he picked Horikita and incidentally listed the menu items; logically speaking, he could just randomly pick one of the dishes he had already listed to slack off on today's entry.

After all, a C-rank plot index really made it hard to get motivated.

But considering that the plot index might not see much improvement for a long time to come, he perhaps needed to weigh his options.

The Diary needed to be recorded every day; when it came down to it, the plot index was only one of the factors affecting his rating. If he stopped putting effort into the Diary just because the plot index was too low, he would certainly miss out on many rewards he could have otherwise obtained.

However, this wasn't absolute.

After all, although one could write anything in a diary, content that simultaneously met the three criteria of "interesting," "spoiler-heavy," and "emotional fluctuation" was limited.

There was only so much material; once it was all used up, there would be nothing left to work with.

Asakusa Toru did not want to bite a lighter.

Therefore, he needed to confirm one thing.

"Is the plot index the icing on the cake, or is it help in a time of need?"

Or perhaps, was it a super multiplier?

After pondering for a long time, Asakusa Toru picked up his pen and wrote today's entry in the Diary.