[Hiyori Shiina] / I'm Going to Trade School

"Simple, I can just stay at your place for the night."

"... Call me Mommy." Kushida Kikyo suddenly said softly, "Call me Mommy and I'll answer you."

This is an unfounded competitive spirit.

It's an underhanded tactic used to prolong a battle that should have ended.

Even if being called out like that wouldn't really change anything, for no reason, Kushida Kikyo just wanted to take this opportunity to manipulate someone.

However, from the side that Kushida Kikyo couldn't see, Asakusa Toru had a slightly strange expression on his face.

No, sis, do you really want to hear someone call you "mom"?

Do you know what state my mom is in right now?

"If you don't mind taking my place as my mother who died young, then to be honest, I might as well call her that." Releasing Kushida Kikyo, Asakusa Toru put away his playful attitude.

Titles are just pronouns; they might be useful for increasing attack speed on the battlefield, but if you continue to use those titles after leaving the front lines, their meaning changes.

Clearly defining the boundaries between the bed and the outside of bed is key to maintaining a relationship.

"... Huh?" Kushida Kikyo paused, taken aback. "Your mother who died young?"

She was a little confused.

As her brain gradually began to understand the meaning of her words, Kushida Kikyo suddenly realized that she might have said something she shouldn't have.

Let alone a fake goodwill ambassador, even someone who has taken off their alias knows very well that this is not something to joke about.

But...

"Don't worry about it too much." Asakusa Toru shrugged, looking at Kushida Kikyo who had turned her head away in a daze. "It's nothing serious."

"Who hasn't lost two mothers these days?"

"Don't worry, I'll protect you, Kikyo- ma-ma~" With a smile, Asakusa Toru patted Kushida Kikyo's shoulder and took the folded sheets and dirty clothes from her hands.

He opened the door first.

"I'll go first, then you come over. If we split up and are careful, we shouldn't be seen."

With that, Asakusa Toru walked out of the dormitory.

Only the echo of his words remained in Kushida Kikyo's ears.

'Kikyo grandiflorus, mama, mama--'

She heard the address she wanted to hear, but her feelings at that moment were exceptionally complex.

Chapter 118 [Shiina Hiyori]

The next day.

Although the midterm exams ended yesterday, the grading process wasn't fast enough to release the results on the same day.

So, although everyone was very eager to know their scores, they could only patiently attend class.

... According to some senior members of the club, midterms and finals are usually scheduled for Fridays, so that teachers can work overtime on the weekend to finish grading the papers and release the results before Monday.

However, perhaps due to the confirmation meeting at midnight for Class D and the incident of Chabashira Sae fainting, the midterm exams were actually scheduled for Monday.

This means they need to attend classes for several days before they know their grades.

However, Asakusa Toru wasn't too concerned about grades; he had no chance of failing, and the other students in the class didn't need him to worry about their grades either.

He felt it would be better to continue thinking about the changes in his Diary that he hadn't figured out yesterday.

The phrase "the prize pool has increased" can be taken literally; it's a definitive statement from the Diary that the scope of previous reward draws was indeed limited.

His guess was correct.

The phrase "spoiler fluctuations have increased" can be interpreted in two ways. One is that he no longer needs to worry about saying too much like he did when he scolded Chabashira, and can now freely reveal spoilers.

Another option is that he doesn't necessarily have to focus solely on Advanced Nurturing; he can also criticize other people who have obtained the Diary or are related to Diary.

Both are possible, but considering that 'emotional scoring will include more characters' comes next, Asakusa Toru is likely to choose the former.

As for the last point, 'increased rating cap'...

No, if you raise the cap, shouldn't you also raise the index?

What's the point of just raising the rating cap?

Does not having an index mean you can't get a high rating?

Asakusa Toru wasn't too surprised that there was an upper limit to the rating; he had already guessed that 'S' was the previous upper limit.

The key isn't in the evaluation, it's in the index.

Even if the rating cap is raised to SSS, it's useless if the index is only E.

Unless spoiler indexes and sentiment scores can free ratings from the influence of indexes, this update will only look good.

After a brief review, Asakusa Toru quickly realized the most important issue.

His strategy for keeping a diary needs a slight change.

Now that the distribution of dungeons is no longer limited to Advanced Nurturing, but also includes those outside the school in the scoring, he should 'provoke' some other people.

But...

"Has the storyline scoring not started yet?"

This time, he received a response very quickly.

Not counted.

The scoring and reward expansion are limited to the unfolding storyline; storylines that have not yet started will not score points or expand the reward pool.

... Then why the hell are you going to give me a menu?

Asakusa Toru was speechless, but then he thought that the Diary might have come from the Ciweimao, and suddenly it seemed to make sense.

Fine, it all came from the Ciweimao, so I'll just go along with it.

Let's return to the last update change.

Message.

Replies are allowed, but only fifty characters in the groove.

You can remove the label, but you can set it to be transparent.

So what exactly is transparency?

With a blink, Asakusa Toru quickly received another answer.

This comment will only be visible to the commenter.

... Isn't this just a damn selection of comments?

Only selected comments will be displayed, wasn't that how it was always done? You're just changing your name and treating it like an update, right?

Even after using transparency, the commenter can still see your reply. Using transparency effectively can better protect the commenter's privacy.

"...?"

If he were on a different system or something, he might actually believe the claim about protecting privacy.

But how can you say such a thing when your Diary, which seems designed to make me spoil other people's privacy for your own amusement, is filled with such thoughts?

Protect privacy (X), One-way blasting (√)

The comments are the shortest and easiest to understand, and Asakusa Toru doesn't need to change his recording habits because of them. He can just respond to one or two more 'questions' from others.

So... without further ado, let's try replying with the previous two lines?

He checked Shiina Mashiro's message, but he remembered there should have been another message.

He took out his Diary, casually flipped to the comments page, and Yamauchi, Asakusa Toru opened the second comment from yesterday.

[From the perspectives of the past, present, and future, Mr. Diary, who is your favorite person in this school? Please tell me why.]

"..."

Who are you?

Asakusa Toru blinked, revealing clear eyes.

... Are they Advanced Nurturing students?

The fact that they used a relatively respectful tone like "Mr. Diary" to ask a question suggests that they haven't been mentioned by me before.

But why ask who you like?

Are you planning to find me based on my personal preferences?

A straight hook and salty bait—will those willing take the bait?

He casually pulled out the pen from his Diary, but Asakusa Toru hesitated to write a reply.

He was still thinking.

He couldn't figure out the identity of the person who left the message. Even limiting the scope to Advanced Nurturing wouldn't provide an answer to such a simple question, let alone now that the scope of the Diary Copy has been expanded and expanded.

So what troubled Asakusa Toru was the reply.

I'll definitely try to reply, the problem is, how should I reply?

Should I reply with content unrelated to the question? Should I write about 12 purple sweet potato puddings to reach the 50-character limit?

... It feels a bit inexplicable, after all, Japan probably wouldn't understand the pun that 'purple sweet potato pudding = word count patch'.

Or perhaps it's best to just answer the question directly, since no matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like there's a trap involved.

If you're worried that others might see your reply and start analyzing your preferences, or that it might affect the name they wrote, then you should set your comment to be transparent.

This way, the name of the reply won't be known by too many people, the other party probably won't be bothered too much, and you can also determine who sent the message based on the people you've been in contact with recently.

What? You're asking why he seems so kind?

Um, do you need a reason to show concern for a character you like?

First, he casually set the comment to be transparent, Asakusa Toru quickly found the area to reply to comments.

[Reply to this comment (within 50 characters)]

The dim, gray text drew small boxes around him in the Diary.

Without hesitation, Asakusa Toru wrote down his answer.

Among the Advanced Nurturing characters, this is his favorite.

In the chaotic battle between God-man at a vocational high school, he is the only 'normal person'.

[Shiina Hiyori]

Chapter 119 I Want to Go to Vocational School

United Kingdom.

"Rita."

A girl, curled up like a kitten under the table, peeked out and blankly called out her owner's name.

It was like a hidden service bell being pressed; even such a gentle and calm call still made the blonde, blue-eyed beauty fling open the door.

" --Mashiro?" A beautiful girl named Rita Einzworth rushed to Mashiro's side, grabbing the chair that was tilting to block most of the sunlight for the cave creature Shiina Mashiro, and asked with concern, "What's wrong?"

Shiina Mashiro raised her head, her beautiful hair falling gracefully down her cheeks.

"What does 'Ghost Image Censorship' mean?" she asked.

Rita: "...?"

Rita's breath hitched for a moment, then she relaxed, letting out a long sigh before letting out a helpless sigh:

"Where have you seen that weird thing again...?"

To be honest, Rita has almost gotten used to all the strange things Mashiro has done in the last two months.

First and foremost is the most terrifying declaration.

She wants to become a cartoonist.