What reason did he have not to do it?
What about the possible changes to the plot that selling the information might cause?
Heh, he was keeping a diary. Did he care about that?
Of course he wanted to stir things up as much as possible.
Shaking his head, he finished reviewing his actions and pulled out the Diary.
It was time to write.
First, he'd check the Plot Index.
[Today's Diary Plot Index: A]
"Oh?" Asakusa Toru raised an eyebrow at the glaring 'A.'
Wasn't it just like you'd expect from the first day of school?
Yesterday's index had been B, and today it had risen to A.
The first day of school really was important. Whether someone noticed the school's true nature was often decided on that day.
But since the index was A... he couldn't just write whatever he wanted in the diary.
This was a rare opportunity. He'd see if he could get a higher rating.
The structure of his last entry had been fine, so he didn't need to change it.
It was hard to control whether the content was interesting; he could only improvise.
But he could adjust how much he spoiled and how much emotional impact the content might have.
To test the limit of how much spoiler content was appropriate, Asakusa Toru hadn't revealed too much in his last entry.
His A rating suggested he'd probably gotten the balance about right.
To get the highest rating he could, this time he'd try revealing a little more.
Of course, he also had to avoid revealing so much that his rating went down instead.
"..." After thinking it over for a long while, Asakusa Toru finally picked up his pen and began writing today's entry.
Today was Horikita Suzune's first day at Advanced Nurturing.
It was also the second day she'd had that inexplicable Diary.
Yesterday, filled with nervous anticipation as she imagined seeing her beloved older brother again after enrolling and wondered what expression he'd show her, Horikita Suzune had been haunted by the Diary.
No matter where she went, it appeared beside her. No matter how hard she tried to throw it away, it returned to her side. The Diary clung to her like a curse.
She'd thought she was hallucinating because she was so nervous, so she hadn't touched the Diary all day.
But after she'd officially enrolled at Advanced Nurturing and her nerves had eased a little, the Diary still lingered at the edge of her vision.
"...Maybe I should open it and take a look?" The thought suddenly occurred to her.
Just looking shouldn't hurt.
After all, curses couldn't exist in this world. Opening the Diary would be a way of examining her own hallucination.
She needed to face her own mind.
That was right. She was no longer the useless person her brother had known. She'd come to this school to catch up to him.
She had to find a way to dispel this mistaken hallucination, and the best way to do that was to confront her own feelings.
"..." Taking a deep breath, Horikita Suzune gently opened the Diary.
The pages brushed against her fingertips. The sensation was so real that it was hard to believe she was imagining it.
As the Diary opened, a faint scent of paper and ink seemed to waft out.
Then a string of incomprehensible words appeared, one after another.
Vocational college? Transmigrator? Cheat ability? Kidnapping? Spoilers?
...Was all this what my mind was thinking about?
No, no, that was impossible. There was no way I'd be thinking any of this!
So this Diary... wasn't a hallucination?
Before she knew it, she'd reached the end of the pages. The Diary didn't look particularly thin, yet she'd reached the last page in no time.
Horikita Suzune hesitated.
The next moment, the Diary's final page seemed to gain weight.
New text appeared.
Chapter 14: Horikita Suzune Wants to Prove Herself
[Today's the first day of school. Just thinking about using my vast and sophisticated galgame experience to win over every girl at this school makes me laugh.
Wait, why doesn't a dialogue box pop up when I talk to a girl? Where are my choices? How am I supposed to know what to say if you don't give me any options?
...I'm sorry to announce that my plan to win over every girl at school has been forcibly put on hold. I write these words with a heavy heart.
I think this is the greatest loss the girls at Advanced Nurturing have ever suffered—an incredibly precious opportunity that even graduating from Class A couldn't make up for.
But a missed opportunity is gone for good. I won't look back, and I hope none of you are too sad.
Because it's time for today's spoilers.
...Let me think about what to write today.
Yesterday I called someone a Two-Faced Person, but maybe that was too subtle. Probably nobody but the person in question could understand it, which isn't good.
But outright giving names isn't really my style, either. Spoiling too much takes the fun out of it.
So, how about I list a few dishes on the menu first?
Love-struck Brain, Pseudo-human, parasite, fence-sitter, master thief, God-man girl, Beautiful Brother, Library Fixed NPC, Black Room's greatest masterpiece, Recorder Bro, Low-Spec Yukino, Low-Spec Hayama...
Man, looking at this list, this crappy vocational school really does have a lot of freaks.
I wonder if you, the one holding this Diary, are among them. Try figuring out which one you are.
Now that I've listed the dishes, it's time to serve one.
I've more or less decided who I'm going to call out today.
That's right, you, Low-Spec Yukino!
Chasing after your older brother's shadow, mistaking Loneliness for pride, rejecting friends, and being a freak whose only redeeming feature is her stats.
Calling you Low-Spec Yukino almost feels like an insult to Yukino. Apart from your character model, there doesn't seem to be anything you can compare with her.
Somehow, that feels kind of sad.
Whatever, I'll try not to insult you too much.
If you're reading this... well, go ahead and read it.
I was thinking of giving you some advice, but then I realized no advice would help. I might as well let your brother do it.
So...
--Hey, hey, hey, it's your big brother here!
I said I liked long hair, so Little Sister-chan grew hers out.
I acted cold, so Little Sister-chan copied me and pretended to be cold, too.
What a little sister with no mind of her own.
Why are you chasing after me? If all you do is follow behind me, you'll never surpass me. Understand?
...Forget it. There's no point saying any of this.
After all, the moment I saw you at the Entrance Ceremony, I knew you hadn't changed at all.
If you want to prove that you have changed... then observe.
There's a Pseudo-human in your class.
Observe, think, and finally arrive at an answer.
Once you can identify the Pseudo-human, tell me the name. Maybe then I'll change my mind.
--Anyway, that's the gist of it!
You naughty Little Sister-chan~
Face your Trial!
Prove yourself and shake off the label others have pinned on you: 'defective product.']
That was where the Diary's contents ended.
Right after that, a cold voice sounded in Horikita Suzune's ear.
"You have completed today's reading. Reading Points +1."
But she ignored the voice and stared blankly at the last words in the Diary.
'Defective product.'
...Me?
Horikita Suzune had never thought of herself as a failure. Even if, as the Diary said, she was chasing after her older brother's shadow, her consistently high grades and remarkably disciplined daily routine unquestionably put her on the 'correct' path as society saw it.
She didn't need to rely on anyone. She didn't have to depend on anyone.
But...
The words in the Diary suddenly left her feeling a little lost.
She could disregard all that nonsensical stuff from earlier—galgames, dialogue boxes, choices, and the like. The list of dishes and the whole Low-Spec Yukino thing made even less sense.
But those words—the ones that surely couldn't have been written by her brother—gave her the strange impression that they were exactly the kind of thing he would say.
Her brother said he liked long hair.
So she grew hers out.
Her brother had always stood at the top among the most outstanding people, so she'd decided to watch his back and make him her goal.
...What was wrong with that?
Horikita Suzune could tell that the Low-Spec Yukino in the Diary was her, and that the words written from the perspective of her 'brother' might have been a message from her older brother, Horikita Manabu.
No, calling it a message wasn't quite right. There was no way the Diary belonged to her brother, and her brother would never speak in that tone.
But... but...
If what it said was true, if he really said those things when she saw him, if that was really what her brother thought...
Then what was she supposed to do?
Horikita Suzune couldn't help biting her lower lip.
She'd come to Advanced Nurturing to prove she'd grown, to prove herself in front of Horikita Manabu.
But if she already knew she might be rejected before they even met again, then seeing him again would be nothing but painful.
Unless...
Horikita Suzune's gaze rose slightly and fixed on the words 'Trial.'
Observe, think, and confirm the answer.
Find the 'Pseudo-human' hiding in her class and prove herself.
If she did that, would her brother acknowledge her?
"No, that's impossible, isn't it?" Horikita Suzune sighed and shook her head.
Before you continue