"I didn't..." Rita didn't understand. All she wanted was to take Mashiro back and set her on the right path again, so why was everyone she met more conspiracy-minded than the last? She might be despicable, but not to that extent...
"You say you didn't?" Well, Utaha Kasumigaoka couldn't really be blamed for being overly conspiracy-minded. As a light novel author, what was wrong with being good at spotting hidden clues in an incident? She made a reasonable deduction: "Then what do you want to do now?"
Rita: "..."
After being accused like that, could she still say that she wanted to take Mashiro back?
Utaha Kasumigaoka continued, "Also, do you really think manga is something utterly worthless?"
"Of course..."
"Then why did you encourage Mashiro to learn how to draw manga in the first place?"
"I said it was because I was jealous..."
"No, no, no..." Before Rita could finish, Utaha Kasumigaoka shook a finger and said, "What I'm asking is why you thought of encouraging Mashiro to draw manga. The fact that manga was the first thing that came to mind proves you actually like manga quite a bit, doesn't it?"
"..." Rita froze again. After a long while, she finally said hesitantly, "Actually, Mashiro was the one who first told me she wanted to draw manga..."
"Is that so?" Before the other girl could finish, Utaha Kasumigaoka frowned. "I thought you were the one who got Mashiro interested in manga..."
"How could I possibly do something like that!?" At that, Rita suddenly became agitated. "Just encouraging Mashiro to study manga has already made me..."
"Live in regret every day? Or feel too guilty to face your conscience?" Utaha Kasumigaoka cut in again. "If that's what you insist, then answer my earlier question: why didn't you contact Mashiro