Hinata didn't just think it would be too obvious. She also felt terribly embarrassed.
Sakura Haruno often went out of her way to stop by Sasuke's house on her way to school and walk there with him.
Everyone in class knew she did it because she liked Sasuke.
But did she like Takasaki?
"No way. How could I like that pervert?" Just thinking about it made Hinata's face turn uncontrollably red.
She couldn't let her father's misunderstanding of her grow any worse.
Forget it.
She couldn't bring herself to seek Takasaki out and walk to school with him, but she didn't want to miss the chance to spend time alone with him, either. So she'd simply wait for him outside her house next Monday morning.
After all, Takasaki's route to school took him past her house.
Then she could pretend they'd bumped into each other by chance. It was sure to work!
Hinata felt a faint sense of anticipation. She repeatedly reminded herself, I'm doing this purely so Takasaki will write my name in his diary more often. It's definitely not because I like him. Definitely not.
The Land of Hot Water.
Tsunade had just come out of the izakaya restroom. After paying the bill, she returned to her room at the inn, immediately locked the door, and drew the curtains. She took the diary out of her mindscape and read its contents again. "Looks like there's no reward this time."
A line of text appeared at the end of the diary:
[You were mentioned fewer than 5 times in this diary entry. No reward can be claimed]
Tsunade stared at the line for a few seconds, then understood what was going on.
She was inevitably a little disappointed not to get a reward from the diary, but at least she was beginning to figure out the rules for receiving them.
"So I have to be mentioned at least five times in the diary to get a reward."
Well, if there was no reward, there was no reward. It wasn't as if she'd lost anything.
As long as Takasaki wrote her name in the diary a few more times in the future, she could still get a reward.
Tsunade didn't dwell on it. She put the diary away in her mindscape, picked up a bottle of sake from the nightstand, and drained it in one go. Her cheeks grew slightly flushed.
Suddenly,
she felt something.
New writing appeared in the diary in her mind.
"Could Takasaki be writing another entry? Will he mention me this time?"
Full of anticipation, Tsunade hurriedly took the diary back out of her mindscape and opened it to check.
There was new content, but it didn't look like something Takasaki had written. Instead, the diary itself seemed to have added it:
[Helpful Notice: Hinata was mentioned the most in this diary entry and has received an additional reward. Stamina increased by 10%.]
Who was Hinata?
That didn't matter. What mattered was that Hinata could get rewards too?!
Tsunade stared in shock. When she came to her senses, the empty sake bottle slipped from her hand and hit the floor with a clunk.
How could Hinata get a reward?
The diary was supposed to be hers alone. She should be the only one who could receive rewards.
Could it be...
A thought she had never considered before surfaced in her mind. "Could Hinata have a diary too?"
The more Tsunade thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
Well, would you look at that—the diary wasn't hers alone. Hinata had one too, at the very least.
In other words, Hinata might have received the same rewards she had before. And this time, Hinata had gotten more than she had.
Tsunade couldn't help feeling unsettled. "If the diary's going to play things this way, this could get interesting."
Stamina increased by 10%!
Who wouldn't be jealous of a reward like that?
If Tsunade's stamina increased by 10%, she could punch Jiraiya flat.
If no one else could get a reward like that, then fine.
The problem was that Hinata could get one, but Tsunade couldn't. All she could do was watch enviously.
The competitive streak between women was instantly stirred up.
"I have reason to suspect that the things recorded in Takasaki's second diary entry happened because Hinata deliberately got close to him."
"So I have to find Takasaki as soon as possible. Just waiting around and hoping he'll write my name in the diary a few times really isn't going to work."
"Only if I get close to Takasaki and become part of his life will he write my name in the diary."
"Otherwise, having to watch other people get rewards in the diary would feel awful."
"But where exactly is Takasaki? I've never heard that name before."
And it wasn't just Takasaki's name that was unfamiliar.
The other names in the diary—Hinata and Neji—were unfamiliar to her too.
Despite that, Tsunade had picked up on a few things worth noting from the diary entry.
"The diary says this girl named Hinata is still growing, which means she's probably a student."
"A little girl gets a better reward from the diary than I do!"
Tsunade's chest rose and fell as she fumed.
The important thing was that the helpful notice in the diary only referred to an additional reward.
That meant Hinata had also received her original reward.
Well, would you look at that—two rewards!
Once she realized that, how could Tsunade not be jealous? She was even more eager to find out where Takasaki was.
After calming herself down, Tsunade continued to analyze the situation.
"Takasaki went to Hinata's house to study the Three Body Technique? The Three Body Technique is a basic ninjutsu taught at Ninja Academies in every country, so Takasaki probably isn't very old either. He's a student too."
"In other words, Takasaki is just a kid who's still in school?"
At the thought, Tsunade suddenly felt absurd.
What kind of kid was that? He was a little lecher!
She could understand Takasaki wanting to marry Hinata someday. After all, they were childhood friends.
But what did he mean, wanting to marry her someday?
She was a mature woman. She was probably old enough to be Takasaki's mother. If she married him in the future, it would be a relationship society would never approve of.
There was no way she'd agree to such a marriage.
The problem was that Takasaki seemed to have seen her before.
Takasaki knew full well she had a pair of enormous breasts!
He'd even fantasized about groping them... That was absolutely something she would never allow!
"He really is precocious. So lecherous at such a young age—what will he be like when he grows up?"
"If I find Takasaki, I'll give him a good scolding and set his impure thoughts straight."
"It's just a shame I still don't know which country Takasaki is in."
"I'll search slowly. I'll start with the Land of Hot Water, and keep an eye on the diary's contents."
Tsunade rapped on the wall beside her bed and shouted, "Shizune! Get over here! Shizune!"
At the same time,
in the next room,
Shizune looked at the contents of the diary in her hands. Her first reaction was astonishment.
She'd thought that only she and Tsunade had diaries. She hadn't expected other people to have them too.
Then came envy!
She was incredibly envious of the girl named Hinata in the diary. Takasaki had written her name into the diary so many times that she'd received an additional reward.
She wanted a reward like that too.
Before you continue