I'm Tom Riddle. Send Money / Kasumigaoka Utaha: Do I Have Lots of Doujinshi in Another World?

What year is it? Who still writes a traditional diary?

Author: Auditore

Synopsis:

After Miyauchi Hiyage was transported to a world where countless anime stories had merged, he acquired a magical Diary. All he had to do was write in it every day to earn rewards.

But he had read enough webnovels about mysterious diaries before crossing over to know that the heroines of this world would probably see whatever he wrote.

With no great ambitions, Miyauchi Hiyage promptly decided to sit back and enjoy the show.

"What year is it? Who still writes a traditional diary?"

"Surely nobody would write their honest thoughts in one, knowing who knows how many heroines might be reading along?"

"My mom told me this world is dangerous, and boys need to protect their privacy when they're out on their own. So don't bother looking for me. After all, I'm a man you can never have."

And as Miyauchi Hiyage continued writing, an "Avengers Alliance" quietly formed among the heroines who could read his diary.

They had only one goal: find the diary's owner and make him suffer!

Volume One

I'm Tom Riddle. Send money.

"I am Tom Marvolo Riddle, a powerful wizard. An accident sealed my soul inside this diary. If you help me break the seal, I will reward you handsomely once I return to the wizarding world and reclaim my fortune."

Late at night, Kasumigaoka Utaha lay sprawled across her bed with none of a lady's poise. Even her loose pajamas could not hide her striking figure.

She held an ordinary-looking black Diary in her hands, her expression deeply conflicted.

The Diary had inexplicably appeared on her desk that evening, just before she was about to go to bed.

Kasumigaoka Utaha had thought little of it at first. But when she casually flipped through the Diary, she discovered to her astonishment that she could never reach the last page. The thin Diary seemed to have an endless number of pages.

And the only passage written in the Diary so far had kept her tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

The writing was not in Japanese but in English, rendered in an elegant, old-fashioned script. Somehow, that made the claim a little more believable.

"Could wizards really exist? That would be an unbelievable truth..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha had every confidence in her abilities: since entering Private Toyonosaki Academy, she had consistently ranked first in her year. But...

What was this so-called wizarding world? What kind of person was "Tom"? And why had this diary suddenly appeared before her?

Yet despite all the questions bottled up inside her, Kasumigaoka Utaha had not responded. Faced with something utterly unknown, who could say whether writing in it might trigger a curse or bind her to some contract?

Should I just leave this Diary on a park bench tomorrow and let someone else puzzle over it?

The thought crossed Kasumigaoka Utaha's mind, but she shook her head the next moment.

No. Perhaps some indescribable contract had already been formed the instant she saw the Diary.

After all, she had thrown the Diary aside a moment ago, only for it to reappear in her hands as soon as she thought of it.

The Diary seemed to have "bound" itself to her.

Kasumigaoka Utaha patted her cheeks. It was too late to play dumb. That left only one option: whatever the outcome, she had to find out what this "Tom" wanted.

She got out of bed, sat down at her desk, and picked up a fountain pen, wondering what she should write to "Tom" first.

A friendly greeting? Or a roundabout question about the wizarding world?

But while she was still hesitating over her opening line, several long passages suddenly appeared in the Diary before her.

To her astonishment, they were no longer written in English. This time, they were in the Japanese she knew best.

Heh, I was just messing with you all. You didn't take that seriously, did you? Surely nobody spent ages staring at the diary with a pen in hand, agonizing over what to do? No way, right?

Anyway, that's enough joking around. Let's get down to business.

First, let me explain where the Diary in your hands came from. Put simply, it's a special perk I brought with me when I crossed over into this world. As long as I write in it every day, I get rewards.

As for my name and identity in this world... My mom told me this world is dangerous, and boys need to protect their privacy when they're out on their own. So don't bother looking for me. After all, I'm a man you can never have.

If you absolutely need something to call me, let's see... "You Know Who" might be fun.

And according to the conventions of the diary webnovels I read in my previous life, those of you who can see this diary should all be protagonists of your own stories.

Let me make one thing clear: I don't know who's reading this right now. But from what I've investigated, this world has blended together a whole mess of films, anime, games, and novels I encountered in my previous life. Uh, calling you characters from works of fiction might make you uncomfortable, but as far as I'm concerned, those are the facts as I remember them.

Then again, if we take the speculation a step further, it's possible that some higher-dimensional being with a twisted sense of humor made up all my memories of my previous life just to pass the time and watch what happened.

But following that line of thought would get even more absurd, so let's get back on track.

In any case, don't worry about it too much. You're people with minds of your own, while what I remember is just a set of fixed plots. The moment you received this Diary, those stories probably began to change.

All I can do is write down the stories I remember as neutrally as possible. You can compare what I write with reality, or just read it to pass the time.

I'm looking forward to seeing how learning your own stories—and other people's—will change the plots I remember.

A friendly tip, by the way: according to the usual conventions, you probably can't tell outsiders about this diary, but people who have one should be able to talk to each other. How you choose to get along is up to you.

After all, I think it would be pretty interesting to see heroines from different works meet.

Well, that covers the explanations. Time for the fun part: beating a dead horse—no, sorry, spoilers.

I'd actually like to start with Yukino, the Second Daughter of the Yukinoshita Family, and Kasumigaoka, Senpai. They were both hugely popular in my previous world, and practically every crossover webnovel dragged them in to mess with their lives.

Come to think of it, those two alone accounted for nearly half of urban crossover fanfiction.

But from what I've found, neither of their stories begins for another year. I haven't had any dealings with them yet, either, so I'll set them aside for now and start with someone who needs to know what's coming more urgently.

Of the people I've looked into, the one who needs to be most careful right now is the idol Hoshino Ai.

I really hope you can see this diary. Opinions about you were divided in my previous world, but after crossing over and watching your performances online, I personally hope you'll keep working as an idol for a long time.

At fifteen, you may already have met Kamiki Hikaru. Whatever stage your relationship has reached, I strongly advise you to stay away from that scumbag.

The manga hadn't conclusively established whether he was the one responsible for your future death when I read it. There might even be another mastermind behind him. But he truly is a monster who satisfies his desires by taking the lives of talented idols and stars.

If you're already pregnant, make sure no one learns where you are. Otherwise, an obsessive fan of yours named Ryosuke will probably be manipulated by that mastermind into threatening both your doctor's life and yours.

Of course, if you're already pregnant, I'd recommend finding a detective to investigate the mastermind's identity.

Personally, I'd recommend Mouri Kogoro in Tokyo's Beika District or Shionji Yuko of the Tokyo NEET Detective Agency.

If you choose the former, try to visit his office when the first grader Edogawa Conan is there. Better yet, make sure the kid hears your request.

By my estimate, I've written over a thousand characters today. There's still plenty I want to say, but it's getting late, and I have to play with my adorable little sister tomorrow morning. I'll stop here for today.

I wonder what reward I'll get. I sincerely hope it's something ordinary that won't affect my life too much.

"You have finished reading the diary for the first time. You have gained 1 Reading Point."

After reading the newly appeared entry, Kasumigaoka Utaha, her expression complicated, seemed to hear a mechanical notification beside her ear.

Kasumigaoka Utaha: There Are Lots of Fanworks About Me in Another World?

After reading the diary, Kasumigaoka Utaha looked even more conflicted than before.

The words in the Diary were simply too shocking.

A traveler from another world. She and who knew how many other people reading the diary were heroines of their own stories. And then there was this mysterious Diary itself...

In Japan, with its countless surnames, Kasumigaoka was hardly a common one. Add the fact that she had received the diary, and the odds were overwhelming that she was the "Kasumigaoka, Senpai" its writer had mentioned.

She would not enter her second year of high school until after spring break, but the diary said her story would begin in a year. By then, she would be about to enter her third year, so calling her senpai would make sense.

So was the male lead of her story a boy one or two years below her?

Or was she the heroine of a girls' love story, destined to be pursued by a younger schoolgirl?

Kasumigaoka Utaha's imagination began to run wild. She hurriedly shook her head.

Boy or girl, she was not interested in either possibility right now.

What concerned her more was You Know Who's remark that she had been popular in his previous world and that practically every crossover webnovel dragged her in to mess with her life.

"Crossover anime" was not a common term in Japan's anime, comics, and games scene, but its meaning was easy enough to grasp.

Frankly, she would rather believe wizards existed than believe she was the heroine of a popular work and that a swarm of creators in another world had made derivative stories using her character and appearance.

If wizards existed, surely they had a spell that could make her forget everything!

Kasumigaoka Utaha gritted her teeth. Now she understood why You Know Who had not dared reveal his identity. All that posturing about being a man they could never have—he was just a bastard who loved stirring up trouble.

If she knew who he was, she would rush over that very night, give him a vicious kick, and force him to tell her about her future.

She wondered whether Yukino, the Second Daughter of the Yukinoshita Family, who had also received only a passing mention, had seen the diary. If Yukino had one too, she was probably just as furious.

But setting all that aside, the most important thing now was to verify how much of You Know Who's diary was true.

After taking several deep breaths and steadying herself a little, Kasumigaoka Utaha rubbed her temples and turned her attention to Hoshino Ai, the young idol mentioned in the latter half of the entry.

You Know Who had indeed written about Hoshino Ai quite neutrally.

A fifteen-year-old idol getting pregnant outside marriage—that kind of scandal could be fatal to an idol's career. If Kasumigaoka Utaha saw a report like that on television, she would probably mutter something about how filthy the entertainment industry was.

Even as a character in an anime, Hoshino Ai would be highly controversial.

To be honest, having a young idol's most closely guarded secret laid out before her gave Kasumigaoka Utaha a thrill of fascination.

But the instant she remembered that she might someday become someone else's object of fascination, that small spark of pleasure vanished.

Kasumigaoka Utaha doubted she would sleep after encountering something supernatural tonight. She might as well turn on her computer and find out what kind of idol Hoshino Ai was.

As an idol, Hoshino Ai's details were hardly secret. Using the diary's clues, Kasumigaoka Utaha quickly found her profile and even joined her fan club, where she learned more about her.

Raised in an orphanage, discovered and debuted at twelve, and now the center of the third-rate idol group B Komachi.

She had to admit Hoshino Ai's looks gave her an advantage. Those sparkling eyes, in particular, made her unforgettable at first glance.

"But my figure's better," Kasumigaoka Utaha decided after one look.

"Three years, and she still has fewer than a hundred thousand Twitter followers. She really is a third-rate idol."

"Her comments are pretty lively, though, and a fair number seem to be new fans. Did something change in her career recently?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha scrolled through Hoshino Ai's Twitter feed, studying the carefully retouched photos. Soon, her eyes narrowed.

For the first three years after her debut, Hoshino Ai had looked radiant in her photos. But as a woman, Kasumigaoka Utaha could sense how cautiously and awkwardly she wore those beautiful outfits and styled herself.

She had grown up in an orphanage, after all, and a third-rate idol could not earn much. Her reaction was understandable.

Only in the past two months did Hoshino Ai seem to have found her footing. She had learned how to put outfits together and do her makeup, and she threw herself into her performances far more than before.

Kasumigaoka Utaha could clearly see that Hoshino Ai had become more at ease in her work as an idol over the past few months.

If she had to put it into words, the girl had suddenly gained a subtle air of womanhood.

That seemingly tiny change was also the main reason her Twitter followers had become so much more active lately.

A beautiful girl whose looks had never been in question had learned how to show off her charm. Of course she would attract a flood of new fans.

Looking at a girl who had worn a practiced, insincere smile for years, only to blossom this year and radiate charm onstage, Kasumigaoka Utaha immediately thought of the scumbag named Kamiki Hikaru whom You Know Who had written about in the Diary.

You Know Who had called Kamiki Hikaru an utter scumbag, a monster who took talented people's lives for his own satisfaction—and the person most likely to be behind Hoshino Ai's death in the future.

"A girl raised in an orphanage gets pulled into the dazzling entertainment industry at twelve, meets a bastard who deceives her into falling for him, then gets pregnant and is killed by one of her obsessive fans. What an awful story," Kasumigaoka Utaha murmured.

"I wonder if the Diary has appeared for her too. But if she and Kamiki Hikaru are in the middle of a passionate romance, a Diary that suddenly shows up probably won't be enough to change her mind."

Kasumigaoka Utaha had no intention of going to find Hoshino Ai in person. At least, not yet.

She had only learned Hoshino Ai existed tonight. She had no reason to interfere with the girl's choices.

Even You Know Who had only offered Hoshino Ai advice. He had thoughtfully recommended two famous detectives as well. As long as she could read the diary and did not let love blind her, she should be able to avoid the path it described.

"Besides, I have no idea what the other diary holders think. Being the first one to show herself could be dangerous... I'll watch and wait a while longer, then decide after I see what You Know Who writes next," Kasumigaoka Utaha muttered.

Meanwhile, in corners all across Japan, plenty of others were thinking much the same thing.

Some, after reading the diary, were eagerly booking tickets for Hoshino Ai's next performance.

Whatever their reactions, many young women would not be sleeping tonight.