The Black Organization Isn't as Simple as You Think / Rum Should Write a Book Called The Art of Keeping Someone on the Hook

An alarm clock?

A memo?

What the hell was all this?

Kasumigaoka Utaha muttered to herself.

Only after she wrote the words "Diary permissions" in her diary did a notification sound in her head.

"Level 1 diary permissions unlocked."

Immediately afterward, a flood of explanations about the new permissions poured into her mind.

A subtle change came over Kasumigaoka Utaha's expression.

The alarm clock and memo Hoshino Ai had mentioned really were new features.

She could now write whatever she wanted in the diary.

Not only could she write with a pen, she could directly control text input with her thoughts.

As long as her intentions were clear enough, she could add illustrations to the diary or even make PowerPoint presentations in it—incidentally, as long as she did not expose the diary itself, she could also import and export the contents to her phone or computer. It was extremely convenient.

Any alarms she set would "smash" her awake at the appointed time.

Things noted in the memo would remind her in advance to deal with them.

If she wanted to look into certain information, the diary could provide basic filtering and recommendation functions.

It would even issue danger warnings when danger might appear nearby.

She had originally thought that, after unlocking permissions, she would be able to obtain rewards like that You Know Who simply by writing in her diary every day. Instead, her diary now seemed more like a personal smart assistant.

"This is a little different from how I imagined permissions would unlock, but it does seem quite practical..."

Using her thoughts to rush out drafts was practically perfect for a novelist like her.

Even the illustration function, though the results might be somewhat abstract, could at least directly turn the ideas in her head into references for professional illustrators.

Of course, while the main focus of the diary's unlocked permissions was a massive improvement to user experience, its original functions had also been expanded considerably.

For instance, the ways to obtain Reading Points.

Reading the diary every day still earned one point.

If their names appeared in that day's diary, whether their real names or nicknames, merely being mentioned would earn them an additional Reading Point.

And after reading You Know Who's diary each day, they could leave a comment and check in below it, which would also earn one Reading Point.

Every day, the diary would select one lucky comment and display it in everyone's diaries.

"A comment that everyone can see?" Kasumigaoka Utaha immediately thought of using this method to contact the other diary holders.

For example, she could write the group information for their diary-holder chat in a comment and have those people take the initiative to join the group, which only diary holders could enter.

"Still, that would be risky. I should discuss it with the others in the group first," Kasumigaoka Utaha thought.

The Black Organization Wasn't as Simple as You Thought

Daring to create a group chat without knowing the identities or personalities of the other diary holders, Kasumigaoka Utaha had to admit that Hoshino Ai was indeed an exceptionally bold woman.

But according to the diary's descriptions, it did not seem surprising for Hoshino Ai to do something like this.

When she created the group chat, she had probably never considered that people with impure motives might join it someday.

After all, no one could guarantee that a heroine would necessarily be a flawless, pure white lotus.

Kasumigaoka Utaha did not think she herself was such a perfect person.

There were currently four people in the group chat.

Hoshino Ai's personality and future trajectory had basically been spoiled in full by You Know Who.

As for herself, she was the losing heroine in a school romance series—the sort who could only rise to prominence in an IF-route manga after the original heroine had been removed. After You Know Who exposed her too thoroughly for her to keep pretending, she had chosen to reveal her identity outright.

Chitanda Eru, daughter of the respected Chitanda family in Kamiyama Prefecture. She currently seemed rather innocent and polite.

At the same time, there was a considerable possibility that she was the "Classic Club Girl" briefly mentioned in the diary, though it could not be ruled out that this was merely her disguise.

Takanashi Rikka, a native of Shiga Prefecture with a rare surname. Her family circumstances were currently unknown. She acted like someone with eighth-grader syndrome and claimed to possess the Evil Eye, though its seal had yet to be released.

Given the real existence of Spirit Vision, her words could be granted thirty percent trust for now.

Even with only four girls in the group, Kasumigaoka Utaha had already used her thoughts to create two pages of character analysis charts in the diary. Once more people joined the group in the future, it would become even more impossible to understand what everyone was thinking.

The benefits of creating a group chat were having a place to share secrets and help each other, as well as a future with limitless potential.

They were all "protagonists" with diaries, so naturally, each of them would have something special about them.

Because of the diaries, they—who might otherwise never have crossed paths in their entire lives—were now connected, and they had gained a chance to change their futures.

And since they could not tell outsiders about the diary's secrets, if they wanted to find like-minded people, they could only choose from among others who possessed diaries.

Even without Hoshino Ai, sooner or later someone else would have stepped up to do this.

They had taken the first step. Though it had only happened by chance, they had still seized the initiative.

After thinking it over, Kasumigaoka Utaha wrote out all her thoughts and concerns in the diary.

Kashiko Kasumi: "...That's roughly what I think. A lot of people know Ai's and my identity information, so worrying is useless, but if we really do this, your identity information might also be exposed to others."

Ai: "As expected of Kashiko Kasumi-sensei. When I created the group chat, I never thought about any of that. I only thought it would be nice if everyone had a place to talk together and look for You Know Who together."

Ai: "Then we shouldn't keep inviting people, right? You only joined because you trusted me, so I can't take that risk."

Chitanda Eru: "It's okay. I just asked the diary, and in this group chat, as long as we don't reveal our own identity information, no one can trace us. If you don't want to reveal your identity, just use a nickname when joining, like Takanashi did."

After saying that, Chitanda Eru changed her name to "Classics Club."

Classics Club: "That works, then."

Kasumigaoka Utaha could not help but chuckle.

She tried tapping Chitanda Eru's profile picture and indeed could not see any more detailed information. As expected of a group chat created with Reading Points—the effect was guaranteed.

Ai: "! Chitanda, you're so smart. No, I need to remember to call you Classics Club from now on. I don't need to change my name, though. Everyone already knows who I am anyway."

Ai: "But I'm usually pretty careless and sometimes mix up people's names... I'll work hard to improve that!"

Kashiko Kasumi: "If all else fails, you can use @ to call people. That'll solve the problem."

Kashiko Kasumi: "Since we've decided, everyone should start leaving comments under today's diary entry. Include our group information and situation in the comments, and let's see if the diary picks us."

Ai: "Then everyone, let's work together and find that You Know Who, hmph hmph!"

After briefly discussing how to promote the group, the chat went quiet.

Meanwhile, Miyauchi Hiyage had no idea that the first little diary-holder group had already formed, with its main target pointed directly at him, the prankster writing the diary.

At that moment, Miyauchi Hiyage was receiving new information.

"Starting today, I can upload diary entries with my thoughts, and I can even put illustrations in them. Can diary rewards draw this kind of thing? Does that mean I'll be able to upload videos directly in the future?"

"Hm? And every day, one lucky viewer's comment will be randomly selected for me to see? You diary sure don't play by the rules. Are you just coming clean that someone really is reading my diary?"

Miyauchi Hiyage felt that the diary in his hands was updating rather quickly.

It had been a traditional diary setup before. Once he saw through it, it switched directly to an electronic diary setup?

If he could now view featured comments, what else could it be but an electronic diary?

"Still, this is pretty good. I have to rack my brains every day over what to write in tomorrow's diary. At least now I can make trouble based on the comments."

Miyauchi Hiyage opened his diary. An hour had passed since he finished today's entry.

Today's featured comment had already been selected.

The commenter was listed as an anonymous reader, which disappointed him a little.

However, the content of the comment made it fairly easy to guess the commenter's identity.

I have never heard of Lupin III, but you said he could easily deal with the villainous organization from a manga that has been serialized for thirty years without ending. I find that hard to believe.

Perhaps in his story, he is the only protagonist, but the organization is not as simple as you think.

Do not approach the organization. This is my only warning to you.

"So, Ai Haibara? No, her body shouldn't have shrunk yet. She should still be Shiho Miyano at this point."

She knew about the Black Organization and had even issued a direct warning.

Shiho Miyano was the only heroine who fit the criteria.

Still, he could not rule out other possibilities.

After all, the diary's version had already been updated. He could no longer view it through the lens of a conventional diary-themed webnovel.

Of course, Ran Mouri—who had never heard of the Black Organization despite Conan having been serialized for thirty years—could be ruled out with a single vote.

"Whether it's Shiho Miyano or not, this comment has already told me what to write tomorrow."

Miyauchi Hiyage stretched lazily.

The fact that the Black Organization's aura of intimidation had steadily shattered in the viewers' eyes over thirty years was rather amusing to think about.

I Suggest Rum Publish a Book Called "The Art of Stringing Things Along"

The next day, Miyauchi Hiyage first went to a relatively large gem market in Tokyo to see whether he could find Spirit Stones suitable for making a Camera Obscura.

According to the settings of the Nioh Series, Spirit Stones were fragments of highly concentrated essence. They emitted a faint golden glow and could grant power for a short time once crushed.

However, that was a setting from the Nioh and Project Zero universes. Miyauchi Hiyage did not think they were very likely to exist in this world, so he came to look for similar substitutes.

He had also pondered something the previous night.

A Camera Obscura used several Sanskrit mantras engraved inside the device to activate the power of Spirit Stones. As long as a vengeful spirit appeared within the lens, it could lock onto the target and attack it by pressing the shutter.

Then was it possible to replace the special power within a Spirit Stone with Ripple energy and use the Camera Obscura to achieve mid-range, fixed-point Ripple attacks?

Miyauchi Hiyage thought it was feasible to a certain extent.

After all, in the world of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Ripple itself could be amplified through certain special gemstones.

For example, the most perfect Super Aja could amplify the Ripple passing through it by several hundred times.

Miyauchi Hiyage did not expect to have such absurd luck that he could find such a rare treasure on a casual outing, but even an amplification of one or two times would make the trip worthwhile.

When he returned home that evening, he had three red gemstones of varying sizes in his hands.

He had tested them all and confirmed that they worked. They had not cost much either; the most expensive had only cost one hundred thousand yen.

Naturally, the results were not especially impressive. Even the one with the best conduction only provided about an eighty percent amplification.

It looked decent enough, but because the gemstones lacked purity, the Ripple became extremely scattered after passing through them. They clearly could not be used in combat.

Still, Miyauchi Hiyage had bought them to process into Camera Obscuras for testing, so this actually made it easier to test things.

After dealing with the gemstones, he sent a few messages to check on Guanghua, who was living outside. Only after confirming that she was doing quite well did Miyauchi Hiyage open his diary and begin writing today's entry.

The diary updated its comment function yesterday. It really caught me by surprise.

Still, being able to interact this way is pretty interesting. It immediately gave me inspiration for today's diary entry.

So, I'll first reply to yesterday's lucky viewer's comment.

Setting aside your identity for now, I personally agree with what you said about the Black Organization being dangerous and people needing to stay away from it.

After all, those of you reading this diary are either students still in school or office workers. Even if there are a few wealthy young ladies among you, if they set their sights on you, they can always find an opportunity to make a move.

During the early and middle stages of Conan's story, the Black Organization was indeed a successfully portrayed, powerful international criminal organization. Gin was also an excellent villain. Although he occasionally made some baffling moves, compared to the people who appeared later, those were not worth mentioning at all.

Oh, Gin is the big shot who flew an armed helicopter and bombed Tokyo Tower in the movie. Eighty percent of the Black Organization's intimidating image actually came from him.

But after the story entered its middle period, as other Black Organization members appeared, its intimidating image grew worse year by year.