Not to mention the sheer number of undercover agents—any country with an intelligence agency could plant one inside.
Japan's Public Security, the FBI, the CIA, MI6... Among the twenty-odd organization members who had appeared in the manga, seven or eight undercover agents had already surfaced.
Sometimes, I really wondered whether your Black Organization had been deliberately created by intelligence agencies around the world to scam operational funding.
After all, aside from the undercover agents, quite a few of the remaining dozens of organization members had either defected or died. The rest were basically deadbeats.
Gin seemed to be the only one actually doing his job properly.
Vermouth was busy raising kids, Bourbon was somehow working four jobs by himself—the ultimate wage slave—and Korn and Chianti were a pair of hopeless idiots. As the organization's snipers, they had barely scored any kills in thirty years. They set up their rifles while scrolling Twitter at work, and when they missed, they immediately blamed their boss for throwing them off.
As for Rum, the organization's second-in-command, that one was even more of a heavyweight.
He was talked up as incredibly mysterious. Hardly anyone in the organization knew what he really looked like, and there were even rumors that he wanted to wrest power away from the boss.
But after appearing in the story, all he had shown himself to be was a complete clown.
I really loved one line Rum had in the manga: "I have only made one mistake in the past seventeen years."
Then the case from seventeen years ago was finally shown, and damn, I nearly choked to death. That whole string of bizarre moves practically fed me full:
"Someone has noticed us. We can only leave now." "No, something is wrong at the scene. Let's go back." "Someone called the police. Let's get out of here." "That person is suspicious. Drive after him." "There are too many onlookers. Let's withdraw first."
After that suffocating series of operations, what had originally been a trivial little case turned into the biggest disaster since the organization's founding.
Then, seventeen years later, he finally encountered a survivor from that case. He tried to eliminate him, only to be completely read like a book and nearly get killed in return. All he could do was flee in disgrace.
In the end, after discovering that the man was currently disguised as a teacher at some school, he had to abandon the sniping plan because there were too many people at the school.
Gin dared to blow up the Shinkansen, skyscrapers, and even Tokyo Tower. The Ferris wheel at the amusement park would have to roll far away the moment it saw him. So why was it that you, Rum, couldn't even handle an ordinary school?
If I were Gin, I'd seriously have to say, how could the organization possibly thrive while working with vermin like you?
I suggest that when Rum gets arrested in the future, he should publish two books in prison. One could be called "I'm Just Too Cautious," and the other "The Art of Stalling."
I seemed to have talked a little too much about the Black Organization. Roasting them felt great, but if I kept going, I was going to become a diary blogger for the Conan fandom.
Everyone, try to leave some positive comments in the diary, okay?
Now that I had quit my job, I felt completely free. I was even planning to go hiking and camping in a few days. I wondered if I might run into any familiar characters.
Also, wasn't the LOVE LIVE competition going to be held soon? As an old-school Love Liver, I was already prepared to go cheer in person.
I wondered whether any of the people reading this diary were Otonokizaka students. When you leave comments, you can give me an autograph. Just consider me one of your earliest fans.
And Little Bocchi, if you can see this, you could practice signing your name too. You wouldn't get social anxiety just from writing a comment in the Diary, would you?
The Confined Shiho Miyano
Tokyo, Kyoto, inside an unknown pharmaceutical factory.
Shiho Miyano, who had been staring blankly at her computer all day, seemed to sense something.
She stood up, picked up reagent bottles labeled ferric oxide and hydrogen acid from beside her, poured some of each into her cup, then stirred and diluted them with boiling water.
As the rich aroma of coffee filled the room, Shiho Miyano gently blew on it. After glancing at the surveillance camera above, she carried the freshly brewed coffee back to her seat.
Then, a black Diary appeared in her hand.
And right in front of the surveillance camera, she opened the Diary and began reading that day's entry.
After all, on the surveillance feed, she was probably still just staring blankly at the computer. No one would be able to spot anything unusual.
That was the conclusion she had reached after repeated testing.
While being "confined" by the organization, she had acquired this miraculous Diary. Then, on the very first day after the Diary's permissions were unlocked, her comment had luckily been selected. She did not know whether that made her unfortunate or lucky.
"Will he mention the organization in response to my comment from yesterday? Will he mention me in the diary too?"
With those thoughts in mind, Shiho Miyano saw something that utterly shocked her.
You Know Who had not mentioned her, but she did know every organization member who had appeared in the diary.
However, You Know Who's assessment of them was vastly different from what she knew.
The two of them had roughly the same attitude toward Gin. He was a cold-blooded executioner, and the sniper squad under his command had dealt with countless organization traitors over the years.
But she had never expected Gin to be this insane.
The Shinkansen, skyscrapers, Tokyo Tower, and somehow, rather strangely, a Ferris wheel had been thrown into the mix too.
Was Gin going to carry out some kind of massive purge in Tokyo in the future?
And there was no need to mention the other organization members.
Vermouth, who was deeply favored by the organization's boss, was busy raising kids?
Did Vermouth have children?
Bourbon was said to be Rum's capable assistant, though Shiho had never met him.
But no matter how she heard it, the title "ultimate wage slave" did not sound like something a proper organization member would be called.
Chianti and Korn were members of Gin's team and had done plenty of dirty work over the years.
But playing on their phones at work and blaming their boss after missing a shot... Did those two have the nerve to blame Gin?
As for Rum, the heavyweight You Know Who had spent the most words describing, he completely overturned her understanding of the organization's mysterious second-in-command.
She even found it somewhat absurd when she tried to imagine Rum's actions in her mind.
If everything You Know Who had written was true, then there was nothing strange about the way he had described the organization the day before yesterday.
After all, even Shiho felt that it was a miracle the Black Organization as described by You Know Who had managed to grow at all.
Shiho Miyano gently shook her head, driving that impractical fantasy from her mind.
You Know Who had said that twenty or thirty organization members had appeared in the story, but in reality, as a transnational criminal organization, it naturally could not have so few members.
There were over a hundred organization members in this building alone, let alone across the entire world.
Those members simply had not appeared in the manga.
After thinking it over, Shiho Miyano wrote a comment in the Diary.
Its content supplemented the organization's strength, warning others not to underestimate the organization as a whole because of the actions of a few individual members.
Of course, from a probabilistic perspective, she knew the chance of her comment being selected two days in a row was infinitesimal.
Still, she had to give the warning. If anyone else wanted to seek death, then she could not be blamed.
After writing the comment and finishing the coffee, which had cooled somewhat, Shiho Miyano began another task—slowly entering all the research materials on APTX4869 into the Diary in her hands.
She was currently protesting against the organization because she could not contact her sister. She did not know when the organization would lose patience with her.
Ripple Aura Chi Kung was not weak. Given another year, she might be able to use Ripple Aura Chi Kung to attempt an escape from this place.
But if she revealed her Ripple powers now, she would only fall into an even more desperate situation.
Shiho Miyano did not think she was some kind of female lead. After all, the manga she was in was called Conan, and there was already a female lead by his side.
She absolutely had to prepare for both the best and worst possible outcomes.
Entering these materials into this Diary would at least give her one more possibility.
Compared to Shiho Miyano, whose future was uncertain, the group chat of the Diary Enthusiasts Club was far livelier.
The first to speak was Hoshino Ai, who had finished a day of training and returned to read the diary.
Ai: "Mm... You Know Who seems to care a lot about this LOVE LIVE competition. I want to participate too, but I checked, and it's a school Idol project. It has nothing to do with me."
Hoshino Ai had only finished elementary school. She became an Idol at the age of twelve. Though she continued receiving education in middle school, she missed too many classes and was ultimately put on indefinite leave.
Ai: "But seeing You Know Who preparing to cheer at someone else's concert makes me so unwilling to accept it. Kashiko Kasumi, do you have any plans to debut as a school Idol? I can come help you!"
After reading the diary, she knew that aside from Kasumigaoka Utaha, Toyosaki would welcome another great beauty, Eriri Spencer Sawamura, that year, as well as Kato Megumi, who would completely eclipse both of them.
With her help, if they could form an Idol group, they would definitely attract the attention of that mysterious fan of hers!
Kashiko Kasumi: "My light novel signing event should be in half a month, and I have absolutely no interest in becoming an Idol."
Of course Hoshino Ai remembered that You Know Who had said he might attend Kasumigaoka Utaha's new book signing, so Kasumigaoka Utaha was clearly not an option.
But Hoshino Ai was only disappointed for a moment before coming up with another idea.
Ai: "Then I'll ask the other members of B Komachi. I remember some of them are still in school. I wonder whether that would meet the requirements."
Ai: "I think I'm making this too complicated. As long as my comment gets selected by the diary today, wouldn't more people come contact me on their own?"
Classic Club Girl: "I think... the odds probably aren't very high."
Ai: "We'll never know unless we try. What if it works?"
So Hoshino Ai boldly wrote an emotional invitation in the comments section and included her autograph.
Then, after waiting an hour and seeing that the newly refreshed comment was not hers, Hoshino Ai shook her head in regret.
Katsura Kotonoha's Request
In today's featured comment segment, the four-person squad of the Diary Enthusiasts Club was wiped out once again.
But surprisingly, today's commenter had not chosen to remain anonymous. Instead, she openly displayed her name.
Katsura Kotonoha:
I am Katsura Kotonoha from Sakakino City. I do not know whether my comment will be selected, but I am very grateful to Mr. You Know Who for sharing Ripple Aura Chi Kung.
I really enjoy kendo, but because of my weak body, I have only been able to practice Iai Quickdraw by myself until now.
Now that I have Ripple Aura Chi Kung to improve my constitution, I am qualified to train in other sword techniques as well. Thank you so much!
Besides that, if you can see my comment, I have an embarrassing request.
My family is rather strict. Before high school, most of my time outside class was spent studying other subjects, so I had very little personal time and never made any friends.
Mr. You Know Who, could you tell me whether I will be able to find close friends I can truly open my heart to after entering Sakakino Academy?
After reading this comment, Miyauchi Hiyage unconsciously touched his neck.
Today's selected comment was actually from her?
Katsura Kotonoha, one of the female leads from the Days series.
Under normal circumstances, she had the classic Yamato nadeshiko personality: delicate, physically weak, gentle, and considerate.
But once stimulated into turning dark, she awakened yandere mode and slaughtered everyone in her path with a single Iai Quickdraw.
The first work in the series, "School Days," had been adapted into an anime and caused quite a stir in the otaku community that year.
The domestic translation of its title was especially vivid: "Days on Campus."
You could tell what kind of work it was just from that name.
In the anime, because the male lead Itou Makoto was promiscuous and indecisive, repeatedly wavering between the two female leads, he was ultimately stabbed to death by the other female lead, Saionji Sekai.
Then the two female leads fought with blades on the rooftop. Katsura Kotonoha, who had practiced Iai Quickdraw since childhood, stabbed Saionji Sekai to death with another strike while in her yandere state. In the end, she carried Itou Makoto's head onto a boat and sailed away to who knew where.
With her unfocused eyes and bloodstained hands, Katsura Kotonoha, along with Rena Ryugu—another girl from the same era who became legendary wielding a Shibari—became one of the classic yandere characters of that generation.
As for the male lead, Itou Makoto, he was successfully branded with the title of Trash Makoto.
But Makoto's path did not end there. More accurately, the Itou Makoto from the anime had not demonstrated his true prowess as trash at all.
After "School Days" became wildly popular, the company that developed the game released three sequels in succession.
In the games, the unsealed Itou Makoto went all out. Basically every woman who appeared was his prey, and he occasionally even changed tastes and went after handsome men.
One later work even had an ending called the Katsura Family Complete Conquest Plan, where he brought the Katsura mother and daughters—including Katsura Kotonoha's ten-year-old younger sister—into his harem, and successfully got Katsura Kotonoha's mother pregnant with his child.
"But if I wrote all that in the diary, Katsura Kotonoha would probably turn dark on the spot after seeing it."
"I can mention the Katsura family situation briefly. As for making friends, Saionji Sekai is probably out. She liked Itou Makoto but did not dare say so, then used the excuse of 'I can help you pursue Katsura Kotonoha' to create an opportunity for herself. That really isn't easy to defend..."
Miyauchi Hiyage considered what he should write in tomorrow's diary.
Itou Makoto definitely had to be included, and his father, Sawagoe Itaru, could not be left out either.
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