What Era Is It, Still Writing Traditional Diaries

I have to say, Eriri, who started high school with several years of R18 doujinshi creation experience, truly has skills that are no joke.

After seeing a few of her works, Kasumigaoka Utaha genuinely thought about having Eriri draw illustrations for her own work.

Of course, that's not possible for Love Metronome since it's already been released.

But the people she's met recently through the diary and chat groups are perfect material for her as a light novel author.

Shinomiya Kaguya is a chaebol heiress, Chitanda Eru is a country heiress, Hoshino Ai is an idol, and Takanashi Rikka and Kuroneko are chuunibyous.

Then there's Katsura Kotonoha's yet-to-be-confirmed yandere state.

By spending some time chatting with them in the group every day, Kasumigaoka Utaha gains a lot of inspiration.

The most painful thing for a creator is having a ton of creative inspiration but being unable to start a new book whenever they want.

But she's already made up her mind.

Once she finishes writing the second volume of Love Metronome, she plans to write a new book and then ask Eriri to be the illustrator.

Of course, that's for later.

For now, Eriri isn't in the mood for such things, and she still has unfinished business.

A bunch of people in the group are currently @-ing her, urging her to find out if the school gatekeeper saw the mysterious person's face.

Of course, a few others are egging her on, telling her to upload the manga to the group for everyone to see.

Kasumigaoka Utaha completely ignored the latter part.

Regardless, this is the first time they, as holders of the diary, have been so close to that mysterious person.

During the lunch break, she and that mysterious person were perhaps only dozens of meters apart at their closest.

But honestly, Kasumigaoka Utaha wasn't holding out much hope at this moment.

Although the mysterious person had been leaking their "information" in the diary for over ten days since she obtained it, it was all stuff that couldn't be verified.

However, one piece of information had a very high degree of credibility: the mysterious person could obtain rewards daily by writing in the diary.

And those rewards were clearly much better than the Reading Points they received daily for reading the diary and posting reviews.

So far, the mysterious person hadn't exposed many rewards.

There was Ripple Chi Kung, the first volume of Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend, and the personal IF line manga she held in her hands.

For the remaining seven or eight days of rewards, the mysterious person hadn't mentioned a single word.

Who knew if they had some strange item now that could conceal their identity?

Perhaps the person had obtained some reward that ensured they wouldn't be discovered before suddenly appearing in their sight?

Just like Kaitou Kid, who was once mentioned by the mysterious person in the diary, possessed the ability to easily disguise himself as others.

However, even for that less than ten percent possibility, Kasumigaoka Utaha still had to confirm it to give the people in the group an explanation.

After telling Eriri her plan, Eriri naturally agreed.

Eriri was so angry she felt a pain in her chest about the "mysterious hacker" Kasumigaoka Utaha mentioned.

She didn't recall provoking any powerful hackers, yet this person had exposed her online identity and even created such a malicious manga about her.

Thus, with Kasumigaoka Utaha's persuasion, the Avengers against the mysterious person successfully gained a new external member.

Next, they returned to the school and asked the gatekeeper if a worker carrying a stepladder had entered the school today.

Hearing Kasumigaoka Utaha's explanation of "life cheat codes," it wasn't just the school gatekeeper who was stunned, but even Eriri was taken aback.

Of course, Eriri was thinking, was this some new trend from the internet lately? It sounded quite plausible.

Should she use this method as the theme for her new doujinshi?

As for the gatekeeper, his expression turned a bit nervous.

Had the "maintenance worker" he let in at noon done anything bad inside the school?

Fortunately, the girl in front of him only wanted to know the maintenance worker's appearance and have a chat, and didn't show any intention of reporting him to the school administration.

"I didn't talk to him much. I just saw he was working hard in the middle of the day, so I offered him a cigarette, but he refused, saying, 'Smoking this traditional kind of cigarette makes you cough easily. I'll bring you some non-coughing ones next time.'"

"As for his appearance?" The gatekeeper recalled the man who refused his cigarette with a pained expression.

The person was only wearing a hard hat, with no mask or anything to cover his face, but as he thought carefully, he realized he couldn't remember what the person looked like at all.

An ordinary appearance, completely without any distinguishing features; he couldn't recall it for a moment.

In the end, he could only vaguely describe the person's height, build, and skin tone from his memory.

"How about I show you the surveillance footage? But please don't let this get out," since the leverage was in their hands, the gatekeeper finally agreed to let the two of them watch the noon surveillance footage.

A few minutes later, Kasumigaoka Utaha and Eriri saw a somewhat blurry profile on the surveillance screen.

As the gatekeeper had said, it was indeed unremarkable, with no distinguishing features.

"So this guy is that mysterious hacker? He's so different from what I imagined..." Eriri was slightly disappointed. If this face were on the street, she probably wouldn't be able to recognize him even if he walked right past her.

Kasumigaoka Utaha didn't comment. Instead, she took a photo of the profile under surveillance, planning to send it to Shinomiya Kaguya later.

Although Shinomiya Kaguya had only @-ed her once in the group, asking if she needed help, and didn't seem to take the picture the mysterious person posted in the diary to heart.

Kasumigaoka Utaha felt that Shinomiya Kaguya's current emotions were likely not as calm as she appeared in the group.

I wonder if the Shinomiya Family's influence is enough to uncover anything useful.

After saying goodbye to Eriri, Kasumigaoka Utaha once again unleashed her sarcastic remarks on You Know Who in the diary's comment section as a way to vent.

Although today was a bit perilous, she at least obtained this manga related to her, giving her a clearer understanding of her future.

If her sarcastic remarks could also bring over the first volume of the main story of Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend, she felt she'd be willing to take a few more risks.

Chapter 47: Tom and Jerry

As the instigator of everything, Miyauchi Hiyage was naturally in a very cheerful mood.

After all, when Kasumigaoka Utaha cornered Eriri, he was one of the onlookers enjoying the drama up close and engaged in a deep discussion with the other onlookers after Kasumigaoka Utaha and Eriri left the school building.

They all unanimously agreed that the second-year student Kasumigaoka must have some unspeakable secret with the first-year student Eriri.

If Kasumigaoka Utaha's icy glare wasn't so intimidating, they, the onlookers, would have definitely followed her secretly to see where the two of them went.

However, Miyauchi Hiyage could pretty much guess what Kasumigaoka Utaha would do next.

It would be nothing more than fabricating a lie to fool Eriri and then investigating the identity he disguised himself as at noon today.

Miyauchi Hiyage had enough confidence in Yellow Temperance's ability to disguise himself, so he wasn't worried about these investigations.

After enjoying the "drama" he himself had brewed, he quickly walked in the direction of his home, as a "new roommate" was waiting for him there to greet him.

That was the reward Miyauchi Hiyage had received today.

It wasn't some awesome move or skill, nor was it some black technology product or magical item.

It was Miyauchi Hiyage's first living reward obtained so far.

A seemingly ordinary brown dwarf hamster.

Except its name was Jerry.

Yes, the reward Miyauchi Hiyage received today was Jerry, from the world of Tom and Jerry.

To be honest, when he learned about his reward for the day, Miyauchi Hiyage couldn't help but rub his eyes to confirm that the diary's reward wasn't mistaken.

After all, it was Jerry.

If Tom was a perfect cat who could do almost anything except catch Jerry, then Jerry was a super mouse who could hold his own against Tom in every aspect and was usually in the advantageous position.

Miyauchi Hiyage thought about how he had called himself "Teacher Tom" in the diary this afternoon, only for Jerry to actually show up this afternoon.

Was the diary trying to force a Tom and Jerry connection for him?

Or did the deity behind the diary think his life was too comfortable and wanted to give him some challenges?

Miyauchi Hiyage thought about the diary rewards he had received over the past few days but couldn't figure out if the diary's reward mechanism was truly random.

If it wasn't random, wouldn't it be based on the principle that the more outrageous the act, the better the reward?

But that didn't seem right either. Before, he had written Ripple Chi Kung in the diary and changed the destinies of countless girls. He should have received a better reward that day.

Instead, that day he only received a novel from Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend.

And the day he obtained the IF route manga for Kasumigaoka Utaha, the diary entry was the prologue to the first volume of Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend.

Kasumigaoka Utaha must have been provoked by him that day, which is why she was so sarcastic towards him in the comments later.

"If we're really going by the 'outrageousness' factor, the rewards I received these past two days should have been better. It's not like the diary dislikes me directly copying books and is withholding my rewards, is it?" Miyauchi Hiyage muttered casually, yet somehow felt it might actually make sense.

"This is easy to figure out. I'll upload a few more chapters of Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend over the next few days to test it," Miyauchi Hiyage decided after some thought.

After all, Kasumigaoka Utaha would definitely post a lot of sarcastic comments about him in the comment section today. Although he hadn't seen them, it didn't stop him from sending some of his own thoughts back to Kasumigaoka Utaha.

After deciding on the direction of his experiments for the next few days, Miyauchi Hiyage went to a local cake shop and bought some cheesecake that Jerry would likely enjoy.

According to the diary's explanation, Jerry had already considered the mansion the diary had rewarded him with as its new home after arriving in this world and was looking forward to a friendly interaction with its owner.

The owner's attitude towards him would influence his attitude towards the owner and this world.

Upon learning this, Miyauchi Hiyage couldn't help but mutter to himself that he was glad he hadn't sold the house, otherwise, meeting Jerry would probably be quite troublesome.

And when he returned to his mansion with the cheesecake in hand, as soon as he entered, he saw a brown mouse cautiously peeking its head out from the end of the corridor.

The real-life Jerry could be recognized from its animated appearance but also possessed some characteristics of a real mouse.

It struck a perfect balance between reality and animation, making the mouse's presence here neither jarring nor creating a horror vacuum due to excessive anthropomorphism.

At this moment, Jerry was sniffing the air, seemingly smelling the cheesecake in Miyauchi Hiyage's hand, and a look of anticipation involuntarily appeared on its face.

I wonder how many abilities this Jerry brought with it.

Miyauchi Hiyage, who had prepared himself mentally, greeted Jerry.

"Hey, Jerry, want some cheesecake to celebrate your move into your new home?"

Upon confirming the attitude of the giant in front of him, Jerry's face immediately lit up with joy.

It scurried over to Miyauchi Hiyage and pointed at itself with a look of disbelief, as if asking Miyauchi Hiyage if he had just called its name.

Miyauchi Hiyage observed Jerry closely from up close.

It was about 10-15 centimeters tall, standing in its usual pose from the animation.

It had a round head and body, and its fur looked relatively smooth.

Thankfully, it wasn't like the Pikachu from that live-action Pokémon movie, with its fluffy fur.

It's not that fluffy Pikachu or Jerry are bad.

It's just that after so many years of seeing them in animation, it's quite jarring to suddenly have them covered in fur.

He bent down and offered his palm to Jerry.

Seeing this, Jerry hesitated for a moment, but driven by its desire for cheesecake, it obediently walked onto Miyauchi Hiyage's palm.

"Can you talk?" Miyauchi Hiyage asked Jerry as he walked toward his room.

In the Tom and Jerry cartoons, while Tom and Jerry mostly just made laughter or surprised noises, they did speak on occasion.

Jerry shook its head, but then used its nimble front paws to gesture, seemingly indicating that it could write.

It was good that it could write; it would save a lot of trouble with communication.

Miyauchi Hiyage had many questions for Jerry, and also many things he wanted to tell it.

After all, after so many years of transmigration, he had finally found someone to share this secret with.

Even though that someone was just a mouse, it was a mouse smarter than most humans.

Back in his room, Miyauchi Hiyage placed Jerry on his desk and took out the cake, offering it to the mouse.

"Eat up. We can chat slowly about your situation after you've had your fill."

Jerry, however, gazed at the cheesecake before it, licked its lips like a human, then looked around, pulled a tissue from the nearby box, wiped its paws, and folded it neatly, tying it around its neck as a napkin.

After completing all this, it took the plastic fork that came with the cake and, like a soldier wielding a spear, solemnly attacked the cheesecake before it.

Chapter 48: Come on, Jerry, put on a show for everyone.