What Era Is It, Still Writing Traditional Diaries

As for the girls, after hearing Black Cat's explanation, their gazes towards the fortune-telling shop instantly changed.

It seemed this fortune-telling shop hadn't appeared in Yotsuya Miko's story. Could it just be a coincidence?

Shinomiya Kaguya was a little disappointed. However, just then, her peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of a somewhat familiar figure.

She quietly alerted the girls who were preparing to leave.

"Don't go yet, Yotsuya Miko is here. We can observe her up close right here."

It seemed her deduction was correct, and they had arrived at just the right time.

Instantly, the girls' gazes followed where Shinomiya Kaguya was looking.

An orange-haired girl, whose figure seemed much fuller than Kasumigaoka Utaha's, was excitedly pulling a black-haired girl towards the fortune-telling shop.

That black-haired girl was their target, Yotsuya Miko.

"Boss, do you have any powerful prayer beads? I mean, the kind that don't break easily!" the orange-haired girl energetically asked the Shitamachi Godmother of the fortune-telling shop.

The Godmother quickly glanced at the two of them.

Both were dressed ordinarily, and they didn't seem to have much money.

But considering that the wealthy girl and her friends were observing from the side, the Godmother felt she should display a bit of her true ability.

Thus, under the gaze of eight beautiful girls, the Shitamachi Godmother quickly glanced at the faintly visible shadow behind the black-haired girl and then revealed a profound smile.

"Heh heh, powerful prayer beads, you say? The prayer beads here are all imbued with my spiritual power, but before that, I'd like to ask you a question, young lady."

She looked at Yotsuya Miko: "Have you been seeing strange things lately, or have any unusual events happened around you?"

This direct questioning indeed stunned the girls present, and Black Cat looked at the Godmother with disbelief.

How did this Godmother know Yotsuya Miko could see strange things?

Did she really have abilities? Was deceiving people just her job, and exorcising spirits her true calling?

Or perhaps... did this old fraud also possess a Diary?

Out of shock, Black Cat's thoughts grew increasingly bizarre.

Meanwhile, Yotsuya Miko, though also shocked by the Godmother's question, had a demon in shackles behind her. For some reason, it had followed her from a nearby alley all the way here.

So, she maintained her self-deceptive attitude, refusing to admit anything to anyone's questions.

"No, I didn't see anything!"

Facing the girl's denial, the Godmother didn't respond. Instead, she nodded, then crouched down and began searching within the simple shop.

After a while, she found an ancient wooden box with a seal on it. From it, she took out a string of prayer beads that even seemed to shimmer with a golden light in the sun.

"Since I've met you today, it's fate. This string of prayer beads is my magnum opus from my prime. I'll give it to you now. Here, try wearing it."

Let them see the power of Shitamachi Godmother in her prime. I don't believe this still won't hook this big fish.

The Godmother muttered to herself, glancing at Shinomiya Kaguya, but her face maintained an expression of confident composure.

Seeing the Godmother's confident demeanor, Yotsuya Miko, filled with anticipation, put on the prayer beads.

The next moment, under the Godmother's calm expression, the prayer beads Yotsuya Miko had just put on scattered with a bang. The dispersed beads heavily struck the Shitamachi Godmother's face.

Chapter 59: Don't worry, there's no Great Demon King in the Diary

The Godmother had lost, and then she gave up.

Looking at her prime creation, the prayer beads, being so fragile in someone else's hands, she felt that at her age, it would be better to go home and farm.

But while she wanted to slack off, Shinomiya Kaguya's eyes lit up.

Although she couldn't see anything, it was clear that there was definitely some kind of malevolent entity near Yotsuya Miko just now.

As for this Godmother, she might only be able to make a living by deceiving people.

But those scattered prayer beads indicated she wasn't a pure fraud; at least she had some spiritual power, which was why she could sense the anomaly around Yotsuya Miko.

She believed that without much effort, she could get this old Godmother to reveal some secrets about the "Otherworld."

Shinomiya Kaguya silently issued instructions to Hayasaka Ai in the distance, while she herself followed the girls towards Yotsuya Miko's disappointed retreating back.

Since Yotsuya Miko could truly see those malevolent entities, the next step was a confrontation to check if she possessed a Diary.

Thus, Yotsuya Miko, who was still dejected about the prayer beads scattering but simultaneously relieved that the demon in shackles wasn't following them anymore, was stopped by Shinomiya Kaguya and the others just a few steps later.

Yotsuya Miko was initially puzzled as to why the girls from the shop entrance were looking for her.

But in the next moment, she was astonished to see that all these beautiful girls were holding a remarkably familiar-looking Diary!

Instantly, the Diary battle she had dreamt about a few days ago when she had nightmares surged into her mind.

These incredibly beautiful girls in front of her suddenly appeared dangerous in her eyes.

She quickly glanced at her friend, Yurikawa Hana.

Her friend was friendly approaching and greeting those beautiful girls, seemingly not noticing the strange Diaries in their hands at all.

As expected, the Diary that had suddenly appeared on her desk for some unknown reason, just like those vengeful spirits and demons, could only be seen by her!

Yotsuya Miko, who had just thought she'd narrowly escaped, felt a cold sweat break out on her back again.

Yotsuya Miko had intended to continue playing dumb to get out of this, but one of the girls called out her name directly.

"Classmate Yotsuya Miko, could we talk for a moment?"

"Huh? Miko, you know them? When did you meet so many pretty girls? Why didn't you tell me?" Yurikawa Hana blinked in surprise and looked at Yotsuya Miko.

Before Yotsuya Miko could speak, the girl introduced herself to Yurikawa Hana first.

"I am Shinomiya Kaguya. My family has some cooperative ties with classmate Yotsuya Miko, which is why I know her. Classmate Yotsuya Miko, do you have some time? We have a few things we'd like to ask you about."

Shinomiya Kaguya looked at Yotsuya Miko with a smile, but to Yotsuya Miko, this seemingly friendly smile felt chillingly cold.

She remembered now. This was the woman who had called her a few days ago, asking if she was "the owner of the diary," only to be hung up on and blocked by her.

She knew she couldn't avoid this any longer. They knew her phone number and her identity. No matter how much she wanted to pretend she didn't know, it was impossible.

In this situation, she had to at least get Kawa to leave first, to keep her from getting involved!

So, Yotsuya Miko looked at her friend with tears welling up: "I'm sorry, Kawa. I haven't seen these friends in a long time, and we'll probably be chatting for a while... Why don't you head back by yourself?"

Although Yurikawa Hana felt a bit strange, seeing Shinomiya Kaguya's approachable smile, she thought the other person couldn't be too bad.

"I understand. Miko, have fun with your old friends! We'll see each other again on Monday then!"

As Yurikawa Hana walked away with light steps, Yotsuya Miko's heart bid a silent farewell to her dear friend.

With Yotsuya Miko adopting a posture of "do whatever you want with me," Little Bocchi instinctively thought she had found a kindred spirit in social anxiety.

Meanwhile, Kasumigaoka Utaha ran a hand through her hair in disbelief.

She had initially thought that if Yotsuya Miko really possessed the diary, no matter how scared she was, she would at least try to open it to see what was inside.

So, she had previously thought Yotsuya Miko didn't have the diary.

It was just that the group's action of simultaneously taking out their diaries in front of Yotsuya Miko had caused a flicker of panic to cross her face in an instant.

Although she had controlled her expression with astonishing willpower in a very short time, for them, that was enough confirmation.

This was why Kasumigaoka Utaha was shocked.

"So, you've really treated this diary the same way as those vengeful spirits and haven't opened it even once?"

Seeing Yotsuya Miko on the verge of tears, she asked her this.

"Huh?" Yotsuya Miko blinked, seemingly not expecting that her "interrogation" by these girls would start with such a seemingly innocuous question.

Kasumigaoka Utaha sighed and looked at Shinomiya Kaguya, "Alright, your guess was right. Let's find a place and explain the diary situation to her first."

She then looked at Yotsuya Miko, "Are there any of those things following you right now? If not, just say so. If there are, just pretend you didn't have to answer."

This time, Yotsuya Miko finally reacted.

She seemed to realize that these people didn't have any ill intentions towards her. In fact... they seemed to be here to help her?

So, she cautiously shook her head, "No, after the prayer beads broke just now, th-that guy went back."

About ten minutes later, Yotsuya Miko finally found a place without any vengeful spirits around.

In front of the girls, after two weeks of owning the diary, she took it out for the first time on her own initiative.

"Open it and take a look. Everything you want to know is inside," Shinomiya Kaguya invited Yotsuya Miko.

Yotsuya Miko hesitated, "Is there really no evil demon sealed inside?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha retorted with annoyance, "There's no demon king. It's just a diary written by an extremely malicious mysterious scoundrel who enjoys toying with others."

Chapter 60: Little Bocchi Saves the Day!

The diaries accumulated over half a month held considerable weight.

Under the guidance of Kasumigaoka Utaha and Shinomiya Kaguya, Yotsuya Miko temporarily skipped some of the less important entries.

Of course, the main reason was that they felt their own trivial matters shouldn't waste everyone's precious waiting time.

After spending half an hour, Yotsuya Miko finally flipped to the latest entry.

"So... I'm just a protagonist in a horror manga?" After reading the diary, Yotsuya Miko found it hard to believe what she had read.

Ever since the day she could suddenly see those things, she had been searching for the reason.

The reason she had sought for so long turned out to be "plot necessity."

This overly direct and cruel answer was worse than a mysterious one like "the gears of fate began to turn."

She had also experienced quite a few shocks recently, so she was still managing to maintain her composure.

The girls remained silent, as they truly hadn't experienced what Yotsuya Miko felt and didn't know what to say at this moment.

Instead, Hoshino Ai, who was standing nearby, clapped her hands, as if she had thought of something, "Oh, right! Since Reading Points can let us activate Spirit Vision, Miko, can you try to use Reading Points to turn off Spirit Vision now?"

This suggestion immediately made all the girls' eyes light up.

Right, they had almost forgotten about the good thing that was Reading Points.

"Although you haven't read the diary before, I remember You Know Who mentioned you quite a few times in it. You should still have some Reading Points on you. Try it now?"

Yotsuya Miko also recalled.

During this time, she seemed to have occasionally heard prompts like "You have gained Reading Points" in her ear, but she hadn't dared to react at those moments.

With a somewhat nervous feeling, Yotsuya Miko followed Shinomiya Kaguya's instructions and attempted to control her thoughts to write on the diary.

Then, as expected, she failed.

It turned out Yotsuya Miko's Reading Points were all passively acquired; she had never actively read the diary. She hadn't accumulated 7 Reading Points yet to unlock the diary's basic permissions, and many of the diary's convenient functions were still unavailable to her.

In the end, Shinomiya Kaguya took out her usual pen and let Yotsuya Miko use it for the time being.

Clutching an expensive, valuable fountain pen, Yotsuya Miko carefully wrote the words "Close Spirit Vision" in the diary.

Immediately after, she sensed a response from the diary.

Her expression began to look wronged.

"It says my Spirit Vision cannot be turned off voluntarily, and I can only spend Reading Points to block it. The price for blocking is 7 Reading Points per day."

That price was not cheap; under normal circumstances, they only gained two Reading Points per day.

Calculating this, Yotsuya Miko could only block her Spirit Vision for two days a week at most.

"You should use your Reading Points to learn the basics of Ripple Chi Kung first. That should prevent you from being bothered by those ordinary vengeful spirits," Kasumigaoka Utaha said, not wanting Yotsuya Miko to use all her Reading Points on Ripple Chi Kung.

After all, the text mentioned "You Know Who" in the diary, and in Yotsuya Miko's later story, there was even some "unspeakable existence."

Ripple Chi Kung could at best deal with minor spirits; it would be powerless against such an existence.

If she really encountered trouble she couldn't handle, Yotsuya Miko should honestly just spend Reading Points to block her Spirit Vision.

This was the thought of most of the girls present, essentially meaning to pay money to avoid disaster.