Then Jerry nodded as if it were only natural, made an OK gesture, and puffed out his chest at Yukinoshita.
It seemed to be saying that it could teach Yukino Yukinoshita a breathing technique to nourish her tablet and promote its growth.
Seeing that gesture, Yukino Yukinoshita could not help clenching her fists.
She really wanted to tell Jerry that she had not come here for that!
She wanted to see how far her Ripple Breathing had progressed and how wide the gap was between herself and Jerry, whom You Know Who had called a genius.
But reason told her that although she did not care about that matter herself, at a time like this, she had better do as Jerry said so it would not keep teasing her.
So after quickly changing her expression, Yukino Yukinoshita humbly began asking Jerry for guidance.
Seeing Yukino Yukinoshita cooperate so readily, Jerry nodded in satisfaction.
As it ate the exquisite snacks Yukino Yukinoshita had brought, it beckoned to her.
It was telling Yukino Yukinoshita to use Ripple on it, apparently wanting to see how far Yukinoshita's Ripple training had progressed.
Before Gokō Ruri, standing nearby, could speak up to warn her, Yukino Yukinoshita was knocked down one-handed by Jerry as it ate its snacks.
The entire process was utterly uneventful. Even Yukino Yukinoshita, sprawled rather awkwardly on the tatami, had no idea how Jerry had taken her down.
She only felt that the instant she made contact with Jerry, its Ripple completely overwhelmed hers, even leaving her body unable to obey her control.
Gokō Ruri walked over and helped Yukino Yukinoshita to her feet.
"Just get used to it. Uncle Jerry's Ripple is far stronger than ours. This is the only outcome when you fight it."
Gokō Ruri displayed the results of studying under Jerry these past few days.
Even with Ripple accelerating her recovery, there were still quite a few bruises on her body that had not fully faded.
"Because Uncle Jerry can't talk and doesn't like writing too much at once, this is the only way to feel its Ripple if you want to learn from it."
"As long as you can sense the fluctuations of that Ripple and adjust your breathing to the corresponding rhythm, you'll regain control of your body."
"You can also wait ten minutes for Uncle Jerry's Ripple to wear off and regain control that way, but then you'd waste a chance to learn."
Although Gokō Ruri was somewhat helpless about this, she could clearly feel her proficiency with Ripple improving, so she still happily kept coming back to learn from Jerry.
What an incredibly direct teaching method.
After carefully sensing it, Yukino Yukinoshita could indeed feel that the Ripple within her body had become much more active.
It could only last ten minutes...
Yukino Yukinoshita did not waste any time. She closed her eyes and focused even more intently on the Ripple within her body.
However, a new breathing rhythm was clearly not something she could master so quickly.
A few minutes later, as she gradually regained control over her body without finding any clue at all, Yukino Yukinoshita opened her eyes and looked at Jerry again, apparently wanting it to do it one more time.
However, Jerry raised two toes, signaling for Gokō Ruri to explain it to Yukino Yukinoshita.
"Uncle Jerry means that it's very satisfied with the snacks you brought, so you can still receive its guidance twice more. If you still haven't mastered the breathing rhythm after using up those lessons, you'll need to complete a task Uncle Jerry assigns you."
At the mention of those tasks, Gokō Ruri got another headache.
In truth, most of them were quite easy to complete.
For example, if Jerry wanted to eat something at night, she only needed to buy it a serving or make one herself.
There were also tasks requiring her to complete physical training outdoors according to Jerry's demands. Although her stamina had always been poor, with Ripple Breathing, she could still finish those tasks before reaching her limit.
It was just that some of the tasks were occasionally rather embarrassing.
For instance, Hinata had once been asked to hold one of the self-indulgent novels she had written and read it aloud before her and Tamaki. Afterward, she had to ask her two younger sisters what they thought, then write a review of her own novel herself.
Before, she would not have found it so embarrassing.
But after truly training in Ripple Breathing and coming into contact with the genuine Reverse Side World, looking back at those chuunibyou works she had imagined was no different from looking at her own dark history.
It had to be said that when it came to chuunibyou, her level of obsession was indeed far inferior to that girl with the Evil Eye.
She wondered what sort of task Jerry could come up with for Yukino Yukinoshita, a seemingly aloof "refined young lady."
Even Gokō Ruri could not help looking forward to it.
After all, as long as it did not happen to her, it was pretty entertaining.
Making Yukinoshita Realize Her Imperfections
"As for Yukino Yukinoshita, aside from her flat chest and honor student traits, her personality can be simply described as tsundere with a touch of 'twistedness.'"
"She and Black Cat are both girls with strong pride, but their family circumstances are different. As the eldest daughter of her family, Black Cat started shouldering many responsibilities from a young age, and her chuunibyou tendencies are more like a way for her to relieve the pressure of life."
"Yukino Yukinoshita, on the other hand, is the second daughter of her family. Because of her family circumstances, people around her had been constantly reminding her from childhood how outstanding her older sister was."
"She wanted to prove that she was better than her sister, but her pride also felt that she should not be compared with other people."
"So, having grown up in that environment, she chose to pursue the perfection in her heart as much as possible, forcing herself not to make mistakes. Yet her excessive pursuit of perfection brought immense pressure upon herself, gradually creating a vicious cycle."
"Although she has the Diary now, and the outside force brought about by its appearance should have given her more opportunities to catch her breath, her personality itself probably has not changed much... No, perhaps after getting the Diary, she will become even more obsessed with the concept of absolute perfection."
"But where in this world is there a truly flawless human being? Even the god who created this Diary had the bad taste of enjoying a good show, which is why it threw you and me into this world."
"So if you get the chance to meet her, let her confront more of the things she fears in her heart, and make her realize that she was never perfect to begin with."
This was the advice Miyauchi Hiyage had given Jerry about Yukino Yukinoshita's personality before sending it to the Gokō household.
Recalling Miyauchi Hiyage's instructions, Jerry stroked its chin.
The Yukinoshita before it liked cats, was bad at dealing with dogs, had no sense of direction, and disliked going to crowded places.
Why did so many people like cats?
Yukinoshita was like that, and so was Black Cat.
Black Cat's family kept a black cat named Black Night, but after Jerry's careful instruction, it had now become Jerry's most loyal little underling.
Jerry could not help thinking of the world it had lived in before.
That Tom had not looked cute at all. Compared to him, Spike's family had treated Jerry much more kindly, had they not?
As a dog person, Jerry felt that it had to make these people understand just how adorable dogs were.
Fine. It would have Yukino Yukinoshita ask an old lady nearby who owned a dog to let her take the dog for a walk somewhere crowded.
Jerry clapped its hands and made its decision.
While Yukino Yukinoshita worried about the task Jerry was about to assign, and Kasumigaoka Utaha prepared for her signing event while greeting the girls who had come searching for You Know Who's trail...
What was Miyauchi Hiyage doing?
He had stayed up too late playing games last night and was still asleep at home.
It was not until eleven in the morning that an unfamiliar call finally got him out of bed.
The moment he answered and listened, Miyauchi Hiyage woke right up.
It was Hagiwara Masato, the guy who thought he had become the God of Gamblers after voicing Itou Kaiji and Akagi Shigeru, then went to compete in professional mahjong and got utterly crushed.
No, he had mixed them up.
Although Itou Kaiji and Akagi Shigeru were both works by the same manga artist, and both protagonists were voiced by the same voice actor, their treatment was worlds apart.
Itou Kaiji's life was a drama of ups and downs. Every time in the story, he first fell to rock bottom, then gritted his teeth and rose from the depths to reach the summit, only for everything to come to nothing again.
The latter, on the other hand, had been invincible from the moment he appeared, dominating the mahjong world for decades without a loss. Even when he lost to someone in old age, there had always been various reasons for it, which only highlighted how impressive he was. Even his final death came when he chose to end his own life after developing dementia, making for a remarkably carefree life.
However, Akagi Shigeru in this world seemed to have been dead for many years, so the one who had Miyauchi Hiyage's phone number could only be Itou Kaiji, whom he had met just yesterday.
For some reason, Itou Kaiji's story had only just begun.
Or was this the work of some unknown will of the greater world again?
Muttering to himself, Miyauchi Hiyage spoke amiably with Itou Kaiji on the other end of the line.
Sure enough, after looking into Asahigaoka Media online and seeing that huge pile of absurd videos, Itou Kaiji, who had only come of age this year—the age of adulthood in Japan was twenty—felt his worldview take a massive blow.
Looking at those videos that were clearly devoid of substance yet always received incredibly high view counts, Itou Kaiji had been unable to sleep for a long time.
After waking up this morning, convinced that he could definitely do this job, the first thing Itou Kaiji did was call Miyauchi Hiyage and ask him for a chance to try.
"Very good. Full of spirit," Miyauchi Hiyage said with a satisfied nod. Itou Kaiji, this workhorse, was finally about to fall into his hands.
He immediately invited the other man out for a meal to discuss filming videos in detail. After ending that call, he made another call, one he had not made in a long time, to Kaede Kagayama, now the true boss of Asahigaoka Media.
"I say, you went to Tokyo nearly half a month ago, and you've finally decided to call me?"
The moment the call connected, Miyauchi Hiyage heard Kaede Kagayama's complaint.
"My bad. I've had quite a few things to deal with in Tokyo recently. I'll definitely pay more attention to things on your end from now on."
Miyauchi Hiyage had known Kaede Kagayama for more than a decade, so after listening to her complain for a few moments, he told her what he had in mind.
"You want to film paranormal videos in Tokyo?"
Hearing Miyauchi Hiyage's idea, Kaede Kagayama could not help getting a little nervous.
In Japan, a place said to have eight million gods, messing with such things always gave people an uneasy feeling.
"Let's try filming them first. Even if we can't make paranormal videos, we can find places where cases happened and make some case analysis and legal education videos. There are plenty of things to film in Tokyo," Miyauchi Hiyage said, asking Kaede Kagayama to send over an employment contract.
He wanted the term extended to ten years and the penalty for breach raised just a little.
Naturally, Miyauchi Hiyage would not shortchange the other man when it came to salary and commissions.
As long as Itou Kaiji did not spend all his wages on pachinko, saving one or two million yen a year after normal living expenses would definitely not be a problem.
I Can Do Anything!
Akihabara.
Miyauchi Hiyage, familiar with the way, entered the maid café he had visited last time and found a seat by the window to wait for Itou Kaiji and Sakakibara Kouichi.
It had to be said that if Miyauchi Hiyage owned a street in central Tokyo, where every inch of land was worth a fortune, he probably would never feel the urge to work hard again for the rest of his life.
Wasn't being a landlord who coasted through life perfectly fine?
Work?
Work, my ass!
Still, there really were differences in the way people thought.
For example, the first person to come greet him after he entered the café was the adorable maid named Feiris NyanNyan, who even remembered when he had last visited this café.
Looking at how professional she was, who would have thought that all of Akihabara was property owned by her family, and that even the otaku culture now flourishing in Akihabara had been introduced here by her own hand?
Miyauchi Hiyage had previously considered coming here a few more times to make himself familiar to her, while also finding a chance to meet the protagonists from Steins;Gate.
But that was not the only reason he had chosen this place for today's meeting.
He turned his gaze toward a building not far outside the window.
That was Akihabara's Radio Kaikan, a multipurpose commercial building.
Kasumigaoka Utaha was currently holding the first signing event of her life in that building. For a new author who had only just debuted, that treatment was already absurdly extravagant.
But on second thought, it was not all that surprising. Kasumigaoka Utaha's looks were right there; she could have debuted as an idol on the spot without any problem.
And this beautiful high school girl had also written a romance novel of considerable quality. That alone was enough for her publisher to heavily promote Kasumigaoka Utaha herself as the centerpiece.
Holding the signing event in Akihabara was, in truth, a move aimed at the otaku market behind it.
And it was here that Kasumigaoka Utaha and her biggest fan, Aki Tomoya, had first met at a signing event, setting the Gears of fate in motion.
But that was already in the past.
After obtaining the Diary, Kasumigaoka Utaha could be said to be the girl who knew the most about her future story.
Perhaps Aki Tomoya really was quite capable, but Kasumigaoka Utaha clearly would no longer develop any other thoughts toward him just because he had been her first fan.
Maintaining a friendship between author and reader was Kasumigaoka Utaha's current intention.
So when she saw that Aki Tomoya had still arrived first among the readers at this signing event and begun lining up just as in the original story, Kasumigaoka Utaha's feelings were complicated, but she still seriously discussed the future development of her work's plot with him.
It was just that throughout the process, she was more concerned about whether You Know Who had come to her signing event today.
Before you continue