Miyauchi Residence.
After Miyauchi Hikage woke up, the first thing he did was sense how many people were thinking of his names.
The number of times the "Mysterious Person" was mentioned was clearly overwhelming.
Kasumigaoka Utaha alone contributed a third of those mentions. The rest were scattered about from various others.
After being thought of for so many days, he had long figured out the locations and identities of those girls. So, after just confirming that no one was secretly cursing him, he could choose the next target to take the heat for Kasumigaoka Utaha.
In comparison, the number of people thinking of the name "Voldemort" was much smaller.
Within a hundred-kilometer radius, Miyauchi Hikage could only sense one voice.
Judging by the distance and direction, it didn't seem to be in Tokyo, but rather in the direction of Chiba.
"Did the number of diaries in the second batch decrease, or did the distribution range become wider?"
Through his experience of lurking in the chat group many times, the first batch of girls who received a diary and joined the chat group numbered around twenty.
Nearly half of them were within the Tokyo metropolitan area, and about six or seven had a relatively high presence in the chat group.
And the name curse he had completed could only confirm the location of people who said his name within a hundred kilometers.
The closer they were within that hundred kilometers, the more he could perceive when someone mentioned the name he set. Beyond two hundred kilometers, he couldn't sense anything at all.
So, under these circumstances, he could basically sense seven or eight people mentioning his name every day.
"As for Chiba, besides Oregairu and Oreimo, are there any other popular series?"
Thinking about it, Miyauchi Hikage could recall a few other works, like Amagami SS, Ro-Kyu-Bu!, or WataMote. He could try to search for possible diary holders within those.
Of course, there was also the possibility of two diary holders appearing in the same work.
For example, a certain ojisan.
Miyauchi Hikage shook his head, correcting his own perception.
But he had to admit, compared to Kousaka Kirino, who was active ten years ago, the ojisan who was active in the following decade and still uses Kirino's avatar to this day left a deeper impression.
So much so that before he transmigrated, whenever he saw Kirino's avatar, he would have to subconsciously discern who the poster was actually referring to.
"Thankfully, the diary isn't causing too much trouble. Although Kasumigaoka Utaha's side seems to have generated a request related to me, it probably isn't a big issue."
If the diary really wanted to stir up trouble, there wasn't much he could do.
For example, it could directly give a diary to his dumb older sister, or to Mahiru or Kato Megumi who were close to her.
Besides his sister, if either of the other two got a new diary, there seemed to be a high probability they would realize his identity through Shiina Mashiro.
Miyauchi Hikage didn't pay much mind to the girls who were too far away.
There was no way they could suddenly pop up and lock onto his identity from so far.
He just needed to keep an eye on the girls within a hundred kilometers, who were more likely and more able to cross paths with him.
After a quick wash, Miyauchi Hikage left the house and walked towards Shiina Mahiru's apartment.
Because the system's permissions had been upgraded last night, although he had called Shiina Mashiro and had her send him a copy of the chat group's information, there were still many things he needed to learn from her face-to-face.
So, he had told Shiina Mahiru last night that he would come over this morning to discuss manga matters with Mashiro.
And Shiina Mahiru had told him to come over early for breakfast together.
By the time Miyauchi Hikage arrived and Shiina Mahiru opened the door for him, he immediately smelled a fragrant aroma.
It smelled like preserved egg and lean pork congee?
Did Hikari bring the homemade preserved eggs she got from Asahigaoka over to Mahiru's place and also teach her how to make the congee?
Smelling this familiar scent, Miyauchi Hikage couldn't help but shake his head slightly.
The ten-plus years he had lived in this world had indeed left him with quite a few flaws.
For example, this preserved egg.
Of course, Japan has preserved eggs.
However, because the taste of preserved eggs differs from Japanese dietary habits, coupled with different preparation methods, this thing was considered a type of "dark cuisine" in the eyes of most Japanese people.
Only someone like Miyauchi Hikage, who lived in the countryside and wanted to reminisce about the delicacies of China, had enough time, energy, and duck eggs to tinker with this stuff.
The result was that he made several batches of preserved eggs, found a few people in Asahigaoka with strong stomachs to test them, and carefully tasted them a few times himself. After a few minor bouts of diarrhea, Miyauchi Hikage successfully mastered the method of making preserved eggs.
And afterward, he had happily made cold-dressed preserved eggs and preserved egg congee at home several times.
Perhaps because they were twins, while the rest of the Miyauchi family's acceptance of preserved eggs was merely "okay," it was Miyauchi Hikari who particularly loved the taste.
Not just preserved eggs.
She also showed a surprising adaptability to things like stinky tofu and snail rice noodles.
In any case, the reason Miyauchi Hikage had thought about having his older sister make food tour videos was because of her stomach, which was much stronger than his own.
And this time, coming to Tokyo for high school, Miyauchi Hikari had even brought some preserved eggs from home.
It seemed she hadn't considered her extremely awkward cooking skills at all.
If there was a girl with a diary who was sharp enough to notice the unique Chinese food item of preserved eggs and Miyauchi Hikage's lifelong preference for Chinese-style food, she might really be able to perceive that something was off about him.
However, after Miyauchi Hikage obtained the diary and decided to follow the path of lying low, he had already started to apply patches to some of his flaws from over the years.
To patch the "preserved egg" flaw, Miyauchi Hikage had arranged for Koshigaya Suguru to create a prank food video series with the theme of "Strange Dishes from Around the World" before he even left Asahigaoka.
Surströmming, blue cheese, casu martzu, dried smelly fish, beef bile hotpot...
In this company, preserved eggs and snail rice noodles were comparatively mild in flavor.
This type of video and content creator was quite popular for a while in Miyauchi Hikage's previous life.
For example, the famous internet food challenge, surströmming, which inspired countless people across the web to try it a few years back, proved that people were very interested in this kind of death-defying challenge.
In any case, these videos had been released recently and had sparked considerable discussion online.
Anyway, returning to the present.
Smelling the fragrance of congee from the apartment's kitchen, Miyauchi Hikage thought that the video challenging people to eat raw preserved eggs had just been released a few days ago. He guessed that it was after seeing that video that Miyauchi Hikari remembered she had brought a lot of preserved eggs with her to school.
Seemingly noticing Miyauchi Hikage's expression, Shiina Mahiru gave him a faint smile.
"Hikage-kun, you noticed, right? Hikari taught me this yesterday. I heard you quite like congee at home, so I looked up a tutorial video online and tried to make it especially for you this morning."
Because he had been in more contact with the Shiina sisters recently, and calling them by their last names was confusing, they had started calling each other by their first names these days.
"I've really troubled you. Hikari just loves to do these things in my name."
"I don't know if any of the preserved eggs she brought have gone bad. If this stuff spoils, it can really give you diarrhea for days. Let me taste it first to make sure it's okay before you two eat."
Hearing Miyauchi Hikage's words, Shiina Mahiru became a little nervous.
After all, she really wasn't very familiar with preserved eggs. She had only started preparing them early this morning at Miyauchi Hikari's request and after finding some tutorials online.
It would be one thing if it didn't taste good, but getting a stomachache would be a real problem.
"But you don't have to worry. A spoiled preserved egg has a pretty obvious taste. You can tell with just one bite. I've already developed an immunity; one bite probably won't be a problem for me," Miyauchi Hikage said, then complimented her a few times.
"Besides, it smells quite fragrant, doesn't it? To succeed on the first try is already very impressive."
Being praised like this by a member of the opposite sex, Shiina Mahiru felt a little embarrassed.
"I've just had a lot of practice cooking at home. And I'm quite happy when someone enjoys the food I make," she said, then reminded Miyauchi Hikage of something.
"Ah, Mashiro-nee should be awake already. I just went in and had her get changed. Hikage-kun, you should go wake Hikari up first."
Shiina Mahiru was telling Miyauchi Hikage not to go look for Shiina Mashiro just yet.
Even after obtaining the diary, Shiina Mashiro was still her usual air-headed self who seemed oblivious to the world most of the time.
Before, she had only wanted to become a mangaka. After getting the diary and meeting Miyauchi Hikage, a new idea was added: keep an eye on Miyauchi Hikage and have him help her become an even better mangaka.
Other than that, Shiina Mashiro's current state wasn't much different from the original work. At most, after being reminded by Shiina Mahiru a few times, she had learned to put on her underwear first after waking up.
But if Miyauchi Hikage went to find Shiina Mashiro at this moment, she would most likely only be wearing her thin underwear.
She might even ask Miyauchi Hikage to help her put on the rest of her clothes.
Miyauchi Hikage had no interest in this kind of "fan service"—he had helped Miyauchi Hikari get dressed for two or three years when they were four or five, and from age ten to fifteen, he was with Renge every day.
Renge, who was six this year, already knew how to dress herself. Shiina Mashiro, who was already sixteen or seventeen, should really try to learn from Renge.
He walked to his sister's room door, knocked twice with no response, and directly used the key to unlock the door.
Although Miyauchi Hikari was indeed a messy sleeper, she at least wore pajamas. So after entering the room, Miyauchi Hikage directly pulled open the curtains, then set off the alarm clock, letting the morning sun and the alarm wake Miyauchi Hikari up.
Compared to the sunlight, the noise of the alarm was obviously more direct.
A few seconds after the alarm went off, Miyauchi Hikari let out a wail from her bed.
"Ah... why did you have to wake me up so early? Let me sleep for another twenty minutes."
"You tricked Mahiru into waking up at five in the morning to make you preserved egg and pork congee, and you have the nerve to lie in bed until you're almost late?"
"If you don't feel like you've had enough sleep, either go to bed earlier or learn from Mahiru. Look at the physical training techniques I taught you two. She's only been learning for a few days and has already grasped the knack."
"And you? I offered to teach you before, but you refused to learn. Now that you've seen the changes in me, you're begging me to learn but can't calm down and study properly. Mahiru is about to get the hang of it too, and you're still so far behind."
Miyauchi Hikage complained about his sister, urging her to get out of bed quickly.
Hearing Miyauchi Hikage's words, the slightly guilty Miyauchi Hikari stopped struggling.
It wasn't that she didn't want to learn; she really just didn't have the talent.
They were twins, so in theory, their talents should be similar.
But she really just couldn't calm down and feel the "rhythm of breathing," and she found it difficult to perform the so-called movements correctly.
She looked at Miyauchi Hikage with a wronged expression, which only made him sigh.
This was his own sister. What else could he say?
"Alright, didn't I say I'd help you fully master those techniques one day during Golden Week when we go back to Asahigaoka? Stop playing pitiful here."
"Don't dawdle, hurry up and get washed. Remember to thank Mahiru for her hard work when you go over there."
Having said that much, Miyauchi Hikari on the bed finally got up obediently.
Only then did Miyauchi Hikage return to Mahiru's apartment.
While he was gone waking up Miyauchi Hikari, Shiina Mahiru had been very efficient. In just a few minutes, she had helped Mashiro get dressed and was now having Shiina Mashiro simply comb her own hair.
Seeing Miyauchi Hikage arrive, Shiina Mashiro's eyes lit up.
She walked towards Miyauchi Hikage with the comb in her hand.
"Hikage, my hair is so hard to comb!"
Miyauchi Hikage glanced at Shiina Mashiro's messy hair.
Speaking of which, this wasn't entirely Shiina Mashiro's fault.
People who practice Ripple enhance their body's life energy, achieving the effects of slowing down aging and strengthening their physique.
And Shiina Mashiro was very talented with Ripple. With the bonus from her Reading Value, one month of training was roughly equivalent to several years of training for an ordinary person.
The Ripple within her body could be said to be showing initial results.
At this stage, the constantly emerging life energy, combined with a girl still in her physical development period, would naturally have a stimulating effect on all aspects of her body.
In any case, in Miyauchi Hikage's memory, although Shiina Mashiro's original figure couldn't be called flat, it was far from voluptuous.
But now, it seemed that the Shiina Mashiro of this world could rely on the power of Ripple to go up another one or two cup sizes?
He wondered if Yukinoshita Yukino could achieve a similar fate-defying effect through Ripple.
In any case, besides the effects on her figure, her hair was also a place easily affected by Ripple.
Until Shiina Mashiro's mastery of Ripple improved further, even if she washed and combed her hair every night, she would still have to spend a long time tidying it up every morning when she woke up.
With that thought, Miyauchi Hikage took the comb from Shiina Mashiro's hand and began to skillfully comb her hair for her.
Don't ask. If you must, just know it's experience gained from a young age from his lazy eldest sister, his playful second-eldest sister, and his well-behaved little sister.