Although Kasumigaoka Utaha knew from Miyauchi Hikage's diary that Eriri couldn't win even in her own spin-off manga, her current understanding of Eriri was still no match for his.
The manga author had racked their brains to give Eriri more scenes, but even with all the forced plot progression, they couldn't figure out how to let Eriri win honorably, ultimately ending it with an abrupt cancellation.
Even Eriri's route in the game was the blandest one in Saekano. It belonged to the type where, on the premise that Aki Tomoya had already resolved his own issues, an entire route's worth of time was spent meticulously cleaning away Eriri's various debuffs, one by one. It wasn't until the very end, after achieving the "good end," that Eriri finally earned the qualification to return to the starting line.
And this was with Eriri's tsundere attribute being weakened in the game.
With the original author, the manga author, the game author, and the subsequent scriptwriting team all unable to design a conventional winning ending for Eriri, Miyauchi Hikage admitted that he was indeed not quite up to the task.
Of course, now that Eriri had already seen Kasumigaoka Utaha's "IF line," had been following the creation of the Saekano manga, and with both Kato Megumi and Kasumigaoka Utaha confirmed to be out of the running, if Utaha really wanted to help, avoiding the self-destructive plot points, there should still be a chance of victory.
However, that would take at least one or two years to accomplish.
And who knew what might happen in the meantime.
Given the cautionary tale of School Days, it was best to have Kasumigaoka Utaha decisively give up the idea of helping Eriri.
And just as Miyauchi Hikage expressed his opinion that "it's almost impossible for Eriri and Aki Tomoya to be together," Kasumigaoka Utaha also received a notification from her diary.
Since people who didn't possess a diary couldn't see it anyway, and the diary would automatically conceal itself for her, her action of taking it out was very smooth.
"Detecting that the request target has offered you advice. The following options are now provided:
① Accept the request target's advice. Give up on the idea of making Eriri the final winner and let Eriri maintain her status as a loser. Accepting this advice will trigger the first settlement of this request;"
② Do not accept the request target's advice. Continue to insist on making Eriri the final winner. This request will automatically become invalid."
Below that was a timer.
If a choice was not made within ten minutes, it would default to abandoning the request.
There was also a brief reminder.
Abandoning the request may result in a certain penalty.
Seeing the prompt on the diary, Kasumigaoka Utaha was suddenly surprised.
Wasn't her third request to "use Miyauchi Hikage's talent for herself"? How did it suddenly become a situation where she had to accept the advice he gave her, otherwise the request would become invalid?
Did this mean that if she wanted to continue this request, she would have to consult Miyauchi Hikage more in the future and always follow his advice to get rewards?
If she was unwilling to accept, the request would fail, and she would have to accept the penalty for failure?
Kasumigaoka Utaha frowned slightly.
Although the diary's penalties were said to not be too severe, she didn't want to receive a penalty before she had even completed a single request.
Fortunately, the diary also provided an explanation: after accepting Miyauchi Hikage's advice three times, choosing to abandon the request afterward would not result in any penalty.
So, since both the Mysterious Person and the Miyauchi Hikage before her had stated that Eriri had almost no chance of winning, and even she herself couldn't think of any effective way to matchmake that blonde loser...
That terribly-tempered girl Eriri probably wouldn't want others meddling in her affairs anyway. For now, she would just accept his advice. She'd first see how many Reading Value points she could get from this request before deciding what to do next.
After making her choice, Kasumigaoka Utaha immediately received a reward of 1 Reading Value point for the request.
And so, Kasumigaoka Utaha's heart was instantly swayed.
Although it wasn't much, it was also a long-term request. Umaru's side needed several days to scrape together one point. A school-uniform-clad Shiina Mashiro also needed two days to get one point.
But for Kasumigaoka Utaha, she could get 1 Reading Value point just by consulting Miyauchi Hikage once and accepting his advice. This rate of return was already quite good.
The only problem was whether she could bring herself to consult Miyauchi Hikage for advice ten times a week.
Thinking this, Kasumigaoka Utaha's expression changed continuously, giving off a rather moody and uncertain air.
So what on earth did this woman see in her diary?
Did that request of hers involving me have some new change?
Although Miyauchi Hikage could clearly see all of Kasumigaoka Utaha's current actions, in order not to expose himself, he could only control the expression on his face by observing his sister's reactions.
And after hesitating for a while, Kasumigaoka Utaha ultimately compromised.
Ten times a week did seem a bit ridiculous, but she couldn't bring herself to give it up.
In any case, it was best to keep this request in her quest log for now. She would just have to consult this Miyauchi-kun more often when matters arose in the future.
So, she put her diary away and showed Miyauchi Hikage a helpless expression.
"Actually, I was thinking the same thing. It seems that in the end, it all depends on whether Eriri herself is willing to change. In any case, thank you for your advice, Miyauchi-kun."
"Then, about those rumors between me and Eriri..."
She continued to ask Miyauchi Hikage about the matter she had just mentioned. This Miyauchi Hikage should be able to offer some more normal suggestions, right?
Regarding this question, Miyauchi Hikage was naturally already prepared.
There were far too many ways to resolve these rumors.
Formal methods, abstract methods, or simply using bigger news to cover up these rumors. Having filmed videos for so many years and handled all sorts of internet drama, Miyauchi Hikage was all too familiar with these tactics.
If the goal was to divert attention, using these rumors to build hype for Shiina Mashiro's debut was probably the most suitable option.
Use Toyogasaki's current three great school beauties as models for a manga, and then spread the word that the two of them had known Shiina Mashiro for a long time and that the recent commotion was just to help her with her manga.
By the time Shiina Mashiro's manga was released, no one in the school would be paying attention to their rumors anymore. Instead, they would only focus on Shiina Mashiro, the 16-year-old who debuted as a mangaka.
As for Shiina Mashiro's side...
She just wanted to draw her manga well. If more people paid attention to her work, she would only be happy about it.
Plus, with Miyauchi Hikari as a personal bodyguard, there was no need to worry about anyone at school causing trouble for Shiina Mashiro.
Of course, doing this was, to some extent, using Kasumigaoka Utaha and Sawamura Eriri as stepping stones.
However, Sawamura Eriri didn't want to expose her identity as a doujin artist, and Kasumigaoka Utaha cared even less about these things.
Therefore, after receiving Miyauchi Hikage's suggestion, Kasumigaoka Utaha agreed with a nod, without much hesitation.
She had seen a lot of the manga Shiina Mashiro adapted.
The image of the male protagonist had almost no trace of Aki Tomoya left.
Except for Aki Tomoya himself, who might think "this is totally me," the image referenced Miyauchi Hikage's much more.
On the premise that Sawamura Eriri had already accepted this manga, Kasumigaoka Utaha naturally wouldn't project herself into it.
"Trying to use our fame to promote Shiina Mashiro, huh? Miyauchi Hikage is really playing the role of an assistant well," Kasumigaoka Utaha thought to herself.
It's just that she inexplicably felt a sense of being one-upped by the Shiina Mashiro standing beside her.
She shook her head lightly and then proactively requested to exchange contact information with Miyauchi Hikage.
After all, after accepting his suggestion, she had directly received another 1 Reading Value point. For such an easy way to farm points, she felt she should be a little more proactive.
Regarding this, she even deliberately glanced at Shiina Mashiro's reaction.
The expression on her face was as placid as ever, but just by standing there quietly next to Miyauchi Hikage, Shiina Mashiro gave her an unshakeable feeling.
After simply exchanging contact information, Kasumigaoka Utaha had originally wanted to force a few more topics to consult him on.
For example, when Miyauchi Hikage was using Eriri's loser status as an example earlier, the story he mentioned about "a girl falling for a guy who was changed by another woman," while sounding hard to stomach at first, seemed to be exceptionally to her taste upon further thought.
It was as if it was a story theme prepared especially for her this time, to the point where her hands itched just thinking about it.
However, she had only just asked the question, and Miyauchi Hikage had only just opened his mouth when the preliminary school bell rang, interrupting their conversation.
"It seems we can only talk next time we have the chance," Miyauchi Hikage stopped his explanation.
Of course, he knew why Kasumigaoka Utaha was interested in this story.
Because this was originally the work of her creator, Fumiaki Maruto. From White Album 2 to Saekano to Engage Kiss and this story, the main theme was always these twisted emotional entanglements.
Coupled with Kasumigaoka Utaha's latent yandere personality, it would be strange if she wasn't interested in this type of story.
And hearing the bell ring, Kasumigaoka Utaha, who had only farmed 3 Reading Value points, felt a little regretful, but she still said her goodbyes to Miyauchi Hikage and Shiina Mashiro.
She could farm 10 points a week; there was no need to appear too desperate right now.
And watching Kasumigaoka Utaha's departing back, Miyauchi Hikari felt that something was still very wrong.
It wasn't her little brother asking for contact information, but this Kasumigaoka Utaha taking the initiative to ask for his.
And during the conversation, this woman's gaze had turned strange several times. There was definitely something wrong here!
But then she looked at Kasumigaoka Utaha's departing back.
Long black hair.
Long legs.
Black pantyhose.
Senpai.
Her figure was also the best among the girls she had come into contact with.
Comparing them like this, if she were her little brother, she might really have a hard time resisting.
But this woman was clearly Mashiro's friend, and she knew about the situation between Mashiro and her little brother, yet she still approached him so proactively...
A bad woman. This was definitely a bad woman!
Thinking this, Miyauchi Hikari secretly nudged her little brother with her elbow.
"Let me tell you, besides Mashiro, if you have any ideas about Mahiru or Megumi, that's one thing, but don't you dare get any improper ideas about this woman!"
"Don't talk nonsense about things that haven't happened. I have no intention of provoking her," Miyauchi Hikage said, while his mind was pondering what Kasumigaoka Utaha's request was really about.
She asked him so many questions. Could it be that she unlocked a quest where she gets points for stumping the "Idea King"?
No, if it were that simple, she could just ask him questions from advanced mathematics.
So is it the opposite? A request where every question answered accumulates towards a reward, and after a certain number of questions, she gets 1 Reading Value point?
Miyauchi Hikage felt this possibility was higher.
But until Kasumigaoka Utaha exposed it herself in the chat group, he really couldn't guess the specifics of her request.
However, there was no need to rush. After a while, he would naturally be able to make a judgment based on her reactions.
"So, compared to the girls' diaries getting more and more functions, my diary, besides getting the ability to change its form, has no new tricks at all? Are you being a little biased, you little rascal?"
Am I really just meant to be an emotionless diary writer?
Following Miyauchi Hikage's complaint, this time it was finally his diary's turn to react.
By assisting a diary holder in completing a request, he, the owner of the diary, could also receive a reward.
However, there were no Reading Value points on his end, only a simple progress bar.
When the progress bar was full, he could get a chance at a targeted high-grade gacha roll with no trash items.
Just like how Miyauchi Hikage now had physical fitness, mental strength, and high Ripple intensity, but these were just pure stats without any special mechanics.
Things like Domain Expansion, Reality Marbles, and other large-scale techniques, or martial arts realms like the Transparent World or even Ultra Instinct, were what Miyauchi Hikage needed most right now.
"So if I hadn't complained, you wouldn't have even proactively opened up this function to me, is that it?"
Muttering this, Miyauchi Hikage also saw through the diary's intention in creating this function at a glance.
"And even with this function, I still need to proactively approach those diary-holding girls. So in the end, you still want me to expose my identity to them, don't you?"
Once exposed, Miyauchi Hikage could indeed maximize the diary's effects.
But Miyauchi Hikage's way of thinking would not be changed by these things.
"I can help with all of Mashiro's requests here, and through the requests Mashiro sees in the group, I can also remind those girls how to complete them in the form of diary entries."
"In short, I absolutely will not reveal myself before I'm invincible!"