For convenience, if she was still of school age, she would either choose Shiina Mahiru's school.
Or, due to its proximity to the school, she would choose Toyosaki High School, which has a freer atmosphere and also an art department.
Renji Miyauchi felt that she would most likely choose to transfer to Toyosaki in the end.
Because he, the Mysterious Person, was there, and the story of Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend that Shiina Mashiro now wanted to draw also took place there.
Seeing Renji arrive as promised, Shiina Mashiro's face couldn't help but show a happy expression.
Mahiru hadn't finished school yet, or she might be buying ingredients for tonight's dinner.
Now, only Mashiro was home at the Shiina residence.
"Are you okay at home alone?" Renji looked at Mashiro; her self-care ability was truly concerning.
Mashiro nodded, then took out her manga, indicating that she had been reading manga all day at home and had almost finished half of the manga she bought yesterday.
And when she saw that Renji was still carrying a bag of delicious-looking pastries, her gaze was drawn to them.
"These are Baumkuchen; they should be something you like, so I bought some for you," he said. If Mashiro thought about it, she should have understood that Renji meant "the original her in the story likes this."
But Mashiro wouldn't think that much.
She took the bag of Baumkuchen and, without a word, began to savor it happily.
Just with the first bite, her eyes seemed to turn into stars, and she completely fell in love with the taste of Baumkuchen.
She didn't ask Renji for the name of the cake again until she had eaten more than half of the bag, making Miyauchi Kazuho, who was watching, wonder if it wasn't too rich to eat so much at once.
"Baumkuchen," knowing the name of the cake again, Mashiro nodded seriously and even wrote these characters down on paper, seemingly to remind herself to remember them.
Now Kazuho was convinced.
Her younger brother's level in flirting seemed much more impressive than she had imagined.
Mashiro had never eaten Baumkuchen before; how did he guess her preference so accurately?
Renji watched as Mashiro intended to finish the entire bag of Baumkuchen, so he gently took the bag away and handed it to Kōka behind him.
She was indeed the real Shiina Mashiro, always having a mysterious obsession with Baumkuchen.
If he didn't stop her, she could probably eat Baumkuchen as her main meal for a month.
"Kazuho-nee, please take this bag of Baumkuchen and put it in the refrigerator. You can eat some if you want."
"After Mahiru-chan comes back, please remind her to limit Mashiro's daily consumption of Baumkuchen, lest she only eats Baumkuchen every day and becomes malnourished."
He wasn't worried that Mashiro would get fat from eating Baumkuchen every day.
After all, with Ripple Breathing, as long as she maintained her Ripple Breathing practice, maintaining her figure was quite easy.
But Ripple Breathing still needed to absorb nutrients; if there weren't enough nutrients, it would naturally affect the improvement of Ripple Breathing.
Mashiro was the most talented person in Ripple Breathing among the girls he had met who possessed a diary.
He still wanted to teach Mashiro, the first girl to discover his identity, to become a Ripple Breathing Master.
Naturally, he also had to manage Mashiro's life.
And upon hearing Renji's words, a rare trace of grievance appeared in Mashiro's expression, as if she felt that she had just found such delicious food, and it was already going to be restricted. It would be better if she hadn't known about such delicious food.
Seeing the expression on Mashiro's face, Kazuho, who had originally wanted to secretly eat a few Baumkuchen, felt a little embarrassed. She stood there holding the bag, thinking whether she should just let her continue eating a bit more.
Anyway, she had money now; at worst, she could just go out and buy other delicious things later.
No matter how delicious cake was, could it be more delicious than meat?
This was Kazuho's most simple thought.
Renji then winked at his older sister, indicating that she should leave and that he wanted to talk to Mashiro alone.
Kazuho, who had just received pocket money from her younger brother, was now soft-mouthed and short-handed.
Although she still wanted to eavesdrop on some gossip, there was nothing she could do, as Renji held her financial lifeline.
"Then don't bully Mashiro when I'm not around, okay? If you really do anything to her, I'll tell Mom and Dad."
Kōka seriously warned her younger brother.
Only when she saw her younger brother rolling his eyes at her did she sensibly leave the room with the small bag of Baumkuchen, leaving them a private space to talk.
If it were a normal girl, being alone in a room with a boy might cause some nervousness.
But was Shiina Mashiro a normal girl?
For someone she trusted, she could even have them change her clothes on the second day of meeting them.
So, at this moment, she didn't feel any special atmosphere. She just stared at Renji with some resentment, seemingly wanting him to bring the Baumkuchen back.
"If you really like to eat it, I'll buy more for you next time I come. What I just said wasn't that you can't eat it anymore, just that you should eat a little less. If you eat more, you probably won't be able to eat dinner tonight."
"If you can't eat dinner, Mahiru-chan, who cooked a whole table of food for you, will also be sad."
Hearing such childish words, Mashiro touched her stomach.
It seemed she had indeed eaten quite a few Baumkuchen just now, and she already felt somewhat full.
Thinking about her cousin Mahiru's care for her these past few days.
If she couldn't eat her food, her cousin would indeed be a little sad.
So, she maintained the rhythm of Ripple Breathing, trying to accelerate the digestion of the Baumkuchen she had just eaten and convert it into her Ripple Energy.
And Renji also guided her from the side.
Unlike Jiraiya's method, which required a "beating" to teach, Renji's one-on-one guidance was clearly much more detailed.
Mashiro indeed had good talent; she could adjust her breathing rhythm almost immediately after being told just once.
"Your Ripple Breathing talent is good. I will write some more breathing rhythms for you later, and you can try practicing them yourself."
Renji said this, of course, also cautioning Mashiro a few times, telling her not to give these breathing rhythms to others if she later went to Toyosaki to study.
"Even if they are girls who have a diary like you, it's best not to teach them these things, lest it expose that you know me."
Mashiro's eyes looked a bit puzzled at this, seemingly not understanding why Renji still needed to hide his identity from other people when she had already discovered it.
"Because of the risk."
Renji tried to explain his situation to Mashiro as simply as possible.
"Since you have a diary, you should also know that I am not from this world. I know the stories of most of you, and I know how dangerous this world is."
"The more people know about me, the greater the risk to me."
Mashiro nodded.
The concept of a transmigrator was told to her by Renji in his diary.
Then Renji explained the tropes of traditional diary novels he had read in his previous life, which was a bit complicated for Mashiro.
"In short, just assume that the existence that created this diary is a 'fun-loving person.' It just wants to see the love triangles that arise as I write my diary and those girls read my diary and gather around me."
"After all, most diary novels follow this trope."
"But I don't want such a love triangle, so from the beginning, I didn't plan to follow the original intentions of that existence."
Renji thought of his two older sisters and one younger sister at home.
Having grown up surrounded by women, he was genuinely not interested in such love triangles.
If his identity were truly exposed, and he attracted a few powerful yanderes, it would truly exhaust half his life.
Even without yanderes, dealing with those women's affairs would be enough to give him a headache.
Think of Kaguya Shinomiya, who is now using her excellent disguise skills to win over others in the chat group.
Yukinoshita Yukino, who seeks perfection.
Hoshino Ai, who treats him as her number one fan.
Honma Meiko, whom he saved when she was little.
Oh, and Kasumigaoka Utaha, whom he tormented until she had no temper left.
...
It's better this way now.
Although he needed to outwit those girls, this outwitting was only what those girls perceived.
In reality, the distance between him and those girls was as vast as the distance between L, who had just arrived in Japan, and Yagami Light, who had endured the first wave of probing without exposing himself.
As long as he didn't constantly show off in front of them, the rewards given by the diary could basically satisfy his disguise needs.
Yellow Temperance, which could freely change appearance, and the Name Spell, which could monitor those girls discussing him at any time.
Of course, there was also Jiraiya, who could help him work from a distance.
As long as the diary didn't constantly refresh girls like Shiina Mashiro, who had an unlocked cheat, he felt he could still play the game.
Renji knew that Mashiro wouldn't understand overly complex things, so after stating his thoughts, he simply presented his conditions.
"Since you haven't joined those girls' chat groups, you probably don't bother interacting with them either."
"So, being exposed only to you won't have too much of an impact on me."
"As long as you don't reveal my identity, whether it's Ripple Breathing or manga, whatever you want to learn, I can help you. What do you think?"
Upon hearing this, Mashiro unhesitatingly extended her pinky finger, seemingly wanting to make a pinky promise with Renji.
"And Baumkuchen, you can't restrict me."
"That's not up to me; you'll have to discuss that with your cousin. If she agrees, I won't interfere."
A hint of struggle appeared on Mashiro's face, but she continued to extend her pinky finger towards Renji.
It was easier to get along with such intuitive girls; you just needed to offer conditions that satisfied them.
Moreover, he wasn't her owner now; Mahiru and his second sister were Mashiro's current guardians.
So Renji could make a pinky promise with her without any pressure.
Seeing that the pinky promise was made, Renji could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Mashiro was simple-minded, but once she decided on something, she wouldn't easily change her mind.
This was also why she, despite already making a name for herself in the traditional art world, still resolutely chose to return to Japan to become a manga artist.
"Next time, I'll bring some more Baumkuchen for you to eat."
In Mahiru's eyes, who had returned after buying groceries, she could clearly feel that her cousin seemed to have reached some agreement with Renji, making their relationship appear exceptionally harmonious.
To this, Renji also revealed his identity again.
"Asahigaoka Media... Ah, so Renji-kun, you're from Asahigaoka."
It was evident that Renji's short videos had indeed had a significant impact on this world.
Even this angel knew the name of Asahigaoka.
And Kazuho, seeing that her younger brother was no longer pretending, suddenly became more talkative.
"Actually, the ideas for those videos were basically all proposed by my younger brother; it's just that he's quite low-key, so he hasn't made it public."
Renji coughed a few times, signaling his older sister that there was no need to explain these things so clearly.
After all, the reputation of those 'earthy' videos wasn't very good; they were just for proving that he had the ability in that area.
"Anyway, let's not talk about Asahigaoka for now; let's talk about Mashiro's situation."
"I know Mashiro wants to become a manga artist after returning to Japan, but she's just returned and isn't very familiar with the current manga industry. And Mahiru-chan and Kazuho-nee, you're not very clear about these things either."
"Perhaps your elders also want to use this method to make Mashiro give up the idea of becoming a manga artist and return to the art world."
End of the chapter
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