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Chapter 70: Permissions and the Gray Mystery
Even though Kaguya Shinomiya now relied on Ripple Qigong and the specialized teachings of Takeda Misae (her mentor in spiritual sensing) to detect faint traces of energy, she hadn't taken the final step toward full awakening. She was plagued by the feeling that her innate talent was mediocre at best; becoming a mere Grade 2 or 3 Exorcist was simply not enough to satisfy the pride of a Shinomiya.
She decided to wait until she was fully prepared. In the meantime, she had a more pressing goal: gathering intelligence.
I should share this in the group. I need to see what commissions the others received and how much "Reading Value" they provide, Kaguya thought. She quickly posted a detailed update about her Level 3 System upgrade and inquired about the others' statuses.
Since almost everyone had received their diaries at the same time—with Yotsuya Miko being the only outlier who waited a day to open hers—the group was currently awash with Level 3 notifications.
Diverse Commissions
While Kaguya was saddled with an "Extremely Difficult" A-Rank commission involving the Three Fox Valley Shrine, the other girls received tasks that were much more grounded—or, in some cases, uniquely terrifying for their personalities.
Yukino Yukinoshita stared at her screen in silence. Her two commissions were life-altering:
Establish the Service Club early and make it the most famous club at Soubu High.
Join the Student Council, become President in her first year, and use her cold ideals to influence the student body.
Doma Umaru, meanwhile, was having a personal crisis. Her commission required her to finish all household chores in advance and prepare gourmet meals for her older brother, Taihei, every single day. She agonized over whether giving up her "Cola and Gaming" lifestyle was worth a single point of Reading Value every three days.
Then there was Hitori "Bocchi" Gotoh. She was vibrating with pure terror. Her commissions felt like a manual for social execution:
Stream on her "Guitar Hero" account, but with her face revealed and a microphone active.
Form a band where she was the undisputed center and leader.
A "15-Yen Challenge": A specific commission to form a five-member girl band from a list of unfamiliar avatars.
This is impossible! No human can do this! Bocchi thought, her soul practically leaving her body as she looked at her own avatar placed in the "5-Yen" premium column.
Ruri Gokou (Black Cat) also chimed in. Her task was simple: Serve Master Jerry. "Master Jerry is satisfied for now," Ruri messaged. "But he plans to return to the Mysterious Person (Renji) soon. I'm worried the commission will vanish when he leaves."
Ruri felt a genuine pang of reluctance. Since Jerry—the mouse who was effectively a "God of Wealth"—had stayed at the Gokou residence, their quality of life had skyrocketed. Under Jerry's guidance, Ruri had crafted a "Sharp-Tongued Gothic" persona for her gaming streams. In just three days, she had earned what her family usually made in a month.
Jerry hadn't just helped her, though. He had been visiting other girls across Chiba, including those without diaries. He had even spent a day at the Kosaka household, apparently exposing Kosaka Kirino's secret hobby of "sister-themed" games. Ruri took a small, petty comfort in knowing that Kirino's brother, Kyousuke, was likely suffering the consequences of that exposure.
The Silent Update
While the girls were busy deciphering their new modules, the clock struck midnight. In various rooms across Japan, new diaries appeared silently by the bedsides of girls who had already fallen asleep.
The first to notice the shift wasn't a girl, but Renji Miyauchi, who was still awake in his Tokyo mansion editing his latest supernatural investigation video. He had just received his daily reward: a set of manga with a bizarre title.
"Dandadan? What kind of crappy name is that?" Renji muttered. He flipped it open and froze. He remembered this one from his previous life. The mangaka had been an assistant to Tatsuki Fujimoto. It was a wild, unrestrained story about urban legends, ghosts, and aliens fighting for dominance.
If this appeared as a reward, Renji thought, wiping sweat from his brow, does it mean aliens are part of this mashup world too? He made a mental note to look for Ultraman or some other cosmic protector; the world was getting too dangerous for comfort.
He reached for his Diary to vent his frustrations, only to see a dark gray line materialize on the cover of his otherwise pitch-black book.
"What is this? A skin update?" Renji touched the gray line.
In an instant, the entire Diary turned gray, leaving only a single black stripe. A small symbol—②—appeared in the corner. He opened it and found the pages blank. When he touched the black line, it shifted back to the original black interface with all his previous entries intact.
A second batch of diaries is being distributed, Renji inferred. And it's giving me a separate channel for them.
It had been exactly one month since he started this journey. He realized that the "fun-loving god" behind the System was keeping things fresh. Was it to prevent the new girls from seeing the old entries? Or was this leading toward a "Battle Royale" scenario, like Future Diary?
Renji shook his head. He didn't think the creator was that cruel, but he was curious about the mechanics.
If I write in both versions every day, do I get two rewards? He immediately put pen to paper (or mind to interface) and began his late-night rant in the new Gray Diary: "I've discovered a change. New diaries are being distributed, but their color is different. I'm going to test if writing different things in different diaries yields double rewards..."
The Night Owl
At this hour, most were asleep, but not Kasumigaoka Utaha. The genius novelist and top student of Toyosaki High lived for the midnight hours. She didn't fear her teachers; her academic standing was so high (with a deviation value over 85) that the school treated her as a prized example of their "free spirit."
She sat in her room, the glow of her laptop illuminating her sharp features. But her eyes weren't on her manuscript. They were fixed on the Diary that had just pulsed with a new, gray light.