Chitanda Eru's statement dispelled some of the awkwardness at the right moment.
In the small group, which currently only had four people, after this special round of self-introductions, they quickly moved on to a discussion about the diary.
Things like their reactions on the first day they got the diary, their guesses about the identity of the mysterious person writing it, and their worries about the existence of vengeful spirits, youkai, and the like.
Kasumigaoka Utaha also learned that the real name of the somewhat chuunibyou "Tyrant's Eye" was Takanashi Rikka.
Takanashi... a very rare surname in Japan¹. As expected of a female protagonist.
Regarding the phantom thieves mentioned by the mysterious person in today's diary, the four of them didn't really have many thoughts.
After all, although the news mentioned every day which phantom thief had successfully stolen some treasure under the police's watch, and these phantom thieves even had quite a lot of supporters online.
But in reality, these phantom thieves were too far from their lives, completely unrelated to them.
Let alone phantom thieves, the four girls had never even had any contact with detectives, which was a normal profession in Japan.
In comparison, the truth that vengeful spirits and ghosts existed in the world naturally attracted more of their attention.
After all, one could activate beginner-level Yin-Yang Eyes with just five Reading Points. If there were no ghosts in this world, why would this function be enabled?
Ai: "I'm thinking right now whether I should save up some Reading Points to activate the Yin-Yang Eyes. Since it can be turned off at will, it should be fine as long as I confirm whether there are any vengeful spirits around me before going to sleep."
Chitanda Eru: "I'm actually a little curious too. If vengeful spirits exist in the world, then do ordinary ghosts also exist?"
Chitanda Eru: "A very important relative of mine went missing when I was young, but he once promised me he would come back. I want to confirm this possibility through the Yin-Yang Eyes."
Chitanda Eru: "It's just that I'm a bit timid. I'm afraid that after I open the Yin-Yang Eyes, I'll be discovered by those vengeful spirits at once, so I'm still hesitating..."
Kasumi Utako: "If you really want to try, you can watch a few horror movies and thrillers first to get used to it."
Ai: "I can recommend some for you. I've been watching Japanese and Thai horror movies recently. Although I'm a little scared to sleep with the lights off at night, it does have some effect."
Ai: "Thinking about it, the life of that Yotsuya Miko-san is really not easy. Even when I know I'm watching a horror movie, I still often get scared. But she is in that kind of environment all the time. She can clearly see everything, yet she has to pretend she can't see anything to deceive those vengeful spirits."
Chitanda Eru: "I also think that Yotsuya-san must be a very strong girl. I'm a little curious how she manages to persevere in that kind of environment. Just thinking about it feels a little helpless..."
Kasumi Utako: "After all, she's the female protagonist of that story. If she couldn't persevere, then the story wouldn't be able to unfold."
Chitanda Eru: "Mmm, although it's been a week since I got the diary, seeing the term 'female protagonist', I still feel a little shy..."
The Strongest Tyrant's Eye: "Haha, I, on the other hand, had completely accepted this setting on the first day I got the diary. If I, with the Tyrant's Eye, am not the protagonist, then no one can be the protagonist!"
Kasumigaoka Utaha rubbed her head.
Although she believed that this "Tyrant's Eye" was most likely a chuunibyou girl, the two of them had never met. Who could be sure of such a thing?
What if what she's saying is true?
In any case, I should continue to observe for a while.
However, seeing Chitanda's words, she suddenly thought of something.
Kasumi Utako: "Speaking of which, today is the seventh day since we got the diary. It seems we can unlock the new permissions of the diary. I'll go take a look first."
Ai: "I'm studying it right now too. There are quite a lot of new functions. Even functions like an alarm clock and a memo pad have been added. But these functions are quite useful to me. You'll know if you write 'Diary Permissions' in the diary."
An alarm clock?
A memo pad?
What on earth is this?
Kasumigaoka Utaha muttered to herself.
Following her writing the words "Diary Permissions" in her diary, a prompt sounded in her head.
"Level 1 Diary Permissions unlocked."
Immediately after, a pile of explanations about the new permissions flooded into her mind.
A subtle change appeared on Kasumigaoka Utaha's expression.
The alarm clock and memo pad that Hoshino Ai had mentioned were really new functions.
She could now write freely in the diary.
Not just with a pen, but she could also control the input of text directly with her mind.
If her thoughts were clear enough, she could even add illustrations to the diary or even make a PowerPoint presentation on it—incidentally, without revealing the diary, she could also import and export this content to her phone or computer, which was quite convenient.
The alarm she set would "smash her awake" at a regular time.
The matters mentioned in the memo pad would remind her in advance to deal with them.
If she wanted to investigate some information, the diary could provide her with some simple filtering and recommendation functions.
It would even issue a danger warning when danger might appear around her.
She had originally thought that after the permissions were unlocked, she would be able to get rewards just by writing in her diary every day like that mysterious person. But now, the diary had instead become more like her personal smart assistant.
"The direction of this permission unlock is a little different from what I thought, but it does seem quite practical..."
The ability to write a manuscript with her mind is just too useful for a novelist like her.
Even for the matter of illustrations, although the effect might be a bit abstract, she could at least directly take the ideas in her head and give them to a professional illustrator as a reference.
Of course, although the focus of the diary's permission unlock was a great improvement in user experience, the original functions of the diary had also been expanded quite a bit.
For example, the ways to obtain Reading Value.
Reading the diary every day still granted one point.
If their names appeared in that day's diary, whether it was their real name or a nickname, as long as it was mentioned, they could get an extra point of Reading Value.
And after reading the mysterious person's diary every day, they could also comment and check in below, which would also grant one point of Reading Value.
The diary would select a lucky comment every day and display this comment in everyone's diary.
"A comment that will be seen by everyone?" Kasumigaoka Utaha immediately thought that she could use this method to contact the other diary holders.
For example, she could write the group information of this diary interest group in the comments, and let those people take the initiative to add this group that only diary holders could join.
"But this kind of action is still risky. I'd better take it to the group and discuss it with the few of them before saying anything," Kasumigaoka Utaha thought to herself.
***
[TLNote: ¹"小鳥遊 六花" (Takanashi Rikka) is a fictional name from the anime "Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!" and is not a common name in reality.]
[The name Rikka means "six" (六) (rik) and "flower, blossom" (花) (ka), which literally means "flower of six (edges)" altogether.]
[It means "snowflake" since snowflakes are hexagon-shaped, in which her mother named Rikka as such because she was pregnant with Rikka during the winter, and she wanted her to be unique just like how snowflakes are all unique.]
[Rikka's surname Takanashi means "little bird, small bird" (小鳥) (taka) and "play" (遊) (nashi).]