Regarding whether Miyauchi Hikage was helping Shiina Mashiro to repay his ancestor's kindness, the girls in the chat group were quite enthusiastic about such gossip.
Some felt that since Miyauchi Hikage was a positive male supporting character in a cute-girls-doing-cute-things work, even if he didn't have the one-track mind of a hot-blooded shonen protagonist, his personality would certainly lean more towards the positive side.
Therefore, upon discovering that Shiina Mashiro might be a successor of the Breathing Styles and realizing she wanted to become a manga artist, he immediately offered to assist her in creating manga.
Kasumigaoka Utaha thought this, and at the same time, couldn't help but wonder if she also proactively showed Miyauchi Hikage that she was a successor of the "Breathing Styles," could she get him to proactively come over and help her too?
After all, she had seen with her own eyes how the Miyauchi siblings treated Shiina Mashiro; they truly treated her like a precious treasure.
But as soon as this thought arose, Kasumigaoka Utaha shook her head vigorously, telling herself she wasn't that kind of person and couldn't do such an indecent thing just to gain reading value.
It was better to just maintain the current situation.
Of course, if Miyauchi Hikage were to figure it out on his own, then she could just go with the flow and tacitly accept that identity.
Besides them, there were also girls with more realistic ideas.
For instance, while discussing it, Shinomiya Kaguya proactively asked Shiina Mashiro if the diary's warning had been triggered at the time, and whether she had already taught the Hamon breathing method to the Miyauchi siblings.
She further inquired if Miyauchi Hikage, after learning about the existence of Hamon breathing, had asked Shiina Mashiro anything about the Breathing Styles.
In response, Shiina Mashiro answered each question one by one in the group, satisfying the girls' gossipy hearts.
The diary's warning was not triggered.
She was now teaching the three of them Hamon together at home. Miyauchi Hikage was indeed the fastest learner among them and had already generated Hamon in his body. He also often came up with new ideas to try out.
As for whether Miyauchi Hikage had asked about the origin of these breathing methods, Shiina Mashiro said that he had asked her where she learned them, and her answer was that she had learned them from someone else while studying abroad.
"He also asked me about the identity of the person who taught me this breathing method. I said I didn't know. Then Hikage asked me if that person had any special features, or if I had any photos or portraits of them. I told Hikage that I had never seen their face, and I wasn't even clear about their voice."
"Finally, Hikage asked me what language that person used to teach me these breathing methods. After I told him it was Japanese, he didn't ask me any more questions."
After a pause, Shiina Mashiro "honestly" added, "Also, after he sent me that photo the day before yesterday, he asked me if I had any impression of the records on it, and also asked if my family had similar records. I also answered that I didn't know."
Listening to Shiina Mashiro's explanation, Shinomiya Kaguya made a judgment in her mind.
Regardless of Miyauchi Hikage's initial attitude towards Shiina Mashiro, it at least proved that the character of him and his sister was definitely up to standard.
After all, when Shiina Mashiro revealed her Hamon, she did not receive any advance warning from the diary. This meant that even if the Miyauchi siblings knew about Hamon, they would not do anything that would put Shiina Mashiro in danger.
Shinomiya Kaguya had tested this point.
She had tried telling a few people around her about Hamon. Hayasaka Ai was safe, and Fujiwara Chika was also safe.
But when it came to others, there was some degree of risk.
Previously, whenever the thought of being frank with her "good brothers" crossed her mind, the diary would send her a warning, indicating that it could pose a threat to her life.
Even with her father, when she had her showdown with him, there had been some minor warnings, telling her to be careful with her words when mentioning the people she had investigated and contacted during this period, otherwise, it might pose a certain danger to the existence of other diary holders.
In short, not triggering a warning meant that Miyauchi Hikage could be trusted.
But what truly made Miyauchi Hikage decide to help Shiina Mashiro was probably not some sense of gratitude.
After all, for a kindness from a hundred years ago, if even a tenth of it remained, it would already mean Miyauchi Hikage was a person of honor.
Moreover, Shiina Mashiro always had a natural air about her and would probably even stumble if she tried to lie. She had answered all of Miyauchi Hikage's questions with "I don't know."
From Miyauchi Hikage's perspective, it would seem that Shiina Mashiro had been "lucky" enough to be noticed by a mysterious successor of a breathing style, who secretly taught it to her.
If you thought about it more deeply, it might be that Shiina Mashiro's ancestors had some connection to that Demon Slayer Corps, which is why she could receive their teachings.
No matter the situation, it had little to do with the Miyauchi family's ancestral debt of gratitude.
In the end, Miyauchi Hikage, as a 16-year-old high school student, was at the age of greatest curiosity about these unknown things.
Shiina Mashiro exposed the existence of Hamon in front of that Miyauchi Hikari, and Miyauchi Hikage, who learned of this through his sister, was reminded of the legends recorded in his family. He connected them with Shiina Mashiro and realized that what his ancestor had written was probably not a story, but the truth of the past.
Thus, after coming into contact with a whole new world, Miyauchi Hikage, using helping Shiina Mashiro as payment, learned the Hamon breathing method from her.
And after that, he even formed his own small team to film videos at crime scenes and haunted locations, trying to find so-called "ghosts and monsters" to test if the "breathing method" he learned could be of use, or to use this method to come into contact with more people with supernatural powers.
"So, if I use the debt of gratitude plus some benefits that can move him, I should be able to make Miyauchi Hikage's abilities work for me?" Shinomiya Kaguya thought to herself.
Shiina Mashiro's Hamon intensity was the strongest among the first batch of girls. This became clear after the diary unlocked the map function, and everyone could see it by comparing the depth and size of their respective colors on the map.
Shiina Mashiro's dot on the map was significantly two circles larger than Kasumigaoka Utaha's. When they compared their Hamon, Kasumigaoka Utaha was, without a doubt, crushed by Shiina Mashiro.
At first, everyone just thought that Shiina Mashiro was exceptionally talented and had a pure mind, which was why she mastered Hamon the fastest and had even begun to study her own unique breathing rhythm.
Shiina Mashiro had previously shared in the group her own adjusted breathing rhythm that suited her better.
But since it was a self-adjusted rhythm, it couldn't possibly suit everyone.
The other girls wanted to learn that adjustment method from Shiina Mashiro, but she herself was "not good with words" and couldn't explain the process clearly, leaving the other girls, including Kasumigaoka Utaha who went to school with her every day, feeling a bit regretful.
Although they had also been studying on their own, even Yukinoshita Yukino, who was also very talented in Hamon cultivation, had only barely grasped a clue by now, and was still a long way from perfecting her own breathing rhythm.
But now Shiina Mashiro herself mentioned that after she taught Miyauchi Hikage, she often discussed and speculated on various applications of Hamon with him and tried to deduce different breathing rhythms.
With this, Shinomiya Kaguya suddenly had an epiphany. It turned out that besides Shiina Mashiro's own talent, Miyauchi Hikage also played an important role.
The diary's warning served as insurance, and relying on Miyauchi Hikage's calculation and imagination was the main reason why Shiina Mashiro found a more suitable breathing method for herself in such a short time.
Although Shiina Mashiro couldn't explain the process of adjusting the breathing rhythm clearly, Miyauchi Hikage would definitely know!
If it weren't for the fact that he had already gone back to the countryside for the holidays and Shinomiya Kaguya couldn't easily leave Tokyo at the moment, she would have wanted to sneak over to Miyauchi Hikage's place right now and recruit him to work for her.
"But no rush... I can still wait and see," although Shinomiya Kaguya had already taken a liking to Miyauchi Hikage's abilities, there was indeed no need to hurry now.
She first needed to find a way to get information about the Breathing Styles from that Yamamoto Yushiro, and then approach Miyauchi Hikage with the identity of a true successor of the "Breathing Styles."
At that time, she would offer Miyauchi Hikage a real opportunity to come into contact with the inner world.
She believed Miyauchi Hikage would agree to her offer.
After finishing her thoughts on Miyauchi Hikage and seeing that there was still no reply from Miyano Shiho, she no longer focused on the chat group.
Her time was very tight now. She needed to clear her "tarnished name" during this Golden Week holiday, and also approach the tough nuts at Shuchiin one by one, to get them to help her pull down the current student council president and make her the interim president of Shuchiin.
More importantly, she had to find the sister of Miyano Shiho, who was in constant danger of losing her life.
After all, if this was successful, she would have a genius scientist who had obtained a double doctorate before the age of 20 as an asset.
Especially since the other party had the assistance of a diary, she would only have more potential in the future.
Therefore, Miyano Shiho's position in Shinomiya Kaguya's mind was even more important than Miyauchi Hikage's.
But Tokyo was large, and all Miyano Shiho had provided was Miyano Akemi's name and a photo from three or four years ago.
The main thing was that the investigation couldn't be done openly. It had to be carried out secretly and cautiously to avoid attracting the attention of that organization.
Although two or three days had passed, she still hadn't received any useful information.
Thinking of Miyano Shiho's hopeful private messages every night, she felt a bit bad facing her.
If it really came down to it, she would go to the shrine that Miko had discovered under the guidance of the diary and ask that shrine maiden with real abilities to help with a divination.
Although the other party wasn't very welcoming last time, for the sake of yen, she should still be willing to help.
Although as a prospective student of the Jujutsu High who hadn't officially enrolled yet, it was a bit embarrassing to ask for help from someone from the Shinto side.
But who could she blame when the Jujutsu High didn't have any sorcerers who were good at divination or finding people?
With this thought, Shinomiya Kaguya contacted Hayasaka Ai and asked her to adjust tomorrow's schedule to resolve Miyano Akemi's safety issue as soon as possible.
However, when Hayasaka Ai entered her bedroom, the expression on her face looked a bit strange.
"Hayasaka, what's wrong with you?"
Shinomiya Kaguya could tell at a glance that Hayasaka seemed to have a lot on her mind.
She couldn't help but frown slightly.
"Is it the main family? Are my good brothers putting pressure on you again?"
After obtaining some authority in the Shinomiya family from her father, in order to better develop in the Jujutsu world, Shinomiya Kaguya, who had made some simple consolidations of the Shinomiya family's power in Tokyo, naturally learned that the main family had previously required Hayasaka Ai to report her information to them regularly.
Her father usually didn't care about her daily life, so "they" naturally referred to Shinomiya Kaguya's brothers who were competing for inheritance and property.
But after learning this, Shinomiya Kaguya was not angry.
Because Hayasaka Ai had always kept the secret of her supernatural powers for her and had not revealed this information to her narrow-minded brothers before she talked with her father. She had not received any warnings from the diary in this regard.
Before she went to talk to her father, her brothers only knew that she had made many new friends online recently and had become much more cheerful.
And now, Shinomiya Kaguya, who had already gained her father's support, no longer needed to care so much about her brothers' thoughts. Their thoughts could hardly even trigger a warning from the diary.
But it seemed that Hayasaka had become the outlet for her brothers' frustration. They even wanted to use the safety of the Hayasaka family to coerce Hayasaka Ai into continuing to pass information to them, but they were stopped by Shinomiya Kaguya, who even personally called and mocked them.
Therefore, seeing Hayasaka Ai's somewhat troubled expression now, Shinomiya Kaguya naturally guessed it was related to her brothers.
However, the place where Hayasaka was struggling had nothing to do with that.
She hesitated for a long while before finally, under Shinomiya Kaguya's questioning, she took out several wrapped documents from her hand.
"Actually, tonight, about an hour ago, two special packages appeared on my desk. The names on them were mine and yours, Kaguya-sama. Then I checked them and found the contents... a bit strange."
"Strange?" Shinomiya Kaguya was taken aback.
Then she seemed to think of something, and her expression suddenly changed.
"Hayasaka, the contents of that package aren't manga, are they?"
And Hayasaka Ai also nodded with a strange expression.
Shinomiya Kaguya immediately got a headache.
"You've read the contents?"
Hayasaka Ai continued to nod silently.
Alright, checking the packages was part of a maid's duty. It was normal for her to check the contents.
But considering the time Hayasaka got the package, she probably hadn't had time to read much, right?
Thinking of this, Shinomiya Kaguya rubbed her head.
A few days before the Golden Week holiday, that guy, the mysterious person, had said he would distribute their works.
Previously, a few girls in the group who had been named by the mysterious person many times were a bit worried about how he would deliver the packages this time. But he said he would send them before the Golden Week holiday, and yet he kept everyone on edge until the holiday without any sign.
Everyone had privately thought that the mysterious person had gone to explore alien ruins with that little Master Jerry and had forgotten about this matter, and they were relieved.
Unexpectedly, they had relaxed too soon. They just didn't know what means the mysterious person used to deliver these manga.
Was it Jerry?
Or did the mysterious person personally deliver them using some means?
"Anyway, Hayasaka, just take out the manga you have and let me see what's going on."
Hayasaka Ai didn't ask any more questions and handed over the contents of both packages to Shinomiya Kaguya. After just a few glances, Shinomiya Kaguya's expression became even more pained.
In the package Hayasaka received, besides one volume that should be Hoshino Ai's story, there were also 18 volumes of "Kaguya-sama: Love Is War."
18 volumes is a lot for a manga. If Shinomiya Kaguya hadn't seen that one of them was marked with "28" and, after arranging them by number, found that a full 10 volumes were missing from the middle!
"So, who did that guy, the mysterious person, send the remaining ten volumes to?"