Chapter 14: New diary Permissions
The next morning, Renji Miyauchi woke up and scrolled through his phone as he always did. The top headline announced that Kaito Kid had once again outwitted the police and made off with a gem. The next item was another notice about Cat's Eye. It felt like the news cycle had only two recurring guests: Kaito and the ladies of Cat's Eye.
Renji smirked. Every day it's Kaito or Cat's Eye. I hope the police at least get a generous year-end bonus.
He skimmed a little further, hunting for anything about Yotsuya Miko. Nothing. No tweets, no panicked forum posts, no strange videos. He wondered whether she even existed in this world, whether she had received a diary, or whether she was simply keeping silent.
Renji had not imagined one possibility: that Miko might have mistaken the diary for another malevolent thing and intentionally ignored it. In a world stitched together from slice-of-life anime and darker threads, stranger explanations were often the truest.
No feedback is fine for now, he told himself. A probe that finds nothing is still a probe that found nothing.
As he searched, a different notification blinked in — a fresh blog post he hadn't seen earlier. It was a short ghost story posted three hours ago by Kasumigaoka Utaha. The timing tripped a bell: he had written about Yin-Yang Eyes in his diary yesterday, and now Utaha — the writer he'd half-expected to find among diary holders — had posted a story exploring the same theme.
Renji read it carefully. Utaha was cautious; she hadn't declared that stronger spiritual power correlated with viewing stronger spirits. She left that detail alone — probably out of prudence. Instead she followed the template: a girl who suddenly sees ghosts and the suffocating fear that comes with the first encounter. The piece was a fragment, but it was sharp and true. Utaha wrote the girl's panic with the same keen eye she used to craft character and scene.
Renji grinned. First confirmed diary holder, then. Once her "Love Metronome" is published, I'll buy three copies.
He put the phone away and turned to the tasks of the day.
In the morning he waved his parents off back to Asahigaoka, slipping a little recorder for Renka into his bag. Who knew — maybe the countryside would inherit a new Recorder Arch-Demon. In the afternoon Renji found Kouka a cozy apartment a ten-minute walk from Toyosaki Academy and, true to his promise, took her shopping in Shibuya and Ginza. Kouka beamed at clothes she'd only ever seen on screens, and Renji felt that odd, warm thrum of responsibility he'd learned to accept since arriving in this patchwork Tokyo.
They passed the Cat's Eye Café; Kouka made a tactical escape at the restroom, but he stole a glance through the window and saw Kisugi Rui fussing over a table. She moved with the sort of effortless care that made being an older sister feel like a profession.
With Kouka settled and Renka tucked into the day's routine, Renji finally had time to write.
[I didn't find Miko's Twitter, but I'll take another train ride in a few days and see if I run into her again.
I did find a new ghost short by Kasumigaoka Utaha today — beautiful and precise. Support her when the Love Metronome drops. If I make it to her signing and she recognizes me, I'll have a little surprise for her.
Also: headlines today were full of Kaito Kid and Cat's Eye. Kaito shows up in Conan's movies every couple years; Cat's Eye, though — it's been a while. In my last life I only dared peek at Cat's Eye when my parents weren't looking. Strange nostalgia.
This world has so many Kaitos. They announce themselves, steal something dramatic, the police scramble, and everyone else posts reaction clips. Exhausting for the police, I imagine.
I checked for Lupin the Third too — no sign yet. He might be hidden or not debuted. In my previous life Conan and Lupin even had a crossover; it's possible.
But why poke around those who'd rather remain hidden? If someone notices you snooping, you could get far more than an autograph.
Fujiko Mine is another archetype — the dangerous femme fatale who inspired a thousand later characters. Even Conan has echoes of that influence in some side characters. Compared to Lupin, though, Kaito Kid and Cat's Eye feel more playful than apocalyptic.
If I meet Touko the Kaito, I might ask for an autograph — but I'd better not get clever and reveal someone's identity.]
After posting that, Renji went to check other threads. Not long after, Kasumigaoka Utaha's DMs began to flicker. The most surprising contact came from Hoshino Ai. Using a burner account, Ai messaged Utaha with a private LINE ID and invited her into a closed chat. Utaha hesitated for a beat — revealing your online circle could be dangerous — but curiosity about fellow diary holders won.
She accepted. The group chat had four members at first.
Ai: "Welcome, Kasumigaoka-sensei. I'm Hoshino Ai. I made this group. Only diary holders can get in; I spent some reading points to lock it down. It's safe here — talk freely."
Evil King's True Eye Strongest: "Another fated soul has joined. My right eye is already quivering at destiny's whisper!"
Eru Chitanda: "Hello, Kasumigaoka-sensei. I'm Eru Chitanda — pleased to meet you."
Utaha scanned the names and messages. The "Evil King's True Eye" handle had to be the chuunibyou girl the diary had mentioned. Chitanda's manner was politely inscrutable. Utaha introduced herself with a neat, professional tone.
Kasumigaoka Utaha: "I'm Kasumigaoka Utaha — the Utaha mentioned in the prologue the diary copied. Please, call me Utaha or Kasumigaoka-sensei."
She might as well be direct. That way any embarrassment is handled quickly.
Ai's reply was brazen, the confession blunt.
Ai: "I'm Hoshino Ai. 16, former underground idol, supposedly pregnant and later killed by a fan in one possible future. It's… a lot."
Utaha's hand hovered over the keyboard. Compared to Ai's messy entry, her own place in the diary — a love-triangle side plot — felt small. Chitanda stepped in and smoothed the air.
Eru Chitanda: "My name hasn't been mentioned in the diary, but I recognized the Classics Club line. I'll likely join it when school starts. I'm not some rich heiress — only from a family respected in the town. And I'm not curious about everything."
That broke the tension. The group settled into a careful, earnest discussion: first reactions to their diaries, theories about the Mysterious Person's identity, and the part that worried them all most — the existence of spirits and yokai.
Utaha learned that the chuunibyou user was Rikka Takanashi. Rikka's handle, however theatrical, matched the diary's description.
The Kaitos made polite conversation, but the more pressing topic was the diary's permission system. After seven days the diary often unlocked new features. The group buzzed with a mixture of curiosity and dread: five reading points could activate something called Yin-Yang Eyes. If that ability existed, the world had more than light, ordinary inconveniences — it had things no one had warned them about.
Ai: "I'm thinking of saving reading points to try the Yin-Yang Eyes. You can turn it off, right? So I'll just give it a quick look before I sleep."
Eru Chitanda: "If vengeful spirits exist, do ordinary ghosts exist too? A relative of mine vanished long ago. He promised he'd come back. I'd like to know if he might be found."
Eru Chitanda: "The fear is that opening your eyes at all will alert those spirits. That idea scares me."
Kasumigaoka Utaha: "If you plan to try, watch some horror films first. Gradually desensitize yourself; it helps your nerves."
Ai: "Recommend list incoming. Warning: I still sleep with the light on. But the movies help."
Ai paused, then added quietly: "I can't imagine being Yotsuya Miko. Pretending not to see everything she sees… that's courage on another level."
Eru Chitanda: "She must be strong. The thought of that life makes me feel small."
Kasumigaoka Utaha: "She's the protagonist of her story. If she couldn't bear it, the story wouldn't unfold."
Evil King's True Eye Strongest: "I embraced this world the moment I got the diary. If my Evil King's True Eye isn't the center, then nothing is!"
Utaha pinched the bridge of her nose. A chuunibyou — probably harmless. Still, I won't dismiss anything. Then she noticed the date: seven days since she'd received the diary. That meant new permissions might be ready.
Kasumigaoka Utaha: "Today's day seven. New diary permissions unlock. I'll check 'diary permissions' in the diary now."
Ai: "Me too. I already saw some new features — alarms, memos, reminders. They're actually practical. Write 'diary permissions' and it'll tell you everything."
Renji, finishing his own entry, set his phone down and glanced toward the window. Tokyo had a dozen layers — anime slices, detective dramas, haunted corners — and now, thanks to the diary, a fragile network of people who'd begun to notice each other. That was both promising and dangerous.
He shook his head, smiling faintly. If these girls want to share, I'll keep an eye out. If they don't — then I'll keep writing. Either way, the world keeps getting stranger, in the best possible way.