When the large hand slammed down on the Enter key—
Click.
A blinding beam of light pierced straight through the ceiling and descended onto the selected target.
The next instant, the students who had been staring lifelessly at the podium all snapped their heads in unison toward the illuminated person.
Up. Down. Left. Right.
Every time a directional button was pressed and the target switched, their gazes shifted accordingly.
How to describe it?
If he had to—
It was like dangling a cat teaser in front of a cat.
The moment the light fell, the selected target, just as described, became the center that absorbed everyone's attention.
…So that's how it is.
A hard crowd-control item, huh?
No wonder it earned a B rating.
Understanding flashed in Asakusa Tōru's eyes.
Soon, the demonstration animation seemed to reach its end.
Then, as if afraid he hadn't seen clearly enough, it started replaying from the beginning.
Still, it was just a replay. Watching it again revealed nothing new.
But having a demonstration at all was already a huge improvement.
Previously, every item required him to interpret the description and test it personally.
He had to use it at least once to understand how it actually worked.
For something like the Headband of Tenacity, just reading the description hadn't exactly made him eager to try it.
Having a demo was nice.
[Extract reward 'Spotlight'? Remaining storage time: '23:21:49']
"No."
Store it for now. He'd look for a chance tomorrow to test it personally.
The demo showed how it functioned and its effect—
But one crucial detail remained unclear.
That note—
"Nobody gives a damn where the spotlight comes from"—
Was that just sarcasm?
Or did the Spotlight also alter observers' cognition?
That was important.
It determined whether he could use Spotlight openly and recklessly to pull off something flashy.
Originally, Asakusa had also wanted to test what would happen when the 24-hour storage expired—whether the reward would be issued automatically or swallowed.
But after thinking about it—
It was a B-rank item.
Better not risk it.
When his evaluation dropped in a few days, he'd use an E-rank trash item to experiment instead.
"…"
His thoughts continued.
As compensation for false advertising, the diary had provided three updates.
First, the version announcement.
Simple and straightforward—it blatantly informed him that more people were peeking at his diary.
Second, the message update.
Labels removed.
Added that damn fifty-character reply limit.
Oh, and a "transparency" option for messages—purpose still unknown.
Third, the reward distribution update.
24-hour storage.
Demonstration previews.
And—
The ability to store items in the diary.
Storage limit: 3.
Random number?
Or…
Was it tied to the number of A-rank-and-above evaluations?
Recording Pen.
Membership Card.
Whisper Transmission.
Exactly three.
"…"
Thinking.
And letting his idle hands find something to do.
While his mind wandered across infinite possibilities, his hands drifted unconsciously.
Recording Pens didn't require storage.
Whisper Transmission was a skill, irrelevant here.
Among the three high-tier rewards, the only one that might need storing was the Membership Card.
But in truth, the card was just a medium.
The actual bound membership information was what mattered.
Even if lost, no one else could use it.
He'd confirmed that from the guide NPC, Amasawa Ichika.
He had written diaries for over fifty days.
Aside from clearly useful tools, he had accumulated a pile of exquisite junk.
A single leftover small leather shoe.
A so-called swimsuit that was basically a bandage.
Indoor slippers that still seemed faintly warm.
And a maid outfit that looked suspiciously like something a dead-eyed teacher would wear later.
From all the item descriptions—
He had deduced a pattern.
If the description included the word "you," it default-bound the item to him.
The main Recording Pen that could be pulled from anywhere.
The membership info bound to the White Gym space.
All like that.
Of course, once a Recording Pen had been pulled out and turned into a "copy," it lost that restriction.
But generally speaking—
Anything above C-rank was bound by default.
So far, aside from E-rank garbage, only the Calming Popsicle and Cold Medicine were unbound.
…Doesn't feel like there's much worth storing.
Whatever. Toss something in and test it.
Right now, what could he physically grab?
Oh. Only the Recording Pen.
Two of them were tucked inside his clothes.
He casually pulled one out from under the blanket and pushed it toward the diary.
With a faint distortion—
The pen was slowly swallowed by the pages.
"Oh?"
So that's how item storage worked?
Impressive.
Then what about items larger than the diary?
…He hadn't obtained any.
Wait.
Was that calculated too, Diary?
Even among the E-rank trash, there were barely any large objects.
Everything could be compressed to roughly the size of a diary page.
The only borderline bulky thing was the bulk-pack Calming Popsicles.
He'd test that later.
As for reward storage testing—
After storing the main Recording Pen, he could still summon new pens.
But the one placed inside the diary would become a "non-main" copy item and slip out with a soft clack.
It seemed the diary was quite strict about its definition of "item."
"Mm…"
Just as he was about to continue thinking—
The soft warmth in his arms made a faint sound.
He had woken her.
"...Ah… mm… oh…"
Her brain rebooted first.
Then her body signaled for calm.
Then she rapidly processed the situation.
Kushida Kikyo lifted the blanket.
She glanced at the hand resting somewhere she technically hadn't authorized exploration for.
Then she let out a long, quiet sigh.
"I'm going to take a shower."
She had fallen asleep earlier from exhaustion.
But now that she was awake, not washing wasn't an option.
Sweat or otherwise—
Sleeping sticky like this wasn't ideal.
"Don't follow me in," she said.
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