Damn it—if only he had two chances.
With two, he could test it once, then make a proper decision.
But there was only one.
The glaring "(1/1)" sat right there beside the item's name.
Even though there was a demo animation, it only showed how to use it—it didn't reveal the limits of the item itself.
Open the app, aim at the target, take a photo, trigger maternal affection.
Exactly as described.
"…"
Thinking it over, Asakura Tōru opened the diary terminal—his personal terminal (diary version)—and long-pressed the heart-shaped icon that had appeared after claiming the reward.
He placed it right next to the camera.
Easy access.
By the way, another earlier hypothesis had just been confirmed.
The number of items the diary could store depended on how many A-rank or above evaluations he had received.
Last time's Absolute Pitch and this time's APP had both increased the storage limit.
Now, he could store up to five items.
The previous items remained unchanged, and the two new slots were perfectly filled.
The diary terminal and the loyalty collar.
The APP didn't take up a slot since it was embedded in the terminal.
Honestly, when he got the APP, his first thought wasn't how to use it—
It was: what does its code even look like?!
He'd always been curious—what kind of program could allow a simple photo to result in mind control, cognition rewriting, and memory distortion?
Even if he didn't know coding, he could learn.
Unfortunately, when Asakura Tōru connected the diary terminal to his computer and tried to locate the APP's code…
He couldn't find it anywhere.
It was as if the APP didn't exist on the device at all.
…Looks like it's the kind of thing that can't be analyzed or copied.
So—
Whatever.
Let it be.
Time to slack off.
Haneoka Girls' Academy
"Ah, Tomori, good morning."
"…"
"…Good morning."
A mess of thoughts. Tangled emotions. Words that wouldn't come out.
Even after a full day, Takamatsu Tomori still couldn't speak.
But perhaps the one thing she found some comfort in—
Was that Aine's attitude wasn't as harsh as she had feared.
After seeing that scene yesterday, after learning what Soyo truly thought all this time…
She had felt awful.
Soyo didn't need Aine. And Aine had said she didn't need Soyo either.
Then…
Did that mean the band would just end like this?
…She didn't want that.
She refused.
The band—
Her throat felt blocked. Even though she knew exactly what she wanted to say, the words simply wouldn't come out.
Saying "I don't want this" was so hard.
"…After class, we're going to the astronomy club." Sitting behind her, Chihaya Aine poked her lightly and said it like that.
Ah…
If it's Aine, she'll say what I can't.
If it's Aine, even broken fragments of words… she'll understand.
Clinging to that hope, the girl nodded firmly.
And so, they met again in the familiar, unchanged astronomy club room.
"…"
But the scene she imagined didn't happen.
Chihaya Aine just sat there, quietly watching her.
The pressure built up silently.
"…a" Tomori opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Again…
Just like this…
"Speak." In the silent club room, Aine's voice rang out. "If you don't speak, no one can understand what you're thinking."
After a long silence—so long it felt like a year—Tomori finally tried.
"So… speak," Aine repeated.
"..."
"…I overestimated you." Seeing that she still couldn't say anything, Aine let out a long sigh. "You're just a penguin. Expecting you to talk was my mistake."
For some reason, Aine recalled the diary's words from this morning.
She's just a penguin that can't speak.
"But if you can, at least make a sound…" Aine said helplessly. "Even 'goo goo gaga' would be fine. Staying silent like this… it's really exhausting."
Not speaking. Making others guess your thoughts. Just sitting there in silence.
The more it continued, the more frustrating it became.
"Goo goo… gaga?" Unexpectedly, Tomori actually made the sound.
If it were normal words, they'd get stuck in her throat.
But this strange call slipped out effortlessly.
Her eyes lit up.
She suddenly grabbed Aine's hand and began shouting repeatedly—
"Goo goo gaga! Goo goo gaga! Goo goo gaga!"
Aine's brain froze.
Wait—are you actually a penguin?!
Even though it was such a bizarre sound, when Tomori grabbed her hand—
For some reason, Aine felt like she could understand.
Don't want. No. It can't end.
Shouldn't. Won't. Mustn't.
She couldn't say it. It couldn't be conveyed. It couldn't be understood.
But she needed it.
She needed Chihaya Aine.
She needed Nagasaki Soyo.
She needed a band that would never end.
That was all she had ever wanted.
"…Got it," Aine said.
Maybe it wouldn't last forever.
But at least right now—
She felt the same.
She didn't want it to end.
So she would act.
She would follow through with that ridiculous-sounding final method left behind in the diary—
Become Nagasaki Soyo's "mother."
But before that, there was one last thing.
The task given by the diary's owner.
She needed to send him the video.
Through a message.
Upload it to a cloud drive. Write the link and extraction code. Set it to shared.
Maybe other diary holders would see it.
But that didn't matter.
This was just her little… revenge against Nagasaki Soyo.
After all, that girl hadn't told a single truth from the very beginning.
And she had trusted her so much.
Word by word, Chihaya Aine wrote her second message in the diary.
That's right—she was a full-attendance user.
No waiting required.
She could send a second message immediately.
And while she was at it—
She could also use her accumulated reading points to increase…
"Lactation Ability."
She was still a high school girl.
Developing just a little more…
Was perfectly normal, right?
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