"I used to think about it a lot—was it me who chose zhongzhuan, or was it zhongzhuan that chose me? After thinking for a long time, I reached a conclusion."
"It was me who chose zhongzhuan."
"Even though a good undergraduate program isn't necessarily worse than a junior college, and a good academic high school isn't necessarily worse than a vocational high school, still—when all is said and done—the best choice is zhongzhuan."
"I firmly believe this."
Reading aloud the contents written in the diary before her in a calm, measured tone, Sakayanagi Arisu's face was filled with a strange expression.
[TN: "Zhongzhuan" refers to China's secondary technical schools, often discussed alongside junior colleges and vocational high schools; the phrasing here deliberately mimics internet-style rhetoric.]
"What on earth is this guy even writing?"
She couldn't understand it.
Terms like zhongzhuan, junior college, and vocational high school were admittedly hard to grasp at first, but after some thought, she could roughly infer the meaning. They likely referred to institutions similar to technical colleges or specialized schools—terminology used in a country across the sea, if she remembered correctly.
So, was this a diary from that country?
"..."
Sakayanagi Arisu fell silent.
The diary in her hands had appeared suddenly tonight.
It had materialized out of thin air, slowly drifting down—visible to her alone.
A rather fascinating phenomenon.
At least, based on the theoretical knowledge she currently possessed, she couldn't imagine how such an exquisitely executed "magic trick" could possibly be achieved.
A prank? A magic trick? A hallucination?
No matter how she analyzed the situation from any angle, none of those explanations fit.
What was even more astonishing was that her father, who had been present at the scene, was completely unaware of the diary's existence.
He seemed to see nothing at all. In fact, from her father's perspective, it was as if she had never once brought up anything related to a diary from beginning to end.
Very interesting.
Something beyond her understanding had occurred—on the very day before she was to enter high school.
She had no reason not to be interested, and no reason not to open the diary.
Yet when she did, what greeted her was this utterly baffling text.
Putting aside the diary's origin, judging by the content alone, the writer seemed to be expressing the idea that specialized schools were superior to conventional universities…
As Sakayanagi Arisu was pondering this, the diary suddenly "refreshed," as if updating itself, and in the blink of an eye, far more text appeared.
[In short, what I mean is this: next up, it's time for zhongzhuan.
If nothing unexpected happens, then those of you reading this diary right now will be the incoming students of zhongzhuan—what you call the Advanced Nurturing High School.
No need to wonder how I know who you are. I'll be generous enough to explain the current situation to you.
First of all, I imagine what you're most curious about is this diary itself, right?
I assume some of you have already tried—yes, that's correct. This diary is very special. You cannot use any method to disclose any information related to it to unrelated parties. This includes, but is not limited to, using or displaying the diary in front of others. Likewise, you cannot destroy or discard the diary by any means; no matter what you do, it will always return to your side.
Of course, this isn't some kind of curse. It's simply my cheat ability. As a transmigrator, I obtained a cheat that grants me rewards just for casually writing in my diary every day.
It's fine if you can't understand it. You only need to know that my purpose is to write the diary, and all you need to do is read it.
As for why you have to read the diary…
The reason is simple. Your past, present, and future have already been kidnapped by me. Prepare yourselves for that reality.
I know your past. I understand your present. I am aware of your future.
You wouldn't want someone else to know the secrets you least want others to know, without you knowing anything about it, would you?
You wouldn't want someone to peer into the deepest thoughts of your heart right now while you remain completely unaware, would you?
You wouldn't want someone to see in advance the decisions you might make in the future, while you stand there lost and confused, would you?
I wouldn't dare claim that I know everything about you, but I believe you don't have the qualifications to gamble on the possibility that I'm lying.
So let me reiterate once more.
Your past, present, and future have already been kidnapped by me. Prepare yourselves for that reality.
The kidnapping declaration ends here. Next, let's talk about something interesting—after all, words alone are indeed hard to believe.
So let's expose something.
'Within this zhongzhuan, there exists more than one two-faced individual.'
This is today's spoiler.
Feel free to match it to yourselves.
Of course, no matter who it is, everyone probably has a side that doesn't match what they show on the surface. The heart you present to others, and your true inner self behind the scenes—expressing yourself without any disguise is indeed very difficult.
Therefore, the two-faced individual I'm referring to is a "defective product" who once caused a major incident in middle school.
A defective product burdened with intense inferiority, craving supreme superiority, pressing malicious thoughts deep into their heart—suffering, tormenting, struggling.
If it's you, then even after reading this diary, you'd probably still be able to put on an act as if nothing were wrong.
But that doesn't matter. After all, I'm not particularly concerned with your specific identities.
All I need to do is protect myself.
I can't lock onto your exact identities, and you can't confirm my real identity either. So even if your own affairs get written out, all you can do is chalk it up to bad luck.
But if you want to stop this, you can try coming to find me—come and play a game of hide-and-seek between the recorder and the peeping tom.]
The newly refreshed text ended there.
As if announcing the end of the diary entry, a cold voice also echoed in Sakayanagi Arisu's ears.
"Today's reading completed. Reading points +1."
The voice itself was inconsequential. Even considering the possibility of auditory hallucination, at this point Sakayanagi Arisu no longer believed the diary before her was an illusion.
She didn't think a hallucination could possess such logical coherence, nor did she believe hallucinated text could have such a strong, distinctive style.
"'A hide-and-seek game'… is it?" She gently closed the diary, the corners of her lips lifting slightly. "Interesting."
"Very well. I accept your challenge."
The fact that the other party hadn't chosen her as the first two-faced individual to expose made her feel a faint sense of regret. After all, she believed she had no real weaknesses—if the other party could actually write something about her, she'd be even more interested.
Still, this was enough.
After all, since it was a diary, the days to come would surely be filled with plenty of his so-called "spoilers."
"Let's treat it as a bit of entertainment before burying the false genius," Sakayanagi Arisu said with a smile.
...