[Today is the first day of school. Just thinking about how, after enrolling, I'd use my refined and extensive galgame experienceTo conquer all the girls in the entire school makes me laugh uncontrollably.
Wait—why doesn't a dialogue box pop up when I talk to girls? Where are my choices? If you don't give me options, how am I supposed to know what I should say?
...I sincerely apologize. The plan to conquer the...entire school's girls has been forcibly terminated. With an incomparably heavy heart, I write these words.
I believe this must be Advanced Nurturing's greatest loss among its female students—an opportunity so precious and rare that even graduating from Class A could never make up for it.
But a missed chance is a missed chance. I won't look back, and please don't grieve too deeply either.
Because it's time for today's spoilers.
...Let me think carefully about what to write today.
Yesterday I pointed out a double-faced person, but maybe it was a bit too subtle. Aside from the person involved, probably no one else could understand it. That won't do.
But directly dropping names doesn't really suit my style either. Spoiling too hard just isn't fun.
So—how about listing some dish names first?
Love-brained idiot, fake human, parasite, fence-sitter, phantom thief, god-tier sis, pretty bro, fixed library NPC, black room's ultimate masterpiece, recorder bro, discount Yukino, discount Hayama...
Tsk, counting them carefully, there really are a lot of freaks in this crappy technical school.
I wonder if you, holding this diary, might be among them. Feel free to match yourself up.
Now that the dishes are listed, it's time to serve the food.
I've more or less decided who I'll point at today.
That's right—it's you, discount Yukino!
Chasing after your brother's shadow, mistaking loneliness for aloofness, rejecting friends, a freak who only looks passable on the stat sheet.
Calling you discount Yukino almost feels like an insult to Yukino—aside from the character model, there's really nothing you can compare.
Somehow it just feels sad.
Alright, I'll stop insulting you so much.
If you're reading this...then go ahead and read.
I thought about giving you some advice, but after thinking it over, any advice would probably be useless. Might as well call in your brother.
So...
——Hey hey hey, it's big brother now, okay?
I said I like long hair, so little sister went and grew her hair long.
I acted cold, so little sister copied me and pretended to be cool too.
What a sister with no mind of her own.
Why are you chasing my back? If all you do is follow behind me, you'll never surpass me. Do you understand?
...Forget it. Saying all this is pointless anyway.
Because the moment I saw you at the entrance ceremony, I knew—you haven't changed at all.
If you want to prove that you've changed...then go observe.
In your class, there is a fake human.
Observe, think, and finally arrive at an answer.
When you can confirm the fake human's identity, tell me his name. Maybe then I'll change my opinion.
——That's about it, okay?
Disobedient little sister~
Welcome the trial!
In order to prove yourself, and to shed the 'defective product' label stamped on you by others.]
The diary's contents ended here.
Immediately afterward, a cold voice echoed by Horikita Suzune's ear.
"Today's reading completed. Reading points +1."
She paid no attention to the voice, only staring blankly at the final lines of the diary.
'Defective product.'
...Me?
Horikita Suzune had never believed herself to be wrong. Even if, as the diary said, she was indeed chasing after her brother's shadow, whether it was maintaining top-tier academic performance or keeping an impeccably disciplined daily routine, she was undoubtedly walking what society recognized as the "correct" path.
She didn't need to rely on anyone.
She didn't have to depend on anyone.
And yet...
The contents of the diary made her feel inexplicably lost.
She could ignore the nonsense at the beginning—galgames, dialogue boxes, options. The list of "dish names" and the whole discount Yukino thing were equally incomprehensible.
But that passage—clearly not written by her brother—somehow gave her the illusion that it was exactly the kind of thing her brother would say.
Her brother said he liked long hair.
So she grew her hair long.
Her brother always stood at the very top, so she chose to gaze at his back and take him as her goal.
...What was wrong with that?
Of course, Horikita Suzune could tell that the "discount Yukino" in the diary referred to herself, and she could also tell that the words written from the "brother's" perspective likely corresponded to her actual brother, Horikita Manabu.
No—calling it a message might not be accurate. After all, this diary couldn't possibly be her brother's, and her brother would never speak in that kind of tone.
But—but...
If what was written was true, if when she met her brother he really did say such things, if that really was how he thought...
Then what was she supposed to do?
Horikita Suzune bit down on her lower lip.
She came to Advanced Nurturing to prove herself—to prove her growth in front of Horikita Manabu.
But if she was already imagining being denied before even meeting him...
Then meeting again would only be torture.
Unless...
Her gaze unconsciously lifted, settling on the words 'trial.'
Observe. Think. Confirm the answer.
Find the 'fake human' hidden within her class. Prove herself.
If she did that—would her brother acknowledge her?
"No… probably not." With a sigh, Horikita Suzune shook her head.
In the end, the one who wrote this diary wasn't her brother.
No matter how much information the writer pointed out, no matter how much they seemed to know, they weren't her brother.
Closing the diary, Horikita Suzune let out a long, heavy breath.
Even though it didn't matter where she put the diary, she still carefully placed it into her drawer.
Then she lay down on the bed.
But this time, unlike usual, sleep refused to come.
After closing her eyes, her thoughts kept scattering, chaotic ideas surfacing one after another.
What appeared most often in her mind were the diary's words.
'Trial,' and 'fake human.'
Come to think of it...what exactly is a 'fake human'?
As the question surfaced, Horikita Suzune suddenly realized she couldn't fall asleep at all.
The more she told herself not to dwell on it, the clearer the question became in her mind.
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She got up from bed, turned on the light, and grabbed her terminal.
'What is a fake human?'
Horikita Suzune chose to search for it online.
And then, she got her answer.
"A mysterious creature that imitates humans...?"
In Class 1-D, was there someone like that?