Murphy: "2077, August 6th. Acid rain. Something strange happened today. A wanderer tried to snatch my diary. He hit me, and I was very angry, then... his hand was suddenly twisted and broken by something invisible. I was scared and ran. I heard that guy calling me a wizard bastard..."
"I'm almost sixteen, and I've heard that at sixteen, the City Management Company will forcibly test for magical abilities. I can't... really be a wizard, can I?"
"I don't want to die..."
"I don't want to become a wizard..."
The diary: "..."
Now it was convinced something had changed in the world.
The writer – seemingly around the same age as itself – the despair in those words was palpable, even to a mind-reading-incapable diary.
He seemed terrified and resistant to the idea of being a wizard.
Was it because of the previous diary entry? In his environment, becoming a wizard meant death? How could this be? Another witch-hunt?
Murphy: "2077, September 7th. One strange thing after another. Yesterday, I was so hungry, then suddenly a car of the upper class crashed, nearly falling down, dropping a hamburger right at my feet."
"Today, I encountered a mutated rat. I thought it would attack me, but I seemed to hear it talking. It said it was in pain, something was in its stomach. I pulled out the stick, and it thanked me before leaving."
"I recognized that stick... I saw it in my mother's box."
"A wand!"
"It was a wand!"
"Just holding it, I knew it belonged to my mother, her mother, and now me."
"I am a wizard!"
The diary: "..."
So he really was a wizard! It wasn't entirely a coincidence that he found out about himself.
But a wand passed down three generations...
Wizards in this world must have a tough life.
Murphy: "2077, October 10th. Failure. I can't use magic like those wizards in the footage no matter what!"
"I understand now, those spells in the films are fake. Harasaki Corporation wouldn't put real spells in their promotional movies! I'm so stupid!"
"I've been having chest pains and nightmares frequently."
"In one dream, I saw my mother again. She looked at me sadly, then turned into a black monster that shrieked madly and killed everyone around... then I saw the 'Anti-Witch Squadron's' armed helicopters, the fire tongues spewed by the Vulcan cannons, the flashes of the prism lasers..."
"I remember now. My mother didn't die of illness."
"She was murdered."
"And I will be murdered too. Because I am a wizard. They will find out during my mandatory test at sixteen and shoot me full of holes. And I can't even put up a decent fight."
"Because I don't even know a single spell!"
The diary: "..."
The black monster.
A Dementor? His mother was a Dementor! In such a witch-hunting era, it's normal for wizards to hide their magic and become Dementors.
But the Muggles' "Anti-Witch Squadron" could easily kill a Dementor!
The Muggles in this world might be more terrifying than he imagined.
The diary hesitated whether to respond.
If it didn't, this young wizard writing the diary was doomed.
Maybe it could strike a deal with him, allowing itself to be resurrected through him? But what then? If the Muggles were so terrifying, could it cope?
Frankly, it was a bit scared by what this guy had written.
He had mentioned a nuclear bomb earlier, right? The diary didn't know what a nuclear bomb was, but if it could blast tens of thousands of tons of dust, it was many times more terrifying than any Muggle bomb it had heard of. Even if it made a hundred Horcruxes, it probably couldn't withstand such an attack, right?
The Muggles in this world are too cruel!
Crueler than the witch-hunters of the 16th century! Murphy: "2077, November 19th, night. The flow of time is getting weirder and weirder, today was dark all day long."
Murphy: "2077, December 1st. A wizard has broken into Night City!!"
"This wizard is incredibly powerful, stronger than all the wizards described by Harasaki Corporation! Even stronger than those evil wizards in the movies!"
"He used a fire spell and burned down Harasaki Tower!"
"The Anti-Witch Squadron couldn't defeat him! He shot down over a dozen helicopters!"
"He used a powerful spell and pierced the dome!"
"About a dozen wizards, seemingly his followers, also broke in."
"I suddenly heard his voice! He said he is the King of Wizards, coming to rescue all the wizards imprisoned by Muggles, saying he will lead wizards to build their own nation, so wizards will never be oppressed by Muggles again!"
"I cried with excitement, hoping he could defeat Harasaki Corporation, defeat the military technology and City Management Company, and best, kill them all! Avenge my mother! Avenge those dead wizards!"
"I remember his name!"
"He said his name was Voldemort!"
"Voldemort! King of Wizards! Savior!"
"He fought fiercely against Harasaki Corporation's army. I couldn't sleep, listening to the distant rumblings, praying for his victory."
The diary: "!!!!!!!"
Voldemort! Me?!
King of Wizards? Savior?! The title of King of Wizards is understandable, even fitting with its ambition.
But Savior?
Me, Tom Riddle, Voldemort, became the Savior of Wizards?
Uh... it sounds...
Not bad? But before it could even celebrate for its future self, it saw a new diary entry.
Murphy: "He's dead."
Murphy: "Voldemort is dead."
"Last night, Harasaki Corporation deployed over a hundred armed helicopters, and the wizards died one after another. Voldemort destroyed many helicopters, but a gamma ray cannon pierced his defenses. He was vaporized."
"Our savior is dead."
The diary: "!!!!??"
I'm dead? What is a gamma ray cannon? Those helicopters could kill Dementors, but I, after destroying over a hundred, still got killed by a single shot?
From these records, the future me was very strong, at least strong enough to fight a hundred Dementors without a problem.
Whether I'm a hundred times stronger than my current self is debatable, but fifty times should be doable.
But the Muggles were still stronger.
No wonder the wizards in this world were so miserable.
Maybe I'll just stay here.
Murphy: "2077, December 3rd. They found Voldemort's Horcrux."
The diary: "!!!!????"