Nagi now back in her villa, read the latest diary entry.
When she saw the video of a high school student shrinking into a child, a chill ran down her spine.
"Isumi, under normal circumstances, could a high school student turn into a child?"
"Hmm… even evil spirits skilled at manipulation can't do such a thing easily. At most, they might drain a person's energy or render them unconscious, but shrinking someone's body is unheard of," Isumi replied seriously. "Unless it's some sort of transformation spell. But that's an advanced technique, far beyond what ordinary evil spirits are capable of."
"Then, what about medicine? Could ordinary medicine do it?"
"???"
Isumi tilted her head in confusion at the sudden question.
"Nagi-chan, do you mean normal medicine? As in, not something supernatural?"
"Yes. Could it be possible?"
"Among the medicines I know, there are some extremely advanced compounds that might temporarily shrink a person's body. But such drugs are not commercially available. They're usually proprietary to certain families or organizations."
Hearing this, Nagi sighed in disbelief.
"So it's an incredibly low-probability event…"
A high school detective turned into an elementary school student by some experimental drug created by an underground organization? Even knowing the truth, it felt too absurd to accept.
"Maria, bring me the photo of the child that the bodyguards took earlier. And also, did they take a photo of Shinichi Kudo today?"
Maria nodded and quickly brought over the surveillance photos captured by the bodyguards.
The photo of Shinichi had been taken during routine surveillance, and the photo of the child lying in the alley was also ready.
Nagi took both photos and examined them closely.
Her eyes widened in realization.
"It's him! That child is Shinichi Kudo!"
"!?"
Her sudden declaration left Isumi and Maria stunned.
But when they compared the two photos, the truth became clear.
"It's the clothes!" Isumi exclaimed.
"Yes," Maria added, nodding. "The clothes in both photos are identical. The child is wearing the exact same outfit as Shinichi."
Nagi sighed, her tone filled with disbelief.
"So the story is that Shinichi Kudo saw something he shouldn't have, got hit on the head with a blunt object, and was forced to drink some experimental poison, which caused his body to shrink?"
"That seems to be the case," Nagi confirmed.
"Ah…"
Maria let out a long sigh.
"A plot like this sounds like something out of a novel or a movie. I can't believe it's actually real."
Nagi nodded but quickly reminded Maria of the diary's earlier claim.
"Maria, according to that man, we're characters in a story. And our story has somehow been integrated into reality."
Maria's head throbbed at the reminder.
"The more I think about it, the stranger this world becomes."
Seeing Maria's pained expression, Nagi couldn't help but chuckle lightly.
"Maria, when we first learned about the existence of evil spirits, our world was already weird."
"…That's true."
Maria sighed again, resigning herself to the increasingly bizarre nature of their reality.
---
"Are there any other updates in the diary?" Isumi asked.
"Yes," Nagi replied. "It's about why he exposed his name."
This immediately caught both Maria and Isumi's interest.
"What did he say?"
"He claimed there was no reason for it. He just did it on a whim."
"…"
Maria and Isumi exchanged incredulous looks before speaking in unison:
"Impossible!"
---
At the same time, in the Shinomiya family villa, Hayasaka reacted the same way.
"Absolutely impossible!" she exclaimed.
"A person doesn't act without a reason. He must have had some motive for exposing himself."
"I agree," Kaguya said, her expression thoughtful.
"At first, I thought he was fishing—baiting us to act. But now, it seems more like he was conducting a test."
"A test?" Hayasaka asked, puzzled.
"Yes. Not a test for us, but a test of the diary itself," Kaguya explained.
Hayasaka's eyes widened as realization dawned.
"The lottery?"
"Exactly," Kaguya confirmed.
She was almost certain that the man had exposed himself to test whether the diary's lottery was influenced by the content he wrote.
Thinking about it, Kaguya couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret.
"If he succeeded in his test, he must have obtained power equal to or even greater than mine."
She sighed deeply.
"If I had acted against him yesterday, I might have succeeded."
But her cautious nature, ingrained by her family's strict upbringing, had made her hesitate.
Her suspicion and overthinking had caused her to miss out on what might have been her greatest opportunity.
"Miss Kaguya, I think it's better to avoid becoming too entangled with that man," Hayasaka advised.
"He's the diary's true owner. If the diary has any sort of protection mechanism for its host, trying to take advantage of him could backfire."
Kaguya fell silent, contemplating Hayasaka's words.
"…You're right," she admitted after a moment.
Whether or not such a mechanism existed was something only the diary's owner would know.
As a mere reader, Kaguya could only gain what the diary allowed her to. Trying to seize more might result in losing everything.
This was a lesson she had learned well from her family's teachings.
"But…" Kaguya murmured, her eyes gleaming with determination.
"At least this diary gives me the chance to gain more power."
Turning to Hayasaka, she issued a command.
"Hayasaka, practice with me tomorrow."
"Understood," Hayasaka replied, bowing slightly.