As UMR confirmed the countersign, the two of them began to chat on the side, holding their diaries.
Kasumigaoka Utaha didn't need to introduce herself. After all, she was currently the person most "beloved" by the mysterious person.
He had posted her novel in the diary, sent her a manga offline, and yesterday he had even gone to their group and uploaded her anime.
Even though it was their first time meeting, Kasumigaoka Utaha hadn't deliberately changed her image at the moment. Her appearance was naturally quite easy for the people in the chat group to recognize.
UMR, on the other hand, briefly explained her identity.
Doma Umaru, a first-year high school student, currently living with her older brother who was already working. Her hobby was gaming.
She didn't say much about her own life, but when it came to games, she couldn't stop talking at all.
"You might not believe it, but I'm the number one expert at the arcade near my house. If there's a chance in the future, I'll let you see my gaming skills."
Kasumigaoka Utaha wasn't very interested in playing games, but she could feel the confidence the young girl in front of her had in her area of expertise.
But before she could say anything, another girl's voice came from behind them.
"Just being an expert in one arcade is enough to make you so proud?"
The two of them turned their heads upon hearing the voice. A black-haired girl in a black Gothic Lolita dress had appeared beside them at some unknown point.
"I am Kuroneko. The countersign we agreed on in the group last night was 'Voldemort deserves to die'," the Kuroneko girl said, taking out the diary in her hand to show her identity. "Of course, I don't have many thoughts on the mysterious person at the moment. After all, so far he's only mentioned me in passing when talking about that eyepatch girl. To be honest, I'd quite like to learn what my future is from the mysterious person."
After finishing her self-introduction, the Kuroneko girl's gaze first fell on Doma Umaru. "You're the UMR from the group, right? If you have time later, we can have a match. How about we pick the game you're best at?"
Doma Umaru immediately remembered the person in the group who was always arguing with the Tyrant's Eye about chuunibyou settings.
Although she could already feel this person's sharp tongue in the chat group, she hadn't expected that even offline, the other party had no intention of holding back at all.
Most importantly, this black Gothic Lolita outfit... does a normal person really have the guts to wear it to an offline meetup?
But since the other party had now issued a challenge to her, Doma Umaru, as the number one expert of the arcade, naturally couldn't back down.
The gazes of the two gaming experts met in the air, and instantly, intense sparks flew.
Kasumigaoka Utaha watched as the smell of gunpowder filled the air from their very first interaction. While she had a bit of a headache, she suddenly realized that this kind of situation would probably be very common in the future.
After all, in the field of light novels and manga aimed at teenagers, in order to attract readers, it was very common to design a female protagonist who was good at games or liked otaku culture.
Just like the Eriri in her story.
Half-Japanese, half-British, with a father who was a diplomat. A proper upper-class family.
But in her setting, she was a veteran otaku girl who had been exposed to otaku culture since she was young, and had even started drawing R18 yuri doujinshi in middle school.
Thinking about it this way, there were definitely not a few female protagonists who were good at games.
And with the usual "unwilling to admit defeat" personality of gaming experts, she estimated that in the future, if she wanted them to listen, she would have to rely on her strength in games to speak.
Kasumigaoka Utaha was just thinking about these things.
Unexpectedly, the Kuroneko girl's gaze suddenly turned to her, and her pride from just now turned to respect.
"Kasumi Utako-sensei, I know your debut work is about to be released. If you have time, could you give me some guidance on the work I'm creating?"
The young girl's posture changed from a gaming expert who feared no challenge to a novel author humbly asking for advice. Kasumigaoka Utaha was stunned for a moment.
Alright, beautiful girl writer is also a popular field. Maybe in the future, she will also run into a female protagonist whose results are even better than her own.
"After today's gathering is over, you can private message it to me and I'll take a look," Kasumigaoka Utaha did not refuse. She also wanted to see if this Kuroneko girl would be a strong competitor of hers in the future.
The three of them chatted for a little longer, before Kuroneko frowned and looked at the station, which didn't have many pedestrians.
"But isn't that Shinomiya Kaguyahere yet? Although the agreement was to gather before noon, as the initiator of the gathering, she should have come a little earlier."
Kasumigaoka Utaha also felt a little puzzled. Hoshino Ai had a performance class today, so she could only find time to come in the afternoon.
In other words, the only one left in the group who had said they would come to the gathering was the initiator, Shinomiya Kaguya.
"Let's ask her in the group. She was probably delayed by something, right?" Doma Umaru spoke up for Shinomiya Kaguya, then @'d her in the group, and even took a picture of their three diaries stacked together and sent it to the group.
It was just that the current Kaguya-chan didn't have the capacity in her head for so many things. It was already good enough that she could remember to come to the gathering.
On the other hand, Hayasaka Ai beside her was incredibly busy, constantly dealing with information from the Shinomiya family's bodyguards.
Right now, there were a total of four strange young girls who had appeared near Minami-Shinjuku Station.
Hayasaka Ai took a look and confirmed that one of them was someone she had investigated before, the girl named Kasumigaoka Utaha.
And the three girls, including this Kasumigaoka Utaha, were now openly appearing at the station entrance. It seemed they were the ones the young mistress was supposed to meet.
As for the remaining young girl?
Very suspicious, extremely suspicious.
Wearing a pink tracksuit, she was sneakily hiding in a small alley, only daring to poke her head out for a glance from time to time. In the end, she hesitated for a long time and didn't dare to come out.
Could this be the person Shinomiya Kaguyawent to so much trouble to find?
Although Hayasaka Ai didn't plan to act rashly, upon hearing from the Shinomiya family's bodyguards that the girl had suddenly looked around in a fluster and seemed to be preparing to leave directly, she still made a judgment.
"We can get there in a few minutes. You guys stop that girl first. Be polite, just say that Shinomiya Kaguyahas something to talk to her about and ask her not to leave. See what her reaction is."
That's what Hayasaka Ai had ordered.
But just as they were about to arrive at their destination, a somewhat flustered report came from the Shinomiya family's bodyguards.
"Our men just appeared in front of that girl, and before they could even finish speaking, she was so scared that she collapsed on the ground!"
Hayasaka Ai's face twitched.
Fortunately, they had already arrived at their destination.
Before meeting up with the other three girls, it was better to first figure out what was going on with this suspicious girl.
Hayasaka Ai got out of the car with the dazed Kaguya-chan, then pointed at the pink-haired girl in the alley and asked her young mistress, "Young Mistress, do you have any impression of this girl?"
Kaguya looked curiously at the young girl who was surrounded by several of the Shinomiya family's bodyguards, curled up on the ground, and shivering with her head in her arms.
She stared at the other person while searching for corresponding memories in her small head.
At the same time, her gaze also attracted the other's attention.
Upon seeing that the person who had arrived was actually Kaguya, the pink-haired girl's face immediately showed a look as if she had seen her savior.
"Ah... I..." She seemed to want to say something, but in this situation, the more she wanted to speak, the more she found that she couldn't say a single word because of nervousness.
The gazes of the two girls met in the air.
Kaguya-chan took this opportunity to carefully size up the pink-haired girl's appearance. Finally, under the expectant gaze of the pink-haired girl, she answered frankly.
"I don't know you~"
Hearing this sentence, the pink-haired girl's eyes instantly lost their light.
However, in the next moment, another girl's voice came from behind her, rescuing her from hell.
"The Guitar Hero from the group... is she really going to be peeking at us here like the mysterious person said... Huh? Kaguya, why are you here? Could it be that you also came because you saw the diary just now?"