Summary
As usual, Tomoe's friends leave her alone when class 5-3 prepares for debate. She's used to it though, everything is done in pairs. Like debate, theme park rides, walking on most paths...
But Yosshi and Rie have been friends for a long time.
As she assures them that it's alright, she heads off with another girl who didn't have a partner. She wishes more than anything that someday a fourth girl will join them so that she won't feel lonely anymore.
After class, the envious Tomoe listens to the girls chat over their time while they handle clean-up. She bumps into something just then and a book falls from the shelf. Initially the girls assume it was just forgotten until realizing how dirty it looks. Rie recognizes the book and brings up seeing a post on the message board about it. It's said that the book is used as a Diary exchange here, but it seems that a mysterious person would include themselves and add their own entries. It sounds hard to believe; but Tomoe more or less realizes that this could come in handy. She won't feel as lonely as it will provide a "fourth" to the group, and she can learn more about her friends. She suggests they try it out and the girls agree, excited by the prospect.
Later, when Tomoe takes her turn she is disappointed to see that nobody other than Rie and Yosshi have written in the diary. She reads the prior entries before noticing a few pages are suddenly missing- she didn't notice that before. She falls asleep as she tries to determine what to write.
The next day, she apologetically explains what happened to the girls. However, Yosshi points out that something new was added and they look to see someone complaining about a Math pop quiz. Tomoe claims not to have written this though, and to their surprise their Math Teacher comes by to announce a pop quiz after class starts. Startled, Tomoe wonders if this person is capable of predicting the future.
Once school ends the girls leave while chatting about this new development. But while Tomoe and Yosshi find this to be concerning, Rie eagerly suggests they head back to her place in order to read more entries. Tomoe happily agrees, but Yosshi remains uninterested, leaving her isolated while observing them after arrival. Tomoe, happy to be included pays her no mind until reading one of the entries to see that they will have an upcoming music class test and asks if she brought her recorder. To her confusion, she gets ignored.
However, Tomoe is bitterly reminded that even if she is able to bond with her friends more- having Shii-chan didn't actually change anything. She is still singled out and her loneliness remains.
After class Tomoe and Rie continue to look through the diary to see if anything is different, sharing a few laughs until they come to a shocking entry: "Tomoe-chan fell during P.E. I wonder if she will be alright. It looked like it really hurt, I'm so worried about her!!". Recalling that they have P.E. today, the girls start worrying. But as Tomoe wonders why the writing looks different, Yosshi comes by to snatch the book from their hands and reminds them to get ready. By now Tomoe is beginning to see that something is off about her.
The girls concerns are further heightened after they partake in a baton pass relay, when Tomoe takes care to avoid injury- only for her ankle to twist and cause to her fall over. Rie and the Teacher run over to check on her and help her stand, observing her bruise as Tomoe glances up and happens to catch Yosshi smirking in amusement. Rie joins her at the infirmary, where Tomoe confides in her regarding her suspicions. She points out the difference in handwriting and how odd Yosshi's been acting as of late, only to stop when they notice her nearby. It dons on the girls that whatever gets written into the book will happen, and as Yosshi approaches with little concern, Tomoe asks for the book back. She refuses and out of concern Rie asks to know if she did something.
However, Yosshi has no idea what they're talking about, and she claims herself to be innocent. But when she goes on to admit that she felt a little jealous seeing them bond as of late, Tomoe tells her off and leaves. Yosshi remains confused as the angered Rie follows her.
In this time, they were no longer a three-person group...
Because Tomoe made sure of that.
Happily realizing how well her plan worked, she thinks back to the effort she put into copying Yosshi's writing style. While she did have to resort to using Shii-chan for it -and give herself an injury- it was worth it. She only wished she had thought of it sooner!
Despite no longer needing Shii-chan, Tomoe is surprised to find the diary at the end of the day. She doesn't see why Yosshi would bother to return it but decides to pass the time while she waits for Rie to see what was added. However, she finds several alarming entries within it:
"Those people have excluded me again. I'm left out again."
"I can't believe I made friends with those kinds of worthless people! I'm ashamed of myself!"
As Tomoe looks on, she is surprised to find out that the entry was written back in 2005. She had only assumed up until this point that the entries were written currently to predict the future. She goes on to wonder what Shii-chan is trying to say as she locates more concerning entries:
"I finally decided to stay home since they're there. I can't forgive them for making fun of me."
"It's been a year since I've started this diary. I really want to take revenge for all the things they did to me. Yes, I've thought of something good."
Upon finding the final entry, Tomoe is horrified to see it say "In the diary, I wrote "Die!" and put it in their desk. Tomorrow... Just like my predictions, I will...".
Slamming the diary down, Tomoe decides it's not worth using anymore when she realizes that Shii-chan must have been the prior owner of the diary. In her hurry to leave, she accidentally knocks the diary over and goes to pick it up, but to her horror she finds a graphic image of a person resembling her suffering a head injury. She rips it apart in order to dispose of it when she hears someone drawing on the chalkboard. As she turns to find the same picture on it, she quickly erases the board before turning to find Yosshi standing there in observation. Tomoe sees that she is hiding something, and remembering the picture, she freaks out and runs away from her. Yosshi follows behind her, giving chase until Tomoe's foot slides from beneath her while running down a flight of stairs, causing her to fall.
As Yosshi stares at the horrific bloody scene she is joined by a Rie and they scream out for Tomoe. It is revealed that the object Yosshi had was an apology note.
Tropes:
- Asshole Victim: Any sympathy for Tomoe most-likely vanished the second she was revealed to have sabotaged Yosshi and Rie's friendship.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Tomoe doesn't look like someone who would hurt others for her own gain.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Tomoe's head injury is shown in the form of a rough sketch. What was shown is the pool of blood next to her and the diary. It does not explicitly show the injury or the moment it occurred.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Tomoe has them, but she disliked being the "third wheel" because there were times she was excluded. After realizing that Shii-chan didn't actually fix anything, she took matters into her own hands...
- Karmic Death: Depends on if you see it as karma, or a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. After being frightened by a drawing of her suffering a head injury, Tomoe ran away from Yosshi and fell down a flight of stairs, dying from said injury.
- Yomi believes it was karma, during the epilogue as she comes to collect Shii-chan.
- Kids Are Cruel
- Lack of Empathy: Tomoe didn't really care about anybody but herself ultimately. She didn't care that she split up a pair of long-time friends, she only felt remorse that she had to injure herself.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Or make her best friend think she's dangerous and tried to harm you!
