Thanks for the clarification.

Maybe in the context of this being an author insert story it is different, but Kyouya seems to be making the most of a fortunate situation that was beyond his control. Yes, he expects that everything will be easier/better with access to platinum talent, and he's probably right. Its not like he snuck into a time machine or made a deal with the devil to go back in time- he just was there and decided to use his unfair advantage of future knowledge, because the alternative is to sit on his hands?

I liken it to capital. If you somehow have more money/resources, you have more options. Why wouldn't someone take advantage of that? Maybe I'm getting hung up on the phrase 'crutch'. What I'm implying is, does Kyouya have some moral obligation to take the 'hard way' to success when supernatural contrivances have given him an opportunity to collaborate with known talent to create something very likely to be successful? Sure, his attitude was a bit wish-fulfillment and maybe mopey, but since his thoughts didn't influence the time travel as far as I can tell, they are a separate issue; only a narrative device to tell the audience where his head is/was at. This appears to be a victimless crime, unless it undermines Kasegawa's ability to be successful, in which case I would expect the story to touch on that.

Maybe if he decided to compete with the trio instead of collaborate, this would certainly be a different story and maybe more aligned with what you had hoped for?