chapter3 · 040-ep40
Episode 40: The Meeting Room Video
The next morning.
The first thing I did after waking up was look at my phone.
Yesterday's video was still there.
Not only was it still there, it had spread more than yesterday.
When I first saw it, it was only some unknown anonymous account making noise.
Overnight, news-summary accounts had picked it up, channels covering Awakener-related topics had picked it up, and by this morning it had become enough of a fuss to make internet news.
Of course, the content of the spreading video hadn't changed either.
Mibu said something.
I stepped forward.
I fought the man.
At the end, my fist went into his torso.
That was all.
The fact that the man attacked first.
The fact that Mibu and I had overheard Takatsuki.
What Mibu knew there, or how she felt.
None of that remained in it.
Only the clipped footage remained.
I knew.
There had been no choice besides fighting there.
I decided to step forward myself too.
Mibu hadn't ordered me to.
But that wasn't how it looked from the video alone.
Representative Mibu's daughter had brought a male student who seemed to be an Awakener, and gotten into trouble with an adult man outside.
What happened from there was for the viewers of the video to decide as they pleased.
Mibu used me.
I punched someone for Mibu.
A minor participating in the Awakener Development Program had caused a fight outside.
Everyone would take it differently.
"...This is the worst."
I put my phone face down.
I ate breakfast.
I should have eaten it, but I barely remembered its taste.
I changed into my uniform and left home.
The road to the station, the crowded train, the stream of students going to school were all as usual.
That made it feel stranger.
The uproar was happening only inside phones.
Maybe that was what I wanted to think.
But by the time I arrived at school, I knew that was impossible.
Several people were looking at their phones in front of the school gate.
The same at the shoe lockers.
There were students looking at me.
Some looked away before our eyes met.
"Isn't that Himuro?"
"The guy from the video?"
"Was his face even clear?"
"But he was with Mibu-san, right?"
I heard them.
But I didn't turn around.
I had no idea what I should say even if I did.
Or rather, no matter how I explained it, it would probably just become more troublesome.
I went on to the classroom.
The air in the classroom was strange too.
Some people were talking as usual.
Some had their faces on their desks.
Some looked sleepy from the morning.
But several people looked at me.
Then immediately looked away.
"Himuro."
As I took my seat, a boy nearby spoke quietly to me.
"You, the guy in yesterday's video..."
"Don't know, don't know."
That was what I answered.
"No, but—"
"Homeroom's starting."
Just then, the homeroom teacher came into the classroom.
The boy closed his mouth.
Saved.
Usually cutting it close had paid off.
Though, well, it wasn't something to praise.
The teacher opened the attendance book and began homeroom as usual.
Announcements.
Assignments.
Today's schedule.
If you only heard the voice, it really was just as usual.
But the classroom's atmosphere didn't return.
The most annoying part was especially breaks.
Every time someone touched their phone or whispered, eyes came in my direction.
Unexpectedly, no one asked me directly, but that felt gross in its own way.
Then lunch break.
Pretending I was going to buy a drink, I left into the hallway.
Mibu's classroom was on the same floor.
It wasn't like I had any business there.
My feet just somehow headed that way.
There were several students in front of Mibu's class too.
"Apparently she didn't come today."
"As expected?"
"The teacher said it was family circumstances."
"Family circumstances sure is convenient."
"It means Representative Mibu's family situation, right?"
I heard it more easily than I expected.
Mibu hadn't come.
I felt like I already knew that.
Still, hearing it for real felt different.
I glanced into Mibu's classroom.
Of course Mibu wasn't in her seat.
Normally, she would probably be sitting quietly there.
With her back straight, looking at her phone or reading a book.
She should have been there as usual, so normally that people found her hard to approach.
But she wasn't today.
Even without her there, her name was flying around the hallway.
It felt strange.
I went back down the hallway.
I took out my phone and opened Mibu's name.
I hesitated over whether to send a message.
Are you okay?
You not coming to school?
Did something happen?
None of them felt right.
There was no way she was okay.
I roughly knew why she wasn't at school.
And asking if something had happened was strange too.
Something had happened. That was why this was happening.
If I messaged Mibu, she'd have to think about a reply.
That itself might be a hassle right now.
In the end, I couldn't send anything.
After school.
I sat in my seat for a while, looking at my phone again.
I shouldn't look.
I thought that.
But it wasn't something I could just get away with not looking at.
I was in it too.
Mibu was in it too.
And Mibu hadn't come to school today.
Maybe explaining what came before and after the video would change things a little.
No, even doing that wouldn't make the public outrage settle.
Even understanding that, I kept scrolling pointlessly through the screen.
Takatsuki Ryōsuke was looking at his device screen.
The video had continued spreading since last night.
It was spreading faster than expected.
Mibu Iroha's name had not appeared in major media yet.
But in anonymous accounts and summary-style posts, it was barely hidden anymore.
Posts that obscured the school's name.
Posts hinting at her grade.
Summaries placing yesterday's video beside Representative Mibu's past statements.
All of them put on the face of confirmed information, but in truth they were only collections of fragments.
Even so, they were more than enough information for the people seeing them.
Someone put out a slight piece of information, and someone else added speculation to it.
Before long, a story was made as though it had been that way from the beginning.
This time was the same.
Did Mibu Iroha order something of the Awakener boy who was with her?
Did the boy step forward of his own judgment?
Did the man attack first?
Why were the two of them there to begin with?
The video alone revealed nothing.
Precisely because it revealed nothing, viewers filled in what they pleased.
For Takatsuki, that was fine.
There was no need to show all the truth.
All that mattered was that suspicion remained.
Representative Mibu's daughter had caused trouble outside while accompanied by a male student who appeared to be an Awakener Development Program participant.
For now, it only needed to spread in that form.
There had been unexpected elements.
Iroha tailing him.
And the Awakener boy accompanying her fighting better than expected.
According to Jinya Kanzaki's report, he had not gone down even after taking an attack head-on.
In the end, he had even landed a blow.
And apparently, he had called himself an Enchanter.
Despite being a support Job, he had gone toe-to-toe with Kanzaki.
Honestly, Takatsuki was interested.
But the priorities were different now.
The decision not to have Iroha taken away from that place had been correct.
Mibu's daughter had been abducted.
If that happened, the center of the incident would change.
Representative Mibu would become the father of a victim, and the police and country would have no choice but to act directly.
Public opinion would swing toward sympathy too.
That would defeat the purpose.
Iroha needed to go home.
She went to the scene on her own feet, and returned on her own feet.
That was better.
An underage Awakener had become involved in fighting outside.
Representative Mibu's daughter had been there.
Was the Phase Two Representative Mibu was trying to advance really safe?
That suspicion remained.
That was why Takatsuki called Kanzaki.
If he had left him alone, that man would have continued fighting.
He would have considered taking Iroha home with him, and probably would have fixated on crushing that boy too.
But that would make the disturbance too big.
Kanzaki would not listen if he were merely told to back off.
So Takatsuki showed him bait.
If he pulled back now, he could report to those above that he had confirmed Representative Mibu's daughter at the scene.
He had secured material to use in this round of backlash.
It could be evaluated that way.
At first, Kanzaki seemed dissatisfied.
Takatsuki could tell even over the phone.
But the moment he used the word evaluation, the quality of the man's voice changed.
He might rise higher.
He might get closer to becoming the on-site commander of an unregistered Gate base.
If Takatsuki made him think that, the man would move.
He had ability.
He was useful in the field.
But he was weak to recognition.
If he thought he would be evaluated, he would casually step over dangerous lines.
That made him easy to handle.
If he created the spark that stopped Phase Two, he could rise higher himself.
It was enough to let Kanzaki think that.
Takatsuki operated his device and opened another screen.
In fact, Mibu Iroha's video had caught fire even better than expected.
But of course, backlash alone would not stop the system.
The Awakener Development Program was already part of the country's public-safety measures.
In that situation, there was no way the country would easily throw out the system just because public opinion made noise.
So what was needed was the next material.
Mibu Iroha's video was the first wave.
Next came an actual example to make them doubt the system itself.
Takatsuki looked at the company name displayed on the device.
Next Works Co., Ltd.
On the surface, it was an unremarkable staffing company.
The job-listing text was well made too.
High-paying work for Awakeners.
Level 10 or below, welcome.
Work anyone can do easily.
It didn't say it was dangerous work.
It didn't say they would do anything illegal.
If anything, the writing made people who had become Awakeners feel they could experience their value for the first time.
Clearly higher paying than an ordinary part-time job.
They could be useful as an Awakener.
Even now, with the national Program on the verge of stopping, they could earn money with their own power.
A job listing that made them think that.
Not everyone needed to take the bait.
Only a few people.
Participants in the Awakener Development Program had gotten involved in suspicious outside jobs.
If they had that one fact, they could create the next headline.
【Program Participants Helped with Illegal Part-Time Work】
【A system that can't even manage its participants should be abolished】
If articles like that came out, it would be just what they wanted.
Not only would Phase Two become more distant, the country would have to reconsider the Program itself.
Representative Mibu would become even less able to act.
Takatsuki's device vibrated briefly.
A new report came in.
【Next Works Assignment】
【Several Awakeners currently participating in the Program intend to take part】
Takatsuki closed the screen.
Mibu Iroha's video was only the first wave.
What they needed was the next spark to make people doubt the system itself.
Takatsuki quietly raised the corner of his mouth.
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I have spoilers in my activity report about 【Shock Grant】 and 【Personal Achievements】. (For anyone who doesn't want spoilers but does want to know only the episode number, if you read just the beginning of the article, you can learn the episode number without spoilers, so please feel free to take a look.)
The reason is that, especially for Shock Grant, it may be a while before it is revealed.
I imagine many of you thought, Isn't that too late!? But personally, as the order in which information should be revealed for an interesting story that makes you want to know what happens next, I think it's right, so I don't intend to change it.
However, given the nature of web novels, it is also true that it is better to reveal rewards as early as possible.
So, while maintaining the story structure the author finds interesting, I will continue posting information I think needs to be revealed as spoilers in activity reports 🙇
If you continue to leave comments like, What happened to XX? or When will XX be revealed?, I will consider them, and if it seems necessary, I will post it in an activity report.
That is all from Kogaryu.
I hope you continue to enjoy this work.