chapter01 · 028-ep28

Episode 28: "The Public Press Conference"

I didn't know much about worldwide simultaneous streams, but the world talked of little else for an entire day.

"Four S-Ranks to Hold Unprecedented Joint Press Conference"

"Agency Says 'No Comment' on Authenticity of Yagarasu's Official Account"

"A One-Line Announcement: 'We're Going to Tell You About Our Sensei'"

I looked at three headlines and turned my terminal face down. Washed rice. Thought about tonight while washing it, stopped thinking, and started again. I messed up washing the rice twice today, too.

The state's envelope sat on my desk. Eight days until the deadline.

One message from Hina-chan.

"Sensei. Tonight at eight. You absolutely, absolutely have to watch."

I would have watched without being told. Still, having my students assign me stream viewing homework two days running was an odd turn of events.

Five minutes before eight, I settled onto my cushion and wrote three lines on a sheet of paper.

"Objective: listen to my students all the way through."

"Retreat criterion: none (but don't turn the screen face down halfway through)."

"After return: send an observation report—I'll decide after it's over."

Time came before I could finish the third line.

◇

The screen didn't show a six-mat room.

Some rented press venue. Bare walls. One long table, four microphones. It looked like news cameras had made it into the room, too.

Four seats at the table.

Three were occupied.

"It's time. Let's begin."

Rei drew a microphone toward him.

"I'm Rei Kenjo. The four of us are here today to talk about our Sensei—Hiiragi Shinichi. Let me make one thing clear first: we haven't come to reminisce. We've thanked him personally and dealt with our feelings in private. Today is about the work. As people in the field, we'll answer the world's question, 'Can a B-rank command?' using only the technical facts."

【It's started】

【Over three million watching already】

【Isn't there an empty seat?】

【Don't bring that up】

"I'll start with tactical understanding," Rei continued. "Sensei is a man who can stop a combat recording three seconds in. Eight years ago, he broke down my swordsmanship—when no one else would take me on—into three words in three seconds: 'center of gravity,' 'eyeline,' and 'first move.' I've since been called humanity's strongest. And I can tell you this: even now, I can't break down my own fighting into those three words. I can do it, but I can't put it into words. Sensei is the opposite. He can't do it himself, but he can put all of it into words."

"A commander's job isn't to fight. It's to read everyone's fighting at once and intervene with words. In other words, it's exactly—down to the last detail—what that man has spent twenty years doing."

◇

"Additional note."

The second speaker pulled her microphone closer. Apparently even a press conference couldn't change her first words.

"I'm Mio Hyodo. I'll discuss building a theory. No impressions. Just numbers."

Figures appeared on the wall behind her, laid out as meticulously down to the margins as the documents she submitted to the Association.

"Since the course began, shallow-layer accident rates in this country have fallen by a statistically significant amount. The Dungeon Agency adopted a new cause-of-death code for the first time in eighteen years: 'P-1: prevention through education.' Every case to which it applies originated in that six-mat room. What matters isn't that the rate fell. It's how it fell. Sensei's theory can be reproduced regardless of the student's talent. A theory that can't be reproduced is called coincidence. Only a theory that can be reproduced—is called a blueprint."

"A blueprint is what's needed to clear this as a team. Statistically, only one person in this country can draw one. End of numbers."

After a beat, Mio added,

"One personal opinion. Every morning while I was his student, I added notes in the margins of his notebooks. I never once finished. ...I couldn't see the bottom."

【A verification report dressed as a press conference】

【Never seen a press conference start with 'Additional note'】

【That last part wasn't an opinion so much as a confession】

◇

"I'm Shishiomaru. Those two did the complicated stuff. I'll keep it simple."

The third speaker sounded like he didn't need a microphone.

"I couldn't read properly till I was fifteen. Every dojo wrote me off as stupid. Pops was the only one who threw away the textbook and drew me pictures of my soles on a sheet of paper the size of a tatami mat. Not 'weight distribution'—'bite the ground.' He only used words I knew. —He looks at the keyhole before he makes the key."

"Listen. Here's Rei, Mio, me, and that guy. Sword, magic, shield, and shadow. We grew up differently. We learn differently. Everything about us is different. But every last one of us says, 'This man's teaching worked best for me.' Normally, that's weird. Teaching methods suit some people and not others. ...Not with Pops. He made five keys for five keyholes. And a team is a keyring, isn't it? Then it's the key maker's job to put it together."

【The hardest shield might have the best analogy of the bunch】

【A keyring... oh, I get it...】

◇

That was when a man sat down in the fourth seat.

The cameras hadn't caught where he came from. Suddenly, he was there. Thin, sharp-eyed, but with the kind of face you could pass anywhere on the street.

"Yagarasu. My real name's still classified. My face—stopped being classified yesterday."

Camera flashes erupted across the room.

【He showed his face!?】

【That's what's inside the black square on the standings】

【There's a state secret sitting at a table】

"Let me answer the first question. Why did I make my existence public? Simple. I submitted a piece of paper. Put 'student' in the occupation field and it went through. Sometimes even the government gets it right."

"I'm here to talk about predicting danger. You can guess what I do for a living. I've done work where reading a danger wrong kills you once and for all, ever since I was a kid. I checked all forty-four course archives. Retreat criteria. How to count dangers. Three lines before a dive. —I looked for flaws. Seriously. If I'd found one, I wouldn't be sitting here."

"My conclusion: that man's prediction outruns my methods. I see a danger, then remove it. He changes the whole arrangement three moves before the danger can even arise. A job that takes me four minutes and eleven seconds, he keeps from happening in the first place. ...Which one do you want commanding?"

【I've seen someone build an argument like this before】

【Hey, wait. I know that writing style】

【Verification guy!? YOU were the verification guy!?】

Yagarasu glanced at the screen in front of him and smiled faintly for the first time.

"Now, one last question for everyone watching."

He looked straight into the camera.

"You say he's got 'no track record.' Then look at the four of us here and the one who isn't. Humanity's strongest sword. The strongest mage. The hardest shield. The most efficient shadow. And—the Saint with the greatest healing range. Five people whose backgrounds and talents couldn't be more different, all from one classroom. ...We're Sensei's work. The work proves its maker. What better résumé could there be?"

The press room fell silent.

The comments did the opposite.

【...There isn't one】

【There isn't one anywhere in the world】

【A five-person résumé. I've seen it now】

【I want to punch the me who said 'But he's B-rank' yesterday】

【S-Sensei...! Are you watching...!? I'm so proud I can't breathe...!】

I am. Please breathe.

◇

The questions barely formed a proper session. Eventually every reporter's question narrowed to whether the man himself would accept the command. All four kept giving the same answer: Sensei will decide. We only came to give the world what it needs to judge his work.

It was almost over when Rei began to rise. Whether he knew his microphone was still live or not, a small remark seemingly meant only for the other three went out over every connection in the world.

"Now all that's left is... you, Kokoro."

◇

An hour after the stream ended, the Dungeon Agency issued an emergency announcement.

"Hiiragi Shinichi Formally Named Chief Operation Commander for the Unconquered Labyrinth 'Abyss' Clearing Project. Appointment Currently Offered; Response Pending"

I was no longer a candidate. Apparently the networks' polling numbers had shifted decisively overnight. The debate programs reached no conclusion again tonight, but it seemed they didn't need to anymore.

The envelope on my desk looked exactly the same as yesterday. Eight days until the deadline.

Being named wasn't an answer. Deciding whether to accept was still my job.

Before bed, I wrote just two lines in my notebook.

【All four have gotten better at public speaking. I won't think about who they got that from.】

【And Rei's last remark. —That wasn't about technique.】

◇

In her lodgings in the northern city, Kokoro Shirose couldn't move from in front of the darkened screen.

"Now all that's left is... you, Kokoro."

It hadn't sounded like blame. It had sounded like waiting. The fingers that had stopped in front of fifty-one drafts for two years were now trembling as they grasped something else.

The tears hadn't stopped. Any retreat criterion would've been passed long ago. —Even so.

Crying, the Saint grabbed her coat.

The first overnight train headed south.