That’s why it wasn’t so strange for all the problems to gather around Shinichi, but Frire only made a sullen face in response to Shinichi’s arguments.
“…Sounds to me like you’re just making excuses. And that theory of yours also completely ignores all the coincidences that just happened to line up.”
“Ahahaha, so you noticed! You really are sharp when it comes to stuff like this.”
“You!”
Shinichi just laughed when he realized he couldn’t fool Frire with such a shallow excuse. Because of that Frire’s hands curled into a fist and shook in anger.
Unfortunately, as advanced as Garesto Technology might be, she couldn’t punch someone through the screen.
“But I wasn’t lying.”
There was some truth in what Shinichi said, though.
It was just that it didn’t account for all the ‘coincidences’ that had to line up.
“I know, but that’s why it doesn’t sit right with me!”
It was one thing for the students of the same class to happen into him, but for two individuals moving separately to also happen into him on the very same night. Not to mention, these people also coincidentally went rogue around the same time.
Regardless, how cruel and stressful the environment is within these fields and how easy it is for the people within to lose their cool, it’s still absurd to think that all these people would go rogue almost simultaneously ‘coincidentally’.
Frire’s glares were her implicit petition to have those coincidences explained, but Shinichi just brushed them off.
Apparently, he had no intentions of talking about it.
“…Fine, just help me understand the situation. Why are you using Safina’s foster?”
“By Safina, I guess you’re referring to this girl?”
The screen switched to show the girl sleeping at a distance.
He didn’t know whether the laws in this city permitted carrying a Japanese blade, so he showed only her face to be safe.
Seeing as the color had returned to her pale face, Shinichi heaved a sigh of relief.
Apparently, Kamunagi possessed a power worthy of its name.
“I see. I guess you don’t know since you came late.”
“Huh?”
“That girl is Tomoe Safina, a student from the normal class, 2 – B. Her grades might be just barely enough to get her into the B Class, but she’s a passionate one.”
Frire gave a simple introduction of the girl and briefed him on her circumstances.
Tomoe Safina had a good attitude as a student, but her grades were always walking on thin ice.
She might’ve managed to get into the normal class of 2 – B, but she was always at the bottom of the rankings, and with a considerable difference too.
Depending on the result of her next exam, it wouldn’t be strange for her to fall into C Class.
That might be the reason why she became impatient, or maybe that was how she was from the start, but regardless, a tragedy befell her during the middle of April this year.
“She’s so passionate that she pushed herself too hard during class and she ended up in an accident that left her grievously wounded and had to be hospitalized. I heard she had to spend all of May to recover. It’s rare for a student to be injured so much, so word of it got around.”
“That’s why it’s surprising I don’t know about her, huh. What an unlucky kid… It’s kind of hard to just ignore her.”
It’s bad enough that she had to be hospitalized because she pushed herself too hard, but what’s even worse is the time she lost during her hospitalization.
The influence on her grades during her absence might have been minimized since she was injured during class, but she just had to come back right before the examination that would decide her rank.
“I don’t hate passionate students like her, but unfortunately, the time, her Status, and her personality just don’t match.”
“This is her Status?”
Shinichi groaned when Frire revealed the girl’s Status.
| Name: | Tomoe Safina |
| Gender: | Woman |
| Earth Age: | 16 years old |
| Height: | 160cm (5.25ft) |
| Weight: | 45kg (99.2lbs) |
| Strength: | C+ |
| Stamina: | C+ |
| Mind: | AA+ (MAX) |
| Resistance: | C- |
| Agility: | C |
“A status meant for a life in the back line, but the person herself just wants to charge ahead like a bull. That’s really unfortunate.”
Her Status was fine for someone standing at the back of a team, casting support skills and providing support fire, but it was definitely not a Status suitable to fighting in the front lines.
Falandia would have a different perspective on her issue, but that’s related to her Skill stat.
“Indeed. Even worse, she just had to get caught up in this incident… This will be difficult.”
Frire could make it so that she doesn’t get any demerits, but even then, if the other students were to improve their grades, she’ll still be demoted to C Class.
It’s one thing for her to fail after doing her best, but it was just too sad for her to lose her opportunity because of something that had nothing to do with her.
“A pity…”
“…So that’s how I can repay her.”
“Hmm? Did you say something?”
“Nah, an idea just came to mind. Is she Japanese?”
He forcefully changed the topic, but Tomoe’s problem definitely bothered him.
Shinichi couldn’t tell the girl’s citizenship just from her name, but the information Frire gave him said that she was a Japanese.
“Japanese? Ah, is that how you refer to her according to her country? I don’t really get differentiating people based on the place where they were born, but her parents were both halves, so she’s a quarter. Her parents’ data should be here somewhere, ah here.”
Her parents’ data was shown on the screen.
It only contained basic information, such as their picture, citizenship, and brief history, but that was enough to understand some of what she was yelling about.
“Her mother is half-Japanese and half-American, while her dad is half-Portuguese and half-Russian. She has a rather international lineage, but unfortunately, both her parents passed away five years ago.”
Perhaps that’s the reason why she was so emotional.
Her two parents met their end together in a ‘traffic accident’.
Presently, according to the data, her uncle from her father’s side was looking after her, but a little hacking shows that while the person is still alive, he has never visited Japan, and Tomoe has never left Japan either.
Clearly, this uncle of hers was only a guardian in name. What’s more was that there was no information available on her other relatives.
Any information related to her grandparents from her mother’s side or her grandmother from her father’s side were full of lies.
“…It’s just like Shinguuji’s information.”
“H-Hey, I know you’re the examiner and all, but would you normally look through a person’s information that much?”
The information he was looking at had already gone past his authority.
He was reluctant to poke his nose so much since he owed her, but her circumstances were just too suspicious.
“It’s normal for their information to be similar since their mothers were relatives.”
“That’s news to me. There’s nothing connecting them according to the data.”
“…What?”
“Her information is too suspicious. This has definitely been tampered with.”
The basic information were probably correct, but the part about her relatives was suspicious.
It might’ve been tampered with before photons became commonplace, so Shinichi couldn’t find definite proof, but as someone with plenty of experience on uncovering clues from text, which he did plenty of in search of a way back, he was certain that the information on the father had been altered.
He innocently hacked the records, and found traces of alteration.
Based on the different ways the data has been altered, it’s likely that several people had tampered with it.
“…I take it I’m not allowed to ask you for your basis? …Has Shinguuji’s information also been tampered?”
She couldn’t ask why, but she didn’t doubt Shinichi and even showed concern for Shinguuji as a teacher.
“The information on his mother is similarly suspicious. They seem acquainted, so it’s probably true that they’re relatives.”
“So their public information is false then. We do a background check on the students before they enter, but…”
“They either managed to worm their way through your checks or they’re in a position that allows them to fool the people running checks. Either way, they were born into a really troublesome family.”
That’s probably why they found themselves at their wits’ end.
A boy who would even hurt himself in pursuit of power just to defeat someone, and a girl who wanted others to acknowledge her, so that her parents would also be acknowledged.
On top of that, they inherited spiritual power.
This is nothing more than a conjecture, but perhaps they were ostracized from their family.
“Children ostracized by their own… Just what are they pushing onto some kids? Damn it.”
“…Nakamura?”
The emotions behind Shinichi’s last mutterings were so dark they struck fear into any and all who heard them.
That was a voice so dark and heavy it was akin to a mass of curses.
He noticed what he’d done only after the fact, so he internally panicked and tried to gloss over it.
“B-But, you’re also a—!”
“Ahh, sorry. We’ve digressed too much. Actually, my foster is broken… Hello?”
The thought of children suffering because of the whims of the adults made Shinichi lose his cool for a moment.
He wryly smiled internally and tried to bring the conversation back on track, but he noticed that she’d sank deep into her seat.
“It’s nothing. Don’t mind it… Why am I so… Wait, what!? Your foster is broken!?”
“Y-Yeah, it just stopped working all of the sudden. As you can see, the screen is completely dead and it’s not responding either.”
Shinichi showed her his foster, and Frire froze.
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