Her theory and execution should’ve been flawless.
The introduction of another world brought many things, but what caught Shirota’s interest the most was their knowledge on dimensions and the different path their science took owing to the difference in the framework of their respective worlds.
Shirota’s personality was problematic, but she possessed a brilliant mind. Because of that she was able to study the technology of Garesto before it was announced to the public.
The technology of Garesto was unknown territory, but she was able to understand it quickly and apply it, and for that she was seen as a threat and was sent to Kutoria, less than a year after the two worlds started openly interacting.
“The discovery of an unknown material and the method to use it. That’s more than enough proof that you’re not just a common person! We really can’t expect anything from the current administration anymore!”
“Ahaha, yeah.”
However little, even Shirota knew what ‘courtesy’ was, so she gave the barest response she could.
After all, it was thanks to that treatment that she was able to find a place she could pursue her research.
In fact, Shirota, who continued her research at the school, made a serious discovery just late last year.
She discovered that living organisms had different unknown particles in their bodies depending on which world they were born in.
She wanted to prove that, so she came up with the idea of how to use it and spoke with the Garesto government.
She suggested using these unknown particles as a beacon of sort to find the returnees.
The government was more than happy to carry out her idea since they wanted to get Earth more indebted to them, and as it stood they still didn’t know where the non-returnees were, not even if they were dead or alive.
The result of their cooperation was a device that could search a vast area for otherworlders and rescue them.
—The Non-Returnee Rescue Plan
That was the name of the plan after being literally translated, and it was executed early March this year.
With it the government was finally able to ascertain the location of the still missing non-returnees and the death of those who still couldn’t be found.
But unlike what was previously agreed upon, the merit of saving those people wasn’t given to Shirota.
Even the merit of the discovery of the unknown particle was given to the entire research team instead.
The fame was really only meant to be material for their negotiations, but when the truth came to light, it looked like the government that didn’t want its reputation sullied took the achievement for themselves. A happy accident, so to speak, as it was thanks to that that people like this visitor approached her.
But because of her success, she couldn’t leave the city anymore.
“Why do we have to obey such an incompetent administration!? Why do we have to live alongside a world with people like that!? The only reason this world is valuable is because it’s the closest to Garesto! With our knowledge it won’t take us long to find another world! That’s why we should turn back the hands of time!”
“Yes, oh, yes, that’s amazing, how romantic, yes, wonderful.”
Shirota continued to play along with the visitor, but the visitor eventually noticed that she was just playing along because of the lack of emotion in her voice.
The visitor’s face twisted faintly as she mumbled to herself.
“…Why are these scientists always so self-absorbed? The incompetent are ambitious, while the brilliant can’t see anything past themselves. They’re mad! All of them!”
“Do your best, I’m rooting for you.”
Shirota wasn’t even listening anymore.
The visitor decided to just blame Shirota’s behavior to her brilliance and walked to the door.
She left a few ores the size of a baseball on a table nearby.
“Here’s what we promised. The condition is that you do not leave the Technology Faculty building even once while the exam is ongoing.”
“Wow, these are high-purity ancient ores! With these I’ll surely be able to see everything, fu fu.”
“!”
By this point, even the visitor couldn’t help but begin to wonder if Shirota was ignoring her on purpose.
Shirota took the black ore into her hands and observed it through her black glasses while laughing.
Finally, the visitor couldn’t stand being in the same room as her anymore and hurried away.
“…Hmm, let’s take a look at the material composition… Oh? It has this kind of ratio, huh. As I thought, real world data is really valuable.”
Shirota innocently smiled as she analyzed the material with her glasses-shaped scanner.
This too was a kind of foster, and one that she made herself.
In fact, this foster was at a size and thinness that not even Garesto has managed to achieve.
“Oh, what joy. With these I can research as much as I want. All that’s left is to make sure I can get a normal source of electricity. But before that…”
Shirota smiled. Her face looked as innocent as ever, but it was precisely because of that that smile was terrifying.
After extracting the data from the chip, she crushed the chip underfoot, and put away the ores, then she hurried back to her seat and turned her attention to the still open windows on her monitor.
She watched the video feed with a look of ecstasy.
“Oh, yes! Yes! Indeed, you are someone worth observing! Not at all like that stupid, pathetic, fake soldier from earlier!”
The sight of her excitedly hitting the table while laughing was just one step short of a scene from a horror flick.
Just who was it that she was watching with such fervent eyes?
“She doesn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘bystander’ at all. Don’t you think so too, Nakamura-kun?”
Projected on the monitor was a lone boy seated crossed-legged on the rocky terrain of the fields.
His expression was perfectly natural, completely unaware that he was being observed.
“Neither foe nor friend, not even fit to be a guinea pig, a pathetic specimen through and through. They don’t even know that their plan has already been seen through.”
The compensation Shirota was given was for the technology they requested from her and for her non-interference in their plans. Because of that she was also informed of their plans.
That’s why Shirota was all smiles when she heard Shinichi’s plans.
Of course, she had no obligation to tell on Shinichi to the Gaen Volunteer Army.
“Idealistic soldiers are like scientists that don’t research. In the first place, what’s so fun in yelling about another person’s ideas? All those idiots need to do is to shut up and fight, but they can’t even do something as obvious as that. And yet they’re going to turn back the hands of time? Please.”
Shirota was all alone in the darkness, but she smiled and laughed frantically all the same.
“Aha, ahahaha!! I can’t even begin to come up with a theory about something as grand as that, and yet that’s what they’re saying they’re going to do? Hah!”
She mocked them and laughed at them, but her thoughts did have a tinge of scientific basis.
After all, it is no easy feat to ‘restore’ something that has already merged.
“At this rate, I’d be better off observing the younger sister – that Teacher Doneju – instead. She’s personally connected with that guy too… Sigh, must be nice. I wish I could experiment with that guy too.”
Her expression when she said that was somewhat jealous, somewhat envious, and somewhat sulking.
The image shown on a different monitor was that of a female teacher.
A female teacher Shirota recognized as the younger sister of the discoverer of Unphotonium [1]
“Even though I’ve finally been able to prepare something I can use to observe him with.”
There was a mix of childishness and the madness of a mad scientist when she muttered that.
“But I’m glad everything turned out well in the end. A reconnaissance satellite really was what I needed.”
And to prove that, she mentioned something that she originally didn’t have.
The image shown on the screen was taken high above from the sky with a clarity that exceeded that of a normal reconnaissance satellite.
Of course, the person who made this satellite and was currently controlling it was none other than Shirota herself.
As for why she made it, the reason couldn’t be simpler.
It was because the boy she wished to study, the boy whose time was out of joint, could not be captured by the camera system of the school.
Although that wasn’t always the case, it was evident that she wouldn’t be able to see what she wanted to see by relying on the school’s systems.
None of the logs surrounding the troubles around the boy since his transfer were left.
Even his exchange with the school guide assigned to him in front of the school gate and the trouble that occurred in the cafeteria have been deleted.
She built her own devices to try and record the boy, but even those didn’t work.
‘In that case, let me try observing him from much further away.’
Other people wouldn’t think of something so ridiculous, but something on this level was common sense as far as Shirota Natsumi was concerned. And true enough, she built a reconnaissance satellite of her own, and then illegally sneaked it out into Earth’s atmosphere without anyone finding out.
The fact that she was actually able to accomplish that was exactly what made her such a terrifying woman.
“I’m glad I made it in time for today. Now, I can watch him as much as I want.”
As one might expect, not even Shinichi could notice someone watching him from a distance as far as a satellite.
On a second monitor could be seen a record and analysis of everything that Shinichi has done today.
Even the part where he controlled more than 20 monitors at the same time or defeated a giant robot with his bare arms.
The satellite was too far to pick up the sounds around him, but lip-reading software easily solved that problem.
That’s why she knew that he was planning on dealing with the Gaen Volunteer Army.
“Please do your best, ambitious fake soldiers. The more information you’re able to draw out from him, the more useful you’ll be.”
Useful as a tool to pull the curtain covering the boy known as Nakamura Shinichi, that is.
Because they had turned her into a mere bystander, without their knowing, their plans have started to walk toward its ruin, taken advantage of by none other than the bystander that they made.
But then again, even if they hadn’t turned her into a bystander, the moment he arrived, their plans were no longer possible.
Shirota knew that despite knowing nothing about the battlefield.
That was just how different that boy was. A different value, a different existence.
Or at the very least, that’s what her intuition was telling her, her intuition honed from happening into countless unknown things that made her heart throb.
That’s also why she became a bystander, or more specifically, an observer for an experiment.
“Now then, what will you do next?”
(—With all that they will have already been driven into a corner, so next…)
The boy responded as though responding to her question.
Subtitles could be seen on the video feed as he pointed to his surroundings.
(Teach, mind lending me these guys?)
On the boy’s face was a scheming smile that wouldn’t lose out to a certain someone.
[1] – Previously translated as Anfotonium.
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