[Reporting to the Director, a signal was just transmitted from Sister. It was intercepted by an unknown party for ten minutes, but has now been restored.]
"Is it Hacker?"
Westcott asked calmly, not feeling the slightest bit surprised.
[Based on the thods used, we can confirm it is Hacker.]
Hearing the reply from his subordinate, Westcott nodded with great satisfaction.
"Excellent. Thank you for your hard work this late at night. Get so good rest now."
[Y-Yes, sir—]
A flattered voice ca through the communicator. Westcott smiled slightly, stood up from his office chair, and stretched comfortably. He seed to be in a very good mood.
"The moon is truly beautiful! On such a wonderful night, my dear Ellen, would you care to open a bottle of champagne and admire it with ?"
"Ike. It's cloudy today."
Looking at her boss flirting with a cloud covered night sky, Ellen corrected him without changing her expression.
"Also, do not drink in the workspace."
"It was a joke, of course, Ellen. A person needs to have a sense of humor~"
Westcott shrugged lightly. His dead eyes narrowed slightly, looking out into the pitch black night sky with interest, as if a bright full moon were actually hanging there.
"Is it really okay? Hacker discovering what we did to Sister?"
Seeing Westcott's relaxed and carefree attitude, Ellen couldn't help but ask out of concern.
"It's fine. In fact, if she hadn't found out, it wouldn't be any fun at all."
A delighted smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and Westcott answered very casually.
"As long as 'Hacker' isn't an idiot, she absolutely won't make a move. Ellen, I'm counting on you tomorrow."
"Of course, I am the strongest Wizard."
Ellen replied in an unquestionable tone.
"Truly reliable."
After an appreciative sigh, Westcott turned around and sat down at his desk.
On his desk, a chessboard was currently set up.
"Then—let the ga begin."
Saying this, Westcott picked up the black King and moved it forward.
——————————————
December 31st, 7:30 AM, Tengu Square.
The doors of the stadium slowly opened, and nurous participating circle mbers marched in orderly fashion into the main hall.
Comic Con—a massive doujinshi convention held twice a year, in sumr and winter respectively. Spanning a three-day schedule, it is a major event gathering manga and ani fans from all over the country. Although conditions vary every year, it's said that over 500,000 attendees gather in total over the three days.
With such a large-scale event, the number of circles setting up stalls was naturally as nurous as hairs on a cow. A long queue slowly extended into the venue. The marching footsteps sounded like the rumbling of the earth, making it feel as if the entire venue was vibrating.
Following the surge of the crowd, after almost an hour, Shido and the others—Circle Ratatoskr—finally arrived inside the venue.
"Whoa—so big!"
Looking around, Tohka's eyes sparkled, and she shouted in excitent.
"Shido, Shido—where are we going next?"
"Wait a minute—let check the map."
Unfolding the map distributed at the venue, Shido checked the nas on it against the surrounding signposts to confirm their stall's location.
"Our stall is over in the East Hall. Tohka, this way."
"Oh—let's go, everyone."
After answering energetically, Tohka pushed an extra-large handcart and walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Shido.
"That's right—keep up that montum! Tohka-chan!"
"Let's... go..."
"...zZ."
On the handcart, besides the cardboard boxes filled with printed doujinshi, Yamai Yuzuru, Yamai Kaguya, Natsumi, Tobiichi Origami, and Izayoi Miku were leaning against each other, breathing softly in sweet slumber. Even on the very shaky handcart, they showed no signs of waking up. anwhile, Yoshino, along with Yoshinon, held a wooden sign that read "Overworked circle mbers, no photos allowed," following Shido with small steps.
There were so many things to comnt on that it was hard to know where to start.
"Ahaha..."
Feeling the strange glances from the surroundings, Shido really couldn't muster any expression other than a dry laugh at this point.
Well, the reason behind this wasn't actually very complicated. After all, the manuscript-rushing group had expended the most energy over these past few days. Up until today, besides Origami who barely managed to gather on ti, the others were practically dead to the world in their beds. It took Shido a massive amount of effort to wake them up.
But even so, they remained drowsy the entire way. As a result, while waiting in line for the venue doors to open, Shido discovered that Natsumi and the others had fallen asleep standing up.
He didn't have the heart to forcefully wake them up again, so Tohka volunteered. She asked the staff for a handcart and pushed everyone into the venue.
Although Shido felt bad that Tohka was pushing the handcart all by herself while he was empty-handed, the reality was that when he tried to take over, even using all his strength, the handcart didn't budge an inch.
Understanding that trying to act cool was pointless, Shido obediently took the map and assud the role of navigator.
"By the way, Miku... why are you on the handcart too?"
Shido looked at Miku on the handcart with a sweatdrop. Right now, our idol had the nightmare stricken Natsumi in her lap, her arms wrapped around the Yamai sisters, her back resting against Origami (who was currently having a staring contest with Tohka), wearing an expression of extre bliss as if she were ascending to heaven.(TL:dawg miku really is preying on natsumi a lot)
Even though she had disguised herself so there was no need to worry about being recognized, Shido couldn't help but wonder what Miku's fans would think if they saw this scene.
"Hah~ Is this heaven? Darling, don't be shy, co sit with us."
"No, I'll pass."
Shido smiled bitterly and waved his hand to decline.
Miku was one thing, but for a guy like him to sit on Tohka's handcart, that would be completely improper. Shido didn't want to be killed by the public's glares.
"Onii-chan, over here, over here."
Finally arriving at the East Hall where their stall was, Shido saw Kotori, who had arrived earlier, waving and calling out to them.
"Phew... we're finally here."
What an incredibly long journey. Shido let out a long sigh of relief. Honestly, making it this far, he felt his skin had grown a bit thicker.
"Leave the setup work to and the Ratatoskr personnel. Everyone, go rest backstage first."
After swiftly arranging everything, Kotori walked up to Shido and lowered her voice.
"Onii-chan, co with for a mont."
"Mhm."
Shido nodded gently and followed Kotori into a passageway exclusively for staff.
After confirming no one was passing by, Kotori took off her white ribbons, replaced them with the black ribbons from her pocket, put a Chupa Chups in her mouth, and entered Commander mode.
"Regarding what happened last night, I got the gist of it from Reine this morning. About DEM taking action today, and the chip inside Nia's brain, is all of this true?"
Wearing a serious expression, Kotori asked Shido for confirmation.
"Yes. It's all true."
Shido answered calmly.
Because of Yutsuki's request, Reine and Shido didn't ntion a word about the "Future Glimpse" ability when reporting to Kotori. It wasn't that they wanted to exclude Kotori and the others, it was just that—"saw a future that is absolutely unchangeable"—even if they confessed this to Kotori, she might not necessarily believe it. And even if she did, it wouldn't have any effect other than dealing a blow to their morale.
Therefore, what Reine conveyed to Kotori was a different version of events. Of course, strictly speaking, this version wasn't a lie either.
—————————
Back in ti
"A chip?"
Hearing Yutsuki's words, Shido couldn't help but ask in confusion.
[Mhm. Just before talking to you guys, I took advantage of Nia falling asleep to do so investigation. I can confirm that a specially made chip using Realizer technology from DEM has been embedded in Nia's brain.]
"Is that chip the direct cause of Nia's inversion tomorrow?"
[Exactly.]
Shido tried to deduce. To this, Yutsuki on the phone gave an affirmative reply.
"Mhm... if it's a chanical chip, couldn't you use your Ratziel to deal with it, Yutsuki? Hack into it like you always do."
Shido suggested. However, what he got in return was a very exasperated, long sigh from Yutsuki.
[Shido, are you an idiot? I'm a hacker, not a surgeon. How could I possibly deal with a chip installed inside a brain? That requires specialized knowledge and equipnt.]
"Ugh..."
Shido was montarily at a loss for words.
[Of course, if we're talking about forcibly destroying it, it's not impossible for . As long as I press the back of Nia's head and give it a few zaps, the price is that there's an over 80% chance Nia will be paralyzed in all four limbs, turning into a disabled person who can't even speak. There's also a 10% chance the power isn't adjusted right and her entire brain turns to ash...]
"I understand! I was wrong! Just pretend I didn't say anything, Yutsuki!"
Just imagining it made him shudder. Shido put his hands together in apology.
"A chip in the brain... if it's Ratatoskr's technology, it should be possible to remove it... but the Fraxinus is at headquarters undergoing modifications, and the equipnt in the underground facility is still under repair... neither can be used in a short period of ti."
Reine pondered for a mont, then shook her head regretfully.
[Actually. Even if we deal with that chip, I'm afraid it won't solve the problem of Nia's inversion. On the contrary, it will only make it happen sooner.]
"Yutsuki, why do you say that?"
Shido asked, confused.
[Shido, do you rember Nia saying 'I don't have mories of the ti I was imprisoned by DEM'.]
"Mhm. I rember."
[The key to triggering a Spirit's inversion is despair. Then what kind of abuse do you think Nia suffered staying at DEM, an organization whose goal is to make Spirits invert?]
"—!?"
Seemingly realizing sothing, Shido's pupils contracted sharply, and his hands unconsciously clenched into fists.
Before eting them, Nia had already fallen into a despair sufficient to cause an inversion.
[Returning to the previous topic, I'm afraid the function of this chip is to seal the mories of what happened to Nia over these five years, allowing her to maintain a normal psychological state to communicate with us and live like a normal person.]
Yutsuki continued to explain.
"I see... even if we found out, it doesn't matter... because we can't touch it at all... is that what you an."
[Exactly.]
Hearing this, both Reine and Shido understood Yutsuki's aning.
The chip in Nia's brain wasn't a catalyst pushing her to invert; on the contrary, it was the lock suppressing her inversion. Acting rashly would be no different from digging their own graves.
[This chip has both remote control and automatic tir settings... Even if I block the radio communication, it will automatically destroy itself at the designated ti... Tch... Westcott's move... is even more troubleso than I imagined.]
Saying this, Yutsuki clicked her tongue in frustration.
Without a doubt, this was an open conspiracy aid at Ryougi Yutsuki.
Even Yutsuki felt helpless. For the first ti, Shido realized just how unfathomably deep this man Westcott was.
"But, since they already made Nia invert. Why go out of their way to seal Nia's mories?"
Shido asked in confusion. According to Yutsuki, DEM had actually already achieved their goal, so why bother with this extra step?
[Who knows... only God knows what's going on in that psycho's head. Maybe he just thought it would be fun. If I have to pursue a reason... I suspect Honjou Nia's inversion is probably incomplete.]
"Incomplete?"
[It's similar to the principle of boiling a frog in warm water.]
If you put a frog in cold water and heat it slowly, the frog will beco numb to the subtle temperature changes and head towards death without any resistance.
Conversely, if you throw a frog into boiling hot water, it won't be able to stand the high temperature and will struggle desperately in the pot.
[And the frog Westcott wants is probably the latter.]
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