After the Symboli duo both collapsed on the sofa, Kitahara had originally planned to stay and watch over them until they recovered enough to return to normal.
But after he had been there for a while, a call ca in from Chairwoman Akikawa. He wanted to stay with them, but after listening to the situation she described over the phone and looking at the ssages on his own phone, Kitahara fell silent for a mont. Then he turned and explained the situation to the two of them.
"Sothing rather serious has happened. The Chairwoman is calling over, so I may have to leave early..."
As he spoke, Kitahara showed them his phone screen. The number-one trending search displayed on it, "Unscrupulous Trainer Kitahara," instantly made both of them realize just how serious the matter was.
"Then go. I... Once I recover a little more, I'll go too."
Rudolf, who had recovered slightly—at least enough to make basic movents—climbed up from the sofa. Although her body was still sowhat weak, and she did want to cling to Kitahara for a little longer, she understood the weight of the situation. She nodded and let him leave. After he was gone, she tremblingly locked the door, then picked up her phone and contacted Speed Symboli.
On the other side, after receiving the ssage, Kitahara quickly rushed to the Chairwoman's office. When he pushed the door open and entered, the trio inside were seated around the desk, staring at the screen as if facing a great enemy. Once he arrived, they all turned to look at him at the sa ti.
"Ergency! Trainer Kitahara, co look at this."
Seeing that Kitahara had arrived, Yayoi Akikawa hurriedly pulled him over and had him sit beside her to look at the screen in front of them. Displayed on it were the various discussions and attacks against him that had suddenly erupted.
It was not as though similar situations had never occurred before. There had been the articles saring Kitahara, and even earlier, the discussions about him caused by Neicha's running style.
The problem was that compared to the scale of today's wave of public opinion, those previous sars and attacks against him could practically be called a gentle drizzle. The magnitude was on a completely different level.
And it was not only discussion and attacks. After public opinion fernted to a certain point, people had already begun reporting him to Tracen and the URA, even launching joint petitions requesting that Kitahara be dismissed.
If this had been the old Kitahara, he probably would have laughed himself awake in his dreams upon encountering sothing like this. After all, according to his previous plan, he had only ant to spend three years as a Trainer, make enough money, then find an opportunity to slip away.
And although it had not yet been three years, because the number of Umamusu under him had increased, because their results had exceeded expectations, and because of various inco outside of races, he had already surpassed his original goal. He could absolutely take this opportunity to run, vanish under a new na, and live the plain, quiet life he had once longed for.
But now, he had no intention of doing that. He had not even had the slightest thought of it.
Perhaps it was out of a Trainer's responsibility. Perhaps it was because of his affection for them. Or perhaps it was because of the "accidents" that had happened before.
In any case, Kitahara did not intend to abandon them and run, nor did he intend to take this chance to extricate himself.
"The situation has beco rather serious..."
Tazuna Hayakawa looked at Kitahara, the worry in her eyes extrely obvious.
"Trainer Kitahara, do you really not need our help? If this continues, you may be in real danger..."
Faced with Tazuna Hayakawa's concern, Kitahara did not answer imdiately. After a mont of thought, he opened his phone and pulled up what could be called the most central group chat within the camp attacking him.
Just as he expected, after public opinion erupted, the group had instantly beco lively. All kinds of congratulatory ssages and attacks against him kept flooding the screen. Yet as Kitahara watched those ssages, there was not the slightest sadness on his face. The corners of his mouth even lifted faintly.
"Trainer Kitahara, are you... all right?"
Riko Kashimoto looked at him worriedly.
"I'm fine. If anything, I'm doing wonderfully right now..."
Kitahara raised his head, looked at the other three, and gave them a confident smile.
"Don't worry, I haven't gone mad. This incident is indeed sowhat troubleso for , but on the other hand, it's also an opportunity. An opportunity for to find those Black Market mbers..."
"...What?"
Hearing Kitahara's words, the trio froze, unable to understand the connection between the two things for a mont.
In truth, never mind them not being able to think of it. Even when Kitahara himself had first co up with this plan, he had felt it was sowhat ridiculous. So far, he had only ntioned it to Kudou-san, and after hearing his plan, the latter's expression had also turned subtle.
As for the specific contents of the plan...
"Although there's no definitive evidence yet, according to clues provided by my inside source in the Black Market, this wave of public opinion against should have been initiated by Black Market mbers."
"Logically speaking, as soone who has ruined many of their plans, I should be hated to the bone by them. But very strangely, according to what I've heard, those people like very much. Apparently, when they have nothing better to do, the Black Market even buys and sells rchandise of ..."
"Based on that, we can draw one conclusion: although those people launched this operation against , they themselves do not hate ."
"In fact, if it weren't for so particular objective, they might have been on the opposite side from those people. It's only because of the plan that they had no choice but to get involved in this operation and act as the hidden force pushing it along."
"Then right now, after the plan has succeeded, ordinary people who dislike should be very happy. At the very least, they should be showing off their foresight to others and attacking even more."
"But those Black Market mbers are exactly the opposite. After completing their task, even if they don't cut contact with those people on the spot, they at least won't be very happy. Forget becoming more active in their speech—they may even speak less than usual..."
"In other words, to put it as simply as possible, under the current circumstances, the less soone sars and attacks , the more likely they are to be a Black Market mber."
As he spoke, Kitahara contacted "GraspVictory" and asked her to help record the people who were not attacking him right now, especially those whose behavior differed greatly from usual. He planned to investigate them properly afterward.
"Trainer Kitahara, this thod of yours..."
"I know. It does sound strange, but there's a high chance it will work."
Kitahara nodded, then added,
"Besides, those people's ability to hide themselves is simply too strong. I've been dealing with them for more than ten years now, but so far, I've only found one mber who practically exposed herself to on her own initiative, and she's also currently my only inside source in the Black Market..."
"If we don't use an unexpected thod like this, and instead use normal investigation, then I'm afraid this ti will end up like the Black Forest incident before. After the entire affair ends, all we'll be able to find are a few traces that they once existed, and then we'll go back to playing cat and mouse with them again..."
"I also know what you want to ask. You don't need to ask. I can answer directly. This public opinion storm was part of my plan from the beginning. It is the core elent of this sting operation, and also the main reason I kept stopping you from intervening before. I can even tell you that behind this matter, I have people of my own pushing things along too..."
All part of his plan?
Hearing Kitahara say that, the other three let out a breath of relief. After exchanging glances, they looked at him and spoke.
"Then, Trainer Kitahara, we understand your plan. After this, what do you intend to do? Is there anything you need us to coordinate with?"
Hearing that question, Kitahara blinked.
"After what?"
Seeing Kitahara's reaction, an ominous feeling instantly rose in the trio's hearts.
"After you identify those Black Market mbers, how do you intend to handle this public opinion storm and restore your reputation...?"
"Oh, that."
Kitahara shook his head and said calmly,
"I don't plan to handle that—and there's no need to."
It was not that Kitahara had given up struggling. Rather, he understood very clearly that after letting public opinion fernt to this point, forget Tracen or the Umamusu families; unless the Three Goddesses themselves ca down and altered humanity's collective cognition, this matter was basically impossible to handle.
If this had been earlier, before the matter had fernted so severely, he could have asked the URA and Tracen to suppress those articles saring him, then made so clarifications and stopped the matter before it began.
But now, this matter had already reached number one on the trending searches. And judging by the level of discussion, it had already beco a national-level incident. Forget Tracen; even if the JP governnt were dragged into this, it would be hard to say whether they could suppress it.
Moreover, taking a step back, even if it were suppressed and the information online were locked down, people's mories would not simply disappear.
No matter how thoroughly it was blocked, it would probably take several generations for those mories to pass. In the anti, such actions would also greatly damage the authority and image of the forces helping him, and might even shake society's trust as a whole.
As for clarification...
If clarification worked, there would not be so many rumors in the world.
Human beings possessed sothing called "inertia of thought." Once their first impression had settled on sothing, it beca very difficult to change it afterward.
This was especially true for sothing like making people admit that the person they had just been insulting was actually a good person—sothing nearly equivalent to slapping themselves in the face. That was even harder.
Even if it succeeded, there was no way everyone would change. Most likely, people would be torn into two camps, with their opposition to each other growing more and more extre.
Compared with those potentially severe consequences, the resignation of one small Trainer seed utterly insignificant.
Of course, that did not an Kitahara wanted to use this chance to escape. It was just that, given his relationship with Tracen and the URA, it would not be difficult to arrange a resignation on the surface, place the team under Komata-san or Karai Risa's na, and then continue taking care of the girls as usual in private.
And if they truly did that, the people outside would feel proud of having "executed justice," Tracen and the URA could use the "punishnt of an unscrupulous Trainer" to strengthen their own authority, and he could use the opportunity to dig out the Black Market mbers. Aside from shouldering so infamy, there would be no practical impact...
At least, Kitahara felt that this plan was quite worth it.
What puzzled him, however, was that after he finished explaining his considerations and intentions, the three across from him did not imdiately nod as he had expected. Instead, the way they looked at him changed.
Tazuna Hayakawa in particular was still smiling on the surface, but at so point, her hands at her sides had clenched into fists, her knuckles faintly white.
"Trainer Kitahara, don't you think there's sothing wrong with this plan of yours...?"
"I admit, this plan is sowhat fanciful, but the problem is that this is the plan with the highest chance of success that I can offer right now..."
"You..."
"Hayakawa!"
Chairwoman Akikawa suddenly waved her folding fan, blocking Tazuna Hayakawa's face. Then she raised her head and looked at Kitahara.
"All right, Trainer Kitahara. We understand your plan now. If I'm not mistaken, you still need to investigate the identities of those Black Market mbers next, and you likely have quite a lot to do. Go take care of your work first..."
"Mm. See you later, then."
Just as Yayoi Akikawa had said, Kitahara did indeed still have many things to handle right now. So after she spoke, he nodded and left.
Only after he had departed did Yayoi Akikawa sigh and lower the fan that had been hiding Tazuna Hayakawa's angry expression.
"I understand. I know you're angry at him for acting with such disregard for himself, Hayakawa. And it isn't only you. I have a headache right now too. But anger won't solve anything..."
"Chairwoman..."
"Enough!"
With another flick of her folding fan, Yayoi Akikawa interrupted Tazuna Hayakawa. The word "Serious" had appeared on the fan in her hand.
"I know what you want to say, Hayakawa. Tracen will not abandon Trainer Kitahara, and there is no way we will allow this situation to continue developing unchecked."
"He has his plan, but we have our own actions to take. Since he only wants to care about others and refuses to take responsibility for himself, then we'll handle this matter for him."
"However, with a situation this serious, I'm afraid the three of us alone won't be able to deal with it. We need more helpers and companions..."
After a pause, Yayoi Akikawa snapped her folding fan shut with a sharp swish, a trace of authority showing between her brows.
"Hayakawa, go call over the Umamusu under that idiot's na, as well as everyone who has a 'relationship' with him—you know what I an."
She paused again, seeming to rember sothing, then added,
"Oh, right. Rember to call that 'Eclipse-san' too."
"I have so information here. She should be interested."
...
Side Story: Him and Her
—Several years ago.
"You're leaving again?"
Eclipse asked, watching Kitahara hurry back and forth in front of her, packing luggage that looked more like scrap than belongings.
"Mm."
Kitahara nodded as he packed.
"The problems here are mostly solved. If I stay any longer, it'll probably be hard to keep trading help for food. It's about ti to leave..."
"You're not going to say goodbye?"
Kitahara paused. Then he shook his head and continued packing.
"I think I'll pass. I don't really like that kind of atmosphere. And you know . I'm not that decisive. If sothing happens during the farewell, whether I'd still be able to leave would be a problem."
"Wouldn't it be better to stay?"
Eclipse walked over, hopped lightly onto a suitcase near him, and looked at him with faint confusion.
"I rember you saying you wanted a peaceful, normal life. If you stayed, then with your abilities, and the way those people treat you, you should be able to live the kind of life you want here. If you were willing, there are plenty of families who would adopt you too..."
Kitahara did not answer Eclipse's question. He only continued packing his luggage, as though he had not heard anything at all.
Many years later, a certain soone would often complain that Eclipse always spoke in riddles, and that he could never understand what she was thinking.
But in truth, several years before that, he had been like that in many ways too. To so extent, Eclipse's habit of speaking in riddles had actually been influenced by him.
Once the packing was done, Kitahara gave half the luggage to Eclipse. Then, just as they had done many tis before, after night spread over the land, he walked out of the house.
He closed the door, placed a farewell note in a conspicuous spot, then picked up his luggage and slowly set off toward the unknown distance.
Neither of them said much along the way.
It was not only because Eclipse was naturally quiet. It was also because Kitahara did not seem to be in a good mood either.
Many years later, whenever Kitahara spoke of all those partings, he always sounded very casual. Sotis, it even made people wonder whether he had any concept of parting at all, and more than once, he angered the nostalgic Umamusu because of it.
But perhaps only Eclipse knew just how quiet this man, who usually liked muttering to himself at her, beca on the road every ti he left.
He was nowhere near as open-minded as he appeared.
Only she knew that.
Thinking that, Eclipse gazed at the back in front of her. After a mont, she quickened her pace slightly.
"...What are you doing?"
Feeling arms wrap around his waist, Kitahara stopped and turned back in confusion, looking at Eclipse, who had suddenly hugged him from behind for so reason.
She did not answer.
She raised her head and looked at him calmly.
What is this...?
After looking at each other for a while, Kitahara still could not figure out what she ant. But he did not dwell on it too much. After all, this was hardly the first ti she had done sothing he could not understand.
"Are you tired? Then let's rest here for a while."
Counting carefully, several hours had already passed since the two of them set out. The moon was hanging in the middle of the sky. It was indeed about ti to rest.
They made camp and settled in.
Because they had plenty of experience, a simple tent was set up in a little over ten minutes. In the clearing in front of the tent, a small pot had also been placed, with a little carrot and canned at bubbling inside.
It was a very crude al. Kitahara looked troubled as he ate it, and even Eclipse's brows furrowed slightly.
"How about you learn to cook soday?"
For certain reasons, Kitahara was not very willing to enter a kitchen. In fact, one could even say he was sowhat resistant to cooking, so he had never learned anything related to it. Whenever he went out, he basically alternated between compressed rations and canned at.
Faced with Kitahara's question, Eclipse gave no response as usual. She only looked at the little pot bubbling in front of her, no one knew what she was thinking.
After the al, once they had cleaned up the area and confird that the fire was completely extinguished, Kitahara yawned, his eyelids beginning to droop.
Ti to rest.
He thought that, then looked toward Eclipse, intending to call her to sleep. But when he looked over, he found her raising her head and gazing at the stars in the sky, with no trace of sleepiness on her face. After thinking for a mont, he decided to stay outside with her for a while first.
"What are you looking at?"
Kitahara sat beside her, raised his head, and looked at the stars in the sky.
Originally, Kitahara had only asked casually. He had not expected her to answer.
But to his surprise, after a brief silence, Eclipse actually answered his question.
"My future."
She replied calmly.
Kitahara froze.
Her future?
Kitahara swept his gaze across the sky and blinked.
So this kid believes in constellations and stuff like that? Maybe that could be a breakthrough...
What Kitahara did not know, however, was that although Eclipse was looking up at the sky and seed to be gazing at the stars, she could not see the stars at all. She could not even see the moon.
Because in her field of vision, the entire night sky, everywhere her gaze could reach, was covered by a jellyfish-like substance. Illusory, ethereal, layered upon itself, constantly dancing, it shrouded the sky like white gauze.
And if one looked more closely, one would discover that these faint, unreal substances had fallen from the higher firmant. Sowhere even farther above, sothing seed to be pulling them, while also constantly producing and maintaining them.
Or, one could also call them "rules."
At present, there were three such sources. But in the not-too-distant future, perhaps there would be four.
It was difficult to say what Eclipse thought of this. Perhaps even she herself was not entirely clear on how she felt.
Only, on this night, as she gazed at the gods above the firmant, Eclipse inexplicably thought of sothing she had heard recently.
For every hundred ters of altitude gained, the temperature dropped by 0.6 degrees Celsius.
Then, so high above the ground, would it be very cold?
Perhaps, when she went up, she should wear a few more layers?
Looking at the sky, she grew a little lost in thought.
But just as her thoughts wandered, a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around her from behind. Then they tightened slightly, pulling her into an embrace.
"The temperature's been dropping lately. It's fine to look at the stars, but rember to wear more clothes..."
He held her in his arms and nagged at her, looking just like a mother hen.
She did not respond. Only after coming back to herself did she indeed feel a faint chill.
With her constitution, this sort of temperature change basically would not affect her. But feeling the lingering coolness at her fingertips, she looked at the firmant and suddenly spoke.
"If it's already this chilly on the ground, is it even colder up in the sky?"
Faced with her sudden question, although he did not quite understand what she ant, Kitahara still answered as soon as he reacted.
"Definitely. Didn't you just learn about this before? For every hundred ters of altitude gained, the temperature drops by 0.6 degrees Celsius. And if you go too high, without the protection of the atmosphere, the temperature difference between day and night gets even bigger. It's unbearably hot when it's hot, and unbearably cold when it's cold..."
No answer.
Eclipse remained calmly looking up at the sky, as though she had never asked that question at all, and gave no further reaction.
Kitahara, as always, did not press her. He only held her and accompanied her in looking at the stars above.
A cool breeze drifted by.
In a corner Kitahara did not notice, the small body in his arms curled in a little closer and leaned her head against his chest. Gazing at the haze in the sky, a strange light flashed through the depths of her eyes.
Suddenly, she did not really want to go up there anymore.
Because the sky was too cold.
But his arms were very warm.
---
bonus chaps
200 stones -> 1 chapter
400 stones -> 2 chapters
600 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
hehe every 100 followers on either instagram or twitter is a bonus chapter...?
patreon/wisetl
instagram: hanbaowise
twitter: WiseKingOfUruk_
User Comments
0 comments from readers