Chapter 53: Gears Toward the Future
Alright, so we’d decided to investigate Ms. Kuriba—that much was clear. The problem was figuring out how exactly to go about it. She was actually in the research lab, which meant that if we wanted to make contact with her, we’d inevitably have to get inside. But—
《Shiren! We’re going in from the outside! Like I said earlier, you can bypass the security layer zones if you approach from outside! It’s time to cash in on that foreshadowing!》
《Absolutely not.》
That’s breaking and entering, Reicia-chan.
《First, we need to question our assumptions. The director did call for Ms. Kuriba and “someone” else, sure. But was she really there at the time? What if he was just talking to her over some other channel?》
《Ah.》
Exactly. We’d been talking under the assumption that there had been “someone called Ms. Kuriba” physically there, but it’s entirely possible he was in the middle of a video conference or something. And if we barged in all pumped up, we’d just end up interrupting the director and Ms. Kuriba mid-call and spending the whole time apologizing.
We’re the heads of a major faction now. A scandal like that would be unthinkable. As leaders, if we’re going to do this, we should go about it properly, head-on.
《Then what do you suggest? We have no more leads…》
《We do have a lead.》
Think back, Reicia-chan. You’ve already said it yourself—about the clue.
《……?》
《Shinshikimi Middle School, second year. Ms. Kuriba isn’t some member of a covert group, so if we trace her through her school records, we’re bound to find something.》
First Chapter: The Cooper Doesn’t Profit from the Wind – Psicopics.
Episode 44: Gears Toward the Future – Encounter.
《…No good.》
We made an appointment with Shinshikimi Middle School to check (having the faction leader connection paid off—score), but apparently Ms. Kuriba was still on leave, and her registered address hadn’t changed either.
We even tried contacting the apartment she’s registered at, but that was another dead end. Just like that, we were completely out of leads.
《…Shiren, then infiltration—》
《Absolutely not!!》
Why are you so eager to take dangerous risks?! It’s not like we’re even sure she’s the bad guy here—so far all we’ve got is a few suspicious-sounding statements!
《Then what else are we supposed to do?! At this rate, Plan B will be impossible! And besides, if they’re going so far as to falsify information to keep her confined in the research lab, that means Kuriba’s been left in limbo!》
《But what if she agreed to it?》
From the way the director spoke, it’s possible he’s hiding something from her, but she didn’t seem strongly opposed to staying there.
That’s why the director was able to placate her so easily.
And if it’s with her consent… then maybe digging into her personal background in the first place is a bad idea—from a privacy violation standpoint.
Hmm… And after all, this whole mess started with our own problem…
Let’s lay out the conditions.
Reicia-chan and I want to break off our engagement.
But to do that, we have to get my prideful fiancé, Norikaiburei, to accept it.
With Reicia-chan’s methods, it’s possible—but to avoid giving him any unnecessary leverage, it’s best done face-to-face.
However, circumstances have made it difficult for us to leave the academy city.
So, reversing the approach, we need to summon Norikaiburei here instead.
To do that, we need the cooperation of Kuriba Ryōko, an influential figure in his ongoing project.
But we can’t track Kuriba Ryōko’s whereabouts.
And on top of that, the research lab is hiding something about her location.
《…Hmm, laying it out is fine, but it doesn’t really get us anywhere…》
All we’ve figured out is that while we were trying to reach her for our own reasons, something else entirely was happening on their end.
And we don’t even know whether that’s good or bad for us. If only we could learn her situation, we could decide whether to abandon Plan B or push forward—but right now, we’ve got nothing.
《Wait, Shiren.》
Hm? Sounds like Reicia-chan thought of something.
《Wouldn’t this be solved if I just sent Kuriba an email?》
…Oh.
I—I’m an idiot!!
Right! I’d gotten so hung up on the fact that the director was clearly hiding something that I’d convinced myself there was no way to contact her anymore—but Reicia-chan has been emailing her this whole time!
If nothing else, we should check in that way first to see if she’s okay! I completely overlooked that!
I messed up… totally wasted my time. Well, as for the email, I’ll just leave it to Reicia-chan… I’m still curious about the director and the others, but if we get a normal reply like this, that means there’s probably nothing to worry about.
Actually, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just confirm directly with Kuriba-san.
《Ah, the reply’s here》
《That fast!?》
Leaving aside Reicia-chan, who smugly says, “Well, I am one of the top patrons of this research institute, you know. It’s only natural the researchers wouldn’t treat me poorly,” I check the contents of the email.
Reicia-chan’s message basically said, “I’d like to arrange an official meeting with my fiancé, so please act as the contact person for that.” And Kuriba-san’s reply was—
“Understood. I can’t spare much time, but is there anything we need to discuss in advance?”
A surprisingly casual response.
《…Guess that settles it》
Sure, there’s still something that doesn’t quite sit right with me… But seeing how she replied to our email and even seems willing to set up a meeting, it really does seem like our worry that she might’ve been caught up in some kind of incident was just overthinking on our part.
《Hmm, I still can’t shake this uneasy feeling》
《Reicia-chan, the world’s not full of incidents, you know》
Though Kamijou-san seems to get caught up in something almost daily. But if we use that as our baseline, we’d just end up being too on edge over nothing. Since there are two minds in here, we need to keep each other balanced.
《Well, fine. This should mean Plan B will go smoothly for now. Now then… how’s our schedule looking again?》
《Let’s see… next Monday after school should be free. I think the rest is filled with development-related stuff》
《Hmm. In that case, shall we tell them to pencil us in for next Monday?》
Just then, the screen on the device displaying Kuriba-san’s email switched over to an incoming call screen.
《Whoa》
《Talk about bad timing… Oh, it’s Yumetsuki. I wonder what this is about》
While I’m still startled by the sudden screen change, Reicia-chan calmly operates the device and answers the call. Yumetsuki-san’s voice on the other end sounds flustered.
“Hello? Yumetsuki-san, is something wrong?”
I open with that to help calm her down. Sure enough, she blurts out,
“Ah—uh—! Reicia—no, Shiren-san!? You’d better calm down and listen to me, okay!?”
“Yumetsuki, you’re the one who needs to calm down first.”
Reicia-chan coolly fires back, but Yumetsuki-san’s voice is still brimming with agitation.
“HOW am I supposed to calm down right now!? That Shokuhou Misaki just applied for a meeting!!!”
…Wait, what???
After that, we hurried straight back to one of the reservation-only café terraces that the GMDW members use as a hangout spot.
Even though it was Saturday, every single member of the faction was already there.
Well, that just shows how unusual this situation is.
Truth be told, Reicia-chan and Shokuhou-san don’t exactly have the best relationship.
Back in the day, Reicia-chan had a tendency to show open hostility toward people who outshone her in some way. Naturally, that meant their impression of her was bad, and—since Reicia-chan tended to wield the power of her “faction” freely—Shokuhou-san found her troublesome too. At the very least, they weren’t in the kind of “looks like they’re good friends from the outside” friendly relationship that she has with Mikoto-san.
Even so, since they were both leaders of large factions, Shokuhou-san had never once directly warned her off before… so why now? That’s the question that comes first to mind.
It’s hard to imagine she’d suddenly try to approach us now based on old intel from back when our faction was on the verge of falling apart…
Well, in any case, we won’t know for sure unless we hear about the situation at the time.
“So then.”
Holding a cup of high-quality tea—so good you could tell from the aroma alone—Reicia-chan opened the discussion.
At the same table were Yumetsuki-san, Rinka-san, and, as their successors currently in training, Kiryu-san and Amiya-san.
Kiryu-san is a fellow second-year student. Her hobby is tinkering with machines, and thanks to her interest in industrial processing techniques, she joined GMDW.
Amiya-san is a first-year. She’s a bit clumsy, but a genuinely good-natured girl. If I recall correctly, her main research focus is elasticity.
The rest of the members were seated at other tables, but their eyes were still fixed on us, listening intently.
“Shokuhou Misaki approached us, you say. Could you please tell me exactly what happened at the time?”
“Y-yes! Today, as part of preparing materials for next month’s regular presentation, several members were using a lab at Tokiwadai, and that’s when Hokaze-san showed up—!”
《Hokaze…?》
《She’s number two in Shokuhou’s faction. Well, unlike the figurehead number one, there are rumors she’s the one who actually manages the faction in practice.》
Man, it’d be nice if we could arrange things like that in our group too…
《…Shiren?》
《U-hem. Let’s hear the rest.》
Rinka-san continued her report.
“She said—well, Shokuhou-san said—that she wanted to speak with Reicia-san directly… At the time, the only ones present were myself, Tsunemi-san, and several other members, so we just took the message for now…”
“That’s fine. They went out of their way to show up on a weekend. I doubt they expect much more than that. …Still, it is curious. To send the number two of their faction on a weekend, and even give us room to consider our response… That’s an approach that gives us all the advantage.”
After taking a sip of tea, Reicia-chan put her finger to her chin in thought.
Hmm… I’m not really sure what exactly she’s concerned about, but yeah, the fact they chose to make this approach on a weekend is curious.
Does that mean it’s urgent? Or maybe they just didn’t want the fact of the approach itself to stand out too much? After all, on a Saturday or Sunday, there’s a lower chance of other students noticing.
“…In any case, I forbid any of you to speak about this for now. It would be troublesome if people started poking around because of the supposed connection to the ‘largest faction.’”
“R-right, understood! Is everyone else fine with that too?”
Naturally, no one in the faction objected, and everyone agreed without hesitation.
As for the concrete date for the meeting—
“I figured, since I’d heard Monday was the next day Reicia would be free, I went ahead and told them to shift it to then. Was that a problem?”
…Ah.
That means the meeting with Kuriba Ryoko-san will end up being pushed back until sometime after next week…
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