Chapter 69: Signal of Counterattack

“‘An attack’... you say?”

I couldn’t help but echo Konagi-san’s words.

Her statement — ‘Could this “scandal”... actually be someone’s at-tack?’

It wasn’t something I could outright dismiss. This information was far too damaging to us. But... to be honest, wasn’t it stranger that we’d managed to keep it hidden until now? That’s how I felt about it, at least.

Most likely, the higher-ups at Tokiwadai had been doing some maneuvering behind the scenes. And maybe... it just so happened that their cover slipped at this exact timing.

No—more importantly.

Attack or not, in this situation... does it even matter?

Reicia-chan’s suicide attempt had been exposed to the public, and because of that, Tokiwadai—and by extension, everyone in GMDW—was bound to face relentless condemnation until they suffered a kind of “social death.”
What we needed to be thinking about was how to minimize the damage and protect GMDW.

Everyone was already carrying more guilt than they should over this as it was...

...Hm?

...No, just now, when I said that—something felt off. Something... at the very root of it, something doesn’t add up...

“Konagi. Continue.”

Sensing that I was getting caught up on the source of my unease, Reicia-chan urged Konagi-san to go on.

Konagi-san nodded, then began speaking again.

“The first time I felt something was off... was about a week after I first learned about Reicia-san.”

Then she suddenly realized something.

“Ah—just to clarify, I only found out about Reicia-san after the second semester started! A-and also, within our faction, the first ones to know about it were me and Chido-san—”

“K-K-Konagi-san.”

Flustered and stammering, Konagi-san was stopped when Chido-san gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

And with just one sentence:

“...Calm down. It’s alright.”

──After that, Konagi-san managed to continue her story smoothly.

Summarizing her testimony, it went like this.

──September 2nd.

Amiya Konagi first learned about Reicia Blackguard’s suicide attempt that afternoon, during Ability Development.

She was with her senior, Kiryu Chido, undergoing data collection at the research facility when one of the researchers casually mentioned it—like sharing a rumor—that Reicia had attempted suicide sometime around July.

At first, she thought, No way.

To Chido, of course, but also to Amiya, Reicia Blackguard was the very symbol of strength. Precisely because they were always watching her up close, her power was etched into their minds even more vividly than that of Tokiwadai’s two resident Level 5 espers who reigned at the top.

And yet, because the source was a researcher affiliated with a Blackguard Conglomerate subsidiary, the story carried an unsettling weight of credibility.

Terrified, the two consulted with Shika and Ennai. After some discussion, they decided that whether it was true or false, revealing it would only harm Reicia—and so they resolved to suppress it.

…However, even after that, the whispers from other members who went to the research facility did not stop. Within five days, the rumor of Reicia’s suicide attempt had reached every member of their faction.

Most of them were shaken, frightened, overwhelmed by the gravity of what had supposedly happened. Because the rumor had spread from so many angles, fear overtook them: What if it leaked to the public at any moment? Their minds became fixated on how to atone for their guilt toward Reicia instead.

But—here lay one colossal inconsistency.

Why hadn’t this rumor spread any further?

Because think about it. Isn’t it strange?

Amiya and Kiryu heard it on September 2nd. Within less than five days, all ten members of the faction knew.

So then—why had it not spread to anyone else until the very day of the Daihaseisai?

There is no locking people’s mouths.

If we assume the only reason the rumor hadn’t leaked was because Tokiwadai’s upper management had been covering it up, then once that cover was bypassed—once it reached Amiya and Kiryu—that cover should have lost all effectiveness.

And yet, the fact that the information stopped dead within GMDW can only mean one thing:

The person who spread this “rumor” never intended for it to go public.

──They intended to spread it only to the members of GMDW.

So then, let’s take the next step.

From September 2nd onward, someone deliberately fed this rumor to GMDW. For what purpose? And by what method?

Let me make this clear: finding the answers to these questions is impossible. No matter the conclusion, there is no solid proof. At best, it is a tower of conjecture built on circumstantial evidence—sand castles stacked upon one another.

Still, one undeniable fact does exist:

The source was always the researchers.

And the facilities where GMDW underwent Ability Development had always been under Reicia’s management. In other word—their research facilities were all subsidiaries belonging to the Blackguard Conglomerate, the faction Reicia herself belonged to.

Now, from here on, this is nothing but conjecture piled atop conjecture. A mere “suspicion.”

Who within Reicia Blackguard’s own faction could possibly benefit from driving her into a corner?

Who, other than Reicia, had the power within the faction to circulate an internal rumor of their own?

Since the start of the second semester, what exactly had Reicia Blackguard been doing?

And why did the “culprit” refrain from leaking the rumor directly to the public, and instead chose to spread it only within the faction—like some kind of warning?

This is only speculation.

A suspicion, without a shred of concrete proof.

But.

Chapter 1 – The Wind That Won’t Blow the Cooper’s Way – Psicopics.
Episode 58: The Signal of Counterattack – Answer.

"S-So… in other words… the one behind this ‘attack’ is…"

"…………Nurikae Furei… isn’t it."

Reicia-chan declared it quietly, with absolute certainty.
And when you thought about it that way, everything lined up.

The rumors had begun to spread from the second term onward—that was exactly when we started making arrangements to break off the engagement.

That the rumors had been circulated only among faction members was a warning aimed at me.
Most likely, the plan was to let the rumor reach my ears through the faction, carrying the message: “If you go through with this annulment, we’ll expose your secret.”

But because the faction members tried to shield me, the plan backfired.
From the other side’s perspective, it must have looked like I was “ignoring their warning and still pushing through with the annulment.”

And now, the reason the secret was finally revealed was because the engagement annulment had become decisive.

By shattering GMDW’s foundation with this scandal, they could weaken my position and, in exchange for “resolving” the crisis, force me to retract the annulment. If you looked at it that way—every move on the board so far suddenly made perfect sense.

Above all—going this far just to avoid the annulment matched perfectly with the character of Nurikae Furei, exactly as Reicia-chan had described before.

《………………I was naïve.》

I regretted it deeply.

Reicia-chan had been right all along.
I never should have entertained the sweet fantasy of a quiet, uneventful annulment.

Because I hesitated, because I tried to play it safe, the enemy misinterpreted my stance. They thought it was fine to trample on what was most precious to Reicia Blackguard, that such an act could actually be used as a bargaining chip.

I was naïve.

From the very start, I should have gone all out—so thoroughly that they would never even dream of opposing us. I should have struck a blow so vivid, so unforgettable, that they would clearly imagine the consequences of crossing us.

No…
Even now, it isn’t too late.
If we make them realize that defying us will only bring them pain—if we break that cheap pride of his and make him kneel before us—then maybe there’s still a way forward.

After all, he must want this situation resolved too. Otherwise, there would be no negotiations. That’s why—right now. This mistake, I will—

《Shiren》

Just as I started to rise from my chair, strength left my legs.

《I believe… this is just fine, as it is.》

Her voice was calm.

…? What are you talking about, Reicia-chan?
This was clearly a failure.
If I hadn’t second-guessed things, if I had just followed Reicia-chan’s plan from the beginning, none of this would have happened. No—if I hadn’t been so hesitant about being engaged to someone of the same sex, if I had clearly denied having romantic feelings for Kamijo-san, then this whole issue would never even have come up.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m thinking something ridiculous like “I should disappear.” I chose to live together with her, and I won’t break that vow.

But the fact remains—I made mistakes. That responsibility is mine, and pretending otherwise would be wrong.

《Because, you see, it was always a little awkward, trying to keep it a secret from our friends forever. Our consensus was to confess once things had settled down… but if it happens like this, spun dramatically by the enemy’s schemes—well, isn’t that not such a bad way, either?》

《N-no, no, no, Reicia-chan… That’s…》

I couldn’t help but give a wry smile, then fell silent for a moment.
Just a little… something in her words struck a chord with me.

《…………So then, shall we call it that? Shiren.》

《…Reicia-chan…》

《……I truly must apologize for everything up until now. To be honest, I… I enjoyed it. Until now, for me, romance was always just a matter of utility. If I could pursue benefit, and at the same time let Shiren find happiness, then what could be better than that? …But if in doing so, Shiren ended up suffering, then it would all be meaningless. And now it has come to this… I am sorry.》

…That’s not true.
Because I…

《…I’m sorry too. I decided we’d live together. I decided we’d face our future together. And yet before I knew it, I was fixated only on these “what-if” futures that never even existed. I didn’t properly think about the feelings of Reicia-chan, who had resolved to share her life with me.》

If there were a future where Reicia Blackguard never attempted suicide.
Where her parents looked after her properly, where she got along normally with her faction from the start, and where she never got tangled up with a shady guy like Nurikae Furei.

If everything could have turned smoothly without me having to possess anyone—surely that future would have been the most wonderful and happiest one. And to call our future merely a “second-best”… there’s nothing crueler than that, is there?

Because the real Reicia Blackguard is right here before me—because this is “us.”

So… that’s not it, is it. What I should be thinking about.

It’s this future—where I, Kurumita Shiren, and Reicia Blackguard met—that out of billions upon billions of possibilities, is the most wonderful and happiest one.

No matter what happens, no matter what hardships stand in our way, we’ll overcome them all, swallow them whole, and in the end she’ll laugh boldly, declaring to the entire world—“All of this has only served to support my path of conquest!” That’s all that ever mattered.

"For Reicia-san’s fiancé to… to say such a thing…"

Hearing the suspected culprit’s name, Rinka-san muttered in a downcast tone.
There was no uproar in the room. Which probably meant that, deep down, everyone already agreed. After all, most of them were young ladies. They could understand… the subtleties of such messy affairs.

"B-But what exactly do we do now!? After all this… it’s… it’s already… too late to fix anything…"

"…………Yes, that is true."

To Yumetsuki-san, who was on the verge of tears, I gave a small nod of agreement.

Indeed, there was no undoing it now. We couldn’t deny the rumor already spreading through the world. After all, it was true—and Reicia-chan’s suicide attempt must have been caught on security cameras. Her hospital records could easily be checked, so the facts had already been verified.

That meant what we needed to think about wasn’t how to deny what had already happened.

Not how to hide that incident, or cover it up, or pretend it was something else.

…Isn’t that right, Reicia-chan?

"We have an idea."

I hadn’t asked her, but somehow I just knew what Reicia-chan was thinking.

There was no “strategy.”
But strangely, I felt no anxiety either.

There would be no roundabout schemes.
No slandering someone else, no trickery.
None of that ugly, twisted stuff.

We were done with that. It didn’t suit us.

There was only one thing for us to do.

"This is a perfect chance. Let us show the entire world. ──── Our revival. And the fruits it will bear."

We would show it to all those people outside, caught up in the uproar while knowing nothing.

That this… was right for us.