Chapter 96: Across the Silver Screen

After the questioning was over, I had both Frenda-san and Saten-san return home separately.

Because Frenda-san happened to be present at a scene involving Anti-Skill security, the fact that an Item member was connected to this incident has now become undeniable public record.

Reicia-chan’s strategy, in that sense, bore fruit. …Well, technically speaking, the one who directly attacked School’s forces was Frenda-san, while we only got caught up in their retaliation. Which means, from School’s perspective, Item is likely to be their first target. At least, if this turns into a revenge war.

If they go after Saten-san again, though, things would be different. But Shirai-san and Uiharu-san both swore they would “protect her no matter what,” so I think she’ll be safe.

As for us, however──a few days after that uproar, a more pressing matter arose. More pressing even than School or Item.

"──Now then, let’s begin the briefing."

We had gathered the official members of Member for a strategy meeting.

Pointing at diagrams she had drawn on the whiteboard with a marker, Reicia-chan spoke.

"The recent incident. School, who were after Saten and her ‘Dream Information’—as well as the separate group of dark side operatives who rescued her—let’s set those aside for the time being."

"Oh? So the Academy City’s Number Two and other dark side organizations are not much of a problem? Bold of you."

"Rather than that, it would be more accurate to say there’s something else I cannot overlook."

Reicia-chan marked each circle on the whiteboard with an X, then drew one larger circle.

"…The Personality Awakening Makeup Plan. A project to artificially replicate my attempted suicide, my personality split, and subsequent ability growth, in order to create a new Level 5. The plan itself has already collapsed, and the research was shut down by one of my friends, but…"

"And that research knowledge is now circulating in the form of ‘Indian Poker,’ is it not?"

At the doctor’s words, Reicia-chan gave a silent nod.

Watching this exchange, Baba-san laughed mockingly.

"But in the end, this Personality Awakening Makeup thing failed fundamentally, didn’t it? It’s not as if your monopolized ability-development tech is leaking. Why be so paranoid?"

"Personality Awakening Makeup is a technique that shatters the human mind after fully calculating it, then rebuilds a completely different one from the fragments. If you try to reproduce that using half-baked information like ‘dreams,’ who knows what tragedies might occur?"

"………"

"If it stops at recreating only the surface layer, giving people a ‘boost in happiness,’ then fine. But if multiple personality disorder or vegetative states start spreading en masse across Academy City, that alone would be a catastrophe."

Adabana-san, instead of the silenced Baba-san, laid out the worst-case scenario.

Yes. That’s what’s terrifying. In fact, according to Shirai-san, near-miss incidents of a similar nature have already been cropping up sporadically across the city.

They couldn’t share details since it would count as leaking investigation data, but even just the cases we’re involved in are enough. If we assume at least two or three more exist, then Judgment and Anti-Skill must be pulling their hair out.

"That said, I think it’s probably an unnecessary worry."

At that moment, the last official member of Member spoke up.

It was a boy with long bangs, bundled up in a down jacket. He looked about high school age. His name, apparently, was Sharaku. I vaguely remembered him—his ability was ‘Blind Spot Movement Kill Point,’ which let him slip behind his target. I only remembered because Accelerator-san had defeated him. (Though I forgot the exact method…)

…And he thinks this is just needless worry?

"What do you mean by that?"

"First of all, with Indian Poker’s technology, it’s extremely difficult to ‘see a dream you specifically aim for.’"

Raising his index finger, Sharaku-san made that clarification. Huh, really…? I had assumed you could just concentrate before falling asleep and manage to record the dream you wanted. Apparently not.

Come to think of it, aren’t there people who can supply dreams consistently? The fact that such people are treated as special implies the opposite—that unstable dreams are the norm.

And if you think about it, the ability to make others see a dream you deliberately chose would be incredible. The chaos caused would dwarf what we’re seeing now. Then again, if it were the original developers of the tech, it wouldn’t be surprising if they could do it…

"Only those of BLAU──or rather, the so-called Dream Rankers of Tenbu Yumero—could pull off such feats. The very reason they’ve gained fame as Dream Rankers is because they can do it."

Sharaku-san said this with a strangely enraptured expression.

…So those people exist, huh. Like experts at lucid dreaming? Kind of enviable, actually…

"…BLAU. If I recall, the ‘Reicia Blackguard’s dream’ you had came from one of them, didn’t it? Sharaku, are you in contact with a Dream Ranker?"

"…Ugh. N-no, that was just a trader I owed a favor to. He said, ‘This dream will sell for a high price,’ and handed it over, so I took it, that’s all—"

"Got it, got it."

Looking completely uninterested, Adabana-san cut off Sharaku-san’s awkward explanation.

…Yeah, so it wasn’t a lead to any info source after all. Those Dream Rankers making money off Indian Poker—those lucid-dream experts—were probably directly approached by the developers to spark the boom. Contacting them would’ve been ideal…

And yet, Adabana-san’s gaze at Sharaku-san was downright contemptuous. Maybe as someone from the magic side, she finds the scientific exploitation of dreams and spiritual matters distasteful.

…But then why is even Reicia-chan giving Sharaku-san that same contemptuous look?

《Please don’t worry, Shiren. I believe you’re just fine as you are.》

…So yeah, it seems Sharaku-san did something that’s a total no-go for girls. Well, I don’t really get “maidenly hearts” anyway, so I’ll just keep moving forward without fussing about it.

"Anyway. We’ve established that Indian Poker, by itself, isn’t going to plunge the entire Academy City into an immediate crisis. However, if one of the Dream Rankers starts ‘reproducing’ knowledge obtained in dreams, mass-producing skill-type dream cards—or if duplication of dream information itself becomes possible—then that’s a different story. In either case, we have no choice but to work toward resolving this situation."

With her marker, Reicia-chan drew another bold stroke to emphasize the large circle already on the board. Well, this much had already been part of our plan back when the “Reicia Blackguard’s Dream” first came to light. The real issue was what came next.

She tapped the circle again with the tip of the marker.

"You were already investigating in parallel to identify the instigators behind this movement, weren’t you? Has their identity been confirmed?"

"Ah, yes. Thanks to the young ladies’ investigation, we’ve narrowed it down with a very high degree of certainty. We already have a strong lead on the research that sparked this incident."

The doctor replied to Reicia-chan’s question with the same matter-of-fact tone he’d use in a work report.

Well, Member’s intelligence-gathering capabilities are quietly amazing. By consolidating the information collected by the robots the doctor built, they can grasp all the city’s rumors at once. After that, subordinates can refine the data, and solid intel comes together in no time.

Normally, such information analysis would be Baba-san’s specialty. Supposedly, he’s capable of doing alone what would normally take a dozen sub-members to accomplish. As expected of Baba-san.

"Let me cut straight to the conclusion."

The doctor gave a delighted smile.

"Our initial suspicions────were as close to the correct answer as they could possibly be."

And then, he began to speak of that terrifying plan.

Chapter 3 – The Value of a Soul Is Worthless  Double(Square)_Faith.
Episode 81 – Across the Silver Screen  Pass_by_"A-B".

──It was a dark-side research tied to the Number Five.

『Dreams』, as Shiren had reasoned, are the process by which a sleeping individual replays their own knowledge and experiences—that is, their memories. The essence of Indian Poker is a recording medium that preserves the chemical reactions within the brain during that process.

『The Mind』, scientifically speaking, is nothing more than the collection of fluid shifts and chemical reactions inside the brain. Mental Out—the ability to control minds—is the manipulation of those fluids with precision, and the so-called “reliving of dreams” enabled by Indian Poker is nothing less than a recreation of the provider’s neural activity during sleep.

Furthermore──Indian Poker itself contains an additional 『effect』.

In fact, Indian Poker applies an invasive hypnotic suggestion onto the dream’s 『provider』 during the very act of card creation. And the card’s 『user』 ends up reliving not only the provider’s dream activity, but also that hypnotic imprint embedded within.

The result, born from this process, is────the worst kind of 『chain of brainwashing』.

The mastermind’s name: Mitsuari Ayu.

She is one of the surviving test subjects who once participated in the research organization that created this technology—Third Laboratory of the Talent Workshop Clonedolly, known as Internal Evolution Ideal. Now, she stands as the hidden hand pushing forward the Ideal Ability Project.

"……Is this really okay?"

That was the very first thing out of my mouth.

I mean, isn’t this… straight-up dark-side territory? Sure, we’re Level 5 espers so maybe it’s our business, but was it really right to drag the faction kids into this kind of mess…?

"If you’re worried about information leaks, there’s no issue. We’re professionals, after all. We’re not so careless as to dump dark-side intel in front of upper-class young ladies. At most, what they looked into was the bare essence of Indian Poker."

Ugh… even that feels dangerously close to the line…

But still, Internal Evolution Ideal, huh.

……………………

Mitsuari-san, seriously showing up here!?!?!? No, come on, I always thought it was odd she only popped up suddenly in the Misaki arc and then vanished. But to think she’d be behind something like this…

And this scheme—this is practically at a level that could wreck all of Academy City, right? Judging by this report, it looks like Tokiwadai was the flashpoint… so all this was swirling right in our backyard? And apparently Misaki-san even got kidnapped once, according to these files.

"The whole picture is clear now. So, Blackguard, what’s the play? A plot of this scale—using the so-called dark-side power, you could wrap it up easily."

"I will not be using this ‘dark power’ you speak of."

Strictly within the scope of a normal, reasonable organization. That’s all we’re using.

"At any rate, now that we know the enemy, all that’s left is to move. Adabana-san, Sharaku-san, I will be relying on your assistance."

"Oh? And what about me?"

"……Do I even need to explain? You don’t look like a field operator in the slightest. Why are you so eager to go to the front lines?"

"…Ku ku. Judging people by appearances is unwise. Wasn’t it precisely that mistake that let Kihara Gensei blindside you before?"

…Ah, right, right. This guy’s another one of those over-the-top science freaks. In the novels, Ougisou being crushed was the end of him, but that was only because Kakine bulldozed through. I guess in reality, he would’ve had second, third backup plans.

"Regardless, that’s fine. The enemy’s headquarters is without a doubt the Talent Workshop Clonedolly labs, but that doesn’t mean they won’t have other forces in play. Baba-san, Doctor, I’ll entrust the preparations to you."

"Tch… I hate giving up the spotlight, but it’s true support is necessary. Very well, I’ll leave it to you."

"Heh. You sound relieved, Baba-san. After what happened during the Daihaseisai, I heard you had quite the rough time."

"Shut up, you closet pervert."

"Wha—……!?!?!?"

"…All right, enough bottom-feeder squabbling. Blackguard. Do you have a plan for the assault? The enemy’s main weapon seems to be brainwashing, but surely the dark side of this city won’t end with just that."

Adabana-san asked while gathering her gear.

True enough. Considering what Indian Poker is capable of, there’s no way that’s all there is. They could easily have pawns prepared through brainwashing, or perhaps even aim for something on the scale of ‘interfering with the AIM diffusion field by controlling a massive number of students.’

Still──

"A plan? Why would such a thing be necessary? Unless we’re facing a Dragon, nothing lurking in this city is a match for me."

Reicia-chan’s words were overconfident, but honestly, with our current strength, something like a Multi-Skill esper could be suppressed with room to spare…

"If the opponent had an actual Level 5 esper under their command, that would be one thing. But no matter how many small-fry abilities they gather, they are no match for me."

"…I see. In other words, you have no plan at all…"

With Adabana-san speaking in exasperation and Sharaku-san looking a little awkward (why, though?), the group of us set out to resolve the incident.

…Later on, I would come to deeply regret how I handled myself at this moment.

Why, you ask?

"Yo, well if it isn’t the Underground’s Fourth, Another Four. Fancy running into you in a place like this. How about we have a little fun together? With me—this so-called ‘Provisional Fifth’!!"

All that excessive arrogance, all that talk of ‘as long as no Level 5 Espers show up’… And then Reicia-chan went and planted such an obvious flag—yet I completely ignored it!!!!