Field Trip (1)
I did wonder why she was asking me something like that, but it still felt worth probing at least once.
It was a chance to raise her favorability, for one thing, and maybe, just maybe, to get a feel for where she belonged.
Now that I knew she lied to me, I didn’t expect to learn her true affiliation from this. Still, I figured she might drop some stray fragment of information, something I could use to narrow down who she really was.
“...Oh. Sorry. I didn’t expect you to ask that. Nothing like that happened. I did have a few paparazzi tail me during the interview, but once I found them and scared them off, they backed down.”
Instead of saying thanks for worrying about her, Blanca answered that she hadn’t expected me to ask about something like that at all.
As if to say: Why are you asking me that?
Even taking into account the bizarre kindness she sometimes showed me, it was a strangely pointed reply.
Of course, it was a huge stretch to say that meant she belonged to Evil Society.
That wasn’t a leap in logic so much as a teleportation event.
...Or maybe she was reacting that way because someone had been hanging around her and she genuinely wanted to know how on earth I could tell.
I didn’t know whether the paparazzi were real or fake, but with a face like hers, it wouldn’t have been strange for them to start swarming her.
“You didn’t hit anyone, did you?”
Blanca checked the people around us, then leaned in close and whispered so only I could hear.
“...I did grab someone by the collar.”
If another heroine had said that, it might’ve sounded kind of romantic. Coming from Blanca, though, it felt more like a confession to a crime.
“...I hope they keep their mouth shut.”
There wasn’t much more to say after that, so I told her to call me if she needed anything.
I tossed out the usual clichés about friends and always being willing to help.
It was meaningless, really. I’d get her information from the status window anyway, and tomorrow at the latest I’d probably be able to infer where she belonged.
If she was a spy Evil Society had planted inside the academy, then she’d reveal her true colors tomorrow.
If Evil Society was looking a little farther ahead, then they’d pretend to attack her but keep her alive in the end.
Either way, she wouldn’t get seriously hurt.
Otherwise... well.
Like the other students, she’d be in danger of her life.
The students and heroines got hurt or struggled during that raid, but... honestly.
No matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t picture Blanca getting hurt or struggling.
Even though the fight was supposed to be brutal enough to leave Im Changwon exhausted and gasping from mana depletion, for some reason I had the feeling Blanca would be perfectly fine.
Was that because of her skill? Or because of her ability?
Or was it something else, something I couldn’t even put into words?
I couldn’t be sure of anything.
* * * * * -
Because of what Minho had asked me yesterday, I’d briefly wondered if he might be stalking me. But no, that didn’t seem likely.
He wasn’t the sort of person who’d do something like that, even if he wasn’t some flawless paragon of justice.
He might pull a few tricks here and there and stop as long as he didn’t get caught, but he always did it for a good cause.
So no, that couldn’t be it. He’d probably just been worried about me.
And I, not knowing any better, had treated him with a bit of prickly suspicion, as if he might actually be that kind of bastard.
It was awkward. Embarrassing, too.
He wasn’t anything like me, so why had I unconsciously lumped him into the same category?
On the field-trip bus, which was packed with voices bright and shrill with excitement, I decided I should give him something next time.
Since I was going to take a lot from him in the future, it was only fair—like adding an extra piece of rice cake because I felt a little guilty.
“B-Blanca, are you nervous too?”
“No. I was just looking out the window.”
Lapis, seeing me sit quietly, must have assumed I was tense like her and asked if I felt the same way. I wasn’t, though, so I said no.
“I-I’m a little nervous... If you’re a hero, y-you’re supposed to be out in front of people, r-right...? In front of complete strangers... Ugh...”
Lapis looked like the idea of showing herself to strangers was stressing her out quite a bit.
“What can you do, Lapis? That’s what heroes do. Whether they want it or not, heroes are always going to draw attention.”
“Ugh... T-that’s true, b-but... people are scary...”
“Maybe you should seriously rethink your career path.”
“I-I still want to protect people...”
What was I supposed to say to that? A short laugh escaped me.
In the end, the best I could offer was that she should try to be a little more confident.
Not that I was doing it because I genuinely wanted to be her friend... or anything.
Yeonhwa, as always, was having the time of her life while roughhousing with the people around her, and Aeghe’s seat was so far away I couldn’t even tell what she was doing.
Seolhwa, seated in the very back, wasn’t the chatty type, and Minho wasn’t the kind of person who’d ramble on his own, so the back rows stayed peaceful.
The conversation only drifted toward things like, it’d be fun if a villain showed up sometimes, no, it’s better if nothing happens at all.
Wouldn’t that be too boring? Heroes were better off not being too busy, actually.
As Seolhwa had said, a villain would appear. But it wouldn’t leave behind a happy memory the way she imagined.
It was the first encounter with Evil Society, and the event that showed this world was not some bright, hopeful setting.
Even Minho, who already knew it was coming, had ended up overwhelmed by sheer numbers and suffered a crushing defeat despite awakening.
...But I’d thrashed a lot of the modified humans who played the role of foot soldiers, so he wouldn’t have the chance to awaken this time.
It hadn’t been the executives who awakened him, but the swarm of grunts spilling into the streets.
In other words, there shouldn’t be any major problems.
There’d be no need for the protagonist to awaken, and no reason for the top hero to take notice.
...No, wait. Maybe there would?
The reason Invictus took notice of Minho wasn’t because he’d put on some unprecedented performance for a student, but because he’d brought down an executive of Evil Society.
Hm. What was it again? I couldn’t remember clearly.
Maybe because it was still early in the story.
It probably didn’t matter. There would be plenty of other incidents after this that would draw Invictus’s attention.
Whether I got noticed now or a few weeks from now, it was all the same in the end.
Unless I completely cut off the chance of meeting a master, like Jinhyun did, it didn’t really change anything.
While I was thinking about what lay ahead, the bus had already arrived at our destination before I knew it.
It was the building that housed Yustitia’s office, a place I’d stopped by often enough myself.
The kids got off the bus, still blissfully unaware of what was about to happen, all of them chattering happily.
“Welcome, future heroes. Today, I’ll be guiding you and introducing you to hero work. My name is Gazer.”
Some of the students teased her with a joking, “You’re our homeroom teacher,” but the mood being what it was, Yustitia seemed content to let it slide.
“Then, before we move on to the patrol work you’re all so eager to see—”
—I’ll show you the real side hidden behind the heroes’ glamorous image.
Yustitia smiled with obvious malice and led us toward her office.
And for the next two full hours, Yustitia began explaining hero paperwork, hero-related laws, and other things so dull just hearing about them made my eyes want to close.
The terms of the contract with Heros Corporation. The rules that determined which districts a hero could patrol. What Heros Corporation allowed heroes to do, and what it didn’t.
On top of that, there were all the other regulations and duties a hero had to memorize whether they liked it or not.
The class didn’t look like they’d been hoping for this, either; their energy visibly drained away minute by minute.
“Bored, are you? Heh. Of course you are. I was terribly disappointed myself when I first learned all of this. But this, too, is an undeniable part of being a hero.”
So, if you want to become heroes, you must learn these things in advance as well.
Yustitia patted the younger students as though they were cute, then mercilessly struck them with plain, undeniable logic.
“At this level...”
Changwon let his disappointment show without any filter, clearly let down by the students’ behavior.
“I understand. At your age, I was the same. In that case, let’s take a short break before moving on to the patrol work you’ve all been waiting for.”
Yustitia gently brushed aside Changwon’s words, patted us reassuringly, and gave us a little time to rest.
With the promise that we’d soon get to watch a real patrol in action.
The kids threw themselves onto the benches and sofas arranged inside the office and slumped over.
Even the energetic Yeonhwa looked too drained to keep moving, and she collapsed against me together with Lapis.
Honestly, they looked like sandwiches.
They were both so flat it made the comparison even more accurate.
Fine. Rest all you want. You’re about to experience one of the most shocking moments of your lives.
When the long-but-short break finally ended, Yustitia called us together again and led us out onto the street.
The kids had recovered their energy in that tiny window of time, because unlike in the office, where they’d been draped over the furniture, they were now chattering excitedly again.
“Patrol work may seem like nothing at first glance, but it’s one of the most important duties a hero has. It reassures citizens by making heroes visible, and it lowers the crime rate by warning villains to stay alert.”
And if villains were around, they could be arrested on the spot, too, she said—making patrols the very flower of hero work.
...Which meant it was about time.
This was roughly when the suit-wearing bastard was supposed to show up. So where the hell was he?
Just as I was wondering that—
“So... this is dangerous, Blanc—”
With a chill crawling down my spine, Yustitia reached for her sunglasses.
It looked as though time itself had slowed.
I twisted around to see what was happening, and there it was.
A single icicle was screaming through the air toward me, tearing the atmosphere apart with a sonic boom.