I'll Let You Have an Exclusive Scoop on My Identity.
I'll Let You Have an Exclusive Scoop on My Identity.
BAM BAM BAM—!
Someone hammered on the door in a desperate rush. I used Telekinesis to open it for them.
As expected, the one knocking was Sepia. She must have sprinted here; her orange-tinged bangs were a complete mess.
"Ah, Student Plan! We're seeing each other more often than I expected, aren't we?"
The moment the door opened, Sepia barged inside.
She was drenched in sweat, but her green eyes were still shining brightly.
I used Telekinesis to place a chair for her to sit on. As she sat, her gaze flicked around the room.
"Oh... but are students' rooms usually this nice? The dorm rooms I know don't look like this."
"That's not the issue. Don't you think you come and go a little too freely? You're not even a dorm resident."
"Please don't disrespect my professional spirit. Last time, where was it... I once conducted an interview right in front of a toilet stall, you know?"
"That isn't professional spirit. That's just being a nuisance."
"It's perfectly legal reporting, so there's no need to label it a nuisance. Anyway, Student Plan. That's not what matters right now...."
Sepia slapped the desk with her palm, producing a loud thud. She leaned her face close to mine.
"The scoop! That scoop I nearly missed! Given the speed of all this, it looks like I didn't miss it after all, does it?"
Through the scent of sweat, a strangely familiar perfume lingered. It oddly resembled Violet's scent.
At any rate, I nodded. The fact that Sepia had sprinted here in two minutes was going to prove an excellent decision on her part.
"You latched on admirably."
"Phew... thank goodness. Do you have any idea how fast I rushed over here?"
Sepia let out a sigh of relief. Her emerald-like eyes began to glint.
"If it's alright with you, I'd like to get straight to the point. As a reporter, my fingers are itching so badly I can't stand it!"
I had no desire for a lengthy preamble either.
But before that, there was something I needed to confirm.
"Let me ask a few things before we start. How exactly is the Magic Department's representative for the combat event selected?"
"Hmm... answering your question isn't difficult at all, but."
Sepia looked at me with a meaningful smile.
"After I answer, I'll definitely get the scoop, right? Even I get really hurt by false tips, you know."
"You can count on it. It will undoubtedly be something to write about in bold letters."
"Alright. My iron rule is normally to get the information upfront, but I'll make a special exception just for Student Plan!"
Beaming, she continued.
"The method for selecting representatives for each event is simple. There's a representative selection committee of Magic Department professors, and they decide by voting. Quite democratic, isn't it?"
"And the criteria that influence the vote?"
"How could there be any specific criteria? They usually just pick you if your grades or family name are good."
My face involuntarily twisted.
Based on Sepia's words, it was effectively no different from the professors selecting representatives however they pleased.
"I don't understand why they even look at family name."
I'd heard the Magic Department's win rate was extremely low.
If you had to swallow defeat in front of everyone, that would be an immense humiliation, no two ways about it.
What possible benefit could a magic family gain from that situation?
"It's a mutual back-scratching arrangement."
"What kind of mutual back-scratching?"
"From the family's perspective, they get the glory of having one of their own selected as a representative. From the professors' perspective, they get to make a favorable impression on that family in advance."
"The glory of victory, or the glory of selection?"
The very concept made no sense, so I asked again. But Sepia just nodded nonchalantly.
"Yes. The glory of selection. After all, hardly anyone expects the Magic Department to actually win against the Knight Department, right? My sister might be the only one."
A vein started throbbing in my temple the moment I heard that.
Come to think of it, I had forgotten. These people operated with this pathetic mindset.
They didn't even expect to win. They were merely happy to be chosen as the representative. This was the current state of mages at Märchen Academy.
It was beyond pitiful. Now it was simply lamentable.
"Are there cases where the participating representative is replaced?"
"The professors' whim is all it takes. A re-vote is possible at any time!"
So there remained leeway to change the participating representative. That was the first piece of good news I'd heard in this entire conversation.
"Sepia."
"I'm listening, Student Plan. Come to think of it, this is a bit funny. Why am I the one using honorifics here?"
"The condition for receiving the scoop is simple. I'll put up a wall poster, and Merhen Daily will run its contents as an extra."
"I'm curious about the contents of that poster. Could it be the kind of poster I'm imagining?"
"I'll denounce the professors. First, I'll make them establish a proper screening process. What good can a representative chosen solely on family name and grades possibly achieve?"
"Hmmmm."
Sepia tilted her head and closed the distance between us a bit more.
"Hey. Student Plan."
"What."
"Looking at you now, what you said to me last time... was that really something you meant sincerely?"
There was nothing I could reply to that kind of question, because I had never once uttered a lie.
Sepia opened her mouth again.
"Ah, what? Don't you remember? You said you'd change it. The mages' entire mindset and power structure."
"I did say that. I meant it."
"Wow... you were serious about that? I just took it as the youthful ambition of a young magic prodigy!"
Sepia tilted her head crookedly.
"Fine! I think that's an absolutely wonderful sentiment, and I'll be rooting for you! But even so, I'd have a hard time granting your request."
Her shining green eyes settled into a calm gaze as she continued.
"First of all, a wall poster itself is a huge challenge. It sends enormous ripples through campus public opinion."
Sepia ticked off her points one finger at a time.
"Second, even if we run that poster as an extra, the problem comes next. How many people would actually agree with the content Student Plan writes?"
"You don't need to worry about that part."
"How can I not worry! If the backlash is severe, I'll be the one solely responsible for enduring those criticisms. The Merhen Daily Magic Department brand is proudly attached to it."
Finally, she held up a third finger.
"Lastly, third, and this is the most important one!"
Sepia's face became quite serious.
"Just how incredible is this scoop you're giving me? Unless the information Student Plan provides is truly at the level of 'writing about in bold letters'... I can't easily get involved in something like this."
"In plain terms, you want the information first."
"That's about the size of it! I'll judge whether the information Student Plan has is truly scoop-worthy or not after I hear it firsthand."
A subtle smile touched her lips as she added a little more.
"Ah, you don't have to worry too much, okay? If I decide to refuse your proposal, I won't use the information Student Plan provided for a story. I promise!"
I let out a short laugh.
"Those three things you're worried about... I'll resolve them all at once."
I unfurled a large, white sheet of paper in midair, then began moving three pens simultaneously with Telekinesis.
Sepia watched the sight with an expression of fascination.
Scritch-scritch—
The writing flowed without a moment's pause, the sound of pen nibs scratching the paper naturally filling the room.
Before long, half the paper was filled.
Half the page was crammed with geometric figures.
"......The Agora Board."
Sepia murmured quietly.
She was right. These were the problems and solutions I had posted on the Agora Board.
Bewilderment began spreading across her face.
She didn't seem to realize it herself, but her mouth was slowly falling open.
"Sepia."
I spoke her name lowly as I filled the remaining half of the paper.
"You just have to do as I say."
But Sepia didn't focus on my words. No, more precisely, she was unable to focus.
"If you follow my words."
Her gaze was fixed solely on the paper. Her face was already drenched in fascination.
"......Someday."
By the time Sepia's face had gone completely pale, the other half of the paper was filled as well.
Nearly a thousand characters and diagrams formed something approaching art on the page.
"I'll give you an exclusive on my identity."
No answer came back.
Sepia just stared blankly up at the paper.
◈
When Sepia returned to the Editing Department, her expression was dazed.
A silence close to the Void and nothingness. It was as if she stood in such a space.
"Oh? Deputy Head, is something the matter?"
A frontline reporter, carrying coffee he'd just bought, spotted Sepia and tilted his head.
It was a natural reaction. It was hardly a common sight for the Deputy Head of Merhen Daily to be spacing out.
"I'm fine."
"Fine? You look like your soul's completely left your body. Did you make a contract with an Evil One or something?"
"Let's try to be a little sensible here. Sensible."
"There is a possibility. Deputy Head, I feel like even if you turned into an Evil One, you'd still be running around covering stories."
Shaking off the reporter trying to make conversation, Sepia approached the whiteboard that took up an entire wall of the Editing Department.
Walking toward the board, she replayed Plan's words in her mind.
—The mages' mindset and power structure. All of it.
He said he would change all of it. Plan had clearly stated his ambition.
She didn't know the reason, but he had a vast number of complaints about the current structure.
It wasn't that he just had a crooked, cynical attitude. He harbored a cause of his own.
And his will to realize that cause seemed stronger than imagined. To think he would exploit even the Deputy Head of Merhen Daily—just what kind of scheme was he hiding?
"Oh?"
As she thought, one more person naturally came to mind.
Violet, Sepia's older sister.
The recent joint meeting between the Knight Department and Magic Department had sent Violet into a fury.
Her sister's expression of disgust at Scarlett's attitude toward mages was still vivid in Sepia's mind.
"Come to think of it, my sister really loves the word 'change,' too."
This structure where knights lorded it over everyone as the strong was revolting. Someday, she would see the imbalance of power overturned and changed....
Sepia had heard her sister mutter that countless times.
"They're alike."
Plan and Violet were complete strangers, yet somehow they were similar.
Tilting her head, Sepia stood before the whiteboard.
This whiteboard was called the 'Time Bomb' within the Merhen Daily Editing Department.
And this board was faithful to its name.
The Time Bomb was a board where materials that could become exclusives or scoops were gathered. It was currently divided into four sections.
Sepia examined it, tracing it directly with her hand.
The fact that a son of the Yudit Family was enrolled in the Magic Department, the mystery in the Magic Labyrinth, the enigmatic Agora Board genius who overwhelmed Trixie.......
"For the protagonist of all these articles to be a single person...."
Sepia looked at the whiteboard with fresh awe.
She couldn't even begin to gauge the sheer scale of the shockwave if this Time Bomb were to explode.
But one thing was certain: its scale would be unprecedented.
"...This person really is a gem."
Plan Yudit.