Liar, Liar - Volume 3 - Chapter 4.5

Interlude

Another Prologue

“Heh-heh… Heh-heh-heh… Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!”

In Ward Zero of the Academy, on the top floor of a certain building near the Special Development Zone playing host to Event Week, Mikado Kurahashi, former provost of Seijo School, laughed aloud. How could he not? Hiroto Shinohara, the student who’d made a fool of him during the Fourth Ward Challenge, had taken himself out of ASTRAL, practically surrendering to the Chameleon. The response on social media was still more chaotic than anything, but the masses were bound to lose all faith in the Seven Star before long.

“Ah… I tell you, my own genius scares me.”

Kurahashi enjoyed some expensive wine from the Japanese mainland as he smiled and traced a finger across his device’s screen. It gave him access to a full overhead view of the ASTRAL Game map. He could tell that the Chameleon’s forces had covered a good quarter of the entire field by the end of the third day. The Eimei School team’s territory was negligible by comparison. The idea of them clawing back up the rankings at this point was simply inconceivable.

“I wasn’t entirely sure that little brat would actually give me the time of day, but for now, that doesn’t look like much of a problem…”

Kurahashi gave a passing thought to the Chameleon, his “partner” this time, then sighed quietly. He’d wanted to be more thorough in his brainwashing than he’d had the time for. Unfortunately, her thought circuits were too stubborn and closed off. She did his bidding for the time being, but he didn’t feel like he had full control.

Still, when presented with such magnificent results, it didn’t much matter.

“Regardless of how it turns out, she’s still my pawn in the end. If she starts rebelling, I’ll just dangle some nice little treats in front of her. So please keep it up, won’t you, Chameleon?”

Wearing his typically aggressive smile, Mikado Kurahashi began working his device, preparing his next orders.

“…”

It felt cold to her.

She was on the first basement level of the Shiki Island Grand Hotel—kept pleasant by the air-conditioning. However, the girl felt liable to freeze to death. Perhaps it was because she hadn’t slept at all since yesterday. Or maybe it was due to her sitting on the bare floor for so long? No, it was probably neither. This kind of cold was all mental.

She felt hopelessly isolated, in total despair. The more she advanced, the more it felt like she plunged into darkness—an inscrutable sort of terror. If she dared to look up, she’d be greeted by a ton of computer equipment. She couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. Those monitors only showed her—and them—sheer hopelessness.

The Chameleon had irrevocably influenced the very core of the Game now.

“Ah…”

A notice appeared on one of the monitors. Another player had been eliminated from the Game right before the end of the third day. There had already been far more dropouts today than she wished to count, but such was the duty of the administrators in this room. This event was teetering on the brink of collapse, but they had to make it work—if only on the surface. She had to take action, no matter how much she hated to.

Thus, she put a wobbly arm forward and stood. Her sunken eyes peered at the monitor in an almost trancelike state as she worked her machine. Then, after about a minute of work, she lifted her gaze, thinking to check the name at least. Immediately, her eyes shot wide.

“Ah… Shinohara?”

Hiroto Shinohara—the undefeated strongest Academy student. Everyone believed he’d last to the end of this Game, but for some reason, his name was now among those eliminated. It shocked her. Confused beyond repair, she almost fell back down to the floor. Even Hiroto Shinohara couldn’t win? Was the Chameleon really that strong?”

“…!”

She worked her device with unsteady fingers, tapping erroneously many times over as she replayed the archived footage. The Eimei School team was attacked on two fronts, likely part of the fallout from the Chameleon crisis. However, Shinohara and his teammates had fended off both enemy forces. He’d dropped out after that. He’d knocked himself out of the Game with a bold smile.

“This is…just…”

It was impossible. There was no way such a move would achieve anything in this event. Not normally, anyhow.

The girl couldn’t help but think that perhaps Hiroto Shinohara had a way. He’d made it to Seven Star quicker than anyone in history. Maybe he’d devised some crazy, unthinkable solution to this problem. Kicking yourself out of the Game normally wouldn’t achieve anything. There was no merit to it at all, yet there might have been a reason, if not a merit. The people down here couldn’t make contact with ASTRAL participants… But someone removed from the Game could reach out to her.

“…No. There’s no way…”

She pieced together words of denial, her mind too accustomed to the desperation for anything else… Still, her heart couldn’t help but hope. It raced in her chest. Then, as if to affirm that anticipation, the Academy’s best gave her his dauntless smile from across the screen.

“Hey. You watching this? I’m talking to you. Or maybe ‘you all’ would be more appropriate. I know it’s a bit late, but I’m heading over there now. Don’t bother objecting, all right? I’ve already made up my mind. So quit sitting there scared forever.

“It’s time…for a comeback.”