Liar, Liar - Volume 6 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Spear of Justice

Kaoru Saeki’s declaration of war, issued on the first day of Rate Radar, spread like wildfire across STOC and IslandTube. That much, of course, I’d expected. Hiroto Shinohara is undoubtedly the most talked-about player on the island right now, so if allegations of cheating start to surface, it’s going to become the big topic of conversation.

Various opinions spread across social media: I knew Shinohara was cheating; It must be pretty serious for the Hexagram to make a move, right? Not even Shinohara can survive this; I don’t know… He didn’t present any real evidence at all; Well, either way, Kaoru is soooo cool! It was true that, given the lack of concrete evidence presented, these were all just suspicions for now. But thanks to Saeki’s strangely convincing rhetoric and track record, the general vibe wasn’t good.

So now SFIA was starting to be a lot less fun, but at least Stage Two, Rate Radar, ended without further commotion. I reached the victory conditions at noon on the first day, with Himeji joining me a couple hours later. The last of the winners wrapped up the Game right after the third day began. Two of us had no problems qualifying for the high-ranking bonus.

“Hmm…”

It was a few hours after the end of Rate Radar, and Himeji and I had been milling around at home since the morning. Now, though, we were looking at our devices in the living room, carefully going through the rules of Stage Three. There were still ten thousand participants left, but this was where SFIA really started to cut that number down. Only 10 percent of the students in Stage Two made it to Stage Three… But only a hundred people—1 percent—would move on to Stage Four. Even for top-ranked players, it wasn’t going to be easy.

Plus, as the rules showed, this Game presented some of its own unique problems.

SFIA Stage 3: Blank Code

Each player is assigned a “passcode” required to complete the Game. This passcode is a four-digit number, and the objective of Stage 4 is to correctly identify your number.

The first, second, third, and fourth digits of a given passcode will each be given to five students. This means that twenty players will have information to help you identify your passcode, chosen at random from students close to your own rank but outside your school. It also means each player will possess twenty digits for passcodes that are not their own.

In order to identify your passcode, you will need to negotiate with players who possess the relevant digits (shown on your device by specialized IDs). If you can convince them to give you a digit, you can execute a “trade” to exchange information between yourselves. A player can also verbally convey the number they have, but there is no guarantee it will be the truth.

Trades can only be carried out twice per hour. You can also engage in trades with members of your own school.

Blank Code ends when one hundred players have successfully worked out their passcodes. If this condition is not met by five PM, the Game will be paused and resume at nine AM the next day. You may attempt to guess your passcode at any time, but an incorrect guess will result in elimination. The first four players to beat the Game will gain a high-ranking bonus for Stage 4.

Blank Code also features a point system to assist in negotiation. Players use points to negotiate with other contestants, and 10 points can be spent to reveal one digit of their own passcode only once during the Game. Players begin with 3 points, but those who earned a high-ranking bonus in Stage 2 will start with 7.

All digits held by players who either complete the Game or are eliminated are deleted and can no longer be obtained by other players.

Only one Ability may be installed on devices for this stage. Given the nature of the Game, no probability-changing Abilities are allowed.

“Hmm… This sounds really difficult.”

“…Yeah.”

Himeji and I both sighed as we browsed the rules again. We’d gone over them right after they were first revealed, but even now, our impression of them hadn’t changed much. Blank Code, Stage Three of SFIA, was even more troublesome than it first appeared.

If you only looked at the basic rules, it wasn’t that complicated. All you had to do was guess the four-digit passcode assigned to you. These digits are held by players in other wards, and you need to trade for them. After that, it would just come down to what Ability you had and how you used it.

“But these digits aren’t gonna be easy to collect, huh? No one will give one to me unless I have a digit of theirs. Maybe we could offer more than one digit or try to pick up potential trade bait from other players… But all we’d be doing is shuffling digits around. It’d just keep going and going until someone else in Eimei has what I need.”

“True. There’s also the point system, which will smooth things over somewhat, but… Well, even if you take that into account, it’ll be hard to progress quickly in this Game. There’ll be no end to the players trying to take advantage of us.”

“Yeah. And if we keep wasting our time trying to make trades, they’ll reach the hundred-person limit in no time, and we’ll get booted out… Not to mention, it’s gonna be a bit more difficult to use the Company to force our way through this time.”

“Exactly, Master. It would be possible to extract your passcode from the Blank Code server itself, but since all probability-based Abilities are banned, we wouldn’t be able to explain that away as you ‘just being lucky.’ Plus, after the Hexagram’s announcement…it would be dangerous to try anything too flashy.”

Himeji’s voice remained calm. I wasn’t sure how effective the Hexagram’s monitoring was, but that didn’t mean we could proceed worry-free. At the very least, we’d need to play it aboveboard for the time being.

I really didn’t like the way this was going, though. As a (fake) Seven Star, I was already a player nobody wanted to see advance any further… And now the Hexagram’s accusations had turned up the heat on me even more. It would no doubt be harder than ever to work out trades with other players.

“Hmm… Well, I guess I’ll have to keep the Company’s support to a minimum. That’s really gonna suck, to be honest, but if people start suspecting every move I make, I’m done for.”

“Very true, Master. For now, I will construct a list of IDs and the players they correspond to. You know most of the players with a similar rank to yours by now, so if we know who we need to deal with beforehand, it’ll be easier to work out a strategy.”

“…Ah right. That shouldn’t raise any eyebrows, at least.”

Himeji and I exchanged nods. Even if the Hexagram had swayed a lot of people into distrusting me, none of the top-ranked players would refuse a good trade because they didn’t like me or whatever—especially if they’d already known my background and personality.

“But I’m still feeling pretty uneasy… Like, I really don’t think this is a Game you can win solo. All of us from Eimei have to work together and circulate info around. We’ll never make any effective trades otherwise.”

“You might be right, Master. A single player only has the information for twenty people, but if the entire Eimei School works together, that’ll make things hundreds of times more efficient.”

“Yeah.” I nodded slightly to Himeji, who was looking at me with those clear blue eyes, and reached for my device. “So let’s get star— Hmm?”

Just as I did, it vibrated. Raising an eyebrow, I looked at the screen, which showed a brief message:

“To all Eimei students in Stage Three of SFIA, please gather in the main hall of the Eimei School at seven tomorrow morning before the Game begins. If you’ve read the rules, I’m sure you realize how essential schoolwide cooperation is in conquering Blank Code. I have a plan, and if you have even a little faith in the student council president you voted for, please make it known with your presence. I guarantee you won’t regret it.”

It was an invitation from Shinji Enomoto, president of the Eimei student council and a guy nicknamed the All-Seeing. It was such welcome news that I couldn’t help but mutter “Nice” under my breath.

It was early in the morning of Friday, July 29. Stage Three of SFIA was just two hours away, but there were already hundreds of players gathered in the Eimei School’s largest lecture hall.

“…”

The stares directed at me as I leaned against a wall at the far side of the room felt a little different from usual. That livestream was no doubt the reason, but there was no point dwelling on it, so Himeji and I let it pass without comment.

On the other side of the hall, looking down at us from a podium, was a young man in a crisp school uniform. He picked up his microphone and spoke in a calm, collected voice.

“First of all, I’d like to thank everyone for their cooperation. I spent a whole night planning this out, but that would have gone completely to waste if not enough people chose to participate. Looking at the turnout, though, I think we’ve cleared that first hurdle, at least.”

This was Shinji Enomoto, the Six Star student council president and member of Class 3-A at the Eimei School. He hadn’t brought it up himself, and he might not even be conscious of it, but having so many people heed his summons on such short notice said a lot about how much the student body trusted him. According to Himeji, 97 percent of Eimei students who made it to Stage Three were in attendance. They all unconditionally believed Enomoto’s plan would work out if they went along with it, so none of them had any reason to turn down the invite.

“…Fwaaah…”

Nanase Asamiya was there, too—the flashy beauty with short blond hair who was also a Six Star—but she hadn’t said a word. In fact, she was yawning onstage, one hand on her hip. Only an ex-model could get away with a pose like that, in my opinion, but anyway.

“I called you here today to discuss our strategy for SFIA Stage Three, Blank Code. This Game is extremely difficult to progress through on your own. In fact, you’re being asked to interact with many players to gain the information you’re looking for. But since only a hundred players are allowed to complete it, there’s no time to take it slow… That’s why I have devised a system.”

Enomoto paused long enough to pick up the device next to his mic. Skillfully operating it, he projected a large screen behind him.

“This is the Eimei Network. Created using an Ability called Cross Communicate EX, it is exclusively limited to Eimei students. Its function is to keep track of information across a number of registered devices. While limited to Eimei, it will let us search in real time to figure out who’s in possession of which digits.”

“…Wow. And what does that do for us?”

“Don’t you even understand that, Nanase? As I just said, the only way to conquer this Game is to steadily exchange information with other players. With this system, we can quickly work out whether the Eimei School has information of interest to a certain player—in other words, trade fodder they would want. This network is also set up to automatically perform trades among its members as needed for any situation. You can picture this system as all the Eimei students sharing a single giant deck of cards. You get it now?”

“Yeah, okay, fine… Seriously, why am I even up here…?”

Asamiya might be grumbling about it, but now I understood what Enomoto was trying to get at. The Eimei Network, a giant deck of cards… If we could freely access that much information, it would greatly reduce the possibility of anyone taking unnecessary detours.

“Very impressive. I’m sure other wards will come up with similar countermeasures, but I don’t think many players could construct a system with so few flaws. One certainly sees why he was elected council president.”

“…Yeah.”

I had to agree with Himeji. It boggled the mind that Shinji Enomoto had been able to put something like this together in a single night.

“Oh… And one more thing.”

Enomoto, onstage, was looking right at me from all the way across the hall. It was only for a brief moment, though, and he quickly turned toward the other students, looking totally worry-free.

“I know a lot of you must be concerned about the declaration-of-war broadcast made by the Hexagram two days ago. You know, the one about how Hiroto Shinohara’s a cheater, and that they’d reveal it in this Game.”

…?! Wait, what?! You’re gonna take a dig at me, too, Enomoto?!

My heart jumped when I heard my name. I could hear the hushed conversations among the students and guessed at least a few of them were hesitant to join the Eimei Network because of my current situation. I could feel their eyes on me from all directions.

I didn’t react, unsure of where Enomoto was going with this as he continued, his usual sour look on his face.

“To be honest, I cannot say how credible this claim is. Personally, having fought alongside him during ASTRAL, I do not believe any of it is true… Though, perhaps I am too biased to tell. But that doesn’t matter right now. The problem is that Kaoru Saeki, the ace of Second Ward’s powerful Suisei School, is making these sorts of accusations in the middle of the major event of the summer. Shinohara is Eimei’s best player, and now they’ve thrown suspicion at him at the worst moment imaginable. If you don’t see any ulterior motive in this, then all I can say is that your brain must be on the same level as Nanase’s.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?! I thought this was pretty fishy, too!”

“Uh-huh. You looked clearly convinced to me. But regardless, you can consider Kaoru Saeki’s accusations an attempt to cloud your minds. A bit of psychological warfare to destroy Shinohara, and by extension, all of us here at Eimei. We absolutely cannot allow ourselves to become divided thanks to this infantile attempt at sabotage. I will remind all of you that SFIA is not the sort of event we can hope to win without Shinohara.”

The words came freely from Enomoto’s mouth. He was looking straight at me again, and then, his lips curling up a bit, he continued on in a joking tone.

“If we’re all in the same boat anyway…we’re better off trusting him than distrusting him, don’t you think?”

“…”

Needless to say, I quickly regretted doubting Enomoto for even a second.

In the end, I don’t know if it was Enomoto’s speech that did the trick or not, but nearly all the players in the hall agreed to join the Eimei Network. That much was to be expected, I guess. They had nothing to lose, and even just joining this revolutionary system gave you a much better idea about how to clear the Game. They’d need to have a damn good reason to turn down this offer.

But just as Enomoto finished speaking, I saw the door at the back of the hall slam shut. I couldn’t see who it was, but there were certainly at least some people who’d chosen not to join.

Anyway, as the students began to disperse…

“Sorry to make you come here so early.”

Enomoto called out to me and Himeji, having come down from the stage with Asamiya. I was grateful beyond words for what he’d said up there, but I couldn’t show any of that externally. Instead, I just smiled a bit.

“Hey, Enomoto. Thanks for earlier. I never thought you’d step up to defend me.”

“If you’re attempting to show your appreciation, you could at least call me Mr. Enomoto, you know. And as I said, I’m not defending you. All I want is for Eimei to win, and to do that, we’re going to need everyone in the school to work together. I can’t allow any internal strife to get in the way of that.”

“Huh? What’re you talking about, Shinji? Before this, you were acting all cool, saying, ‘I’m his old war buddy,’ and stuff. Just admit it to him!”

“…That was crossing the line, Nanase. Some things are better off unsaid.”

“H-hey! Are you trying to scare me? Stop that!”

Enomoto put a hand on Asamiya’s shoulder, attempting to intimidate her. Asamiya, seeing his face right up by hers, turned red, her bright blond hair furiously shaking.

Once they’d finished their usual back-and-forth, Enomoto turned toward me, looking miffed.

“Hmph… Ignoring Nanase’s ravings for the moment, I think I’ve made my opinions about all this clear. I never had a rosy impression of the Hexagram in the first place.”

“No? Well, good. I’d hate to have you hounding me, too. What about you, Asamiya?”

“Me? Well… I don’t use my brain much sometimes, so like Shinji just said, I kinda believed a lot of it. Like, ‘Oh wow, I’m amazed Shino’s been doing something like that!’ But we fought together in ASTRAL, right? And if it wasn’t for you, Shino, we never would’ve survived long enough to win… So like, why would I start doubting you now, y’know?”

“…!”

She was playing with her hair the whole time, no doubt a bit embarrassed to be so honest with me. My eyes started to well up a little, so I just said, “Okay,” and looked away. Somehow, I felt much more reassured than I had before. It seemed the friends who had fought with me in the big group-based Game were more important to me than I’d thought.

Himeji, next to me, calmly bowed in reply. “Thank you both for believing in my master. I know full well that he has never done anything dishonest. I would like to say that everyone in our ASTRAL team is on our side now, but then I remember that Ms. Akizuki—”

“Hee-hee-hee. You rang?”

?!

As I heard that breathy whisper, a sweet smell tickled my nostrils. It shut my brain down for a moment, and I felt my left arm being yanked backward. Turning around, I saw a girl whose pushy attitude seemed to contrast with the hesitant way she held my hand. She had a wide smile on her face, which also looked slightly red. This was Noa Akizuki, a third-year student at the Eimei School, just like Enomoto and Asamiya. Her chestnut-colored hair was tied up in loose twin ponytails, and she had a small build and a cute, childlike face. It was surprising, given she was older than me, although her large breasts made quite a contrast with everything else about her. All in all, she was every bit the Little Devil, fully aware of all her natural “weapons.”

“Morning, Hiroto!   I haven’t seen you all summer break. You weren’t getting lonely, were you?” she asked, looking up at me through her eyelashes even more flirtatiously than normal.

“Uh… I mean, we’re only a few days into summer vacation, and you haven’t stopped messaging me this whole time. How lonely could I be?”

“Aw, super lonely! I always am if I can’t talk to you every day, Hiroto!   If Shirayuki wasn’t around watching you, I’d take you back to my place, and then we’d… Hee-hee.  ”

“…Excuse me, Ms. Akizuki. I am beginning to feel tremendously irritated for some reason, so will you please remove yourself from my master at once? If you could do it immediately and keep at least a mile away, that would suffice.”

“Oh, sure! Come on, Hiroto, let’s go on a mile-long walk, and then we can make out all we want—”

“A mile away from my master. Not me.”

Himeji pouted slightly as she put her foot down against Akizuki’s constant advances. This, too, was turning into a regular thing between them.

Akizuki reluctantly let go of me, then giggled and put her hands behind her back. “But you know…it’s looking pretty tough for you, huh, Hiroto? You’ve got that group of weirdos bothering you.”

“Weirdos…? Those guys are pretty famous, Noa-chi. The Hexagram was all over the news last year, too, don’t you remember? They’re like a bunch of good guys who punished evildoers.”

“Oh, I know. But no matter how ‘good’ they are, if they’re Hiroto’s enemies, then that makes them mine, too. Like, they can go on about cheating all they want, but if they’ve got no proof, it’s nothing but a big inferiority complex, you know? It’s sort of like seeing the old me. So annoying!  ”

“Ah, right…”

I felt like Akizuki was actually kind of making sense. She used to be so jealous of me because of her own inferiority complex, which was why she’d wanted to crush me so bad, as hard as that was to believe now. But at least I knew that Akizuki, just like Enomoto and Asamiya, didn’t doubt me at all.

Th-thank you, Eimei…!

The last few days of constantly searching comments about me online had been more psychologically damaging than I’d thought, so hearing all this encouragement was actually really touching.

“Hmm…”

But Akizuki wasn’t done yet. She rested an index finger on her chin, her voice taking on its usual sly tone.

“If anything, I’m more surprised that guy Saeki is participating in this event himself. People go on about how talented he is, but he pretty much never shows up in public unless he’s exposing someone like this. And he’s got two color stars, right?”

“Yeah. If memory serves, the effect of either of them hasn’t been publicly revealed yet… But if Saeki’s on the scene, it goes without saying that Suisei’s serious about winning this.”

“Oh, for sure. And you know the two people behind him in that video? One of them, the girl, her name’s Akutsu from the Suisei School… You need to keep a close eye on her.”

“No doubt,” chimed in Enomoto. “And also…do you know about the St. Rosalia Girls’ Institute in the Fourteenth Ward? They’ve been quiet on the Game front the past few years, but there’s a player who’s been really making a name for herself in the short time since ASTRAL ended. Shizuku Minami, a second-year.”

Ohhh…!

I tried to keep calm hearing that name, but inwardly I could feel my cheeks twitching. Shizuku Minami—the blue-haired girl who’d faced off with Eimei during ASTRAL, then challenged Saionji and me in DearScript as well. She always seemed so listless and detached, and her Game performance and talent are both average at best…or so I thought. But apparently she’d been this unbeatable monster at the middle school she’d attended, where they had a similar Game-based system.

Now, though, she was keeping a low profile because she hated having the spotlight on her all the time. I figured that if I left her alone, she’d stick to her low-key high school life, but after her defeat at the hands of me and Saionji—or rather, being goaded by Yuzuha Shinohara, a devil who loved to cause chaos—I guess some sort of switch in her brain had been flipped.

“She went down to Three Stars after getting beaten in ASTRAL, but incredibly, she’d made her way back up to Five Stars by the time SFIA began. Can you believe that? And she was even one of the people to place in the top rank for both of the first two stages. Maybe you don’t need to worry about her just yet, but she’s still someone to keep your eye on.”

“…Oh? You like girls like that, huh, Shinji? The complete opposite of me?” asked Nanami.

“I don’t remember saying anything like that.”

“Hee-hee! You don’t have to get so jealous,” Akizuki said. “We all know who the president’s really given his heart to!   But enough about that! I got someone else I’m real interested in, too! Misaki Yumeno, a Four Star from the Seventeenth Ward’s Amanezaka School. She put up an unbelievable number of wins in Stage Two!”

“Oh? Let’s see. Total wins… One hundred and eighty-seven?! Are you kidding me?!”

“Yeah, crazy, right? You beat Rate Radar once you hit 10 HP, so you’d never normally fight that much… But, like, every time she was about to beat the Game, Misaki would sell 1 HP to the Shop, use the money to buy more weapons, and just keep on playing. Apparently, she ended up collecting, like, twenty-four weapons!  ”

“Whoa! Damn…”

Asamiya seemed genuinely shocked by Akizuki’s explanation. It was pretty insane… But that didn’t matter now. All the high-ranking players from each ward, Saeki and Yumeno included, were still in the running. That said, it only made sense for them to have won all the stages so far.

“Anyway, let’s stop chitchatting and get back to strategizing for Stage Three,” Enomoto said, shaking his head and steering the discussion back on track. “The Eimei Network I just announced is meant to facilitate exchange within the school and provide the information needed to make effective trades… But given the rush job that it is, there’s a little bit of a lag before trades are reflected in the database. I think I’m going to stay in the student council office and work on that until it’s more stable. I will, of course, continue with the Game in parallel.”

“Hmm…? You will? I can help, if you need it. I know you’re good at multitasking, but it won’t be easy beating Stage Three while doing upkeep on the server, will it, Enomoto?”

“Again, if you feel that bad for me, call me Mr. Enomoto. And while I appreciate the offer…”

Enomoto silently shook his head at my suggestion to help—or, I guess, to get the Company to help. I gave him a quizzical look back.

“…Well, all right, I’ll tell you now. The thing about Blank Code is that, due to how the game works, we have to choose carefully who we want to advance.”

“…We do?”

“Oh yes. Only a hundred players can survive Stage Three, which means that, at best, a small handful of students from each ward will reach the next stage. Thus, it makes sense to ensure that only our best players make it through. And with the Eimei Network in place, it wouldn’t be difficult to skew the data to help specific players win.”

“Ah… Yeah, I guess not.”

“Right? I don’t want to call it ‘selecting favorites,’ but if I was forced to do something like that, the only person who’d have to answer for it afterward would be me, Eimei’s student council president. In which case, Shinohara, you could make it through to Stage Four without— Hmm?”

Enomoto stopped his eloquent speech out of nowhere, as if he was distracted by something. Looking over, I saw that Asamiya next to him had grabbed his arm, forcibly turning him toward her.

“…that.”

“What, Nanase? If you have something to say, speak up.”

“I said, stop trying to act all cool like that!!”

There was clear irritation in Asamiya’s voice as she jabbed an index finger in front of Enomoto’s face, her golden hair fluttering gently. As Enomoto stood there, clearly perplexed, Asamiya fired a machine-gun-like barrage of criticism at him.

“Shino’s offering to help you! Why are you just shooting him down?! And saying things like ‘Only I can take responsibility’ and stuff… It was the same with that speech, too! If you think you’re, like, the star of your own movie or something, then you’re really mistaken! That act is beyond lame, you know!”

“It’s not lame, and I’m not mistaken. Everything I said is purely factual.”

“Oh, so you’re gonna play dumb, huh? After using me for years…?”

“…? Of course I did. We have a special relationship, Nanase, one that can’t be compared to any other.”

“Huh?! A…special relationship? Shinji, what do you mean by special…?”

“I’m talking about collective responsibility… Oh, but that might be too hard a phrase for you, huh?”

“Ugh! You’re sooo annoying! You try to keep Shino and everyone out of this, but you just see me as your, like, accomplice or whatever! God, Shinji, did those all-nighters you’ve been pulling mess up your head, or what?!”

“Not at all. I’ve been getting ample rest. In fact, why don’t you take a short nap, Nanase? Stage Three is starting in an hour.”

“Huh? Nah, I’m fine. I napped a little in your room earlier.”

“Oh… That’s right. You were leaning against me, comfortably snoring, even though you were supposed to be working. If you were that exhausted, you should’ve just slept in my bed.”

“Y-you’re wrong! I wasn’t comfortable at all! You should be happy I was all over you like that!”

“Also, have you gained a little weight?”

“I have not!!!”

“…”

I maintained a vaguely cheerful expression, not really understanding the argument or flirting or whatever this was going on in front of me. Putting together what I heard, it sounded like Asamiya had stayed over at Enomoto’s place… And well, it was probably best not to ask about it.

Anyway, thanks to our competent council president, the Eimei School now had a system in place to help us conquer Blank Code. Once the Game began, I’d need to reach out to players with the digits I needed, then search the network to see if we had any digits they wanted. I’d also get at least some Company support, so overall, it sounded like we had a pretty viable strategy in place.

But it’s not like we’re rock-solid or anything…

I brought my right hand up to my lips. I now had an efficient way to obtain “trade bait,” but that didn’t mean the trades would always be successful. And I might have to face some pretty direct interference as well. With the Hexagram piling on the allegations, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if a lot of players attacked me with theft-type Abilities, for example. I planned to set Cancel Interference as my Ability, of course, but if I was subjected to concentrated fire like that, it’d only be a matter of time before I used it up.

Just as that concern crossed my mind…

“Goooooooood morning, everyone!!”

Suddenly, the door at the back of the hall opened, and a girl came running in, full of enthusiasm. It was Suzuran Kazami, that boyish beauty, with a big, clunky camera around her neck. She made a beeline in my direction and, once she was close enough, shoved a mic in my face.

“Sorry to barge in, my Eimei friends! Shinohara, I’m gonna ask you straight out—what do you think of your current situation? The whole Academy’s divided by the Hexagram’s accusations. If you didn’t do it, I want you to say so, on the record!”

“…Huh. Okay.”

Th-they’re here?! I get that Libra would wanna cover this story, but still!!

I calmly fielded Kazami’s question, but on the inside, I was racking my brain for an answer. I had half expected it, but I wasn’t excited to get hounded by Libra like this. One mistake here, and public opinion would sway even more toward the Hexagram.

That said…

Wait, maybe I can use this to my advantage…

Yeah. Maybe this wasn’t so bad, after all. Libra was a huge media group, and its influence was certainly a threat… But use it right, and it could become a powerful weapon.

“Heh…”

So I decided to smile a little for the camera.

“It doesn’t interest me or even matter to me if people believe Saeki and the Hexagram’s allegations. But let me make one prediction—no matter how they try to mess with me, I’m never gonna lose this Game. If they wanna waste their time harassing me, then fine, but I personally don’t recommend it.”

“…! Are you saying you’re going to stand up to the Hexagram?!”

“If that’s how you want to take it, fine. Just let me say that I don’t consider them a threat at all.”

My tone of voice seemed to excite Kazami even more. That ought to be enough to plant the seeds anyway. If all that gets broadcast island-wide by Libra, a lot of players will take it to mean I’ll be taking countermeasures against potential meddling—in other words, that I’d use an Ability of the same type as Cancel Interference. That alone would serve as a huge deterrent.

Now that I have all the pieces…it’s just a matter of how fast I can beat this Game.

I gave a slight nod, steeling myself.

“…Oh? Is this ID yours, Seven Star?”

Just a few minutes after Blank Code, the third stage of SFIA, kicked off, I contacted Senri Kururugi—Hell’s Priestess from Tsuyuri Girls’ Institute in the Sixteenth Ward and someone I’ve come to know pretty well lately.

In this Game, players with the information you need are represented by special device IDs with no personal information attached. This means you’d kick off negotiations without actually knowing who the other person is, but thanks to the Company’s research, I knew who all the IDs belonged to. So I understood in advance that I’d be dealing with Senri Kururugi…which meant my chances were pretty good.

If you see her on the battlefield, run away, as they say… But she’s a pretty good person, at the core.

No, there was no doubting the serious threat she posed. Kururugi was a true berserker in battle, but that only applied when combat was the only option. In a Game like this where diplomacy was key, someone like her who was calm and rational (as long as trendy desserts weren’t involved) was actually just the kind of opponent you’d want to have.

“Hey, Kururugi. Been a while, huh? Thanks for your help with Rainbow Pâtisserie a little while ago.”

“No, thank you. Without your help, I wouldn’t have gotten my hands on that limited-edition cheesecake. That taste, that aroma, that texture… Just thinking about it makes me smile, even now.”

“That’s great to hear. But let’s talk Blank Code for now. I want to get right into negotiations with you. You got a digit I need, right? I wanna trade a digit of yours for it.”

“…Oh? You already have something to trade with me? How’d you do that?”

“That’s classified, of course.”

I smiled. No way was I gonna reveal it was all Enomoto’s doing.

Really, though, this was far from a bad deal for Kururugi. The ideal trade in Blank Code was one where both sides got a digit they needed at the same time. It was still early in the Game, too, so there was no chance the digit you were offering was one your partner already had. In fact, the only real obstacle to making this deal was if Kururugi was suspicious of me…

“All right, dessert boy. I accept your offer completely.”

“…Oh? That was fast? I won’t comment on that nickname, though…”

“Yeah. I can’t think of any reason to say no, really. I heard all about the Hexagram, of course… But those allegations are just so ridiculous. How could any dessert lover be a villain like that?”

All joking aside—at least, I’m pretty sure that was meant as a joke—Kururugi immediately gave her okay. When I checked my device a moment later, I saw that I’d received the third digit of my passcode—a 3, apparently. Having that, and knowing now that the Eimei Network was working as designed, I was hoping to wrap up this Game fast.

And so…

“…Yeah?”

The next person on my list was the Five Star from St. Rosalia who’d been attracting so much attention lately—Shizuku Minami, the girl with those languid eyes who’d once been the strongest in her school. I didn’t expect things to go as smoothly as they had with Kururugi, but I’d met her before, at least. It should be somewhat easier to negotiate with her than a total stranger.

Recognizing her usual detached tone of voice, I pressed on, pretending not to know who I was talking to.

“Hello? This is Hiroto Shinohara from the Eimei School. Who’s this?”

“Who, me? I’m Minami, the girl you’ve heard sooo much about… Super strong, so cute you just wanna eat me up, and popular on a scale not seen before in history. So what’s a villain like you want with me?”

I was effectively silenced by her casual accusation. I’m sure she couldn’t see my reaction, but Minami just kept on going, sounding slightly smug.

“I always knew you were a bad guy… And it turns out I was right. The entire world can’t stop talking about you…”

“…So you believe that crap from the Hexagram?”

“Hmm? I don’t really care either way. Whether you’re cheating or not, it’s got nothing to do with me… I just feel a little better, seeing you in trouble and everything. That’s all…”

“That makes you sound pretty bad yourself.”

“Oh… Now I’m the bad one? We’ll see about that… You’re making me really angry, you know… But I’m also a little grateful, actually.”

“You are?” I mumbled back.

“Yeah,” Minami replied curtly. “You reminded me of something…I hadn’t felt in a while. Playing against you and the Empress was so much fun…”

“…Oh?”

“Yeah. So we don’t need to trade. I’ll give this to you for free… I have the first digit of your passcode, and it’s a 5. You don’t need to do anything for me in return… Just do as you see fit with that info…,” she said in her usual monotone.

Minami was being surprisingly generous. I had one digit from Minami’s passcode, just like with Kururugi, but if I didn’t have to give it to her, then that was the best-case scenario, right? I felt a momentary tug of doubt in the back of my mind, but then—

“Master, no. We have to be careful here.”

Himeji leaned over from beside me and shook her head. Her cool blue eyes immediately snapped me out of it, and I went right back to negotiating.

“Minami, I know you’ve been kind enough to tell me for free and all, but I’d like to check the actual data, just in case. So let’s just do a normal trade, okay? I have your digit ready here.”

“Uh… Why? I already told you… You’re going to let all my gratitude go to waste and—”

“Just do it, please.”

“…Pfft.”

I could barely hear her over the phone, but Minami reluctantly agreed. Her attitude concerned me, so I decided to check the data she sent me immediately after the trade was completed. It turned out my first digit was an 8, not a 5.

“…Hey, why were you casually trying to trick me, Minami?”

“What do you mean? I have no idea what you’re talking about… I must’ve misread it… Hmm-hm-hm-hmm…”

“You’re really not convincing anybody, you know. Honestly…”

I shook my head with a sigh. Minami was happily humming to herself (or at least that’s what it sounded like), but eventually she said “I’ll see you in Stage Four…” and hung up. She’d sounded calm enough, but those words definitely revealed the kind of fighting spirit she had.

“Whew…”

The data-collection process had gone relatively smoothly up to now, but in terms of players who’d eagerly agree to a trade with me, Kururugi and Minami were about it. There was only one other person on the list of folks I knew, but I really wanted to avoid him as much as I could.

Thus, after wrapping up with Minami, I attempted to negotiate with a few players I didn’t know… But that just led to three failed trades in a row. All of them quickly turned me down, saying things like, “Who knows what kind of cheap trick you’ll try.” Just as presumed, even high-ranked players couldn’t fully ignore the Hexagram’s allegations. So there I was, left in the lurch while the Game proceeded without me…

“Hmm? So that’s why you’re looking so down?”

A few hours later, I was in my room video-chatting with a girl who’d contacted me just before the end of day one of Blank Code. I let out a sigh. My negotiation partner was Sarasa Saionji, the red-haired fake heiress. She must’ve been at home, too, because she’d fully done away with her “Empress” persona and was casually sitting on her chair with her chin resting on one hand. I was in my mansion with the Company’s firewall protecting me, while Saionji was also being defended by high-end security, so we didn’t have to worry about someone listening in on our call.

Saionji stared at me through the screen with her ruby-red eyes.

“Sounds like you’re in a lot of trouble, Shinohara. What on earth did you do to attract the Hexagram’s attention in the first place?”

“I don’t know… Or, like, they must’ve been suspicious of me from the start, right? Calling themselves ‘defenders of justice’ and all that.”

“Hee-hee! True. It’s the perfect organization to deal with a pathological liar like you.”

“You’re the last person I wanna hear that from…”

Saionji was joking, but I still shook my head in protest… This was kinda turning into the opposite of ASTRAL, wasn’t it? Back then, someone had been going around as the “real” Sarasa Saionji and accusing the one I knew of being a fake, but I was the target this time. Though, well, Saionji and I are coconspirators in these lies we’ve got going, so if mine ever get exposed, she’s going down with me.

“Hey… By the way, has the Hexagram messed with you, too?”

“What, are you worried about me? I’m doing just fine, thanks. I think every ward must have a system like this, but here at Ohga, we’ve got this ‘community assistance’ thing going. Thanks to that, I’ve already got three of the four digits I need. Once I wrap up this trade with you, Stage Three is over for me.”

“…Really? Damn.”

No longer surprised by her exploits, I gave a slight shrug.

Like I said before, it was Saionji who’d approached me with this trade offer—or, more accurately, she’d contacted a mystery ID about the fourth digit she needed, who just happened to be me. She didn’t have any digits I needed, though (Ohga’s system had given her one, but it was a duplicate of Minami’s), so as an alternative, I agreed to give her the digit of hers I had in exchange for all seven of her points. Accepting this trade meant I’d let Saionji beat the Game before me… But even if I did nothing, she was bound to win it anyway. Better to just take my lumps and earn the points available to me. Although I wanted her advice on the Hexagram and my current situation as well, that had pretty much been my main strategic reason for saying yes to her offer.

Looking at the screen, I saw Saionji sigh and pout as she propped up her head on one elbow.

“This Hexagram, though… They’re trouble. Their leader, Kaoru Saeki, is one thing, but the two underlings behind him in the video are bad news, too, you know? Koto Tsuzuki, a Five Star from Ohmi School in the Tenth Ward, and Miyabi Akutsu, a Six Star from Suisei School in the Second Ward. This might even be a bigger crisis than ASTRAL was.”

“Yeah… I think I can figure out a way past Blank Code at least, but Stage Four’s gonna be the real problem. From that point on, everyone’s gonna be betting real stars, and it’s all gonna be power players, too. If the Company’s restricted from making any big moves, it’ll become a headache for me real fast.”

“Yeah… But you know, Shinohara, if you really feel like you’re at an impasse, you should try counting on me a little more, okay? I know you know this, but I’m your coconspirator now. I don’t wanna wind up in a situation where I’m screwed and I don’t even know it.”

“…Yeah. I know.”

I nodded, slightly embarrassed over Saionji’s clumsy attempt at kindness… I know she said that, but her offer was best thought of as a last resort. I was already under heavy suspicion; if people found out how much Saionji and I were colluding, I’d never talk my way out of that.

“Anyway, the Hexagram’s broadcast hasn’t been a fatal blow to me so far. But if you could tell me when you get any new information, that’d help a lot.”

“Roger that. Hee-hee! Being chased by a group of do-gooders… It’s like something out of a movie, isn’t it?”

“An action thriller from the criminal’s point of view, huh? It’s not like I’m not doing bad things, though…”

“Yeah, true… But I do have some good news for you, Shinohara.”

Saionji’s lips curled up a bit, her ruby-red eyes fixed on me. Then she lowered her voice, as if imparting a secret.

“So as you know, I’ve been pretending to be Sarasa Saionji since I enrolled at Ohga. I’ve been lying as much as you. I’m just an ordinary girl who’s maybe a bit smarter than average, but I’ve been passing myself off as the heiress of the Saionji family.”

“I like how you managed to talk yourself up in there. But what about it?”

“What about it? Well, that’s ‘bad,’ too, isn’t it? The daughter of the Academy’s founder and current chairman is a fake! That’s a crime just as monumental as yours, isn’t it? But the Hexagram hasn’t come after me at all. I haven’t had the slightest bit of trouble from them.”

“…”

“And I don’t know if they just haven’t realized it or if there’s something intentional to it… But it shows that the Hexagram’s ‘justice’ isn’t so perfect.”

Saionji smiled as she looked into my eyes. I didn’t really have a clear path forward yet, but this was still encouraging news.

Saionji had managed to finish Stage Three of SFIA once I gave her the final piece of info she needed. The official announcement stated that she was the second person to beat the stage across all the wards. The only one faster, by the way, was Misaki Yumeno, a first-year at the Seventeenth Ward’s Amanezaka School. She had already been attracting attention after storming through Stage Two, but now she was looking like a legitimate dark horse.

This meant that only two more high-ranking bonuses for Stage Four were left on the table. That’s where I found myself on day two of Blank Code, still looking for someone to give me my third and fourth digits.

Next was ID number 07-499: Toya Kirigaya, the Absolute Monarch of Shinra High School in the Seventh Ward.

“It just had to be him…,” Himeji said as she placed a cup of tea in front of me. I understood what she meant well enough. Kirigaya, after all, is a battle-obsessed maniac, by far the most belligerent player I know on this island. His victory in ASTRAL resulted in his becoming a double Unique Star holder, which means I had to be even more wary of him than I was before.

“Apart from Kururugi and Minami, he’s the only person on this list that I know. I still have two digits to figure out—I can’t be too picky right now. I have all the points I need for the negotiation, too.”

“I guess. Well…all right. Allow me to watch and observe over here, then.” Himeji nodded slightly, her clear blue eyes betraying a hint of anxiety.

“Sure,” I said, trying to reassure her as I reached for my device again. Slowing my breathing down, I took my time putting in Kirigaya’s ID to make the call. After a few rings, he picked up, speaking in his usual tone.

“Ugh, what do you want? Who the hell is this? If you wanna negotiate with me, you better gimme your name and ward first!”

“Hiroto Shinohara, from Eimei. How’s it going, Kirigaya?”

“Huh? Hyah-hah! Damn, this is your ID? Niiiice. Guess I’m as lucky as ever, huh?!”

“…? Lucky how? What’s it matter who the guy on the other end of the line is?”

“Oh, it matters a lot, man. Knowing all the people I’ve pushed aside to reach the top is a huge motivation for me. Before now, I’ve been dealing with total wimps whose names weren’t even worth rememberin’. I gotta net someone big for the finish, y’know? Otherwise, what the hell am I even doin’ here, huh?”

Kirigaya sounded like he was really enjoying himself. Something about what he said gnawed at me, and my eyebrows raised slightly.

“The finish…? Should I take that to mean you’re at least willing to discuss a trade with me? Because I figured you’d shut the door immediately once you found out it was me.”

“What’re you, stupid? Why would I waste an opportunity like this? After you set up this big, flashy stage for me, huh? You got a duty to entertain me, you know, so give it your all. If we’re gonna fight, then the Game that’s framing it doesn’t matter to me. The next stage—Stage Four—that’s when SFIA starts gettin’ real.”

“…”

“So no, I’m not gonna try pullin’ some stupid trick to take you down…but the price’s gotta be right. Something that’ll satisfy me—something that makes me feel like I’ve made you surrender.”

This was an audio call, so I couldn’t see Kirigaya’s expression, but his voice told me that he was grinning through all this.

“So you can spend 10 points to reveal one of your own digits one time in this Game, right? That’s what I want. Gimme all 10 points needed for it. Then I’ll tell you what your second digit is.”

“…What, why? Can’t we just trade the info like normal?”

“Quit playing dumb with me. What if you use somethin’ like Display Bug to screw around with me? I’m tryin’ to get rid of you at this point, remember. I got every reason in the world to attack you. So I don’t want your info. I want cold, hard points—low risk and guaranteed to help me win.”

“Well, even so, you’re being a little too greedy. Knowing you, I’m sure you earned the high-ranking bonus back in Stage Two, right? Three more points is all you need.”

“Uh-uh. That’s not happenin’. I’m sure you were gonna use your own points to reveal the last digit once you’re done dealin’ with me, but that’s not bringin’ you down to your knees, the way I wanna see.”

I shrugged silently and internally clicked my tongue at Kirigaya’s keen observation. I’d had 7 points at the start of Blank Code, and with the 7 Saionji had traded me, that meant I now had 14. If Kirigaya started with 7 as well, he’d need 3 more to reach 10 and reveal one of his own digits. I figured, therefore, that this trade would be a win-win for us both…but I guess fighting to a draw didn’t sit right with him.

I bet I could poke around Eimei’s students to find guys who’d trade me info and points, but the Eimei Network’s supposed to be about “equal exchange,” so if I wanna make a trade involving points, I’ll have to negotiate individually with each partner… Do I really have time for something like that?

My hand tightened around my device as I thought hard over it. There were two high-ranking bonus slots left in Stage Three—or one, really, if Kirigaya finished the Game before me. Considering that I could only make two trades per hour, I really wanted to find a way to earn 6 points for myself, then come back to quickly close out this deal with Kirigaya…

“Hyah-hah! Hey, come on, Shinohara. I know you’ve caught the attention of some real shady characters, but if you’re gonna let guys like that break you as their toy, then you don’t even deserve to be my toy, man!”

Kirigaya’s voice rang loud, like he was enjoying every minute of this, and he hung up on me without hesitation. The silence that fell was broken by Himeji, whose silver hair rippled like silk.

“All right, Master, I’ll prepare some fresh tea for you… That was good to hear from him, though. I was considering what kind of cheat we could use if he made an outlandish offer, but unfortunately—or fortunately, I suppose—I don’t think we’ll need any.”

“Hmm, you think? This isn’t the toughest problem in the world…but I wouldn’t count on earning that high-ranking bonus at this point. Not unless I get Company help.”

“Yes, well, in a way, this would involve asking the Company to help. But it wouldn’t involve cheating, at least.”

I lifted an eyebrow at Himeji’s somewhat contradictory statement. She kept her eyes on me as she gently placed a hand on her chest and gave a slight smile.

“You could use my points. I earned a bonus in Stage Two as well, so I have seven points, just like Rina. If I entrust them to you, Master, that will easily satisfy your needs.”

“…Huh? Wait, but—Himeji, how will you reach Stage Four, then?”

“There is no need for me to… Listen, Master. As Mr. Kirigaya just said, the real SFIA battle doesn’t begin until Stage Four. The fighting will be fierce, like nothing we’ve seen so far, and realizing this, it’s clear that I am not strong enough for it. But I will continue to be of service to my master—not as a player, but as your competent personal maid and closest adviser.”

“…!”

“So I will use this opportunity to bow out of SFIA. If it is not too much trouble, please use these points of mine.”

Himeji’s statement was heartfelt, with no lies or exaggeration. The feelings behind it were so pure they shook my heart. Devotion doesn’t even begin to describe it, and all I could do in response was nod and say “Okay.” …I suppose she’d planned to drop out at Stage Three from the beginning, seeing as how she hadn’t made any trades at all in the past day and a half and had been preserving her points the whole time. All so she could donate them to me.

No way I can let myself lose now…!

I covered my face with my right hand, concealing my expression, and steeled my resolve once more.

So after completing the trade with Himeji, I now had 21 points. I could fulfill Kirigaya’s demand and still have enough to reveal my final digit all by myself. So I contacted him again, and he laughed in my face as we completed the trade we’d arranged earlier. The second digit of my passcode was a 1, it turned out, and I wasted no time promptly paying 10 points to reveal the fourth as well. At long last, I had my full passcode.

“The passcode’s 8136… And we’re done.”

The moment I typed it in, the words STAGE 3 COMPLETE flashed on the screen, accompanied by a sound effect like a jail door being unlocked. The Game was complete, and while the Hexagram had put a stop to my cheating, I’d found a way through.

I wouldn’t have had any complaints if I’d also managed to earn that high-ranking bonus, but…

“One moment, Master. Allow me to check the overall rankings,” Himeji said quietly as she worked her device. Libra was constantly updating their Game rankings, so she didn’t need to hack into anything to get that info.

“I’ll read the rankings from the top. The first person to complete the Game was Ms. Misaki Yumeno, a first-year student at the Amanezaka School. The second was Ms. Sarasa Saionji, Empress of the Ohga School. Next was Toya Kirigaya, the Absolute Monarch of Shinra, and… Oh?”

“…? What’s up, Himeji?”

“Oh, um… Well, the final person to gain the high-ranking bonus was Mr. Kaoru Saeki of the Suisei School. He slipped into fourth place a hair’s breadth ahead of you, Master.”

“Wha…?!”

My eyes widened at this slight disturbance in Himeji’s report. He’d got me good, it seemed. Saeki probably had an Ability that monitored my progress. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but at most, it had only been a couple of minutes between Kirigaya winning and me following suit. Logically thinking, this was probably a deliberate move to slip in ahead of me. Kaoru Saeki, top player for Suisei in the Second Ward and leader of the Hexagram…had figured out his own passcode long ago, then waited until I had mine before typing it in. In manipulating the rankings like that, he was establishing a clear hierarchy between the other players.

That’s how badly he wants to crush me…?!

I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. Seeing things work out exactly as my opponent wanted was incredibly frustrating. But there was no changing the results now. For the first time in this event, I’d missed my chance at a high-ranking bonus—but as I stewed over that, my device vibrated in my pocket. Looking at it, I saw the name of Shinji Enomoto on-screen.

“Hello? It’s me, Enomoto. I saw that you cleared Stage Three just now. I had wanted to contact you a little earlier, but I didn’t want to interfere with your tactics. Is now a good time?”

“…? Sure, it’s fine, but…did something happen?”

“Yes. And it’s not particularly good news. In summary, I won’t be making it to Stage Four.”

…Huh?

Enomoto’s shocking confession made me lose my train of thought. It took me twice as long as normal to wrap my head around what he’d just said—and then, at long last, I asked him a question.

“What do you mean…? You being eliminated is kind of a huge deal, you know.”

“Hmph. To tell the truth, an unknown force has been trying to gain unauthorized access to the Eimei Network since yesterday evening. Leaving it unaddressed could result in a full takeover of our system, so I’m afraid it requires my full attention for the moment.”

“…?! That’s what it was, huh…? Well, why don’t you just shut it down, then? You’ve already done more than enough for us. And I’m sure the high-ranked players can make do without it—”

“No, we can’t. With Nanase and Akizuki, at least, their whole strategy rides on the presence of the Eimei Network. If I shut them out—as well as all the other Eimei hopefuls—so I alone could advance… Well, it’s just not possible for me, neither emotionally nor strategically.”

“Yeah, maybe not…”

“See? All this means is that I’m taking myself off the board to strategize a little earlier than I did in ASTRAL. I happen to be good at providing support, too, so I can fight well enough even if I’m not on the main stage.”

Oh man, are you serious? Enomoto’s gone…

This unexpected turn of events left me speechless. First Himeji, and now our fellow ASTRAL teammate Enomoto was opting to bow out. I could understand both of their motivations well enough, but still, it brought home to me just how steep a challenge SFIA actually is.

“Now, Shinohara…”

Enomoto spoke up again, his voice slightly lower.

“I called it an ‘unknown force’ just now, but I have a pretty good hunch about who we’re dealing with here. The ones trying to interfere with the Eimei Network are most likely the Hexagram group.”

“?! …Are you sure?”

“No, there’s no solid evidence. If it really is the Hexagram, I’m sure they’ll cover their tracks too well to be detected anyway. But…in the Game last year, too, Eimei was stripped of their victory because of the Hexagram’s wrongful ‘justice.’ It was such a blow to the confidence of our ace at the time, she never participated in the public Game scene again. That’s what convinced me—there’s nothing just about them. Not at all.”

“…!”

“And that’s why… If this was just some pranksters, I could leave them alone well enough, but if it’s the Hexagram, it’s time we sat down and dealt with it. That’s what I’m going to devote my time to. Our most efficient strategy here is to look ahead to the final stage, not just focus on the problem in front of us. I didn’t have that luxury last year…but this year, I know someone else I can trust with the Game itself.”

Enomoto’s words made me fall silent. The concerns Saionji had told me earlier were now coming to the surface. The Hexagram, this evil-defying legion of justice—they weren’t quite as squeaky-clean as they led everyone to believe. There was no telling what they might be hiding from the world.

I smirked at my device.

“Well, all right, Enomoto. Feel free to leave the Game to me. And at the end of SFIA, it’s gonna be Eimei standing at the top.”

LNN – Librarian News Network – Special Bulletin

SFIA: One Explosive Event After Another!

Highlights from the Action Up to Stage 3

SFIA, the blockbuster event that lights up the Academy every summer, has already seen intense drama in its first three stages! Here’s a recap of the biggest news so far!

Suisei Stages Full-On Assault!

Although they hardly ever participate in interschool battles, the Second Ward’s Suisei School (school ranking: 2) has publicly declared war on Hiroto Shinohara alongside the Hexagram, the defenders of justice led by the charismatic Kaoru Saeki (third-year, Six Star). Saeki’s second-in-command, Miyabi Akutsu (third-year, Six Star), along with Hexagram members from other wards like Koto Tsuzuki (third-year, Ohmi School, Tenth Ward, Five Star), will be joining him as they fulfill their public vow to catch Shinohara. The move marks a new, more public presence for the Suisei School that’s sure to attract serious attention.

Spring Champs Eimei Rocked!

The Fourth Ward’s Eimei School (school ranking: 5), winners of the May Interschool Competition in the spring, has been buffeted by one problem after the next. With the Hexagram accusing the strongest student in the Academy, Hiroto Shinohara (second-year, Seven Star) of cheating, the entire island has grown divided over whether his talent is on the up-and-up. What’s more, Eimei’s student council president, the “All-Seeing” Shinji Enomoto (third-year, Six Star), as well as Shinohara’s personal maid Shirayuki Himeji (second-year, Five Star), both bowed out in Stage Three. Shinohara’s still in the Game, but SFIA is bound to test the true talent of the Eimei School before it ends.

New First-Year Stars Catch Everyone’s Attention!

Up-and-coming first-years always have a tendency to stake their claims to future glory in the Academy’s summer event. Momo Asuka (first-year, Ohga School, Third Ward, Four Star) already drew heavy attention at the May Interschools, but she’s far from the only one making headlines: Misaki Yumeno (first-year, Amanezaka School, Seventeenth Ward, Four Star) has fended off the Empress twice to finish on top in Stages 2 and 3; Mari Minakami (first-year, Eimei School, Fourth Ward, Three Star) has drawn attention for her hidden skills and as the younger sister of a past famed talent; and even Sana Nitta (first-year, Azuminodai School, Twentieth Ward, One Star), has made her presence known despite her low rank, so stay tuned!