After a little bit of persuasion, and some snacks in the office, senior Coco saw herself off. Her cat ears sprung up in happiness and she bid me luck before Tina escorted her down.
Only me and Sibyl were left in the room.
“... Are you mad?” Sibyl asked in a low voice, enough for me to notice her fear. “I am sorry.”
Although they appear strange and unique, people from my academy are all normal students. They didn’t know or need to get involved with the dark side of this Academy City. I made sure they wouldn’t get involved.
And to answer Sibyl’s question… I was indeed mad. I got angry at my friend for suggesting I drag senior Coco to the dark side just for one mission, just because we needed a helping hand.
One or twice might not be a problem. But those living in the darkness would inevitably notice her presence, noting her as one of my acquaintances, leading to a massive headache in the future.
No matter what, I wouldn’t endanger my benefactor, those who saved me when I was confused, scared, and despaired.
Anyway, I calmed myself down and exhaled audibly.
“Don’t worry about it.” I said, leaning against the couch, “Sorry about that.”
“No, I was at fault.” Sibyl shook her head, biting her lower lips, “I shouldn’t have proposed that. If anything, I wanted to ask for a student council member to help. But unfortunately…”
“You think there is a mole among us.” I finished her sentence and saw her nod slightly.
Now that was interesting and disturbing. A member of student councils, consisting of talented students recommended by their own academies, worked together with a terror organization. If the news leaked out to the public, our reputation would take a hit and that would lower our credibility.
“PMC has finished their interrogation.” Sibyl started, moving toward the tea maker in the corner and started brewing one, “Among the five people you caught, two of them are confirmed to be the Bomber Twins. Then they confessed their plans and confidently said there is a mole in this building.”
“How sure are we that they aren’t telling lies?”
“Travis used his ability and confirmed it.” Sibyl said. She put tea on the table and sat across from me. “Right now, he’s trying to get detailed information from them, that’s why he sent Tina to deliver the mission instead.”
Travis had confirmed it, huh? I mused, sipping the tea prepared for me. If it’s that guy, then I could trust the information.
The current third strongest Esper in Cypherion and the president of the public moral committee, Travis. He’s a Psion Master like me and Sibyl. His ability didn’t really fit for battle, that’s why he lost to us. And it was scary to think despite that, he reigned as the acknowledged third strongest.
Anyway, he was trustworthy, at least in my and Sibyl’s opinion.
Still, that meant this case was really bad.
“Esper Resistance’s main base has been destroyed.” I looked at the first page of the document again, “Many corpses had been found with holes in their bodies. According to the report, there is a Psion Trail belonging to the same Esper in the location.”
Photos included in the document showed the bodies covered in blood. The numbers were enough to form a pool, making me nauseous though I had gotten used to it by now.
This was one of the reasons why I asked Coco to return earlier.
“The culprit is most likely having the ability to bend light and an experimental subject… So these old men used yesterday’s incident to test the result of their experiment and in the end it rebelled so we need to clean their mess.”
I sighed at the conclusion I drew from this case. We planned to catch the members of Esper Resistance one by one, starting with the 5 people yesterday by tracking their Psion slowly.
But the board director saw this as an opportunity to conduct the test they loved and, in the end, the result was both satisfactory and not.
“They are really obsessed with their puppet game.” I gritted my teeth and threw the document to the table.
Without saying anything more, I stood up and walked to the elevator.
“Where are you going?” Sibyl asked with a lower tone, “You’re not going alone, aren’t you?”
“I am going to a maid cafe.” I waved my hand casually and entered the elevator. I felt like I could hear her sighing in relief when the door closed.
***
I didn’t lie when I said that I went to the maid cafe.
“W-W-Welcome home, Master!”
What greeted me when entering was a clumsy maid, her face was really red. With her green hair tied in a double bun, she looked like a freshly plucked tomato.
“Wow.” I could only let out an amazed voice when I saw her. “You really don’t fit to be a maid, Luna.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“... Shut it.” She bit her lower lips in embarrassment.
Really, seeing her like this lifted my tension. I chuckled and teased her. The chance of doing something like this to Luna was close to 0, so I used it pretty well. However…
“Enough. Do you want to drink or just visit to tease me?”
“Well, I was thinking of having some parfait.” I answered and stopped my teasing. Any further and Luna would explode. But, that didn't mean I wouldn’t continue a little. “So, will you show me my usual table, cute maid?”
“Cu- You!”
Realizing that I teased her again, Luna raised her hand, only stopped when she saw Aria glaring at her from the side.
Hah! I win. I smiled smugly and urged her to escort me to my table.
While gritting her teeth, she took me to the table in the corner and muttered dangerously.
“Just wait until we return.”
Wow, it seemed like I went a bit too far. I shuddered after seeing her off with an expression befitting a demon. Replacing her, Aria approached to take my order.
“Wow, do you like that girl, Ciel? I never saw you tease someone that much.” She asked curiously, glancing at Luna whose expression returned to normal and greeted another guest.
Unlike when she was with me, Luna managed to do her job well.
“I just like teasing Luna. She’s the only classmate I have in my school, you know?” I answered with a chuckle.
“Right… I wonder how your school operated with only 5 students.” She said, “In fact, it’s one of the 7 mysteries in Cypherion.”
“We have our ways.” I answered mysteriously. I knew the reason, but keeping it a secret would be more interesting.
We talked a little before I ordered.
“I’d like some sweet parfait and the maid’s service, please.”
“Alright. Please wait a minute.” Aria bowed and left.
The sweet parfait in this store was the best. It was cheap, delicious, and the fruits were brought fresh from outside the island everyday. Nothing beats a cheap but delicious sweet.
More importantly…
“Thank you for waiting, this is your sweet parfait and the maid service. I have written words filled with love in the paper.”
Aria put down a chocolate parfait with various fruits sticking out from the cream and a white paper on the side. She left after I thanked her and gave me space to enjoy my parfait alone.
However, I didn’t touch the drink and read what was written in the paper first. A single sentence, consisting of only numbers, was written on it.
[35.65851309505097, 139.70225836220342]
It was a coordinate.
After remembering these numbers, I crumpled down the paper and put it in my pocket.
Their maid service Is truly the best in Cypherion. I didn’t need to explain what I needed and they already knew about it. I mused and enjoyed my parfait.
***
Following the coordinate, I found myself in District 13 again. Skyscrapers dominated this district. Many malls and high rise specialized buildings stood proudly with all their ads displayed on the front.
I was slightly surprised that the coordinate led me to this part of District 13. Nothing here screamed suspicious except for blinking neon lights at night that turned this place into a city with a cyberpunk vibe.
Maybe that’s enough to make this place suspicious. I looked at the building in front of me, a wholesale store I often visited to buy snacks.
Yellow LED sign ‘WholeSnack’ welcomed all visitors. Combined with the catchy music inside and cheap products, this place became people’s favorite choice if they craved something.
And under this place, the massacre happened. Besides that, nothing unusual could be seen. People still entered and left the store with smiles just like the usual.
It’s not like I doubted maid cafe Angel’s information gathering skill, but now I had a doubt about it. Also…
“I thought I told you to return?”
I looked at the black-haired girl next to me. Her cat ears-like hair moved slightly upon hearing me, and she turned around, meeting my gaze directly.
“It’s a coincidence.” She said, “I definitely didn’t follow you walking toward WholeSnack and wanting to get some. Definitely not.” She nodded and tried to convince me.
“Didn’t you listen to my conversation with Sibyl earlier?”
“Isn’t that just an excuse so you won’t have to treat me? You can’t fool your senior, Ciel.”
“...”
Wow, this was far from what I expected. I knew she was a glutton, but not to this point.
However, she was seen with me now. The store’s cameras recorded everything. Even if she turned back, if I went and investigated the case, she would undoubtedly get involved. People from the other side would seek her out to either get revenge if I succeed or as a threat material.
Sighing, I realized there was no other choice but to finish this case together with her. Senior Coco’s ability might be useful to investigate the scene.
“Let’s enter for now.”
“Hmm.” Coco exclaimed with an excited tone.
She followed right next to me, literally skipping in happiness.
Looking at her like this, I felt a pang of guilt. I tried to whisper to her the exact situation, but she didn’t believe me and took some snacks once we were inside. There was really no tension at all.
We strolled like customers, only drawing some attention from a few people because it was rare to see students at this time, as everyone should’ve attended the opening ceremony in each of their academies.
Well, this was unexpected, I tried to look around but found nothing strange, just the usual store that operated like normal.
Is it really here? I asked myself once more. Now my doubt doubled from before, especially since no one recognized me. The Esper Resistance bunch surely recognize my uniform and appearance. Even so, no one looked at me strangely.
That’s until we passed a door with ‘Staff Only’ sign put on it.
“Hmm?”
Coco’s nose suddenly twitched and she stopped, closing her eyes to smell better. Her head moved left and right to find the source of the smell she suddenly sniffed.
Then, she opened her eyes and looked at me seriously.
“It’s blood.” She whispered, “And a lot of it. The smell is so thick that it stands out even among these delicious smells.”
Maybe bringing her was the right idea after all.
“Where does it come from?”
“Over there.”
Coco pointed at the door without hesitation. Her ability, Possession, allowed her not only to inherit the characteristic of something that possessed her, but also felt supernatural being in the world.
It was the so-called Supernatural Esper ability, derived from supernatural belief that she manifested to the real world with her imaginary field that she couldn’t control.
“Not only blood, but there are also a lot of vengeful spirits down there.”
Hence, she was able to feel and see the spirit of the massacre victims from the report.
