Chapter 68: Side Story - Concealed Intentions

Chapter 68: Chapter 68: Side Story - Concealed Intentions

Nanami’s monologue, POV

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?Four days passed.

?I didn’t make another attempt to extract information from Faction C.

?That was deliberate; the first mistake in any investigation was becoming predictable—which I was starting to think I was.

?If the same people repeatedly approached the same targets with the same questions, eventually even the slowest person would notice the pattern, not to mention if the group leaders were to catch wind of those approaches from their members.

?So I stopped.

?For four days, me and Kinko did almost nothing. Kinko had not approached anyone or even me; from what he told me, he had club activities to attend to.

?I mean, he was part of the student council, but his position was that of a treasurer, nothing more.

?At least, nothing that Faction C could see.

?The information we had already obtained was enough to establish something important.

?Faction C wasn’t preparing for an ordinary academic examination; they were preparing for something physical. Protective equipment had been secured. Certain members were apparently concerned about mobility. Others were spending more time training after school.

?But that was only the surface level. Something felt off about the information we had on them. If it was just a physical confrontation for the test, then it wasn’t worth withholding the information like that.

?I wanted to know what they were preparing for.

?More importantly, I wanted to know what they believed the test would actually involve, so I could contemplate it to form a better strategy of our own. Our class had been in the dark for a while now, and as the active class leader, I was to guide them forward.

?Faction A remained dominant, as always it seemed, perhaps following the same path we were.

?The answer couldn’t be obtained through another interrogation.

?So we changed methods.

?The library was unusually quiet that evening. Rows of students sat beneath soft ceiling lights, their tablets displaying lecture material while the occasional sound of a page turning passed through the room.

?Kinko sat alone at a table occupied by three students from Faction C.

?He wasn’t studying with them or even talking to them.

?He was simply there; his tablet was open.

?A textbook was positioned in front of him.

?And every few minutes, he would quietly sigh at something on the screen.

?"Are you stuck?" one of the students asked.

?Kinko looked up.

?"A little." He smiled apologetically.

?"I’m not very good at this section."

?The student leaned over. "Which part?"

?Kinko showed him the question, which in turn the student explained.

?Kinko listened carefully.

?"Ah." He nodded. "That makes more sense."

?The student smiled. "It’s simple. You were probably overthinking it."

?"Not really, though."

?The conversation ended with Kinko returning to his work. The students in question had some connections with Kinko, but apparently, he wasn’t the type to usually open his mouth and talk to them.

?Nothing suspicious or unusual—that was precisely why it worked. I wasn’t at the scene to watch it directly, which didn’t create any suspicions. The details were later explained to me by another student who blended completely into the background of the scene.

?People tended to notice someone who watched them.

?They rarely noticed someone who appeared to be struggling with his own problems. Making the student watching hard to stay undetected; suddenly moving from their location to another would only create more suspicion. So all they did was detach themselves completely, creating a scene of absolute focus on their work while simultaneously watching Kinko and the Faction C students closely.

?Kinko became background noise, and background noise heard everything.

?Still, not everything was useful; most of it wasn’t.

?A complaint about a teacher, a disagreement over lunch, someone complaining about sleeping badly, a student mentioning that they had to visit the gym later.

?But Kinko remembered the small things.

?On Monday, four members of Faction C stayed in the library until nearly nine.

?On Tuesday, only two remained.

?On Wednesday, the same four returned, but they left earlier.

?On Thursday, one student stopped buying the usual cafeteria meal.

?He had started ordering larger portions while keeping me informed.

?Another began carrying an electrolyte drink.

?A third stopped participating in casual sports because, according to him, he was "saving energy."

?None of those things proved anything individually, but together, they formed a pattern.

?Kinko didn’t write it down; he didn’t need to. He kept it in his head.

?Later that night, he met me in my dorm outside school grounds. Normally, a boy meeting a girl in her dorm location was against the rules, and there could be penalties if we were seen. Bypassing the school cameras was one thing on school grounds, but getting caught by another student could cause problems immediately or in the long term.

?Reina was there as well; she seemed to have just finished her extra lessons. It must have been hard; she seemed a bit overwhelmed or tired.

?"What did you notice?" I asked.

?Kinko thought for a moment. "Three of them changed their schedules."

?"How so?"

?"They’re spending less time socializing after classes. More time in the gym."

?"All of them?"

?"No." Kinko shook his head. "Only the ones who seem physically capable."

?I leaned back. "What about equipment? Is that option still open for them?"

?"They aren’t discussing it openly anymore."

?"Well, as expected."

?Kinko looked at me. "But there’s something else."

?I waited.

?"Their food."

?Reina raised an eyebrow. "Their food?"

?"They’re eating more."

?"How much more?"

?"I don’t know," Kinko replied immediately. "I’m not counting calories."

?Reina laughed quietly.

?"I wasn’t expecting you to," I replied.

?Kinko continued. "But it’s noticeable. Some of them are taking second servings. One of them changed his breakfast completely."

?I nodded. "Physical conditioning."

?"Probably."

?"Probably isn’t enough, though."

?"I know." Kinko looked down. "That’s why I’ll keep watching."

?I didn’t respond; I knew what he meant. The purpose wasn’t to collect conclusions; it was to collect changes.

?A single student eating more could mean anything.

?A group of students changing their diets while simultaneously increasing physical training and acquiring protective equipment meant something else.

?Still, there was a problem: we didn’t know where the equipment was coming from, and that mattered.

?The next afternoon, I approached Kinko outside the classroom, near a vending machine.

?"I have an idea."

?Kinko looked at me; his expression didn’t flicker. "Should I be worried?"

?"Maybe... but hey, listen."

?He sighed, as if already exhausted from my ideas. Was I putting too many duties on him? He hadn’t refused any of my requests up to this point; I should probably reconsider that.

?I handed him a drink. His eyes shifted to it first for a moment before meeting mine again.

?He accepted it. "What is it?"

?"A rumor."

?Kinko stared at me. "You can’t lie."

?"I know."

?"That’s why it isn’t a lie."

?The rumor began with Reina.

?She mentioned it to two students from neutral factions while they were waiting for their next lecture.

?"I heard the school might have supply problems."

?One student looked up. "What kind?"

?"Training equipment."

?"Really?"

?"That’s what I heard." Reina shrugged. "But I don’t know if it’s true."

?That was it. She didn’t exaggerate or claim to have a source. And more importantly, she didn’t say the school was running out of equipment.

?She merely repeated a possibility.

?By the end of the day, the rumor had spread through several groups.

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"People reveal information unintentionally through ordinary behavior."

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