Fosters also functioned as weapons, so to prevent crime, their functions are limited when they’re used by someone other than the owner. There are exceptions, however, and one function permitted to everyone is the call function, for emergency purposes; hence, so long as the phone address has been registered, contacting someone was a trivial task.
“Safina! Where are you right now— Wait, Nakamura!?!?”
This wasn’t his foster, so naturally, the person he called would be surprised, but the face of the white-haired beauty projected on the screen was a lot more flustered than he’d expected.
Actually, he wasn’t intending on surprising her, but after seeing her reaction now, he couldn’t help but feel like teasing her a bit.
A beauty like her who acted completely different from her reputation and was weak to unexpected events like this was really worth teasing.
Of course, the fact that the boy would even dare think something like this and put it to action immediately could only be blamed on his nature.
“Hey, it’s been a while, are you free right now?”
That’s why he purposefully called out to her so casually and smiled such a huge smile at her.
“What— There’s no way I would be free, damn it!!!
Sure enough, veins bulged on her forehead and the thunderous eruption of an angry roar followed.
Though only a substitute, she was still the overall supervisor here, and from the sound of it, she wasn’t able to avoid getting herself caught up in trouble.
“I had to run all over the place to give orders, I had to listen to all that drivel, and to make things worse, three classes and a student from the special class still in his exoskeleton just had to go rogue. And yet despite that, I have to be patient with people! Try putting yourself in my shoes, why don’t you!!”
She probably wouldn’t have needed to be so concerned if the students had gone crazy on their own, but with the possibility of a third-party being involved, these students were victims.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t publicize the truth that the students have been affected with a mind skill, making the situation even more complicated.
Shinichi could tell from her yells and her face that looked like it was about to cry just how much she must’ve suffered.
“Must be tough, Shinichi said.
“Don’t talk as though this has nothing to do with you!”
Hence, only a demon like him could tease her despite knowing that.
Such behavior truly wasn’t befitting someone so involved with this case.
“I feel so dumb worrying over you because Shinguuji’s headed your way and I can’t contact you.
“Ahaha, sorry, actually, I called partly to reassure you and partly because I promised to make a report, but… Thanks, for worrying about me.”
He apologized for teasing her and earnestly thanked her, but this too took her by surprise and she found herself speech for a second or two.
“Hmm… This much is a given… I’m your teacher, after all… Wait, are you okay? Your breath sounds a little rough and your face doesn’t look that good.”
She was always sharp when it came to stuff like this.
“I had to take on two annoying guys after having to take on two whole classes on my own, you know?”
There was no way he would be fine after that, or at least, that was the kind of reasoning he used to try and fool her.
After all, it would be strange for a person not to be tired after fighting that many people.
Of course, that only held true for normal people.
“Lies. As if someone who could spar with me without breaking a sweat would be tired by something on that level. Is this something I shouldn’t be asking about?”
As it turns out, that sort of reasoning wasn’t going to work on her when she knew a little about the abnormalities surrounding him.
When she even went as far as to expose the reason why he tried to worm his way out of being questioned, well, he had no choice but to give up.
“…Alright, you got me. Yeah, I’m a little tired because of something related to that. But I’ll be fine after a few hours of rest, so it won’t be a problem.”
“I’ll believe you for now. How are the others?”
“Everyone’s in dreamland. They haven’t been hurt either. They’ll probably wake up when morning comes.”
Shinichi turned the display to show the sleeping students.
Frire smiled upon seeing them, but it was curious whether that smile was out of shock or relief.
Regardless, that smile lasted only for a moment before she turned to Shinichi with a meaningful gaze.
“So, in the end, everyone really did gather where you were>”
‘Everything went exactly as you said it would,’ her words implied.
Shinichi shrugged his shoulders and laughed.
There was no need to point out who she was referring to by ‘everyone’.
“Amazing, isn’t it? I’m like an insect light trap, except for problems. It’s annoying, but it’s plenty convenient in its own way. After all, all the problems are offering themselves up to the one guy who can deal with them easily.”
“…This isn’t something to laugh about, you know.”
Like this they won’t have to waste their time finding the berserked students, Shinichi cynically smiled, but Frire didn’t agree with him and she made a bitter expression.
“Just how can coincidences line themselves up like this? This place is so big, and yet… Why?”
The students weren’t thinking properly, and yet despite that, they still went after the same target at the same time.
There were other students here too, so why did they all focus their attention on Shinichi?
Seeing her so troubled made Shinichi feel a little bad for telling her about himself so suddenly.
“If you think about it that way, it’s certainly strange, but if you change your perspective, it’s not actually all that strange.”
“What!?”
“After fighting with them, I found out that that mind skill can influence people without making them go berserk by taking advantage of their dreams and strong feelings.”
“What did you say!? Ah, so that’s why! That’s why they didn’t care whether their diversion was a success or not! If they could make the diversion even bigger through suggestion, then good, but even if it failed, they would have a better understanding of their present limits.”
Frire’s face twisted in anger when she realized what Shinichi was getting at.
The fact that she could understand that so quickly showed just how reliable she was as a teacher, but it would have been even better if she was just as sharp when it came to matters outside of military affairs or warfare too.
Shinichi sighed to himself, but he wasn’t really in a position to be thinking that about her.
“These are just some of my conjectures, but the students of 2 – C and 2 – D were probably asked to gather people, while the remaining two were likely instructed to go on a rampage in a manner that could be complemented by their own desires. The others were probably instructed in a similar manner, but now, comes the problem.”
“Huh? What problem?”
“Who among the students could these unhappy students likely convince to join them? When those two students started looking for someone to fight to prove their strength, which student was it that was fighting?”
“…You.”
“Bingo,” Shinichi clapped.
To these students who didn’t know about his rule, he must’ve looked like another unhappy student to them.
That’s why they tried to lure him out in such an overly indirect manner through those love letters.
But because he kept ignoring them, they became annoyed and the skill bugged out, causing all of the invitations to focus on him, and finally, they were able to meet tonight.
A fight that couldn’t even be called a fight erupted because of that, but it just so happened that at the time that was the only thing that slightly resembled combat within the premises of the field; hence, the other two were attracted to him, though it’s also possible that they might have unconsciously sensed the threat Shinichi posed through the power flowing in their blood, but who could tell that?
“They just didn’t have any other targets, that’s why they all gathered to me.”