Editing The Perfect Insider:Chapter 1-3

3

It looked hot outside. The eight story tower of laboratories across the way was speckled with shadows owing to the unevenness of the wall, which upon closer inspection was due to air conditioners jutting out awkwardly from several windows. Almost a third of the windows were stuffed to the brim with bookcases or scientific equipment and closed up tight with padlocks. The National University's engineering department was, at least by appearances alone, nothing to think twice about.

Saikawa Souhei gazed out the window in a daze. The conference room was set for the last committee meeting of the day, and members from each department, twenty in total, were gathered there. Saikawa was the representative for the architecture department.

The topic up for discussion was budgetary appeals to the Ministry of Education for the establishment of a new cutting-edge learning facility for the engineering department. Overused terms like network and multimedia were being tossed around, but Saikawa was barely listening. Nearly two months prior, several committee members from the school had gone on a research trip to MIT in America. Why was a trip like that necessary in this age when the world is connected through networks, he wondered. He didn't understand it at all, but what he did know was that, if they didn't enthusiastically investigate, perform multiple studies, and come up with tangible results, the Ministry of Education wouldn't sign off. It was a shame, really. Hopefully, they'd be able to generate a pretty hefty report. Just how many reports in the world have actual substance to them, he thought.

"Well, basically, the upper management is behind the times," Saikawa whispered to himself.

Even if they had the budget to make classrooms lined with computers, they would have to set up air conditioning units on every room beforehand, and most importantly there were too few classrooms available. So they would have to make more classrooms. The Ministry really couldn't get past such a basic issue…?

The idiotic discussion continued endlessly. Out of all the professors here many must have been connected to the network. If only they would use e-mail, this conference would be unnecessary. That way all these records and piles of copies wouldn't be required either. They were not only squandering finite resources and the most esteemed minds around, but more importantly their valuable time.

"Professor Saikawa of architecture, what do you think? Would you like to comment?" A member suddenly addressed Saikawa.

"No, I have no objections to the outlined proposal," Saikawa answered, half aware of what he was saying. "I believe our foremost goal is to bring students the opportunity to have this experience. Perhaps information studies could be made into a new discipline. Though, I think it is necessary to adopt information studies into our current curriculum…"

In the instant he finished his comment, it was immediately forgotten. Meaningless opinions like that, delivered with a straight face and wrapped up in a bunch of important-sounding words, were something he'd been good at lately. The way of living in which one never says what you truly feel… was an instinctual one for Saikawa, but he was gradually understanding why. It was like trying your darndest to get a broken-down car to run. As long as you get to your destination, that's all that matters.

The conference concluded after two hours, and Saikawa trudged down the hallway of the classroom building until he reached the research building.

His room was unlocked. When he opened the door, cool air surrounded him.

There was only a single decorative plant in his room. It reached up towards the room's low ceiling. Saikawa had no interest whatsoever in plants. He was actually more fond of leaves than flowers. You wouldn't ever catch Saikawa bringing a Pachira or the like into his room.

Saikawa used two desks, but one was just there to hold his twenty-one inch display. Now, the screen was playing a psychadelic pattern that looked like an amoeba. This was the visble expression of an automatic program called a screensaver, which protects against burn in.

Saikawa returned the committee files to their place on the steel shelf. Then, he grabbed a soda from the fridge in the corner of the room and sat in his chair. Before opening the can, he lit up a cigarette. 

"If this school didn't hold committee meetings, I'd probably get my research done twice as fast," Saikawa sighed.

A voice could be heard from the adjacent room. Next door was one of Saikawa's lecture helpers, Kunieda Momoko's room. Kunieda didn't have the kind of speaking voice you'd normally hear from another room. She was likely with a student right now.

While still smoking the cigarette, Saikawa attempted to drink the soda. Miraculously, despite being inserted into the same mouth, the substances managed to remain separate.

A knock came at the door, so he replied.

"Pardon meee," Nishinosono Moe waltzed in.

She always wore flashy clothing, and today was no different. A bright pink tank top and grey skin-tight jeans. She also wore a thin white vest. She was carrying a large yellow handbag. Her hair was short and straight, and she had a pink earring to match her shirt in one ear. If you looked closely, you could see that the earring was a small glass elephant.

This girl had only just started studying in the architecture department this April. Generally, first year students in the department never came to visit the instructors. It was almost always fourth year students for help with their thesis, or in his position as a researcher, graduate students. However, Nishinosono Moe was the daughter of his former mentor, as well as the president of N University, Doctor Nishinosono Kyousuke. Doctor Nishinosono and his wife perished three years ago in an airplane accident, but even before that Saikawa had often had the chance to visit his home, so Saikawa had known Moe since she was very small. Ever since enrolling at N University, Moe had repeatedly dropped by Saikawa's office like this.

"Professor, you look tired." Moe peered at Saikawa's face as she spoke. "Another meeting?"

Saikawa nodded. He didn't have the energy to respond.

"Should I brew some coffee?" Moe asked as she dropped her bag to the floor.

"No, that's fine, Nishinosono. I've got my soda. But if you want some, then go wild," Saikawa said. Before, he would have always called her by her pet name, Mo-bear, but that would come across as uncouth towards a student in his own discipline, so nowadays he used her surname like normal.

"I could go for some coffee, so I'll make it after all."

Moe put the filter in the pot, then set the coffee maker. She liked to take her coffee black, just like Seikawa, though he had never actually seen her drink coffee at home. She had acquired a taste for the grown-up stuff since joining university, it seemed. This girl could not be more different from the who she was shortly after her parents were lost in the accident. Through much of highschool, Moe had long hair, wore skirts every day, and spoke similarly to her mother, with a subdued, meek voice. Now, however, it was jeans every day, and even a baseball cap when the mood struck. Her way of speaking was also entirely transformed.

Saikawa watched Moe's back for a short while.

Surely, going to university is bound to change a person, he assumed without much thought. About the physical changes a girl goes through, Saikawa had a grand total of zero experience speaking his mind. However, even accounting for personal bias, he had to admit that Moe was a stunning young woman. She had grown quite beautiful in these three years.

"What happened, professor? You're totally beat." Moe spoke without turning around.

"Well, this stuff happens," Saikawa answered amidst sighs. "How can you tell I'm so exhausted?"

"Huh? You can't see for yourself?" Moe turned and smiled. "Professor, you just got back to your room, right? But, the screensaver's still up on your display, and your desk is empty. So no work's getting done. I bet you threw those boring committee files right on the shelf and were done with it. Also, when you get back to your room in a good mood, the first thing you do is start the coffee, isn't it? When you're drinking out of a soda can and doing nothing, it means you're tired."

"I see… Well deduced." Saikawa grinned.

Moe sat in the chair next to the desk and crossed her legs.

"But exhibit number one… You didn't ask me about my meeting with Doctor Magata."

"Oh, that's right…" Saikawa lifted his head, eyes closed. "I forgot. She spoke with you? About you-know-what? ….Actually, you know what, I think I will have that coffee."

"It's a good thing I brewed enough for two then," Moe said, beaming.

Upon seeing Moe's glowing smile, Saikawa's spirits were restored.

"So then, you were able to meet with Doctor Hagata Shiki?" Saikawa asked.

"Of course." Moe gently tossed her hair with her neck, then nodded looking extremely happy.

"Wow, that's amazing." Saikawa reclined in his chair. "That's… amazing," he used the same word again.

Saikawa wondered just how few people in all of Japan would have been granted an audience with Doctor Magata Shiki.

He could hardly imagine that Moe would have used her family's political influence to win any favor. Which would have been understandable, considering her uncle held a top position within the Aichi police department, and her aunt was the wife of the governor there. And that's not to mention her late father, who was president of Former Imperial College N University. And on top of that, the various scattered relatives of the Nishinosono family were all at the peak of status and wealth within their respective realms. Moe herself was also the inheritor of her parent's vast fortune, on which she paid many times more in taxes than Saikawa's entire salary.

He was certain she had at least speculated for a moment… about whether she could wield her family's influence.

However, when it came to meeting Doctor Magata Shiki, those credentials were hopelessly inadequate. Since her teens, Magata Shiki had been widely renowned in the computer science world as a programming prodigy. She was also the daughter of the leading mind in computer engineering, Magata Sachirou, and linguistics legend Magata Michiyo. She was something of a mythical existance in the field, well recognized even now, for developing everything from interpreters and operating systems to game software. At age nine, she was awarded a master's degree from Princeton, and she acquired a PhD from MIT by eleven. Furthermore, she performed all the duties of lead engineer at MF Co. starting from age twelve. How could such an unbelievable career exist outside of absurd fantasies? That was what Saikawa had asked in highschool. Magata Shiki's grandfather on her mother's side was a Dutchman, so she wasn't pure Japanese, but the media at the time nevertheless lauded her as the first Japanese person worthy of the title of genius. "Girl genius" was an expression which was lovingly placed into cold storage and used only to describe her. And it was true; in kindergarten she could perform ten digit multiplications in an instant, and calculate cube roots in her head on command. Although her talent was mostly limited to the field of mathematics, she was undeniably in an entirely different league from average people. All that on top of her parents' positions as influential researchers. Growing up in such an ideal environment for her talents, they could only grow.

But then, on top of that, something absolutely sensational happened to make her even more famous.

How could even more fame possibly come to her?

The world was shaken to its core.

When Magata Shiki was fourteen years old, she was arrested under suspicion of murdering her parents, Doctor Magata Sachirou and Doctor Magata Michiyo.

"What did you talk about? What was she like?" Saikawa's fatigue was blown away.

"Umm, well I managed to get thirty minutes out of her, but uh…" As she answered, Moe recalled the scene. "It was kind of scary. I had no idea she'd be that interested in humanity though. Oh, and she was freakin' gorgeous…"

Moe gave a detailed account of her conversation with Miss Magata.

One of the graduate students under Saikawa's guidance was working on a master's thesis pertaining to the influence virtual reality could affect on the future. Moe, in her frequent visits to Saikawa's research lab, had grown close to this graduate student, who had heard about Doctor Magata Shiki's status in the field as the brightest in Japan. She, for her part, remembered that Doctor Magata Shiki used to be an acquaintance of her father. When July came around, Moe suddenly announced that she would be going to visit Doctor Magata Shiki. At first, the graduate student hadn't thought she was serious, but once she'd started making all sorts of concrete plans, Saikawa caught wind of it.

In the trial concerning the murder of Magata Shiki's parents, she was found innocent. That was because she was deemed to be of clearly unsound mind. From that point forward, Magata Shiki vanished from the public eye. Regular people would've had no idea where she went. And so, the world forgot about her.

However, as it turned out, Saikawa knew exactly where Magata Shiki was located. He'd heard it from a colleage in the engineering department, but apparently the fact that she was living within their very own Aichi Prefecture was common knowledge in the community. On an island in Mikawa Bay called Himaka Island, in a private laboratory. And in that laboratory, which she'd erected with the help of her parents' estate as well as affiliated foundations, she had continued her research ever since the incident, according to the rumor. In fact, to this day, several volumes of Doctor Magata's writings for American scientific journals continue to be published yearly.

Saikawa couldn't help but admire Moe's determination. A single university student matching wits with the world-famous Doctor Magata Shiki. However, he still wasn't sure what reason Moe had to meet Doctor Magata Shiki. Perhaps, he suspected, it wasn't the reason he had deduced.

"I see, so it was more like you were the one being interviewed. Maybe her mind is fading to the point that she's finally developed an interest in other people, surely…" Saikawa said. "But good lord I'm jealous…. I've wanted to meet her for so long."

"She knew about you," Moe added.

"Yeah, you mentioned. She probably did background research on you." Saikawa forced a smile. "And that's a nice way of putting it."

"You think she's that kind of person?" Moe asked, cradling the coffee cup in both hands.

Actually, that's right, you wouldn't expect a genius to care so much. The fact that she had read his papers suddenly turned his mood around.

"So what was the facility like?" Saikawa grilled.

"Well, it was a very large facility. The lab isn't the only thing on the island either. I could see from above, a square-shaped building with a simple design. No clue what could be inside. I couldn't even see the whole thing."

"Wait, from above?"

"Yeah, I took a helicopter there," Moe answered as though it were obvious. "There's a heliport on the roof."

"A helicopter, I see. That's cool," Saikawa assented. Nishinosono owned a private helicopter. Naturally, a rich person wouldn't touch a boat with a ten foot pole. "Why didn't the Doctor meet you face to face?"

"Apparently she's allergic to people," Moe said, staring up at the ceiling. A common habit of hers. "I was super disappointed though. I only got to meet her through a television. I worked so hard to get there… just to learn that she never shows herself."

"You'd have been better off just mailing her, huh…" Saikawa folded his arms behind his head and leaned back in his chair.

"It seems the Doctor has no direct contact with the outside world," Moe confirmed.

"Oh yeah… what's up with that doll stuff she talked about?" Saikawa changed the line of questioning.

"Yeah, I don't know either," Moe answered. "She made it very clear that a doll killed her parents. And that it ran away somewhere…"