Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume3 Phase02 (section)

===Part 4===

They couldn’t just leave the girl on the floor in her wet (in more ways than one now) swimsuit, so Ayato decided to carry her to the infirmary. Princess carrying her was more stable than carrying her on his back.

She was very soft no matter how he did it, though.

“Now this is a job I could get used to.”

[[Image:SorceryHacker_v03_BW01.jpg|thumb]]

“Ayato.”

There was no sexy school doctor looking for a way to pass the time in the infirmary.

However…

“What are you doing here, Micha Angelos?”

“You have already asked me that. Are you losing your touch, Sorcery Hacker?”

Inexplicably, the purple-haired beauty was seated on the stool meant for the school doctor. She wore a short-sleeved gym shirt and athletic bloomers with her long legs crossed. To make matters worse, she was also wearing thigh highs.

Her curves continued to keep her from making a very convincing student.

“What, are you passing yourself off as part of the Health Committee?”

“No, the Rescue Squad. There is a difference. It is apparently a collection of dimwits who think they can head out to the beach and mountains and enjoy a picnic if they claim they are working as lifeguards or a mountain rescue team.”

“I see.”

“Now, is ''this'' really a meaningful action?”

She breathed an exasperated sigh.

The next time Ayato blinked, she was gone. He only saw a purple butterfly silently fluttering out through the cracked-open door.

Mamilis puffed her cheeks out.

“We’re helping someone, so of course it’s meaningful. Maybe I should have shut the door to trap that mean butterfly in here.”

“If Micha wants to, she can easily obliterate an entire company of troops in a single volley, so I would recommend not threatening her. She lacks any adorable flaws like taking a long time to establish a lock or being open to attack while reloading her belt ammo or swapping out an overheated barrel. Anyway, we need to focus on this girl.”

He laid the girl on one of the beds in the back and shut the curtain divider.

The infirmary had both the usual steam-powered floor heating and a cylindrical stove that appeared to be someone’s personal possession. A wire mesh was placed atop the stove.

Ayato held a hand to his chin.

“There must be some rice cakes hidden around here. But where?”

“Ayato, isn’t it a bit early for snacks?”

It was time to get down to business.

Henrietta had once worked on the side of law enforcement (and she would be angry to hear anyone act like that was a thing of the past), so she got started while leaning back against metal shelves of medicines extracted from mandrakes and aloes using witchcraft.

It sounded silly, but she had to say something about the presence of so many witnesses and pursuers.

“Isn’t it a problem that so many people know your name, even if their image of you isn’t entirely accurate? I feel like someone could gather up all that witness information and narrow in on our location.”

“It’s all in how you do it. For my, well, fans who have only their imaginations to go on, they might not recognize the legendary Forward even if I walked right in front of them. Or I could point to an attractive guy with the looks of a stage actor and say he’s me.”

“Can you really do that, Ayato?”

“Rewriting your own identity is a standard form of sorcery hacking. Mostly because it’s funny.”

The glasses girl had only matched Ayato’s face to his name because Teleria had been using his real name in the dining hall. It hadn’t gotten through to her that they were in enemy territory.

So if he played his cards right, it would not be difficult to separate his face from his name.

He could even spread a rumor that he was dead or get everyone to believe some poor ignorant student was him infiltrating the school under a fake name after getting cosmetic surgery.

He chose not to because there was always a chance that ignorant student could be killed by accident during a surprise attack before the Student Council realized the information was fake.

Ayato himself had killed a friend on a job based on intentionally altered information. He knew how it felt, so he would never do that to someone else. Rewriting his own identity was amusing, but not so with rewriting someone else’s.

He smiled and raised a finger while making sure no one else around could hear.

“So we needn’t worry about that for a while longer. There is no need to suspect the students around us. In fact, they might even help us.”

“?”

“Do you remember what Micha Angelos said while making such an unconvincing student? A Sorcery Hacker’s job is to make use of every person and thing around to overwhelm the enemy. I am willing to consider everything as a possibility. A lot of students and teachers here have unusual skills and qualifications.”

Some time had passed since then, so it was already afterschool.

With the periodic bell no longer sounding, a lonely mood snuck up on them. The students were supposed to be free to do as they wished and the place was technically more full of activity than before, but the entire tower felt so much more dark and desolate. That may have been another unique feature of a school.

The braid glasses girl still hadn’t woken, so Ayato’s group left her with a flat-chested Health Committee girl who had shown up once her classes were over. Once they left the infirmary, they each had their own job to do. As a professional fighter, Henrietta was sent on ahead to scout things out and see if the Student Council had noticed the new mobile home Ayato had swapped the records for. Teleria and Mamilis worked together to recover the sorcery devices that had taken the measurements they needed. They couldn’t read the data inside without Ayato’s sword, but the devices had been rendered harmless by the Sorcery Hacker and the two girls were enough to collect them.

Meanwhile, Ayato took care of his own job.

“Hm, hm, hm, hm.”

He hummed to himself while he stabbed his Linkage Plug sword into a line marker and sprinkler on the schoolyard to build his Level up a bit more. That wasn’t really part of his plan. It was just a Sorcery Hacker habit, like a dog marking its territory while out on a walk.

The Academy Towers were not a monolith, so he had chosen to contact some students who lived in the shadows and did not get along with the elite Student Council at the very top.

It was now closer to evening than afternoon.

He arrived at a clubroom located in an unused classroom on the lower levels of the gem tower.

Ayato had cheated the system enough to swap his registration from his sorcery gun to his Linkage Plug, but why could he get in here when he was not authorized to use the gem tower? Because this was on Floor 1, the very bottom level that anyone could use. It didn’t even qualify as part of the Grade I zone.

He opened the door without knocking and spoke with cheer in his voice.

“Hello, you niche hobbyists of the Rocket Club. Your ace, Ayato Criminaltrophy, has returned.”

“I know who you are,” quietly replied a hunched over boy with a sidelong glance.

The room was dimly lit.

Model stars and pressurized space armor hung from the ceiling by thin wires and lots of oblong models littered the floor. Every bit of the walls was covered in metal shelves and sorcery calculators. A large metal can with the top removed sat in one corner with lots of rolled up diagrams inserted inside it like umbrellas. The beakers and flasks lying around suggested the boy may have even mixed his own fuel in the small room. Some snacks and chocolates lay abandoned on paper plates on the floor. The tags on the edges of the plates identified them as Space Food Experiments #25 and #26.

The place was a mess.

Some of the towers were as tall as 101 floors, but this junk room was at the very bottom of the bottom. But that had nothing to do with the skill of its occupant. The Rocket Club had been stripped of its official standing and forced onto the bottom floor because it had adamantly refused to make a deal with the Student Council to develop military ballistic missile technology in exchange for funding.

The boy’s skill was very real and he had been given an honorable demotion.

The perfect candidate for a rebellion.

The indoorsy blond boy didn’t even get up from his chair.

“Have you forgotten whose club’s equipment and texts you dug up and stole when you threw out your devil revolver and chose the path of the Sorcery Hacker?”

“It’s not like you were ever going to use them. And since you did once try to become a Sorcery Hacker, you should know I am working on something in secret right now. But how much have you unearthed?”

“That it isn’t just Teleria anymore. You have more girls now.”

Ayato shrugged.

Even if this boy had been Ayato’s starting point in sorcery hacking, that was the extent of his skills there. He hadn’t even noticed the more dangerous aspects of what was going on. Ayato had only wanted some basic equipment as quickly as possible and hadn’t wanted the boy to teach him anything. Because Ayato’s overall skill had been far higher to begin with.

However…

“''That butterfly woman was pretty hot.'' Who’s she? A Central maid?”

The boy was uncannily skilled in one very limited field. It was unlikely even the Student Council had noticed Micha Angelos and Micha herself was unaware she had been detected. The short boy was the kind of genius who didn’t let it show. He was only interested in getting to know girls who would make up for his deficiencies. Even the rocket development was only something he hoped would make him popular. He was self-taught and his motivations were so abnormally focused that he couldn’t use his skills for anything else.

Ayato grinned.

“I’m picking a fight with the wealthy Student Council who rules over the sunlit world. For that I want to launch myself right to the Student Council Office at the top of the gem tower, skipping all the annoying security colosseums separating the grade zones and the gatekeepers set up on the walkways between towers. That should be an appealing idea for you. I want your Rocket Club’s help.”

“Not happening. It’s true I can’t stand the Council for setting aside dreams and ethics so they can focus exclusively on their own benefit, but that’s no reason to work with you. If you ask me, you’re not that different from them for going after even more girls when you already have Teleria all to yourself. Your life shines so bright it’s pissing me off.”

“Hey, hey. Let’s not say anything we’ll regret later. We’re pals, aren’t we?”

“?”

The room’s resident looked up in confusion as Ayato leaned in and whispered in his ear.

“(That large fridge by the wall is open to anyone, but very few people know how it actually works. This week’s passcode for its extra space is 5503.)”

“!?”

“(You at least had the sense to change your hiding spot since I left, but did you really think I wouldn’t find it? We live in an accepting society, so I’m sure everyone would accept your crossdressing as a simple hobby. But that opinion might change just a wee bit if they learned it only satisfied you when you dressed up in uniforms and underwear you stole from girls.)”

“Wh-wha- but- I- eh!?”

The boy wasn’t just confused how his hiding spot had been discovered. He was panicking over the very fact that Ayato knew about this particular “hobby” at all.

Ethics regarding advanced technology and your own rules regarding personal interests were two very different things.

“You should have noticed from the moment I walked in without knocking. ''How do you think I unlocked the door?'' I already have complete control of this entire room.” Ayato smiled and continued. It was a very pleasant demonic smile. “And the only reason I didn’t bring my less understanding companions like Miss Teleria and Miss Henrietta is because we’re friends. Or has my memory gotten fuzzy in my time away from school? Maybe I was mistaken about that, so I would like to confirm it with you. It is a simple thing. Just nod your head.”

“…”

“''We are best buds, aren’t we?'' If so, we can avoid tragedy here.”

They exchanged a firm handshake.

Revealing illicitly-obtained Media Summoner videos was not the only method available to Sorcery Hackers. Some secrets were more useful to hold onto without releasing them.

The short boy with his Achilles heel firmly in Ayato’s grasp put on the biggest smile of his life.

“So what do I need to do for you to forgive me!?”

“If forgiveness is what you want, then gather up all the uniforms and underwear you have stolen and make a full confession at the Student Guidance office, but I am not interested in that. I will provide you with your instructions when the time comes. You want to get to know girls who will make up for your deficiencies? I will be turning a blind eye to your horrendous personality and simply borrowing your Rocket Club technology.”

“Go to hell, you asshole!!”

“Oh, and lend me that prototype impactor just lying on the floor there. Isn’t that a dangerous toy that can theoretically fly 25,000 esoule during a count of three<ref>Approximately 30,000 meters, which comes out to about 10km/s.</ref> when the speed of the satellite itself is included? You shouldn’t just leave that out in the open. Goodbye for now.”