Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume5 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 7===

In his surgical gown and pants, Kyousuke walked to the Miniature Garden’s Outer Circle which was ruled by the developers and guards. However, he was not there to visit anyone.

The trigger had been pulled by some extremely simple words.

“I-I will protect you.”

Biondetta Shiroyama.

That girl had struggled more than anyone yet fell into his trap more than anyone.

“What does that Hatter matter? I’m your big sister!”

(What am I doing?)

He was aware how far he was straying from his original objective, but his arms and legs continued to move with perfect accuracy. Perhaps because summoners and Materials vanished from cameras and sensors while inside an Artificial Sacred Ground, the Miniature Garden was equipped with surprisingly few digital security cameras. To make up for it, the doors tended to be equipped with artisan-made locks that could not be reproduced by machines, but that was not much of an obstacle for Kyousuke. Even when a single door had several different locks, his two hands and ten fingers swiftly unlocked it.

His destination was the lab run by the adults who were closely connected to Alberto S. Divinesmith the Hatter. That madman’s skill was undeniable, but he needed helpers to back him up. It would be fastest to start with someone strongly influenced by his techniques and words.

This was between Kyousuke and Alberto.

If Biondetta carelessly butted in, it was obvious she would be harmed.

So before that happened…

“…”

He sighed and released the final lock.

The vertical line of locks sealing the thick door had been in the double digits, but the work had not taken even 5 minutes.

A card hung on the knob like at a hotel: Do not disturb.

To translate that into the Miniature Garden’s words: Any unauthorized intruders will be shot without warning.

“…Like I care.”

He cracked the door open and slipped inside.

It was very different from Shigara Masami’s examination room. It was a lot more like a metalworking lab. It was crammed full of impressive equipment that did not seem like it could be used on the human body: a lathe, a press, and a variety of other large tools. Masks to keep dust out hung on the wall and an air conditioner with a special thick purification filter was equipped on the room’s ceiling. They apparently really did metalwork in this sealed space. It was made under the assumption that it would be filled with metal particles that would gather in the lungs if inhaled.

There were two locked cabinets, but Kyousuke knew what he was looking for without even checking the documents on the glass shelves.

(A theory on distinguishing family from strangers based on how they walk, their mannerisms, and their behavior.)

In addition to facial recognition, research was being done to identify people in videos based on how they walked. Just the way someone stood and shifted their body weight was apparently as uniquely identifiable as their fingerprint or iris. The differences came from the inborn shape of the skeleton and muscles plus the learned traits of their environment. And that meant both were closely connected to their family.

Which meant…

(They’re researching how to control all of your muscles according to certain values to trick people into thinking you’re ‘family’. Or to intentionally throw off that balance so someone will be treated like an outsider. Are they focused on metalwork because their ideas are reliant on the hardware like muscles and bones instead of the vague and formless familial bonds of the heart and emotions?)

He tried picturing the experiments. For days on end, he would have to watch the bewitching movements of artificial arms and legs fixed to a platform and say whether or not it had the familiarity of family. Or would he have to communicate through the medium of conflict with people who were equipped with those things? It was a psychedelic scene befitting that Hatter’s helper.

But it was true this had given Alberto the ability to control his body with utmost accuracy. And his incredible spatial comprehension could be seen as a byproduct of the research to recognize family by sight.

(But…)

That alone was not enough for the Hatter to be so fixated on the Summoning Ceremony.

Something had to have led him to throw out the completion of the family in favor of the ranking board. Either to him directly or to someone around him.

“…”

Kyousuke approached the locked cabinets again.

He unlocked it so easily it looked like it was simply a knob shaped like a lock and he slid the glass cover aside.

One of the cabinets had a handheld radio. It was presumably to communicate with Alberto, but the diaphragm was surprisingly connected to an old-fashioned gramophone. The communication records were kept on the kind of wax cylinders that had been in use more than 200 years before. At this point, it felt less like a dislike of digital formats and more like full-blown cyberphobia.

And the other cabinet contained what initially looked like a file meant to hold a stamp collection. The rejection of digital formats continued. Each stamp-sized file appeared to be the negative of an old photo. A lot of data had been compressed onto them.

“Microfilm…?”

Instead of encrypting it, the contents were safe from prying eyes because no one could procure a device to view them in this day and age. It felt like being handed a VHS tape of a music clip rumored to show a ghost on the edge of the screen.

Kyousuke thought for a bit and then looked around the room full of machinery.

He reached for one of the dust masks on the wall.

“I just have to make one.”

With that said, he got to work.

He only used parts he found in abandoned-looking boxes, but he could ensure no one questioned their absence by starting a fire disguised as an electrical fire. There were already plenty of electrical problems after Humpty Dumpty and the Hatter had shaken the entire Miniature Garden.

He ended up with a device much like a toy microscope.

He placed the stamp-sized microfilm on the board, shined light on it from below, and peered through the lens. The standard compression rate was around 40x, so each stamp had the same information as a notebook page, each page of the file had an entire notebook’s worth, each file had a bookcase’s worth, and the entire cabinet would equal a full library.

That might sound impressive, but in a digital format, a micro memory chip a quarter the size of a stamp could hold an entire library and the entire thing could be searched for a keyword in less than 5 seconds.

Only the person who had recorded these and memorized the contents could instantly pull out the data they wanted. Once again, they used inconvenience as a shield. Someone who did not know what they were looking for would have to read through as much data as 10,000 technical books.

But Kyousuke did not care.

“Now, then.”

He started by consuming the contents of around 10 pieces of microfilm while speed-reading through each one in only a few seconds. He built up a profile of the interests and tendencies found there and constructed the thought patterns and decision criteria used by the person who had chosen to record what data where. And he did it to the point that he could tell what they would choose on reflex if suddenly asked to decide on a 4-digit code. Once he was done with that, he pulled one unmarked file in particular from those lined up on the shelves. He chose the file, page, and piece of microfilm that was the biggest secret and also the most frequently viewed.

After deducing that, he placed it in the microreader he had made.

He got it right on the first try.

“What is this…?”