“Hey!! Is no one going to say anything about bringing someone back to life half-way! The dead should be left alone.”
“Your name was Helen right?” asked Lain while pointing at ‘John.’ “You work for the government so you should be able to at least handle the desecration of the dead. Tell me, how is that worse from torturing people? I know you were involved in the experimentation on father before he was sent here. While I am grateful to you for sending him here, is it more important that the dead be left alone than the living to you?”
Helen was left speechless but her eyes did not look defeated. In fact she was glaring right at Lain whose eyes were smiling. This reminded me of the fight Helen had with my lawyer, Ashley Tanaka. Perhaps Helen was the kind of woman who couldn’t stand losing to another woman. It probably didn’t help that Lain looked exactly like Helen except for a hair and eye colour modifications. I too wouldn’t want to lose to an imitation of myself who refuted me with my own voice.
Lain had a look at the boy and suddenly turned to Ryouta.
“Let me guess. Is he the one who attacked our systems from the inside?”
Ryouta nodded while smiling.
“Yes, the school uniform he wears is part of the disguise but obviously that wouldn’t be enough to fool both our systems and to fool you.”
In order for changes to be made to the game’s environment, the malicious actor must have had access to the inside of Castle Academy as well. However no player was supposed to be able to pass through its protective walls. This security breach was probably why Chamberlain had decided to show up. I doubt he was just passing by to congratulate us on our success. I couldn’t see any change in his expression but then again he was a politician.
“So what’s going on? How and why did you attack us?” Lain asked the unemotional John. “And how did you catch him Ryouta?”
“Ah, that’s a detective’s secret.” replied Ryouta.
“Ehh, how stingy, I thought detectives were supposed to want to boast and gloat about being able to burrow their nose deep into other people’s private business.”
“Well, if you really want to know, I just asked around if there was anyone suspicious or weird, which let him be picked by others as one of the one-thousand weirdos in this school.”
“Do you count yourself among their number?”
“Yes, a detective must suspect everything including himself.”
“If you were a good detective you wouldn’t have needed to interview them one by one.”
“If you had paid more attention then you would have spotted the mole, miss.”
Ryouta was starting to lose patience but it was probably my fault. All of the student council members were trained on data based on protagonists and main characters so it is not surprising that they act with main character syndrome. In many of the stories I read the main characters were outspoken about their beliefs without any regard to any authority except their honest feelings. Now obviously this wasn’t going to work out in the real world, or even in a simulation in the real world.
“Why did you go along with this attack?”
“It was the goal of the owner of my memories, and I chose to fulfil it.” Interjected the emotionless AI.
“What’s he talking about?”
“He is saying that he made a conscious choice—”
“I don’t care whether it can make conscious choices or not. All humans can do that, so it’s not impressive or interesting nor is it particularly useful. What matters is that he made the wrong choice and I want to know why. What memory is he speaking of?”
John answered the PM’s query.
“As I previously stated, within my storage are recorded the memories of John Fargo. He worked for [redacted] organisation in order to improve the world. John’s parents were also part of this organisation. It was determined by the [redacted] organisation that the only way for a player to fool the system and enter the academy walls was for a player to upload his consciousness and memories into the game and then die. Obviously, John couldn’t kill himself after logging in, so he got his parents to crush the pill in his jaw. Once my mission was complete I was supposed to destroy myself but I was caught by Ryouta before I could obtain the permissions to destroy myself. That is all.”
“The organisation that John II, all references to the organisation’s name have been erased but of the organisations which were named by Arthur, VHEPO seems to be the one to have the strongest motive. If you wish for human extinction, then sacrificing one life is only logical.”
“But you are not harming the environment, so why?” asked Helen, having regained her composure.
