"To be honest, I don't want to talk about my past at all. It's totally lame, so let's skip the heart-to-heart part."
"..."
With this as an opening, Lin thought it was time to leave and go home. He didn't know if the hacker girl truly hated him from the bottom of her heart, but she hadn't said a single nice word since they met. Of course, perhaps no matter how much she hated him, the stifled Chiaki wanted someone to talk to. After all, in Lin knowledge, there was almost no one at Headquarters who could get along with her type. He, naturally, wasn't one of them either.
"Even though I browsed the data on you paranoids before joining, after actual contact, I realized I still underestimated you." Vil-V complained while opening a can of cola. "You're a collection of perverts. What kind of twisted organization allows you people to gather? Do you know how desperate I was when I realized the patients in what's practically the high-security ward of a psychiatric hospital were being locked up together?"
"I'm a normal person. The pressure of being with you all is too much."
"...You're lying." Lin blurted out, exposing her lie. Back when he first brought her to the 19th Branch, she had already admitted she was caught on purpose to join Fire Moth.
"Lying? No, no, no. You seem to have misunderstood something." Chiaki poured the cola into her mouth, gulping down a large mouthful. The gas from the soda made her burp. "Those are two different things. I planned to join Fire Moth, but not through that method. I had already built an identity and was ready to sneak in unnoticed."
Indeed, Chiaki's MSA-999 serial number was created by herself. Chiaki spread her hands helplessly. "After all, the best way to keep people from noticing an anomaly is to be 'conspicuously ordinary'."
"Conspicuously ordinary?" This was the first time Lin had heard of such a concept.
"When people interact, they automatically label each other. These labels are both the prominent parts and the mediocre parts of a person. Once labeled as 'ordinary,' doing even a slightly out-of-line thing is easily noticed. So, I believe giving someone a special impression from the start is actually a way to hide."
"After I built my identity and started interacting with people from Fire Moth, I showed them the labels I was willing for them to see, and then blended in unnoticed."
"But now I've been labeled as 'the captured intruder.' Any persona I try to build will turn to ash under this label. Others will only treat me as a convict with ill intent toward Fire Moth."
Was this an explanation of why she was unpopular? So far, Chiaki was just grumbling. She seemed to only want to vent to Lin; for now, no other meaning could be heard. ...But that was only for others.
"Then what was your reason for wanting to join Fire Moth in the first place?" Lin watched Chiaki, who was boredly shaking the can. "What was the reason for disguising yourself as 'ordinary'?"
"Hmm... I wanted to protect humanity?"
"...You're not that kind of person."
"You can't say that. To deceive others, you first have to deceive yourself. Someone who doesn't want to protect humanity can't join Fire Moth, so if I deceive myself into thinking I want to protect humanity, can't I join?"
She was changing the subject. Lin, who had originally planned to just go through the motions, was now gradually becoming serious. Chiaki didn't notice the change in the gaze inside Lin helmet, her lips pressed against the opening of the can as if kissing it, enjoying the happiness of the carbs.
"But unlike you rational types, I'm more sentimental. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of choice you'd make if your rationality and sentimentality were placed on a scale."
"If someone could cast aside rationality for me, I'd definitely be moved to tears."
"After all... humanity is better at deceiving themselves than deceiving others."
For some inexplicable reason, Chiaki gave a smile that Lin couldn't understand.
Chiaki.
When Lin investigated a person, he usually started with the name. This name, filled with Far Eastern flavor, already determined her birthplace. There was also the possibility of a pseudonym; human mouths aren't restricted to the truth. Keeping an eye on a cunning hacker was never a mistake.
The reason he was investigating Chiaki from scratch now was due to the series of special circumstances tonight.
"..." Lin couldn't describe the feeling. His entire sense of perception was like a skipping DVD player, forcing him to notice all the abnormal things around him. It was as if someone were whispering in his ear, urging him to do something.
Since Chiaki was someone Mei decided to recruit, Mei should have investigated her background long ago. But even Mei could make a mistake. In the dark archives, Lin inserted his ID card into the reader. After scanning his fingerprint and iris, he entered the world's largest and most comprehensive knowledge base. With his current permissions, he couldn't view records of captain-level and above, but investigating a hacker was more than enough.
His fingers moved across the touchscreen, leaving afterimages. He was becoming increasingly proficient in adapting to his body; he believed it wouldn't be long before he fully returned to normal. Lin scanned the countless, dizzying files. His pupils were like camera lenses, quickly focusing on the parts he wanted. Files regarding MSA-999 and the "Unsigned Hacker" were opened and magnified before him.
However, to Lin surprise, Chiaki's data was very complete. It had a beginning and an end; all her experiences from childhood were listed, investigated thoroughly. It went as far as listing her national elementary school computer champion award in meticulous detail. Had someone gone to verify her background after the fact?
Lin reading speed allowed him to memorize Chiaki's entire life within thirty seconds. Her parents died in a car accident when she was young; she grew up in an orphanage, was adopted, then left the adoptive family to be independent... It was a special life compared to ordinary people—a life that logically led to becoming an eccentric hacker. Lin couldn't find any flaws; he could even analyze how some of Chiaki's traits were formed based on her experiences.
Next was her hacking career. Lin finished reading it quickly as well. The ID "Unsigned Hacker" was indeed famous on the dark web. Every company and country she had attacked was recorded. Did she confess everything? She said she didn't want to talk about the past—did she feel he'd find out if he just checked the records?
Lin exited the archives, sinking into the darkness. Am I being paranoid?