"So there's nothing else major?"
Cid asked, still sounding doubtful.
"That's all. Those are the only things that might have anything to do with us. There are a few other matters, but they're either small and will calm down in a few days, or they're happening on the other side of the world and have nothing to do with us."
Asagi Aiba said this confidently, her tone practically asking whether he doubted her intelligence network.
"I see. Looks like I was overthinking it. I'll head back to class then."
"Right. Oh, and be careful these next few days. It's best if you don't go out at night."
"..."
Cid had already started to step away, but his foot stopped mid-stride. He turned around and saw Asagi Aiba looking at him with confusion, clearly wondering why he had suddenly stopped.
She does not think I was asking about gossip, does she?
Cid considered it for a moment, but decided not to say anything.
"What is it? Are there terrorists running around at night lately? Bad enough that even a Magic Swordsman like me should stay indoors?"
As he spoke, Cid pointed to the sword resting beside his desk.
"I don't know. The message came from the Management Corporation. They told me to be careful recently."
Judging from Asagi Aiba's expression, she had not realized how unusual that message actually was.
"Hm? That's suspicious. Normally, news like this spreads through the public first and eventually reaches you, Asagi. But this time it came directly from the upper management of the Management Corporation. It really feels like there's something shady going on.
Asagi, did the Management Corporation ask you to do something?"
The odd part of this message was actually pretty obvious.
First, the message itself basically warned that something dangerous would appear at night. Some kind of creature or entity that could harm the people on the island. The Gigafloat Management Corporation had supposedly issued the warning out of concern for its employees.
But that raised an obvious question.
How did the Management Corporation know about it?
With how fast information spreads these days, if something happened anywhere on the island, the news would spread across all of Itogami Island within a day. Yet even after deliberately searching for it, Cid could not find any similar reports.
That meant the incident had not happened yet.
If it had not happened yet, how did the Management Corporation know?
Could they see the future?
Cid did not believe they had that kind of ability. That left only one possibility. They already knew. It was even possible the whole thing was planned by them from the beginning.
At the very least, they possessed inside information.
As for why the people responsible for managing the island would want to harm its residents, Cid had no interest in finding out. There was no need to think about it. It was obviously some dirty political deal.
"Now that you mention it, it really does sound suspicious. Yesterday they even asked me to…"
Before she could finish speaking, a mechanical voice suddenly came from Asagi Aiba's bag, cutting her off.
"Miss, the Management Corporation has asked me to notify you to go there immediately. It seems the program you wrote yesterday has encountered a problem."
"Mogwai, you are not joking, right? My program has a problem?"
She took her phone out of her bag and turned it on. The screen immediately displayed the image of a standing blue cat.
"I am afraid not, Miss. That is what the Management Corporation told me. I checked as well, and the program does indeed have an issue."
After hearing the AI's reply, Asagi Aiba had no choice but to accept it. The program she had written must have malfunctioned, and now she had to go fix it.
"Sorry, Cid. You heard it too. I need to leave now. We will have to talk another day. Please ask the teacher for leave on my behalf."
"It's fine. I was the one who came to find you anyway. If something came up with work, you should hurry and go."
Cid waved it off and urged her to leave.
Watching Asagi Aiba hurry away, Cid slowly narrowed his eyes.
Am I being monitored?
It was not strange for Cid to think that. The timing was simply too perfect.
Just as Asagi Aiba was about to tell him what the Management Corporation had asked her to do, the program she wrote suddenly developed a problem. Mogwai also appeared at that exact moment and interrupted their conversation.
Even the excuse sounded absurd.
They had known each other for almost a year. This was the first time he had ever seen Asagi Aiba get called away because of a problem with her work.
Tch. Things are getting more and more interesting.
"Ring, ring, ring..."
The phone in his pocket started ringing. Cid took it out, glanced at the caller ID, then quickly looked around. After confirming that no one was watching him, he quietly walked to a corner and set up a soundproof barrier.
"Hello, is this Mr. Rebellious Fallen Angel?"
A middle aged man's voice came through the phone once the call connected.
"Yes, this is the Rebellious Fallen Angel. How may I help you?"
The voice coming from Cid was completely different from his usual slightly lazy youthful tone. Instead, it was a deep and magnetic voice that sounded calm and mature.
"It's like this, Rebellious Fallen Angel-san. The red wine you pre ordered from our shop has arrived. Would you like to come pick it up yourself, or should we deliver it to one of the addresses you provided?"
Cid scratched his chin and thought for a moment.
"Please send it to the second address I left. Thank you."
"Understood, sir. We hope you enjoy our red wine. Thank you very much."
After the call ended, Cid looked around once again and removed the barrier.
...
With nothing else going on, Cid's day passed quickly. It was the same routine as always.
If nothing unexpected happened, today would be no different. The only change was that he would no longer be able to go to the training grounds behind the school from now on.
Well, something unexpected did happen.
Peeking out, Cid looked toward the school gate with a headache. Claire was standing there with another woman, occasionally glancing around as if waiting for someone.
...Cid had a feeling he knew exactly who they were waiting for.
He recognized the woman standing beside his sister. Her name was Alexia Midgar, a princess from his homeland, the Kingdom of Midgar. Her silver hair reached her shoulders, and her narrow eyes with crimson pupils gave her a cool and composed impression.
Since when did his sister start hanging around with Alexia?
One of them was a walking source of trouble, and the other would ruin his carefully maintained background character life. Put the two together and it became both troublesome and a direct threat to his background character performance.
No good. I cannot stay at this school. I need to escape immediately. I will leave at a speed the naked eye cannot see.
Wait. Claire will probably guard the house today. That means I cannot stay home either. If she asks tomorrow, I will just make up some excuse.
Having made up his mind, Cid walked to a blind spot in the surveillance cameras and quietly waited for the nearby students to leave.
Soon enough, only one or two students remained on campus.
After checking the surroundings once more and confirming no one was nearby, Cid began his preparations.
First, with his extraordinary control, he used magic power to wrap around the surface of his body within about half a centimeter, creating a small space where air could enter but not escape. This blocked the wind pressure generated by his high speed movement, preventing pedestrians nearby from being blown away.
Inside such a confined space, wind pressure would increase dramatically. What would normally only blow someone away could become strong enough to tear an ordinary person apart once compressed.
But the question was, was he an ordinary person?
Of course not. Even after being compressed, the pressure was not even one tenth of the force produced by the magic power tempering method. If anything, it felt pleasantly cool.
He could have used the Natural Secret Technique, but the risk was too high. He was not sure whether Claire could rely on her so called intuition to break through his Natural Secret Technique. In Cid's opinion, the chances were about fifty fifty. Only an idiot would gamble on odds like that. If he were discovered, his sister would definitely spread the news everywhere, and his peaceful life as a background character would be completely ruined.
Once everything was ready, Cid moved.
His body shot forward at incredible speed, passing right by Claire and Alexia.
"Hm? That's strange."
Claire frowned.
"What's wrong?"
Alexia, standing beside her, spoke with curiosity when she noticed Claire's unusual reaction.
"I don't know why, but I feel like Cid just walked past me."
"You are imagining things. I did not see Pochi anywhere."
From Alexia's perspective, nothing had happened except for a brief gust of wind. Naturally, she assumed Claire was mistaken.
"Maybe."
Claire remained suspicious. She did not believe her intuition would be wrong, but since she had not actually seen Cid, she could only give a vague answer.
Meanwhile, Cid had taken a side path to avoid Claire and Alexia.
There, he noticed a pale faced girl sitting on a roadside bench. She had a guitar case on her back and looked like she was about to faint.