Amelia Miyagawa, 16 years old
Occupation: High School Student
Magic Aptitude: 8 (General Class)
Title: Hero
After everyone had left that place, I cautiously peeked out from around the corner where I had been hiding.
Glancing to my right and then my left, I confirmed no one was around and let out a sigh of relief.
However, the fact that my classmate, who I thought was a friend, was a fake had dealt me a significant blow and planted a seed of doubt, making me question everyone around me.
“What happened?”
It was just a simple question to reconfirm, but the words that came out of my mouth weren’t the hesitant Japanese I was used to, but fluent English.
I guessed that meant I was really shaken. As if to prove it, the scene I had just witnessed came back to me vividly, sending shivers down my spine.
Thinking this must be what being deceived felt like, I nervously scanned my surroundings, wondering if someone was nearby.
As if my anxieties were unfounded, no one seemed to have noticed me, and the place remained empty. I exhaled again, a sigh of relief.
After a few breaths, akin to deep inhales, and a little time, my mind began to function slowly again.
Let’s put this together. He was undoubtedly my classmate. I knew his name and had even exchanged greetings since coming here. I had been talking to him, thinking all along that he was him. At least, I, myself, had been talking to him as if he were. But the moment someone else became someone I knew, it was more than enough to refute that.
When did it change? From the beginning? Or somewhere in between?
“…”
I didn’t know when my classmate, whom I knew, transformed into a classmate I didn’t know. His tone, atmosphere, appearance, and demeanor all felt completely natural. If I hadn’t seen that place, I probably wouldn’t have doubted him even now. That’s why, even though I had to believe the fact, I couldn’t. My mind became a jumble, and I no longer knew what to do.
“W-What should I do?”
The words that initially came out smoothly, upon reconfirmation, made me flustered again. I felt helpless at the fact that speaking them wouldn’t solve anything. I flitted around silently, looking here and there, agonizing for several minutes, but no solution came to mind. So,
“First, deep breaths, and then… I’d like to say ‘no problem,’ but that’s not happening, is it?”
I decided to go through my routine to calm myself down. This would start with switching back from English to Japanese. Performing simple actions could help me regain my composure and shift my thinking from negative to positive. I wouldn’t pretend I hadn’t seen it. If I just ignored this whole affair, it seemed like it could lead to something irrecoverable. That’s why I needed to think about what came next. My Mami always told me to become someone who could think and act on their own before being told.
“…Okay, it’s inconvenient not having friends when you’re in a situation like this.”
But reality was harsh. I couldn’t think of anything I could do alone, so I wanted to ask for help, but as fate would have it, I couldn’t immediately think of any friends to consult. Even if one came to mind, they were in a country far away, across the otherworld, the one that flies the Stars and Stripes. There were plenty of them in America, but zero in Japan. I couldn’t hide my shock at this sad reality. I involuntarily sank to my knees, dejected. Then, a voice echoed in my head:
HAHAHAHAHA!!
It was the loud but also reassuring laughter of someone who was with me. But it was an auditory hallucination; there were no friends here to laugh it off with me. I now dearly missed the friends I used to find bothersome.
“Hmm, for now, I should leave this place.”
Suffering from not homesickness, but friend-sickness, I decided to leave, as staying here any longer would be dangerous. I brushed the sand off my knees, confirmed once more that no one was around, and started walking back the way I came.
“The first thing I need to do is confirm who’s real and who’s fake, right?”
As I walked, the first thing that came to mind when I thought about what to do was to confirm their authenticity. At the same time, I remembered Jiro-san’s words to wait without doing anything, but since the presence of fakes around me had made my surroundings dangerous, I couldn’t obey him. I felt a little guilty about breaking our agreement, but I excused it as an emergency situation. And the first thing I thought of was ensuring my safety, but I didn’t have the means to do so. Suzuki’s skill might be able to distinguish between real and fake, but I really disliked his forceful brand of justice and didn’t want to get close to him. Besides, if it were discovered in public, it could lead to irreparable consequences, so helping him would have to be a last resort.
“Hmm, I wish I had studied these kinds of things more.”
Regretting not having done so, I lamented my own lack of knowledge and pondered if there was anything else. However, due to my insufficient knowledge, I couldn’t come up with any good ideas for a Japanese-style subculture development. I furrowed my brow, trying to brainstorm even the slightest good idea.
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
Just then, I bumped into a Sister carrying a laundry basket. I had met her recently. I wouldn’t forget her. And then, the thought “good timing” flashed through my mind.
“Konichiwa!”
“Hello. Well, as you can see, I have work to do, so I’ll be excused now.”
“Stop!! Isn’t that a bit too sudden!?”
“What is it? I don’t smell any money from you. On the contrary, I only smell trouble, so this is a natural reaction.”
“What do you mean, the smell of money!?”
From my perspective, it was a perfectly executed greeting, and I felt confident about it. in America, I would have received an equally cheerful greeting and the conversation would have continued.
But this wasn’t America. The Sister showed a remarkably nonchalant attitude to my energetic greeting. Moreover, she tried to leave immediately. While it was better than being ignored, it was still a reaction I didn’t know how to handle. As if reading my mind, the Sister made a swift, economical turn to leave, but my intuition made me grab her habit and stop her. I acted because I felt I couldn’t let her go, so please don’t look at me as if I’d seen something unpleasant. I questioned if she was truly a Sister, given her un-clergy-like statement, but at this moment, she, who was with Jiro-san, an outsider, was more trustworthy than my own classmates.
“I… I have something to consult you about!”
“I don’t. There are priests at the cathedral, so please confess to them.”
“No! I haven’t done anything wrong!”
That’s why I tried to rely on her, but she was completely unresponsive. She completely disregarded me, the Hero, and clearly conveyed her intention to finish her laundry. I had never encountered anyone like her before.
“Please help me!”
“I have no money.”
“No! It’s not about that.”
“If you’ve broken a pot in the hallway, I can’t help you. Don’t worry, as the Hero, you can earn ten or twenty gold coins in no time.”
My only hold over her, as she tried to slip away elusively, was these physical hands. Forgetting why I was trying so desperately to persuade her, my objective and means became reversed as I racked my brain for ways to gain her cooperation. The hands I was holding began to slip, and there was no more time. I had to grab her attention, so after much thought, a formula formed in my mind. That’s probably why I blurted out what I did next.
“It’s about money!”
“I’ll hear the story.”
“Wha, whoa!”
I was so surprised by her sudden change of heart that I ended up tripping.
“Ow~, that hurts.”
“Never mind that, it’s about money.”
“Ugh, that’s cruel!”
The formula that had come to mind: Secret Information = Valuable = Money. I had suspected something when the “business sister” spoke of money, which seemed far from pious. But I had hit the jackpot unexpectedly. I hope my forehead isn’t swollen. Hitting the floor hurt, even if the damage was minimal. The Sister, who wouldn’t miss out on a profit even while being aided by the Hero’s body, prompted me for the next proposal.
“We’ll attract attention here. Let’s move to a different place.”
“Understood~”
I followed her as she briskly walked away with the sheets. Strangely enough, on the paths she chose, we didn’t encounter anyone. It was as if she knew who was where at this particular time.
“This place should be fine for a while. Now, tell me about this money-related matter.”
“Straightforward…”
“Of course. I missed out on a windfall the other day… Hehehe, there’s no way I’m going to miss this second chance.”
We arrived at what seemed to be a room for storing the washed sheets. The Sister placed the basket of clean sheets there and looked at me. I felt as if her eyes had turned into sinister gold coins, and I regretted choosing her as the person to consult. However, the situation couldn’t be left as it was, so I hesitantly told her the story I had just witnessed. This Sister was likely hired by someone other than this country, so if I told her this story, she should lend me her strength.
“…A fake Hero?”
“Yes, I saw it clearly.”
“…This isn’t about money, is it?”
“It is! It’s about money!”
She will lend me some, right? This business sister, from whom I couldn’t expect any sense of justice, visibly deflated upon hearing this story. Finally, she muttered, “It’s troublesome after all.”
“Look, it’s about this! This story is a secret, isn’t it!”
“You don’t know? Selling information also costs money.”
“What!?”
“It seems you don’t know. Then, for free, for free! I’ll say it again because it’s important. I’ll teach you for free. Information only gains value after it’s verified. For important information of this kind, it naturally costs money to verify it. People who make money from information weigh the risks and returns and conduct their business accordingly.”
“??? What do you mean?”
“It means this information has value, but it won’t make money immediately. The risk is too high.”
“!? So, I…”
“You taught me the information for free and went through unnecessary danger. You’re lucky I made a contract with ‘him.’ If I had told just any Sister walking around, you would have become the fake one.”
I slumped down, dejected. As expected, it wasn’t going to go as smoothly as in a drama. This was the result of my frantic efforts to do something. With a sigh, the business sister signaled that she was about to end the conversation.
“…Sorry.”
“What are you apologizing for?”
“Huh?”
“If it costs money, then sell it in a way that doesn’t cost money.”
What was this? It felt like this Sister was saying, “If you don’t have bread, eat cake.” In essence, it sounded like, “If it doesn’t make money, then make it money.” But hadn’t she just said that selling information required money herself?
“We can verify it ourselves and sell it. You’ll get the truth about this fake Hero, and I’ll turn it into money.”
The problem was that the information I saw was too fragmented; the information itself had value. If that was the case, the matter was simple. I just needed to investigate the details myself in a way that didn’t incur costs. Of course, this carried risks.
“You can leave it to me from here, but what do you say?”
Knowing this, the Sister proposed to settle the matter with this information in exchange for her help. There was no need for me to go through such dangerous waters. The fake Hero would also cause minimal damage if I stayed put. But,
“I-It’s alright! I’ll do my best!”
I, who used to escape into dance when I couldn’t do anything, decided to try my best. I was there then. So, if not now, when will I make an effort?
“No! I’ll go with you too!”
“Then, I will count on your strength.”
“Okay, leave it to me!”
“Then, let’s go see the fake Hero first.”
“Wait a minute, I’m Amelia! What’s your name?”
Choosing to act together, I realized we’d have trouble calling each other if we didn’t know our names. That’s why I introduced myself like this, but she frowned, looking displeased.
“…Please call me Ann.”
“Got it! Nice to meet you, Ann!”
She named herself hesitantly. Come to think of it, it might have been a while since I’d called someone by their name like this. That’s why I was happy and called her name cheerfully, but why did she make such a strange face?
“Please don’t mind it, I just don’t like this name very much.”
“?? I think it’s a nice name.”
“…Is that so? Then, let’s go this time.”
“Ah, wait!”
She started walking ahead briskly, so I ran a little to keep pace and walk beside her.
“He said he was going back to his room, so are we going to his room?”
“That was probably a guise. His real job is with people like me. He’s probably contacting other Heroes to gather information. Based on the report from earlier, I can predict that.”
“??”
“Beings like us are basically about deception, playing tricks on each other. We maintain a position of not getting too close or too far, flitting about like bats. It’s not efficient for information gathering to be in very small groups, so it’ll be somewhere people gather and can talk easily.”
“The cafeteria?”
“No.”
I tried to guess from Ann’s words, which she dangled like a quiz, but I didn’t think that fake Hero would return to the place we had just left. Ann also denied it, confirming my thought.
“The lounge.”
There are common areas on the first and second floors of the dormitory where the Heroes are staying. Without needing to go to the cafeteria, you can have tea and people gather there. And there’s a flow of people. Ann said he would probably be there. But was that true? Ann walked past the lounge on the first floor as if her business was beyond it. A little later, I passed by in the same way.
“Him?”
“Yeah.”
And her prediction was correct. He was there, in a group of four, men and women, among several other groups. Ann, inferring from the characteristics I had initially described, stopped without looking back and then called out to me when I caught up.
“Then, let’s stake him out.”
“How?”
“It’s simple. We just do our jobs.”
She said, “I’ll need your help too,” and handed me cleaning supplies with a smile. Huh? Am I not being forced to do menial labor here?
Amelia Miyagawa, 16 years old
Occupation: High School Student
Magic Aptitude: 8 (General Class)
Title: Hero
Today’s Quote:
My first job as a Hero is… cleaning… I wonder?
This time, the perspective is from someone other than the protagonist. How was it?
The story will continue from Amelia’s perspective for a few more chapters.
Thank you for your continued support of this work.
