The Contradiction Between Humans

Chapter 30: Identity

The next day, I decided to make a move. I headed toward the ship's lower levels. I proceeded down to the lowest level, where people didn't generally go. Although we were prohibited from going there, the area wasn't locked. The crew was probably using it. Even though people could enter an area like the switchboard room if it was necessary, generally speaking, no one went in there.

   There was no one to come if you called, no matter how loud you shouted. Including the regular entrance, there were only two ways in or out of the room. The other way was a door that led to the emergency staircase, but the workers didn't appear to use that. Judging from the dust, I knew that it hadn't been used in a long time. If I kept an eye on the regular entrance, I could monitor the situation completely.

   Another convenient thing was that phones had almost no reception here. Though you could occasionally get a little signal, sending emails or chatting was a pain in the neck, and it was next to impossible to make a call.

   "All the pieces are in place," I murmur.

   All I had to do was to make sure everything happened in the proper order. First, I would contact Hirata, and then he would call Karuizawa. Since I wanted to postpone things a bit, I'd probably need to have him call Karuizawa an hour or so earlier. I returned to the upper decks to make the call.

   After our conversation last night,  Hirata might be especially on his guard. But I knew if Hirata called Karuizawa and said he wanted to speak with her alone, she'd respond. Karuizawa had said she was breaking up with Hirata, but she'd only suffer if that happened. With Manabe and her friends on the attack, Karuizawa absolutely needed Hirata to protect her at school.

   I've got a message from Hirata. I've promised to meet Karuizawa-san at 4:00 p.m. I'll send you Manabe-san's info.

   As expected, Hirata had fulfilled his role admirably. As a bonus, he even had Manabe's contact information, never mind that she was from another class. If he hadn't known about it, I would've risked asking Kushida. That saved me an extraordinary amount of trouble.

   He sent another message. I have to tell you, I don't want to make Karuizawa-san sad.

   "You don't want to make her sad, huh?"

   If he knew what was about to happen, Hirata would be furious. But that wasn't my problem. Even if she were to break here, it'll be fine as long as he doesn't find out. This is a rather extreme example, but even if you committed murder, you couldn't be convicted without proof.

   I quickly typed a message and hit send.

   Hey you got a minute?

   The message was short and sweet, completely harmless. As a rule, chat apps are one account per phone. However, there was a way around that. By creating another primary SNS account, your device could hold another. Of course, not many students split their accounts into a main and sub. The benefits of switching between accounts were marginal at best. By creating a new account, I was able to contact a third party without revealing my identity.

   I needed to proceed delicately. If I didn't mess up, everything should be fine. Despite the fact that Manabe had received an anonymous message, she immediately responded.

   Who is this?

   Only natural she'd ask that question.

   Is there anyone with you?

   I'm alone, but who are you?

   Don't show this to anyone. For your own sake.

   Look, who are you?

   Let's just say that I hate the same person you do.