Everyone Has Talent. If Only We Could Realize It - Volume 1 Chapter 5.2

All-Direction Lost Child Catalog

That night, as usual, I logged into “EPEX” and played while chatting with my friend Zeke-san through WIZCODE.

It wasn’t the serious mode where ranks were at stake, just a laid-back free match where all you had to do was shoot guns around. Our chatter flowed easily.

“By the way, Rakuraku-dono, I have completed the task you requested.”

“Really, Zeke-san? Sorry for the trouble.”

“No worries, this was nothing. Compared to stealing national defense information from a hypothetical enemy country, this was a piece of cake.”

“Your comparison seems a bit off.”

“Ha-ha-ha. So, it was about identifying the source of the nuisance comments on Ichihachi Live, right?”

“Exactly.”

“I’ve just sent the collected information to your smartphone.”

“Thanks.”

While still playing the game with one hand, I pulled my smartphone closer with the other.

A detailed investigation report was displayed.

Zeke-san and I are friends only within the game. I don’t know his face or real name. All I know is that he has a cool, deep voice and works with computers.

Yes, computers—meaning, his real job is a hacker. Slightly on the darker side, closer to a cracker than a hacker.

Recently, I had asked Zeke-san to identify the person who left malicious comments on Shiika’s stream.

“The position information of the device used for the comment and… oh, which SNS accounts are linked to that device are all covered. Amazing, I didn’t know you could find out things like this.”

“Our target was quite reckless this time. It was easy to track them. To me, it looked like they wanted to be found.”

“Ahaha, with Zeke-san, anyone would seem that way. …So, what’s the interesting part?”

“Ah, yes, that was it. This device, it seems to belong to another Ichihachi Live streamer.”

After a dramatic pause, Zeke-san continued.

“Shibuya Erio, a popular streamer.”

“…I see.”

Hearing that name didn’t surprise me. Given Shibuya’s attitude towards Shiika, it wouldn’t be strange if she was using a back account to write anti-comments. Rather, it made sense who the culprit was.

“But here’s the interesting part. This Shibuya Erio-dono, it appears she’s also been writing malicious anti-comments on her own streams and those she collaborates with other streamers.”

“Ah? …Oh!? Ah, darn it!”

Caught by surprise, my thoughts froze for a moment, and I was sniped in the head with a sniper rifle. Darn, I died too early in the game.

“Hey hey, no getting distracted~”

“Sorry…”

While apologizing, my mind kept racing.

Shibuya Erio’s device, Shibuya Erio’s back account, was writing anti-comments against Shibuya Erio──.

Why? What’s the point?

I get why she would target Shiika. Jealousy, anger, crushing a rival, there are countless possible motives.

But there’s no reason for Shibuya Erio herself to target her own streams. Maybe she wanted to play the victim, garnering sympathy and solidifying her core fans’ unity… But that seemed too far-fetched.

Shibuya Erio doesn’t respond to anti-comments, sticking to a policy of complete ignorance. According to Zeke-san’s information, there’s no indication of her orchestrating conflicts anonymously. Far from becoming clear, Shibuya’s motives remained muddled.

“Zeke-san, do you have any idea why Shibuya would do something like this?”

“I have absolutely no clue.”

“Is that so…”

“The darkness of adolescent girls is beyond our comprehension, perhaps.”

Zeke-san said thoughtfully. In the background, gunshots rang out loudly.

The contrast was somewhat comical, nearly making me laugh.

Suddenly, Zeke-san spoke.

“By the way, Rakuraku-dono. During the investigation, I noticed something.”

“What is it?”

“The Ichihachi Live streamer you asked me to investigate, Ikebukuro Shiika-dono, was it? Her singing voice is strikingly similar to our diva “Seeker”, don’t you think?”

“It’s just your imagination.”

I answered immediately.

Of course, I was aware of the risk of him noticing. However, through games and conversations, I knew his character well.

“Hmm. Well, alright. It seems there’s something complicated going on, so it would be boorish to pry.”

“…Thank you.”

If Zeke-san were to get serious, he could easily expose everything about me and Shiika.

But he’s not the type of person to destroy a friendship just to satisfy his curiosity.

Because he’s a good person? —No, the opposite.

He’s so villainous that he can satisfy any curiosity in an instant, so he’s not desperate enough to ruin himself over trivial interests. Just as a man who can make lovers anytime isn’t desperate about love, someone who can steal information anytime isn’t desperate about immediate information.

I only need to keep one promise.

Never make an enemy of Zeke-san. As long as I don’t break this, his calamity won’t befall us siblings.

*

On the day of the mid-term exam.

The morning was ironically overcast. Even before it rained, the humidity made our uniforms feel damp, and our steps naturally became heavier. Perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but the students walking around seemed to share the same feeling.

9:50 a.m. The second part of today’s exam was about to start soon.

A large number of students had gathered in the auditorium, used also during the entrance ceremony.

Only 10 students were taking the exam at the same time, but any student was allowed to observe, so from first to third years, many people had packed in.

There aren’t many students who come to learn from watching other students’ exams… of course.

Other exams hadn’t attracted this much attention.

The reason today’s exam drew so many people was mainly two-fold.

One was because Shibuya Erio and Ikebukuro Shiika—two genius musicians in the Musician Department who were taking the exam at the same time. The conflict that occurred during the “Vocal Basics” class had become a rumor among the students and was now a topic of discussion school-wide. If scores were to be given on the spot, determining the rankings between the two, it was natural to draw a lot of attention.

Another reason was the popularity of the judges.

In the front row seats directly in front of the stage in the auditorium sat three judges. The lineup changed daily, but today, particularly popular figures among the youth seemed to have gathered.

“GAHAHAHA! The gazes are intense. Well, it’s no surprise given my popularity!”

Laughing heartily, a man with an unusually intense face, resembling a bear, cracked open peanuts, shell and all, with his teeth. His name was Ōmuta Tōyō.

As a legendary artist known for his shout and death voice as the guitar and vocalist of a rock band, he was affectionately called “That guy LV100” by fans who found his ever-present bathroom sandals endearing.