---

“Blanca, you’ve been pretty busy lately, haven’t you?”

On the way home after the Academy, Ageha suddenly brought up Blanca, as if it just popped into her mind.

“I-I think so…? Lately, after the Academy, she keeps getting called here and there, and goes off alone…”

Lapiz agreed, saying that it wasn’t particularly strange, and questioned Ageha.

“B-but, it’s not like she’s going anywhere weird. I mean, she’s being called by a pharmaceutical company or Heros Company, right? Doesn’t that sound… problematic?”

“No, I’m not trying to make a big deal out of it. I just wonder if it’s a bit too much for a student to work so hard. How should I put it… she should at least relax a bit…”

“It’s not really my place to say, but Ageha, some people have to work just to scrape by even at our age.”

Seolhwa casually threw a jab at Ageha while she was speaking.

Ageha, startled, retorted that she knew that, but still, can’t they have a little breathing room while attending Heros Academy?

“Do you really think that after seeing her house?”

“…No, I was careless.”

However, it wasn’t long before Seolhwa made a remark that left her stunned.

She told Ageha not to worry too much about Blanca because it was likely that Ageha was genuinely concerned for her.

I know for sure. It is clear that there’s some organization behind her,

Although I’ve had my suspicions lately that it might be the Liberators, I was too afraid to ask directly, worried that it might sever my connection with her.

Anyway, I knew she wouldn’t be short on money.

It must be that she’s reducing her time with us because of some reasons she can’t share.

“It’s definitely getting harder to see Blanca’s face these days…”

Yeonhwa, trying to steer the conversation back on course, agreed with Ageha and redirected the focus onto Blanca’s activities.

“Is it really that bad? We still see her at the Academy every day.”

Of course, Jinhyeon missed the point entirely. Seeing him do that, Yeonhwa sighed deeply and spoke to him.

“What I mean, Jinhyeon, is that it’s hard to catch her on our way home after the Academy…”

It was common knowledge among Class A that Yeonhwa had a crush on Jinhyeon. Stories about her romantic interests came up frequently in other groups in the class.

The only small problem was that the public opinion on Jinhyeon wasn’t very friendly.

Yeonhwa exudes warmth like the sun. Naturally, if she were to like someone, all eyes would be on that person, but unfortunately, that person is…

Well, to put it mildly, in quite the situation.

It made one wonder if that guy even cared about the world; at some point, people jokingly wondered if he was actually a hypnosis ability user.

“It’s unfortunate, but what can we do? Blanca needs to earn a living too. Honestly, I find it somewhat reassuring. It means she has a steady income.”

“…Is that so…? I haven’t seen it myself, so I can’t be sure… But if she’s working hard to move to a better place…”

Lucia seemed unsure about Blanca’s situation, mumbling that she hoped things went well for her.

When talk of Blanca came up, Alice seemed a bit uncomfortable, hesitating before whispering to me about what position Blanca held in our group.

What position could it be?

The anchor, perhaps?

She doesn’t flaunt anything and has no big ambitions, yet just being around her binds us all together.

“Anchor? Essential element? Something along those lines.”

“Anchor or essential element… I guess.”

“What are you two whispering about? Is it some secret that you can’t share with others?”

As Alice leaned in closer to me, Seolhwa, sensing the situation, glared at me with cold eyes as if ready to butt heads.

“N-no! It’s not like that! I… I just feel like I’ve made a big mistake with Lady Blanca, you know?! It’s a bit… awkward for me to be curious about her…!! But I wanna know!!”

Alice hurriedly jumped in to defend me, not wanting the heat to fall on me.

“What? Is that all? How boring. Just ask her! No one will scold you for that. Blanca looks fine to me.”

“R-really?”

Looking at it this way, Alice and Ageha share a surprisingly similar vibe, don’t they? Maybe it’s because they both give off a lady-like feeling.

Ageha is genuinely from a wealthy family, while Alice pretends to be, making a difference, but when standing side by side, they often seem alike.

“Yes. Of course, Alice. We’re not that special.”

“Ah, I see…? But why is it just me… Oh, never mind.”

…Forget it. Looking at things like this, it’s clear that there is a difference. I’m not biased; the areas under the influence of Heros Company have all culturally blended, but still.

Ageha really has that scheming feeling to her when you mention noble ladies.

“Well, I’m sure Blanca will come by when she’s got the time. Just because we haven’t seen her in a few days doesn’t mean she’s vanished, and it can’t be helped that she has her own responsibilities. Let’s just understand!”

Wrapping things up nicely, I pondered just what exactly Blanca was doing.

Not that an answer would come, anyway.

– – – –

She definitely said she comes down this alley. Since Justitia often frequented this alley, it was reliable info.

But I wondered, was this really a wise action? Although I was planning this and our leader had approved it, it carried too much risk, didn’t it?

However, on the flip side, I also wondered if our leader was right. If it fails, it’s a disaster, but if it succeeds, there isn’t any better card we could play.

If I could recruit that girl, it would undoubtedly bring tremendous chaos to society.

Hiding my presence in the shadows of the alley, I waited for the demoted student from Class A to appear.

In case of emergencies, I had prepped some gas-type sleeping pills in my system.

After contacting a few people on my phone while waiting and getting confirmation from our leader, at last, the one I had been waiting for appeared.

A student demoted from Class A. The one who would have plunged into the Evil Society.

A Shape-Shift Ability User, Iago.

I thought he’d come out all rebellious and throwing curses at the world, but he was unexpectedly calm.

Looking at his intimidating appearance, he could’ve spat venom at anyone and nobody would think twice.

As he revealed himself, I greeted him cheerfully.

“Hey there.”

“…Who are you? Do we know each other?”

He clearly didn’t know how to greet someone. Maybe he just never learned? With a face like that, no wonder nobody approached him first. One can’t blame him.

“Well, we did know each other, to be exact. If I’m being precise, we talked at least a few months ago.”

I encouraged him to use his brain, and after a moment, Iago pressed his fingers to his head, before muttering as if he finally recalled.

“You are… a cat… no, Blanca, right?”

Did he just refer to himself as a ‘cat’?

Aside from that, shouldn’t there be other things to remember? Why on earth could he not recall anything beyond that? Does he have such a short memory span?

While I felt incredulous, Iago seemed more baffled and asked why I was even here.

“Oh, that. I came to talk a bit.”

“I have nothing to say.”

“But I do. Ever considered why life seems so chaotic? I was just born this way, yet everyone around acts like total madmen. I just want to be respected as I am, so why is everyone so quick to judge based on looks? I was just born this way!”

I tried to emulate our leader’s eloquence, but judging by his reaction, it didn’t seem to resonate.

In fact, it looked like the reverse effect kicked in, as Iago wore a downright scowling face.

“…What exactly do you want to say?”

“What I want to say is, isn’t living in this world just awful? Disqualified because of my shape, judged by my looks, ridiculed for my abilities. I’m doing the same judging just by the way you look!”

“So what do you want from me? Do you want me to swap my face and bones or something?”

Though I hid it well, it seemed he had a lot built up inside, and as I scratched the surface, he looked ready to explode at any moment.

Can I manage to twist this?

“Well, I’m proposing change, but to the target audience differs. What I genuinely want to convey is… don’t you want to hit this lousy world where we live?”

With a flicker of hope, I revealed the burner phone I had prepared earlier.

“If you want to give this world a good punch, take this and make a call.”

“…Call where?”

His reluctance to reject even that choice showed that he was intrigued.

“You’ll figure it out once you see.”

Alright, my job ends here. The verification of thoughts and all those tedious tasks are for the other organization members.

As a sales representative, my work was done, and I quickly extended my tendrils out and soared away.

“I’m counting on you.”

With that one convincing line, I was just amazed that this might actually work!

 

---