Vol 2 Chapter 3.1 (2/2)

“Good!”

With a sulky expression Fus.h.i.+mi turned his eyes back to the display and pulled himself together.

“The appointed time for the 'surprise party’ on the 26th December is 11pm. The students who at the end of the year at such a time should be in their rooms stuck to their desks learning will slip out from home in droves. And then all those people who disappeared from home will gather in s.h.i.+zume City. Then the group who operates «jungle» should also s.h.i.+ft their attention to the movement in s.h.i.+zume City. That’s when we’ll aim for «jungle»’s 'center’.”

“I gotta say, Saruhiko, if it’s with you I feel like we can even take over the world!”

Yata stuck out his fist from under the loft. It was covered in scars and scab and was swollen red. From the loft Fus.h.i.+mi extended his hand and met Yata’s right fist with his left.

Middle school students like them had seriously set up a plan to hijack «jungle». If he’d talk with somebody other than Yata about it they’d probably laugh, calling it a child’s make-believe game.

But only Yata doesn’t laugh about it. He earnestly believes we can do it.

Because I made this plan. Because I said to surprise society.

In truth Fus.h.i.+mi didn’t care about “society”. He didn’t consider wanting this s.h.i.+tty world. All he thought was that he wanted to prove that they weren’t just rotting and complaining in a small world like school, but that they had the power to oppose a much more overpowering, bigger presence.

“We’ll mess with «jungle» who even messed with the 'red monster’. The view the big guys of this world have on power, let’s change it a bit in one week, okay?”

They didn’t feel like they’d lose, so they talked big.

“We’ll topple this f.u.c.king boring world.”

“But what will we do if it doesn’t become interesting even after toppling it?”

“Then there’s nothing left but despair. If it comes to that I’ll think of a way to fly to s.p.a.ce and crash right into the sun.”

“That sounds good! Let’s build a super stylish rocket and crash into the sun in a super cool way!”

They talked together until late into the night about stupid thing like detailed, practical plans and magnificent, obscure ones without getting bored of it. After that Yata fell asleep before him and  Fus.h.i.+mi turned back to his computer by himself. There were still a few things he wanted to prepare before the one week ended. He concentrated on his task in the dim room that was only lit by the display’s light. This room was different form that cold mansion in which only things were placed that wouldn’t be a loss if stolen. It was much smaller than that house and there were no expensive things. The computer was a.s.sembled with only cheap parts. On top of that was a history attached to this place.

But here was nothing that wouldn’t be a loss if stolen.

I think I’ll properly lock the door in this place.

†

“They’re coming together one after another. The street is br.i.m.m.i.n.g with people. That it came like this is kind of a sick scene, rather than amazing.”

December 26, 11 o'clock at night. The report from Yata who was examining the state of the scene reached Fus.h.i.+mi through the headset.

Fus.h.i.+mi remained in the room by himself. He pulled the blanket over his head and sat cross-legged in front of the desk, and while sipping from the can of coffee he stared at the two monitors placed in an angle next to each other. They were a computer’s LCD screen and a holographic screen connected to his PDA. On the holographic screen was a low quality video streaming. The scene Yata was recording with his PDA’s camera was transmitted to him in real time.

Yata was taking the video from the rooftop of a building by the station. The pedestrian scramble in front of the station was packed with the heads of the seemingly deep black people. The people who pushed out of the station building seemed to pour out in a radial pattern, just how the Hedoro river’s branches stretch. The cross-walk’s white lines, the lights of the stalling cars, the neon signs decorating the buildings by the street――it swallowed all kinds of lights, and the black river ate the city.

“Amazing…”

Murmured Fus.h.i.+mi in front of the display to himself. As many people as this were made to act by «jungle», one online service.

“How are things at your side?”

“Still not moving.”

Fus.h.i.+mi s.h.i.+fted his eyes from the holography to the LCD screen where another video was streaming which came from a fixed camera they had installed on an other building beforehand.

The crowd branched out away from the station into several streams and spread to fill the streets in the center of s.h.i.+zume City. But when you looked down on the scene from above you could tell that every stream was pa.s.sing through a certain three-forked road. That was the place the fixed camera was capturing――a shop with a stylish atmosphere, standing at the corner of the three-forked road. Despite the late hour the shop seemed to be open and the warm color of the light falling through the windows illuminated the street. When Fus.h.i.+mi made the camera zoom in through remote control he could make out the name written on the antique, western-style sign.

Bar HOMRA ―― the “red monster”’s base.

Most of the partic.i.p.ants probably didn’t know of the “red monster”’s existence and even if they heard of the urban legend those who believed that that monster possessed actual ghastly powers were little. The partic.i.p.ants persistently felt like they were “partic.i.p.ating in a game”.

“Hm…? Somebody’s come out.”

The shop’s door opened and the light spread further. Three or four men appeared from the inside and threw long shadows onto the illuminated street.

“Oh, the 'red monster’?”

“No, seems like some subordinates came to check out the situation.”

Right now those men were standing in front of the shop and simply observing the situation of a strangely high number of people moving in front of their eyes. Despite it being a dubious situation, there was no chance the shop would suffer any damage because most were ordinary people, and furthermore, middle school students. There was no use in arguing with kids, and they definitely wouldn’t strike at them either. This was exactly how it had been with the secretly taken photos, this was «jungle»’s modus operandi.

“Misaki, I found a group from Himuka middle school. I’ll send you a map, can you see them from your location?”

Next to the camera video was a map of s.h.i.+zume City displayed in another window. In one point of the map were small lights cl.u.s.tering together like a nebula. The lights were slowly moving in a crowd and were indeed headed for the three-forked road in front of Bar HOMRA.

These lights represented the location of the Himuka middle school students’ PDAs. Most of them seemed to flock together and move according to which school they belonged to. Which was convenient for Fus.h.i.+mi and Yata.

“I got the map. I should be able to see them from the opposite side of the building I’m on right now. Wait a moment.”

Wham, came the sound from the skateboard hitting the ground and the video that was send from Yata’s PDA blurred for a moment. “Around here… oh, found them! They’re from a different cla.s.s but they’re all seniors from our school…” The video that was send to Fus.h.i.+mi was of low quality so he couldn’t make out detailed facial features but because Yata had good eyes he seemed to be able to distinguish every single one of them.

“Ah, Hanayama is there. And… ah…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah… ahh, no, it’s just that there are all the guys who were in the same cla.s.s as us in the first year. That’s all.”

Because Yata spoke in a feigned casual tone Fus.h.i.+mi could guess what this was about.

“…they’re just sc.u.m that got hooked up on a rumor that says they’ll get information that will become handy for entrance exams. It’s good you cut your ties with them, right?”

Declared Fus.h.i.+mi coldly, but Yata was still not completely convinced. “Y- yeah. But well, I understand their opinion too.” Because Yata said something as if he was covering for them, Fus.h.i.+mi clicked his tongue and changed the subject.

“What about Oogai Aya?”

“Hm–… I can’t find her right now. Hm? Can’t you tell where she is?”

“Even if I could hack into her account,  I can’t enter her PDA because she already added security to it”

“That 'account hacking’? thing, I still don’t really get it…”

“I used a teacher’s account to get into the data base of Himuka middle school and then I extracted the student’s account information. That’s all. I got the teacher’s account and pa.s.sword through borrowing his PDA while he was gone for a moment. With this method it was easy to steal it.”

At present Fus.h.i.+mi had the means to access every Himuka middle school senior’s PDA as an administrator, excluding Aya’s. Like this he also got a hold of the information on their location their PDAs were dispatching and could displayed them on the map. From all the partic.i.p.ants he could at least grasp the movement of the Himuka students on the map. Fus.h.i.+mi could also control their PDAs from a distance.

“You’re really amazing. Isn’t that a crime though?”

“Yes it is, what did I just say?”

“So you can also look at their mails and photos and stuff, right?”

“Well, yeah. I didn’t touch those though. I’m not interested in other people’s mails and…” he looked at the clock on the screen and broke off their conversation. “One minute left.”

“Oh, is it already time.” Yata’s voice was tinged with tension.

At 11:30pm Fus.h.i.+mi would turn towards «jungle» and hit them with a hacking program, although that was just a distraction. Needless to say that it was a fairly solid program he had built, but Fus.h.i.+mi didn’t think he could hijack «jungle» this easily and if he should hijack it, that would be a total letdown. For now if «jungle» recognized it as “being attacked” then that was good enough.

The digital clock changed from 11:29pm to 11:30pm. Through a timer the hacking program activated. On screen two 3D Tyrannosaurus started hurling their bodies into a solid building. This kind of show was utterly unnecessary, but because Fus.h.i.+mi thought it’d be more fun for Yata if there was something visual happening he had added it. They won’t be able to identify him that easily, no matter how often he’ll connect to the proxy server.

“Saruhiko. Something weird just started to happen?”

He could hear Yata’s voice through the headset. When Fus.h.i.+mi returned his attention to the video, he startled a bit.

While he had looked at something else the people’s “faces” had changed. “Masks…?” Before he had noticed everybody had put on white masks with holes for the eyes and a mouth shaped like a thin crescent moon bored into it, which gave the masks a somewhat eerie expression. How had the partic.i.p.ants who had come in small groups just obtained those―?

As he suspiciously stared at it, there was a change in the movement of the crowd that had until now pa.s.sed by the three-forked road at random.

Thud!

A sound rose as everybody in the crowd simultaneously stomped with vigor on the ground in front of the “red monster”’s gang who was standing in front of the shop.

Just when it looked as if they had taken one step forward,

Thud!

they matched their movements and this time took a step backward.

Thud, thud, thud!

Forward, backward, alternately they repeated the movement of stomping on the ground.

“What is this…? Did they all practice together?”

“No… there are instructions on the PDA.”

On Fus.h.i.+mi’s display was the same thing shown as on the students’ PDAs’ screens whose accounts he had obtained. He understood that the way they were supposed to move was being transmitted to their PDAs in real time. Because of that seemed the steps directed, almost as if they were doing group practice. The perfectly coordinated steps performed by the group that wore uniform masks had as much impact as a scene from a musical, and the “red monster”’s gang could also only stare at them in surprise.

Thud!

The outstandingly huge group stomped their feet and turned their bodies straight towards bar HOMRA. On the PDAs was the instruction to change their direction with their steps by ninety degree.

And the next instruction―

Bang! Bang, bang!

The sound of consecutive bursts echoed and white smoke rose.

Through the headset Fus.h.i.+mi could hear the surprised exclamation of Yata, who was watching at the actual scene. In the middle of the video was the group of the “red monster” also taken aback.

The colorful confetti that had scattered together with the white smoke whirled and fell to the ground while glittering in the light of the outdoor lamps. They were party poppers ― that party supply shaped like a cone. Each person had hidden them in their hands.

While the “red monster”’s group struggled to understand what was happening, the row that had used their party poppers switched places with the row behind them and strewed about. The row that was in the front next stomped there feet just like the steps done in a musical, exactly the way it had happened just a moment ago. Thud, thud, thud, thud-thud ― the steps got gradually stronger and fiercer and at the peak they turned towards the shop and let their party poppers crack. Then they run away, and the row that had been on standby stepped to the front.

Exactly how the mission’s keyword suggested did this look like the opening to a secretly arranged “surprise party”. This however had happened with a definite restriction to the good relations.h.i.+p between the ones who had planned this and the ones who this happen to.

“Ohh, I wanna try to join them. It looks like fun.”

“Don’t be affected by it so quickly. Don’t lose focus.”

“I- I’m not. I’m properly spying on them, all right. …ah, that guy with the Kansai dialect came out.”

“Number 2 was pulled out, huh.”

Through the party poppers going off non-stop the bar’s shopfront was already shrouded in thick white smoke. Making out details through the camera had become fairly difficult. Fus.h.i.+mi could do nothing but stare idly at the monitor.

“Misaki, I’ll move on my side soon, too. Proceed according to the plan.”

“Ro- roger! Leave it to me!”

Despite being nervous, Yata gave a high-spirited answer.

Within the LCD screen the hacking program meant as a distraction continued its attack. The two tyrannosaurus were gnawing at the wall of the building with their st.u.r.dy jaws. With the same kind of force as in the animation tried the program in the background to prize «jungle»’s security open. Letting the tyrannosaurus work without interrupting them, Fus.h.i.+mi hit the keyboard. After he hurriedly mend the code he had arranged beforehand for a short moment, he send the program to the Himuka students whose PDAs were under his control. A s.h.i.+ning lizard, smaller than the tyrannosaurus twisted it body once and disappeared from the screen, got on the internet circuit and jumped away.

On the Himuka students PDAs showed the following message at once, disguised as an official notice from «jungle»:

“XX-san, good evening. We contacte you for an urgent notice. Our server is under attack and has been invaded. To save your user information we will stop service for one hour.”

At the same time the message Fus.h.i.+mi had send out showed up on everybody’s PDAs he heard Yata’s loud voice through the headset.

“Oh no, this is real bad! There’s a cyber attack on «jungle», it’s being hijacked!”

“…shut up. That sounded super fake…”

Yata’s shouting directed at the crowd pierced right through Fus.h.i.+mi’s ear and he couldn’t endure it so he grumbled and pulled the headset off. Not only was he loud, that act was also really bad… well, whatever. Under these circ.u.mstances n.o.body’s going to mind something trivial as that.

It was Yata’s job to blend into the Himuka students and induce them to act. Each of them only receiving the message lead probably to uncertainty, but if there would be somebody who’d talk about it the message’s authenticity would rise ―― Fus.h.i.+mi had come up with most of the plan, but this had been Yata’s idea. “'Because somebody said so’, you hear that a lot, right? As an explanation to a crowd’s actions. If you’re alone you won’t move, but if somebody else starts then it just flows naturally.” ― Yata had scratched his face with an expression as if he spoke from personal experience, and had taken on that task himself.

Needless to say that the hacking in reality hadn’t been successful. On the display the tyrannosaurus were merely blocked by the solid building and breaking their tooth on it.

On the other hand a moderate number of users had received the official information that «jungle» had been hijacked and through Yata’s incitement it would lead to disorder.

«jungle»’d wonder about the state of things, right?

Fus.h.i.+mi stared fixedly at the screen that shone in the middle of the dim room and the corners of his mouth lifted in a smile.

He found himself looking a bit forward to what kind of countermeasure the other party would take. If they’d do a foolish thing like unlocking their door to peek outside because they were worried a burglar had come, they’d give him the perfect opportunity to put his foot in the door and force it open.

If their move would be to throw the shutter close and cut off their connection to the outside then he could, disguised as official information, manipulate as many users as he wanted while they were shut indoors.

So, what will you do? Depending on your reaction, I thought of several next moves, y’know?

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