Prologue
Misgivings and Targets
“Hmm? Oh, you, huh? You’re late.”
It was the dead of night. Yet despite the late hour, the man turned around calmly in the dimly lit room.
“…Yes. I’m sorry.”
The low voice made the young girl jump slightly. She could only answer meekly. After entering the room with the greatest reluctance, she stared at her feet, face frozen. The tall man stood, paying her body language no mind, and approached with his left hand stuck in a pocket of his suit. When he was right in front of her, he presented her with the pile of papers in his right hand.
“This is all the data we’ve been able to find so far on your target. You need to memorize all of the contents here and run it through this shredder afterward. That, or eat the documents, like in that Book Girl series.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary, sir.”
“No? Great. I hope you’re just as capable on the job.”
The girl didn’t respond, either not hearing the man or choosing to ignore him. She received the documents and flipped through them. The target’s name was Hiroto Shinohara, a first-class rookie prospect whose name everyone on the Academy knew. However…
“Heh… Do you think this is even possible? Sure, he’s a Seven Star. There’s no way to mess with the star-hunting system, so that much is the truth. But that doesn’t mean we have to believe everything else about him.”
“Yes… There’s likely something lurking under the surface.”
“Not ‘likely.’ There is. It doesn’t add up otherwise.”
The man spun back on his heels, the tapping of his shoes beating out a steady rhythm as he walked back toward the window. Like an actor in an old detective film, he used two fingers to push a couple of the window blind’s slats down, revealing the night cityscape beyond. He grinned.
“I dunno if he’s some miracle Seven Star or the world’s most powerful transfer student or whatever…but unfortunately for him, ‘miracles’ aren’t allowed on this island. We don’t allow them. It’s time to show him what happens when stupid little Icarus gets too close to the sun.”
The bold declaration floated off into the darkened sky. The girl kept her gaze lowered, but she nodded.
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