Cop Craft – Dragnet Mirage Reloaded

Moda Norbam was already a celebrity to begin with. Why was he doing something like that?

「But…」

Matoba contained his anger and looked at Tilarna quietly. He got his fists ready, mentally, and organized his thoughts.

「… Maybe, unexpectedly, the guy is getting impatient」 「Oh?」 「Why do you think he tried to have me killed? The Mildi he used, the “tongue of make-believe” is quite different from Zelada’s “dead manipulation”, and it doesn’t have any binding power. Coercing someone into committing suicide, or making someone else commit a murder is an ability that is incredibly hard to attain. The fact that you managed to overpower it was most likely a consequence of that as well」

So she’s not going to compliment me on my willpower after all…

He thought to himself, but since it would’ve interrupted the flow of the conversation to say anything, he remained quiet

「So you’re basically saying that the kind of magic he cast on me is quite rare?」 「Not impossible, though. Especially as a surprise attack… when you cast it on an unexpecting opponent, you may entice them to commit suicide or murder. However, it’s still difficult」 「So you’re saying that that strength is his true form… or scratch that, his powers are actually not well known?」 「That’s right. It’s also why he was trying desperately to kill me」

Maybe Norbam had intended to cast a much simpler deceiving spell on Matoba in the first place. Perhaps one especially to make him doubt himself… and it would’ve been enough with just that. However, he wasn’t counting on Tilarna being there as an extra.

「When you’re a Mildita yourself, you can sense if your opponent is one of your own. You can feel the small changes in Rahtena, and see their fine gestures and words… it’s nothing you couldn’t hide with enough self awareness, but it’s also something that a very carefully observant opponent would notice」 「Did you notice it at first when you met Norbam?」 「No. But I had my doubts. I’m sure he noticed that himself」

An unknown Semani appeared in front of him, and one that had high chances of detecting any criminal intent, so he decided to protect himself by having Matoba kill her before she could figure anything out.

That was a very risky gamble, even for someone like Norbam. And he failed.

「And so now he’s freaking out. I get it. I think I can get his reasons now」 「Having said that, I think this is no more than just a consolation prize. Even if we managed to infer something like this, that would still not change the fact that it would be almost impossible to lock him up in a dungeon, or to have him decapitated, right?」

She sighed painfully, and peeked at Matoba’s face

「No. I told this to Gardner earlier as well, but we still have Nyath. If only we could guarantee his detainment… it may be impossible to prove the hypnotism thing, but maybe we could do something about the murder instigation and support with his testimony」 「In that case we need to find him quickly」 「Wait」

Matoba was trying to calm Tilarna down, who was looking just about ready to take off running somewhere.

「It’s morning already. You should head back to Sherwood one last time」 「Why? I’m sure they’re well aware already about Nyath being a suspect. There’s no way he would show his face to school right now」 「That may be true but… I think there are still several loose ends at that school that we shouldn’t just discard」 「?」

The conditions had gotten pretty intricate, but even then, the general scenario looked like this:

It is believed that Norune died because of Mendoza’s drugs. It is still unknown who let Norune die and threw her out. Norbam, the father who found about it one way or another, used Nyath by casting his unusual powers on him, and had him get revenge on Mendoza and his gang In order to cover his involvement in that revenge plot, Norbam cast his magic again, this time on Matoba and Tilarna to get rid of both of them.

That was what they considered to be the truth up to that point.

Wait- is it even true in the first place?

It just wasn’t coming together at all. If all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle had been buried underground, then the remaining blank spaces were giving them no time at all to wait and find them. They couldn’t afford to allow themselves to miss the forest for the trees, and get a distorted perception of the big picture.

Of course the Moda Norbam issue was important, but weren’t they ditching Norune and forgetting about her altogether? Her death was the catalyst for it all to begin with.

And would a man who almost had Tilarna murdered in cold blood like that, risk his own social standing to get revenge for his daughter?

「Norbam, Nyath, Mendoza. They are all involved somehow, but we still haven’t even seen Norune’s face. What kind of girl was Norune to begin with? We won’t be able to know the full story until we find that out」 「At school she had an immaculate record, but her private life was tainted with immorality. It sounds dramatic, but it’s not that strange. In a city like that, it’s not weird to find that kind of people- don’t you think it may be something like that?」 「Well, maybe that’s true but… hmm. In any case, I’m not really feeling it」 「That “detective gut” or whatever?」 「Shut up」

The detective gut. He hated that term. Relying on something like that would be just like stooping himself to the level of the unskilled detectives that went ahead with an investigation after following the first thing that came to mind. Guys like that knew all sorts of people. But this world wasn’t made for the sociable ones.

Society and human laws of physics weren’t affected by one’s own petty common sense and wishes, basically, by one’s “gut”. Even then, only occasionally, this annoying “gut” concept would pop up, and mess with one’s very simple thoughts and ideas.

This was one of those unpleasant times

Saying that he wasn’t “really feeling it”, and using that as an excuse, was not going to convince Tilarna who was actively worried about Nyath.

「Understood. Today I will be going to school again.」

She readily agreed

「What’s with that surprised face?」 「I thought you would hate the idea」 「I don’t really like it either, but your intuition is important too. Even when you try to ignore it, there is always some merit to checking out what your gut tells you. It has been like that several times so far already.」 「I wonder about that…」

Tilarna cast a pitiful look towards Matoba, who was wringing his neck

「This is one of the harmful effects of Earth’s civilizations. Since you already have the very convenient “objectivity” or whatever, you don’t listen to the voices of your own guardian spirits. If you thought more like us, then maybe even your suicide rates would lower by themselves」 「You’re overthinking it」

Just at that moment, Norbam’s attorney came out of the interrogation room. He was talking about an “unfair arrest” and “violent treatment”, piling up the usual complaints, and then urging them to release his client as soon as possible, talking about Semani discrimination, and about Matoba’s standing being compromised after the incident. Ultimately, he announced that he would be “fighting them thoroughly”, and left the place breathing very heavily.

「I don’t really get it…」

Said Tilarna as she watched him leave

「…does he gain anything at all by trying to coerce you after saying all that stuff?」 「He’s just like those junkies we met up with earlier. They go around saying stuff like “are you game or not?!”. They don’t have confidence, so they go around motivating themselves like that」

Nyath’s search and the investigation of the area was left to Matoba and the personnel of the Special Vice Squad, while Tilarna went to Sherwood high as usual.

~o~O~o~

Since she had not slept at all in the past day, the classes were particularly tough to take, and the only moments she had to doze off were the breaks.

Nyath was absent, of course.

Even among all other students, Nyath practically didn’t get brought up at all. His name had not been disclosed to the public yet, but there was a lot of talk online about how a Semanian scholarship student from Sherwood High had been involved with the explosion. There were probably a lot of students who knew that already.

However, nothing was being said about him. Almost as if, by discussing that issue directly, people would be hurting their own personal history.

As the morning classes came to an end, Tilarna had lunch with Emma and the others like always, but even then, Nyath was —she didn’t want to say naturally, but— he was completely absent from their conversation.

Ghili, the kid she had sent flying on her first day as a transfer student, and a friend of his had come over and poked fun at Emma with some mundane conversation. Ghili didn’t seem to care about that day’s incident anymore, and he even asked Tilarna if she had gotten used to the school already.

「Yeah. Reasonably」

Tilarna answered, and Ghili laughed

「We will also be coming over tonight. So let’s get along, okay? See ya!」

Said Ghili, who stood up and left. Emma was looking at him walk away and said

「I think it’s great that you made up with Ghili. Him and his friends hang out with us a lot, they’re a pretty fun bunch… By the way, I didn’t see Mike. He’s always with Ghili」 「Seems like he didn’t come to school today」 「Ah, I see…」

For an instant, Tilarna saw a slight hint of worry appear in Emma’s face. No, that was probably just her imagination. She was immediately back to her elegant smiling self.

The conversation topic that followed was entirely about the plans they had for the party that would be carried out at Emma’s place that evening. About how they were going to order all sorts of sweets from a famous western-style bakery. There were going to be cakes, and chocolate ordered. They were even going to order things that Tilarna had never heard of before, and Emma and the girls were throwing their opinions around.

「Tilarna, do you like Macarons? Do you have anything you hate?」 「… eh?」 「Oh, you were dozing off. You seem like you didn’t sleep at all last night」 「Sorry, a lot happened so….」

There was no way she would be talking so carelessly about western-style sweets or anything at a time like that. She repressed her ever growing annoyance, and instead showed a vague smile to them

「What about going home and taking a nap after school? Tonight is going to be big」 「Yeah yeah! We are going to go at it until morning. We’ll be throwing your welcome party as well」

She thought it was a joke. After school was over, she would have to take care of Nyath’s search. She had no time to go to a party, not in the slightest. She had to tell them that she would not be going, when the time was right.

「And I have prepared something a lot better than just sweets. A much better secret dessert」 「A dessert?」 「Yup. A dessert. Look forward to it tonight」

Said Emma, and they all giggled.

What were they talking about? It was probably some strange food from Earth, or something. But their attitude was off. Could it be–

「Tilarna, your phone」 「What?」 「It’s ringing」

The phone sticking out of a pouch on the table was blinking and vibrating.

「Excuse me」

It was an unknown number, and all it read was “public number”. She clumsily pressed the “answer” button with her hands, and answered.

「Who is it?」 「Tilarna. It’s me」

The one calling her was Nyath.