Cop Craft – Dragnet Mirage Reloaded

Tilarna walked to the bus stop right in front of the school, and she saw Nyath Maybell there.

「Ah… hey…」

Nyath nodded slightly. There was something awkward about his movements.

「Nyath」

For some strange reason Tilarna felt relieved. Perhaps it was because, after spending an entire day in a school she wasn’t used to, with unknown students, it was all getting on her nerves, and seeing a familiar face felt good. No, it was odd to even call him a familiar face. She had only met him that same morning after all.

「Are you going home?」 「Yeah. You already know that I don’t have a car or anything, so…」

He fleetingly gazed at the distant parking lot. Going out of the school, there were only luxury cars, luxury cars and more luxury cars. Thinking back on what she said to Kei about “getting on a workhorse being a discredit to her family’s honor”, Tilarna wondered if this was something similar. Even though her boss on this side, Zimmer, was riding and taking care of an old car.

「Don’t worry. I’m also taking the bus.」 「Yeah, I can tell」 「Besides, the bus isn’t even that bad. It’s the best way to observe the Dorinis. I was quite pleasantly surprised by their tradition to give their seat to older men and women.」 「That doesn’t exist? Semanians don’t have that habit?」 「No. There aren’t even any buses to begin with」 「Ah, well yeah. Obviously」

Nyath laughed

「You were raised on this side, right Nyath?」 「Yep. I was there only until I was seven in Earth’s years. Do you know a town called Dohga?」 「No… I’m sorry」 「No, well, it’s just a country town. It’s a port town in the Goliah region」 「Goliah, huh…?」

The Goliah region. It was a part of Tilarna’s home kingdom of Farbani. It must have been almost nine years already since the tragedy where the Zambenikan army had marched in and it fell into disarray.

The Zambenikans, who were main contenders to the Farbani Kingdom, had unofficially received the support of an East Asian country from Earth, and the problems only became even more dire since then. She had heard that many people fled amid the Zambenikan pillaging, crossed the “mirage gate” as earthlings called it, and ended up moving to San Teresa.

Tilarna was still only a child at the time, and she had been removed from it all living in the Exedilika estate, so she continued her training in swordsmanship and mildite, carrying out her undisturbed life. She had heard about the suffering in the Goliah region, but she had only thought of it as an isolated incident that took place in a single region of the entire kingdom.

Even after the kingdom’s Milvor Salanda¹ chased after the Zambenikan troops and made them pay, the region was left in complete chaos.

「You must have had a rough time back then, right?」 「Yeah, thank you. But I don’t really remember much of it. I think both of my parents died around that time, but I can’t say I really feel too sad or anything like that now」 「I see…」 「After that I blended in with the refugees, came to Earth and an NGO found an adoptive family for me. The Maybells, that was the name of the family. It’s horrible to say this, but I don’t even really remember my Semanian family name. I am an earthling by heart, no doubt. I can’t even speak much Farbani at all.」 「Do you feel like going back?」 「Not at all. If I came back right now, I don’t think I would be able to adapt. I mean, it’s a world without any AC or any smartphones, so I don’t think I could do it!」

Tilarna laughed as he said that

「We do have at least AC, from a little while back」 「Oh, really?」 「In the kingdom’s capital of Zalze we do. The buildings over there are already built with their own AC. You’d be surprised at how chilly it would get even in the summer.」 「Ohh… But, aren’t normal Semanians not allowed in Zalze?」 「Eh?」 「Why did you go there? The place where they check your qualifications to travel to Earth is somewhere else, and I’ve heard that even noble families have issues getting in. Isn’t the city only merchants and Milvoa knights?」 「Yo- you do know an awful lot about it after all, huh?」

Tilarna did her best to hide her surprise.

Zalze was a small piece of land in the middle of the Vinelam river that ran through the kingdom. It had a special district for people from earth that lived in the Farbani kingdom, and a special district for merchants as well.

Even in Semanian history records it was an unusual place, so previously, when she had told Kei about a place like that, he nonchalantly nodded and said “Ah, so it’s basically Dejima, huh?”. Apparently in his own home country, there used to be a place like that a long time ago.

The reason Tilarna was able to enter Zalze was because of her being a member of the knight squad, and the actual reason her English was that good, was because she had always been coming in and out of that place. There were a lot of very complicated circumstances but she couldn’t just reveal all that to Nyath.

「So how did you manage to get into a place like Zalze?」 「My father… he was a commerce manager! So I took the opportunity to go with him in one of his trips to the capital.」 「Oh, I see. So you really are a noble lady, huh?」

He didn’t seem to be particularly doubting her. Nyath just accepted it immediately, and he changed the topic.

「By the way, you seem to have made quite the scandal during lunch break」 「So disgraceful. You see… he suddenly called out to me, and startled me, and…」 「No, no. Seeing you send that Ghili guy flying was kind of refreshing actually」 「Why? Looking at it fairly, it was I who was in the wrong.」 「Well yeah, doing something like that all of a sudden can be a big problem. But he tried to grab you by the hair, right? That tells you all you need to know about him. I hate him.」 「I don’t really get it, but…」

Looking at Tilarna who was raising her eyebrows at his approval of her actions, Nyath clapped his hands together

「I don’t know how it is in the Semani world, Tilarna, but Earth’s schools have these things, some kind of “invisible social classes”. Ghili is the type of guy that people call a “jock”. He’s tall, and he’s really muscular and violent, basically a macho guy. His strengths are sports and being popular with girls. That kind of guy has a really good standing within a school.」 「Huh」 「A plain guy like me is just normal, so we are made fun of by them really often. He went berserk because you did something like that to him, but from our point of view we were just thinking that it served him right, and… no, I’m sorry, I’m just talking nonsense. Forget it.」

Maybe he wasn’t the type to go around badmouthing others. As if noticing himself getting carried away, Nyath simply stopped himself from talking bad about him any further.

「I see. So it seems like Emma Sehlam’s words were mistaken after all…」 「Ah, her」

He frowned only slightly

「Is she a friend of yours?」 「No way! She wouldn’t even hang out with me. To put it simply, she’s the queen of this school. She is incredibly beautiful, super rich, and her personality is great too. She’s a popular girl. Extremely popular」

He smiled drily. It was an expression similar to Kei’s when he said something sarcastic.

「From the way your speaking, I don’t think it sounds like you’re praising her very much」 「Oh, did it sound like that? Maybe that’s just my poor guy's resentment speaking then… Well, I’m sure she found you interesting, being your first day here, so you’ll probably be able to make a striking debut with Sherwood High’s high society. I’m sure there are already emails being thrown around all over the place. “A mysterious beautiful transfer student was being friendly with Emma Sehlam for thirty minutes!” and stuff like that. Even standing on this bus stop, and talking to me… if they saw you doing this it would be bad for you.」 「This is just a school, right? Calling it the “high society” or something is going too far…」 「It’s not going too far! There are many people approaching her, dying to be welcomed into her group. Worst of all, even one of my friends is doing that. I can’t believe her, that Norune」 「Norune?」

Tilarna’s expression stiffened, though she tried to hold back. Was he talking about Norune Norbam, the girl that had died from a drug overdose?

「Yeah. She hasn’t come for the past two or three days, though. Maybe she caught a cold or something. I’ll introduce her to you later. She’s also a Semani, and I think you would get along with her」

Right then, the bus finally arrived. Line F22, bound for East Ballet. Tilarna asked nervously at Nyath, who was taking his pass from his wallet

「So uh… that Norune girl…」 「Yeah?」 「What kind of relationship do you have with her?」 「A- are you interested in that?」 「Whu- well… yeah a little…」

Tilarna replied vaguely and looked down. She didn’t think her cover would be blown just with this, but she felt embarrassed at not being able to keep her cool and just ignore him being friends with the victim.

「Ah, that’s hard… see, how should I say it… Norune is a good friend, but we’re not in that kind of relationship, you see? I don’t even think I know it for sure but… ah, the bus is here. Let’s go, let’s go!」

For some reason, Nyath had turned red, and he hurriedly got on the bus. Even if he said something like “that kind of relationship”, Tilarna had absolutely no idea what kind of relationship he was even talking about.

「Are you an idiot?」

Said Kei Matoba, shocked while sitting in his dining room that evening.

「Norune is a girl, Nyath is a guy. Within that context, asking him something like “what kind of relationship do you have with her” would make any teenage boy think something like “maybe this girl is actually into me?”. For sure, no doubt about it! What an annoying thing you did…」

Matoba was skillfully serving the red pasta in the frying pan into two separate dishes, and carrying it to the table along with some salad. He then brought some steaming consommé soup, and dinner was complete.

「Well I don’t get it」 「Get it already! Fuck’s sake… You wouldn’t be thinking it wasn’t that big of a deal if you were a guy. Sucks for Nyath…」

Matoba sighed, and took off the checkered apron he was wearing. Then he took a seat, and after whispering that strange “itadakimasu” spell, he started slurping away the pasta in a most vulgar manner.

1. Salanda means knight in Farbanian

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