Chapter 18: The Pursuit

“This thing... it’s pure black technology!”

“It’s sized at the picometer scale—one nanometer equals a thousand picometers. It requires no external power and runs on bioelectricity. Most importantly, it can store the information of an entire library in something as small as a grain of rice...”

Wakaba stared in disbelief.

The chips from her previous life barely approached the nanometer scale and would fail due to quantum entanglement and quantum tunneling effects.

Yet this world had clearly overcome those obstacles.

“The forums also say that once implanted with a biological memory chip, while its storage isn’t full, it’s equivalent to having absolute memory... Forgetting nothing, learning a foreign language in a day...”

“But even the cheapest basic model costs ten million Fu currency.”

After reading this, Wakaba fell silent.

The average monthly salary for ordinary people in Sekawa City was only about four thousand Fu currency.

Ten million?

That was an astronomical sum.

She glanced at the geography teacher on the podium, diligently explaining the lesson.

Then she looked around the classroom, where students were either sleeping, reading comics, or secretly playing on their phones.

She rested her head on the desk, lazily gazing out the window. A spaceplane streaked across the vast cerulean sky, leaving a thin white trail behind.

“Instead of studying hard, it’d be better to find a way to get one of these chips. Then I could directly download the knowledge of a whole library, and every college entrance exam would bow before me...”

“No wonder they require implantation of chips to take the entrance exam—it’s essentially creating artificial geniuses!”

Wakaba suddenly understood the conversation among the boys just after class.

Their talk about mining wasn’t a joke.

In Sekawa City, there was indeed more than one path forward.

After some online research, Wakaba discovered that Sekawa was originally a mining city, famous for a particularly rare and expensive mineral—Xina ore. It was a military-controlled commodity, extremely precious and not circulated in the civilian market.

“Hm, but why would the college entrance exam allow the use of these chips? Isn’t that cheating?”

She searched the forums and found information on this matter.

The post was lengthy, but the gist was that a certain law had been passed, defining all embedded smart devices as part of the human body.

This was why the entrance exam permitted the use of implanted chips.

When the law was first enacted, there had been strong opposition, with loud cries of unfairness.

But supporters argued, “Humans are inherently unequal. Some are born smart, some born beautiful, some born wealthy...”

In the midst of the heated debate, the opposing voices gradually faded.

Now, there was almost no resistance.

Beep!

Suddenly, a message popped up on her phone.

Wakaba opened it and fell silent upon reading.

The message contained a time and place.

Based on her split consciousness’s memory, she knew it was the rendezvous point for an assassination mission.

To avoid big data surveillance from the network gateway, the organization issued assassination tasks offline.

Wakaba recalled that her only current income came from being an assassin.

Moreover, weapons like pistols and bombs had to be supplied by the organization...

“Looks like I’ll have to keep taking assassination jobs...” she sighed. “Who told me I was broke?”

After geography class ended, Wakaba stood and headed to the restroom.

It was her first time entering the boys’ restroom.

Seeing the boys’ crude behavior, she couldn’t help but spit disdainfully: dirty monkeys!

---

Under the watchful eyes of several boys in the restroom, a strange, delicate-looking fellow was seen using toilet paper after urinating.

And not just any paper, but the soft cotton paper meant for babies?

A disgrace to manhood!

Noon arrived.

There was no break here, only forty minutes for lunch.

Some students took out packed meals, while others bought sandwiches from the school store.

Wakaba had forgotten breakfast and bought a sandwich.

“Tastes awful! Far worse than the meals at Miyagi Momoka Academy!” she frowned while chewing.

Her split consciousness was physiologically alive and could eat to replenish energy. Without food, she could use Spiritual Points, but those were precious, so she didn’t want to waste them.

“Look, someone’s confessing over there!” someone suddenly pointed toward the window.

Everyone crowded to the window, looking in that direction.

Beyond the teaching building, separated only by a tree-lined road, was the soccer field.

The field was large, surrounded by over five meters of wire fencing.

Under the blazing sun, many students were playing soccer.

At the entrance steps of the field, a crowd had gathered.

In their midst, a sturdy boy wearing a baseball cap knelt on one knee, holding flowers, speaking to a girl.

Too far away to see clearly, but from her graceful posture, she was certainly a beautiful girl.

“I didn’t expect that, despite all the advanced technology, the way boys confess to girls is still so primitive,” Wakaba watched with keen interest, eyes full of curiosity.

It was her first time witnessing a confession scene.

“Shiratori-kun, you’re looking so serious. Could it be you like Hanada-san?” Fujii Asaka blinked at Wakaba.

“No,” Wakaba replied instinctively.

“I don’t believe that! That’s Hanada-san—the school’s famous beauty! Not only does she always rank in the top five in class, she’s also the president of the dance club, and has won national awards in dance, piano, painting, tea ceremony, equestrianism, and more. You’re not moved at all?”

“Why would I be?” Wakaba looked at her puzzled.

Fujii Asaka faltered, then studied Wakaba’s eyes—clear and tranquil like a serene lake.

Such purity, without a trace of impurity or desire.

She withdrew her gaze with a hint of apology and secretly assessed Wakaba from the corner of her eye.

She felt Shiratori was somehow different today.

Exactly what was different, she couldn’t say.

The confession ended soon after.

Though too far to catch details, it was clear the girl refused the boy, leaving him alone on the field for a long while before he finally left.

Time passed quickly to 2:30 p.m.

School was over.

Most students left the classroom and headed toward the club activity rooms at the back.

Wakaba recalled that her original self had to go kill someone, so she never participated in any clubs and went straight home after school.

She followed the crowd down to the first floor of the teaching building and stepped onto the tree-lined cement road outside.

Across the street, students from the soccer and track teams were warming up on the field.

To the left was a long tree-lined path leading to the school gate.

To the right lay the club rooms.

---

Without hesitation, Wakaba walked to the left.

But before she had gone far, a beautiful girl appeared walking toward her from the side.

About fifteen years old, but already possessing a shapely figure: a slender waist and long legs, like a blossoming beauty.

Wakaba walked straight ahead without looking sideways, brushing past her.

“Shiratori-kun, wait!” came a gentle, melodious voice from behind, like silk caressing the ears, stirring the hearts of lurking boys nearby.

“You called me?” Wakaba turned.

“Shiratori-kun, do you remember me?” Hanada Rie’s face showed disdain at Wakaba’s indifferent expression, though she masked it with warmth and enthusiasm.

“No,” Wakaba shook her head.

“Hmph, still pretending,” Hanada’s scorn deepened inwardly.

“It was only a few weeks ago when I was harassed on my way home, and you stepped in to help me. Since then, I haven’t been able to forget your figure...” Hanada’s cheeks flushed shyly. “So...”

“So what? If you’re fine, I’m leaving,” Wakaba said, confused, turning to go.

“Wait, I... I’ve liked you since then! So please go out with me!” Hanada summoned her courage and bowed loudly.

The onlookers were dumbfounded.

“Hey, am I dreaming? Hanada-san actually... pinch me quickly!”

“You’re not dreaming, I saw it too!”

But what happened next shattered their worldviews.

“No, I don’t want to. I don’t even know you and have no feelings for you,” Wakaba said calmly.

Then, to Hanada’s disbelief, she continued, “But we can try spending some time together. If I develop feelings, I’ll date you; if not, then sorry, we’re not compatible.”

To Wakaba, she was a girl after all.

Since the other party confessed first and liked her, it was only fair for her to be the one to decide.

She couldn’t very well chase after her.

‘Actually, I’ve never dated before. This lifetime is a good chance to try,’ Wakaba thought with a hint of excitement.

Hanada stared at Wakaba’s serious expression, her mind blank.

She had imagined the “loser” boy would be surprised, disbelieving, excited, or thrilled upon hearing her confession—but never this.

She didn’t know how to describe this feeling.

As a girl, and a very beautiful one at that, she had never heard a boy respond like this.

Even her current boyfriend—the handsome man who made her act out that scene—had been the one to pursue her.

“Why aren’t you answering? You said you liked me but don’t want to pursue me?” Wakaba pressed, asking three times, leaving Hanada speechless.

Then, under the judging eyes of everyone around, Wakaba declared, “Looks like you don’t like me that much either, so forget it.”

With that, she turned and walked away, leaving no trace of hesitation.

“Wait...” Hanada tried to speak but her pride wouldn’t allow it.

She only felt a burning pain on her face.

Especially with the students around watching and whispering.

At that moment, she wished she could disappear into a crack in the ground.

It was the first time she realized how painful it was to be rejected.

‘Damn you, Shiratori Jin. You loser boy, making me endure such humiliation. Just you wait!’ She glared at Wakaba’s departing figure, her eyes filled with venom.