“Hmm…Arte Iris…Arte…Iris…”

“What do you think?”

“Why even ask? She’s extremely suspicious.”

“…I thought so too.”

“Anyone who doesn’t find this suspicious should be kicked out of the Association. There’s no way there would be such an incompetent person.”

A man looked at the document with the investigation results of this case.

The outline wasn’t difficult.

Because the cause was an incident that was famous enough to be on the news.

Some fearless villain infiltrated the academy, and the Exploration Club, which caught him, went out for external activities after receiving a reward.

The mountain villa they went to coincidentally happened to be the mountain where the Übermensch villain organization’s hideout was located, and they were attacked.

This was a rough summary of the story.

It was extremely suspicious.

“…There are too many coincidences.”

“The students who coincidentally caught a villain went to that mountain, the hideout of the organization the caught villain belonged to coincidentally happened to be there, and they were coincidentally massacred by someone at that time… Isn’t it a bit odd?”

“That’s not all. Look at this.”

He pointed to the part indicating the students’ abilities in the light of personal information provided by the academy.

“Siwoo, intuition. Amelia Lindberg, acceleration. Dorothy Springfield, weight reduction. These students are not a problem, but… Here, this girl.”

“Arte Iris, thread manipulation… It’s like she’s the culprit herself.”

“Right. Anyone can see it’s suspicious.”

The threads are presumed to be the cause of death for the corpses of the massacred organization. And an ability user who manipulates threads.

Lastly, the spider drawing was blatantly depicted. It was enough to be suspicious.

“Then why aren’t you going to catch her?”

Tsk.

Clicking his tongue, he put a cigarette in his mouth. 

Anyone can truly see she’s the culprit. 

That’s why it was suspicious.

“Because it’s too obvious.”

“Pardon?”

“What kind of idiot would do things like this? Don’t you think it’s strange?”

Even a ten-year-old child could see Arte Iris was the culprit.

That fact was just too obvious. 

“A villain who even draws on the wall that she’s the culprit, would she brazenly walk into the Academy as  if nothing happened?”

“…You think she’s being framed.”

“I don’t know about that, but it’s strange. Villains whose purpose is self-promotion are usually the type to enjoy causing confusion in the investigation.”

She’s the one who called herself Arachne and even left playful phrases.

A villain like that couldn’t have handled things this sloppily. That’s what he thought. Based on his experience, this type tended to be smart guys.

“It’s not like there aren’t abilities that can slash people similarly, right? Even I can slash about that much without any ability. Close to two hundred… although it takes too long.”

“Disguising as a thread ability user to make people think Arte Iris is the culprit…Is that what you’re saying?”

“Probably. Nothing is certain. It’s also possible that after all this speculation, Arte Iris was actually the culprit.”

“Ugh, what a headache.”

“You can say that again.”

Watching the white smoke rising, he calmed his complicated mind.

This damn world is disgustingly complex. 

Long ago, about 500 years ago, there was no mana in the world.

If it were a world where every person had no abilities, tracking down criminals would be really easy. He envied the detectives of that era.

Ever since mana filled the world, he couldn’t recklessly act no matter how strong his hunch was.

Cases where he directly witnessed the murder scene and made an arrest, but it turned out to be the doing of an ability user controlling others’ bodies were quite common.

As  if CCTVs were nonexistent, an electricity ability user would disable all electronics and leisurely commit robbery.

When he thought the alibi was sufficient, it was actually a clone ability user who could duplicate themselves.

When he caught someone after being reported seeing them leave the murder scene, it was actually a transformation ability user in a state transformed as a stranger.

There were too many variables.

Of course, the Association registered abilities in a database, but they didn’t know how much was possible.

In many cases, an ability user who could control a cup of water suddenly controls all the water in a pond.

Concealment, invisibility, transformation, miniaturization, ability duplication, and so on.

With abilities perfect for framing others all over the place,  if you hastily identified the culprit, you were bound to get hit in the back of the head.

He wouldn’t have to care about ordinary crimes, but once he was transferred to the Association, it was definitely a metahuman* crime. Possibilities always had to be kept open.

“Still, she remains the top suspect. We need to watch her.”

“Should I assign someone?”

“No.”

Rubbing out the burnt cigarette in the ashtray, he got up from his chair.

“I’ll go.”

There was someone he knew at the school.

He could just wrap up some gifts and go.

***

“I can’t believe there was nothing in the academy database…”

[He, hehe. I forgot…]

Normally, this would be a time when I would have been very angry.

If a student with so little information entered the academy, one couldn’t help but find it strange. I should be angry like that, but…

…I wonder  if she’s still holding onto what happened then. Unconsciously, such thoughts come to mind.

So I couldn’t reprimand the Author too harshly.

[But it should be fine now that I added it, right?]

“Yes, well. I suppose so.”

And I didn’t care what happened to my background. Because that’s not what’s important.

“By the way, what will you do for a month?”

[Hmm, I wonder. What incident should I trigger…]

A much bigger problem arose. There’s empty time until the final exams.

After the final exams, there are events like summer vacation and the start of the second semester, so there’s leeway, but…

What should I do now?

Wouldn’t it be awkward for the Author to skip nearly a month?

She’ll probably have to trigger some incident, but using important material right away feels awkward.

While pondering future developments with the Author, I heard Teacher Claire calling for me.

“Ah, you were here. Arte, do you have time now?”

“…Yes, I do, but. What’s the sudden occasion?”

“An old friend is looking for you. Said he has something to tell you.”

“An old friend?”

“…It might be a bit unpleasant, but don’t worry. Nothing will happen.”

[Ooh, I sense an incident…!]

The sound of the Author rejoicing echoed in my ears.

…An old friend? Of Claire?

A feeling of unease came over me. Claire was set up as a famous retired hero.

An old friend of such a person. It felt like something was bound to happen.

I should have been happy since some incident occurred, but I couldn’t just thoughtlessly rejoice.

…I just wish nothing extreme would happen.

***

“Nice to meet you, student. I’m Lee Ha-Yul, in charge of metahuman crimes at the Association.”

“I’m Arte Iris.”

“Good…I can speak comfortably, right?”

“As you please.”

“I’ll be straightforward. …What happened at that mountain villa?”

Of course.

No wonder I felt uneasy.

From the moment talks of metahuman crimes came up, I had a feeling this would happen.

It has finally come.

“If I say I don’t know anything, would you believe me?”

“Haha. What an amusing joke. You think I’d believe that?”

“No.”

“Right. Then you know what I’ll say next, too.”

Of course I do.

Honestly, it felt a bit late.

The threads I couldn’t retrieve while hastily escaping the hideout.

The spider drawing in Übermensch’s hideout and my ability.

If they hadn’t come to find me with just these clues, I would have doubted the incompetence of this world’s authorities.

…Personally, I wished they were a bit incompetent.

“Ha-Yul. Are you threatening a student? You said you’d just have a civil conversation.”

“That’s why I’m just having a conversation. It’s not a threat. That overprotectiveness of yours hasn’t changed, Claire.”

“Arte is my student. Be careful.”

“Yes, yes.”

Claire hurriedly interjected.

Hmm. I’m grateful she’s looking out for me, but this person seems to have come to investigate the cubed steak incident at the hideout.

I felt a bit sorry since they were my actions.

“So, Arte. The Association sees you as a suspect.”

“…And the reason you’re telling me that is?”

“It’s a warning. A warning that it’ll be dangerous  if you make any rash moves.”

“Ha-Yul!”

“I got it, I got it. I’m getting up now.”

I gave a small smile to him, who got up from her seat as  if chased away by Claire.

“I appreciate your concern, but it won’t do much.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes. Because I’m not the culprit.”

“Ah, Arte… Right! My student is not the culprit! Get out quickly! Hurry!”

With a disgruntled face, Claire pushed me out of the room. 

Right. I am not the culprit. 

She’ll find out the reason for that tonight.

***

– Next up on the news. Recently, there was an incident where hundreds of villains were massacred at a villain organization’s hideout. A suspect in that case has been arrested. The suspect is…

“What the fuck.”

Ha-Yul blankly stared at the TV.

…Arrested?

The culprit?

Suddenly, the smiling face of the student he met today came to mind.

The person introduced as the culprit on TV was a man in his late 30s who looked completely different from her.

Author’s Note

I got caught by an acquaintance writing a novel.

I did not just get caught; they learned everything, including what kind of novel it is.

They even said he’d been reading it for a week.

They’re probably reading now too. Fuck.

Translator’s Corner

*Metahuman is a person with superpowers. I believe it originated from DC Comics.

I got caught by an author translating a novel.

I did not just get caught; they learned everything, including all my translator’s corners.

They even mentioned me in their notes.

They’re probably reading now too. Love you <3

-Ruminas