It has been a peaceful two days ever since that flora performance and fiasco of my first official day at this academy.
Miss. Kim has not made any moves ever since I gave her spies and the referee that Miss. Kim likely hired that referee to be the real one to hire me, and used the five other spies from Class E and Class F as feints to misdirect me… or perhaps misdirect Mr. Bennet?
But I do believe that we will cross paths very soon Miss. Kim, and that will likely help me narrow my suspect list.
Although I do wonder what Miss. Kim sees it in her view.
Does she look forward? Does she look downward… or perhaps she looks up? After all, the sky shines brighter than the bottomless darkness and the forwardness of the grey area.
I wonder which card Miss. Kim will pick once the starlight shines on the deck of cards?
Would it be the queen of clubs?
The ace of spades?
Or… perhaps you'll draw the queen of spades?
But the real question is, will you be the one to draw it and acknowledge it? Or will it be the magician who reveals the meaning?
That is the question for the future.
"It seems we are lockermates," I murmured softly to Leonid.
"And unfortunate fate, but one that I do not mind."
We were currently in the locker room along with the other male classmates of our Class H, and we all had to look at the board that showed our locker assignment as we shared the same locker room with Class F, but since our schedule has us be here at noon and Class F being in the morning, we won't be seeing them in our gym period.
"I'm glad you view me in such a high regard." I told him as we headed to our lockers to change our clothes.
Our gym uniforms were quite simple, if not, torturous depending on the environment given that it is an all black uniform.
Although the colors are aesthetically pleasing and are much better than the color purple if they ever made the gym uniforms purple and not black.
"That just means I view you at least above Milicia, and that is really not that much." Leonid brushed off as he began to change.
I noticed that Leonid has never made direct eye contact with me ever since on Tuesday when I explained why Miss. Curie's actions are normal.
No, that would be the start of him feeling uneasy about me. I believe he began to stop looking at me directly when that video of my flora reading performance was posted and became known to the entire student body and school.
So it wouldn't be hard enough to guess that Leonid also watched the video and saw how I was able to read the class A students, which probably gave him the seed of absolute certainty that he believes I know what type of person he is, which also probably makes him believe I am only friends with him because I pity him, which is not true by any accounts, but it is understandable through his eyes.
Also speaking of the video itself, I was hoping, albeit, anticipating the naive goal of being upgraded from the King of Trash to the International Magician of the Elite,
A suiting name no?
But I was indeed correct to label it as naive since I somehow went deeper from the bottomless depths of the Marina Trench, to the depths of hell itself as I am now labeled the Leech King.
The king of the leeches…
Being called a clown would have been much preferable since at least clowns are entertaining and my goal as an aspiring magician is indeed to be entertaining.
But nope, a leech king, someone who has a domain that specializes in leeching onto others.
I can already decipher the slander of the nickname and know that it is probably them believing that I have a strategy of flattering Class A into building a safety net, or a bank of sorts to buy my way to Class A.
A crude strategy albeit, but it aligns with the Leech King nickname all too well.
But like any strategy or planning, there is always a foundational flaw that makes it impossible to work.
And that is the Ruby Point System itself.
Now one can possibly buy the right to expand the class A number from twenty-five to twenty-six, that much is possible given that we can buy unconventional needs in this school, although it would most likely be incredibly expensive to do so.
However, if trying to consider the abstract possibility that you can buy ruby points to increase your rank and to upgrade to the other classes defeats the entire purpose of this school's mechanics and the incentive of once you graduate from a particular class, your position in the real world is solidified.
So to try and manipulate the ruby point system itself is flawed, and gives us a clear boundary of what can and cannot be bought.
But let's say that on the possibility that we could buy ruby points, then the price of them would be incredibly expensive given how valuable they would be, which means it can range to a million requiems or even more.
So while the hypothetical strategy of making it to Class A by buying your way is cunning, and financially creative in itself, it is fundamentally flawed and impossible.
"I would still cherish the compliment though," I told Leonid as he began to change.
And quite frankly, even though I expected him to have an athletic build, it seems it was more than I anticipated.
He had a firm six-pack and had a perfect V-shape build, although it looks like he trains his arms more than his legs given that his arms are much firmer with visible muscles than his legs. It is expected from the supposed rival of Milicia in terms of the perspective of Leonid.
He had the build of a fighter, but not a runner it seems.
Even though a man admiring another man's body is in itself questionable due to the social implications of one's sexuality, however I am a man who is romantically and sexually attracted to a woman, I still appreciate the foundation of a man's structure as a brother comrade of manhood.
But if Leonid has a fighter mentality…
Why did he run away, or rather, retreat when he challenged Milicia and decided to give her the rain check?
I am certain that Leonid heard Milicia whisper that to me during orientation day and decided not to engage or retort against Milicia, which means he cannot deny that.
Of course, I never once believed that Leonid himself is a coward, in fact, even though I considered him the hollow prince archetype, I always believed that his 'hatred' for Milicia was really bitterness.
Since why would Leonid bother training to be on the same level as Milicia if he hates her? Even though I believe his family wanted him to be Milicia's equal, it was down to his choice at the end, and he chose to train to be on equal footing with Milicia… or be close to her, not just in terms of fitness and intellect…
But in intimacy…
His bitterness comes from the fact that he used to be in love with Milicia, in fact, I'm sure somewhere in him that he still is.
And that begs another question, what exactly happened to Milicia that made Leonid feel this way?
It had to have happened around ten through thirteen for what Milicia did that made Leonid feel bitterness… or perhaps fear as well? That could explain why Leonid retreated from challenging Milicia since he noticed a complete behavior change.
That's why I wanted to talk to Mr. Huntsman on Friday, to see if he knows more about Milicia, since I already learnt a lot about Milicia through Leonid's behavior, and I don't want to keep using Leonid to profile Milicia as if he is some tool or asset, that is not me, I want to be friends with Leonid, truly I do.
However, I suppose I can use my ultra creative tactic that I created on the spot to use on Leonid one last time.
And also it will help me improve on my teasing skills.
"Say Leonid, you have an excellent build." I complimented him.
He for the first time let a faint smirk on his face, in fact it was refreshing seeing a new expression on him than his usual apathetic demeanor. "It's nothing much I just discipline myself to the fullest—"
"It's interesting… Now that I think of it, Milicia has a very similar foundational structure, doesn't she? Of course, far more lithe and elegantly proportioned, the perfect feminine counterpart to a masculine form. She is a dancer's V-shape, but the underlying architecture is nearly identical. It's quite a remarkable parallel when you really observe it."
I looked at Leonid, my smile still serene but my expression was one of pure, innocent academic curiosity.
Leonid's smirk evaporated. His entire body went still, the clothes in his hands forgotten.
A faint, traitorous flush crept up his neck to the tips of his ears. He didn't look at me, he couldn't.
"I… I wouldn't know," he muttered, his voice unusually tight as he slammed his locker shut with more force than necessary and turned away completely as he finished putting on his gym uniform and quickly left the locker room.
And that is score one for me, the magician!
But that just confirms my hypothesis.
So now that lets me explore the roots of Milicia more…
… what exactly happened to you before you turned thirteen when you made Mr. Huntsman commit suicide?
For now, I'll keep the four possibilities to myself about you Milicia, although I am hoping for that fifth possibility… Since if that turns out to be the case… then me and you aren't completely different… After all, hiding one's identity is truly… a sad existence when you kill your old one.
Although Leonid, if it turns out my fifth possibility is correct… your love for her is misplaced if it turns out to be true for what Milicia truly is.
But then again, I really don't have any proof for that abstract possibility except for this confirmation of Leonid's feelings for Milicia, and Milicia's genuine malice for Leonid.
Someone on my opposite side whistled. "I can't believe you really teased him through elegance haha! That's a new one."
I looked at him, Borsalino Montreal(Rank 193), he had short red hair, blue eyes, and a similar build to Leonid's, although not as refined as his, but close enough.
I recalled him wanting to be a self-made entrepreneur, and I believe I haven't spoken to him yet, and I always questioned what he meant by entrepreneur, since his smirk which is a mixture of unhinged chaos and mischievousness makes me believe he is a con artist more than actually wanting to be an entrepreneur.
Although, I had another reason why I believe he was a con artist.
"It was simply an observation," I told Mr. Montreal.
"An observation? Isaac, you made Leonid look like a hopeless romantic just by your 'observation', the only time I've seen him break his serious demeanor is when sneering at that Milicia girl." He retorted.
I suppose he does make a good point of my teasing being incredibly potent.
"I was just telling him my curiosity, after all it is a very human thing to do," I said as I took off my school blazer. "Also, is it okay if you give it back?"
Mr. Montreal looked at me with pure confusion. "Give you what back? I don't think I know what you are talking about."
Oh, I believe you do know.
I reached into his pocket and grabbed my phone that he took when Leonid and I were looking at the assignment poster.
"You took my phone when Leonid and I were looking at the locker room assignments."
He looked genuinely surprised as he let out a chuckle. "I guess the master of invisibility was seen by the magician, nothing really gets past you huh?"
A magician always stays prepared when someone tries to steal the stage, after all, it is considered rude to interrupt a magician's performance.
"Your presence was rather distinct, but don't worry, I'm not upset," I said, my serene smile unwavered. "A trick for a trick." I pulled out his watch from my pocket.
"What the—?!" He was genuinely shocked. "So it was you! When did you grab that?!"
"Oh when we left class and headed down to the locker room."
It was true, when we walked out of class to head to this locker room, Leonid and I were behind Mr. Montreal, so I wanted to see if Mr. Montreal would figure out who had pickpocketed his watch, and since he deduced it was either Leonid or me, but since that video of my performance is out, he likely deduce it was me, so he used the opportunity of taking my phone in return for what I did when he thought I didn't notice.
And also the fact that Mr. Montreal's locker assignment was four lockers away and not next to the other side of me, even though it was an empty locker.
The moment he heard that, he was in disbelief, and then in awe and admiration. "Well, I'll be damned! You really are a magician, you tricked me into taking your phone by taking my watch!" He laughed.
"Of course, I just wanted to see if you really were a con artist." I said as I gave him his watch back.
He's a good actor at playing surprise, but perfection in acting is the biggest tell one can achieve since it becomes unnatural and hollow.
"Of course you figured that out you god damn magician," he sighed as he ran his hand in his hair. "And it seems I met my match without even knowing…"
Another voice spoke behind us as it was masculine but incredibly feminine at the same time. "Hey magician~"
Mr. Montreal and I turned around to see Adrien Leroux(Rank 178), he was a rather unique one amongst the boys, including myself in Class H.
He had short messy brown hair, green eyes that matched Miss. Ethereal eyes in beauty, and he also had green diamond earrings that hung.
However, that was not what made him unique, as his physique was slightly fit given the upper body and mid torso were slim but had faint abs, but the lower proportion of his body was that of a girl's, especially his thighs and legs matched that of a girl's. In a sense, he was a balance of fit masculinity and the body aesthetic of femininity.
Even I admit he was indeed beautiful.
"Yes, Mr. Leroux?"
"Oh you don't need to be that formal with me, Adrien is just fine~" He said as he walked slightly closer. "You know… everyone in here is almost done changing, and you haven't even changed yet, so I was wondering if you can change now?"
He seemed rather interested in knowing the interior of my body beneath the exterior clothing.
Before I could speak, it was Mr. Beckham(Rank 177) who spoke, or rather questioned. "Why are you so eager to see Isaac's body that badly?"
I don't think that question concerns Adrien at all in the slightest, "Oh come on, I'm sure we all are curious on what the magician's body is like, I mean look at him! Handsome, has the charms that can woo any deity, and he's a magician! So naturally, he must have a delicious body." He finished as he blushed and licked his lips, although I did notice his right pinky twitched.
What a unique body language he has.
I think he is curious, but not in the way he is saying. But more like that he just finds me attractive and wants to see my body, or it could be just him assessing my physical prowess, although it could be both since neither is exclusive to the other.
Mr. Montreal discreetly leaned near me and whispered to me where only I could hear. "Say, Isaac, I normally don't give advice out, but you can just use the stalls in here to change, no need to give this weirdo the satisfaction of seeing you like a piece of meat."
I do appreciate his advice, but I think he just doesn't wanna see Adrien being 'weird' once I take off my shirt and pants.
"It's okay Mr. Montreal, Adrien is merely curious about my physique," I reassured him as my expression showed my serene innocence.
He had a deadpanned expression. "That's… not really reassuring that he could pounce on you the moment you show some skin."
I shrugged as I began taking off my white button-up shirt and pants and putting it in my assigned locker along with my school shoes and blazer as I was now in my underwear.
"I hope this is sufficient enough…" I said.
It was silent for a long minute.
"What the fuck…"
"He's even more ripped than Leonid and Giovanni…"
I could feel the stares from all thirteen guys in here, it was like feeling the weight of awe, envy, admiration, and disbelief.
I glanced down at myself, following their stares. I've always been lean, the kind of build that stays hidden under clothes, making you look deceptively average. But it's a result of a different kind of discipline, one focused on control and precision over sheer mass.
My torso is sharply defined, with a tight, layered abdomen that feels more like a coiled spring than just muscle, tapering into a clear V-shape that my mother used to say was a dancer's build. My arms and legs are corded and refined, not bulky, but with every muscle group cleanly delineated, and my back is just a series of tight, interlocking cords.
It's not just a fighter's body built for raw impact, but it's a magician's built for perfect posture, controlled movement, and the unseen strength needed for sleight of hand and endurance. It's functional, and apparently, to everyone's surprise, aesthetically more pronounced than they anticipated.
"Jesus Isaac…" Adrien trailed off as his entire face was as red as a tomato. "You're… you're built like a god… like Apollo! The charms, the looks, and now this! I'm calling you Lord Apollo from here on out!"
Lord Apollo…
First, it was Houdini… Secondly, it was the King of Trash… Thirdly, it was the Leech King… and now it was Lord Apollo…
They do anything but label me as the International Magician of the Elite…
It hasn't even been a full week yet and my reputation is already a mess.
"Fucking hell Isaac… What is your regimen?" Mr. Montreal asked in awe and in slight intimidation.
"Just a normal workout and diet I suppose," I shrugged.
However, I noticed Adrien touching my abs. "Holy shit! He feels like literal steel?"
Mr. Bombacci who finished getting into the gym uniform walked to us. "What? No way in hell." He decided to do a surprise suckerpunch to my stomach as I moved back an inch, but my stomach showed no signs of bruising from his punch.
"—?!" He was caught off guard by my reaction.
And dare I say, I was right to assume that he was stronger than me in raw strength, that punch is no joke that it can break through a brick wall.
And I wouldn't be able to match his strength since that requires a lot of adrenaline from me, although I can match it for short-term momentum.
"That was a nice punch Mr. Bombacci." I said calmly to him as my serene smile did not waver.
And while it did hurt, as I said before, pain was an old friend I had long tamed and that also extends from mental pain to physical pain as well.
He looked at me bewildered. "Holy shit he is…" Mr. Bombacci's expression went from a hardened shock to an impressed grin. "Not bad indeed, usually when I punch someone like that, they usually end up hospitalized and in a coma for months… but damn Isaac, not bad indeed." He mused.
I believe this is a small step to an eventual friendship Mr. Bombacci, a friendship through might, albeit, not my style, but one I would use if it means to be friends.
Adrien looked at me with pure hunger in his eyes as I got my gym uniform on. "Isaac… make me yours." He boldly claims.
"I fear that I will not go that way, Adrien."
"Hah! No worries! I'll just grow my hair out longer and start wearing more women's clothing to fool you enough to date me." When he said that, both Mr. Montreal and Mr. Bombacci pulled him away from me.
"Come on King Freaky the First," Mr. Montreal said as he and Mr. Bombacci successfully got Adrien back to his locker. "And get in your gym uniform before we see a reaction from you that will traumatize us."
Adrien pouted as he was able to get out of their grips as his expression went into an amused smile. "I apologize Isaac, I just got excited about you," He said as he got into his gym uniform. "But I wanted to know your opinion on a rather recent event,"
I wonder what Adrien is referring to?
I feigned confusion. "A recent event?"
"Yes," Adrien nodded. "A particular incident that happened to one of the Class A student, Nikke Georgiadis, you see a rumor about her having an asthma attack on Tuesday so profound that when she went to the school's nurses office she passed out and has been in a psychosomatic stress-induced catatonic sleeping state for what the nurses say for about eight days."
The atmosphere in the room tensed up.
"It's not really a rumor if it's just blatantly true since I heard some of the students from Class C and Class B also heard Nikke's screams in the hallway…" Mr. Beckham added.
However, Adrien's gaze did not leave me at all. "So Miss. Georgiadis was in critical damage? How unfortunate for her."
I suppose it is my moral obligation to give her a get-well-soon card, given I am partly responsible, although logically speaking, my omission is not responsible for Miss. Georgiadis's situation, even though it was intentional.
But it was her own doing that set up the situation for it to transpire, I merely… gave the knife to someone who was willing enough to deal the killing blow, so I suppose I should internally thank Miss. Rivera as well for understanding me as much as I understand her.
"It's just particularly odd, that the event happened right when they were in the Class A classroom after lunch was over, and about less than thirty minutes ago," He pointed to me. "You also so happened to have had your performance that was called a flora reading, and it so happens you skipped over her completely, in fact, you completely ignored her, so I'll be blunt, did you have anything to do with it?"
From an outside perspective, it was bound to be suspicious and I would fall under the prime suspect of being the one who intentionally triggered a panic attack, but as such there is an outside perspective, there is also an inside perspective that will always be considered no matter what the public opinion may be.
So that is what Adrien's intentions were… to sucker me up until he reveals his intentions to most likely draw out a reaction from me that confirms his suspicions, even though by every deductive, logical reasoning, and empirical evidence standards, I am innocent and done nothing wrong by those standards.
"That's ridiculous, it was clear from the video that he left early to do something, even in the video you can hear him excuse himself along with a girl and Marie." A male voice belonging to Mihal Faust(Rank 190) said.
"Ah while that is true, but there is also some extra information that it was Scarlett who also conveniently escalated Nikke's behavior, so who's to say that our dear Apollo~ and Scarlett could have worked together?" He offered a new possibility.
Before more bickering began, another male voice, a Romanian accent, was spoken through the room. "That will be impossible and blatantly incorrect."
The voice belongs to Avram Alexandrescu(Rank 180), who's considered the elitist detective in the making and whose father is also the president of Interpol. He had glasses that showcased his purple greyish eyes and he had dark blue hair parted to the side as his expression remained neutral but spoke firmly and softly.
"To say that Isaac was in cahoots with Scarlett does not fit in the timelines of their life, I should know since I conducted a discreet investigation all day yesterday about this incident," Mr. Alexandrescu admitted.
One would feel violated and worried about the fact that someone would run an independent investigation on themselves to understand the whole story.
However, I was just serenely calm and understanding, after all, he is the son of Interpol and wants to be a detective, so it is his nature to be curious about the incident.
Of course it was a possibility I thought that a curious classmate or student would want to get down to the root of the incident, and another possibility was that the administration would step in, but considering their indifference unless reported by the victim themselves, and since the victim in question is not in the state of answering, and even if she did wake up, she would not be categorized as stable to answer any questions or turn in a report that she cannot pinpoint me on, but other than that, the administration will remain indifferent. Hence why I lean more on the former than the latter.
"I guess curiosity killed the cat eh, keep going, Sherlock Jr." Mr. Montreal said with a grin although I can see that he was obviously intrigued, perhaps he was having suspicions about the incident too?
What a nice ceiling…
Mr. Alexandrescu, unfazed by the nickname. "And I specifically bought the video footage of Isaac's movements during orientation day, more specifically, during the middle of the day and afternoon, and he showed no signs of being anywhere near Scarlett or ever being seen with Scarlett, and considering the mechanics of our phones having every contacts of the student body already added you still needed to have them as a friend in order to even contact or message the individuals in question," His purple eyes landed back on me. "Isaac, if you don't mind, can you show your contact list that is under friends?"
He was exceptionally thorough, and indeed a great detective, so naturally, it would be respectful of me to do so. "Of course." I said calmly as I took out my phone and showcased my contact list to everyone in the locker room.
CONTACT LISTS UNDER FRIENDS:
«MILICIA MILOSEVIC»
«LEONID NOVIKOV»
«AURELIE LOUISE»
«MARIE CURIE»
«ISIDORA CLAIRE»
«LUCICO DIMENSI»
«JUN NAOMI»
«JAMES MOSLEY»
It was quite a humble list if I do say so myself.
"You know, for someone like you, I kinda expected you to have a lot… longer list." Mr. Beckham coughed hiding his disbelief at my humble list. "Especially since you did have those other guys from Class A to have lunch with you too."
"I unfortunately forgot to send them a friend request, so I suppose it was bad on my part." I scratched the back of my head.
Mr. Alexandrescu cleared his throat. "Now as you all can see from his contact list that he has no connections to Scarlett once so ever, so implying a partnership between them during the span of Orientation day and to the Nikke incident is strictly illogical, and going on further investigation is that Scarlett was never supposed to be at the flora performance according to one of the witnesses, James Mosley stated that Isaac only wanted a few individuals and that Scarlett came on her own accord, meaning that Isaac did not expect her…"
How close but yet so far, Mr. Alexandrescu, but that is to be expected, who would ever think the fascist princess of the United States would have secret connections to some unknown aspiring magician such as myself, of course anyone who doesn't know of our shared history would say.
And also it is not a secret that Miss. Rivera has always loved a private life despite her being famously known for her book and being responsible for turning the United States into a fascist state, and never went to any public schools or to any private schools, in fact she was homeschooled according to the public knowledge, so there is no possible way for a connection between Miss. Rivera and I in a logical and abstract sense in the eyes of anyone that is unaware of the hidden history.
So in the eyes of reasoning and deductions, he is by nature, not wrong.
"… so he improvised during that flora reading, which again proves that he couldn't have possibly been in cahoots with her. And now that leads me to the flowers, since one might suspect he had particular flowers that could have chemical components, which lead me to have a partner with me," He gestured to another boy that had a calm smile but guarded expression with light orange eyes and with shoulder-length hair that had the top part black and the bottom part of his hair blonde, he was Benecio Mercado(Rank 179), he considered himself a scholar of nature according to his introduction.
"It is true, when you smell a flower, volatile molecules bind olfactory receptors in the nose. Those olfactory signals go straight to limbic structures that regulate emotion and memory, which is why scents can change mood, heart rate, sleepiness, or alertness," Mr. Mercado continued. "However, Isaac specifically during that performance had a yellow rose, a white rosebud, a deep dark purple rose, a pale blue rose, a white camellia, and a bright red rose with white edges. None of those flowers have a particular chemical component that can induce someone's anger to amplify and or put them into a hypnotic state, so Isaac can be crossed out by not using any hypnotic technique with flower chemicals to induce any emotional triggers at all." He concluded.
Well now that is a rather interesting approach to use the flowers' chemical features to induce one's emotions as a creative hypnosis control, although that is particularly not my style given that it doesn't give people free will to engage with the magician, and it would insult the very foundation of a magician's principle to force a will to have the audience engage with me, which is why I never grabbed specific flowers that could induce the emotional state.
But still, a good holistic route to consider as a detective, or a scholar of nature to consider that possibility. It just proves they have good coherent creative thinking, and that Mr. Alexandrescu can step out of the rigid system of deductive logic to consider outside of box methods.
Although, it would ultimately be false since Miss. Georgiadis was never near the flowers I had and I never showed hers, so she would never have been induced to an external influenced state by a flower component.
Another thing is that I had James picked out the flower by using his unique intuition when I asked him about the flowers that represented the certain people I asked James to invite the most, and since James intuition has never been wrong from what I've seen, so I believe his intuition also extends to the profiling of individuals even if he is going by gut instinct, the only flower I personally handpicked out was the flower for Miss. Rivera, the one I anticipated would come along with them.
"Which leads me to my divide and conquer strategy," Mr. Alexandrescu announced his next part of his explanation.
Divide and conquer? I assume this is based on testimonies and my alibi, if it is that then it's broken into three groups which are the Class A members, Miss. Curie and Aurelie, and finally Miss. Rivera herself.
I don't believe Mr. Alexandrescu did it alone so he most likely had help from two other classmates of ours to talk to the other groups rather than doing it by himself one by one.
"Divide and conquer strategy? You're making this sound like a mind game that you completed." Mr. Bombacci commented.
Perhaps it is just a game to him, or more like a puzzle that he wanted to solve, most detectives that are under the principle of rationality and no emotional drive tend to only have their curiosity be in control of what puzzles or cases they want to solve due to the mystery of it, so Mr. Alexandescu could be like that given his rationality and thoroughness would love the thrill of solving the mystery of the incident.
"It probably is to him…" Mr. Beckham murmured.
"So, I built a small team of espionage to gather intel from interviewing three groups which are the members of Class A, the two individuals who were with Isaac, and Scarlett herself. And the ones I had helped were Tao Shoi(Rank 185) who interviewed the Aurelie Louise and Marie Curie as they were with Isaac," He gestured to a boy with a clinical amused expression of a sociopath that had beautiful pink hair that had long bangs enough to cover his eyes, but I did recall catching a glimpse of them before since they were quite the bright yellow beauty.
Mr. Shoi spoke as his voice was deceptively deep despite his youth and being the same age as the rest of us. "And they provided a similar alibi as well, and they also confirmed that Isaac excused himself to leave early during that time at lunch, and Aurelie in particular said she also had to leave early due to meeting her classmates at the library, and showed me the proof. And Marie's alibi was just accompanying Isaac since Isaac asked if she could go with him during lunch, and I bought the particular footage of our classroom during the time of lunch and that confirms Marie's alibi. However, that wasn't when I was certain, I was certain that that Isaac is innocent in my eyes when I told the two about Nikke, Aurelie showed genuine shock and was incredibly worried about Nikke based on her dilated eyes completely, and her shaking, Marie's reaction was of genuine confusion and disbelief, I made sure to see her expression in particular to see if she had any idea of it being deliberate, and she showed no deceit once so ever. So my interview with Aurelie and Marie checks Isaac off completely."
Of course, those two would help clear my name indirectly given that Aurelie doesn't lie and is a deeply empathetic and emotional individual that would show genuine worry for anyone, although I wasn't completely aware that Aurelie had to go somewhere until she said she had to, but even then if she didn't, it would still help my position regardless.
And then there was Miss. Curie herself, despite her exceptional capacity of her logical reasoning, her cognitive capacity was already preoccupied to the fullest extent that she never considered the possibility that I could have caused it since she already had an accurate profile of me and how I operate, and she was really busy looking for the anomalies that Miss. Kim deployed and was also busy analyzing the few layers of my plan to even consider the possibility that I had a secret layer that involved Miss. Georgiadis since that would involve knowing the history between Miss. Rivera and I, and since Miss. Curie doesn't know about that connection, she could never consider the possibility no matter how thorough her reasoning is.
It simply shows that even someone like Miss. Curie has a cognitive limit when it comes to deducing layers if being fed many cognitive tasks at once.
"And then the one that helped interview the Class A members of Jose, Alejandro, Arwa, Sae, Freja, Jin, and Bai was, Aurelian Falk(Rank 181)," Mr. Alexandrescu gestured to the boy that was putting his long black hair into a ponytail as he opened his eyes showing his emerald green eyes that showed nothing but boredom as he stretched his arms.
"It was a pretty quick interview for all of them," Mr. Falk sighed. "All of them said the same thing that they don't think Isaac had anything to do with it considering they didn't see Isaac deliberately ignoring Nikke, in fact, Sae mentioned that it looked like Isaac was about to do Nikke but Isaac said he had to go early, and all of them also said the same thing that Isaac did in fact excused himself to go early and didn't abruptly leave," He stretched his legs. "Also, they mentioned that Nikke demanded someone explain why Isaac 'supposedly' ignored him, more specifically Bai pointed it out when I asked her as she said her outburst and rage did not reach her eyes, meaning Nikke was baiting one of her classmates to explain why and all of them gave the same reason why Isaac didn't was due to him leaving early except for—"
It makes sense, considering I presented myself to them as someone who could wield a scalpel and use their vulnerabilities against them, but I chose to give them a flower of appreciation and acknowledgment.
That is the highest form of respect anyone could give and receive.
And that leaves the premises of, how can someone that gives someone a flower to their flaws can be the same person who somehow conducted a psychological torture and left no hints or evidence that shows it was that person with the flowers that did it?
You couldn't since that person did nothing to instigate it.
"Scarlett Rivera," a quiet voice that belongs to a boy with dark tan skin, dark brown hair that had a style that fit more with the Victorian era than the modern era of the 22nd century, and had brown eyes with a similar build to mine but less refined, said.
"And this is… Leonidas Maximiliano(Rank 191), he interviewed Scarlett personally," Mr. Alexandrescu gestured.
Although I did notice he was hesitant when gesturing to Mr. Maximiliano which was strange since he showed no hesitation introducing our other classmates that helped.
Perhaps Mr. Maximiliano went to Mr. Alexandrescu to offer assistance rather than Mr. Alexandrescu going to him?
It's a stretch, but every stretch is a hidden story, and the biggest tell that reveals everything from nothing.
Mr. Maximiliano began speaking. "Scarlett confirmed that she did give Nikke the truth, or an interpretation of the truth of Isaac's unspoken reading on Nikke, that Scarlett also confirmed she was merely giving an interpretation, and she did not expect that Nikke would have a panic attack that put Nikke in a sleeping state, and according to Aurelian's more report from yesterday, all of the other class members of Class A that were present also confirmed that Scarlett was genuinely worried and did not mean it," Mr. Maximiliano finished.
Miss. Rivera has always been good at pretending, in fact it would be impossible to tell if she is acting or not, unless you are me who knows her the most, and Miss. Rivera would never break character, not to anyone, and that would reveal who she really was if she broke character and told Mr. Maximiliano the truth, or at least the empathetic communication that Miss. Rivera understood me and our communication.
So Miss. Rivera had no choice but to also indirectly defend me, to which she truly doesn't mind, since she desires a reunion with me that has no interruptions or drama for that matter.
"And so with all that information," Mr. Alexandrescu continued. "Isaac is by all measures within all metrics and outside of it, innocent and merely was an unfortunate bystander to the nature of the Nikke incident." He declared with absolute certainty.
Although I'm glad that I was cleared up, which means less drama that involves me, but my focus wasn't on that.
It was on Mr. Maximiliano, when I met his gaze just a moment ago, I saw the depths of his gaze, it was a silent one yes, but it was also very loud for me, and that gaze held the same depth that Miss. Dolfuss had. And that was recognition.
If my ludicrous possibility about Miss. Dolfuss is correct, then there is a small chance that Mr. Maximiliano is also connected to Miss. Dolfuss, and if both are indeed true.
Then that would explain why Mr. Maximiliano would volunteer to 'help' Mr. Alexandrescu with his investigation.
And if that also turns out to be true, then Mr. Maximiliano has been omitting the full truth about his report on Miss. Rivera, and I do not think Miss. Rivera broke out of her 'fascist princess of America' persona to make an exception for him, since Miss. Rivera never breaks character for anyone but me, but I do believe Mr. Maximiliano was following her certain orders.
Finally, if this entire hypothesis is true, then there are more people in this school that are working with Miss. Dolfuss and Mr. Maximiliano under her, and that leads to the question of not 'who' but 'how many' and 'why'?
But for now, I'll file that away in my own library of my mind.
"Thank you for clearing my name even if I didn't ask." I thanked Mr. Alexandrescu.
"It's no need, I'm simply clearing up a mystery."
"But still, your thoroughness is impressive, but even if I'm still innocent, I still feel a moral obligation to at least get Miss. Georgiadis a get-well-soon card," I said, which had the room silent.
"You… still want to get her a card even though you were cleared…?" Mr. Faust said as he was bewildered by my selflessness.
"Of course, someone has to at least be there for her so that she knows someone out there would comfort her and appreciate her existence," I told them the truth since it was true.
Even though I set up the scenario where she got psychologically triggered to reveal Miss. Rivera's hands, but it also helped break her prison of self so that she doesn't feel empty and bad about herself which means that Miss. Georgiadis is able to excel better than before.
Without a moment of peace, Adrien ran up to me and hugged me and cried so dramatically. "Y-you really are a saint, Lord Apollo! I'm sorry for accusing you of something so vile! I-I was just a huge fan of Nikke's fashion brand!" His pinky twitched again.
Instead of prying further to his uniqueness, I patted his head. "It's alright Adrien," I said as he once again got dragged off of me by Mr. Borsalino and was held back by Mr. Bombacci.
"Well, that was boring," Mr. Falk yawned. "We should head to the gym now, since God forbid what the gym instructor does to us if we are late."
We all nodded as we began to walk out the locker room door as I contemplated something,
They say that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist.
And then there was I, a magician, who always believed if everyone believes in the illusion then it becomes true.
The greatest trick a magician can ever pull for their audience, is making them believe that the magician did nothing.