10000: Preparations

“Trisha MacKenzie. I have been assigned to be the homeroom teacher of your class, 1-B.”

She wrote her name onto the digital whiteboard in front of the classroom.

“As you might have already guessed from my name, I am not native Japanese. Before last year I have been a special agent for the British intelligence agency GCHQ. I had been in service for 7 years, exclusively in Japan. My field has been data intelligence and espionage. I will be your teacher in Sports and English.”

It was a drag for me to concentrate. There was this unbearable noise inside my head. I couldn’t order a single thought. A storm raged. It caused me excruciating pain to even think about all the implications. Kayami-senpai was ArcticLynx. She was the girl I had been searching for and I hadn’t even noticed it the whole time. She looked so different with the bright blonde hair and with her face and eyes made up. She must have worn a wig back then. Hair doesn’t grow this long in such a short amount of time.

I had already spaced out during the whole entrance ceremony in the school gym. The principal had given a speech and Rukami-senpai as well as some guy from our year. If someone would have asked me what they were all about however, I couldn’t tell them for the life of me.

“Kanaoka?”

What did Kayami-senpai even think about me? That I was so stupid and blind. The blue of her eyes was so unique, so undistinguishable, her voice so recognizable. If the possibility would have just come to my mind … maybe I would have seen the connection. But I was stupid and shallow and naïve. I haven’t even gotten the possibility to speak about all this in private with her. After our trial she went straight back to her dorm, and we went back to ours.

“Isato Kanaoka-kun?”

Only now I noticed MacKenzie-sensei standing right in front of my desk that was located in the front row right next to the door. I quickly stood up. “Yes?”

She shot me an amused smile. “Would you please start introducing yourself to the class?”

I turned to the side and saw everyone facing me. “Sure … uhm … I’m Isato Kanaoka from Kisarazu, Chiba prefecture. I like programming and hacking … uh, and in my free time I’m also Jogging and sometimes Swimming. I also like playing video games, mostly at the PC.”

“And which faction are you interested in?” MacKenzie-sensei pointed onto the white board, where a few questions had been listed, one of them being the faction.

“Oh, uh … I’d like to become a White Hat.”

A murmuring went through the class and MacKenzie-sensei silenced it with a firm clap. “Hey! Please respect your classmate’s choice. White Hat hacking is also a vital part of this school’s DNA. Last year the famous white hat Kosuke Ando-san even became a teacher at this school. He is homeroom teacher for class 1-A and your teacher in Informatics.”

Now an even louder murmuring went through the class.

“He is a teacher at this school?”

“Oh! Ando-san will teach us?”

I really asked myself how I had been like the only guy who didn’t know him before.

“Sensei?” Another student has been standing up. His white hair was standing spikey from his head. “How are we supposed to learn anything about real hacking if someone as limited as Kosuke Ando-san will teach us?”

MacKenzie-sensei eyed him a bit irritated. “Limited in what regard?”

“Limited by what laws allow. For example, he probably never actually hacked into systems he shouldn’t be in. I doubt that someone who never faced an inherent danger will be knowledgeable enough to really teach us.”

General agreement could be heard throughout the class. A smug grin came to MacKenzie-sensei’s face. “You’re really putting on an act there. If you really think this way, then you have absolutely no idea how this game is played. It is a misconception that there is no urgency with white hat hacking. White Hats don’t just have to perform the attack under equal conditions, they have to understand the vulnerabilities and think of suitable ways to eliminate them. Unless you develop your hacking tools yourself you won’t even stand a slightest chance against him, his expertise and in-depth knowledge.”

The guy gave her nothing but a grim glare.

“If you don’t believe me, challenge him for a Kibansentou and you will see.” Teachers could be challenge to a Kibansentou as well?

“I will! You can bet your bottom dollar on that.” With crossed arms he sat down again. I didn’t know why, but I felt like I had to remember his face. This guy would surely come into my way one day.

I had watched the play right in front of me while still standing. MacKenzie-sensei turned towards me. “Thank you for your introduction, Kanaoka. Let’s get to the next one.”

I sat down and directed my gaze towards the guy sitting next to me. The rest of the day was more or less smooth sailing. First school days were always rather laid back with all the introductory things. I didn’t really know what my classmates thought about me after all this, but it was not that I cared much. Most of them seemed to rather fall onto the black side of things … how unsurprising.

Once the lunch break came up, I met up with the guys from my dorm in the cafeteria. They sat at the same table as last time, a bit at the side and further off in a small alcove of the cafeteria. I placed my tray at the table next to Ouzen-senpai. “Hey y’all!” They greeted back, as I took a look at the group. “Is Kayami-senpai not coming?” I asked.

“No. Her brother wanted to talk to her after I challenged his club. He agreed, though this will be bigger than I originally intended.” Naoki-senpai dug through the food on his plate with his chopsticks. “But sit down, I’ll tell you how it went.”

I did as he asked me to.

“First of all, Nakayama-senpai agreed to our challenge. Though he demanded a few changes. Besides you and Kayami-san, Ando-sensei should also participate on our side.”

My body tensed. “But isn’t that to his own disadvantage?”

“Sure, it is. But … In his first year Nakayama-senpai managed to defeat all the other white hatted clubs and only the White Hood Club remained in a very bad condition. Then Ando-sensei came and somehow got us together again. To top it off, now even Nakayama-senpai’s own sister wants to change sides. All those developments in favor of the white hats are a huge thorn in his side, and he does not care about the wager at all. For him this Kibansentou is a demonstration of his power. He wants to nip our renewed uprising in the bud and show everyone that no one stands a chance against black hats. But we won’t do him this favor.”

“Is that his only condition though?” Rukami-senpai asked and put a piece of meat into her mouth.

“No, he also wants the Kibansentou to be a public event inside the Arena.”

She lowered her gaze. “This will be a public execution. Even with your skill level, six of you against the whole Black Flag Club will be more than a challenge. They have like two hundred members.”

“Currently they have less.” All of us were quite surprised to hear Airii-chan join the conversation. “They are vulnerable because of the new school year.”

I nodded in agreement with her. “We can organize much better than a big, ponderous giant like them.” – and we did.

Our first strategy meeting was held at the very same day as soon as the classes were over. Even Ando-sensei was there and helped with figuring out a battle plan. Rukami-senpai was still at the student council office when we discussed what to do with this Kibansentou right ahead of us. Just the place right next to me – the one I had reserved for Kayami-senpai – was left unoccupied. I looked at the empty chair, wondering what she was doing right now … why she was not here despite promising it. The Kibansentou had been officially announced by now. It probably didn’t go down particularly well, especially not with the other Black Flags and especially not with her older brother.

Naoki-senpai turned to us as soon as he finished the scrawly sketch of the battle layout. “This Kibansentou is organized like the game of capture the flag. Both of our teams receive three standard desktop computers. Nakayama-senpai and I will get them tomorrow from the school administration. We will place one text file, a flag so to say, with a secret phrase onto each device named ‘white_1.txt’, ‘white_2.txt’ and ‘white_3.txt’. The Black Flags will do the same with their devices and black as the keyword. Our task is it to attack their machines and copy their flags to our corresponding devices, while they try the same for us. Whoever manages to get the other team’s flags to their device first, wins. If there is no decision after half an hour, the team with more obtained flags wins.”

“What happens if there is a draw?” I held my hand up.

“In case of a draw, every team chooses one representative, and they try to attack each other’s device,” Ando-sensei answered. “It should probably be the strategy for us to aim for: Then we just have to concentrate on deflecting their attacks. We don’t get one of their flags, they don’t get one of ours. In a one-on-one we have a much higher probability to win.”

“And if they come through anyways?” Ouzen-senpai asked.

My gaze fell at the empty chair; thoughts drifted off to Kayami-senpai yet another time.

“Isato-kun?”

I winced at Naoki-senpai’s voice. “Yeah, I’m listening!”

He gave me an amused smile. “Then you wouldn’t mind accompanying me on a very special preparation mission?”

I looked into a few faces that probably looked as surprised as my own. “No …,” I replied. “Of course not.”

Naoki-senpai turned towards the others. “Then – guys – please try to find the best strategy until we are back. So that we can start preparing our machines right away tomorrow.”

The others nodded in agreement, as I grabbed my Jacket and followed Naoki-senpai out of the front door. He strapped a backpack onto his back and we were outside.