The Secret Task

Back to the night after the entrance exam.

“Hey, 24,” Mike lazily asked the educational AI assigned to him, AISLE 24, while still keeping his eyes glued to the tablet in his hand. “Can we bring our own room over?”

“For the last time, Mr. Michael Angelo,” the robot answered, shaking its head in disappointment. “You cannot open your portable bedroom and install it to the dorm’s architecture. The school doesn’t support that technology, and blowing up a part of the floor isn’t a good idea.”

“Aw c’mon, how am I supposed to bring over my collection?”

“By porting it over the cloud like a normal person, obviously.”

“Ugh, I’ve been trying to tell you, you dumb bucket of bolts!” Mike frustratedly shouted. “It’s the joy in the antique!”

“With all due respect, Mr. Michael, you’re the only one left in the school’s database that actually uses regular books,” 24 retaliated. “Even my creator doesn’t do that anymore, and he’s the greatest mind in the world.”

“Grr… I know!” A grunt from the boy genius. “Sensei is always one…”

Before he could finish his complaint, however, a large beeping came from the educational AI.

“Incoming call…” 24 sounded, before projecting a holographic screen in the air.

On the screen was only a silhouette of a person, but their voice was one that Mike was all too familiar with:

“Hey, Michael. Enjoyed your holiday?”

“Sensei!” Mike was elated to finally hear his mentor again after a long time, so much so that his shout nearly escaped his own room and echoed into the hallways. “Wait just a moment! I’ll go get…”

“Hold that right there, Michael,” before he could take another step out of his bed, Mike’s teacher, the genius mind known as S.T., said, “do not bring him over.”

“W-What do you mean, Sensei?” Mike tilted his head in confusion. “And how did you know who I was going to call?”

“I’ve been watching you two over the course of summer,” S.T. replied. “And I’ll skip the charades: I don’t trust him fully yet.”

“But… why? Zain has been nothing but the greatest help I’ve gotten! And not to mention mine and Lewis’s dream…”

“Dream?” S.T. asked back with a puzzled voice. “You mean the NLCS? Didn’t you read the latest news in Aoba?”

“Huh? Sensei, what are you talking about?” Mike asked but scrolled his fingers over his phone as fast as he could.

Upon reaching the school’s front page, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Sensei, what’s the meaning of this? Why did you shut down the NLS Club?”

“… Listen here, Michael,” S.T.’s voice turned to a dead serious tone. “What I’m about to tell you is a major secret in this school. Not even the regular staff members know about this; the only ones who are aware are me and the principal. AISLE?”

“As you command, Master,” the AI replied. “Initiating secure lockdown…”

As the mechanical voice uttered, in Mike’s room, the windows closed on their own, and an additional layer of steel-plated shutters dropped down. His front door locked itself up, and from the walls, a layer of cotton sponge appeared.

“It’s an emergency lockdown procedure that I installed within the school,” seeing Mike’s panicked expression, S.T. explained. “Only activatable with my voice, of course, in case of an unfortunate attack. Aoba Academy is the strongest fortress in the world, y’know.”

“You and your weird habits…” Mike could only shake his head in disappointment. “But I understand. You can count on me to keep a secret, Sensei.”

“I expect as much from my best student,” Mike could imagine that his mentor was giving him a satisfied nod. “Now listen up. Every one of Aoba’s students, except for the newcomers that just entered through the extra admission test today, has had their information from the school’s database compromised. In other words, someone has stolen all of Aoba’s information on its students.”

“W-What?” Mike unconsciously shouted, covering his mouth in shock. “If this gets out…”

“It will be the biggest data breach in the world for the last century, yes,” S.T. answered, “as well as a blatant slap in my face – the one who supposedly design the best defense system in the world.”

“But… you can deal with it as always, right?”

Only a silence enough to rupture Mike’s eardrums answered him back.

“… Sensei?”

“I’m… not in Aoba at the moment. Another urgent matter came up, and I have to be present for it.”

“So, you’re saying that…” Mike hesitated. He knew what his teacher was referring to, but such a responsibility on his shoulder was the first for him.

“Yes, Michael. In my stead, investigate Aoba. As much as I don’t want to believe it, the most probable outcome is that there’s a mole in our school, either among the students or staff.”

“... Wait, then isn’t it even better to ask Zain for help?” Mike asked. “He’s a new student, so he has the perfect alibi, right?”

“Of course, it’s only natural to think that he wasn’t the one who breached our data… But answer me this: what evidence do you have that says he’s not working with our perpetrator already present in the school?”

“I…” As much as Mike wanted to defend his friend, he had no concrete proof. Things like trust and kindness wouldn’t work against his teacher, and he was well aware of it.

“So, Michael,” S.T. continued. “I trust that you’d crack this case.”

“You can count on me, Sensei,” Mike let out a determined nod, but his confident expression didn’t last long. “But, uh, Sensei…”

“What is it?”

“I know that all of this is important and all, but… what does it have to do with shutting down the NLS Club?”

A chuckle could be heard from the other side. “You’re a smart kid, Michael, but sometimes you miss the most obvious mistakes, you know that?”

While the boy’s face was still full of questions, S.T. had already given out his answer:

“If there’s no data left, how am I supposed to manage the club? And not to mention, keep it open and news would spread sooner or later. I’d assume some of the clubs will still be left open to keep up a front, but I’m not taking that risk.”

“Oh, I understand now!” Mike was elated to hear the answer. “As expected of you, Sensei! Always have a solution to everything!”

“Well, what can I say?” S.T. let out a rare smug laugh. “I am the greatest mind in the word, after all… Now, let’s summarize everything. Michael, do you know what to do?”

“Investigate the data breach in Aoba, report back the culprit to you, and…”

Mike took a deep breath before saying the final answer. It was not something he was explicitly told, but one that he could conclude from the information he had gathered.

“Do it without Zain’s help.”

“Good,” nodded S.T. on the other side of the screen. “I expect good results from you.”

The next day.

Never before had Mike been more bored in his life. Sitting in the almost empty classroom fiddling with his smartphone, he knew that his teacher would never come. However, he couldn’t just skip school – it was his first day in class, and he was one of the only two students that signed up for this one. And of course, there was another, more important reason for Mike to stay.

Said reason asked:

“Is this normal?”

Letting out a loud yawn, Mike answered. “Huh? Yeah… pretty much.”

“And the teacher’s pretty late, isn’t he?”

“That part is weird, yeah. Usually, he’s very early.”

“Well… what do we do now?”

“Wait, I guess. Until 20 minutes have passed. Then we’re legally allowed to leave.”

“But shouldn’t we wait for him? You know, with that.”

“If he’s this late, there’s already no chance of him showing up,” Mike lied as naturally as he breathed. “I just wish he’d told me beforehand.”

“Yeah… shame…”

The rest of the day went by without a hitch. Lewis somehow managed to get a clubroom despite the club being shut down, but Mike couldn’t join in on the fun even if every fiber in his body screamed otherwise.

No, Mike! The boy slapped himself in his mind. Focus on the mission! And don’t drag Lewis into your world!

Unfortunately for Mike, Lewis was the least of his problems.

“All right, out with it,” As soon as Lewis left, Zain jumped straight to the point. “Isn’t he your best friend? What are you doing?”

“I have to find a way to contact Sensei, of course,” Mike immediately tried to shift the story back to the other side. “He’s never been like this before, it’s too weird for my taste. But I digress; you don’t have anything to do yet without him, so why are you refusing?”

“I want to make a round through this place first. We don’t know what really is going on, right? Then the best way for us to tackle things right now is to gather information.”

Mike was smiling inside. Zain had given him the perfect excuse to act solo.

“… You have a point. Then let’s do it like this: we’ll search for both of our problems and if there’s any information we receive, we share with each other. Sounds good?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

As soon as Zain left the premises, Mike let out a big sigh of relief. With his friends out of the way, he could finally focus on his assigned task.

There was one problem, of course, and it was the fact that he, like any normal student, had no idea how the school actually worked. Unlike the others, however, he knew exactly where he needed to go.

“Guess I’ll pay the Council a little late-night visit…”