"Marie, no, I will not accept an absurd matchup like that." Mr. Beckham rejected Miss. Curie's offer.
"Scared you'll lose?" Miss. Curie taunted with her grin that was still filled with arrogance, her yellow eyes scanning Mr. Beckham as if he were some prey.
"I'm just not stupid enough to accept that, and I don't intend to accept any matchups. I'll wait till the school events come in, since I am certain that they'll help with increasing my Ruby points and increasing my progress bar." Mr. Beckham glared at her. "And I certainly won't accept a matchup from someone who gets off of herself."
"I prefer to call it self-appraisal." Miss. Curie corrected.
Leonid next to me has been rubbing his temple in frustration. "They've been going at it for three hours…" He muttered.
It was true that even before the homeroom period, Miss Curie had been persisting with Mr. Beckham to accept her matchup, and currently, it is the lunch period, and she is persisting.
And to say most of the class left quickly once the lunch period came due to their banter would be an understatement.
"Only you would be frustrated about this and stay, Leonid the coward," Milicia with her usual grin jabbed at Leonid. "Perhaps you are a masochist? After all, that suits you very well as the type of person you are."
Leonid let out a quiet groan. "Only you can say such a baseless absurd assumption and believe you are right…" His glare decreased to his usual stern gaze when he looked at me. "What do you think of Marie's persistence?"
It seems like he is just gonna ignore Milicia's existence entirely for a moment, or just imagine her not being here.
Although I was more curious about Milicia calling Leonid a masochist, I believe there was a double meaning behind it.
Leonid isn't a masochist, that's for certain, since he doesn't show signs of any pleasure in self-humiliation.
Given my observation of him from yesterday and today, I can say he has narcissistic tendencies like his judgmental gaze on me when he said I was u be fitting, and also indirectly showed he was above the concept of introduction when he refused initially.
And given his remarks against Milicia, he most likely sees himself above her despite backing down from his challenge against her.
So he doesn't fit the grandiose variant of narcissism unlike Milicia, I would say he is more of a hollow prince, considering his surface demeanor appears to be authoritative and intimidating, but if we peel the layers apart, we see in his truest form that his demeanor is just a hollow crown with no real strength, and when facing a foe that he has no chance of beating, he falls back with an excuse.
His narcissism is similar to that of fragile and insecure compensators.
I would label his narcissism of being an inferior narcissist, someone who is driven not by some overconfidence, but by a paralyzing inferiority as they want to prove themselves superior, but at the moment of truth expose their unresolved inner doubt, they retreat.
I assume this best fits the person known as Leonid Novikov.
If one were to ask me where his inferiority was driven from, most likely he compared himself and tried to be trained to become as competent as Milicia to compete against her, but failed numerous times to the point his peers started to plant the seed of inferiority into him.
He hides his inferiority very well, but thanks to my understanding of Milicia's word play, I was able to confirm my thoughts about Leonid.
"I believe her actions and behavior are normal," I said, which got Leonid and Milicia to look at me with questioning looks.
"So you view her erotic nature as normal? I truly can't comprehend how you view that as normal?" Milicia said to me, failing to put herself in others' shoes, although that was to be expected for someone like her.
After all, how can you feel something from others if you lack the capability of connecting?
"I also fail to understand as well," Leonid added.
Nevertheless, I answered it. "Well if you would become her, or rather, adopt her perspective. This behavior is completely or at least has become normal." I paused for a moment. "Right now we see Miss. Curie persisted, and Mr. Beckham accepted a matchup. Her goal behind this is to assert her pride in her deduction and reasoning skills so it can satisfy her erotic nature. Considering that if we contemplate what would happen if he does accept her offer, she will most likely explain the basis of the matchup and her strategy so she can plant a seed in Mr. Beckham to conjure up a counter strategy that will give Miss. Curie to have the leverage to deduce it and confirm it by creating a counter to his counter strategy. Another way to look at it is Miss. Curie allows Mr. Beckham to set up the mechanics of the matchup, giving him the home advantage and strategy that she wouldn't be able to implant a seed in his thoughts. So her nature would have fun deducing and reasoning out her way to figure out his strategy. Both options give her the erotic pleasure she craves because of her being able to deduce, predict, and read Mr. Beckham's mind through reasoning, as long as she is right and wins."
"You are trying to empathize with her?" Leonid questioned me. "You can't understand all of that and read her mind just by watching her, you haven't even interacted with her to even know her in person."
I suppose that can be understandable if you have a rigid view of empathy, since he is trying to say that to empathize, you must know them in person.
While that does help, it's not the only way to empathize with someone, if you can connect your feelings to them and understand their heart and mind, you can understand what they are fully like.
Of course, it can be overwhelming to feel many and complex emotions at once, hence why many empathetic individuals are emotionally vulnerable, since many might not be able to handle it, as it also requires the other person to feel what you feel too.
In other words, to enter their mind and heart, you must feel the same way as them and allow them to enter your own heart and mind to feel that you understand them.
I wonder if that is why Leonid is outright rejecting my way of empathy, because I'll be able to understand him fully, and I would see him for what he truly is.
He doesn't want anyone to see his vulnerability because it makes him be seen as weak despite he views himself as weak.
"I suppose you are right." I decided not to try to correct him because the conversation would become circular and he most likely viewed me as a soft version of Milicia, which I am sure crossed his mind once.
"At least you're self-aware about your naivete," Leonid said as he and Milicia stood up and Leonid left quickly in his silent demeanor.
"Well, Houdini~, I'll be heading not to the cafeteria," Milicia said in her usual grin. I can probably guess she would want a five-star meal, a world away from a place that she viewed with disdain and indifference.
"You don't want to accompany me to the cafeteria? I saw it looked more luxurious and spacious than a usual cafeteria." I asked, though I already knew the answer. She doesn't want to be surrounded by people she would consider fish below her
"I'd rather not have my beautiful self be diminished by the ungroomed lots, so I will be heading to one of the restaurants to have myself a five-star steak meal for lunch!" She said as she started to imagine the meal. "And you seem to be busy yourself." She points at the bouquet I had that I bought with James.
"Well I suppose I will be preoccupied with what I will do for lunch," I said to her.
"While you have your fun with the lots, as what my people say in Serbia, zbogom dače moj!" Milicia bowed slightly, a theatrical one for an audience of one, and left the classroom.
Milicia's profile was always interesting and intricate to me, theirs so many variants of what her mind is truly unique compared to any psychopath I have encountered in my life. And by unique I mean the most perfect display of a grandiose psychopath that it seemed… rather too perfect.
Hopefully, I will get an answer soon.
On a side note, I should learn the Slavic language, perhaps I should stop by the bookstore after school? So I can have unlimited time to learn it.
I stood up as I decided to approach Miss. Curie is trying to try and establish a friendship with her, since I did make that internal promise to help her yesterday.
"I told you already Marie, the answer is no." Mr. Beckham said as he left the classroom.
"Great… just great…" Miss. Curie muttered as she twirled her pigtail. "I already had everything so planned out…"
I cleared my throat as I got her attention. "Excuse me, Miss. Curie."
She turned around and was slightly surprised by me. "Isaac?"
"I was wondering if you would accompany me to lunch, a friend of mine I made earlier invited me to lunch with a few of his acquaintances, and he said I can bring a few with me," Which was true when I was at the botanical shop buying flowers if I could bring a few people with me and knowing James he agreed eagerly. "So I was wondering if you wanted to come?"
She narrowed her eyes at me, probably trying to figure out my angle. "And why do you want me to come along? Planning on using me as some pawn?"
"Well actually, I wanted to become friends with you, since it is one of the few reasons why I came to this school."
Which was very much true, I wanted to make friends here so that I can enjoy the most memorable moments with my old companions and new ones, it's an ambition I aim to achieve here other than just performing magic for everyone.
She crossed her arms under her chest and had a look that made it certain she was skeptical. "You wanna be friends with me? You know I don't exactly look like friend material." She said in her skeptical tone.
However, I did notice a familiar feeling within that tone, a similar one when she reaches an arousing state when her reasoning is deemed correct and she feels hurt deep down in her. I believe it would be, bitter perhaps?
"I suppose, but it's better to get to know someone before judging a book by its cover, even if they have a unique trait about themselves," I said to her as she perked up and heard that although she returned to her usual demeanor.
"You are awfully persistent." She admitted.
"It's one of my greatest qualities."
"An annoying one I fear." She sighed and then looked back at me with a smile appearing on her face. "I do not doubt that you have another motive for this… but I can see that you aren't dishonest about wanting to be friends with me." She finally accepts my invite. "Although, I do have a question."
I can think of the possibilities of what questions she would ask, the first thing is if she cares about the social trends that interest her, which could be about the 'King of Trash' label that was bestowed upon me, and considering that Miss. Mussolini knows about it, so it is safe to assume that most people here who are interested in social trends would know about it.
Another question she possibly would ask is about the bouquet that I am holding which contains twelve roses of unique colors.
"Sure," I said since I was curious even if I kinda had an idea what she would ask.
And I gestured to us to walk out of the classroom and head to the cafeteria. "Would you like to know my thoughts on that label 'King of Trash' that was given to you?" She asked with a hint of curiosity.
"I am intrigued to know your insight, since it didn't affect me that much. But it would be nice to hear someone's perspective." I permitted her.
It was still nice to hear someone mention that to me about that label.
Considering someone like Leonid wouldn't ask about it considering how isolated he is when it comes to the social trend given how he wasn't aware of Miss. Naomi's status given how she is famous worldwide, so I expected him not to know the current trend.
And then there was Milicia, who surprisingly but expected, didn't mention it, since she is up to date with the usual trend, although she probably was indifferent to it. So that's just Milicia being, well, Milicia.
There was also Aurélie, but I didn't get to talk to her again this morning or any time yet, although I suspect that's because she was probably waiting for Sister Claire, one might say that is because she felt uneasy about me due to me reenacting her incident with Mr. Kwon, and started to have doubts due to how my persona shift was so convincing she was most likely doubting me and believe I may be a deceptive individual despite me apologizing and her accepting my apology, not that I blame her, she was one of those kindred souls of innocence that if anyone wants to befriend such innocence they need to be careful on how they go about them, since they are fragile.
Although knowing Sister Claire, if the possibility of them being together from this morning till they went to their homeroom did happen, I wouldn't put it past me that Sister Claire noticed Aurélie's nervousness or tense tells about something beyond Mr. Kwon's verbal assault on her. Sister Claire would be the type to help ease Aurélie's doubts about me, although she would only share some things but nothing too personal about me, like my mother's death for example, since she would rather have me with her rather than her telling Aurélie herself.
So if the event did occur, then I would concur that I would be seeing Aurélie quite fast with her being her usual self.
Call it a Clairvoyant Reconstruction of sorts, after all, a magician should know the past, present, and future no?
"Well, besides it being a clear social pressure tactic to get you to act, and most likely from someone who is in Class E and F, since that is where that label of yours started coming from the most. And I have a slight tiny feeling that you already know who is behind it, and most likely organized a large-scale match-up, to which you most likely declined to see this perpetrator, or two perpetrators to have a meeting about what the next plan is, right?" She asked me, which blush started to form on her face.
"And before you say anything, the reason why I believe you already figured out who it could be was because I recalled your hypothetical situation when you asked about the Requiem Progress and Ruby Points."
She really is exceptional, truly, it's almost scary. "As expected of you, you are absolutely spot-on," I confirmed her deduction as she pumped her fist in the air.
"Yes! I knew it!" She exclaimed in ecstasy as she composed herself as she was about to begin her actual perspective of it. "But I believe the label is accurate, although for a different reason."
When she said that it surprised me as I tilted my head in curiosity. "A different reason?" She nodded to my question.
"You… strike me as someone who counters this school's philosophical core. Your authenticity… altruism… and your persistent optimism… It's rare to find something like that amongst people, especially with intelligent ones given how egotistical and desperate we can be."
I see, so in her abstract way of viewing me, she sees me as someone who defies this system of this school, of course, I still offered my same serene smile. "I'm flattered you think that, but I am sure there are others—"
"Like Jun? While I do see her genuine kindness, she is the type to be sugar-coated. You know how nice idols can be, not wanting to hurt their feelings with the truth. But you are more different, you see the reality and truth and you keep persisting the truth through your own way… it's… exceptional… And admirable, I want to admit. Even though I barely know you, I believe your first impression gave me that thought." She admitted softly which was a different tone than her usual one.
I was a bit surprised that she guessed I would use Miss. Naomi for an example of someone kind and altruistic, and I must be really getting to her if she is this relaxed by me, but I think she will view me as a classmate and acquaintance rather than a friend since she did say she still believed I have a secondary motive, it's a start given how she is now.
She immediately recovered to her usual grin, shooting me a knowing look. "But don't let that get over your head that I consider you a friend."
I nodded to her words that I expected, however, a curious question popped up in my mind that I had been pondering since yesterday. "Miss. Curie, a question for a question, what did you mean by Mr. Bombacci coming here to atone for someone's sins?"
When I asked Miss. Curie gave me a knowing alluring look with her grin. "Ah, that! If you care enough about Italian politics, Giovanni comes from a line of pure corruption with many chapters in his family that expand from Italy to Spain, and even as far as to the United States!" She chuckles. "Quite a pity to be born in that bloodline if I do say so myself."
"You seem to know a lot about this," I said to her, to get her to explain more. Which she probably will even if I didn't say anything.
"Of course! I keep in touch with everything that happens in our world and the underworld. So you're probably wondering what sin I must be referring to, hm?" She inquired.
"I do."
She clapped her hands like a teacher as we kept walking. "So as we established, Giovanni comes from a corrupted family. And now let's head a generation back, his father, Orlando Bombacci, he became a party member of the Lega party, and he became pretty prominent in the Italian political world, and was considered the one to break the Bombacci generational curse, however a few years back when he lost the election for prime minister, he was also exposed for his affiliation with the European Vanguard Association."
The European Vanguard Association…
It would be rare to meet someone amongst gamblers, powerful people, hackers, and even dealers to not heard of the Association. Even an illusionist such as myself has heard of them.
The underworld organization is mainly a casino of sorts, where one can gamble on many things, crashing economies, assassinations, harvested items, and even people.
Of course, the organization can border a terrorist organization if they find something that is in their interest to take to profit and gamble on.
Who knew Mr. Bombacci's father would be part of this apparent organization, or at least have been affiliated with it?
I recalled that people from the European Vanguard Association are mostly filled with hostile people, especially their private militias.
How I know would be a story for another time.
It makes me wonder how Miss. Curie know about the organization? Since it is almost impossible to know about it without having access to the darkest part of the internet to even try to get in touch with the organization.
Could she be a gambler there?
I suppose validation from strangers would be much better for her, since she'd get acknowledgement from dangerous individuals than from people close to her.
"… as for why he lost, well I kinda exaggerated that he was exposed to be affiliated with the organization, when it was a whistleblower, well an agent from the European Vanguard Association, leaked information about Orlando trying to have one of his political opponents killed to ensure his success rate to win the election. Which did lead to his arrest and even more smearing of his family name due to the disgust, betrayal, and being deceived." She finished.
I can already guess what transpired for this to happen, but I decided to ask something else. "How do you know about the European Vanguard Association? And how do you even know that Mr. Bombacci even is affiliated with that Bombacci family?"
It was a logical question, even if you got the reaction of him hardening his expression from yesterday, which can be seen as being mocked for being affiliated with a family that has nothing to do with him, even if implied.
Of course, I didn't necessarily doubt it, since that question was more out of curiosity and I was genuinely interested in her awareness of the European Vanguard Association.
"Well for Giovanni, he has that white strand. Every male member has that white strand of hair. It's a hereditary form of poliosis. A dominant genetic quirk that has expressed itself in every first-born Bombacci male since Orlando's great-great-grandfather. It's the simplest clue in the world. When you see that stripe, you're looking at a direct lineage. It's practically a barcode." She states in a matter-of-fact way that you can't deny it.
She really does her homework, and her knowledge really seems to be in-depth, it definitely makes me inclined to believe she is one of the top gamblers of the European Vanguard Association, since she could gamble and grab this information from her winnings.
I restrained my curiosity about knowing how much accumulated knowledge she has in her brain.
Probably more than what I have in my brain.
"And before I answer that other question, you seem knowledgeable about the Association, or at least aware of its existence, are you a part of them too?"
The way she frames that question intentionally already means she already knew what I was really asking for. "No, I just so happened to know about the inside information of the area, after all, an illusionist would eventually know of a place where high-stakes winnings and gambling are taken there."
She chuckled. "I see… well since you know about them so much according to your inside knowledge of them. Then do you know who 'Madame Zero' is?"
Madame Zero, one of the top ten platinum gamblers of the association, apparently has never lost except for one game. This was their first-ever game.
Is she implying that it is her?
"Is that you?"
"Correct! Just the thoughts of every 208 gambles, every deduction and counter I have done against all of them is a thrilling feeling for me." She said as her breath became slightly heavy and a faint blush appeared.
"You remember all of them?"
"In perfect detail to the point I can recall myself back there with every thought and feeling."
I already had a theory that she had a great memory, since she looked like the type of person to keep a mental record of all of her reasoning and deduction conquests.
But what she describes is something that can even go beyond the concept of an eidetic memory.
I wouldn't call it a perfect memory, since if she can feel her own memories, it implies that no matter how much she doesn't want to feel it, she'll feel it no matter what. A rather involuntary connection that she has to reexperience the memory all.
And from the looks of it, she doesn't seem to be able to erase any self-doubts she has, or if she has any. This makes her ability to delete or suppress a memory impossible.
In other words, she remembers everything to the point she can feel, but cannot forget them no matter how much she tries to delete them.
What an unfortunate curse to have, although at the same time, her capacity to store knowledge and apply it to situations is almost endless.
It's a miracle that she hasn't broken down and not experienced a cognitive overload.
However…
"A perfect record… Not just events, but of the sensations that accompanied them. To hold onto a feeling with that much clarity… It's less like a memory and more like a ghost living in your mind. Always ready to breathe down your neck." I said.
Allowing the weight of my understanding to hang in the air for a moment as I acknowledged the curse within her gift.
"It makes you an archivist of truth in a school built on lies and performances."
I took a look at the impending entrance of the cafeteria we were arriving at. "It's ironic isn't it? That they would try to use a label like 'King of Trash' as a psychological weapon. It really is a crude tool. A rock thrown at a fortress wall." I paused. "The real manipulation in this new environment is far more elegant. It's in the impending patterns that lurk in the shadow."
Marie's curiosity is piqued as I can see her wheels turning in her gaze as I brought back the subject about what we discussed moments ago, as if taking in the information to understand what I mean. "Impending patterns?"
"Think of it as a second-level analysis. We've deduced the 'what' of the plot against me. But the 'how' of its execution is happening right at the moment we walk into the cafeteria." We both stopped, only eight feet away from the entrance as I dropped my voice to a murmur. "The enforcer of this, Kim Yeong-Hwa, is known as—"
"A logical monster!" I nodded as I wasn't surprised by her knowledge about her, but I continued.
"Yes, she wouldn't just unleash a tactic like this and hope for the best. She'd want the data. She needs my reaction to calibrate her next move. You see, she also sent 45 requests to me this morning of orchestrating most of Class E and F to send one at me, of course I rejected it. She wants more information, to follow through on her objective."
I let the implications settle, painting a picture of an invisible laboratory experiment being conducted around us.
"So, the logical conclusion is that this cafeteria isn't just gonna be an environment for students to interact. It's also a live surveillance arena. Somewhere in here, there are assets… her eyes and ears. They're not here to attack. They're here to watch. To note who I speak to, how I react, where I go. They are the true first move, and the matchup requests were merely the curtain being drawn open."
I then turn my full attention to Marie, my expression containing the same smile I carry as one of pure, unadulterated intellectual fascination, it wasn't like I was asking for help, I was presenting a thrilling hypothesis to the only person I believe can possibly verify it.
"It's a fascinating problem, really. How do you identify a perfect observer? Someone trained to be a ghost, whose entire purpose is to be a blank spot in your perception? You could scan every face in this room and still miss them because you're looking for a threat, not a void."
I paused, and then my eyes lit up, as if I just had a wonderful idea. It's a performance of spontaneity,
"Unless... unless you had a perfect baseline. A complete and total record of every face you've ever seen in Class E and F, from the rank board that contains their face and class status. Not just their faces, but the context in which you saw them." I looked at her not with expectation, but with the dawning realization that I am in the presence of the one person who can make the abstract concrete.
"You could then look around this room and perform a simple but impossible comparison. You wouldn't be looking for a 'spy.' You'd just be identifying an anomaly, a face that doesn't belong in this particular social context. A person whose presence here, right now, is statistically... illogical."
I let my calm smile marvel at the elegant simplicity of the theory I just articulated.
"It's a beautiful thought experiment. The ultimate application of a perfect memory. Not for recalling the past, but for diagnosing a flaw in the present. You could see the invisible anomalies because you'd be the only one who remembers every visible one."
"An intriguing thought experiment…" She trailed off on her words as a wider smug appeared on her face as if she accepted the challenge of this thought experiment's objective.
Before we can talk more and head into the cafeteria. We heard a female French voice, one that I know too well. "Isaac!"
Miss. Curie and I looked behind us and saw Aurélie approached fastly with her innocent smile on her face, however I did notice the orange flower hairpin that she didn't wear before.
She must've got it recently, since it does suit her.
"Aurélie." I said in my usual serene friendly voice.
Miss. Curie tilted her head. "As in Aurélie Louise? The rank 26? I wasn't aware you were acquainted with her?"
I scratched the back of my head. "Well she was the first friend I made, so we happened to get along and started being friends."
Which was the truth.
Aurélie finally caught up and nodded. "And Isaac is my first friend here at this school too!"
She really seems happy today, I internally thanked Sister Claire for her moral support.
Miss. Curie's shoulders became even more relaxed, knowing she had seen someone who is friends with me and is genuine about it, making it less likely to look like some deliberate plot. "I see…"
"Aurélie, how are you feeling?" I asked since I do genuinely care for her well-being.
And considering how my question is set up, Aurélie would be referring to Mr. Kwon's incident. But Aurélie smiled and looked at the wall for a moment and took a deep breath and looked back at me with full clarity.
"I feel much better than before." She flashed a reassuring smile.
"That's great to hear," I paused a moment. "Considering we didn't get to hang out much yesterday, and didn't this morning. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with Miss. Curie and I?"
Her eyes sparkled when she heard my invitation. "I would love to…"