"Ah! The weather is really nice."
So… could the person behind me stop hiding already? I may be slow to notice people staring at me, but that doesn't mean I'm blind.
Standing on the street beneath the blazing sun, the already sparse pedestrians hurried past Cid. One or two even bumped into his shoulder as they walked by. Yet Cid's eyes remained fixed on the glass wall of the shop in front of him.
The entire street was faintly reflected in that glass wall. With his enhanced eyesight, Cid could clearly see his own reflection in it, and also…
The blonde nun hiding behind the wall, carefully poking her head out.
Cid turned his head. In that brief instant, the blonde nun quickly pulled her head back behind the wall.
Originally, Cid had only gone to Mitsugoshi Hospital to ask Gamma's subordinates to help him prepare an alibi to cover up his sudden disappearance.
But since he had already taken leave, going back to school felt pointless, so he started wandering around the streets instead.
At first, he did not notice the blonde nun behind him at all.
After all…
She was too weak.
He could not sense her gaze whatsoever.
Even when he saw her reflection once or twice, he simply assumed she was following someone else.
It was only after the third time he saw her appear behind him through the reflection in the glass that Cid finally realized something.
He, a completely ordinary background character, was being followed.
???
Why? Why? Why?
Cid believed his background character disguise was flawless. So why would someone follow him?
Had he made a mistake somewhere?
He sighed and forcibly suppressed the frustration and sorrow in his heart. Then he calmly began thinking of a solution.
There was no point figuring out where he went wrong right now.
First he needed to deal with this situation.
He currently had two options.
One, shake off the blonde nun.
Two, drag her into an alley with no surveillance cameras.
A smile slowly appeared on Cid's face.
Wasn't the answer obvious?
When the blonde nun cautiously peeked out again and looked toward the spot where Cid had been standing, she discovered he had disappeared.
"Huh?"
After looking around and confirming Cid was nowhere to be seen, the blonde nun stepped out from behind the wall and jogged toward where he had been standing.
Whoosh!
A large hand suddenly shot out from a nearby alley and grabbed the edge of the blonde nun's clothes.
"Ahhh!"
The sudden incident frightened the blonde nun into screaming. For a moment she even forgot to resist.
By the time she reacted, the tremendous force from that hand had already dragged her into the alley and slammed her against the wall.
Bang!
A hand struck the wall beside her head, making another loud sound that startled her again.
"Talk. Who are you? Why were you following me?"
Cid stared at the blonde nun coldly, his voice icy as he questioned her.
He would decide how to deal with her depending on her answer.
If she had simply noticed some flaw when he was walking down the street and decided on a whim to follow him, that would be easy to deal with.
He could just erase her memory. Losing a single day's memory would not cause much trouble.
But if some faction had discovered his Shadow identity…
Then he could only hope that faction was reasonable enough to voluntarily accept having their memories erased.
Otherwise…
Magic power began flowing silently inside his body. A cold light flashed in Cid's eyes, and the atmosphere around them suddenly grew heavy.
He would simply break her mind first.
After that, she would naturally agree to having her memories erased.
As for whether she was willing to talk, Cid did not really care.
If she refused to speak, he would simply search her memories by force.
"Eee—!"
The atmosphere around her suddenly grew heavy. The blonde nun let out a startled cry, like someone in the middle of winter having their clothes pulled open and an ice cube tossed inside.
Cid remained motionless, watching the scene coldly.
If possible, he would prefer not to perform a memory search. With his level of mental power, touching someone else's memories would most likely cause that person's mind to collapse.
"I… I… I…"
Maybe tens of seconds passed. Maybe a few minutes. Maybe only a few seconds.
Finally, the blonde nun came back to her senses and began speaking in a trembling voice.
"M-my name is Asia Argento. The reason I was following you is… is…"
"What is it?"
"I wanted to know if you are Shadow-san!"
The worst possible answer.
Looks like I can only hope you voluntarily accept having your memories erased.
As the pressure in the alley grew heavier, Cid looked down at Asia, who had shut her eyes tightly in fear. He quietly sighed to himself and began preparing to forcibly erase her memory.
As for why he did not simply deny being Shadow?
Well…
Doing that would be no different from an ostrich burying its head in the sand when danger appears. The other party clearly already knew his identity. He had no intention of doing something that stupid.
"If I were Shadow, what would you want? To use me? Speak. Who told you my real identity? The Lion King Organization? What kind of scheme are you plotting?"
In just a few seconds, Cid had already identified a likely suspect in his mind.
The faction that sent Yukina Himeragi to stay beside Kojou Akatsuki.
The Lion King Organization.
During Akatsuki Kojou's battle with Rudolf, he had heard that name mentioned several times by Rudolf and another attack mage. Cid had casually remembered it.
After all, an organization that would send a teenage girl with A minus level strength to someone else was bizarre enough that even he found it strange.
Was that really the "Magecraft Disaster Management Agency" Himeragi Yukina mentioned, and not some kind of human trafficking group?
Now he was beginning to suspect that after targeting Kojou Akatsuki, that same organization had also started targeting him.
His suspicion was not without reason.
The scene in front of him was simply too familiar.
A blonde girl almost identical to Yukina Himeragi when they first met.
Someone who had never interacted with him before, yet knew his true identity and even dared to follow him.
It was a little strange that an organization from Japan would send a nun instead of a shrine maiden or ninja, but who was to say the Lion King Organization was not that eccentric?
They also had a motive.
Back during the Yukina Himeragi incident, it could basically be said that he had ruined the Lion King Organization's plan. Even if they had backup plans, investigating him would be perfectly reasonable. And for a local organization like them, doing so would not be difficult.
While investigating him, they might have discovered some flaw he unknowingly exposed in the past, realized he was Shadow, and decided to repeat the same strategy they used with Kojou Akatsuki.
The timing lined up as well.
The more Cid thought about it, the more convinced he became that the Lion King Organization had sent this blonde nun to follow him.
"No, no…"
Just as Cid was about to fully place the blame on the Lion King Organization, Asia, still pinned against the wall by him, suddenly reacted as if she had heard something completely unacceptable.
Her expression became emotional. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, and she spoke loudly.
"I… I came to repay Shadow-san for saving my life! How could I… how could I ever use the person who saved me?"
"The World!"
"Gasp!!"
Cid stepped back two steps, sucking in a sharp breath from pure shock.
He looked Asia up and down once.
Then twice.
Then three times.
Time remained frozen for quite a while before Cid finally spoke.
"Who are you?"