[Mission 3: Change Minami Uruka's Fate of Death.]
[Reward: 20 Attribute Points.]
Uchiha Byakuya figured that once this Mission 3 was completed, the entire hidden questline would probably come to an end.
Changing Uruka Minami's death wasn't exactly hard, but it wasn't all too easy either.
"Oi... Can someone tell me what the hell just happened?!"
Fura Taishi's voice was still shaky from shock.
Byakuya snapped out of his thoughts about the system, turning toward Fura.
Then, he calmly explained,
"You guys know about ghouls, right? That person just now was one."
"And not just any ghoul; A particularly dangerous one."
"G-Ghoul...?"
Fura's face tensed.
Now that he thought about it, that thing really did fit the description of a ghoul.
They'd all heard about ghouls in school, and the CCG worked hard to keep them safe.
But they'd never actually seen one.
Faced with such a terrifying reality, their minds had completely blacked out.
And now it finally hit them.
If Byakuya and Arima hadn't shown up in time; They'd be dead meat.
Literal dead meat.
"Go home, get some rest."
"Just go to school as usual tomorrow."
Byakuya spoke casually.
Then, without another word; He and Arima turned to leave.
There was no need to babysit Fura and his delinquent crew 24/7.
And after tonight's intervention, Minami Uruka wouldn't dare show up again as "Lantern" anytime soon.
She was sharp; She had definitely noticed.
Byakuya and Arima weren't just ordinary students.
And the fact that they transferred in at the same time?
Way too suspicious; She'd already figured it out.
They were CCG investigators.
"Wait..."
"How the hell are you two so calm?!"
Fura called out again.
"We just saw a ghoul-"
"A monster that eats people-!"
"Aren't you even a little bit scared?!"
Byakuya kept walking.
Not answering.
Neither did Arima.
Because until the mission was over, revealing their identities was off-limits.
On the way to the subway station, Byakuya spoke up, "I'm heading back to my apartment in the 2nd Ward."
"What about you, Arima?"
"It doesn't matter to me."
Arima's voice was as flat as ever.
Then, he suddenly asked,
"How did you know 'Lantern' would attack those delinquents tonight?"
Byakuya smirked slightly.
"Half instinct-"
"Half deduction."
Of course, the biggest part was knowing the storyline.
But there was no way he'd ever say that.
"Back when we left school,"
"We already identified Minami as a prime suspect."
"Then, when I said I wanted to join Fura's crew, I caught Minami staring at us."
"And my instincts are very sharp."
"That look in her eyes; It told me she absolutely despised Fura's gang."
Uchiha Byakuya explained logically,
"While this doesn't necessarily mean Minami will attack tonight, as long as there's a chance, I have to be there to stop it."
His ability to predict that Minami Uruka would strike tonight wasn't just because he had an omniscient player's perspective.
There was another crucial factor; His Mangekyō Sharingan had detected something in Minami's eyes at that moment.
If he had purely relied on the original story, Minami wasn't even supposed to attack today.
"I see..."
Arima nodded slightly.
He was beginning to find Byakuya's intuition terrifyingly accurate.
No wonder Kaiko had taken an interest in him.
"Alright then. See you at school tomorrow."
Byakuya said, preparing to part ways since they were almost at the subway station.
"It's a bit too early for goodbyes."
Arima said blandly.
"Huh? What do you mean-?"
Byakuya blinked.
"I've already moved into the same apartment complex as you in the 2nd Ward."
"It'll be more convenient for us to act together during the mission."
Byakuya suddenly understood everything.
And he began suspecting something.
Was Arima Kishou sent by V to spy on him?
It was a very real possibility.
After all-Arima was Kaiko's direct disciple, and this whole "forced partnership" felt far too coincidental.
Besides; Arima's behavior was a little off.
Yes, the CCG's protocol encouraged partners to act together but from Byakuya's memories, Arima wasn't the type to strictly follow every rule like that.
For example; In the original story, Arima had once accidentally fallen asleep while standing in the middle of battle.
And another time, he forgot his Quinque and used a regular umbrella to exterminate a ghoul.
If Arima was really here to monitor him...
Then Byakuya had to be careful.
For starters; He absolutely couldn't let Arima discover that Yoshimura Eto was the One-Eyed Owl.
Because the Arima Kishou of this time period was not the same Arima from the original story.
People changed as did their thoughts over time.
The Arima of the future had already grown disillusioned after years of being V's "cleaner," slaughtering countless ghouls deemed threats by V; he had become tired of the never-ending violence.
But the Arima of now...
He wasn't there yet.
Right now, he was just a CCG investigator.
His Quinque was only B-rank, meaning he had never fought against anything above that level.
If this version of Arima was still loyal to V and he discovered that Yoshimura Eto was the One-Eyed Owl then Eto would be dead.
Inside the subway.
Byakuya and Arima sat together, casually chatting.
"Come to think of it..."
"When you were still in the Sunlit Garden, we barely saw each other, didn't we?"
Arima suddenly said.
"Yeah... I don't have many memories of you either."
Byakuya replied calmly.
Of course-He never actually lived in the Sunlit Garden.
The memories he had were all implanted by the system.
He was just playing along with Arima's conversation.
"Arima, you were the strongest and most talented in the Sunlit Garden."
"Even back then, your abilities already rivaled or even surpassed-Special Class Investigators."
"But... you don't seem too eager about promotions?"
Byakuya remarked casually.
In his memories, Arima had always been the brightest star in the Sunlit Garden.
Yet even now, at his peak physical condition, he was still a Rank 2 Investigator.
Byakuya had a theory; Had Arima been deliberately slowing down his promotions?
Had he been reluctant from the very start to become V's "Cleaner"?