LIGHTNOVELWORLD chapter 74
74. Momo and Genziana
“I wanted to find out who was responsible for the wiretap, so I set up a little trap. If they knew that Sora-kun and I were having an affair, they would do something, wouldn’t they?”
When I said that, Momo’s expression was as if to say, “I knew it,” and she relaxed visibly. Was the relief that Sora-kun and I were not involved greater than the anger that I had tested her?
“A trap? So I fell for it and came here.”
Momo looked regretful, but it was an act. She was very good at acting like a girl. I’m sure she acted like a cute and innocent girl at home and at school. Many heroes are bad at living and suffer from unbalanced mental states , but in that sense too, Momo is special.
Because she has such a perfect and beautiful appearance.
“Don’t be so pessimistic. I had a hunch from the beginning. At first, I thought it was Nightingale-kun, but she didn’t come out of the room. Considering her personality, if she had known that Sora-kun and I were having an affair, she would have come here right away to complain… If it’s not Nightingale-kun, then the only other person it could be is Momo. Even if you hadn’t shown up here today, I would have suspected Momo the most.”
“You don’t have to try to make me feel better. I’m not a pure girl like Himawari-chan.”
“To me, Momo is also pure and in love. It’s just that your intelligence is a bit troublesome. You’re still young, so it’s not unnatural for you to misuse your energy. However, as a senior in life, I can’ t recommend such a forceful approach. That wiretap was a modified commercial product. It’s not something that an amateur would choose, and the way it was installed was very skillful. This isn’t your first time, is it, Momo?”
A small, high-quality wiretap is expensive. I give Momo and the others a good salary as a reward for their hero activities, but I’m surprised that she would use it to wiretap her crush.
“Yes, I’ve lost count.”
“Do you have them in your house too?”
“Yes. I have two in the power strip in your room, and a small camera on the air conditioner and blinds.”
She told me very honestly. Even the location. Was she smart enough to know that it would be useless to hide them?
“I see, so you’re ‘that type.’ I can understand the desire to watch the person you love all the time, but could you please stop wiretapping and spying? Sora-kun is scared, so please give it up for him sake.”
“Scared? That’s a misunderstanding on your part.”
It wasn’t hostility, but a look of genuine pity.
“Aren’t you mistaking my actions for stalking or something? I’m not observing you for my own satisfaction or desires. I’m doing this as my duty as your future girlfriend. It’s like training to be a bride, an innocent and righteous act.”
She said something unexpected, a terribly flawed self-interpretation.
“And you think it’s okay to terrify your loved one for that? I’m sorry, but I’m the commander of you heroes and an ally of order among heroes. I may turn a blind eye to some things, but as long as there’s a possibility that he’ll become anxious and quit Philance Blue, I can’t overlook Momo’s actions.”
“In the first place, it was you who made my senior afraid. It’s because you exposed it and told him about it without permission. Momo didn’t set it up in a way that would make it obvious. It’s true that Momo is monitoring you, with cameras and microphones, collecting your life and monitoring you every day. But it’s not a bad thing. You’ll never notice, and as a result, Momo is providing you with material to heal your heart. The information gained from the surveillance increases Momo’s understanding of you, making her perfect, and you’ll love Momo even more. I think it’s perfectly natural to want to know more about the person you love and to try to get to know them in order to be loved by them . You’re suffering right now. And it’s Momo’s fault. Momo’s suggestion that she confess to Nightingale-san has plunged you into days of great stress. Even without the fake marriage, you were barely able to enjoy your private life because of Nightingale- san and Himawari-chan, and now your heart is in tatters. What’s wrong with Momo wanting to help you? I don’t understand.”
It sounded like a specious argument to convince me, but unfortunately, her eyes were serious.
“The Nightingale incident was my fault for giving unreasonable order. Momo is not responsible, so you don’t need to follow Sora-kun. That’s my job.”
“Humph. A job, is it?”
Her dark, peach-colored eyes, the color of an overripe fruit, flickered reddish-brown in the reflection of the inorganic fluorescent lights. Those large, warm eyes reminded me a bit of Akane’s from long ago, and I didn’t like it .
Momo tried to trap me with a gaze that seemed to see through everything. I felt as if this girl could see things that I had pretended not to notice and had cast aside into a corner of my mind.
“So… since it’s work, are you going to tell senpai who planted the bug?”
Her sudden shift in tone felt like a declaration that she was switching from hero and commander mode to a conversation between women.
“I won’t. If I tell him, Sora-kun might start hating Momo.”
This wasn’t a lie. When I first realized that someone might have planted a bug on Sora-kun, my first concern was that it would ruin the relationship between the hero and Sora-kun. The current Sora-kun does Philanthropink out of a sense of justice, duty, and sympathy for the heroes who put themselves in danger. If he were to learn that someone was actually trying to harm him, not just with future predictions, but in the real world, his fear would grow, and he might run away from his role as Philanthropink.
Unfortunately or unfortunately, he seemed to have been poisoned by a lot of yandere, so he saw that I wasn’t fazed by the bug and decided to treat it as a one-time prank. If Sora-kun had been truly terrified and become suspicious of everyone, all of our previous plans would have gone down the drain.
“…But if it happens again, I’ll tell Sora-kun. I even lent him a fake detector today to ease his mind. He’ll be relieved to know that there aren’t any bugs in his room. You ‘ll have to remove all the bugs in Sora-kun’s room yourself.”
Planting a bug in a room isn’t that difficult. If you’re invited into the room, you can secretly swap out a fake power strip or plant a small microphone in a visible location.
However, a camera that requires angle adjustment would take a considerable amount of time to set up. It would need to be placed in a somewhat risky location in order to project the room’s image onto the screen. In some cases, it might even be necessary to break in multiple times to adjust the angle. Considering that Sora-kun hasn’t mentioned inviting the heroes to his house, it’s safe to assume that Momo is also a habitual trespasser.
“I don’t want to lose you as a resource either. But I can’t let Philanthropink escape anymore. This is for our cause, do you understand?”
I lied as easily as breathing, committing a crime without a shred of guilt. Would such a common-sense deal work on her, who carried out excessive stalking behavior with zero remorse?
“Okay.”
Contrary to my expectations, Momo nodded readily.
“I’ve already gotten enough of the information I need. It’s not like Momo was spying on senpai to see his sleeping face or anything perverted. I don’t go through his trash or collect his hair. I was only doing it because I wanted information on senpai.”
She opened the zipper of her school bag with a “ziip.” Peeking out from the bag was a brand-name shopping bag that Momo often carried. It probably contained her Philanthropink suit.
“The information senpai needs to like Momo more. Like his university schedule, his favorite TV shows, what time he likes to get LINE messages, what days he’s most likely to feel lonely, his favorite foods, his type of woman, his favorite manga , the movies he’s interested in, events, shops. I’ve gathered already the minimum information I need to get senpai, so I’ll remove all the bugs and cameras by the time senpai gets home. Oh, I’m going to change , so I’ll borrow the locker room.”
As I looked at Momo’s unapologetic smile, I recalled Sora-kun happily saying that “Momo and I have similar tastes in manga and food.” Watching this girl who wasn’t even eighteen yet, I realized firsthand how effective information warfare could be in love.
“Besides, I’m getting tired of just observing and staying in a safe position. Senpai’s mental state is in shambles because of Uguisu-san, and Himawari-chan, who Momo incited, is probably going to make a move… It’s time for Momo to make a serious move too. Senpai doesn’t like the type of loser heroine who just fits into the healing role and fades away. So I might not have time to be spying anymore.”
“Hah, you seem pretty confident in your strategy. Well, fine, I’ll trust you this time. Don’t betray your commander, okay?”
“Yes, yes, I understand.”
She turned her back and waved, as if she had lost interest in this place. She held the pink rabbit-printed shopping bag on a yellow background and started to leave.
“…Oh, there’s one thing I want to ask.”
I thought she was going to leave the monitoring room, but she turned around abruptly and asked with a meaningful smile.
“Are you really saying that you’re protecting senpai because it’s your job?”
Suspicion. Insinuation. Provocation.
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
She’s sharp and jealous. This girl is already a Lipai “woman.”
“…Never mind if you don’t get it. But honestly, it’s really annoying when you pretend to be uninvolved and act all cool. Gentana, are you, je, alous?”
The twin tails that had only been provoking me disappeared into the quietly opening automatic door.
“Little girl, you don’t know anything.”
I wondered if my monologue had been audible as the door closed.