kscans

Chapter 477 - Someone Who'd Be in Textbooks

Parfait, Rhadia, and the man who appeared after their battle were heading to the Highway Star base.

They were riding double on the golem-type transforming pet "Lucky Seven," but since it seemed they were in a hurry, they had started moving before she could hear the full story.

There had been no introduction, but the man was undoubtedly a member of the clan "Highway Star." For some reason, he knew who Parfait was and seemed to know about her parents as well.

Rhadia also seemed to know about her parents, and her attitude had changed abruptly. She had asked her to keep their fight a secret, but Parfait wondered if it was really something that needed to be kept secret in a virtual reality world.

At first, she had been thrown off by Lucky Seven’s wild movements and speed, but she gradually got used to it and was able to ride without clinging desperately to Rhadia’s back.

It was only then that she voiced her question.

"Did you know me?"

"You’re Parfait-san, right? Hayato-san and Esha-san’s only daughter. I knew the name sounded familiar… Aaargh, I hate my bad memory…!"

Rhadia, who had turned to look back over her shoulder, was clearly lamenting, even just from her profile. In any case, she had been calling her by her name just a moment ago, but now she was adding ‘san’.

It didn’t seem to be for a bad reason, but it was a little creepy to have someone she didn’t know know who she was. And she couldn’t ignore the fact that they called her parents benefactors.

"First, you don’t need the san. And what do you mean my parents are your benefactors?"

"Really? Then I’ll call you Parfait. Yeah, I heard we were the same age, so I thought we could be friends. It’s funny that we met first in AFO."

Rhadia said that and laughed, "Ahaha," then her face changed as if she had remembered something.

"About the benefactor thing? Oh, so you don’t know? My Lee-neesan, the leader of our community in the real world, Hayato-san and Esha-san saved her a long time ago."

She had never heard such a story, but it didn’t seem like she was lying, so she asked for more details. Rhadia looked a little surprised, but she immediately smiled.

"Hayato-san and the others found Lee-neesan wandering a colony with amnesia and brought her to us."

"Heeh, something like that happened? First time I’ve heard it."

"But that’s just the official story."

"Huh? Official?"

If there was an official story, she wondered if there was an unofficial one as well, and it seemed that was exactly the case. The truth was a little different. When she asked to hear that, Rhadia happily began to speak.

"I don’t know the details, but apparently Lee-neesan was in cryosleep. About 120 years ago? Lee-neesan was a major outlaw back then, and she was captured and sent to what is now Colony ‘Prison’. Seems she was forcibly put to sleep and made to play AFO during some incident. With her memory erased. Hayato-san and the others found her and brought her to Earth."

"...Sorry, my brain can’t process that."

"I knooow. When I first heard it, I was like, ‘what are you talking about?’ I was just told this, I didn’t see it myself, but it seems it’s true Lee-neesan was saved, and she’s especially grateful to Hayato-san."

Rhadia seemed to completely believe that, regardless of the fine details, Hayato was Lee’s benefactor.

For Parfait, who was hearing this, she didn’t know which parts to believe and was confused. Or rather, she couldn’t believe any of it. And if you were going to lie, you’d tell a better lie. A lie that is obviously a lie is meaningless.

(Isn’t cryosleep something from sci-fi? A person from 120 years ago? Playing AFO while captured? What?)

She was in a state where she could dismiss Rhadia’s entire story as a lie. If the initial cryosleep part was a lie, then the whole thing would be a lie. In the first place, if such technology existed, it wouldn’t be strange for it to be publicly announced worldwide. However, she couldn’t deny the possibility that some foundation was hiding it.

As she was wondering how to think about it, Rhadia turned just her head and smiled.

"It’s not just Lee-neesan, we’re grateful too. About 20 years ago, we were major outlaws called ‘Hyena.’ I wasn’t born yet, though."

"Huh?"

"When Hayato-san brought Lee-neesan, he apparently brought people from the Foundations with him. Probably because you needed Foundation permission to enter the dangerous zones on Earth back then."

Parfait nodded.

She learned about that in school as part of Earth’s history. 20 years ago, many illegal groups existed in the dangerous zones on Earth, and it was said that only the private armies of the Foundations could oppose them. Because of that, the Earth Purification Project was facing difficulties.

However, something had happened to change things, and it became possible to negotiate with the groups that had no choice but to fight. The textbooks didn’t say what that something was, but it was said that the Libra, Leo, Pisces, and also Gemini and Scorpion Foundations were involved.

This part had been drilled into her head during her study sessions with Wilnel, so Parfait remembered it well.

"Our community is descended from the outlaw group Lee-neesan led 120 years ago. So everyone is super grateful to Hayato-san for bringing her back, and the negotiations with the Foundations went smoothly after that. Now we’re like an official Earth Purification Project team for the Foundations. Not just Lee-neesan, everyone from back then is beyond grateful!"

As Rhadia said that, the man with the mohawk on the ostrich-like animal nodded his head up and down with a smile that was visible even while he was running.

But Parfait thought that in itself was a problem.

"Um, doesn’t that make my dad the person who made negotiations with outlaw groups possible 20 years ago? At this rate, he’s the kind of person who’d be in a textbook, don’t you think?"

Whether it was "at this rate" or "if things went well," what would a teenage girl think when told that her father might appear in a history textbook?

Rather than feeling a sense of respect, she wanted to laugh and say, "No way." She thought Rhadia, who was also a teenager, would understand, but Rhadia just looked puzzled.

"He’s not in the Colony textbooks? Well, Hayato-san and Esha-san’s names are in our unofficial study materials, at least. They call them our saviors… come to think of it, I think I heard Hayato-san didn’t want the attention or something."

Parfait felt a little dizzy. It was clear that the reason for this was not that she was riding double on Lucky Seven.

Her parents were in the unofficial study materials used by a community on Earth, and they were even called saviors. She had heard from the maid chief, Rose, that her father, Hayato, was also called a savior in this AFO. At that time, it seemed he was called a savior because he was the only one who could hire the problem child Esha, but that could be passed off as a joke. This time, he was being called a savior for real.

Parfait was in a state where she couldn’t decide whether she should be angry and say, "Dad, what are you doing!" or be exasperated and say, "Dad, what are you doing…?"

"Huh? What’s wrong? You’ve gone all blank. Did you reach enlightenment?"

"I kind of feel like I want to go on a rampage right now…"

"I have days like that too. But it’s a bit of a problem when we’re riding double."

"Um, how much of that was a lie? Just say it was all a lie. I’ll forgive you with a smile if you say it now."

"It’s all true! That’s what our community teaches, and Lee-neesan herself says so. Besides, wasn’t there a movie about it? The lead actress was Ren-san. Lee-neesan was happily complaining, ‘I’m not that beautiful, she doesn’t look like me!’ I want to be a mysterious woman like that someday…!"

"...I’ve seen it… The plot was basically that… But that was a total sci-fi movie… you based this story on that movie, didn’t you?"

"It’s the other way around. The movie was made because this story happened. Lee-neesan gets royalties for the original concept or something. So even though it was before I was born, I’m sure it really happened… wait? Is it okay for me to be telling you this? I figured since you’re Hayato-san’s family, it’d be fine to tell you the unofficial story, but maybe I wasn’t supposed to…?"

"I don’t know, but probably not. It’s just… it’s all new to me and I don’t know what to think… I don’t think Dad kept it a secret, more like he just didn’t want to say anything."

If her father started saying, "I’m a savior," she would just think he must be tired. And she would silently hand him a brochure for Colony "Hospital." He probably didn’t say it because he knew that. Although, given her father’s personality, she didn’t think he would boast like that anyway.

Setting that aside, what should she do if it was true? Who should she question? Parfait was seriously troubled. Just a moment ago, she had been worrying about herself, but now her worries about her father had blown those away. In fact, her own little differences with those around her seemed like a trivial matter.

Regardless of the truth, she had some thoughts. Whenever she had asked Diite about her parents, she had always laughed and said, "I don’t think you’d believe me." That was why she always said she should try asking many people.

After thinking about various things, her brain felt like it was about to overheat, so she decided to put it on hold for now. However, Parfait swore in her heart that the next time she went to Earth, she would have to confirm the study materials that Rhadia mentioned.