“By the way, Araka, I forgot to mention something,” Huashin said, while lifting her headset from her head: “I know you may still have some questions about the bully.”

“It had been almost a full year ago, so I guess it wouldn’t really matter,” Araka sighed and said, “at least Jinhui was saved.”

——

As all of us changed into triathlon outfits, we were sent to the top of the mountain behind the complex. From there, we got each of our assigned bikes and gears. I took a closer look at the bike - all of them were equipped with a device, and from the description, it was for adjusting the centre of gravity when riding.

"Their bikes are pretty sturdy ," Tenka commented while getting on her bike: “it’s even better than a mountain bike.”

"Tenka, are you able to ride a bike?" Jun asked. 

"Umm, yes, though I’m not that good at it. I just rode to school. How about you, Sara-cha?"

"I've done some cycling with Jun, but nothing exceptional.”

"Then you two shouldn’t need to worry about it too much though," Jun said, "These bikes seem to have the auto-balancing mechanism, which means even for someone who hasn't ridden a bike before, it would remain stable.”

“Plus, Janmin said earlier that we don’t even have to score high to get a green bar on our gadget,” Sukeo added. 

Meanwhile, despite being able to see the crowd, I still couldn’t spot Jinhui. Instead, I managed to spot someone who might have been the one Jinlin mentioned - a tall one with a bold shoulder. 

"Get ready. Take your mark,” Meanwhile, Janmin started the countdown: “Three, two, one, go!"

As soon as the signal turned green, everyone in the line rushed forward. While the road surface was smooth, throughout the course, sharp curves and terrains were everywhere. As we progressed through the course, it didn’t take very long for Jun to take the lead among the participants; Meanwhile, Sukeo and I were with the majority, and I even managed to move faster than I usually do; and Tenka, being the one with least experience, was among the tail of the main group. 

As the participants started pulling away, Okuri, the one who just had a conversation with us earlier this morning, pulled forward from the back despite being inside an uphill section. 

"Hello, nice to see you again," Okuri greeted us.

"He-hello," I replied while exhaling heavily. It became slightly challenging to maintain my pace in the uphill section. 

 "Sukeo, Where is Jun?" Okuri asked.

“He’s ahead of us,” Sukeo replied without turning his head: “he’ll get the two green bars for this one.”

“Couldn’t believe that robot-making guy is a good cyclist,” Okuri said, “maybe your school should have a competitive cycling team.”

"Okuri,” I said while breathing heavily, “you can pass. You don’t have to stay with us.”

"Don’t worry, I will stick with you guys for now,” Okuri smirked: “I need to save some energy for the later activities.”

Just as we were talking, I heard a familiar voice. 

"Come onnnnnn, you little bike!" 

Tenka, with a focused face, rushed forward and even passed several participants. It was as if Tenka was sprinting for her life. 

"Tenka, you need to save some energy for later activities,” I said while panting, “even for this one, we are only two third.”

"Huh- " Tenka exhaled heavily while trying to close the gap, "but I’m - I'm doing it - the Hanyo bath - the bath really works."

At the same time, my mind wasn’t even thinking about Tenka, but about Jinhui -- ever since the beginning, I hadn’t spotted her. 

Then, it was when I overheard a conversation ahead of me, that I started to find traces of Jinhui again: a cluster of participants who were arguing with each other. 

"Is that all you can do!?" The muscled guy shouted, “You still didn’t quit, huh? And you’re blocking my path.”

"Please - please just leave me alone - if you can do it, you can pass me- " The girl with short hair said. It seemed like she was almost exhausted. 

"Hey, enough! You should stop bullying her," another young man, who was wearing glasses, tried to stop the taller man. 

"She had been like this all the time!" The guy steered his bike to the right that almost made the short haired girl lose control over her bike. 

"Hey stop!”, the other girl in the group said.

"See." The muscled guy made the others take a look at the girl - the girl who just got pushed seemed to speed up a bit. However, as I made my way forward, unlike Tenka, there was almost no courage on her face. 

"Do you remember what Janmin said,” the guy with glasses said. 

 "Shut up!" The muscled man shouted, "I'm helping her! You guys are freakin noisy!”

As soon as the muscled guy shouted, the group went into full silence. Then, the muscled guy sped up and left the remaining cluster behind. 

“Wait, wasn’t that Jinhui, the one we met earlier in the Hanyo?” Tenka said as she managed to see the face. 

Just as I was getting closer to have a check, expecting the girl to slow down, she instead sped up with her head down - the worst thing to do while riding a bike. 

"No, she's in danger." I muttered.

“Wait, what?” Tenka said.  

“Let me check that,” Okuri, who was with us, moved ahead. He now was several bikes ahead from Jinhui. While I was expecting Okuri to come back, he instead called the girl out loud. 

"Hey! Slow down! There is a downward sharp curve ahead!”

Jinhui didn’t respond. 

"That’s dangerous,” Sukeo muttered. “Araka and Tenka, could you help me? Araka, you come with me if you’re really good at it or cycling; Tenka, tell those behind us there is an accident ahead.”

We nodded. Then as me and Sukeo also made to where Jinhui was at, I shouted to Jinhui again: “Jinhui! Look up!”

She didn’t respond. It’s worse than I thought, I talked to myself. Then, suddenly, I came up with an idea. 

"Okuri, you said you have good vision, right? Since you spotted the slope, could you find any buffer beneath the slope?” 

Okuri, who had already entered the slope, said: “I spotted a grass patch, but -”

“But what?” Sukeo said.

“There is also a guardrail at the end of the slope.”

"I see, thank you," Sukeo, without hesitation, moved ahead and positioned himself right: "Araka, get to her left side and knock her bike toward the grass patch on the right in case the bike doesn't stop."

I nodded. At that time, I still had no idea why I was so certain. 

It was until Jinhui’s bike fully entered the slope that she started to be aware about what happened.

“Ahhh!” She screamed.

"Get your brake!" I shouted as I got closer to her. 

Jinhui listened and applied her brake, and while the bike slowed down a bit, it was still too fast - the momentum overcame the brake.

“Lean yourself to the right and prepare for impact!” Sukeo said. Then, Sukeo turned toward me and said: "Araka, knock her bike down!"

I leaned my bike in the same direction as Jinhui’s bike, which forced Jinhui to make a sharp turn. Then, as expected, she slid off the bike and landed on the grass patch with her legs, while her bike slid forward and hit the guardrail nearby. 

As both me and Sukeo exited the slope, we spotted Okuri, who had already parked the bike nearby.

“How is the girl? Is she okay?”

“She’s fine - she landed inside the grass patch on her knees,” Sukeo said, “But I guess she needs some help.”

As we three headed back, we found Jinhui lying on the ground, barely holding back her pain. 

"Ahh- ", she groaned.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She didn’t respond, 

"So at least she’s conscious,” Okuri said, “but she still needs help from the medics.”

As Jinhui finally calmed down, she first turned her face toward me, lips moving slowly: "Sara, you guys- you guys can leave me here. I can handle this -“

"No, we won’t leave until the staff pick you up,” I said.

"But that means you will fail the exam!" Jinhui looked very concerned while bearing her own pain, "I don't want you guys to be dragged by someone useless like me- "

"You’re not useless!" Okuri called, "the guy literally rigged your game.”

"That's right. Your sister, Jinlin, told me to take care of you whenever it's necessary," I explained, "she had been worried about you all the time."

"You guys, you guys are so nice- " as she was speaking, Jinhui's eyes slowly filled with tears, "I haven't seen anyone other than my sister who cared for me this much!"

As Jinhui adjusted herself, Tenka also arrived along with the staff. 

“She’s right there,” Tenka directed the staff to the site, “Sara-cha, is Jinhui hurt?”

I nodded: “She had some bruises on her knees, but the grass cushioned her.”

"I see," the medical staff took over the scene, and then looked around, seeing the bike on the ground in distance: “It’s fortunate that you fell onto that. 

“Than-thank you,” Jinhui said again. 

Later that day, after the activities, we went back to the dormitory complex. Everyone was tired, but at least it paid off - Jinhui was saved. To relax ourselves, Tenka and I decided to hit the shower. However, as we entered the hallway, I heard someone shouting.  

"Nooo!! Just leave me alone!!”

"Is that Jinhui?" Tenka seemed to recognize the noise, "The bully must have found her."

We followed the sound and rushed to the scene, seeing a heavily muscled young man blocking a short girl. As soon as I saw the hair of the girl, I soon realized she was indeed Jinhui, and the man was the same person we saw during the biking activity that had talks with her - the bully. 

"Hey, stop what you are doing here!" Tenka gave her warning.

"It's non of your business," the bully replied, "Look, I'm not bullying her."

"Yes, you are, all the time," I followed. 

"You liar!" Jinhui said, “I told you to leave me alone after I passed the second exam, and I did, but you still tried to do that to me!”

"Shut up! You're the one who're making me look bad!" As the bully shouted out, he started pressing onto Jinhui, locking her into the corner. 

"I don’t know what your name is, but,” I raised my tone, "You almost killed her!"

"That’s her fault to go that fast," the bully turned back and replied calmly, "she could choose to stay behind and everything should be fine.”

"'Everything should be fine', by meaning you're going to bully her when no one's around her," Tenka replied, "I've heard everything."

"Huh, that's, you know, just a way to say things. It's her fault to take that literally."

"And, literally, you're the worst.” 

Just as I finished my sentence, the bully turned his head down and 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course I'm the worst. And who are you, an invigilator?”

"Do you think you really get away with this?" Tenka said.

"Haha of course, you should know who I really is," the bully had taken off his clothes and revealed a tattoo. It was the family emblem of the Shiyami clan (石門家), which was influential within the government. 

"So you're a Shiyami!?" Tenka was shocked.

"Of course I am. Not only that, my family have connection with members works within many parts of the government," the bully seemed even more fanatic. 

"What should we do, Sara-cha?" Tenka seemed to panic. Indeed, when the name Shiyami was brought up, people would think if they got in trouble. Suddenly, I got an idea - something I still found extraordinary. 

“You’re here boasting about being a Shiyami, while you didn’t even know who’s in front of you?”

“Huh, so someone wearing a plain white hairpin could think of challenging me?”

It worked, I thought and smirked, while pulling down my hoodie a bit more. 

“After all, you’re not the only one who is a VIP here.”

I displayed the crest on my Kashi necklace - the one with three leaves inside a triangle - it’s the emblem of the Sakashi branch of the Peni clan. 

"That's impossible! You’re bluffing, ain’t you?”

“What makes you think so? Huh? It’s a complete disaster for anyone in your clan to raise someone like you. Plus, who, a normal person, would tattoo the family crest onto yourself?” 

"You - you don’t have any place to lecture me,” while the bully was still resisting, I could see he was starting to lose ground. Just one more push, my instinct told myself. 

"You're surprised, huh, to find someone who's in the core circle of the nation on this so-called 'playground'?"

The bully’s face turned red. It was clear he was furious, but couldn’t do much more. 

“After all, I didn’t hit anyone, but if you want to hit me, you won’t be the first person to be affected - it would be your parents,” I pressed further, “surely beating a young, defenseless Peni heiress would be something to be proud of, huh?”

The bully turned away, walked away, and shouted when getting further enough without people noticing. 

——

“That,” As the episode came to the end, Huashin commented while pausing, “was actually when we, the invigilators, noticed your Matake cognition was awakening.”

“Wait, so it’s not from the time I managed to take over everyone in the mountain trail? Or my cognition during the simulation later that day?”

“Because this was the episode in your memory that was the clearest, clearer than anything else that happened before,” Huashin said calmly, “and when I saw it from my console, everyone’s face became clear.”

That’s right, Araka thought, Jinhui was the first person I managed to save. 

“So, what happened to the bully after the entrance exam?” Araka asked.

“After all, we learned he was getting in because there were some loopholes within the SAIR system that allowed him to get in, and that shouldn’t surprise you if you remember what SAIR East was like before the Milo group base was toppled. But still, he seemed to have learned his lesson and supposedly, he should be allowed to take the exam this year.”

“So was he Shiyami after all?”

“That’s part we are still unsure about - he was adopted, though there was almost no connection to any living members of the Shiyami clan.”

“I see,” Araka said.

“Still, what seemed rather confusing, even to me,” Huashin continued, “was that Jinlin sees you as some kind of rival after learning you have Matake, even though theoretically it was your Matake influenced cognition that saved Jinhui.”

Araka nodded.

“But I guess we can shift to the next page of your memory, which was when we interviewed you after the second day of simulation, and more importantly, how we are certain you indeed have Matake.”

Araka nodded again. However, for this time, she was thinking of something else - the fact she had come so far, from someone who was slightly quirkier, to a Matake user whose power created both courage and uncertainty.

And everything started from that one time, when I faced that bully, when I saved a girl who was bullied, when I believed that I wanted to be Ms. Possible. Araka told herself.