Episode 11: "Kazuki's Deduction"

Kazuki Aoyama
"Excellent work assisting those in need over at Rubble Mountain. I apologize in advance, but there's something we need to discuss before everyone takes a break."

As soon as everyone shuffled back into the secret base, Kazuki called for a meeting.

Kazuki Aoyama
"There are a lot of things that aren't sitting right with me. First up, dominance power.
I believed there was a system behind its determination."

Yutaka Gotanda
"Ah, yes. I believe you mentioned something like that before."

Kazuki Aoyama
"I gave it a bit more thought since then. I think it would be too difficult for a machine to be able to determine something as vague as superiority."

Yo did think it was rather odd.
After all, when it comes to dominance power, it'd be impossible for even the most advanced AI to convert such a vague concept into a concrete number.

Tsuruko Semba
"And what do you suppose is behind it?"

Kazuki Aoyama
"I think there's actual people changing the data."

Yo Kuronaka
"Is that even possible?"

Yo couldn't imagine it was possible for humans to be able to calculate the dominance power for the many people who lived in Minato City.

Kazuki Aoyama
"It's only a hypothesis. But, say there's a lot of people with a knack for technology. The app being used here could be collecting our voice data and other information.
Then, when you think back, there's also an abnormal amount of cameras placed pretty much everywhere throughout the city."

Koishi Kohinata
"Oh! Like the ones we found in the residential area!"

Kazuki Aoyama
"They managed to pull the wool over our eyes. I think what's actually happening in this city is nothing more than a charade."

Exasperated, he said those words as he looked at his phone's screen.

Tsuki Iroha
"But, then, like... who's actually behind everything? People hired by Zero?"

Kazuki Aoyama
"Even if it's corrupt, it would still be a job connected to the very foundation of the governing rules. Is it possible he'd even be able to trust people only doing it for money?
They could be people who have no other choice because they're being threatened. Or..."

Yutaka Gotanda
"...Perhaps they're people who find merit in doing such a job?"

Yutaka's glasses shined.

Kazuki Aoyama
"You're thinking the same thing I am. But, sadly, all of this is just based on deductions. We've got zero proof so maybe it'd be better if we stop imagining the what-ifs."

Tsuki Iroha
"If there really are people behind everything, I wonder if we could track them down and just... ask them to raise our dominance power?"

Kazuki Aoyama
"No doubt that would be quicker than the current method. Unfortunately, we don't have any means of contacting them.
We don't even have any idea who they could be."

Koishi Kohinata
"I guess that means we just gotta continue raising them like we have been?"

Kazuki Aoyama
"For the time being. Let's go ahead and check the current standings. Who's the King?"

As he said those words, the rankings appeared before them.
He scrolled through the screen to confirm their positions.

Kazuki Aoyama
"As usual, even though our dominance powers have respectively risen, our ranking hasn't moved significantly. Yo is still the highest ranked among us, but he's still pretty far from becoming a Noble."

Yo's standing had gone up a great deal by helping all those people at Rubble Mountain, but it hadn't been enough to make him a Noble.

Tsuruko Semba
"Guess that means we just gotta work even harder to raise our dominance power!"

Kazuki Aoyama
"That's much easier said than done, but... hm?"

Kazuki's eyes suddenly narrowed as he was scrolling through the rankings.

Yutaka Gotanda
"What's the matter?"

Kazuki Aoyama
"I... can't help but notice that the names at the top of the rankings haven't really changed much since we arrived at Minato City."

As prompted by Kazuki, when everyone looked at the screen, they saw the names of the people in the top seven.

[1 - SUI YAKUMO - KING]
[2 - TAKETORA YANAI - NOBLE]
[3 - ROBINSON SON - NOBLE]
[4 - RAKKAN TAKIZAKI - NOBLE]
[5 - AFURI SAJI - NOBLE]
[6 - WAICHI TAKAHARA - NOBLE]
[7 - KINKATSU SHIGETA - NOBLE]

Tsuki Iroha
"Oh wow! Those people must really be amazing. It'd take us an eternity to catch up!"

Kazuki Aoyama
"Wait, take a look at this. It's a screenshot of the rankings I took a bit ago."

[1 - SUI YAKUMO - KING]
[2 - ROBINSON SON - NOBLE]
[3 - TAKETORA YANAI - NOBLE]
[4 - KINKATSU SHIGETA - NOBLE]
[5 - RAKKAN TAKIZAKI - NOBLE]
[6 - KAOTAN MORI - NOBLE]
[7 - AFURI SAJI - NOBLE]

Kazuki Aoyama
"And I took this one when we met up at the Lovely Ocean."

[1 - SUI YAKUMO - KING]
[2 - ROBINSON SON - NOBLE]
[3 - TAKETORA YANAI - NOBLE]
[4 - KINKATSU SHIGETA - NOBLE]
[5 - RAKKAN TAKIZAKI - NOBLE]
[6 - KAOTAN MORI - NOBLE]
[7 - AFURI SAJI - NOBLE]

Kazuki Aoyama
"And this is when I first checked them at the secret base."

[1 - SUI YAKUMO - KING]
[2 - TAKETORA YANAI - NOBLE]
[3 - ROBINSON SON - NOBLE]
[4 - RAKKAN TAKIZAKI - NOBLE]
[5 - AFURI SAJI - NOBLE]
[6 - WAICHI TAKAHARA - NOBLE]
[7 - KINKATSU SHIGETA - NOBLE]

Koishi Kohinata
"It looks like the rankings shift around a good deal..."

Kazuki Aoyama
"Take a closer look. Everyone's rankings shift around a little, but the names of the Nobles on top don't ever change."

Yutaka Gotanda
"You would think with such intense fluctuations, it would be quite difficult to maintain a top position..."

Considering the nature of the Minato Rankingdom, it was easy for rank upsets to occur.
It was strange that there weren't more fluctuations among those in the Noble rank to begin with.
Nevertheless, ever since Yo and the others arrived in Minato City, there hasn't been a Commoner who's broken into the Noble rank.
Even Yo, who had accumulated a lot of points earlier, hadn't made it to Noble.
No matter which way you slice it, the situation seemed strange.

Kazuki Aoyama
"Well, seeing as how all the top rankings haven't shifted at all. We may have just gotten our biggest clue."

The moment he whispered those words and nodded his head...

System Voice
"A large decrease in dominance has been detected. Your rank has been downgraded to Beggar."

The system voice suddenly rung out from everyone's phones, announcing that their ranks had dropped to Beggar.

Tsuki Iroha
"H-Huh?! W-What's going on?!"

Tsuki yelled out in shock.
All of their ranks should have been floating well within the safe zone.
There was no way their ranks could have fallen all the way to Beggar.

System Voice
"To avoid needing to flee the city, please quickly head outside."

The system voice continued, issuing strange orders.

Tsuruko Semba
"Why the heck does it want us to go outside?!"

Kazuki Aoyama
"Just listen to it for now! Everyone, outside!"

There was no time to doubt the orders.
If they didn't immediately find a way to climb from Beggar, they would all be killed by the laser. Everyone bolted out of the secret base.

Santaro Mita
"What just happened..."

Santaro whispered as he looked up to the sky.
It didn't seem as though everyone was going to get smited by the laser. Their rank had miraculously returned to Commoner.

System Voice
"Please excuse that. A forced system change caused a small error in the system. We apologize for any alarm caused."

The system continued speaking strangely.
Kazuki's phone suddenly began shining an incredibly bright beam of light; a large, round emoji appeared on one of the building walls.

Yo Kuronaka
"What the...?"

Yo and the others looked up at the emoji on the wall in shock.
It was hard to keep track of what was going on. It was just one strange incident after another.

Kazuki Aoyama
"...Care to explain yourself, Mr. System Voice? Considering the timing of your intervention, I think I may be able to figure out just what's going on."

Looking unfazed, Kazuki looked up and talked to the emoji.

System Voice
"It is exactly as you deduced, Kazuki Aoyama."

The system voice responded plainly to Kazuki's question.
It's voice was robotic, but the way it spoke felt roughly human.

Kazuki Aoyama
"So you're admitting to being the person behind the determination of dominance power?"

System Voice
"To be a touch more precise, we only handle a portion of it. Most of the trivial matters are left to an AI. It is also not a single individual.
Rather, we are an organization composed of a limited number of top Nobles. You may call us the Influencers."

It turned out that Kazuki was dead on. AI wasn't behind the calculation of dominance power. And what everyone thought was simply a system voice was actually that of a human group.

Kazuki Aoyama
"...What do you Influencers want with us?"

Influencer
"We were hoping you would be open to negotiations. Whether you would want to our not, is up to you all.

Kazuki Aoyama
"Before we make a decision, may I ask a few questions?"

Influencer
"We will answer as much as we can."

Kazuki Aoyama
"First off, why were you all given this authority?
The moment humans become the ones behind determination, fairness goes right out the window."

Influencer
"We had existed as an organization for some time, but it was only recently that we began determining dominance power. Up until the previous King, dominance power had been wholly determined by AI."

Kazuki Aoyama
"Why were things changed so quickly?"

Influencer
"All we've heard is that it was Sui Yakumo's will. We do not fully understand it, but it has something to do with a reward of some kind."

Yutaka Gotanda
"A reward? Perhaps he changed things around when he became part of the Numbers."

To those Zero selected to become part of the Numbers, he offered them a reward when they took up their position.
It was different from an ultra reward; there were limits on what could be granted, and it all depends on Zero's mood.
When Sui became Number 9, it's possible he used his reward to change Minato Rankingdom's rules. All to make them more favorable for himself.

Influencer
"It seemed he desired the unstable determinations made by humans more so than the strict determination made by AI. We were given directions to create extreme fluctuations, even if that caused more and more people to become Beggars leading to them fleeing the city."

The emoji kept constantly changing as the Influencer continued to speak.
It started off as a smiling one, then a sweat drop appeared upon its face, before suddenly changing to one with sunglasses.

Santaro Mita
"...So that's what that punk did. Damn it! That's why this city has fallen to ruin!"

Santaro violently chewed on the leaf he had in his mouth.
It was clear as the previous King, he felt responsible for being dethroned by Sui.

Kazuki Aoyama
"So, what's in it for you lot? Doubt you're doing this out of the kindness of your hearts."

Influencer
"We were granted the rank of Noble, which means a permanent guarantee on our survival. We also have the right to decide promotions into the Noble rank."

Kazuki Aoyama
"I see..."

It seemed as though the reason why the Noble ranks didn't see many shifts was because the system was guaranteeing their positions.
No matter how many points someone earned, a Commoner couldn't rise to the rank of Noble without their say. Which meant the system that controlled the Minato Rankingdom was rigged from the moment they got here.

Influencer
"If that's all your questions, we'd like to get back to what we were trying to convey. We would like you all to come to Odaiba Plaza. We can continue this discussion there. Goodbye."

The emoji that was being projected suddenly disappeared along with the Influencer's voice.

Tsuruko Semba
"Not gonna lie, this is mighty suspicious..."

Yutaka Gotanda
"They mentioned wanting to negotiate with us. Perhaps they have a deal they would like to propose?"

Everyone looked at each other as they tried to figure out their next move.
Should they head to the Odaiba Plaza like they were asked to even if it could be a trap?
However, no matter how much they discussed, they couldn't arrive at an answer...

Tsuki Iroha
"Well, what do you think, Yo?"

Tsuki left the decision to Yo.

Yo Kuronaka
"...The entire thing is shady. I'm not sure what they'd even want from us. But at the same time this might also be our chance to shortcut becoming a Noble. so I think we should go."

The Influencer was suspicious, but it's not like they had any other options.
Accepting this invitation might be their only way of breaking the deadlock they found themselves in.

Tsuki Iroha
"Yeah, you're right! We're doing this to save Sui after all!"

The group prepared themselves mentally for the trip before making their way to Odaiba Plaza, leaving Santaro and the Four Children behind to hold down the fort.