Washu played back the part that Naja pointed out. It was a porn film. The two of them gazed intently at the monitor for a moment, entranced.
“I’ve never seen one so…intense before. Say, Washu.”
“You want a copy of this?”
“Yeah.”
Eventually, they finally fished out what they were looking for: the identity of the Academy’s greatest hacker. “H-him??” they muttered, staring at the monitor, dumbfounded. The picture on the monitor was none other than Clay.
“Well, it’s darkest under the lamppost, as they say,” Naja mused. “I suppose it’s not surprising. Still, this could be a nuisance. Maybe we could get some dirt on him and make him cooperate? But then he’d have dirt on us.” Dealing with Clay would be tricky. Naja was lost in thought.
Washu turned to her, determined. “But…”
“I know. We need his help.”
“His skills, you mean,” Washu said, despondent.
“Yes… That’s it, Washu-chan!”
“What?”
“We only need help from his skills. Heh heh heh.” Having come up with a cunning plan, Naja laughed suggestively. “We hack into his system, the whole thing. Figure out which parts are heavily guarded. Oh, and be sure to use my lab equipment…” As soon as Naja got an idea into her head, she carried it out at once. That was who she was and what made her great.
Seeing her friend working briskly gave Washu confidence, but she also felt a little bit sorry for herself. This meant she had to cross paths with Clay.
Before the day was over, they identified the location Clay used to store valuable files. Washu talked to Naja, who was furiously tapping away on the keyboard. “What are we going to do now, Naja?”
“Like I thought, there are traps and malware set up to guard against any outside access… But his own equipment shouldn’t have anything like that.”
“His own…? You’re not actually talking about…”
“Yeah. We’re going to sneak into his house and take the information.”
Washu now understood what Naja had been laughing about earlier. “But how? The security system…”
“Washu-chan, the Academy develops its own security. It’s good enough for official use in Royal business, so why would anybody use some other system? That stingy Clay would never actually pay for anything when he didn’t have to. Besides, the security is controlled by the Department of Philosophy’s office, and it’s further supervised by the Student Union Information Bureau security department,” Naja said, a broad smile of satisfaction stretching across her face.
“Just like handing a spare key to a thief… Oh! Wait, you mean the security system you put on your own system at your expense…?”
“Duh. I couldn’t let the office handle it, that’s too dangerous.”
“I hate grown-ups…”
“I didn’t have much choice. I blame the people who weren’t doing their jobs.”
“…?!”
“Don’t you know, being in the Department of Philosophy?” Naja asked. “Each researcher, upon request from a researcher above Class 3 in the Department of Philosophy, is obligated to submit their findings… But quite a few don’t bother.”
“If they’re in the middle of the study, they should be excluded from that obligation.”
“You should know, being a scientist. The point of completion depends on individual interpretation. It’s the same logic used by a new highway that refuses to reduce its toll to pay off the road even after the promised numbers of years of higher prices has passed.”
“Urk, that’s quite a persuasive comparison…”
“Is it usable or not? The Philosophy researchers will decide. This place isn’t for hobbyists. If people can’t use the results… For example, even if a car could be built with a new technology, some kid’s tricycle is still more useful to society if that tech is just a report sitting in a desk drawer.” Naja’s tone became increasingly rough.
“You must’ve had a terrible experience, Naja.”
“They said, ‘Nobody appreciates the true value of my research!’”
“Now, now.” Washu soothed her. “I bet you doled out some payback.”
“I developed it myself—something better than theirs. And I wrote up all their defects and shortcomings in a report and sent it to them.”
“I can just imagine their mortified faces.”
“It made me feel better, but I wasted my time,” Naja said. “In any case, this institution’s original point has been twisted. And the laws can’t be revised because the legislators are all on the other side.”
“So that’s why there’s an Information Bureau.”
“It’s supposed to be there to protect the technology…”
“Is it really a part of the Student Union?”
Naja paused, apparently lost in thought.
“What?”
“It’s a secret. ♥” They blankly stared at each other.
“Maybe I should pay to install my own security system.”
“I’ll do the installation for you.”
That night, Washu and Naja staked out Clay’s mansion, waiting for an opportunity to sneak in. Clay, having breathed in the sleeping gas Naja fed into the security system, was snoring in bed.
“Nerds are so sad. He may boast an ironclad firewall online, but he’s defenseless against a simple physical burglary.”
“How is this a ‘simple burglary?’” asked Washu. “We have military-grade special ops equipment.”
“Of course we do. It was all developed by the Academy.”
“The Academy is kind of a nasty place.”
“Here it is.” In a few minutes, they found Clay’s hidden safe.
“How did you find it so fast?”
“I have a monopoly on that kind of information.”
“Even details like that are leaked?”
“Only what could be located where.”
Washu put the data disc from the safe into her portable terminal and booted it up. “You were right, it doesn’t even have a password.” The data was already compressed, and she copied it quickly. “I’m done.”
“Then we don’t need to linger.”
Washu put the disc back into the safe and got up to leave at once.
“Washu-chan, this outfit is in rather bad taste, isn’t it?” Naja pointed to the clothes by Clay’s bedside.
“I’ve only seen him in his uniform or his lab coat.”
“Isn’t this outfit Medici?”*
“So he splurged, for once. Let’s go, Naja.” Naja did not move. “What are you doing? Come on.”
“It’s got to be for a woman,” Naja muttered in conclusion, arms crossed.
“Naja! This is a bad habit of yours. Come on and let’s go.” Washu seized Naja by her collar, and they escaped from Clay’s mansion.
For thirty whole hours afterwards, Washu did not sleep a wink, spending every minute looking through Clay’s data.