Chapter 80: Reunion

Akira runs Shin through the campus economy at Japan Clear Creation, rattling off part-time roles like floaters, spotters, and test subjects, each paying better and carrying more risk than the last. The mysterious database, Shin gathers, functions almost as campus folklore. Turning to Seba, he learns that research students such as his companion outrank undergraduates and juggle fewer classes.

Shin picks up more of Seba's pedigree: a top graduation project, and the first weapons-production student in fifteen years to claim the Yoshimura prize, a record that earned him the label of genius. Trailing him down an alley, Shin is caught off guard when Seba admits he already knows of the database hunt and asks how Shin pictures the thing. Shin guesses a book, though he reasons the sheer number of students and generations would swell it to the size of a manga cafe. Seba counters that anything so hard to locate has surely been digitized, and points him toward the oldest instructor on staff.

In a lecture on masking one's aggression, a blindfolded teacher proves untouchable to his students. Shin presses him about the records, but the man brushes off an outsider. A wager follows: land one hit while blindfolded and the teacher will talk. The instructor draws a gun instead, and Shin drops him with a single kick. A woman then closes in with her intent hidden, floors Shin, and introduces herself as Satoda, calling the fallen man her assistant. Years ago, she recalls, three fools came chasing the very same secret.

Satoda, a veteran instructor, debuts by effortlessly overpowering Shin, positioning herself as the gatekeeper to the database he seeks. Her closing remark about three past seekers hints at an earlier attempt to reach the same records. The JCC janitor Byodo also makes a first appearance.

Carrying the Japanese title Saikai, meaning reunion, this eightieth chapter continues the JCC Infiltration Arc and opens Volume 10. It saw print in the thirty-fourth 2022 issue with a late-July release date. Kashima, Amane, Shin, Seba, and Akira Akao appear, with Mafuyu Seba shown in a photograph.