After several minutes of everyone silently scrolling through their smartphones, I let out a heavy sigh. Taking that as a cue, everyone looked up from their screens simultaneously.
Yuji was the first to speak, his expression grim as he voiced the thoughts weighing on all of us.
"…I guess our bad feeling was right on the money, wasn't it?"
"…Yeah, probably."
"…I agree."
Hiiragi-san and I mirrored Yuji’s bitter expression. We were already dreading the complications lurking behind this sudden spotlight.
"???"
Mika and Saori-chan, however, looked confused. They didn't seem to grasp why we were so gloomy, so I decided to explain the situation to them. Depending on how this played out, there was a real chance we wouldn’t be able to provide them with any backup for a while.
"Look, you two were checking the web as well. Did you notice how it seems like only the videos featuring us are being singled out for attention? It’s as if they’re being targeted."
"Yeah," Mika nodded. "Compared to other similar videos, the view counts on the ones we’re in are ten times higher. They're on a completely different level."
"Right. But doesn’t that strike you as odd? If there are multiple videos of the same event uploaded, the views would normally be spread out among them at least a little. But in this case, almost every video featuring us has seen a massive, uniform spike in traffic. It doesn't matter if the footage is blurry or a clear wide shot—if we're in it, it’s blowing up."
"Now that you mention it…"
Mika and Saori-chan both looked thoughtful as the strangeness of the situation began to sink in.
"Furthermore, when you look at the message boards and social media accounts linked to those videos, the conversation is incredibly heated, isn't it?"
"Yes, unnaturally so," Yuji added.
"Even if there’s a certain novelty to the first sports festival involving student explorers, plenty of similar demonstration videos have been uploaded before," Hiiragi-san noted. "That includes videos posted by other student explorers just for fun."
The videos Hiiragi-san was talking about were usually flashy, high-production demonstrations with added sound effects and visual filters. They were far more professional-looking than our footage, which looked like raw, unedited home movies.
"Our demonstration at the sports festival might have been a bit flashy, but it should have been just one video among many. Yet, for some reason, only the videos featuring us are being cherry-picked and hyped up."
"Does that mean… someone is deliberately steering the conversation to make this happen?" Saori-chan asked, her expression growing anxious.
I nodded, confirming her suspicion with a clear tone.
"If you look at the logs on the boards and social media, you can see traces of a group subtly inciting the crowd and guiding the narrative."
"Yeah, I caught that too," Yuji said. "Every time the topic started to drift, there were people subtly nudging it back on track."
"Moreover," Hiiragi-san added, "if you look closely at the content of their posts, they clearly know us. There are several details mentioned that no one would know unless they attended our school."
"……"
Mika and Saori-chan went stiff, their expressions frozen. It was only natural to be stunned when told you were the target of a manufactured controversy. And knowing the instigators were likely school insiders only made the situation feel more ominous.
"When you organize the facts like this, the list of suspects who would spread these videos and manipulate the boards narrows down quite a bit, wouldn't you say?"
"…Onii-chan. Are you saying you think Goto-kun and his friends are the culprits?" Mika asked.
"As of now, I can't think of anyone else who would target us like this. Though, calling it an 'attack' might be a bit much—it's more like a calculated form of harassment."
While it was a shade of gray very close to black, we lacked definitive proof that it was the Goto group's doing. But they were certainly the most likely candidates.
"Basically, the goal of the people behind this is to expose us—specifically the three of us—to the public eye and keep us under scrutiny."
"They're likely trying to use the public's gaze as a deterrent to keep us from moving freely," Yuji explained. "The reality is that if a person who is currently a hot topic causes even a minor incident, it draws an immense amount of negative attention."
"With these view counts, we won't be national celebrities, but we'll certainly be well-known locally," Hiiragi-san said with a frown. "If we make a wrong move now, rumors will sprout legs and gain a life of their own, embellished with all sorts of nonsense for the public’s amusement."
The three of us sighed. Any sane person would be forced to keep a low profile while under that kind of spotlight. Judging by the reactions of the people who had approached me earlier, our name recognition among student explorers was already rising. It was a massive pain, and I was already dreading the reaction at school tomorrow.
"And there's another problem."
"What? There's more!?" Mika cried out.
"Yeah, unfortunately," I replied with a wry smile. "If the Goto group is indeed behind this, don't you feel like something is slightly off?"
"Something off? Well, now that you mention it… considering how Goto-kun and his group usually operate, this does feel different."
"Exactly."
"B-but, Onii-san. If that's the case, what's the real issue?" Saori-chan asked, tilting her head in confusion.
I voiced the deeper concern lurking behind the commotion.
"Based on what you two told us about how Goto and his friends operate, this isn't their usual style, right?"
"N-no."
"Right," Saori-chan agreed. "Until now, Goto-kun's method was to flaunt his power as an explorer while winning people over with money or favors to expand his group."
"Exactly. But this time, they’ve suddenly switched to a completely different type of strategy—using underhanded tactics to pin down an opponent's movements."
Mika and Saori-chan looked startled, while Yuji and Hiiragi-san nodded grimly.
"You could argue it's a desperate measure they squeezed out after being cornered, but the way the comments are being guided is too smooth. There’s no sign of the franticness you'd expect from people who are mentally pushed to the edge."
"Yeah," Yuji said. "They're watching the flow of the conversation calmly. When the topic drifts, they guide it back without any sign of panic. Usually, when someone in a rush tries to manipulate a discussion, they end up being too forceful and get accused of trolling. These guys aren't making those mistakes."
"In other words," Hiiragi-san concluded, "this isn't a haphazard response born of desperation. It's a calculated operation with a clear objective and method."
Judging by the timestamps on the message boards, they started moving almost immediately after the sports festival ended. It would be nearly impossible for a group of people who had just been humiliated to regain their composure, devise a counter-strategy, and begin execution in just a few hours.
Which meant…
"In my opinion, behind this commotion, there’s likely a third-party advisor with hostile intent. Someone who is helping Goto-kun and the others because they view our rise as a threat."
"Someone who doesn't want to oppose us openly, but finds us an eyesore," Yuji added. "They gave the Goto group the plan to wage an information war."
"Honestly, we’ve been targeted by someone very troublesome…" Hiiragi-san sighed.
Dealing with an openly hostile group like Goto’s was one thing, but having someone lurking in the shadows plotting against us was a whole different level of annoying.
And that brought me to the real problem.
I let out a long sigh and looked at Yuji and Hiiragi-san before turning my eyes toward Mika and Saori-chan.
"Mika, Saori-chan."
"…What is it, Onii-chan?"
"Yes?"
Facing my sharp gaze, the two girls tensed up.
"Depending on how things look at school tomorrow, we might be unable to move for a while. Please be extremely careful of the Goto group. In the worst-case scenario, we might not be able to provide you with any direct support."
"……Eh?"
They both looked at me, completely caught off guard.
"If the school is full of students who’ve seen the video and start following us around out of curiosity, we won't be able to act as freely as before. As a strategy, it’s quite brilliant. Realizing they couldn't beat us with raw power, they chose to neutralize us by putting us in a position where we can't move. The hype will likely be transient and settle down in a week or two, but that’s exactly the time they need to reorganize their crumbling group."
"Even if we’re standing behind you as your backers, if we're pinned down by public eyes, it's the same as us not being there at all," Hiiragi-san added.
Ideally, I wanted to put more pressure on the Goto group while they were reeling from the sports festival and break them apart for good. But that was going to be difficult now. Even if it wasn't as extreme as our situation, people who saw the video would likely be buzzing around Mika and Saori-chan too.
Furthermore, given how well this was handled, the Goto group had likely regained their composure. They would almost certainly use the time they’d bought to rebuild. I scratched the back of my head, frustrated by the turn of events.
"Even if they rebuild, the group will probably be smaller than before. But that also means their solidarity will be stronger. We won't be able to break them as easily next time."
"Yeah," Yuji agreed. "This moment, while they were still shaken, was our best chance to dismantle them. It’s a real shame."
"It really is," Hiiragi-san said. "If this interference hadn't happened, we might have settled things before summer vacation."
It was truly disappointing. If things had gone well, we could have finished this in the first semester. Now that the Goto group had a chance to recover, we had to prepare for a long-term struggle. The three of us would be fine, but Mika and Saori-chan were in the same year as them. They might have to deal with this tension until graduation.
What a waste of a high school youth—spending three years on power struggles. I wondered how I could even begin to comfort them.
"So, Mika, Saori-chan… I want you both to stay very alert. We’ll keep supporting you as much as we can, and I won't hesitate to intervene directly if it comes down to it, but we might be a step behind because of this video nonsense."
"U-um, okay. I understand. I'll be careful."
"Y-yes. We'll watch out."
Mika and Saori-chan nodded solemnly, though their faces were clearly clouded with frustration. It made sense—just when a resolution was in sight, some unknown party had ruined everything.
I didn't have a specific name for the mastermind yet, but the most likely candidates were among the people who had been called to the Student Council Room for the sports festival safety talks. They probably had their pride as the school’s top explorers, and being told that we—who had appeared out of nowhere—were superior likely didn't sit well with them.
"Sigh… This is a pain, but we’ll have to start looking for the mastermind too."
"Right," Yuji said. "Whether we end up as enemies or not, I want to know who decided to throw this wrench in our plans."
"Agreed," Hiiragi-san added. "Knowing our opponent's identity makes a huge difference in how we move."
I hoped we could settle things through a quiet talk, but if not… I could only see more trouble ahead. I really didn't want to end up fighting against the school’s top-tier explorer groups on top of the first-year Goto faction.
We spent the rest of our allotted time in the meeting room discussing countermeasures before leaving and heading silently to the bus terminal. Mika and Saori-chan, who had been so excited about their earnings just an hour ago, were now completely dejected.
But moping wasn't going to solve anything.
"Alright, everyone! Let's change the mood! Worrying about it here won't change anything. We've got a basic plan, so let's see how school looks tomorrow and take it from there."
"…You're right. It's just as Daiki says."
"Yes, we shouldn't overthink it."
"Okay."
"Right."
Everyone tried to force themselves into a better mood. To help them along, I made a suggestion.
"Look, the expedition was a success! Let's have a party to celebrate!"
"That's a great idea," Yuji said. "But considering the train schedules, we should probably do it back in our hometown."
"I agree," Hiiragi-san said. "It'll be easier for everyone to get home if we're local. Let's head back first."
"I'm in!"
"Me too!"
The dejected atmosphere vanished as everyone agreed to my proposal for a celebratory dinner. I pulled out my phone to find a good place on a gourmet site.
As we debated which restaurant to pick, the shuttle bus to the station pulled into the loop. Finally, our one-night, two-day dungeon exploration training camp was over.