Scumbag Fate System-Chapter 36: Reacting To Me

Two days after the expedition.

The club room was the same, but the atmosphere was more tense as everyone was seated with a serious look.

Reinhard was staring at Sirin, and the notes spread out in front of her. She was sorting through observations, talking about the magical residue patterns they’d detected in certain sections of the ruins.

And how those patterns matched historical records of things similar to void distortions from centuries ago.

Alice perched on the edge of the table, her legs swinging, which Sirin had looked at once and decided not to address today, given the circumstances. Alice would chime in whenever Sirin mentioned something that connected to other ruins they’d explored before.

"The Hollow Streets remind me of that collapsed temple we investigated last semester." Alice said while gesturing with both hands. "The one where the walls kept shifting positions whenever we looked away from them for too long."

Sirin nodded and made a note in the margin of her paper. "Good connection. Both locations show signs of reality instability, though the Noctyne ruins seem to have it tied to emotional resonance rather than simple observation."

Rika sat across from Reinhard with stacks of previous research notes arranged around her in neat piles. She would occasionally look up to add clarifications about past expeditions or correct minor details in Sirin’s recounting.

"The shifting walls at the temple were confirmed to be triggered by changes in local magic density," Rika said without looking up from her sorting. "Professor Winters from the Magical Theory Department published a paper about it last year."

"Right, I remember reading that," Sirin replied while flipping through her notes to find the relevant section.

Yor sat at the far end of the table with her hands folded in her lap while her eyes followed whoever was speaking.

Her posture was relaxed in a way it hadn’t been during previous club meetings, when she would sit stiff and ready to leave at the first opportunity.

She listened quietly while the others discussed their findings and shared theories about what the ruins might have been used for before the void distortion destroyed everything.

Sirin changed the topic to discussing the Fiends’ encounter.

She crossed her arms and spoke. "The Unlooked was too weird... I’ve never heard of anything like that in the Fiend Department’s classifications. The ability to become immune to damage simply by being looked at was surprising."

Alice bounced slightly on the table. "Do you think it evolved that defense naturally, or was it created like that?"

"Hard to say without more examples," Sirin admitted while tapping her pen against the paper. "If we could find records of similar Fiends elsewhere, it would help establish whether this is unique to Noctyne or a more widespread phenomenon."

Yor’s voice was quiet when she spoke, but clear enough that everyone heard. "The Sentinels had similar properties."

All eyes turned to her while Sirin’s face lit up with delight, and Alice grinned widely, and Rika looked up from her organization with visible surprise, and Reinhard’s lips quirked into an amused smile.

"What do you mean?" Sirin asked while leaning forward with interest.

"The Resonance Sentinels we saw throughout the ruins." Yor continued while her hands remained folded, but her fingers weren’t clenched nervously anymore. "They ignored calm travelers but reacted to emotional spikes. It’s the same principle as the Unlooked but reversed."

Reinhard tapped the table lightly.

"Wait."

The room went quiet, and everyone glanced at him. Reinhard looked between Sirin’s notes and Yor before saying. "The Unlooked becomes invulnerable when observed."

He pointed to Yor. "The Sentinels react to emotional spikes."

Then he pointed to Alice’s notes about the shifting ruins. "And the architecture changes when awareness drops. Don’t you guys notice the pattern?"

Silence filled the room, and then Rika frowned slightly. "...All of them react to awareness."

Sirin slowly straightened. "You’re saying... The ruins seemed to work based on perception?"

Reinhard nodded once. "It’s a possibility that everything there reacts to how we look or act. That also might be why the Fiends were observing us but not attacking."

"Was it waiting for the right trigger?" Alice questioned in surprise.

"Most likely." Reinhard replied.

Sirin’s pen stopped moving as she tilted her head. "But that should be impossible."

Alice tilted her head. "Why?"

Sirin swallowed slightly. "Because that means the ruins weren’t just distorted..." Her voice dropped. "They were designed to interact with minds."

Alice’s eyes widened while Rika froze, and Yor furrowed her brows.

Reinhard held his chin and spoke. "So, this isn’t how other Void Distortions act?"

"No..." Sirin furrowed her brows and spoke. "Or maybe? The Void Distortions are still a relatively new thing since no one has been able to explore much of it without... Well, being destroyed."

"Until Yor came around." Reinhard said the obvious words, making Sirin nod.

That would mean the headmaster is protecting her, and explains a lot, actually.

Rika set down the papers. "Regardless, this discovery does explain why the gate opened up for Yor... There might be a connection with her since she visited the place before the incident."

"That might be true." Yor nodded slowly. "If the ruins react to emotion... then they might still remember the people who lived there."

The papers on the table shifted.

Just slightly.

Rika blinked. "Did anyone move that?"

No one had.

A thin swirl of dust lifted from the surface of the table.

Yor’s eyes widened. "...That happened in the mansion."

The room grew very quiet. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The dust landed back down and didn’t move again.

Which was somehow worse.

"Are the papers hunted?" Reinhard asked after a bit.

Sirin opened her mouth before closing and then sighing. "Let’s... Just continue."

Yor contributed twice more in the next ten minutes.

She gave observations about how the Echoes’ repeated phrases seemed to match documented symptoms of void exposure. Each time she spoke, Sirin’s expression grew more pleased while Alice’s enthusiasm increased, and Rika’s surprise gradually shifted into encouragement.

All while Reinhard watched this with a smile, seeing not only Yor’s defense crumbling. But soon, her desire to want more opened up.

Underneath the satisfaction of watching it happen was the image of the black-white cracks that appeared before. And then the obstacle course that she quickly adapted to.

Is it because she is changing? Or is it something else? he thought.

The conversation shifted to discussing strange phenomena they’d witnessed beyond just the Fiends. Alice described the windows that showed reflections lagging behind reality, and Rika explained the significance of streets that tilted toward the sky.

And how that violated basic laws of physics unless spatial magic had been involved.

Yor leaned forward slightly while resting her forearms on the table. "The dust in the mansion never settled. It would fall but then float back up before touching the ground."

"Time distortion, maybe?" Alice suggested.

"Or gravity manipulation on a localized scale," Rika countered while already searching through her notes for relevant information.

Sirin looked at Yor. "Did you notice any patterns in when it happened, or was it constant throughout the building?"

"Constant in every room we entered." Yor replied while her voice was steady and engaged. "The particles moved in loops. Down then up then down again."

The discussion expanded to include information from the Monster Department that Sirin had gathered during her research visits with professors who specialized in Fiend classification and behavior patterns.

She mentioned how one professor had suggested that Fiends formed from void distortions often reflected the emotional state of the area. Considering it was the destruction of the city, Reinhard easily could see over a hundred thousand people’s sorrow being buried there.

"It was filled with lots of people from over the continent since it was considered a resort-like place." Yor said while looking at the scattered papers rather than at any specific person.

Rika’s eyes widened before asking questions about what the estate had been like before the distortion. Yor answered with fragments of memories about gardens and fountains and rooms that had once held furniture and life.

She spoke more in that conversation than she had in previous club meetings combined. Her contributions flowed naturally as part of the discussion rather than forced responses to direct questions.

As the meeting ended, Yor gathered the papers in front of her. But one sheet slipped from the pile.

It floated upwards instead of downwards, making everyone freeze.

The paper slowly rose into the air, then another and another. The dust above the table began to spiral.

Reinhard’s eyes sharpened. "It’s happening again... We can’t say it’s a fluke this time. Maybe it really is the paper-"

Yor stared at the floating particles, and she muttered. "No...It’s reacting to me."